According to Wiggle

FLASHPOINT (week 10)

i spent the early part of my evening constructing a bookshelf from IKEA so i was dog tired by like 2130. after dinner, i was considering sleeping then getting up around 0500 to do this but caught a second wind that i wasn’t expecting. so here i am delivering the goods! last issue of Booster Gold + four issue #3s after the jump!

if you feel the pain, that just means it’s working.. (Booster Gold #47)

Booster Gold #47

story by: Dan Jurgens + Rick Leonardi, art by: Don Ho + Norm Rapmund

okay, the important things to take away from this issue:

Alexandra Gianopoulos grabs hold of the helmet that controls Doomsday. she stops him from tearing into Booster and proceeds to force him to kill himself with his fist spikes. gnarly. Booster sees the Flash on a television, fighting in the Amazon-Atlantean War in Europe.

Booster and Alexandra fly to Europe. the Flash recognizes Booster but don’t have a long enough moment to bro-fist or anything. “the Chronal Energy residue from your Speed Force is key!” so Booster + Alexandra fly alongside the Flash as he’s just running around to charge up his thingamajig. some random Atlantean dudes fire in the general direction of our heroes and Alexandra chooses to take the fall. Booster tries to go to her aid but his time-thing had already started pulling him away.

the next thing we know, Booster appears at the Vanishing Point, which exists “outside of time’s currents”, apparently, but doesn’t remember exactly how he got there. he tries his best to remember everything, only getting bits and pieces like “war” and “woman”. he gives up trying to remember and comments on needing new clothes.

lastly, we see a very Alexandra Gianopoulos looking figure writing on Rip Hunter’s infamous chalk board, all of the things talking about Flashpoint.

comments: what a loopy issue, literally and a-ha, it all makes sense, sort of. it’s sort of silly but i’m reconsidering this story’s importance to all of the Flashpoint stuff. for argument’s sake, Alexandra Gianopoulos DID in fact, exist in the DCU even though her origins are rooted in the Flashpoint-verse. having the Booster Gold series end with him stuck in the Vanishing Point is awkward but probably normal for you Booster fans. hmmmmmmmmm..screw it. this is a READ. :D

Citizen Cold #3

story + art by: Scott Kolins

Cold, having woken up in Iris West’s apartment, convinces himself that he’s completely fine and that he’s going to settle the score between him and his Rogues for good. before leaving, he tells Iris that she’s special and should she want to run away with him, to be at his home, proceeding to hand her over his house keys.

it suddenly jumps to the Pied Piper, who surprisingly survived the ice bomb planted in his lair. after pushing aside the giant lead door that blocked the explosion, Piper decides that HE will settle his own score with Cold.

we then see the Rogues hanging out and doing their thing when Cold shows up and starts killing them off, one by one.

meanwhile, Iris gets to Cold’s house and finds all of his Citizen Cold stuff just lying around. “whoa. he must’ve left in a big hurry—or he really trusts me.”

with his complete and utter victory over the Rogues, Cold limps his bloody self back to his house. he sees Iris and collapses in front of her again but this time it’s out of pure joy. Iris confronts Cold about killing her nephew Wally and while Cold ponders how she would know all this, out comes Piper to answer his question. a quick scuffle between men occur and in the end Iris picks up Cold’s gun and shoots him with it. fin.

comments: i could not be less enthusiastic about this unsatisfying conclusion. i feel that the Pied Piper’s role in this wasn’t strong enough to convey that HE (with Wally West) is Central City’s actual vigilante trying to expose Leonard Snart’s true intentions or some such. this is a PASS.

Deadman and the Flying Graysons #3

story by: J.T Krul, art by: Fabrizio Fiorentino

so after some time after Papa Grayson passes, Dick, Boston, Ragdoll and Vertigo make it their mission to resurface, evade and keep the Helm of Nabu away from the Amazons. shortly after resurfacing, Ragdoll and Vertigo both end up dying and all that’s left is Dick + Boston.

both acrobats manage to give the Amazons a run for their money but they weren’t betting on Starfire dropping debris on their head. Boston Brand gets up first and sees the scene that Kent Nelson showed him of Dick Grayson laid out on the ground. before Boston could do anything, Dick gets up and shakes off his blurred vision and moves to Boston’s body. it’s then that he notices that it wasn’t Dick who was meant to die but him. in his frustration, the now Deadman, attacks Starfire and the Amazons but he phases right through their bodies.

