Prelude to Deadpool Corps - Victor Gischler & lots of artists

Deadpool is one of those characters that I'd heard lots about but had very little exposure to.  I'd not read any of his comics but had seen the character in the Hulk vs Wolverine cartoon where he was excellent fun and also of course his sort of appearance in the Wolverine movie.
This 5 issue mini is as the name suggests a scene setter for a Deadpool series featuring the 5 Deadpools - the obvious one, 'Tito' (the kid), 'Cujo' (the dog), 'Shorty No Pockets' (the disembodied zombie head) & 'Boobs' (the lady).
In this series we see them all collected together from Xavier's orphanage, a circus sideshow, a tropical island and a battle with General America.  It culminates with them winning a capture the flag competition against some colourful teddy bears and some robots in order to win the chance to save the multiverse.
It was silly but not really funny enough.  Some of the art was nice but Kyle Baker's remains as unappealing to me as ever.
OK but not great.

Tank Girl: The Royal Escape - Alan Martin & Rufus Dayglo

It's been a long while since I've read any Tank Girl. I love the old Deadline stuff and I still have my copy of the collection here. I also have the Alan Grant one (Apocalypse) and The Gifting here but I've yet to read them.
I got this one from the library last week and gave it a read.  To be perfectly honest it's a mess.  The fun was gone and the story was just piffle really.
I've never heard of the artist before but apparently he's done work for 2000AD.  His art was pretty solid. Very reminiscent of Jamie Hewlett but I wonder if that's deliberate for this project.  The colour palette was very limited, lots of green and red with occasional splashes of yellow and orange.
At this particular moment I'm thinking this is pretty much a dead product / concept / comic.

Justic League of America: The Lightning Saga - Brad Meltzer & Geoff Johns (plus lots of artists)

This, I think is the launch of the current re-invention of the Legion.  It is, to all intents and purposes a return to the old original series.  There are some strange tweaks here and there - like Wildfire having Red Tornado's body - but it's pretty faithful apart from that.
The writing is split into alternating chapters between the two writers.  It dies show a little but it's the spilt of the artists that's most jarring.  Most of it is pretty solid but Dale Eaglesham on chapter 4 really isn't up to it.  Stiff ugly and characterless. Like a considerably less talented Curt Swan.
The story seemed a little bit pointless but I'm sure at some point down the line I'll pick up something else that'll help me assemble the pieces. I know Karate Kid is all through 52 so Final Crisis seems the direction to head.
An interesting diversion. Nothing more.

Powers vol.11: Secret Identity - Brian Bendis & Michael Oeming

A strange one this time out. 
We see Walker coming to grips with a new role, new powers and a new relationship. 
Right in thew middle of this Queen Mab's husband is found murdered. Chaos and retribution abound as various members of her team either turn up dead or are murdered in front of Walker and Pilgrim.
The resolution of the book sees a new angle opening up as we now have demons thrown into the mix.
I'm not sure how I feel about this but it'll probably be interesting to see how it pans out.

Doctor Who:Hornet's Nest ep 1: The Stuff of Nightmares - Paul Magrs

This is the first of 5 of these Hornet's Nest stories that mark the first time Tom Baker has been talked into re-donning the scarf since he regenerated.
The story is pretty slight but good fun. It features Captain Mike Yates answering an ad in the paper that seems to have been placed there especially to catch his attention.  He answers , travels to a remote cottage and discovers the Doctor living there with a crotchety old housekeeper and a menagerie of stuffed animals that have a tendency to spring to life and attack.
The Doctor then relates the story of the Hornets that inhabit the brains of these ex-animals and of his first encounter with them. The rest of the series deals with subsequent dealings.
It's fab to hear Baker again.  He's on top form delivering some rapier lines of dialogue.  When the mind controlled taxidermist accuses him of being crackers the Doctor replies "Marvellous isn't it!" in his huge booming voice.  I was giggling for a mile (I was listening in my car).
Captain Yates is a good surprise too.  Richard Franklyn has a great voice for these audio plays.
Like I said the storyline is a little light and most of it involves the Doctor telling Captain Mike the story so far. Two other characters appear - and they only briefly - and all the tension is built through Baker's wonderful voice and some good music.
The prospect of another 4 of these is a nice thought and I've already loaded the second onto my little blue mp3 player.
Marvellous!

Powers vol.10: Cosmic - Brian Bendis & Michael Oeming

Better and better and better; and it didn't start off half bad.
Probably my favourite Power storyline so far.  There have been a couple of strong ones but this one rocked (as they say on TV)
The pair investigate a murder (guy squished by flying guy) only to discover that the dead guy is, not just a Power but the guardian of our entire galaxy (basically a Green Lantern).  Walker then through the course of the story inherits the guys powers and responsibilities but also finds a girlfriend.
Deanna on the other hand is being investigated by internal affairs and really struggling to deal with her new powers.  It looks like these new abilities are boosting her somehow as she leeches off of and kills some gangster type with the same powers and the FBI woman keeps commenting on how good she looks.
I'm really having to ration myself on these books as I've only 2 volumes left and I don't really want to just hurtle through them and squander the ride.

New Avengers / Transformers - Stuart Moore & Tyler Kirkham

As good as the artist on this piece of woefulness was you are never going to make a transformer look like anything other than a cheap plastic toy.
I  like that I missed being part of the transformer generation.  My little brother had them and I always thought of them as the most ridiculous excuse for a toy.  The robot bit was cool, the being able to change bit was cool too (apart from the useless giant gun) but it all looked so cheap and nasty.
Anyway the story has baddie robots using as Doc Doom (naffest villain ever) invented prism to start a war between Latveria and a neighbouring country.  The Avengers (Cap, Spidey, Luke Cage, Wolverine, Iron Man, Ms Marvel & Falcon) go in. Spidey is captured and used to boost their energies in ways barely explained and utterly nonsensical before the goodie robots turn up and everything stumbles to an end with a tedious inevitability.

JLA: The Tornado's Path - Brad Meltzer & Ed Benes

I got this out of the Library earlier today as I'd scored a copy of the JLA: Lightning Saga GN which follows on directly from this story.  Well, to be perfectly honest it follows on from the last page of this story when Trident is discovered to be from the 30th Century.
I've read this book before a couple of years ago and it's ok.  It's never going to be the best JLA, Grant Morrison has got those accolades pretty much sewn up, but it's solid enough.  It loses focus now and again but Meltzer has a solid grip on the characters and keeps up a nice pace.
The art i big and bold. Very much rooted in the Jim Lee / Todd McFalrane super-artists styles of the early nineties but nice enough.  Some of the poses he puts the female characters in are beyond suspect - the Black Canary stabby splash page springs to mind - but on the whole I quite liked it.
Which is pretty much how I felt of the book as a whole.