THE HUNTRESS: Helena busts up a sex trafficking ring...well, sort of. She stops one operation and targets the guy at the top. A little tracking device is always helpful.
This book is actually more than what I just wrote, but that IS the plot in a nutshell. Good strong story from veteran Paul Levitz and complimentary art from Marcus To. This is a mini-series that could lead to something else, especially if Earth 2 EVER comes into play again. For now, I'll hang with it just to see what happens in the final reel, as it were.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK: Zatanna discovers that the Enchantress has been busy trashing the planet. Boston Brand is trying to have something resembling a date with Dawn(Dove) Granger and gets slapped by the wife of the guy who's body he has inhabited. John Constantine gets the you-know-what kicked out of him in order to be able to make him more receptive to the mystic. The multiple girl from last issue shows up at Dawn's apartment and Deadman possesses her, leading to a very interesting semi pseudo lesbian moment that sends Dawn packing. And Madame Xanadu appears to be sending The Enchantress towards the League.
Once again, Peter Milligan does his best to write a creepy superhero tale. It twists and turns and you never quite know which way it is going to come out. Who's the hero, who's the villain and how does this all fit into continuity. Couple that with Mikel Janin's artwork and this book
continues to be a weird winner.
JUSTICE LEAGUE: When last we left off, Superman and Batman were having a confrontation. Now it becomes a serious fight with Green Lantern trying to help but finding himself totally ineffectual. So he calls in the cavalry in the form of The Flash. So now it's a three on one battle and still the Man of Steel comes out on top. Cooler heads finally prevail and the four heroes take a hike as the military shows up. They convene at Superman's secret base-an underground printing press. The Mother Box they have starts to ping and the next thing you know, we're back at STAR Labs, Victor Stone has a confrontation with his father and STAR's own Mother Box explodes causing life changing damages to Victor, which will obviously lead to his transformation into Cyborg.
By far, a much better read than the first issue which brought the age of the reader down to a middle school level. Geoff Johns has decided to forgo some of the really ridiculous dialogue (although some do remain, but nowhere near as prevalent as in issue #1) in favor of some real plot. Introducing Barry Allen into the group and setting up the whole transformation of Victor Stone is great. And the whole setting up of the Fourth World baddies is cool and needs to lead to a great payoff. PLEASE don't let Darkseid look like a tool! yeah-I'm sending that to you Jim Lee. Okay-you made it worth my four bucks(what happened to "DRAWING THE LINE AT $2.99?") this month.
JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL: The Hall of Justice has been fire bombed while the team is in Peru getting the you know what kicked out of them by a giant robot. Taking a play from the playbook of "better safe than sorry", the team retreats to higher ground. Guy Gardener sees the incident on TV and heads to meet his former lover who proceeds to give him an icy reception. Booster decides to call it quits and then is surprised to see his team fall in and stand behind him. Meanwhile, some big bad guy with a nasty axe like weapon arises and declares this is the day our planet dies.
Lots of action, some descent plot points and a bunch of fun. Nice going Mr. Jurgens. Great looking art from Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan. Interesting to see what their departure and the arrival of Marco Castiello will do to the look. All in all, a fun little read.
MY GREATEST ADVENTURE: Robotman gets eaten by a big robot snake. Garbage Man meets his old friend and she freaks at his new appearance. And Batman shows up too. And, in the third story, Tanga tries to adjust with being a hero.
'Sigh'-hate to say it, but I'm done with this book. Robotman does NOTHING for me, despite being part of my favorite non-team of all time. Garbage Man is fast becoming a cross between Sludge and Swamp Thing. And I like Lopresti's work, but I've already done SLUDGE back in the Malibu days. And while Tanga is interesting, it's not THAT interesting. And so this falls by the wayside. Sorry guys: I really wanted this to be one of my favorites but it's just a jumble.
OMAC: Brother Eye gives the back story to Kevin Cho, explaining to him how he is now O.M.A.C. At Project Cadmus, they clean up the place and Sarge Steel works out. you see: Cadmus is part of Checkmate. While Kevin tries to get some needed food and a drink, the local Police receive a BOLO(Be on the Look Out) alert with a real time satellite image of the diner Kevin is in. The cops arrive, the cook at the diner thinks they are after him(and he's right) and he transforms. Well, that just means that Brother Eye pulls some more strings(who do you think sent the BOLO in the first place, hmmm?) and transforms our hero into O.M.A.C. Rocker gets absorbed into Brother Eye after several bone jarring pages of Kirbyesquetransformed again and Kevin hops a bus out of town. Meanwhile, the man behind Cadmus is revealed. Surprise-it's Maxwell Lord!
