DC This Week Roundup – Body-Swaps and Dark Parlays
Fire and Ice: When Hell Freezes Over #2 cover, via DC Comics.
Ray: This second volume of Joanne Starer's reinvention of the JLI girls is definitely denser and wackier than the previous one, and it doesn't get much wackier than a bodyswap. Trying to get their powers back where they should be, Fire experimented with magic – and wound up with the right powers, but in the wrong body. This leads to chaos, as the two are scheduled to appear at the Smallville Fair, and their performance goes horribly wrong in more ways than one. After Bea gets tired and wishes that everyone who finds this funny could see what they're going through, it happens again – and their close group of friends winds up all swapped as well. Zachary Zatara offers a way out of it, but they'll need to head into dangerous territory to pull it off. Overall, this issue definitely embraces the oddball roots of the property, and the bawdy nature of the humor won't be for everyone, but I laughed out loud several times. DC Vs. Vampires: World War V #9 cover, via DC Comics. DC vs. Vampires: World War V #9 – Matthew Rosenberg, Shane McCarthy, Writers; Otto Schmidt, Fabio Veras, Artists; Pierluigi Casolino, Francesco Segala, Colorists Ray – 8/10
Ray: This comic has firmly shifted from a horror tone to a pure action tone with this issue, as Darkseid's invasion shifts the direction of the war and forces even the humans and vampires to forge an uneasy alliance. Queen Barbara and Grodd do their best to intimidate Green Arrow, but ultimately both sides are reluctantly taking direction from the New Gods. There's a big mission down to Atlantis, as well as a great reveal about the fate of Mister Miracle, but the tone is so overtly chaotic that few characters make an impact – except for the bizarrely funny teamup of Green Lantern Alfred and Ra's Al Ghul Batman.
The backup, featuring Wildcat, might be the stronger of the two stories. Ted Grant has been in search of his son Tommy, only to discover the boy's already been turned. What follows is one of the more personal, sadder tales in this series so far, and one perfectly suited to one of DC's best down-to-earth blue-collar heroes.
To find reviews of all the DC issues, visit DC This Week.
GeekDad received this comic for review purposes. Liked it? Take a second to support GeekDad and GeekMom on Patreon!
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