Things That Made Me Happy...

in my comics this week.

• Okay, if you'd told me Jonah Hex was going to be about a gay lynching, I wouldn't have believed you. Thank you, Palmiotti and Gray, from reminding readers that gay people weren't invented in the 1970s, and that they are just as human as anyone else. I could say more, but I think I'll hold my tongue instead.
• Also, hats off to Palmiotti and Gray for keeping Jonah Hex the morally ambiguous Two-Face of the West, who is at once completely non-judgmental about some things and utterly judgmental about others.
• An actual, honest to god Editor's Note in Teen Titans Year One.
• Speaking of which, Aquaman's and Flash's dismissal of their sidekicks were perfectly and efficiently calculated to prey on the insecurities of each boy.
• Darkseid playing Heroclix (and using the new Crisis set, it seems).
• As of this week, I subscribe to Nightwing, which seems to have gone overnight from one of DC's worst books to one of its best.
• I've often wanted the body of Black Condor, but it never occurred to me to steal it!
• Ryan's dog's butt to the rescue!
• Aqualad versus the squirrel. I really want a poster of that.
• Hippolyta versus Granny Goodness.
• Jonah Hex versus a ten-dollar whore with a heart of gold.
  
• Black Lightning surprises us with another daughter ex nihilo! Jeff sure knows how to keep busy. So, um, does he have, you know, like, a wife, or does he just zap the ground Zeus-wise and grown daughters spring up fully armored?
  
• Okay, was that Hawkman saying, "Your tattoo is pulsating?" If so, that's kind of hot.
• Jonah Hex wasn't the only morally complicated comic this week. Justice League Unlimited features a very interesting story by Dan Raspler about trust, recidivism, & good intentions gone bad. It's the kind of rich character study that used to be in comics in the 1940s, and doing it with a member of one of comics' most two-dimensional characters, the Royal Flush Gang, was genius.
• The return of the Tweeds.
• Nightwing and Superman's photo op.
  
• Mary Marvel calling someone a six-foot baby giraffe.
• We finally get to understand what's been going on in Ivy Town!
• Ryan Choi in his underwear, covered in syrup, and tied up in a lasso. I'll have what she's having!
• Do not let Starman order the pizza.
• Do not mess with Topo.
• Do not shaft the Mad Hatter.
• Nightwing drops in to thank Bruce.
  
• Am I mistaken or is something very odd about the weather in Teen Titans Year One? Are we being reminded about Mister Twister for a reason...?
• I like Amazing Man's outfit. At first I thought it was silly that he wears that serape-thingie without a shirt, but when your power requires you to touch stuff, showing skin makes sense.
• Thank you, art team on Teen Titans Year One, for remembering what color Aqualad's eyes are supposed to be.
  
• I guess now Hippolyta's got a new island of Amazons Lite. That's good; it helps keep Wonder Woman unique, but still gives her a homeland.
• Travel stickers on Jakeem's suitcase. I wish DC sold those.