DC's NEW 52 Month #20, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE #20: Element Woman, who has been out gathering food, gets back to the Justice League Satellite where Firestorm and The Atom are battling Despero. During the battle, which is not going well for the heroes, Despero causes the Watchtower to lose orbit and it begins to plummet to Earth. Martian Manhunter arrives and defeats Despero, as The Atom fears that someone will read her thoughts and reveal a secret she would die to protect. Cyborg tries to calculate where the Watchtower will land but is having a tough time because it keeps moving. Martian Manhunter leaves and promises to not tell the rest of the team he was here, so The Atom can take credit for the victory. Superman lands the Watchtower safely, but has to head to the sun, as he gets exposed to some Kryptonite in the process. Cyborg believes that Despero didn’t steal the ring but had someone else steal it for him. Batman shows Superman the briefcase he has that contains an emergency stop for any member of the League that may get out of control, including one to stop The Dark Knight. In the conclusion, we learn that The Atom is secretly working for the Justice League of America. In the back-up, we learn that Black Adam is the uncle of the boy we saw last issue, who stole the boy’s boy and destroyed him. This leads to the final battle and the final part of the origin story next issue.

Geoff Johns, Gene Ha, Andres Guinaldo and Joe Prado combine on the conclusion to the main story. Johns’ tale is fine and gives the new recruits time to flex their muscles fighting one of the all time classic villains, turned loose in the NEW 52. The idea that The Atom is a spy for Amanda Waller means either she won’t be around for long or will end up being a part of the other team pretty soon. And that is fine as Johns’ writes both. Now you know you have a bit of a hot mess working when you have FOUR ARTISTS getting busy on a story and artistically, it is. Regarding the back-up: what can I say except that I want The Big Red Cheese in his own title!

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #20: Doctor Destiny continues to lay siege to New York City while Swamp thing, Frankenstein and The Flash do battle with the alleged son of Frankenstein. In actuality, Frankenstein believes this is really an illusion as his son died several months ago. But the illusion is made of hard energy and Flash manages to make then go away by vibrating at super speed. At Frankenstein’s suggestion, Flash gets Madame Xanadu. Together, they all discover that Deadman is being attacked by the Cannibal Carnival and the Flash again makes them go away with his vibrational ability. They find Constantine being attacked by bloody creations from his bloody nose. The vibrational ability has no effect on the creatures and it takes John stabbing himself in the leg to draw them back into his wound. The Flash searches for the House of Mystery and finds it hiding within a penthouse of at 900 Fifth Avenue. Constantine, Xanadu, and Deadman head inside to rescue Swamp Thing, where they encounter Doctor Destiny where he reveals that Xanadu is his mother.

Ray Fawkes and Jeff Lemire continue to tear it up on this title, which is possibly my favorite among the entire JUSTICE LEAGUE stable. And we throw in a nice plot twist at the end by revealing that Doctor Destiny MAY be the son of Madame Xanadu. Well, she is old enough to have popped out a kid or two in her time. Art this moth is mostly by Victor Cifuentes over Mikel Janin’s layouts. Cifuentes style is nice and tight and reminds me a lot of some of the better Seventies horror artists that worked on the DC roster including Lee Elias and Nester Redondo.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4:  The issue begins with Dr. Light getting a call from Amanda Waller and demanding he come into work at A.R.G.U.S. Steve Trevor and Waller want him to examine a silver dollar inscribed with the Latin phrases "Let them hate as long as they fear," and "Forever Evil." They deduce that this is a communication devise for the Secret Society. The team flies off in the Invisible Jet and head to Minnesota, where the Society’s mansion has been transported. Once inside, they discover robotic Justice League member created by Professor Ivo and are attacked by the Shaggy Man, who defeats them quite easily. Meanwhile, Catwoman has been captured by the Secret Society and has a confrontation with a badly disfigured Professor Ivo, who everyone thought was dead. She knocks him out but is captured by Copperhead and strapped into a chair. She is interrogated by a pale man dressed in purple. Dr. Light makes contact with the communication device and the purple man put s a gun to Catwoman's head. She threatens that if she dies, Batman will stop at nothing to find them. Apparently this is what the Society wants as the pale man pulls the trigger, leaving Catwoman dead on the floor. In the back-up tale, we learn that Martian Manhunter’s fear of fire is based on guilt from not being on Mars when is was destroyed.

