ACTION COMICS #8: Metropolis is still holed up in a bottle and Superman is still wrestling with the decision on who to save, them or Kandor. He has learned he is from a place called Krypton and it is not just a bad dream he has had. Even tough he is battling against him, he defeats Brainiac with the help of John Corben/Metallo. Glenmorgan goes insane and finds himself put away. Clark convinces his landlady to keep his secret identity secret. General Lane declares John Corben a hero. Superman dons his Kryptonian costume and reveals his heritage to the world. And, if that wasn’t enough, someone is challenged to hunt a bulletproof man.
This represented a nice comeback after the disaster that was last issue. Clark finally gets out of the T-shirt and dons the costume…not the classic costume but the new battlesuit version. And George Taylor begins the push that will lead Clark to the Daily Planet. : a nice end to this prolonged arc.
ALL STAR WESTERN #8: Nighthawk and Cinnamon brawl with the bad guys, Arkham puffs opium and gets busted and Hex battles Z.C. Branke in the pit. It’s one heck of a fight that ends with her kissing him and ending up in a hotel room together. Seems Hiram has an offer for Hex: blow up the Sea Queen with everyone on board going up with it. The main story ends with Hex and Arkham being taken out to the ship where it looks like they are going to die together. In the back-up tale, we get Cinnamon’s origin tale along with how they both ended up with the necklaces that they wear.
Okay, so I am getting used to sucking down the $3.99 even when Jim Lee promised to “draw the line at $2.99”. However, the main story is great fun and the back up totally rocks my world. It is a fun read and looks fantastic. So, I just manage to drink once less coffee during the month to pay for this.
ANIMAL MAN #8: Maxine attempts to talk to the wild pack of animals outside of the family’s trailer and gets ripped to shreds in the process. Buddy flips out and rips the animals apart. But it seems Maxine jumped out of her body, slipped into the red, then jumped into the body of a fox, and changed herself into her new body. Buddy heads off to fight the marauding creatures and gets possessed in the process. That cannot be good!
More weird stuff from the team of Jeff Lemire and Steve Pugh. The battle between the Rot, the Red, and the Green is coming to a head and you really need to have a ringside seat for it. This continues to lead up to the crossover with SWAMP THING.
AQUAMAN #8: The tale begins six years ago as Arthur Curry deals with the death of his father. Then we learn of the team that Arthur was part of and how they were in a mission in Siberia to capture Black Manta. But the team bails on him when the choice is to capture Manta or save the town. So what should have been an easy apprehension leaves Manta on the loose for all these years. The book ends with Manta in Germany claiming he has found another of the team.
Ivan Reis’ goes over the top again and continues to deliver the best work of his career. And Geoff John continues to write some of his best work, definitely better than what he delivers on JUSTICE LEAGUE.
BATGIRL #8: Batgirl finds herself in the sewers with Danny Weaver, who was with The Joker on the night she was crippled. And she sets him free. Grotesque finds the whole idea interesting and decides to exploit it. Meanwhile Barabra’s mom tells her the reason she left the family is because of James Jr. who, any regular Batman reader knows, is a raging psycho and apparently was at age 10 too. Back on the case, Batgirl battle Grotesque and Danny Weaver saves the day, but at the cost of his own life. He dies in Batgirl’s arms after he explains why he helped save her back then. Alysia, Barbara’s roommate has a chance meeting, with Barbara’s sister. Yeah that can’t be good.
Gail Simone ties up some loose ends and opens some complex issues by reintroducing James Gordon Jr. into the mix. More cool art from Ardian Syaf who does a great job on this title. Next issue, the Night of the Owls storyline drops in.
BATMAN #8: The NIGHT OF THE OWLS begins! The Talons invade Wayne Manor. While fending them off, Bruce gets his hand on a microdrive, which reveals that their blood is heat sensitive. Bring the temperature down and you shut them down. So Bruce breaks out the heavy-duty suit and prepares for battle. The back-up story, features “the call”, which is Alfred discovering the hit list and giving the information to the remainder of Batman’s associates.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo continue to do an awesome job on this title. They lay the groundwork to the entire Owls story and run with it. The story rocks, the art is killer and I cannot wait to get to the next page. Great comic reading! The back up, by Snyder, James Tynion IV and Rafael Albuquerque, does a nice job of providing a sequence which appears in all the other bat titles from a different perspective. Neatly done.
