The Black Glove closes on Manny Fresh!

Hoo boy. It's Friday, September 24, 2010, and in a startling change of pace I'm not ready for the weekend. Got the annual Beach Workout tomorrow and I'm still putting together what I plan on teaching.

However, someone else has much bigger problems.

MANNY FRESH R.I.P.

Previously I covered a plot against local radio personality Manny Fresh. I fear things may have progressed. I'm not sure he's going to survive the weekend.

At this time he prepared to meet someone who he knows on the internet that claims to be an old acquaintance that has reconnected with Manny via Facebook. That should raise a few alarms in and of itself, but more disturbing is that Manny has not executed his normal cyber jujitsu to properly vet this person. Combine this with recent events and I fear there may very well be a conspiracy to destroy Manny Fresh.

This Facebook person is allegedly a woman who is promising the one thing that is known to have power over Manny: weird sex. Manny has accepted the bait hook, line, and sinker. But could this alleged woman be the Jezebel Jett to Manny's Bruce Wayne? Could this be part of a larger ploy to utterly destroy our BatManny? His defenses have been dropped making him quite vulnerable. In fact he heading into this weekend's activities against the very vocal admonishments of the rest of The Mike and Bob Show.

There has already been a few cyber assaults on Manny which he has fended off in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, I fear his Achilles heel. That early assault on the part of the Manny Fresh Sucks Guy could have been some early sparring to determine the extent of Manny's abilities. The moving of the radio show to the morning might be a Machiavellian ploy to deprive Manny of sleep thus impairing his judgment. And now over the last few weeks Manny has been lured into the cunning web of this e-black widow. And there's the ever present threat of Peter Criss Mask, who it the utter wild card in this equation.

This has to be one giant conspiracy. A trap that is so intricate that Manny is already caught. He just doesn't know it yet.

Will Manny Fresh survive the weekend? Will he have to call upon the assistance of his associated Hat-Club and The Silver Fox to aid him? Will he have to become the Manny Fresh of Zur En Arrg to survive? We'll have to wait until Monday to see if Manny is still on the show.

The suspense is killing me.

COMIX!!

Leading off with SUPERGIRL #56 which had our hero doing exactly what I like to see those wearing the red "S" doing: having big space adventures. Kara's off to try to save Bizarro World, which means some sweet Bizarro fun. Sterling Gates knocks it right out of the park in delivering out of the world adventure, but keeping our heroine emotionally real and grounded.

This storyline is a real treat. We have Supergirl working her way through some heavy emotional stuff. We have some really hysterical Bizarro stuff. And we have big nasty sci-fi world threatening stuff. I am typing 'stuff' a lot because my high English teacher Ms. Warren hates that word for inexplicable reasons known only to herself, and frankly none of us liked her.

This book did pull a bit of a stunt in its big reveal in that the art on the double-splash page is sideways. Well done stuff. It forces me to pay attention. That and the image is absolutely stunning.

On to LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #5 in which we have Paul Levitz working really hard to redeem the Geoff Johns creation Earth-man who I think most of us wouldn't mind seeing get his ass kicked every other issue. This title is still winning me over. Its got a lot of overcome. I don't like the circumstances in which it came into being. I don't like that some good folks got screwed over in the deal. I definitely don't like the majority of the costume designs. Still, Levitz makes it a pretty enjoyable read.

THE SKYROCKET #3 hit the stores the week wrapping up Mike Federali and Os Petroli's freshman effort. We get some more world building. The working relationship between Sam and Agent Evans is firmly established. Oh and there's a mad scientist with tentacles coming out of his back who is trying to kidnap Sam and make her wear a sailor outfit. OK, I made that last bit up. Wanted to make sure you people were still paying attention. The story is pretty solid stuff as well as the art. It could use a bit more rendering, but I think Petroli is definitely on the right track. This series has done a good job of world building and there's tons of possibilities for it so I'm looking forward to seeing what's next.

I found ATOMICA #1 sitting on the shelf today and it seemed like a good reason to give something new a shot. My pull list has been hemorrhaging titles lately. This book has stopped the bleed. It’s light fun with the emphasis on science adventure. The origin story seems almost Silver Age with a scientist, Doctor Colluns, doing some experiment. There’s an accident and an explosion and when the smoke clears we have a girl with amnesia in the middle of it with an amulet that gives her super powers. The storytelling is almost hokey, but it’s saved from that by being so earnest. Our heroine mixes it up with would-be kidnappers and seems surprised by every new power she manifests. What is very refreshing is that Rose isn’t angsty over her plight. She doesn’t spend panel after panel and page after page going on and on about her lost memories or where she could have come from. Instead she shows the kind of guts and pluck that reminds me a lot of early issues of Erik Larson’s THE SAVAGE DRAGON. Sure, she has problems and questions about herself, which I’m sure will be dealt with in later issues, but for now Rose a.k.a. Atomica is on the scene and ready to help.

MUSIC!!

With all the excited of Manny Fresh's impending demise I need a little Pink Floyd to calm my nerves.



OK, that's it for today. Have a great weekend, and good luck to Manny. Hope you're alive and still have all your vital organs on Monday.

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