The Gold Standard: Dark Knight Sympathies, Top Five Moments, And A Weekly Roundup

Columns, Features, Top Story

Alright, so I’ve spent the past couple of days editing together a Two Guys that went up a few hours ago that you should read, because really, it wiped me out too much rant this week.

 

Well, not just that. The Dark Knight Massacre has left me in a place where it’s the only subject I really feel would be right to talk about, but I don’t want to talk about it. It was a horrific tragedy that I send out my deepest most heartfelt condolences to the families of victims as well as the survivors of.

 

Christian Bale going to visit the victims may have made for a good photo op, but I gained a lot of respect for the man. The only reason we even saw the photos is because TMZ can get anything, but there wasn’t a wall of photogs waiting for him at the hospital and taping his every moment. He went in quietly and paid his respects and talked to people. He hasn’t made a public statement, this doesn’t seem like it’s for the press. He’s a good guy in my book.

 

The situation really just makes my stomach turn, just the senselessness of it all. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

 

What I read this week:

 

  • Birds of Prey #11
  • Blue Beetle #11
  • Catwoman #11
  • Green Lantern Corps #11
  • Justice League #11
  • Nightwing #11
  • Supergirl #11
  • Wonder Woman #11
  • Avengers Academy #33
  • Avengers vs. X-Men #8
  • Captain Marvel #1
  • Fantastic Four #608
  • New Mutants #46
  • Uncanny X-Men #16
  • X-Factor #240
  • Saga #5
  • Superman Beyond #5
  • Smallville: Season 11 #11
  • Legends of the Dark Knight #7

 

Top Five Books of the Week:

 

5. Smallville: Season 11 #11

4. Wonder Woman #11

3. Saga #5

2. X-Factor #240

1. Captain Marvel #1

 

What I Watched This Week:

 

  • White Collar
  • Workaholics
  • Necessary Roughness
  • Futurama
  • Suits
  • Anger Management
  • Wipeout
  • Common Law
  • Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
  • The Newsroom
  • Weeds
  • WWE Raw

 

The Worst Things I Saw On Shelves:

 

I love Amazing Spider-Man under Dan Slott and will never complain about something he does, what with him being so awesome.

 

I will, however, condemn Marvel for Ends of the Earth already being in hardcover. I understand getting books on shelves quickly helps their trade program, but why in the hell should I be buying your monthly books when I can pick up the trade at a cheaper price a month after the story wraps up? Sure, the suggested price is $29.99, but I hit up Amazon and see it for $16.95. The content of the trade? Eight issues that retailed for $3.99 a pop (one of them could have been $4.99), which makes the trade worth about $32 bucks if you just do cover prices of the books. Consider that I bought, in issues, all but the Ends of the Earth one shot (I always skip those pieces of crap ever since I labeled them pieces of crap), so I spent about $28 bucks on Ends of the Earth. I could have saved twelve bucks to spend on other books.

 

So, Marvel, either delay your trades a bit longer or watch monthly customers fall off in favor of the now nearly instantly available trades.

 

The Best Things I Saw This Week:

 

Captain Marvel was just awesome. Just freaking awesome. All my hype was lived up to, the book was really freaking good, and I want the next issue already. Carol Danvers really should be Marvel’s most prominent female character, and I look forward to watching KSD make it happen.

 

Wow, it took long enough but Green Lantern Corps is finally readable again. The war with the Alphas is long delayed and well overdue, but it’s worth it if not just to see that Centaur Lantern get his ass beat. I don’t know why, but I do not like centaurs.

 

Blue Beetle maintains its upward trend, even if Booster was the baddish guy in the issue. Tony Bedard managed to explain it away with a VERY simple bit of logic. Booster has seen the future and knows what the scarabs are and want to do. For that reason alone, he should want to take out anything resembling a Reach invader.

 

Been catching up on Burn Notice slowly but surely, about half way through season three. USA still does me no wrong.

 

I got the Batman Beyond mini from 2010 off of Comixology over the weekend…loved it. I mean, sure, Hush should have been Jason Todd, but everything else was awesome. I guess with animated Tim Drake essentially being Jason, there was no room to shoehorn Jason in.

 

It was nice to see Ivy be Ivy in Birds of Prey. I liked finally having her costume explained, and I loved her reminding all of us that…she’s not a nice person.

 

Reed and T’Challa are bound as brothers? I can dig that, it might mean more well written Black Panther.

 

Avengers Academy continues to impress, and Phoenix Emma made for a great antagonist. She wants all sorts of things and talks at length about them and why those reasons are why everyone should listen but…well, she has no cure for Hazmat. She wants to kill Juston’s Sentinel. Oh, and she continues to talk to Laura like an idiot child and not someone who will gut her once she’s back to not being God Powered. Quicksilver and Finesse got little moments as well, and I have to support that because, well, Finesse is my favorite original cast member here. I love the girl who doesn’t know how to feel anything and awkwardly tries to figure out a way to rectify it.

 

My Pissed Off Moment of the Week:

 

Obviously this isn’t nearly as big of a deal as the earlier mentioned story about Batman, and I’m far less pissed over this than I am about that, but I talked about it already.

 

I’m mad that I still haven’t seen Batman or Spider-Man.

 

Top Five Moments of the Week:

 

 

5. Well, at least Zola is honest. Not like there was any real right answer to give the God Queen, right? Wonder Woman #11.

4. John and Guy needed an army. Made their own. Green Lantern Corps #11.

3. And this is why Carol Danvers is going to be the most must read female in comics. Captain Marvel #1.

2. The scariest thing in the Marvel Universe? A pissed off Charles Xavier. Avengers vs. X-Men #8.

1. Wonder Woman, bitch. Justice League #11.

 

 

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The Gold Standard

A lifelong reader and self proclaimed continuity guru, Grey is the Editor in Chief of Comics Nexus. Known for his love of Booster Gold, Spider-Girl (the real one), Stephanie Brown, and The Boys. Don't miss The Gold Standard.