Because invariably I’ll have another post’s worth by next week.
THE ALL-NEW INVADERS: Gods and Soldiers by James Robinson and Steve Pugh is an enjoyable-enough book in which the Invaders—the WW II retcon team of Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Bucky/Winter Soldier and Captain America—reunite in the present to battle a Kree plot to obtain an ultimate weapon. James Robinson’s work is very hit-or-miss with me (loved Starman, hated his Justice League) but this is enjoyable, though not a standout.
WONDER WOMAN: Down to Earth launched Greg Rucka’s run on the book (several different illustrators contribute) as a new staffer joins the Amazonian embassy, various plots get launched in both Earth and Olympus, and Wonder Woman writes a book. Impressive that it stays interesting without any major super-action for most of the story. However I do wonder why Diana no longer uses her lasso as a weapon (it’s indestructible, super-elastic and was always her go-to weapon up until the Perez reboot, so why use it just to make people tell the truth?).
THE UNWRITTEN: The Unwritten Fables by Mike Carey, Bill Willingham, Peter Gross and Mark Buckingham is an oddball crossover between the two Vertigo series. Escaping the underworld, Tom finds himself in the Fables’ world except in this version the war against Mr. Dark has gone very much against them. The combination doesn’t quite work for me (Tom is almost sidelined) but it obviously has seeds for the future: Pullman gets a new lease on life and a new plan to take out Leviathan and Tom learns that the barrier between reality and story isn’t as clear-cut as he thought (“Perhaps the stairway of worlds goes up and down to infinity, with no top and no bottom.”).
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS was a groundbreaking miniseries by Frank Miller set in a future Gotham where increasing urban collapse finally drives the retired Batman back into action, much to the displeasure of everyone except the people he saves. This vision of Gotham in urban decay was shocking at the time,and still better executed than the endless Gotham in Flames storylines we’ve seen since. The handling of the aging Batman, new Robin Carrie Kelly and the retiring Commissioner Gordon are also striking. On the downside, Miller’s portrayal of everyone else feels like recycled right-wing cliches from the late sixties (Dirty Harry, for instance): reporters are cheap sensationalists who don’t give a damn, politicians are weaselly cowards (which in this world-view means they’re soft on crime, not calling for tougher sentences) and police can’t do anything because the law ties them in red tape (although in fairness to Miller, he’s quite happy to have Green Arrow sinking nuclear submarines and other actions you don’t usually see in a comic). A classic, but I can see why I waited so long to reread it.
As we’re looking at adopting a puppy, I picked up HOW TO SPEAK DOG: Mastering the Art of Dog-Human Communication by Stanley Coren. The author argues that dogs understand us quite well, including both reading body language and recognizing words and that their own language of barks, tail-wags, raised ears and mouth movements give them a fairly sophisticated level of language. From the practical viewpoint, it also includes a breakdown of What Your Dog Is Saying and suggestions for training (dogs staring at you are trying to establish dominance, so feeding them only reinforces that; using the dog’s name before you give the command ensures she’s paying attention). A useful primer.
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