Okay…so how do Geoff Johns and Brett Booth paint themselves out of this corner? Someone who is in a Catwoman costume is definitely dead! No question about this as we are treated to a point blank headshot from multiple angles. Yep…someone in the costume is dead. Now…who is IN that costume is another story. Is it Selina Kyle? Is it the Selina Kyle we know? Can Amanda Waller bring her back to life? Is it one of Ivo’s robots? Stay tuned. As far as the back-up tale, it’s nice to get a revised origin on the Martian Manhunter. I’m not totally sold on it, but it fits the character. The highlight of this issue for me: THE INVISIBLE JET! Not the classic Wonder Woman flying machine, but just having it referenced is awesome!

THE MOVEMENT #1: Welcome to Coral City where the police are corrupt and we find Officers Whitt and Pena planting drugs on a couple of innocent teenagers. They change their mind, but sexually assault the girl. A masked figure appears holding up a phone that shows the letters "i.c.u." while it is recording the incident. The officers turn to attack and find the alley is filled with masked people recording the act. The group is a bunch of activists known as Channel M, and they have released their footage to the media causing major embarrassment to the police force. The police get called to the scene of murder perpetrated by the Cornea Killer. They get called to a neighborhood known as the 'Tweens, where a runaway named Burden enters the Angel's Hand Presbyterian Church with Pastor Mike. Burden has been possessed by a demon since entering the church The police find him levitating and then a rat with a note reading "WAR" approaches them, causing the ground to open up and summon the arrival of Mouse, the Prince of Rats. The police end up outside and a girl called Tremor draws their attention uses her powers to cause an earthquake that swallows up their cruisers. SWAT is called and Katharsis beats up Officer Whitt and declares a citizen's arrest. The Captain recognizes one of the people as a member of Channel M. She tells him Channel M is only a part of The Movement. She tells him that his wife is having an affair with Officer Yee. She demands his phone and gun, telling him that ‘Tweens belongs to The Movement. The Captain tells her that Burden is not possessed, but suffers from a mental illness. The girl, known as Virtue, says that The Movement will take care of Burden and the Cornea Killer. As he rushes inside, he learns that Pastor Mike and his congregation are all members of The Movement.

First off, I can almost GUARANTEE you this title will not last twelve issues. Why? It is a totally confusing and disjointed story that is just too weird for the average comic reader, even if it is rated T+. This so has the feeling of the alternative comics DC did in the Seventies like the short lived PREZ and BROTHER POWER THE GEEK (bring EITHER OF THESE BACK!!!). Gail Simone is trying really hard to make a statement and is doing so with new characters, although promises have been made to bring back “familiar” and “unexpected faces”. Don’t get me wrong: I love the way the book reads and the fact that I had to write that long a synopsis shows how much has been crammed into this one issue. Freddie Williams III’s art is really well done too and the book has his creepy feel. Is it part of THE DARK line or what? This book has the potential to be a cult classic and, since it is supposed to be read with THE GREEN TEAM, I am curious to see how these will relate to each other. I wish the creators luck with finding an audience. For now, know that you definitely have me there.

