Hey, you ready for Friday Night Fights? How ’bout you over there, you ready for Friday Night Fights? And you in the back, yeah, the guy wearing the onesie, you ready for Friday Night Fights? Well, let’s get to it then — it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from February 2005’s Teen Titans #19 by Geoff Johns, Mike McKone, Marlo Alquiza, and Jeromy Cox, in which Tim Drake as Robin goes traveling through time and meets up with Tim Drake as Batman. Turns out they don’t get along.

Okay, y’all have a great weekend, and I’ll see you guys next week…

So this hiatus didn’t really go the way I expected it to. There was a lot less “not writing blog posts about comics” and a lot more “writing blog posts about comics.” Nevertheless, I’ve had some time to think things over, and it looks like I’ve figured out a few things I want to take forward from here.

First of all, there’s going to be a lot fewer comics reviews here. Comics reviews are relatively easy, especially when you don’t have anything in mind that you want to rant/enthuse about. But really, they’re pretty boring, both for you guys and for me, too. And it’s depressing to look at your schedule for the week and start planning out when you’re going to write a dozen comics reviews every week. It’s even worse when you get home from work and realize that your leisure activity for the evening is going to involve reviewing comics when you’d rather be doing just about anything else.

I also got a look at the pull-list from my local comics shop recently, and it was a distressingly long document. And I kinda realized that there were a lot of comics I was reading just for the sake of the blog, not because I was getting a lot of enjoyment out of them. And that’s insane. My house is crammed to the gills with comics that I don’t care about. Why keep that up? There’s no reason to.

So I went through my pull-list and cut more than half. I dropped a lot of titles I’ve enjoyed but have gotten less enthusiastic about — Batman, Spider-Man, Fatale, Dial H, Morning Glories, Snarked, Unwritten, even B.P.R.D. They’re still good comics, but I’m mostly reading them because I feel like I should be, not because I want to. I’m releasing myself from any self-imposed obligation to keep reading them.

And from now on, I’ll review comics if I feel like it. If I don’t have anything I’m enthusiastic about, I won’t review anything. If I find something outstanding, unusually enjoyable, unusually un-enjoyable, I’ll let ya know. But I enjoy this blog a lot more when I’m not forcing myself to do review after review after review. I have more fun commenting on comics news, analyzing comics, typing up some random silliness, and even reviewing graphic novels and regular prose books.

So we’re gonna see if changing things up helps my overall sanity level, see if we can get me back to enjoying comics blogging again. If this works, fantastic. If it don’t work, ehh, what can you do?

So this happened.

When DC Comics rebooted its entire line of superhero titles last year, the publisher did away with Superman’s marriage to Lois Lane to pave the way for a new romance. Without further ado, EW can exclusively reveal that Superman’s new partner in love is no mere mortal, but a superhero icon in her own right: None other than Wonder Woman. herself.

So the first thoughts that went through my mind were outrage and disappointment… but after that, I started thinking a bit more about it, and these were the words that ran through my head:

“Oh, DC, are sales down? Are the higher-ups at Warner’s grumbling about how the company’s doing and what potential damage you’re doing to the trademarks? Are you jonesing hard for the oh-so-addictive thrills of getting the news media to pay attention to you and of randomly pissing off the fanboys who, for now, shell out the cash for your books? Too bad, guys, so sad.”

The sweaty, flailing, wheezing desperation for controversy-for-the-sake-of-controversy makes DC look increasingly weak and inept. I mean, really, they don’t even work to promote their books as good storytelling, good art, good writing — it’s all focused on manufacturing controversy, however they can get it.

I feel sad for the writers and artists who are trying to create good comics in the face of DiDio-Johns-Lee’s ham-fisted gropings into the world of marketing. Because they’ve made it pretty clear that they don’t care about making good comics, they just care about trolling the readers with badly thought-out ideas, trying harder and harder to piss off feminist comic fans, and getting interviewed by entertainment reporters. It’s a sad state of affairs for any good comic creator.

But for the company itself? For DiDio and Johns and Lee? I just want to laugh. They’re fooling fewer and fewer people by the minute, and I don’t know if they realize that.

I know, I know, just yesterday, I said I was taking a hiatus — and fine, I will, I promise! But sometimes, some crazy fool thing jumps out at you and just demands you hit it with your blogging stick.

See, there’s this preview for Teen Titans #12 that was just released yesterday. I haven’t been reading the series, and couldn’t tell you exactly what’s going on, but apparently, Wonder Girl has some kind of new armor that’s a big to-do. And it looks like this:

That’s a quarter-ton of liquid crazy, mixed with another four hundred pounds of boiling-hot stupid.