Dick starts running toward an abandoned train station. he lets out the remaining gasoline from one of the tankers and makes a run for it. Starfire shoots off, misses her target and sparks a chain reaction. Dick, running on top of the train cars, jumps for a wire. Deadman notices that Dick won’t make the jump but he certainly can and in an instant, Deadman possesses Dick’s body to get him to safety.

Dick walks away from the explosion unknowingly with Deadman beside him. all of a sudden, he’s met with a very shiny woman with wings and it turns out to be Brittania and behind her is Kid Devil and Vic “the Question” Sage. *swoon* Brittania proclaims that they are part of the Resistance to which Dick responds by saying “so am i…call me Doctor Fate.”

comments: i must say, at least for me, it was an unexpected twist at the end to have Dick claim the name Doctor Fate. and yes, my *swoon* is entirely directed at Vic Sage. ever since his death in 52, i’ve missed him terribly even though i’m perfectly fine with Renee Montoya. but having the Question cameo is nigh enough to make it great because this is a PASS.

Emperor Aquaman #3

story by: Tony Bedard, art by: Vicente Cifuentes

it would appear that after killing Mera, Wonder Woman sought out Aquaman to make amends yet again. WW claimed that her aunt Penthesilea and Aquaman’s brother Orm were conspiring together the whole time. Arthur chose to heed Diana’s word but regardless of the outcome that day, WW still killed Mera and that she would pay for it dearly.

just then Prince Orm triggered a bunch of planted bombs, destroying Aquaman’s ships. Arthur sees this as betrayal and he breaks WW’s breathing mask, forcing her to swim to the surface. in retaliation, Vulko, Aquaman’s engineer, starts the machine to use Geoforce’s powers to sink Europe. Aquaman, having the choice to turn off the machine stopping Geoforce or pursuing WW, chooses the latter, damning all of Europe. continued in Flashpoint #4-5. =_=;

comments: i feel like—there’s just something about—you know what it is?—ugh. just read the main Flashpoint title. this is a PASS.

Frankenstein and the Creatures of the Unknown #3

story by: Jeff Lemire, art by: Andy Smith

with Griffth (the werewolf), injured from the silver bullet, it’s up to Frank and friends to make a hail mary play to fly to Romania in search of Doctor Mazursky to heal him. Frank’s Bride agrees to the plan only if he promises to become an agent of S.H.A.D.E. and joins the Resistance in the Amazon-Atlantean War. also, they take Shrieve along for the ride after explaining to her that the man who hired her, also put the hit on her family.

when they get to Romania, they find a tiny village that contained a small population of werewolves, vampires and lagoon creatures, except they were all dead. Frank and the team find that an enhanced version of the robot was sent there ahead of them to decimate the inhabitants of the town. Frank, his Bride and Velcoro (the vampire) stay and fight the new robot, Jake II.

Shrieve and Nina (lagoon girl) put Griffith on a wheelbarrow and head toward the castle where they find the good doctor alive and well. they bring Griffith into the castle and Doctor Mazursky cures him, not of the silver poisoning but of his werewolf form, turning him back to human. Griffith wakes up to see Nina and despite her ‘monstrosity’, he thinks that she’s still beautiful.

meanwhile, the sun is rising and starts to burn up Velcoro. while completely aflame, he jumps on Jake II and Frank bashes through him, defeating the robot. Frank asks why Velcoro did what he did and before turning to dust, he explains that he “did—didn’t want to be a coward anymore…” baller.

Nina asks Frank to stay and rest a while but replies with: “this may be home for you and Griffith…but i really have no home…save for the battlefield…i cannot rest…not yet.” the scene cuts to Frank, his Bride and Shrieve riding off into the distance, while Frank continues his monologue: “…for there is still unrest, and the world dances on the brink. and as long as evil still churns and men still wage war…then Frankenstein lives!”

comments: take notes boys and girls because that’s how it’s done. this is READ. also, everyone go ahead and add Frankenstein Agent of S.H.A.D.E. to your pull list in September. ;)

Tarpit enjoying the Trickster’s tunage! (Citizen Cold #3)

anyway, the end of Booster Gold really surprised me. it also helps that Alexandria could possibly be part of the new Justice League International (that Donna Troy looking girl at the bottom left corner of the #1 cover) so that kinda swayed my decision to make it a READ. circular writing for the win. unrelated: i’m having a great time zeroing on these single-panels that, out of context are super-happy-fun-time. look out at the end of the month for a post with those. :) -J.A

btw: in case anyone was wondering, i like to schedule these posts these in the morning because i thought it’d be weird to put them up at like 0300 when i finish them. anyway, thanks for reading as always. carry on with your day~