NIGHTWING #20: Nightwing goes back to his sublet apartment and gets attacked by Joey: the girl whose room Michael is subletting to Dick. Michael allows Dick to sleep in his bed for the night, given that he has just been called to cover the story of Western Station getting hit by a helicopter. The next morning, while both Joey and Michael whine about their stations in life, Dick receives a text message from Johnny Spade, who he meets with that night. They play a hand of cards on the condition that the loser gives up some vital information. Spade loses and reveals that the person who best could get that information is the Prankster. Back at the Chicago Steelworks, the police find Alderman Laine with a wolf chewing on his severed arm. The police commissioner informs Mayor Wallace of the situation and confirms that Tony Zucco is truly dead. This is good news for Zucco, who is sitting in the other room. Meanwhile, the Prankster has captured John Conaway and hooked him up to a Tesla coil. Nightwing bursts in and frees Conaway but not before Prankster hacks into Nightwing's heads-up display and shuts it down, virtually blinding him. He soon finds himself locked in a glass box and proceeds to create a back draft. The only way out is for Nightwing to unmask in front of a camera to find the right hatch to open.

So Kyle Higgins and Brett Booth send Nightwing to Chicago and things go from bad to worse for our hero. I totally love this run! After the whole DEATH OF THE FAMILY story, which was awesome, I thought sure this title would lose steam. I mean, we went from the whole Haly’s Circus piece, dealing with Tony Zucco’s daughter, the destruction of the circus at the hands of The Joker and Dick Grayson basically losing his fortune. So he packs up and moves to Chicago to search for Zucco. Sheer genius! Higgins writing has never been better and Brett Booth continues to impress! This book has slowly been moving up into my Top Ten month after month.

PHANTOM STRANGER #8: We begin with Frankenstein bringing The Stranger into the House of Mystery. Apparently the dying Stranger has been dumped on their front steps.  Zatanna calls up Nightmare Nurse to try and save him. Meanwhile, his soul is in some sort of Limbo and he meets his captor, The Sin Eater. We learn that the Stranger, using the name Joshua was a guest at the home of Phillip Stark and his family. It seems that Stark was a serial killer who buried his victims under the house. He also planned to kill his family. The Stranger ended up becoming Stark and dispersing the murder to a place known as The Land of Non. It seems the Sin Eater IS Phillip Stark. Just as he is about to attack, he is brought back to life in the House of Mystery. But, despite his anger, he now knows how to save his family.

Dan DiDio, J. M. DeMatteis and Phillip Tan continue to weave back and forth between completely trash and complete brilliance. This issue runs somewhere between the two. Knowing how The Phantom Stranger became Phillip Stark was fun but I somehow have problems believing he would get in the house as an invited guest in the first place. And then we find out the Sin Eater IS Phillip Stark-yeah…saw that coming! So, this issue was another bump in a very bumpy road for this series so far. I hope this next issue will finish the storyline and lead into the TRINITY WAR with a little more common sense.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS:#20: When last we saw out heroes, Jason Todd had been mind wiped of his negative memories and Roy and Kori were trying to get it reversed. S'aru fills their heads with Jason’s memories and Roy gets the memories of how he and Jason met. A drunken and beaten up Roy was saved by Robin, who offered his friendship. Soon after, Jason learned his mother was alive and went to find her, finding the Joker instead, who killed him. Roy never knew these details. Starfire continues to petition for his memory to be restored and S'aru makes her remember where she attempted to kill Nightwing. Jason asks that they respect his decision but Roy knocks Jason how with a tranquilizing arrow, aims his bow at S'aru, and demands the process be reversed. Instead, S'aru ejects them from the Acres of All and find themselves in the Himalayas. Meanwhile, Green Arrow learns there is a bounty of five hundred million dollars each on the heads of Roy, Kori, and Jason and decides he will go after them.