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #8: Batman investigates a bizarre series of incidents involving mind control. The Dark Knight proceeds down the Rabbit Hole, runs into Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum before he gets to the boss behind it all: Jervis Tetch-The Mad Hatter.. With the help of GCPD, Batman defeats him. Meanwhile, James Gordon needs to check in with the department "shrink”.
I want to think that this issue shuts downs parts of the storyline running from issue #1, but I’m not quite sure. It is brought to you by Joe Harris and Ed Benes(despite the fact that the cover has David Finch’ name on it). Not so much of a conclusion, but it brings the whole rabbit hole piece back into play. Actually, just another fill in issue until next issue’s NIGHT OF THE OWLS tie-in.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #8: When last we saw Robin, he had jammed two fingers into the head of the young Giraud who had been a thorn since the reboot of the series. Batman races back to the cave and it’s time to get both of them repaired. That leads to a little heart to heart between father and son regarding methods among the madness. Basically, Damien is the side of the coin that Batman can’t become.
Wow! Welcome to the aftermath of the whole first seven issues. Damien is a stone cold killer who needs to protect their kingdom. Patrick Gleason raises his own artistic bar each issue and Peter Tomasi does a beautiful job of showing father and son and dealing with their personal demons. It is tough enough to be a superhero but to be a father of your protégé is even tougher and he writes about it with great flair!
BATWOMAN #8: We get more back story in multiple parts as we see how Rush lost his hand and was taken over by the Ashoth. We see what goes bad during Sune’s transfer and Batwoman ends up drugging her own girlfriend. Croc suffers a major transformation and Sune turns on her master.
Another strange PULP FICTION styled issue with time jumps all over the place. This will probably make a lot more sense when the storyline ends. Amy Reeder continues to be the artist. J. H. Williams continues to write a compelling story. Still one of my favorite DC characters and one of my favorite of the new titles.
BIRDS OF PREY #8: We start back three days ago with an investigation of an incident at the Cornwell Hotel. Apparently Black Canary is involved and the decision is made that she needs to be ‘burned’. Flash to now and the Birds are in the middle of a fire and a fight, again at the Cornwell where she team is fighting a hologram from Canary’s past. They eventually win the day and discover that the hit squad is after Black Canary because she murdered her husband three years ago. Interesting…
So…we took the cliffhanger from last issue where we learn that Choke is not Choke and completely throw it out the window for this issue. But he does get a whole new mystery involving a hit squad and Dinah Lance murdering her husband three years ago. A sub par issue from Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz mostly because the storylines STARTED here will get tossed out next month as the NIGHT OF THE OWLS storyline flies in. C’mon folks: the “epic crossover” does not need to disrupt every title with even a glimpse of a Bat tie-in.
CATWOMAN #8: Catwoman has a new partner in crime in the form of Spark. And of course she is still plotting with her roommate partner, Gwen. Their plan: taking on The Penguin. In the process, she witnesses an abduction that she and Spark break up. Looks like someone is abducting hookers. Meanwhile, the Court of the Owls plan on getting involved with a certain fowl bird themselves.
This is another one of those DC issues this month that only serve to set up the next issue NIGHT OF THE OWLS. Good writing from Judd Winick with another month of art from Adriana Melo. Let’s get on with the Owls and get back to where we started.
DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #8: We begin with the new Challengers battling an army of giant ants and Brenda fights her last battle as she is sucked into a mysterious portal with the ants. Back in Metropolis, June gets into an argument with Morgan Edge and quits. Of course, Edge being the sleazy guy we all know and love, he makes sure he has all of it on tape. But it also seems that Prof has gotten much better than when we last saw him as he’s back in the lab and demanding the talismans. But wait: there are TWO PROFS! Well, one of them , as you might have expected, is really The Forgotten Lord masquerading as Ace who is masquerading as Prof. He kills Rocky before he gathers the talismans which manage to totally burn him out with all the power. So the tale concludes with the NEW 52 core group of the Challengers of the Unknown: Prof, June, Maverick and Red as they prepare to search for the remainder of the Talismans.
Dan Didio, Jerry Ordway and Ray McCarthy absolutely tear this book a new one! It looks great, reads equally as well, and does a beautiful job of paying homage to the original team while establishing the new team. Personally, I would love to see this as a regular series and MAYBE SEA DEVILS while we are at it.
