DC's NEW 52 issues #6, Part Two

I, VAMPIRE #6: After an issue long battle, only one thing is important: Andrew Bennett gets beheaded by his former lover and Cain arises. Oh crap: we’re all screwed now!

Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino craft a great story which crosses over with JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK. You should be reading both anyway, but this kind of forces you to do that. The story still impresses with each issue and the cast is well drawn out, both visually and from a characterization stance. You must read this book…the vampires command it!

JUSTICE LEAGUE#6: It’s the big bang up between Darkseid and the newly formed team. Meanwhile, Batman tries to save Superman from the clutches of Desaad and his minions on Apokolips. Leave it to Cyborg to save the day as he not only activates a Mother Box but ends up being playing a major role in sending Darkseid back home. The government praises them and Flash declares they are called the Super Seven. Elsewhere, two shadowy figures refer to themselves as Super Villains.. In the back-up story, we meet Pandora, who we may have seen before, and The Phantom Stranger.

Great looking end to this initial arc. Leave it to Jim Lee to draw a blockbuster when he needs to. Goeff Johns’ story is okay and the whole idea of making Cyborg the A lister they have aimed him to be doesn’t sit with me. He’s always been a B-list character and to elevate him to this level is like retooling the Justice League, setting them in Detroit and populating them with characters like Vixen. Gypsy and Vibe…oh wait: we did that already!. Anyway, I’m curious to see where we go from here.As far a Johns’ back-up story: so now we have some mysterious hooded woman. Haven’t we been here before. But a key bit of dialogue sets it all up.The Stranger accuses her of rewriting reality. She replies that she realigned it and strengthen it. Does this now give DC an out for a future reboot? Sure does!

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #6: The “members” of the teams are plagued by horrific nightmares. They all end up at Madame Xanadu’s place where they fight off a creation from Shade’s psyche. Come to find out that these are not just nightmares but glimpses of the future that MIGHT have happened if they hadn’t fought the Enchantress. And also, what may STILL happen if they do not band together. After telling Constantine that they do NOT have to like each other, a truce is maintained. Then, bleeding from her nose, Xanadu sees the vision: Andrew Bennett is dead and Cain is arisen. Thus begins the crossover with I VAMPIRE.

This is sort of a filler issue in that it pushes the story along just enough to get the team together and lead into the I, VAMPIRE crossover. Milligan and Janin continue to rock the house, even with a small tale like this one. Milligan’s characterizations are winners, especially those of John Constantine and Shade.. But he has had a little bit of experience with both of them. The bad news is that he will be leaving this title after issue #8(but ANIMAL MAN’s Jeff Lemire will be taking over) and he will be writing STORMWATCH as of issue #9, which should just make that title a little creepier than it has been. Until then, enjoy this ride!

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #6: This issue allows the team to take a break and take inventory of themselves. Batman and Booster Gold bust up some bad guys. Dora and Zhifu share hot dogs and diffuse a bomb. Later, there is an impassioned speech from Booster and Zhifu in front of the U.N. Security Council, who gives the thumbs up to the team of Justice League International. But just as it looks to be the “best day ever” for the team, a missile strike takes them out. Is the J.L.I. dead?

A very nice start to the next story arc.Dan Jurgens lets the cast take a breath for a few before slamming the action back at them. And guest art team Marco Castiello and Vincenzo Acunzo do an okay job but I miss the team of Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan. So, now that we’ve blown up the team, how to we paint them out of THAT particular corner? Tune in next month to see!

NIGHTWING #6: Nightwing is busting heads and criminals in Texas while Raya and Raymond continue to conspire. It looks like they are going to take Dick out during a Flying Graysons Tribute Show and then give Bryan Haly the circus back. Dick finds out and takes the proper precautions as the circus rolls into Gotham City. This leads to a battle between Raymond(back from the dead by SOME mysterious circumstance) and Dick high above the crowd and ends with Raymond blowing up the place. Yeah…not good for business!

And so we come racing towards the conclusion. Nice overall issue from Higgins, Barrows and Borges that does prove that you CAN go home again. The problem I am having with this series is that it is so up and down. One issue just blows me away and then the next just blows…

O.M.A.C #6.:  Maxwell Lord is contacted by Brother Eye who spills the beans about Zero Patient. Max rips Mokarri as he has NO KNOWLEDGE of Zero Patient. Meanwhile, Jody Robbins is upset that her cousin June went down in a plane crash(see the Challengers of the Unknown story in DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #6), so a double date is set. In comes Leilani Lugo who is more than meets the eye. She transforms into this deadly whip bearing furie(yeah…that’s what I said) who seeks the Mother Box(it’s all about the Kirby stuff, kids!). Kevin becomes O.M.A.C.  and proceeds to kick her butt. Of course, he also loses the girl in the process. Meanwhile, Brother Eye sends an assassin from Kord Industries(hopefully not Ted Kord himself, as we know what happened to him in the OLD DCU) to take out Max Lord, who turns the tables and makes the shooter cap himself. For Max: the war is just beginning.