James Tynion and Julius Gopez continue the puzzling tale of the trio of teen heroes. What I find puzzling is that we have Green Arrow back in Seattle and going after the threesome. So, where does this fall in continuity, since Green Arrow is having enough problems in his own book. What I do find interesting in the NEW 52 version of Roy’s back story is that he’s a drunk, where our old friend was a junkie. I guess that’s not quite proper any more and being a drunk is more believable. As the book continues now and almost ends its’ second year, I discover that the triangle is not as interesting as it once was. I like the idea of Jason having his own book, Roy joining up with Green Arrow in HIS title and Starfire…she can go quietly back to the Teen Titans.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS ANNUAL #1: When last we saw Jason Todd, he had his memory erased and Roy and Kori were having major issues with it. Now back home from the Himalayas, Jason asks their computer to access all of the files on the Red Hood, which comes back with a confirmed kill-count of 83 people and causes Jason to freak out. Meanwhile, Roy flashes back to his time with psychiatrist Dr. Hugo Strange and he was trying to deal with the bitter breakup he had with his mentor Green Arrow. Back in the present, Green Arrow disables Roy’s security bots and warns him that there is a bounty of five hundred million dollars on each of them. Kori smells something and produces some fire to see what it is. IT is gasoline and the base explodes. She is told by a mysterious voice that she is now being poisoned by an aerosol toxin. Roy rushes in to save her and meets Cheshire, who reveals her primary target is Jason Todd. Roy chases after her but she poisons him too with an airborne toxin. Green Arrow finds Jason just as Cheshire attacks him. Apparently, they had trained together, even though Jason has no memory of her. Roy gets into the action, but he gets overdosed by toxin in her nails. Oliver saves his life by injecting Roy with an anti-toxin. Starfire intervenes and is blinded by more poison. B y the time she recovers, Cheshire is gone. Jason flips out on Roy, complaining he had been lied to, as they had told him he was a good man, not a killer. Jason decides to go off and find his destiny his own. Green Arrow leaves the island and reports back to Steve Trevor, asking that A.R.G.U.S. leave the Outlaws alone. Jason Todd has stowed away under the vehicle and is headed back to the mainland. Elsewhere on the island, Bronze Tiger and the League of Assassins realize that Cheshire has done her job well, by testing Roy and Starfire’s defenses and abilities.

 

James Tynion writes this annual, which follows directly from issue #20 of the series and does a great job of introducing classic characters and amping them up for the NEW 52. First, we get a visit from Dr. Hugo Strange. He was Roy Harper’s psychiatrist? If we all remember, the OLD Hugo Strange was the guy who caused so much trouble for the Caped Crusader. No wonder the poor kid had issues! And then we bring in Cheshire, who hasn’t had a child named Lian with Roy Harper(who eventually got killed during JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRY FOR JUSTICE) but has trained with Jason Todd. And, if all of that wasn’t enough, we get a sneak peak at the Bronze Tiger and the League of Assassins, who we haven’t seen since BLACKEST NIGHT. Okay-the fanboy is rabid again! In addition to all of this, we get some nice art from Al Barrrionuevo. Overall, a fun issue that promise to continue along in kick-ass fashion with the next regular issue.

RED LANTERNS #20:  In a scene from GREEN LANTERN #20, Arkillo tells Atrocitus that Sinestro left one last Guardian alive and he goes off to pursue. When he finally catches up woth the Guardian, Atrocitus purges his long festering anger by shoving his hand through the blue alien’s head, killing him. Back on Ysmault, the Inversions arrive and torture the Red Lanterns. Bleez threatens the creatures and they retreat, fearing her like they have feared no other. meanwhile, Rankorr has returned to Earth and is in the process of killing Kim’s abusive ex-boyfriend when she tells him she never wants to see him again. Rankorr responds by saying she won’t see either of them again. he leaves earth, arriving on Ysmault not too long after Atricitus returns. He claims he is no longer human and accepts his rightful place as a Red Lantern. 
 

And thus ends Peter Milligan’s RED LANTERN run. To use an overused phrase-“not with a bang, but with a whimper”. His run has been very, VERY tedious for me to read and has caused me to want to drop the title almost every issue during his run. But I kept hanging on in hopes that it would improve. If never got to the glory I had hoped it would and now he have a new creative team starting next issue in the form of Charles Soule and Alessandro Vitti. While I have no idea how good it will be, I have seen preview art and it LOOKS GREAT. And the fact that guy Gardner appears and POSSIBLY will join the team has me greatly interested. So it’s goodbye to Peter Milligan with the hopes that this series will be what it had the great potential to be all along.

