JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #14: John Constantine worries about where Zatanna and Timothy Hunter were taken by the Books of Magic. Steve Trevor has recruited Dr. John Peril to help decipher the Books, but it may take years to do that. Peril Books' decryption, though, Dr. Peril suggests using Dr. Mist's ability to absorb magic. Reluctantly, Trevor agrees. Meanwhile Princess Amaya, Black Orchid, and Frankenstein get bored and tour the House of Mystery with interesting results and experiences. One of these is discovered by Black Orchid, who learns that Constantine has been tracking the entire Superhuman community, with a bulletin board full of copious notes on each one. The Phantom Stranger arrives and tells Constantine that a war is coming and it’s time to pick a side. Pandora stands on the hill watching the conversation.
Jeff Lemire continues to turn this non-team upside down. And now he throws in The Phantom Stranger. And he WRITES his dialogue better than Dan Didio does. Legendary illustrator Graham Nolan provides the art this issue and he has not lost a step. His lines are clean and his style is bold. I love this title and it seems to be back on track after a few issues where it limped along badly.
NIGHTWING #14: Nightwing finds himself hunting for Lady Shiva after a trail of murders in Gotham points to her. He’s also still trying to make the whole Amusement Mile project that he has put all his money into work. Lucius Fox informs or hero that there is an S.E.C. investigation, where Sonia Branch will be appearing, and Nightwing deduces that Lady Shiva may be in town to kill all the witnesses. This leads to a confrontation and a battle between Nightwing and the assassin. He manages to stop the hit on Sonia and they battle some more. She beats him down fairly well and flees, leaving him begging to know who hired her. It seems The Penguin was responsible for that and killing Sonia was never in the plan. We end with The Joker breaking Raya Vestri out of Blackgate Prison. Could she be the NEXT Harley Quin?
Okay…Tom DeFalco, in his role as guest writer, has managed to move the story along…somewhat…and brought The Joker in for an unofficial start to the DEATH OF THE FAMILY crossover. Personally, I found the issue long and boring. I really didn’t care to have Nightwing battle this great assassin, who we reintroduced in NIGHTWING #0. This totally felt like a fill-in issue designed to get us to DEATH OF THE FAMILY. Andres Guinaldo provides the art and it looks like everyone else in the DC Universe peanut gallery as of late. This is so starting to remind me of the Seventies when Marvel’s idea of “House” style was to bring in as many unknown artists from other countries as possible and let them loose on drawing boards. They all drew the same stuff and were interchangeable. The same is happening on many DC books and THAT is becoming a huge problem for me. Better luck next issue, Little Caped Crusader.
PHANTOM STRANGER #2: Pandora begins the issue by confronting The Phantom Stranger at his kids’ soccer game and accuses him of living the life of a lie. Returning home later, he finds Trigon’s son Belial waiting for him. After a heated debate, Terrence Thirteen calls. He is descended from Terrence Thirteen from ALL STAR WESTERN and he has evidence that the curse put on his family by the Haunted Highwayman worked. And that’s pretty obvious when the Highwayman shows up and strings him up in a noose. The book ends with Jim Corrigan looking for The Phantom Stranger. Considering the Stranger was responsible for Corrigan becoming the Spirit of Vengeance, this could be a problem.
This book is so much like a car wreck that I can’t believe it. Not only does it read like a smoldering dung heap, it LOOKS like one too. Brent Anderson is an incredible artist but Phil tan is inking him and now it looks like badly delineated pencil sketches that have been colored with colored pencils. Here is the other reason this is like a car wreck: I cannot stop reading it! I hate this book and I loathe what Dan Didio is doing to some of the cooler characters in DC Universe history. But I can’t stop reading in the hopes that something good will eventually come from it.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #14: Superman stops the H.M.S. Depalo, on it’s way back to Earth, to talk with Starfire. No one wants to talk with him, so Orn offers to teleports them to Earth with a cloaking program. They land on Starfire’s island. Superman arrives to ask what Starfire knew about Helspont. She admits to having been contacted but turned down his offer. Jason brings Isabel to Gotham City and Jason spends some quality time in her apartment. Following a shower, he finds Isabel on the floor, seemingly suffering from a drug overdose. He notes that she looks just like his mother looked when her overdose was staged. Paramedics arrive to help. On television, weatherman Jack Napier admits that he called the EMTs and the police. GCPD arrives and arrests him
Scott Lobdell throws in his piece of this chapter from the DEATH OF THE FAMILY story. And I have to admit that’s a tough thing to do and I give credit to him and any of the writers who find themselves having to continue their regular storyline and then wrap this sub-plot into it. Lobdell does a nice job of it. And Pascal Alixe contributes a decent looking issue to go with it. Personally, I would love to see either Ale Garza or Brett Booth doing this issue regularly.