That armor consists of a lot of ripped clothing, bizarrely floating hair, and gigantic, completely unsubtly phallic spikes.

We keep talking about how the DC Reboot was basically DC’s attempt to turn back time to the rotten days of 1990s Image Comics. And this is really the most embarrassingly crass example of that aesthetic. It’s a horny 14-year-old boy’s vision of what both femininity and badassery look like — except I think horny 14-year-old boys have a bit more maturity than the people currently running the show at DC.

Come on, Warner Brothers execs, I will throw you a pizza party if one of you guys steps in and calls a halt to the ongoing disaster at your comics division, okay?

Sorry, kids, I’m going to take a break for at least a few days. I spent the weekend trying to sort my comics, get rid of the stuff I didn’t want anymore, and try to clean the house up a bit… and it was definitely less than a success.

I got rid of quite a few comics. But I ended up keeping a lot more than I expected. I guess that’s good news — it’s nice that there are still some older comics out there that I still enjoy re-reading. But it’s also bad news, ’cause holy zambonis, do I need to clear up some of the space and storage issues in my house, and having shortboxes piled up high against the walls doesn’t do anything to make my house more liveable.

So I’m taking a hiatus, ’cause I’m sick of sorting through comics, and I’m frustrated by how the comics stash keeps getting bigger and bigger, and I need to figure out how I can make the house cleaner and easier to live in. And figuring that out may require me to start getting a heck of a lot fewer comics, which will definitely affect the future of the blog.

Long story short: Taking a break. Trying to clear up more floor space. See you guys eventually.

It’s been less than a week since the death of Joe Kubert, and I feel like spotlighting some of his work for this week’s Friday Night Fights. You guys up for it? Then let’s get rolling.

From May 1964’s Our Army at War #142 by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, here’s Sgt. Rock and those Combat-Happy Joes of Easy Company vs. a Tiger tank!

Hats off and sound the bugle.

Captain Marvel #2

Carol Danvers is going to take a vintage plane once owned by her idol, a butt-kicking pioneer female pilot named Helen Cobb, up into the air in an attempt to both prove that the plane was sturdy enough to set the altitude record Cobb claimed but could never confirm, and to try to do her idol one better by breaking her record. Unfortunately, something goes wrong, and Carol ends up thrown back in time to World War II. Can she find a way home without upsetting the course of history?

Verdict: Thumbs up. Good writing and art, nice action, dialogue, you name it. I’ve got high hopes for this book.

Batwoman #12

Batwoman and Abbot, the cultist werewolf who has teamed up with her a few times in the past, go on the hunt for Bloody Mary. They visit a house of mirrors and watch Mary’s origin story — a girl forced to marry an older man, she went mad when he was unfaithful and killed as many attractive girls as she could, only to end up hanged and then haunting mirrors for eternity. When Mary finally appears, Batwoman shatters her mirror and interrogates her about where Maro took the children he’d kidnapped, and who runs Medusa. But Mary tells them that Medusa isn’t a criminal organization — she’s a monster out of myth. Not feeling up to taking on a mythological monster, Batwoman and the D.E.O decide she’ll need to team up with someone who knows how to deal with mythology: Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, Bette Kane’s road to recovery begins, and Kate Kane’s relationship with Maggie Sawyer hits the rocks.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Outstanding art and writing. It’s a blast getting to see Bloody Mary again. I do wish we could spend more than just two or three pages per issue with Jacob Kane and Bette Kane. And I’m looking forward to seeing how Batwoman and Wonder Woman end up (not) getting along…

Today’s Cool Links:

• Harry Harrison, creator of the Stainless Steel Rat and the mind behind “Soylent Green,” has died.
• Jamal Igle has started a Kickstarter project for a cool girl-friendly comic. Would ya consider sending him some scratch to help him along?
• The winners of the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest have been announced!

Atomic Robo: The Flying She-Devils of the Pacific #2

It’s 1951, and Robo is stranded on She-Devil Island in the Pacific Ocean. His experimental plane was attacked by sky-pirates, but he was rescued by Captain May Carter and her Flying She-Devils. Looking for answers about the pirates, Carter takes Robo and Val, a Russian pilot, on a flight to Pete’s, a bar located on a beached aircraft carrier. The crowd at Pete’s is deeply unfriendly, but Pete and his shotgun keep the party civil. They find an old man who claims the pirates were flying “ghost planes” and gives them a lead on where they hole up. But when they find the airstrip, Robo ends up detonating a booby trap. He’s fine, of course, and they return to She-Devil Island to find that the She-Devils’ ace mechanic has disassembled Robo’s experimental plane engine for spare parts. And after that, the ghost planes are back. With bombs.

