". . . you took it all. YOU TOOK IT ALL AWAY!"

For whatever reason, I am hunting for some Amazing Spidey issues, and not finding them.

They're the two issue-arcs from Joe Kelly/Chris Bachalo, and Mark Waid/Marcos Martin. I heard they were good, so hopefully, maybe they'll make me feel better about reading Spidey again!

Ah well, on with this week's comics. I only got two.

Batman #685
by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen

This is the tail end of Dini's "Faces of Evil" two-issue special, the first part focusing on Hush, this part on Catwoman. Along the way, we get taken from the usual urban and gritty setting of Gotham, to the jungles of Vietnam! Catwoman ended up there, in order to break apart a poaching industry, and Hush ended up there running away from the law.

We've definitely seen this before (Catwoman as an animal rights person), and it's great to see it again. She gets a couple really great lines in the beginning, and then we get into the nitty-gritty of the plot: how she frees the animals, escapes the poachers and screws one over on Hush.

That's one of the flaws too, because while last issue was certainly devoted to Hush, this one, eh, not as much to Catwoman. The plot twist though, near the end, is pretty nice, and the ending is pretty standard. A fun arc that gets wrapped up nicely!

Neil Gaiman is taking over for the next issues of Batman and Detective for a "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" special. Eh, I doubt I'll get 'em. I'm poor, and I can probably get the gist from the blogosphere.


Nova #21
by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Wellinton Alves

So, the last page for this had Richard Rider on his knees in the grass, shouting into the sky.

Naked. It's pretty hilarious. The rest of the issue, well, is kind of offbeat. There are a lot of talking heads here for an issue of Nova, and it's focused on whether or not Richard's lost his marbles due to holding the entire Xandarian intelligence in his brain.

Not really sure what to think of this, exactly. It's pretty different from normal issues.

Nothing to do but sit back and wait, really. Now that Richard is out of the Corps., what will he do? Will he lash out in rage against the Corps? Will the Corps., since it has the power but not the experience, fail somehow and re-recruit Richard?

This is definitely unfamiliar territory, and hopefully next issue provides some answers.