STORMWATCH #20: The Stormwatch away team of Midnighter, Apollo, Hellstrike, Jenny Soul, and The Weird has been sent to investigate the Magenta Time Lords that have been rewriting Stormwatch every few years. The Time Lords are trying to recruit Lobo into their cause and they send him back in time to see how he became the Last Czarnian. He became the person he is today by creating a virus that that killed everyone on his planet except for him. Meanwhile, Stormwatch follows some psychic emanations through the streets of the planet when a sniper tries to Jenny Soul. A battle ensures and the team gets help from a group of alien lizard men who arrive to join the fight claiming “enemy to our enemy our friend”. Finally, Lobo, with the promise that everyone would forget all the bad things he ever did, agrees to join the Time Lords.

I give up! Even seeing Lobo in this title can’t save it for me. Jim Starlin is writing a tale as convoluted as the plot in DIAL H…only worse! Yvel Guichet provides the art and personally, I’d rather it be Starlin who limits himself to the cover art. I don’t understand the story; I have no idea where he’s going with it and frankly, I don’t care about any of the characters, with the exception of Apollo and Midnighter, who we have a little history with. Hellstrike and The Weird-sorry, don’t care. And Jenny Soul-I want Jenny Quantum back. In fact, I want THE AUTHORITY back!!! Sorry Jim: I’m done with this title…AGAIN!

SUICIDE SQUAD #20:  Back at Belle Reve, Amanda Waller and a mystery person analyze the team. They observe the current team, including newest member The Unknown Soldier, along with potential candidates like David Graves and Cheetah. King Shark has switched to a vegan diet and is reading Rumi. He gets interrupted by a blonde woman who calls him a freak and causes him to rip her in half, revealing her to be an android that electrifies him and  brings him to his knees.  While Harley and Voltaic play Scrabble, the latter aggravates the Soldier enough that he gets himself beaten to death with a stick. This wouldn’t be the first time Voltaic has died. Deadshot is strapped in a chair and forced to watch Waller explain how he has managed to die twice in six months. Thanks to the Samsara Serum, she can bring them all back to life if needed. Later, Harley gets a visit from a a man from the Die Laughing Gang dressed as The Joker. The Unknown Soldier arrives and shoots the man through the head. Now she will becomes attached to him. Dr. Visyak’s team tries to bring Voltaic back to life, but he explodes all over the operating room. In the end, Amanda Waller decides to hire her guest, who admits to having fallen in love with Waller. The guest is James Gordon Jr.

Well, I guess we know who didn’t die at the end of BATGIRL #19. Now we have one of the sickest serial killers working for Amanda Waller. This should be interesting. I like where this first issue with new creative team of Ales Kot and Patrick Zircher is going. The possible addition of David Graves, from JUSTICE LEAGUE, and The Cheetah is intriguing and Kot has done a nice job of turning the current players worlds upside down. It is also nice to see that The Unknown Soldier is going to be the strong silent Deadpool meet Punisher type as opposed to the character he was in his own run. And Patrick Zircher does a great job on the art, especially when Voltaic explodes.

SUPERMAN #20:  We begin with Clark living in the future with Ma and Pa Kent and is married to Lana. That doesn’t last very long as it becomes obvious that he is actually in the middle of a fight between Orion and himself. And we spend most of the remainder of the book with Superman taking his lumps from the New God. Wonder Woman arrives on the scene and we see that the fantasy Superman has been experiencing has been caused by the psychic invasion of Hector Hammond. Orion has Mother Box erase the secrets of the universe that Hammond has stumbled upon and puts safeguards in place to keep 9t from happening ever again. The book closes with a disfigured Lana roaming about the graveyard in Superman’s mind.

