Capsuled: Atom #3, Outsiders #40, OMAC #3

Bitchin' week. A week of joyless humdrumming. I always get confused with live-to-work and work-to-live --- is there a lesser a lava pit? Someone has gone all Brother Eye on me, crisis of infinite ego. Now, for that lobotomy.

Let's escape, shall we?

THE ALL-NEW ATOM #3
Written by Gail Simone; Art by John Byrne and Trevor Scott;
Cover by Ariel Olivetti

Trippy. And gooey. A war's about to break out between an alien acne cyclops and insect robots with bad grammar while the Atom is swimming in digestive juice inside Giganta. Genius, ain't it? Morrison's oddity with Simone's words is impenetrable abusurdity like Roussel's theatre but even better because it's funny and strangely, quite grounded. The science of shrinking, unstable molecular integrity, etc. is all bubbly babble in sports action reportage, detailed panic in its purest sense. And it's cool how the asian Atom is getting all the girlies' attention. And tongue action. *****


Outsiders #40
Written by Judd Winick; Art by Matthew Clark and Art Thibert;
Cover by Daniel Acuña

Never trust a monkey in love, indeed. Monsieur Mallah's got it bad for the Brain. He's got is so bad that he's made a business out of it and could give all the super villains a run for their money. Literally. I'd like to get me some cloned metahuman superhero myself --- oh the possibilities --- but for Mallah, it's an expression of epic adoration. I like it how Mallah's intention is the purest and most focused. The OYL run has found the Outsiders edging toward terrorism, alarming even Superman. Post-crisis Dick Grayson is more Jason Todds in his ways; the kryptonite Nightwing keeps just in case Superman goes all Maxwell Lord again says it all. The heroes are more confused with their ways and purpose, and Mallah's singular fixation --- to create a body for the Brain --- is the most honorable of all. Whatever profit the couple makes from the clones all go into perfecting the process. It is kinda sweet in a Mary Shelley way. Issue #40 finds all the Outsiders captured except for a morsel of Metamorpho and Katana who are searching the decks for a particular clone to help them free Nightwing and co. And the chosen (cl)one totally kicks ass --- Superman! They just freed another Bizarro, and while the plan did work, well, let's just say the Outsiders fucked up big time. I think it's about time Batman gave Nightwing a good spanking. *****


OMAC #3
Written by Bruce Jones; Art and Cover by Renato Guedes

The art on this book is consistently excellent. Reminds me of the "Waking Life" animation, sharp and fluid. And it's really the main reason why I'm buying this book, and I'm sorta nostalgic over the OMACs in the eighties. (This week's ish c/o Faye, thanks sis!) The story so far is ... floundering a little. The human host of the last OMAC is a coke head and how he's able to control the OMAC is beyond me though I'm thinking that maybe he is special or something. And now he's obssessed with a Vegas showgirl. An OMAC superhero seems like a possibility, but I hope Brother Eye regains control in the end and sends this OMAC to a duel to the death with Cyborg and Firestorm who spend most of their time staring at computer screens and looking puzzled. **