This Week's Comics Snapshots

JLA Classified #5 - This is just a fun sitcom comedy approach to superheroes, with common events taken to extreme lengths for the joke.

Those worrying about Mary Marvel's intelligence level should definitely be pleased by her showing this issue. When she meets Guy Gardner for the first time, and has to stand up to her over protective brother. Which is the bigger obstacle was surprising.

I did find myself wondering when Blue Beetle and Power Girl became such friends, I must have missed that somewhere. Yet all in all just a fun read, with characters who are goofy and with stories that don't take themselves too seriously.

It'll be a nice reminder of why DC used to be fun before the the whole "whatever DC's latest wallowing in sadism crossover is called" stuff sends everything down the toilet.

Spellbinders #1 - Young people with magic powers at a high school in Salem, MA welcome a new girl whose power may be the greatest they've ever seen.

Nothing happens in this comic that doesn't feel like a slightly different version of The Craft. I was just bored as it all just seemed too familiar, though the last page cliffhanger showed potential but may be too little to late for this reader.

I expect better from writer Mike Carey after his wonderful "My Faith in Frankie" miniseries, but this just lacked a lot of the heart and freshness of that.

Runaways #2 - This comic is kind of annoying because it relies on everyone being idiots of a sort. Not in the goofy sitcom way of the Giffen Justice League, where the goofy behavior is played for laughs.

Yet in a way that the characters have to act stupid in order to forward the plot.

From the former heroes who want to stop the Runaways from ruining their lives by being superheroes. By putting on their superhero to beat them into doing what they say not what they do.

To the Runaways who in trying to stop someone who might kill them 20 years in the future. By picking a fight with him out of the blue today, rather than talk with him to see what he is like first.

Gee I wonder why he might dislike them in the future?

I want to see what happens next, but I felt that it could have been better designed to get to where the writer wanted it to wind up at.

Live Wire #1-2 - It is strange really, the comics lacks a real plot, but that's fine because the characters seem so fresh. They may be teenage robots on deadly missions, but the approach makes it feel like teens going to the beach for a weekend.

Which makes for a strange read that is interesting, but like the characters feelings in the book, nothing really important to spend time worrying over.