RED LANTERNS #14: The Red Lanterns have survived their encounter with the Third Army, but not without causalities. Skorch, along with the women they went to save, found themselves converted and killed. Skorch’s ring tries to fly off to find a new Lantern but fails. Returning to Ysmault, Atrocitus uses his blood magic to learn the origins of the Third Army. To feed the Power Battery, Atrocitus assigns each of the Lanterns to seek out a different sin. Zilius Zox is sent out to seek crimes of oppression. Bleez must seek passion and depravity. Skallox is given fear. Then the corpse of the Third Army soldier, which has bonded with a rat, attacks them only to fall to defeat. Ratchet is told to guard the Power Battery while Rankorr returns to Earth to avenged his grandfather). Atrocitus goes to Ryutt to search for the remains of the Manhunters. When he arrives, he has a hallucination of the destruction of his Ryutt.
Peter Milligan continues to write a less than stellar book. I have to admit that maybe vengeful space fiction is not his forte. Let him go back to JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK or let him work on one of the other “Dark” titles. Miguel Sepulveda artwork, however, is pretty much the highlight of this series.
SUICIDE SQUAD #14: We start the issue at Deadshot’s “funeral”. At least it seems that way. The Joker shows up and knocks out everyone attending the funeral with some green Joker rain. So, with the team knocked out, Mr. J. proceeds to show his passion to his favorite girl, the former Dr. Harleen Quinzel, by beating her up and threatening to modify her looks with a straight razor. He’s ready to open up Deadshot’s casket but a deal gets struck and she ends up she puts on a Red Hood and shows up in BATMAN #13. To pay her back, he decides to hang her from a chain. Meanwhile, Amanda Waller heads down to the lab to check in on her Samsara Project, which includes having Mitch Shelley’s hand. Iceberg has grown a new hand made entirely of ice. El Diablo is being deprogrammed and King Shark are being deprogrammed and a visit from Yo-Yo. Lastly, Amanda and Black Spider have a chat about the future of super-powered beings in this world.
Adam Glass does a great job of weaving our regular tale with the DEATH OF THE FAMILY plot pieces that he has been handed. Fernando Dagnino turns in his usually awesome job on the artistic side. And if you think Deadshot is dead, think again. Don’t forget: Amanda Waller has Mitch Shelley’s hand. Wonder what kind of regeneration damage that could do to our favorite assassin.
SUPERMAN #14: The book beghins with Clark and Lois are arguing about relationships. Supergirl, who Lois thinks is actually Clark’s cosplaying girlfriend, interrupts them. When Lois leaves, Clarks flies Supergirl off and verbally beats her up for risking revealing his secret identity. She proceeds to tells him about H’El, who arrives and tries to convince Clark he is a long lost Kryptonian. H’El brings out an unconscious Superboy, whose neck he is about to snap. So Superman attacks him. H’el then disguises himself as Superman to fool Kara and take her out of the fight. Superboy regains consciousness and helps Superman, who is taking a bit of a beating from H’el. Superman declares Superboy under his protection and H'El leaves, planning to save Krypton with Kara's help.
Now, to fully understand what is going on, I guess you have to read SUPERBOY #14 and then SUPERGIRL #14. These were both books I used to read, but no longer do because I hated the way their characters were being presented. Unfortunately, I am not totally thrilled with this issue either. Scott Lobdell, whose dialogue and characterization on various DC titles have caused me to rave about his work, leaves me high and dry on this one. And Kenneth Rocafort, while a well-respected artist, has a style that just doesn’t fit this book. Can I have George Perez and Jesus Merino back…PLEASE?!
SWAMP THING #14: We begin with Swamp Thing losing a battle against a rot fueled Superboy, but eventually gets the upper hand taking out the rotting Boy of Steel and the Teen Titans. Then we get the story of Abby’s adventure during the start of The Rot invasion. Finding out that Abby allegedly fell during the start of the invasion, Swamp Thing and Deadman leave The Green while Poison Ivy stays behind to protect the Parliament. Swamp Thing crafts a boat out of a leaf and he and Deadman head up the coast to Gotham to look for Batman. But that journey ends quickly as they get devoured by William Arcane.
Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette turn in another stellar and truly weird performance here as the next chapter in the ROTWORLD story continues to unfold. There isn’t much more to say about the book than this: it makes a valid attempt at trying to duplicate the grandeur of the classic series while paving a bold new path. This is great, creepy reading at its best, further proving that THE DARK corner of the NEW 52 is pretty grim!
TEAM 7 #2: When we last joined Team 7, they were on Facility 9, a floating prison ship, and being attacked by a group of inmates affected by Eclipso. As the team battles, Bronson takes out a group of the inmates but goes out of control and ends up smashing through a wall. The team races to the communication center. They need to contact the pilot and evacuate Facility 9. They arrive and discover footage of the experiment that created these mini Eclipsos. It seems that a researcher from Arkham experimented on their prisoners using a serum called Variant 9. Waller theorizes that the ship is headed towards Gamorra (go check out your old Wildstorm books, folks!). The team reaches the center of the ship and battles with the Eclipsed Master, who is there with Dr. Akara from Arkham. Akara manages to create a light device, draining the master long enough for the team to permanently take him out. Akrara reveals they are NOT going to Gamorra but to Sentinel Island where Eclipso, the REAL Eclipso, awaits.
