I love my comics sometimes, I really do!

Just as I was beginning to tire of the amount of stuff on my pull list, and at a time when I was of a mind to wonder if still reading comics at the age of 34 is a symptom, or part result of my M.E and depression, things begin to look  up, wahey! 

Topping the list of my new reasons to be cheerful is 'Batman Inc. #6', written by Grant Morrison and featuring  the fresh and almost fetishist pencils of Chris Burnham, which contains so many characters, concepts and locations that it would fill up at least 3 issues in a lesser team's hands.

  The scene(panel, rather!) with the aboriginal Batman was so cool I thought I might cry a little, and the other little touches, like Dr. Dedalus' coat-tails turning to smoke were no less affecting, either. Overall, I'm simply amazed that the whole Batman corps versus the shadowy Leviathan storyline has exploded the way it has, after a relatively slowbuild in the series so far and I'm looking forward to August, which is another new beginning for the DCU, it seems. According to a lot of sites, and the DC solicits for August, only one comics will be coming out on the last week of that month, and that comic is the last part of "Flashpoint", which began last week. Of course, at this stage my inner fanboy(and accounts dept.) is more fretting over which tie-ins won't be a total waste than the main book, but suffice it to say that Geoff Johns' story, pencilled by Andy Kubert, would have to have been produced under the influence of severe anti-psychotics and drink on the month in which both men's entire families had been kidnapped or something for it not to be at least worth a look, give both creators' stellar track records. As it is, the story put the readers squarely in the alternative reality  using narration by this other place's Batman, while making Barry Allen both the centre of the story and the character through whom we see what's up.There's a big reveal at the end which surprised noone, really, and the best element of the story so far was in the interaction between variations of characters most of us fans would know and getting to see Cyborg in action as the lyncphin hero, rather than the Teen Titan babysitter/JLA sideman he sometimes ends up.

Across the divide, Marvel's 'Fear Itself' entered into the second issue, and things seem to be heating up, as hammers hurtle down from space, landing next to the already fairly intense characters like the Hulk, and transforming them into super, ultra badasses in the service of an evil god, who was resurrected by Sin(Red Skulls daughter)in the last issue. The story is ok, Matt Fraction seems to be able to spin a tight yarn well, but the best thing about this for me is the art team of Stuart Immomen and Wade Von Grawbadger, whose work here is very clean, fresh and basically a joy to behold. I'm not the biggest Marvel fan(and I simply can't be arsed with Thor for the most part) , but I'll no doubt stick with this series til the close, for the art if nothing else.