House Rules!: 52: Week 2: Electric Bugaloo.

Okay, maybe not. But anything sounds awesome when followed by Electric Bugaloo. Need to get up to speed on this week's weekly installment of weekly... events? Have no fear, I am here. And eventually, anyone else that wants to drop their two cents will be, too. I'll try to follow the format of the Meister and give you adequate warning that spoilers will be here. So skip past if such things offend you.


********** Yarr! There be Spoilers Here! **********


52: Week 2

"Looking Back at Tomorrow"

Day 1:

Ralph Dibny AKA Elongated Man stands at the gravesite of his former wife Sue taking pictures. The groundskeeper interrupts Ralph and notes that he is a big fan of the Elongated Man. Ralph notes that it isn't mere vandalism. Someone has left him a message in the one place they knew he would find it. As for who that someone is, a twitchy-nosed Ralph tells the young man... it's a mystery.

Meanwhile, in a clunky basement, Booster Gold converses with Dr. Will Magnus. Doc Magnus is trying to diagnose the problem with Booster's machine pal Skeets, but Skeets' future tech is a little advanced for the doctor. As if on cue, Skeets hums back to life, stating that he enjoyed his time offline. Skeets tells Booster that it must have been a glitch in his system that caused his malfunction, otherwise someone is messing with the fabric of time. And of course, no one could possibly be doing that...

Anywho, Booster drops Dr. Magnus off at the facility that's holding Professor T. O. Morrow. Magnus tells Morrow that Red Tornado has sacrificed himself to protect the earth. Morrow wonders why Tornado keeps doing that, noting that only one of his "brothers," the Red Tornado, has ever showed that kind of self-awareness. Morrow warns Magnus that a good many of the mad scientists in the world are disappearing, possibly rounded up, and that Magnus should watch his step.

Day 3:

Hot lesbians in their underpants. I am not making this **** up, that's really what's going on. The Question, semi-weird guy that he is, slinks through Renee Montoya's house. Finding her in bed with a woman, Question presents Montoya with a thong and a question: "Who are you?" Montoya responds by pulling her gun and firing at Question, who vanishes and leaves nothing but a note with an address with a question mark.

Day 4:

In Metropolis, Flight 2824 is having a critical failure and is coming in for a crash landing. Booster Gold gets a heads-up from Skeets that the plane is coming in from the north and flies to intercept it. Booster looks around and sees nothing, but it turns out the plane is coming in from the other direction. In apanic, Booster and Skeets struggle but manage to bring the plane down safely. Booster confronts Skeets afterward over the misinformation, but Skeets states that it must be one last glitch in his self-repair. As Skeets declares that all's well and Flight 2824 is just fine now, a newspaper in Sydney declares that hundreds are dead on Flight 2428.

From her apartment, Renee Montoya continues her current job as a drunk contemplating her state in life. As she laments the question that Queston posed to her, she comments to herself that she doesn't have a clue who she is as she grabs her jacket and heads outside.

Going to the address that Question left, Montoya finds it's an abandoned building. Question suddenly appears and notes it's a dump. Montoya tries to attack him, but Question quickly disarms her. Question tells Montoya that he's going to hire her as a detective, and that she should judge the building not by how it looks but by how it's used and who uses it. As Question vanish in a cloud of gas, Montoya screams at him that she still has questions.

Day 6:

At Titans Tower, Wonder Girl holds a memorial service for Superboy at a shrine with a clearly kryptonian theme. As the webcast ends, we see that it's being shared by people across the world. Ralph Dibny arrives and tells Cassie that someone defaced his wife's grave with a message he thinks was from her. Ralph explains that he realizes that Cassie did her homework with the altar. Not many people realize that the 'S' has a literal meaning as a symbol. On Krypton, it translates as the word "hope." Ralph shows Cassie a photo of Sue Dibny's gravesite with the s symbol inverted, thne notes that when inverted, the symbol stands for something altogether different: resurrection.

End of Week 2.

*************** End of Line. Ahem, End of Spoilers, that is. ***************

I hate to admit it, but I do enjoy the format of this book. From the credits that sort of "roll" between the panels of the first pages to the day by day format the story is presented in, it creates its own unique feel that makes the story its own.

And speaking of story, there are a lot of interesting elements in this week's installment. Perhaps the biggest plot point so far is the possibility that someone or something is messing with the fabric of time. Hopefully, the entire thing turns out to be an actual plot element and not just some random freak of nature.

Ralph's mystery appears to have a bigger issue in play, and it'll be interesting to see just how far it takes him. The Question's fixation on Montoya would be disturbing if it wasn't the Question and we didn't know that he was too cracked for it to be anything other than business to him. Then again, maybe that makes him more disturbing, not less. Montoya is still the wild card in the equation, although apparently she'll have some big things ahead of her (and no, I don't mean more boobs... although, boobs never hurt).

There are some solid character moments in this issue. My personal favorite was Booster's dilemma with the jetliner. Even though he did screw up initially, the effort he put forward to eventually save the plane shows that deep down Booster is a true hero. Now if he'll just figure out that he can't rely on Skeets for all of his information. It's good to see Question out and about in the DCU. His mini last year was a mixed bag for most readers, but he seems to be back to his roots here. And Ralph being portrayed as the true detective he is never a bad thing. Nose wiggle and all, it's good to see him back.

There are a few things I have to wonder about, though. For one, Ralph is very composed and collected this issue, a stark contrast to the fractured man he was last week. That kind of transformation should be accounted for in some way, but the nature of this type of story doesn't really allow for it. Secondly, there are a lot of stories to be covered at once. It almost felt like losing pages to have an extended conversation with Magnus and Morrow, and the History of the DCU backstory was pretty flat. Granted, both are initial impressions, and maybe in the grand scheme of things they will pan out into larger arcs.

So all in all, it was a solid issue. Not one hundred percent great the whole way through, but full of enough plot points and character moments to make for a good read.

Story: 7/10 (Booster and Question... how can there be any fault?)
Art: 7/10 (Hot girls in their underwear... I'm just saying...)
Overall: 7/10 (But seriously, this is worth keeping up with.)

So that's week 2. Drop your 2 cents here, or drop me an e-mail at th_houston75@hotmail.com. Just 50 weeks left until the epic conclusion. I don't want to spoil it, but I hear that by the time it's over, there will be major changes in the DC universe. If only there were some way to see those changes now... Darn.