I’m still pissed off at the canceling of this title. I’m still blown away by Dan Didio and Keith Giffen’s rendering of the Kirby legacy. I am still hoping for a proper resolution and the characters turning up in other DC titles. And, as much as I will miss the title, I cannot wait to see where this goes in two more issue and how they wrap this up in a satisfying way. Other than that, I recommend that you read this while you can.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #6: Red Hood finds himself battling some big nasty guy with sharp teeth in a submarine. When he awakens, he finds himself on an island being tended to by a mysterious person. A few days later and it’s revealed to be Starfire who thinks she remembers Jason from another time. He eventually gets a tour of her home: a spaceship on the island. She offers him clothing and, oh look: it’s Nightwing and Robin gear! She explains that she thinks she remembers him from when she first arrived but is not so sure. So the pair have sex, stories are told and then it’s off to save Roy.

Okay: the flashback issue. We are told at the start that this issue takes place prior to issue #1 of the series. That would explain a lot, including the road trip rescue planned at the end of the issue. So what has happened to Kori’s memory? This all remains to be seen in future months. While not so much as a fill-in issue, it does slow the story down a bit and allows us to get a deeper look at the characters. Nice work by Lobdell and Rocafort here.\

RED LANTERN #6: Bleez and Atrocitus continue to battle for leadership of the Lanterns. Meanwhile, Jack Moore becomes Rankorr and proceeds to take vengeance on the man responsible for his grandfather’s death. But that may not fully happen as Guy Gardener shows up and intervenes.

Yes, I will say it again: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY THE Lantern book to be reading. Rankorr is added to the ranks of the vengeful lanterns and will become a major player within those ranks in issues to come. Great stuff from Peter Milligan and Ed Benes. Just go buy it!

RESURRECTION MAN #6: Mitch Shelley is stuck in Arkham Asylum and will do absolutely anything to get himself killed while he is here. In fact, the guards have nicknamed him ‘Deathwish’. One of the guards arranges for the system to be shut down and allows for a massive inmate escape. Mitch manages to quell the riot, but Guard Fletcher, despite Commissioner Gordon’;s direct orders, shoots Shelley in the head and kills him. Mitch manages to get himself off the coroner’s table, goes after Fletcher and justice prevails.

Okay…so this is the basic fill-in issue. Shelley gets out of prison with a new power and the bad guy responsible for the prison break gets taken out. If this is your first issue of this title, prepare to be disappointed, especially after the pedestal I put this title onto. Trust me: they are much better than this. Not that the story isn’t a good one, just not where it normally is. If you’ve been reading this right along, prepare to be a little disappointed. Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino turn in a nice story that hopefully does more down the road than just act as a tieing in to another part of the DC Universe.

STORMWATCH #6: The aftermath of the explosion aboard Stormwatch One is felt. The ship exits hyperspace and enters our atmosphere, if only for as moment, raising concerns at a certain military monitoring station. Jack fights the Daemonite A.I. that runs the ship and eventually the ship is restored to it’s place in hyperspace. A new team leader is again chosen(as The Projectionist ended up being taken by Harry to wherever he went to). And Midnighter tells Apollo he’s hot

I did say last month that the love story between Apollo and Midnighter was just beginning, didn’t I? Paul Cornell finally introduces the Daemonite that will end up tying into the other former Wildstorm books, along with much of the NEW 52 Universe in months to come. Kudos once again to Miguel Sepulveda for his awesome artwork. This book deserves a nice place in the NEW 52, especially considering where it came from. Keep up the good work, folks: don’t let this one slither away.

SUICIDE SQUAD #6: Harley Quinn is on the loose and the Suicide Squad is hot on her trail with a new team including Light and Lime(from GREEN ARROW), Savant, King Shark and, of course, Deadshot. Savant gets a shot in an Harley goes down. Only it isn’t Harley-it’s a man dressed as Harley. It’s a trap which means…here comes a bunch of Harley’s(or as one of the twins refers to them  “a transvestite goon squad”). Much bloodshed and dismemberment ensues. Meanwhile, we get the revised origin of Harley Quinn along with her murdering the Doctor who first assigned her to The Joker’s case. The Squad mops up and we learn the Yo-Yo is still alive deep within King Shark’s belly. Come to find out, Harley has made her way to the Gotham City Police Department. Seems she wants to be there as she is obviously looking to get her hands on Mr. J.’s face. This will become a very tough breakout for the Squad now.

With the line “she’s really fast for a clown”, the roller-coaster trip into the mind of Harley Quinn kicks off. And what a ride. Not much is truly changed in her origin, as we all knew she was a trouble person who was seduced my The Joker’s charms. What is awesome is seeing her as the crazy killer he managed to pull out of her. And watching King Shark dismember Harley’s in drag and then have Yo-Yo inside his belly calling for help? PRICELESS! Clayton Henry is providing the art for this arc and it rocks!  And there is no reason for me to crow about Adam Glass’ story as it is one of his typical insane bloodbaths! Wait until next issue when this all comes together! Will Harley survive? Hope so…she’s the co-star of the book!

