Hartley talks… written by Hartley Holmberg is more than just another comic book blog with a hint of comic love from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

DC now has an official blog on their site aptly named “the Source”

Its a great site to keep up with all things DC,  check it:

http://dcublog.dccomics.com/

Heres what I picked up this week and a quick assessment!

Black Lightning #4 (of 6)

This has just been a great read, and I’m loving each and every issue.
Its wonderful to see an old fav get such a cool spotlight, and I’m really enjoying the greater ties to the DCU they’ve been giving ol Jefferson Pierce!
Great art and fantastic storytelling mixed with a great understanding of the DCU in general.

Stormwatch #19

I’ve been pretty pleased with this book overall. As a fan of Stormwatch since its 1st incarnation this title has been remarkably faithful to its roots and original cast of characters. Although this particular issue re-treads over the concept of Fuji’s body being made of a gaseous energy, I was fine with the lack of history presented as I hardly expect people to remember the old issues where this was dealt with. But if you ever are looking for fun reads from the 90s Ron Marz’s run on Stormwatch was a very entertaining read!

Ghost Rider #32

Jason Arron had been keeping Ghosr Rider as cool as ever and the final chapter of the “Last Stand of the Spirits of Vengeance” was good stuff.
The art by Huat was weaker than normal indicating a bit of fatigue on his bahalf, but even so the mans still a great story teller, and visually appealing to myself.
Er his art that is….
The last chapter seems more like the mid-chapter in a more grand story arc, and its one I’m excited to see!

Superman/Batman #55

The Super/Bat storyline continues on with its awesomeness!
Batman has Supermans powers magically imparted on him and its making him nutso!
Great art, great characterization, fun as hell story and guest stars!

Invincible #59

I have yet to read an ish of Invincible I didn’t like and this ish is no exception to that!
Mark Grayson has a new Arch-Enemy in the form of PowerPlex and this nut job is primed and ready for years of adversity by the time the issue is through.
Great stuff and its hard not to sympathize with the foolishness of Powerplex at least a teeny bit.

X-Men:Kingbreaker #3 (of 4)

I will admit that this series is a bit more bland that I’d hoped for.
I really though his would be more exciting overall, its not bad per-say, but like I stated a bit dry IMO.
Its entertaining, but only just.

The Amazing Spider-Man #587

Great fun developments!
Spidey’s in Jail!
Menace is revealed!
Matt Murdoch is Parker’s lawyer!
And the Spider-Tracer killer has been revealed!
The only complaint I have of this ish is that I apparently have to have a Marvel account to go and read the actual court room happenings and that’s fucking lame as hell.
In fact its the epitome of taking the value out of comics….

Outsiders #15

Fun fun fun!
I’ve been a fan of every version of the Outsiders to date, and Tomasi is the man for this job!
I would never have guessed that Owlman would appeal to me as much as he does, but I was sold right from the Annual!

Thats all I gots to say for now!

Legion of Super-Heroes!

Last weeks final issue of LSH is an insult to the fans and comic readers everywhere, combined with a solicitation lie to get us to by the ish!

It was supposed to be written by Jim Shooter but wasn’t and it didn’t even sport art by series (and brilliant wrap around cover) artist Francis Manapul!

Its reads like shit looks like shit and made me feel like shit for buying it!

But then there’s this week and the Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds comic!

Written by the ever consistent imaginative, respectful, enthusiastic and talented Geoff Johns, and drawn by my personal favorite penciller George Perez this comic is out-fucking standing!

Solid plot, great and vivid characterization, brilliant art, and on top of it all each and every character written has distinctive personalities that are completely on track and mindful of personality-continuity.

Rarely have I read and seen such meticulous work.

Each page is a love letter to the DCU and the LSH in all of its various incarnations, and the intervweaving done to connect certain stories and histories is all but completely mind blowing.

All that and somebody shows up that made me pee myself a little bit!

Outstanding work, and a must buy for anybody who’s a fan of the LSH!

Another extremely interesting factor for DCU fans is the numbering of a certain Earth that is a far far higher number than 52…

Man I loved these 2  stories.

(All due respect to Robert Parizek!)

With each issue they both just got better and better, more so Final Crisis than R.I.P. as Final Crisis unfortunately had its main opening moments ruined by Countdown

Unfortunately for Final Crisis in the last 2 issues the art started to fall apart yet although the quality slipped there were still many great moment regardless.

Say what you will of Grant Morrison’s writing style but I personally like a story that challenges me to let go of my preconceived notion of what a comic should be, and lets my imagination be the judge of what works and what doesn’t.

I like having a ton of ideas coming my way one after the other like a Gatling gun of conceptual madness, and that what that Grant Morrison guy does best!

And for all the nay-sayers that R.I.P. didn’t come to its conclusion in R.I.P.?

The plot of R.I.P. was Batman dealing with the Black Hand.

And that did indeed come to a conclusion in R.I.P..

Its simply the curse that the Black Hand places on “the cowl” that wasn’t resolved and that ties the title “R.I.P.” to the storyline which wasn’t resolved.

Of course with the way the DCU was effected by the R.I.P. storyline, and Batman’s having been missing during R.I.P. and considered dead and being mourned the title had relevance even before his ultimate fate in Final Crisis.

A good story is a good story, and regardless of Didio’s silly way of marketing the book and suggesting the Black Hand story wasn’t finished at the end of R.I.P. was just kinda dumb.

I have no idea why Didio didn’t just say that R.I.P. ended with R.I.P. but had an set into motion things that would be resolved in RIP final rites and the last 2 issues of Final Crisis.

Because at the end of R.I.P. it seemed like the end R.I.P. but we were told that wasn’t indeed the ending, and now that the so-called real ending is here its really obvious that R.I.P. did end in R.I.P.

So my questions are:

What the hells going on with Didio?

How does Morrison feel about all this?

Was it his insistence that R.I.P. not be considered over until the end of Final Crisis, or Dan Didio’s?

Because if Grant Morrison says that R.I.P. didn’t end until final Crisis #7 I think I will be confused.

Strangely I think I might even be okay with that?