Okay, so I'll take O.M.A.C. being a creature truly led around by his master and how he spouts no dialogue except for what he is told. The use of classic Kirby characters and tying together Cadmus, Checkmate AND Max Lord is genius! Dan Didio has made this book one of my quirky favorites and the fact that Keith Giffen and Scott Koblish channel Jack Kirby in every square fingered panel is pure genius. I only hope that the team of Scott Koblish and Scott Kolins (as it looks as though Giffens is off the book with issue #4) manages to do the same, as it won't play as well without that artistic kick. I absolutely love this book, even if I have to read each issue twice to capture all the nuances.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS: We get a flashback of Jason Todd's time in training for his role as Red Hood. In present day, Roy and Jason are on their way to Hong Kong and Jason picks up a flight attendant. Waiting in Hong Kong is the former Starfire with a limo. Back at one of his safe houses, Jason gets attacked by Suzie Su and her crew. But they are messing with Red Hood, who makes the baddies pay. Later, high above the Himalayas, Jason and his team drop into the hidden temple and end up having to fight and kill zombified warriors from the temple. Unfortunately, these warriors used to be Jason's teachers. And now he is severely pissed!
Really curious to see where this book is going. I like the interesting interplay Scott Lobdell drops into conversations between the trio. And the whole sexual tension between the three is great. It's obvious that Red Hood is going to hunt down those responsible for the invasion of the temple and it won't be pretty. The piece that baffles me is the inclusion of the former Speedy and Starfire. If this is DC's version of X-FORCE, these two just don't fit. Again, curious to see where this goes...at least for another month.
RED LANTERNS: Atrocitus tells a tale of how The Yuevers inaded Ghan IX included the killing of the siblings of a little girl named Rixx. Atrocitus wreaks vengeance on the pilots of the ship that attacked the girl and her family, killing one and bringing the other to the site of the horror. The Red Lantern serves up vengeance on the Yuever, but Rixx runs in fear. Back on Ysmault, Atrocitus communicates with the deceased Krona and tries to decide who gets a power boost that will bring one to his level.
Another great issue from Milligan and Benes. Nice build-up and further fleshing out Atrocitus' character with the possibility down the road of Rixx becoming a Lantern. At least, that's where I would go with it. If not the best of the Lantern books, this is pretty darn close.
RESURRECTION MAN: Mitch goes to visit his dad and finds out he has passed on. He also finds out that one of his father's best friends used to be a super villain. Meanwhile, the Body Doubles, everyone's favorite big boobed assassins,hunt Mitch down and of course he dies...again. But where he ends up...well, that ain't good!
Another strong issue from Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagino. Fun story that moves along nicely and adds some nice background touches to Mitch ffamily tree. And Dagnino's art border between surreal and "Good Girl". A fun adventure worth riding on.
STORMWATCH: Adam-One verbally spars with part of the team while Midnighter continues to woo Apollo into not joining the team. On the moon, Harry Tanner has a conversation the the sentient being living there. Eventually, Jack, Adam and Jenny end up in the conversation among those on Earth while the creature on the Moon bust loose and lands in the middle of farm country and begins to wreak havoc.
Slightly uneven issue. I really LOVE the old book and this is now moving really slowly. Paul Cornell's story is fine, as is the work by the art team. But lets get this "please join the team" story out of the way and let the real action begin. The appearance of the alien creature on Earth should help and, when you couple in that the horn ties into Superman's mythos, it should result in a great story. I'm giving it a couple more to see where this arc goes.
SUICIDE SQUAD: The team has made their way to the stadium, as they were assigned last issue and are in the process of locking the place down. The place has been infected by a nasty virus that turns folks into zombies, so it needs to stay in quarantine. They also need to find a woman named Caley Burns, who apparently has the package they are looking for. And Deadshot has been giving the order that to contain the virus, they must "burn everything". So we get a book full of zombified sports fans getting totally descimated by the Suicide Squad. They shoot, stab, and even eat their victims. Eventually, they find Caley Burns who has turned into a monster and is about to finish off Harley when Killer Shark chews her head off. Deadshot performs a C-Section and delivers the baby, who apparently carries the the cure. And, like every good cover-up, someone has to pay, so Deadshot offs Voltaic, so that he can be passed off as a rogue super villain.
You have got to love a book that is so hardcore that it makes most other titles pale in comparison. Adam Glass delivers another dynamite, blood soaked story that is filled with gore and humor. And Federico Dallocchio's art drips blood on every page. Just like DEATHSTROKE, this is such a guilty pleasure book. As part of the continuing changes DC seems to be dropping on these books, Dallacchio is soon to be off the book. The good news? Tom Raney is on it. Can't wait to see where we go from here.
SUPERBOY: Superboy has just trashed the lab he's been living in and, despite getting comforted by "Red", he gets his butt handed to him by an unseen person who, if you look closely, is wearing some sort of uniform like everyone else at the lab. "Red" gets into it with Templar and then gets into it with everyone's favorite child of Deathstroke, Rose Wilson. They go off on a mission to take down some rioting alien inmates with moderate success. Before it's all done, Rose is on her way out of the facility and doing so alone.
