Oh yes, as Phil Collins said, “Tonight, tonight tonight! Oh-ohhh!” Yes Phil, tonight will indeed be alright, as Heroes Discussion Master Andy Mansell leads another book club discussion. This time we focus on Craig Thompson’s extraordinarily successful memoir Blankets. This is a book that’s not only a critical and market success, but a big entry-point for female readers into comics, which is always great.

Andy will be kicking some knowledge tonight, March 4, at 7.00 at our store. All you need to bring is yourself, a copy of the book if you have one handy, and a good attitude. Bonus points if you bring some questions, which will save some of Andy’s breath–after all, he’s got quite a slate of discussions to do throughout the spring!

So The Flash: Rebirth is finally over. And as it ends, we’re left with one question: Was it any good?

Well, it sucked a bit but, ultimately, it was an satisfying — and necessary — comic.

First the bad. The story – written by DC demi-god Geoff Johns — was a tad bit convoluted. Each issue delivered page after page of gobbledy-smack about the Speed Force, the Negative Speed Force and other crap. Throw in a heaping helping of time travel, and you’ve got one confusing limited series.

In addition to a rather perplexing plot, the other bad thing about Rebirth was the lateness. I mean, I appreciate the fact that one creative team executed the entire project — which makes for better trade paperback — but the long delay between issues only added to the confusion I felt when reading the book.

OK, that was the bad — now on to the good. Although John’s story was confusing, the writer did succeed in fleshing out Barry Allen and (as I’ve said before) giving him the personality he never had.

Rebirth also succeeded in dusting off, restoring and refocusing the Flash family of characters. All of the characters who’ve been screwed over so much over the years — like Bart Allen, Max Mercury, Wally West and even the Rogues — all got a new lease on life as a result of this comic. And, honestly, wasn’t that the point of Rebirth?

Carlton Hargro is the Editor-In-Chief of Charlotte’s  Creative Loafing newspaper. You can read more of his reviews at the paper’s Comic Proportions blog.

In which Shawn looks at the New Releases and lets you know which ones she is most excited about!

1) Girl Comics #1

I still don’t know how I feel about the name, but there are some awesomely talented people working on this book. Including: Amanda Conner, Laura Martin, Colleen Coover, Robin Furth, Trina Robbins, Stephanie Buscema and MORE!

2) Buffy #33

In this issue the identity of Twilight will finally be revealed! I thought it was Oz until the last story arc. I have it on good authority that it will blow my mind though. This will probably be the first book I read when I get home tonight!

3) Superman TP Braniac

I love it when Geoff Johns and Gary Frank work together, especially on Superman. This was a good, solid Superman story. The art is fantastic and the story is really entertaining.

4) Ultimate Comics New Ultimates #1

The name may be silly but Frank Cho’s art sure is pretty to look at.

5) First Wave #1

Brian Azzarello and Rags Morales bring you a new world where there are no superheroes, just pulp heroes. The Batman/Doc Savage one-shot that they put out several months ago was surprisingly awesome so I am looking forward to checking out First Wave #1. And I am very excited that they are bringing back the Spirit.