Images © DC Comics, Inc.

Here are two more letter-column heading logos, for when most comics had actual printed letter columns.

Often the request was to have these titles follow the style of the cover logo, and both of these do. FILLER mimics my own logo for the comic THRILLER…

…while OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE uses the style of my logo for ADVENTURES OF THE OUTSIDERS, which itself used Gaspar Saladino’s original OUTSIDERS logo as a starting point, then added telescoping. Gaspar’s logo is the better one here, in my opinion! Letter-column logos were fun to do because the hard work of coming up with an original style was usually not required, you were simply adapting something already created.

That’s what I was up to this week when I wasn’t home working. Thursday, Friday and Saturday mornings I helped lead field trips in Belleplain State Forest for NJ Audubon’s Cape MAYgration festival. The weather was great, and so were the birds, all three trips got good looks at many beautiful species.

Scarlet Tanager is usually a favorite for participants, and Summer Tanagers were seen all three days, too, as well as many of the dozen or so nesting species of warblers, several kinds of Vireos and Flycatchers, and lots more.

Favorite spot on the trips is usually this one, looking into overgrown fields where we often see Indigo Bunting, Orchard Oriole, White-Eyed Vireo, Ruby-throated Hummingbird…

…and lots of Prairie Warblers like this one. We also had good looks at Blue-Winged Warbler today, much harder to see. I feel privileged to be able to have a nature preserve like this close to home.

Speaking of home, I’ve also done a good deal of gardening this week. The bed to the outside of the stone walkway has for years been planted each May with annuals. I’ve grown tired of the labor involved in that, and decided to try something different this year; I’ve put in several kinds of ground cover and just a few annuals in pots.

We’ll see how they do, and which ones survive the voles and squirrels and our poor soil. If some don’t make it, I’ll add more of the ones that do next spring.

Oh, and here’s my entire vegetable garden: one Poblano Pepper plant and some herbs—oregano and thyme. Not quite true, there’s a rosemary bush in another pot. I used to have a real vegetable garden when we first moved here in 1989, but the trees have grown in so much there isn’t enough sun now. Besides, we have great farm stands nearby to supply us.

The larger Rhododendrons are beginning to bloom behind the Azaleas, something which doesn’t always happen at the same time. Looks good.

Rhododendron blooms are quite impressive up close, like a rosette of orchids.

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

The seemingly endless crossover storyline is almost over, and there isn’t much to say about this issue. Even writer Peter Tomasi doesn’t have a lot to add, there are seven pages with no lettering and a few more with one or two balloons. What there is is lots of fighting, between the First Lantern and the Corps, the First Lantern and a resurrected Mogo, the Corps and Mogo’s constructs, and so on. I found the battles emotionally uninvolving, and the issue generally uninteresting. Yes, the art by Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna is realistic and detailed, the action is full of energy, but I know the good guys will survive, and the bad ones will meet their end next issue, very likely, and I’m not invested in the storyline at this point. Ready for something else on a smaller and more personal scale between a few characters I’m given reasons to care about.

Mildly recommended.

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Perhaps I should mention that all the DC comics I’ve reviewed recently have a double-size cover which folds out from inside, so each is a kind of tease and reveal. Works better on some than others. I wonder if the extra cost is worth it, though the larger art is nice to see.

There’s a lot going on in this issue. Barry Allen is powerless, due to events in DIAL H FOR HERO apparently, but he does have a bag of weapons from his old Rogues Gallery, and uses them effectively in an attack on a prison for dangerous characters like the new Trickster. The group of ordinary folks who were trapped inside the Speed Force are no longer ordinary, and trying out the superhero bit, not too successfully. Flash himself does appear eventually, and in a move I’d like to see more of, interacts with the Justice League in a small way that makes sense. Finally, we see the larger threat that’s teased on the cover just at the end.

Those final pages are by Francis Manapul, and I’m hoping he’ll be back for more soon, I miss him, though Marcio Takara did fine on the rest of the issue. The story is going in too many directions this time for me, but looks like it will be more focused soon.

Recommended.

Image © Dark Horse Comics.

As evident on the cover, Dark Horse is relaunching some of their superhero titles from years past, and sampling them in this anthology. I don’t buy many Dark Horse Titles other than the Hellboy-related ones, but I do continue to enjoy this sampler of what’s going on at the company. Nice to see that logo again, I believe it’s one I designed for the character in 1992. The story excerpt is one where crime bosses have been targeted by this vigilante assassin, and are sure their defenses will keep them safe…until they don’t. Well done, if violent by writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Eric Nguyen. (Glad I don’t have to letter those names!)

Part 2 of “Alabaster” by Caitlín R. Kiernan and Steve Lieber continues the story of ghosts and evil entities in a small town diner that makes the best BLTs ever. Even so, I don’t recommend eating there. Great stuff.

In Part 3 of “The Deep Sea,” the survivors of a deep dive have been unexpectedly rescued after decades under the sea, and the vessel that found them is under attack by huge, scary creatures. The story by Palmiotti and Gray is good, but the art by Akins and Mounts seems to have gone off the rails this time, very loose and sketchy, and confusing layouts and storytelling, leaving me unsure of what exactly happened in places.

Part 2 of “Gamma” is an odd mix of cute animals and monster hunters. Didn’t work for me.

Part 2 of Captain Midnight by Joshua Williamson & Victor Ibañez worked great on all levels, smart writing about a smart character who shows why he was a hero back when, ready to take advantage of the situation when the modern-day military underestimates him.

A segment of “Mind Mgmt” by Matt Kindt is well told, though I don’t care for the art style.

Part 4 of “Crime Does Not Pay: City of Roses” is well told and well drawn by Phil Stanford and Patric Reynolds. Crime fiction is not very appealing to me, but this story carried my interest anyway.

Part 2 of a new “Resident Alien” storyline by Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse is great stuff. There’s something intriguing about this soap-opera approach to the characters with only the reader aware that one of them is an alien, as seen very clearly in the art. Kind of the opposite of the old twist ending, here we start with the reveal, and then the story rolls along as if it wasn’t there at all, mostly. Looking forward to more.

Part 1 of “Station to Station” throws us into a disaster of epic proportions and then begins to unravel how it happened. Looks like scientific experiments gone wrong so far, but what’s that weird creature? Interesting opening by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman.

“The White Suits” is a spy vs. spy story set in Russia that doesn’t appeal to me much, but the art looks good.

Overall, not a bad issue. I have to say the variety of material is less than in the past, and the number of continued stories make it hard to recommend this issue as a starting point for new readers, but in general this is a great anthology and recommended.

Image © DC Comics, Inc.

Arthur Curry is still having a tough time as king of Atlantis. A group of former king Orm’s friends are working secretly to return him to the throne, an old friend refuses to help Aquaman in his effort to track down dealers in Atlantean weapons on the surface, and then there’s this guy on the cover, who certainly looks the part of Atlantean King! Meanwhile, Mera has her own problems, not only with the guy above, but someone from her past. Geoff Johns continues to deliver a great mix of action, intrigue and character development in this title. The art by Paul Pelletier and Sean Parsons is fine, too.

Recommended.