SUPERBOY #6: Continuing the tale started in TEEN TITANS #5, Superboy has come in search of Wonder Girl and must fight the Teen Titans to do so. Having decided to leave the teens alone, Superboy stops long enough to disrupt N.O.W.H.E.R.E.’s security operation and tells them to make Templar aware of his return soon. Soon Supergirl meets up with him and tries to converse. But since she still speaks in Kryptonese and he doesn’t understand that, we have a problem. But one touch and he sees Krypton’s demise and devbelops the ability to speak Kryptonese. He explains he is a clone, she screams the name Kon-El and wails on him. And we learn that Kon-El means he is a disgrace in the House of El and has no choice but to become a “mindless killing machine”. Superboy ends up back at N.O.W.H.E.R.E. to take on Templar but meets up with Rose instead.

Scott Lobdell’s story continues to roll on, this time with a scripting assist from legendary Marvel Editor and writer Tom DeFalco. This is such a wonderful story being told here. I had some trepidation when this book came out as I really didn’t want the story of Superboy, which had been corrupted enough by the Reign of the Superman storyline. But this series has surprised me from the first issue and continues to amaze me. He may be Kon-El but he is not the Kon-El/Carter Kent that Karl Kessel and Tom Grummet. And I am surprisingly okay with that.

SUPERGIRL #6: Kara is still pinned to a wall and continues to think about her home world and has a conversation with her deceased parents that give her the strength to break free. Good thing too because Argo City burns away. Also a good thing she is free because Reign is causing havoc at the Arch de Triumphe and she has brought other Worldkillers with her.

Another fun issue from Michael Green and Mike Johnson. The Worldkillers are big, bad and a suitable set of enemies for the Maiden of Might. And the dialogue between Kara and her parents helps to flesh out the NEW 52 back story. I’m curious to see how this tale ends.

SUPERMAN#6:  Superman goes toe to  tow with his cousin Kara high above the streets of Metroplois. Seems that it’s NOT Superman after all but goes back to an incident with the Collector of Worlds that happened five years ago(but we will get to read about in the upcoming ACTION COMICS #7). Once he figures that out, he zooms in from space to save Supergirl and the day. Post battle, Clark and Heather have a chat and she confesses that she knows she’s not the girl for him(as Lois eavesdrops). Meanwhile, part of Stormwatch falls to Earth and that become fodder for the future.

And the most exciting thing about this issue was the one page tie-in to STORMWATCH on the last page of the book. That and Nicola Scott’s art. Other than that, it was a yawn fest that I am glad has ended.

SWAMP THING #6: This time around we learn the deep dark secret: The Rot hasn’t been coming for Alec, it has been coming for Abby. She ends up being swamped(pun intended) by the Rot and begins a metamorphosis process that will leave her a part of the evil growing across the world. Alec flees back to the swamp and begs to become the Swamp Thing once more. But he is too late and the Green tells him it is dying. Well, so too is Alec as some misshapen things runs him through with a chainsaw. Okay…so what happens now?

Another amazing issue by Scott Snyder and Marco Rudy filled with scary goodness and full-on creepiness.  This is a ride on a roller coaster worth taking. I preach about this with every issue so stop me from doing this. Just go buy the book and realize that we’re soon to be seven issues in and the “title character” has only made a brief appearance so far. You know that’s not going to last forever.

TEEN TITANS #6: Fresh from getting beat down by Superboy, the Teen Titans face Detective Lure and some of Gotham City’s finest. Skitter gets them out of trouble, but Kid Flash has got some issues. The team ends up at S.T.A.R. Labs looking for help from Virgil Hawkins, A.K.A. Static. While Virgil runs tests, a psycho named Grymm takes control of Skitter and attacks Wonder Girl and Bunker. The bad guy goes down, Kid Flash gets a new costume and Bunker comes out of the closet.

Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth just make this book so much fun that it’s pretty ridiculous. I spent many years rolling through the various Teen Titans incarnations and, in my opinion, this ranks up there with the Marv Wolfman/George Perez era. Every page screams with Booth’s killer artwork and Scott Lobdell weaves a great story fueled with some rollicking dialogue. This is such a fun read and it gets better with each issue.

WONDER WOMAN #6: As the replacement for Zeus continues to be debated, Diana and Lennox put things into motion. She proposes that Poseidon rules Heaven by day and Hades rules by night and they share Hera as their queen. All of this irks Hera and  she gets blinded in the process. Looks like Diana has managed to screw both Poseidon and Hades. But this all comes back to bite her as Zola gets dragged to Hell by a creature pretending to be her mother. Now the cards are on the table: Hades wants to rectify this broken agreement or else Zola dies.

Boy…this book has more mysterious machinations than an episode of SURVIVOR. Everyone is out to cut their own deals and it matters not who gets shot in the process. Brian Azzarello throws some greats twists in and again we get another great issue by Tony Akins on the art side. Stop making me beg: go BUY THIS BOOK!