This title continues to intrigue me. The retooling of Superboy's origin is either going to payoff or fall flat. Right now, it seems promising. The whole subplot with N.O.W.H.E.R.E. seem to be working at putting the group into the forefront of baddies in this new DC Universe. R.B. Silva's art continues to impress and Scott Lobdell-again: what can I say. He gives you a good story, snappy dialogue and a whole bunch of action. Good read indeed!
SUPERGIRL: Supergirl and her cousin fight it out as she adjusts to her new powers. Meanwhile, her pod is picked clean and what looks like a piece of Red K falls into someone's hands. Is it Luthor or someone else?
Still not totally sold on this title. I know there's a lot of ground to cover when you introduce the character AND give her back story AND try to tell how it feels to be a stranger in a strange land. But this whole thing is moving to slow. get the back story done, let her adjust a little quicker and let's get to the action. I think this gets one, maybe two more issues and then it may be gone.
SUPERMAN: Superman gets the heavy quiz session from general Lane, specifically about what his relationship is with his daughter. We all know the relationship, on a different level, but that has changed now that Lois is working as a producer instead of a reporter. For the second issue in a row, a mysterious creature comes to call intent on whipping Superman's backside, which this invisible creature does quite well. Luckily, video cameras CAN see the creature and the video feed of the fight helps the Big Blue Boy Scout defeat the creature. The story ends with us checking in on a night watchman who survived the inferno from last issue.He gets a visitor and they both speak...is that Kryptonese?
George Perez and Jesus Merino weave a wonderful tale of action and mystery. Mysterious aliens who may speak Kryptonese? Could these be the first of a group of Kryptonians from the Phantom Zone perhaps? Curious to see where this goes, but it's obvious these incidents in the first two issues are highly connected. Still a good read and it looks like this duo is just hitting their stride.
SWAMP THING: Swamp Thing and Alec Holland have a long talk about what has gone on before and what is about to come. There is also a lot of exposition about Alec's origin during his last incarnation as the creature. Not long after, Alec goes looking for his paycheck and finds that the entire town are now attacking him-all with their heads twisted around(yeah-we've seen this before). He gets saved just in time by a motorcycle riding Abigail Arcane. And now it gets interesting.
While not exactly like the classic series, this one hearkens back to it nicely. Scott Snyder is doing his best to channel those classic writers while Yanick Paquette really has got the gritty feel of the Bissette days. And the storyline is tying in nicely to events occurring in ANIMAL MAN. If you're reading one book and not the other, you are truly missing the full scope of this story. This is the best this book has felt in a long time and, despite my love of the original series and its' characters, I am fast becoming a huge fan of this book.
TEEN TITANS: The book starts with Kid Flash sitting in a cell and...SMOKING??? Red Robin and Cassie(don't call her Wonder Girl) ending up crashing at her place in West Hollywood and wait for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to come a calling. The next day, Red Robin investigates the appearance of a new character called Skitter when he gets into a tussle with a pair of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. goons who are brothers who use one body to teleport. Skitter comes to the rescue and then attacks Tim, who gets saved by Cassie. Superboy, still on the N.O.W.H.E.R.E. payroll contemplates the orders he has been given to get Red Robin. And, if that wasn't enough, Kid Flash makes a break for it and meets...? Could this be Raven?
Hey-it's that Lobdell guy again cranking out another killer tale. I SO WANT TO HATE THIS BOOK, especially after the convoluted mess BOTH Titan books became in to OLD DCU. But I love the feel and the fun. And Brett Booth just puts the icing on the cake with his truly Image styled art. Again, I really DON'T want to like this book. But it throws enough curves, cool dialogue and action to keep me more than enthralled. May be the best of the YOUNG JUSTICE line in the NEW DCU.
WONDER WOMAN: On Mount Olympus, Hera tells her daughter Strife about Zeus' latest dalliance and charges her with getting involved. Wonder Woman is on Paradise Island trying to save Hermes life and encounters her mother and her sister. Her pregnant charge gets the Wonder Woman life story regarding the whole making her out of mud legend. Strife attacks the Amazons only to drop the bombshell that she and Diana are sisters. We know what that means? Zeus is Diana's father. So, does that mean the classic legend is all B.S.?
Brian Azzarello is in the process of turning thew whole WONDER WOMAN mythos upside down and throwing away everything that was ever written. Normally, I'd be raising a MAJOR stink but considering this poor character has had so many origins and changes over the year, I am somewhat at peace with that. While Cliff Chiang's style is nothing like some of those who came before, from Giordiano to Perez and beyond, it is slowly growing on me. This is one weird book. As someone told me, it's kind of like 100 BULLETS set on Paradise Island. Love it!
Next time, a look at some of the issue #3's.
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