Comic Book Moments of the Week for 06/22/11

A special polybagged inventory issue for this episode of Moments of the Week, showing a very sad puppy in Superman, the death of Ultimate Spider-Man as spoiled by news outlets on Tuesday, Underbolt shenanigans in Thunderbolts, and Damian is nothing less than a jerk in Batman: Gates of Gotham. More after the jump? Of course, lets relaunch to the max!

Action Comics #902

Lois Lane keeps hope alive, even as a space ship comes hurtling towards Earth, spelling Doomsday for all mankind.

Such a nice, polite young man, saving us all instead of just his loved ones. Superman saves the day, slowing the ship down enough to merely cause a giant tidal wave off of Metropolis' coast, which the super-family stops.

Clark, your impression of Aquaman really needs some work.

This is a nice moment between the two, where it seems like Paul Cornell is being a little meta with the Lois and Clark dialogue after years of relative Supermanless stories in his own books, a shame this will more than likely all go out the window in two months.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2

Like Kirk mentioned in his review, Damian has no filter when it comes to talking to any other hero outside of Dick or Bruce. Sooner or later Cass is going to change her name to Black-eye Bat and just beat the crap out of Damian.

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost #1

Bart and an alternate Hot Pursuit are actually in the 30th Century of this new world, where Brainiac has taken over like Skynet in the Terminator franchise. On top of that, no more Speedforce! If this mini involves Bart selling Plutonium to the Libyans at some point, NBC Universal's lawyers are going to come after DC faster than a flash fact.

Flashpoint: Lois Lane and the Resistance #1

Amazons are Grade-A jerks. This happened right after Aquaman flooded Paris, of which Jimmy Olsen was lost in the rush of water.

Not wanting Jimmy's death to be in vain, Lois becomes Cyborg's new informant behind enemy lines. Amazon occupied UK is very much like the novel 1984, with invisible planes watching over the people, men being separated from the women and placed into work camps, and making worthy women be experimented on to become super strong soldiers (Hawkgirl is a Fury, too).

Iron Man 2.0 #6

Old Marvel gods sure had a lot of ruckus' back in the day. The Monkey King probably got Titania's stuck bag of Doritos in the ancient vending machine.

Superman #712

The recent Superman issue that caused a little bit of a stir, we finally get the Busiek/Leonardi Krypto issue, originally set as a fill-in for Superman in 2007. Sitting on the porch waiting for Conner after recuperating from Superboy Prime's attack, Krypto realizes that he might as well fly around the world to find his best buddy. I just love the art showing Krypto unfurling his collar cape.

Touching pages of Krypto letting out his pain at realizing Conner died. On top of that, since Superman was off world saving the universe and is now powerless, Krypto feels alone, so he flys out to an asteroid during the One Year Later time period. If you do not like Krypto, you do not like comics. There, I said it.

Thunderbolts #159

Mr. Hyde is effective at dealing with the new generation of villains.

So the Underbolts are now biding their time, waiting until a new mission to run away from the team. Will their hearts warm to the idea of being a hero, or will villainy prevail?

The Moonstone story dealt with Karla keeping the women prisoners in line and ultimately becoming their leader. More importantly, who knew there were fat fish people out there?

And in the Ghost story, John Walker does his best to save all the prisoners he can while getting the Raft's security and life support back online, which is a complete 180 from what Ghost expected of the greatest Captain America ever. On top of that, word didn't spread to the other prisoners that while Walker only has one arm and one leg, he can still kick your butt.

Ultimate Spider-Man #160

MJ runs over Norman, thinking he was a squirrel....

...only to be flung away by Peter, in a scene that seems destined to be taken out of context for years to come.

Just a really cool scene of Peter finally shutting Norman up. Bendis mentioned this was Bagley's best issue of his career, and I'm inclined to agree.

And the scene shown around the world on Tuesday. Do we really expect him to stay dead, folks? Or come back to life in Ultimate Fallout, similar to Ultimate Spider-Man Requiem?

X-Men Legacy #251

Frenzy takes out Legion's lost persona, Susan in Sunshine, in a way that makes Teddy Ruxpin lose sleep at night. Another panel that can be used out of context for years to come.