What a complete and total pile of poop! This was probably THE worst thing I have read in months! Wait-I’ll start with the good: Aaron Kuder’s art looks great, in a Nineties sort of way. Scott Lobdell-you have once again becomes my whipping boy as this is just awful! The dialogue reeks so bad that it is on par with Geoff johns’ first issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE-you know: the one the felt like it was written for a thirteen year old. Well, this is worse! The story is basically an issue long fight sequence with a lot of senseless monologuing along the way. Then, once our hero has been beaten down by Orion(I know we have dialed down the Man of Steel’s powers, but THAT is ridiculous!), Wonder Woman shows up, slaps the lasso around him and we discover big headed Hector Hammond in his head. A little Mother Box treatment and that’s that! Dumb, dumb, dumb! And what’s with the Lana in his head? I can’t wait for this. Of wait-YEAH, I can. this is bad enough to make me look forward to the SUPERMAN UNCHAINED series and we all know how much I LOVE a Jim Lee book, especially when we know he I‘ll be there for one arc and gone!

SWAMP THING #20: The issue begins with Swamp Thing dreaming he is a human, happily married to Abby with a child together. But that quickly becomes a vine wrapped nightmare. Later, he later meets a future version of himself, who never became the Swamp Thing but instead won a Nobel Prize and had a family. The future self becomes a skeleton; spewing tales of the Parliament of Trees and their desire to have The Green overtake the world. In actuality, Swamp Thing's body has been spread across Metropolis after being overdosed by Scarecrow’s Fear Toxin. Superman gets involved, trying saving the population and containing the Swamp Thing in the process. Superman blasts Swamp thing with his heat vision which causes him to awake from his dream. Luckily, the fire burns out the toxin and Alec calls his vines back to him and out of the city. After some deep, philosophical conversation, Superman grabs Scarecrow and Alec returns to Louisiana where an unknown woman demands that the Avatar saves her.

Welcome to the second issue with the new creative team of Charles Soule and Kano. These two have a very, VERY big set of shoes to fill. So I find it a bit early yet to totally pass judgment on them. Suffice it to say that Kano’s art is very much in the style of Yanick Paquette and I’m good with that. Now Charles Soule is trying to hold onto some of the mythos that Scott Snyder has put down while trying to pave new ground. This whole bit with Alec trying to adjust to his role as the Avatar is evident with this final page. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. I am hoping that it continues the fine tradition that has been established thus far.

TEAM 7 #8: Kaizen Gamorra wants Pandora’s Box but, thanks to Majestic,  a huge tidal wave is about to wipe out everything thanks to Majestic. Kurt Lance uses his abilities to amplify his wife’s, the future Black Canary, sonic scream which knocks the Pandora’s Box from Kaizen into John Lynch’s hands. Majestic arrives and, realizing his mother was murdered for this, he wants to open it and have ultimate power. Lynch, Dinah, Kurt and Amanda Waller link hands and Dinah’s scream becomes a monstrous light that blinds and knocks them all out. When they awake, they find the tower, along with Kurt and the Kaizen, are gone. Dinah mourns the death of her husband and Lynch feels the box calling to him. Waller has Dinah take the box up into the helicopter but he uses his telekinesis to try and bring the chopper down. Amanda Waller pulls out her gun, shooting Lynch in the head. Following this, the Team 7 project ends. Steve Trevor saves Slade, Cole, and Dinah. Lynch, Waller, Majestic, and Kurt Lance are all missing, and presumed dead. The events at Gamorra are classified and Team 7 not only ceases to exist, it has NEVER existed.


And thus ends TEAM 7 the comic, as well as the team itself. Here was title that promised to explain how the players, specifically Slade, Cash, Black Canary, Amanda Waller, and Steve Trevor got to where they are today. Unfortunately, the book was cancelled before all that happened. And Slade and Cash have had THEIR books shot out from under them too! So we get Amanda Waller stranded on what’s left of an island with a dead John Lynch. How does she get to be where she is today running Belle Reve? Inquiring minds want to know. Adios TEAM 7. All in all, a nice effort by Justin Jordan, Tony Bedard and Jesus Merino.

