Daredevil #6

Daredevil just got beat like a drum and thrown into the ocean by a metahuman enforcer called Bruiser. DD is still able to get himself out of that situation, but he’s got to save his client, Austin and his boss, Mr. Randall, from a consortium of the Marvel Universe’s biggest criminal cartels, including A.I.M., Hydra, the Secret Empire, Agence Byzantine, and Black Spectre. Can Daredevil survive his rematch against Bruiser, get Austin and Mr. Randall to safety, and find a way to let the five biggest superterrorist organizations in the world let him walk out the door unharmed?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Another grand issue, with action and smarts, great writing and great art, all wrapped up in a nice little package. You’re reading this, aren’t you? You should be reading this.

Tiny Titans #46

Robin is going off on a secret mission with Batman, but he’s got a replacement on the way — not good news for Robin’s evil mirror-universe counterpart, Talon, who wants to be allowed to take over in Robin’s stead. Instead, the guy taking over for now is a guy called the Protector — a guy who showed up really briefly as a replacement Robin in a “Teen Titans” anti-drug commercial in 1983! And appropriately, in an issue dedicated to way-out continuity trivia, we get this character:

It’s the weird purple cloaked lady who’s been showing up in all the rebooted DC Comics! Or is it…?

The Protector seems popular with everyone, but Talon isn’t going to let that get in his way as he organizes the Batcave’s bats and penguins to serve him. Will he triumph over Robin’s replacement? And who the heck is that lady in purple?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Spectacularly funny and clever stuff. Not the best issue of this title ever, but it’s close to the top, and it’s a great example of what makes this series so much fun.

Dungeons & Dragons #13

Adric Fell and his frequently-not-very-merry band of adventurers are stuck in the dwarven stronghold where Khal, the group’s paladin, hails from. He suspects something bad has happened to his girlfriend Danni, and they all soon find themselves trapped between the insectoid Kruthik monsters and Khal’s fellow dwarves, who have been ordered by Danni’s mother to kill them! They make a narrow and altogether amazing escape, but find themselves in another underground structure, one filled with hundreds of slaughtered Kruthiks, tiled in bone, dominated by an obviously evil temple, and infested by the deranged and monstrously creepy Foulspawn. Is there any way out of this for Fell’s Five?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Vastly fun. Great atmosphere, wonderful dialogue, great characterization, outstanding action. The group’s desperate flight from the Kruthiks is fantastic, and the slow, ominous buildup inside the foulspawn tunnels is amazingly well-done. John Rogers and Andrea De Vito are putting out the very best fantasy comic book you’re ever gonna read, right here.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Begun, the Alan Moore-Frank Miller Flamewar has.
• Female bloggers, I apologize on behalf of my gender. And I truly wish there was more that could be done about these douchebags.
• Man, Batman is creepy.

Man, I ain’t got time for the usual rigamarole, so let’s get right to it. It’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Today’s fight comes from September 1999’s JSA #2 by James Robinson, David Goyer, Stephen Sadowski, and Michael Bair. The Justice Society is taking on the Sons of Anubis, a bunch of zombified Egyptians working for Mordru. One of them is trying to drown Black Canary ’til Jay Garrick removes the water from the situation:

That’ll do it. See y’all back here on Monday!

Godzilla: Kingdom of Monsters #9

Steven Woods and his young traveling companion Allie have a new vehicle to travel around the country in — the abandoned and battle-scarred Mechagodzilla! Woods has gotten the manual controls switched on, and he’s able to beat up on Anguirus. Woods reveals that he’s got a mad-on to destroy Godzilla, because the King of Monsters killed his whole family. Eventually, President Ogden and what’s left of the American government are able to contact Mechagodzilla and order him back to Detroit, but it may already be too late for that.

Verdict: Thumbs up. This really does seem to be the most focused issue of this series so far. Most other issues have had multiple storylines running and multiple characters, sometimes very minor ones. But this one is focused entirely on Woods, Allie, and Mechagodzilla, and it makes it a vastly stronger story. I wasn’t really expecting a lot from this issue, but I was very pleased with how it turned out — kudos to writer Jason Ciaramella for that.

Secret Avengers #19

Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, the Black Widow, and Moon Knight are in the Baltic nation of Symkaria, looking to take down a drug lord named Voydanoi, who is apparently using drugs to make his thugs as powerful as super-soldiers. But it soon becomes apparent that Voydanoi’s minions aren’t super-soldiers, and they didn’t get their abilities from drugs — they emit brightly-colored, swirling lights when they’re knocked unconscious. Will the team be able to make it past all the enhanced guards to the penthouse? Once they’re there, will they be able to handle Voydanoi himself?

Verdict: Thumbs up. It’s a good but not spectacular story. Good action all around, and it’s nice to see Moon Knight do something other than be the Crazy Guy.

Dark Horse Presents #6

This anthology series stuffs another metric ton of good stories in here. We’ve got Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s “Resident Alien,” Carla Speed McNeil’s “Finder: Third World,” Felipe Melo and Juan Cavia’s “Adventures of Dog Mendonca and Pizzaboy,” Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson’s “Beasts of Burden,” Fabio Moon’s “Change,” Neal Adams’ “Blood,” Steve Niles and Christopher Mittens’ “Criminal Macabre,” Haward Chaykin’s “Marked Man,” Robert Love and David Walker’s “Number 13,” and Andi Watson’s “Skeleton Key.”

Verdict: Thumbs up. Nothing particularly bad, and lots of stuff that’s really good. Personal favorites included “Marked Man” and “Finder: Third World,” which both seem to get more amazing with every new chapter, and “Beasts of Burden,” which is always grand, grand fun.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Ladies and gentlemen: Daria Morgendorfer enters the real world.
• A stunt film group recreates a Catwoman fight scene from “Arkham City.”
• I’ve got a few quibbles with this (Frank Miller’s definitely finished in Hollywood, and lots of beloved graphic novels started out as individual comics) but overall, it’s a good article on the awesomeness of the modern graphic novel.
• More cops need to act like this instead of cracking heads and spraying chemical weapons at Occupy camps.
• Okay, Disney Princess movies can be hard to suffer through — but yeah, I would watch the heck out of a Disney Princess movie like this.