Comics I Read: Catching Up #19

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Guardians of the Galaxy 19-23: I’m not sure how I wound up so far behind on this series, because it is actually one of my favorite Marvel titles. Abnett and Lanning are striking the perfect balance between humor and tragedy (the end of #19 is particularly brutal.) They’re so good at being surprising without seeming random that I’m reluctant to be too specific about the plot – I’d rather that you read it. My only criticism is that the book now seems to have two artists alternating issues and one of them has a more “cartoony” style than the other, which undercuts the serious moments a little bit.

Green Arrow/Black Canary 24-29: I also have been enjoying Andrew Kriesberg’s run on this book, but I think I let these issues sit around because his “Cupid” villain is a little too much “Harley Quinn” for my taste and because I felt the breakup (temporary or not) was forced. The good news is that it wasn’t actually a breakup, but the bad news is that it leads to five issues of Cupid, a fake Green Arrow and a previously unknown clandestine government organization (as if the DCU doesn’t have enough of those.) It’s not badly done, but it doesn’t go anywhere – which may have been the point since #30 is the “Black Lantern Green Arrow” issue and who knows what the state of things will be after that.

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