TEEN TITANS #20:  Last issue, Psimon was responsible for the death’s of two dozen soldiers and now he has to defend himself from the Teen Titans who are sure they will be blamed for the deaths.  Back in the Five Under Realms, Trigon relates Raven’s true origin from her birth while the rest of the team intervenes. That’s when the Sons of Trigon appear to bring Raven home.

This synopsis is short because I couldn’t really care about the issue. Scott Lobdell needs to fire himself for his work as of late and this is one of his worst. We begin mere moments after issue #19 ended, where Psimon was unconscious. And now he’s not. Great recuperative powers or bad writing coupled with an Editor in the form of Mike Cotton who must have not been up on current continuity. The cover claims RED ROBIN REBORN and that has NOTHING TO DO with ANYTHING IN THIS STORY! Again, blame to Editor Mike Cotton for letting this go by! Top it off by having fifteen pages of boring origin for Raven from Trigon in the Five Under Realms. What? We can’t say he’s in Hell? Oh yeah: Lucifer…right! Well, I guess he has to live somewhere. The writing here is hackneyed and I am totally disappointed in Scott Lobdell. On the one positive note: Eddie Barrows and Patrick Zircher do a bang up job on the art. This May be my last issue, although I am tempted to give it one more to finish the storyline. But that’s a BIG MAYBE at the moment.

WONDER WOMAN #20:  Apollo, the current ruler of Mount Olympus, still believes that Zeke fits the ancient prophecy declaring that Zeus’ child will take Olympus by killing another child. Poseidon arrives and learns that Artemis has been sent to kill Zeke. Wonder Woman intervenes, but not before she is reminded that she swore an oath to kill the child if he turned out to be the child of the prophecy. While the pair battle, Lennox takes the child to provide the best protection. The battle between the two Olympians virtually destroys the streets of London. Diana uses her lasso turn Artemis’ power against her. Before Diana can finish Artemis, War intervenes, sending Wonder Woman after Zola and the others, and he takes the fallen warrior back to Olympus. Poseidon claims that First Born will take the throne and the lives of the others. Back in London, Lennox tries to take Zeke, Zola and Hera to his flat when he runs into his younger sister Cassandra and the First Born. It seems that it was Lennox who tore out his sister’s throat. With that, Lennox and the First Born prepare to mix it up.

Brian Azzarello continues to blow this book away with wonderfully dysfunctional tales of these wonderfully dysfunctional Olympians. With art from Goran Sudzuka and Cliff Chiang(who only drew 5 pages but did provide the layouts for the whole book), this quirky little title continues to be among my favorites.

WORLDS’ FINEST #12: Karen Starr is dancing with DeSaad, not Michael Holt as she believed. Helena tries to impale a curtain rod through the villain’s head, but it bends instead. Holt industries security shows up and begins to attack and it is then that the girls realize that everyone thinks they are truly fighting Michael Holt. Choosing to flee rather thsn fight, they take flight. Karen decides to make a tactical escape, grabbing Helena up in her arms as she flies away. It doesn’t take long for Karen to figure that DeSaad is responsible for the ensuing fall of her financial and technological empire. She receives word that her lab in Cambridge has exploded and off she flies in her new, more revealing costume. This becomes the perfect time for DeSaad to launch an attack on Starr Island, destroying most of the island. He finds a critically injured Somya, and kills her, knowing how much pain it would cause Karen. The girls return to find their friends dead, decide to go underground and plan to destroy DeSaad together. 

For all of you continuity fans, the events in SUPERGIRL #19 takes place between DeSaad’s appearance at Holt Industries and the explosion in Cambridge. That having been said-IT’S ABOUT TIME WE GET BACK THE CLASSIC POWER GIRL COSTUME. I am psyched to see DC, the company screaming about embracing the diversity of their fans, stop being so politically correct or whatever was the course of the costume change in the first place. Now if we could get Adam Hughes to draw her again. In the meantime, I will totally take Kevin Maguire, Geraldo Borges and Robson Rocha. And Paul Levitz: now this title is getting to be a blast again! Thanks!