DEATHSTROKE #8: In the aftermath of last issue’s battle between Deathstroke and his son Grant, we learn that Slade’s father was a loser who abused and sold his own son. Slade goes hunting for a guy named Demolition and ends up offing him. The bad guy’s son sees all and Slade tells the kid to come get him when he’s older(yeah…Jango/Boba Fett). In the end, he visits his bedridden father and proves he’s a better man as he posts another clipping on dad’s wall.
Kyle Higgins, Eduardo Pansica and Art Thibert ride off into the sunset as they all step aside to allow Rob Liefeld to come in from here, handling both the art and the writing. We get a little insight into Slade’s past and maybe if your father sells you that might make you the person you are. Let’s see where Mr. Liefeld leads us, as his first story is supposed to drop Lobo into the mix.
DEMON KNIGHTS #8: Madame Xanadu takes us back to Camelot and we get the origin story of Jason Blood. Oh yeah, we also get the apparent murder of Merlin and an appearance by a strange ship from the future.
A quiet little issue this month from Paul Cornell and artist Bernard Chang that brings us into the fall of Camelot. Nothing great, but a nice little tale that sets up some of the back-story to our band of heroes.
DETECTIVE COMICS #8: It seems that Scarecrow is doing a good job of dropping fear gas around Gotham, starting with Catwoman. Batman finds himself on a hunt for a kidnapped kid and, when all is said and done, we find out the kid is an adult now…and he may or may not be the son of Dr. Hugo Strange. In a back-up story, Two-Face is back in action and up to his old tricks.
A simple fill-in issue, as far as I am concerned, this acts as a bridge to the NIGHT OF THE OWLS storyline next month. Nicely written and illustrated by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea. The back-up story was nothing to write home about, although the art by Szymon Kudranski fits nicely with Tony Daniel’s story.
FRANKENSTEIN AGENT OF S.H.A.D.E. #8: Frankenstein and his estranged wife go in search of the son that Frank killed many years ago but who is miraculously resurrected. They find the creature in Castle Frankenstein and battle. Lady Frankenstein kills him this time and then, destroying her S.H.A.D.E.NET implants, leaves the team.
Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli turn the heat up and throws in a game changer at the very end. With the once loving couple completely split, Frankenstein finds he only has the team in his artificial life now. Next month, it’s about Animal Man the The Rot. Where is Lemire going to take this-to a very cool place, I am sure.
GREEN LANTERN #8: Sinestro has to deal with the wrath of the Indigo tribe while Hal Jordan learns that the Black Lantern has been healed by the Indigos. Hal breaks free and fights out that the Indigo Tribe worships Abin Sur. And Sinestro? He’s now Indigo.
Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke continue to redefine this title. Of all the NEW 52 titles, this is one of the few that continues from old continuity…or at least a version of the old continuity. That having been said, John is not about to rest of previous laurels without dropping in some new twists. And this title is full of new twists. Read this title. It’s a whole lot better than that movie was…
I, VAMPIRE #8: Rise of the Vampires concludes as Andrew Bennett lives again and forges a new alliance with his former lover, who apparently is his lover yet again. They turn the vampires against Cain and defeat him. Bennet has a new army and, after making most of the world forget the events, he heads off to start his empire. Sounds like it’s time to find the Van Helsings.
Forget TRUE BLOOD. Forget VAMPIRES DIARIES. This is the real deal vampire book. Joshua Hale Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino craft an amazing read every month that is always at the top of my must read pile. It’s gritty and sexy and a whole lot of fun. Just read it.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #8: The government thinks the Justice League should open up membership and Oliver Queen’s alter ego tries to find himself a spot on the team but gets shut down at every turn. Only Superman offers to come to his support. But they all remember a bit of a disaster involving Martian Manhunter. In the back-up story, Billy Batson meets his new foster family and proves to be just as obnoxious a kid as he was in the last issue.
First off, we get a fill-in art issue from Carlos D’Anda, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado. They do an adequate job. Second, the story is not one of Geoff Johns best. We introduce Amazo in the NEW 52 as a four page, already defeated villain. Really? Amazo? And The Talons take up entire stories in many of this month’s DC titles. We get four pages and the Justice League whoops them pretty severely. The dialogue is really juvenile again. As far as the back-up, we get the supporting cast including Mary and Freddy Freeman. And there’s also a mysterious glimpse of a certain talking tiger. Nice work, guys!
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