Verdict: Thumbs up. As always, a solid, fun story, with great personality, dialogue, artwork, and surprises. Do I have to keep ordering y’all to go read this comic? Well? Just go read it!

Atomic Robo Presents Real Science Adventures #5

Another batch of short stories and continuing tales from the Atomic Robo-verse. The British secret agent Sparrow faces certain death at the hands of the Nazis; Robo spends a few weeks hiding out in rural China in 1942; Bruce Lee takes a break from training Robo to whup some kung-fu gangsters; Robo meets up with an old Nazi war criminal; and Robo investigates an ominous Bloop.

Verdict: Thumbs up. Favorite story? Definitely the one about the Bloop, but that’s ’cause I’m a total sucker for spooky real-world stuff like that. But the whole thing is great. It’s a great concept — Brian Clevinger does the writing, and a bunch of different artists put their own spin on it.

Today’s Cool Links:

• DC Comics just cannot stop screwing things up. Is this the least PR-savvy company ever?
• Jack Kirby’s granddaughter would like to talk to you about the Hero Initiative.
• Ladies and gentlemen: Naked cartoonists.

Batman #12

This issue introduces us to a new supporting character in the Bat-family, one who we’ve actually seen a few times in the background of previous stories. Meet Harper Row, a young lady living in a rough neighborhood. She works as an electrician underneath Gotham City, trying to keep the city’s aging infrastructure functioning. She lives with her brother, who has to deal with gay-bashing thugs at school and on the streets way too often. Harper gets to briefly hobnob with Gotham’s elite after winning a ticket to a Wayne charity event. Soon afterwards, she gets a punk-rock haircut (in response to bullies beating up her brother and slashing his hair). And soon after that, she and her brother have a close encounter with the Batman after he saves them from an attack. This sets off Harper’s own obsession with the Dark Knight, as she goes on to use her job skills to discover how Batman moves about the city. Will she be able to aid Batman, or is her adventuresome spirit going to get her into more trouble?

Verdict: Thumbs up. A nice change-up and a focus on a new character — Scott Snyder had hoped to use either Cassandra Cain or Stephanie Brown, but of course, they got nixed by DC (the DiDio/Johns/Lee machine has reasonlessly decided it hates both characters), so he came up with this new character. She’s extremely likeable and fun, and I look forward to seeing more of her. And kudos to Becky Cloonan, the first woman to ever draw an issue of either “Batman” or “Detective Comics” — she does a great job — very expressive, fun artwork, and I’m hoping we’ll see more of her, too.

Batgirl #12

Barbara is visiting Detective McKenna, a dirty cop with an obsession with Batgirl, hoping to get a lead on Knightfall and her crew of superpowered murderers. But they get a visit from Batwoman, who has been put on the trail of McKenna by the D.E.O. She has no trouble cleaning Batgirl’s clock — of course, Batgirl seems to spend every issue getting her ass kicked. But they team up when Knightfall calls McKenna and demands Batgirl return to them so they can kill her. Can they handle the superpowered lunatics in the Disgraced? And will they learn the secrets Knightfall is hiding?

Verdict: Thumbs up. I am getting tired of everyone using Babs Gordon as a punching bag, but this was mostly an excellent issue. Good dialogue and action, good character work for both Batgirl and Batwoman. And it’s nice to see Babs’ psychotic brother, James Jr., still keeping his hand in the game.

Today’s Cool Links:

• Some sad news to start the week off: Joe Kubert has died at the age of 85. The man drew the best dang war comics the world has ever seen — and seriously, if you’ve never done so, go out and read as many of Kubert’s Sgt. Rock comics as you can — and he founded the Kubert School to teach people how to make good comics. Hats off for one of the best guys in the comics biz.
• Dang, Fantagraphics, this is just low-class. Not even DC or Marvel go casually dissing independent comics creators, especially ones as successful and interesting as Molly Crabapple. It’s deeply disappointing that the foremost independent comics publisher thinks it’s okay to treat any comics creator this way.
• A great essay by a deaf man who gets a new hearing aid and is able to hear music for the very first time.
• We all need more laughter in our lives.

Okay, kids, let’s get right into it — it’s Friday, and we’re all feeling punchy, so that means it’s time for… FRIDAY NIGHT FIGHTS!

Tonight’s battle comes to us from October 2011’s The New Avengers #15 by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato, Wolverine has to face off against the Marvel Universe’s most unstoppable badass.

Winner and still champeen — Squirrel Girl!