I Kill Giants #5 strikes hard this week, (Kelley/Nimura/Image) with emotional buildup leading to Barbara’s imagination breaking forth!  The emotional drama in this book has been great, and the appearance of the mammoth titan at the conclusion of this book has me itching for more!  At times I feel I’m just as lost as the Barbara’s counselor, but with 2 issues to go, I can still say I’m anxious to see where things go!

Green Arrow/Black Canary 14 (Winnick/Norton/DC) is the final issue for Judd Winnick after FIVE! years of breathing life into Oliver Queen and the Arrow Family.  He’s leaving the story with a solid romance, and Connor and Mia growing into their own.  Connor for the longest time had been the “other” Green Arrow, and in a tragic blessing, now can find his own identity.  I’m a bit sad to see him as mentally lost, and not slinging arrows, but seeing Ollie back him up on the streets made things OK again.  The writer to take over wrote for the short lived “Mission Hill” cartoon, which I enjoyed, but I’m curious to see where GA and company go next.  Thanks for the stories Judd!

Batman Cacophony (Smith/Flannagan/DC) is Kevin Smith’s return to comics. Going into this, I was more curious than excited I think.  I read and liked his Green Arrow run (with Batman cameo now that I think about it), and was COMPLETELY baffled to hear he’d be on Batman.  How was this going to work?  Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy Kevin Smith.  He was a great fit for the ranting, oversexed Oliver Queen.  In my mind he was a poor fit for Bruce.  Plus, his friend Walt “Steve Dave” Flannagan was getting his first crack at a big property, A REALLY BIG PROPERTY…  In short, Onamotapoeia is back, his Joker was amusing, great Zasz, but I didn’t feel the gravity that I usually expect to come from a Batman book.  The amount of villain cameos in this book would make even Jeph Loeb blush. (and hey…I liked Hush!)  Walt did an pretty good job, but nothing to really make him stand out.  My favorite bit was the EXTREMELY Kevin Smith scene between Joker and Onamotapoeia, Flannagan really pushed the Jokers face around and got Mark Hammil’s voice going off in my head.  Honestly, I think my favorite thing about the issue was Adam Kubert’s cover.