My Week In Comics 7-28-10

We start with the bad, and work our way up...

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne 4 (of 6): I alluded to this last week in my comment on the first issue of "Time Masters: Vanishing Point." This series has turned into a train wreck. Bruce Wayne has gone from prehistoric-era Gotham to witch trial-era Gotham to high seas pirate-era Gotham, and now he's jumped through time again and is in the Wild Wild West-era Gotham. And this story involves Jonah Hex. You may remember there was a Jonah Hex movie earlier this summer. It was a huge bomb. So is this book. In the first issue Bruce was incoherent, then was able to speak normally (for the era he was in). In this issue he doesn't say a word. I barely have any idea what's going on and I'm not sure I care.

Gotham City Sirens 14: This book is losing me as well, although more slowly. The last few issues have been tightly focused on one or two of its three stars, meaning the interplay between the three that was so entertaining is mostly missing. Here, Poison Ivy is checking out something interesting at her job at S.T.A.R. Labs, something that turns out to be dangerous. Meanwhile, back at the home they share, Catwoman and Harley Quinn haven't heard from Ivy in a while. They decide to give her a little more time. Then, separately, they get into costume and go looking for her at S.T.A.R. So at least they're all in the same place...

Action Comics 891: We get a look at a few of Lex Luthor's dreams...contrived as they are, as they've been placed into his mind by Mister Mind, an alien telepathic bug. So it's sort of like "Inception" without the different dream levels and Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There's even a cameo by Superman, sort of. It's nice to see some version of Superman in his own book. Suffice to say, Luthor is still on his quest for the power of the Black Lantern rings, and his robotic substitute for Lois Lane is by his side.