1. I can’t believe no one has said this yet. Robin’s pose on the cover is payback for the Lady Blackhawk image of a few issues ago. A little something for the ladies. He might not have Zinda’s, um, assets, but no one can deny that the kid has a pair of gams on him.

2. Reaper- I kind of like the color scheme on the surprint here. I won’t deny it washes out the image some, but it makes it atmospheric in a way appropriate for this character. Side note: I like the surprint much better than the character himself.

3. Rip Hunter- I had totally forgotten about the “you can only use a method of time travel once” idea. That’s almost Silver-agey in its goofiness, except that it was designed to limit the fun and craziness of the Silver Age.

4. Rocket Reds- I really like the art on this entry. It goes to show that Joe Staton can do some nice work when he doesn’t have to draw faces.

5. Strike Force Kobra- I’m sure this will earn me jeers, but I love these guys. Don’t get me wrong. These guys don’t have the inherent coolness of the Force of July, People’s Heroes, or any of the other theme teams Barr designed specifically to go into battle against the Outsiders, but I love the notion that someone remembered these kooky foes of Batman’s bygone days. I also love the idea that, within the continuity of DC comics, there is not just one guy, but a whole slew of people saying things like, “Hey, you remember that guy Batman fought? No, not Joker. No, I’m talking about Zebra-Man. He was the coolest!” I mean, c’mon, a group of people getting together and forming a community out of their love for the lesser characters of their world. Seems somewhat familiar to me.

6. If there is anything I can say about this update of Who’sWho it is that it has finally broken down my resistance and left me no choice but to give Suicide Squad a try. I’ve picked up the two trades that have come out and am planning on reading them during the Christmas break.

7. Superboy- I am in love with this entry if only because I refuse to actually read the text, which is full of the pocket universe nonsense. The art is lovely, though, and seeing it as a two page spread with the equally Silver Agey Titano concept makes it even better.

8. Vanguard- Everything in me wants to defend these guys, but, honestly, I got nothing here.

9. Watchmen- Yeah, the layout to me shows that this entry was supposed to fall as it did, on a single sheet of paper, and not as a two page spread as was suggested. It’s hard to not see that decision as a subtle way of saying, “Hey, these guys are different and don’t really fit in with the rest of the entries in this issue.” Maybe I’m reading too much into it, though.

10. Windfall is the kapow moment of this issue, for me at least. Everything about the artwork is beautiful, fun, and perfection. I miss heroes who smile.

11. The appendix is eight pages of depression. We won’t ever settle the debate, but I’m on the side that says that, although the story itself is entertaining, COIE was unnecessary and did more harm than good. These pages, filled with character after character who “never existed in the recreated DC Universe” reminds me of an abusive brother in law I once had. One day, in a fit of anger over the mess he saw in his living room as my nephew was playing with his toys, scooped up all of those toys and threw them in the trash instead of neatly putting them in the toy box to be pulled out and played with on another day.

Anyway, thanks for the hard work, gentlemen, and I’ll look forward to next month.

And nice one with the logo!

*) That wrinkle in the Cain & Abel story was genius (Moore?) Once again, given all the shade thrown Hawkman’s way, Wonder Woman’s reboot does not get criticized enough for its butterfly effect on stuff as random as Amazo’s powers. Surely somebody is going to license Atari Force at some point, but it makes me wonder if DC owns at least some of the characters (Hukka was in the Ambush Bug Showcase.) I’ll remind everyone that Baron Blitzkrieg was a Bronze Age Wonder Woman creation/foe that decoupled Post-Crisis. Why does Batman have three different Batcaves (at least,) and why didn’t I already know that? The Joker gets to kill everybody, and the ones Killer Croc got to kill, he lost to Two-Face and the Joker, who then killed the kid sidekick whose parents Croc used to be able to claim. I used to run a blog called The Flame of Py’tar that mostly just reran Despero related stuff from the Idol-Head, and technically still exists. Did the Freedom Fighters get Ian Karkulled, or did they actually get old? The Martian Manhunter appendix has some of the most vital information of the lot (P.S. No such place as “Apex City,” Scipio.)

5) I thankfully was already fond enough of Lois Lane from outside comics that I didn’t sour to the character as others did from Byrne’s interpretation. However, the creative team I most credit for actively making me like Lois Lane again went unmentioned in the feedback section, Louise Simonson & Jon Bogdanove on Man of Steel. Their interpretation of Lois, along with Dana Delany on Superman: TAS, Ed McGuiness, and Teri Hatcher on Lois & Clark are the ones that come foremost to mind when the character is brought up.

6) I’m telling you, the Suicide Squad will eventually have a mission in Russia where all these Cold War Super Soviets have been divvied up by oligarchs and now wear tacky suits and way too much make-up, like Jersey Shore adapted for Moscow.