There are so many good and bad things I have to say about this book. First, I wasn’t going to read it after wading through issues #0 and #1. But the lure of Eclipso brought me here. Also the fact the legendary artist Ron Frenz did the art brekdowns helped. Couple to those tings with the fact that this looks and feels like a bad/good Nineties comic and the temptation was overwhelming. Thus ends the good. Over on the bad side of the ledger? The book is filled with clichéd characters, even of many of them have become clichéd characters in the present NEW 52 Universe. And very badly written. Who edits this thing? Eddie Berganza? SHAME ON YOU!!! On page one; Waller says that they only have so many bullets left. On page two; Fairchild says the same thing. OKAY-WE GET IT! You are running out of bullets! SHEESH!!! Justin Jordan’s book features some of the dumbest dialogue next to THE PHANTOM STRANGER. I KNOW Eclispso is the next big crossover, but I just can’t BEAR this nightmare.
TEEN TITANS #14: Red Robin, Wonder Girl and Superboy continue the battle against Diesel. In a cave they find inscriptions referring to Trigon. Diesel arrives and kidnaps Cassie, which causes red Robin, who has a major crush on her, to freak out. Diesel monologues about embracing the Silent Armor. She tries to convince him that she loves him, to no avail. She reveals that she has control of the lasso and uses it to suck both the armor and the life from him. Meanwhile, the rest of the team are hanging out ina motel in New Jersey. Amanda Waller’s merecenary Lance projects himself into Solstice head and tells her he can turn her back to normal if she betrays the Teen Titans. Eventually, all six Titans end up at Lex Towers in Manhattan. Superboy heads off to the story in his book while Red Robin goes off to deal with some “family business.” The next day, they discover a mannequin made up like Red Robin with a knife stuffed through it and a note saying GONE FISHING.
Okay, now that we have finished with the origin of Wonder Girl, can this book get back to being something worth reading? Oh wait: not until we deal with the official DEATH OF THE FAMILY tie-in next issue. It’s nice to see Scott Lobdell still banging out great dialogue even if the story is a bit weak. Ale Garza does the artistic turn this issue and I hate it! Give me Brett Booth not an issue filled with weak pencils that have never been finished. That just makes me want to read and review this title that much less.
WONDER WOMAN #14: back in Antarctica, the scientists are with the giant they unearthed. Most of them do not know who he is, which greatly upsets the giant. He has spent 7,000 years digging himself out of the ice to find out that no one remembers him because Zeus wiped him out of existence. One scientist explains that his story was tattooed on a mummified witch. After an brief explanation, he realizes his rival is Apollo. Meanwhile, in Lybia, Siracca has attacked Wonder Woman. Apparently she met Hera in 1917 as she watched her mother suffocated in a sandstorm and then found the flesh ripped from her bones and she was turned into dust. Zeus resurrected her and turned into an agent of the wind. She explains that Hera had made her suffer also and now she is asking Siracca to help her find Zola’s missing child. Siracca listens to the wind to try and hear Hermes voice, so they can find him with no lock. She suggests that their brother Milan be brought in to assist. The gods on Mount Olympus are concerned about the prophecy that a child of Zeus would murder another to take the throne. Some think itmay be Diana. But, while all this occurs, Orion learns from Highfather that there is danger coming which could mean the end of the Source itself. This would cause the end of time and apparently originates on Earth.
Finally, after the whole DEATH OF THE NEW GODS story in the OLD DCU, we get the introduction of the New Gods in the NEW 52 Universe. Can the rest of the Fourth World be far behind? And how cool would that be? Wait: we can let Dan Didio write it. We already know that he knows how to handle classic characters. Can we get Prez, Brother Power The Geek, and Kamandi back while we are at it? Just sayin’! Back to THIS book. Brian Azzarello brings the fire, the mystery and the intrigue to this title and it IS STILL among my favorites. Tony Akins does a decent job of doing a Cliff Chiang imitation, but he’s only an imitation. Sorry Tony! But, we do get a Chiang cover!
WORLD’S FINEST #6: We begin with The Huntress in Gotham City ready to make another withdrawal from Bruce Wayne’s account. Robin catches her in mide withdrawl and proceeds to monologue with her. She turns the tables by letting loose with the knowledge that Bruce Wayne is Batman and therefore this is his son Damien. So much for having secret identities. Meanwhile, Power Girl is in space adding something she has designed to Morgan Edge’s communications satellite. The device scans the Earth for signs of energy from Apokolips.. On reentry, she almost has a near collision with Supergirl. Then she heads to Gotham, where the siblings’ from different worlds are brawling with each other. Robin trashes Huntress and she ends up in a dumpster. He states that money has been disappearing from Bruce’s account weekly and she insists that she had only taken money once before today. Curiouser and curiouser. Next issue: they all team up and the secret of Earth 2 gets revealed…maybe!
Just when I thought I was out…they drag me back in again. I picked up this issue solely because it had a battle between Huntress and Robin and then found myself thoroughly enjoying the whole thing. It wasn’t as corny as previous issues and it wasn’t as dependent on back-story as previous issues. Paul Levitz turns in a fun tale featuring two brawling siblings from different worlds. And the art of Kevin Maguire and George Perez just shines. Okay guys: I’m in for at least another issue!
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