7) Understanding green Parasite hate: make the Hulk purple for several years without offering any explanation or reason for the change. Have him battle only Darkhawk and Nova villains, again, without offering any rationale.

8) I’ve got a “love the sinner, hate the sin” mentality when it comes to the Updates. They’re still Who’s Who in a basic way, but the first volume attempted to be a comprehensive overview of 50 years worth of DC Comics. Where OHOTMU would take some hoary Marvel Golden Age character and have them drawn by a contemporary artist who would then be inked by Joe Rubinstein to keep the whole project uniform and palatable to modern readers, DC embraced idiosyncratic artists often personally associated with characters and concepts from a multiverse of companies and sensibilities. What I wanted from the Updates was a mix of characters who were missed in volume one, necessary revisions of previous entries, and coverage of new characters. We only got two of the three, and not only did unjust omissions stand until the age of internet wikis, but the emphasis of the other two was on modern creators fitting a house style and selling “the next big thing” as a DC Focus-like advertorial. Instead of continuing to be its own thing, Who’s Who tried to act more like OHOTMU, and the result was far more flat coverage of too many untested characters unworthy of the attention who all represent a brief moment in publishing time. That mentality hurt OHOTMU as well, leading to the worst example of all these sorts of reference periodicals, the looseleaf Master Edition, whose main contribution to the culture was lifeless turnaround style guides of hideous ’90s costumes.

9) Thanks for the shout-out to the Martian Manhunter 60th anniversary special part one, but I’m still holding out on part 2. Given the wealthy of Supergirl interviews that came out last week, I’m glad I’ve waited. Also, I’ve already got the basics for constructing a Who’s Who: Martian Manhunter edition in 2016, given the obvious need once Commander Blanx is revealed on Supergirl and the Human Squirrel turns up on Arrow. I’ll be in touch.

You, however, I’d have to think a lot harder about, and I wonder if it’s worth the trouble. I’m very much with Shag when he says “find your joy,” and Transformers just *isnt’* for everyone. I’d be the first to admit there’s a lot of embarassing stuff in the Transformers franchise. You (and Frank) aren’t going to like the same stuff as me. That’s cool. I don’t come to a Firestorm webpage, nor listen to its associated podcast, expecting to hear Transformers lauded.

That said, I’ll take a stab. If you can stand to wade through the whole arc, I recommend issues #5-12 of the Marvel run. If I had to pick just a single issue, I’d suggest #8, which introduces the Dinobots (and much of it takes place in Marvel’s Savage Land, in a rare instance of the TF book connec in with Marvel continuity).

G) I always confuse Twister with Mindboggler, especially since they both ended up checking out as members of the Suicide Squad. I personally find that I prefer Kerry Gammill to Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, and mourn his not having done the same sort of comprehensive style guide for Marvel. When was the last time you bought a licensed product with art by Keith “Friggin” Pollard, right?

H) When we closed our comic shop, I took advantage of my partner’s having a house where she was already storing our unsold inventory and threw in a few longboxes of my personal stuff to clear out space in my apartment. They included runs of Aquaman, Hawkman/Hawkworld, Deathstroke, Guy Gardner, New Teen Titans, and more. Then I lost touch with her over the years, and when I tried to get those boxes back, couldn’t find her. Point being, I bought but never read that Vanguard annual once, and don’t see that happening ever again.

I) I like McDonnell’s take on Vibe much, much, much more than Chuck Patton’s, and despite my longtime dislike of the character, was slowly won over by posthumous appearances and his reworking by Sterling Gates in the New 52. It’s ironic that the greatest contribution I’ve ever made to comic book fandom is that an image I constructed using the Vibe logo from this comic combined with a Tom Derenick image somehow inspired the creation of the title sequence from the DC Nation Vibe short. It felt a bolt from the blue when I first saw it. Don’t worry Shag, I will eventually do a short run Vibe podcast.

J) I was late to the party on many of the game changing comics of the 1980s. In spite of reading them years late, I was still blown away by Frank Miller’s seminal works (though I find his Daredevil run overrated and Ronin was just plain bad.) On the other hand, I’ve never warmed to Alan Moore, and I feel that beyond his technical achievements that most of his innovations were inevitable, sort of like if Stanley Kuberick had directed the ’80s films of Steven Spielberg. But most importantly, I read Marshal Law before I read Watchmen, so all of my potential admiration was transferred to Pat Mills and Kev O’Neill.

K) I read Wild Dog when it was coming out, and liked the DIY vigilantism and mystery of his true identity at the time. The actual reveal was weak though, and its low rent practicality failed to cash in on the brutal power fantasy, social satire, or crime/race paranoia that fuels the sub-genre. He was even a straight white blonde male, exactly like Adrian Chase, but without the good looks or operatic motivations or Marv Wolfman & George Perez. Dude had no reason to exist beyond Collins/Beatty wanting a potentially profitable mainstream project.