DC NEW 52 VILLAINS MONTH, Week 2

ACTION COMICS #23.2 ZOD: Dru-Zod loved monsters which, unfortunately, his scientist father raised to dissect and study. But one day his parents’ mobile lab was torn apart by creatures much more dangerous than what they were studying, killing his parents in the process. One year later, Jor and Zor-El picked up a distress signal from the wreck of the lab and were saved by young Dru-Zod, who had survived on his own. Fifteen years later and Zod had become a colonel in the Kryptonian military and developed a dislike for the Els. Zod tried to convince Jor-El to join him, along with Faora and Angar to battle the Char, but Jor-El refused. Two more years pass and Zod, along with Non, and Faora defeated the Char and win the loyalty of the Kryptonians, who lead drone strikes, wiping out the Char's home planet. One day, Jor-El had a meeting with Zod, only to have him arrested as a traitor to the Kryptonian people. At trial, Jor-El explained the creatures they were attacked by were not Char but created by Zod using material he stole from Zor-El’s laboratory. In actuality, Zod created the war against the Char for his own gains. In actuality, when the creatures attacked Zod’s family, only his mother was killed. Knowing it would allow him to escape, he had shoved a wooden stake into his father's brain and left him for the monsters. The Kryptonian Science Council sentenced Zod, Non and Faora to the Phantom Zone. Zod’s parting words were that he would always be their monster.

At least this wasn’t a Scott Lobdell tale! This was an interesting, if not long and involved tale of Zod’s rise from curious child to murderous child to Phantom Zone resident. Zod: the mighty General whose greatest atrocities are creating a war for gain. Not that we’ve never seen that before in the REAL WORLD. Nice art from classic artist Ken Lashley just adds to the piece. All in all, a nice tale that makes Zod more of a player in the NEW 52…once he gets free from the Phantom Zone, which I would expect to happen during FOREVER EVIL.

AQUAMAN #23.1 BLACK MANTA: In Belle Reve prison, Amanda Waller is trying to recruit Black Manta for a mission with Task Force X, but all he wants to do is kill Aquaman. She proceeds to run down the history of Black manta and how he developed his hatred for Aquaman when the lights go out and the rioting begins. The super-villains receive a message inviting them to Happy Harbor, Rhode Island where the super powers from Earth 3 have gathered. At the meeting, Black Manta claims Aquaman's trident and then leaves to visit his father's grave. Suddenly, the ground shakes and we see that Ultraman has moved the Moon, which affects the tides. Water covers the graveyard and washes away Black Manta’s father's body. With Aquaman dead, he now has a new enemy on his list.

Oh yeah: I think we all know what side of the fence this villain will be on when it comes time for the villains of Earth 2 to battle those of Earth 3. This was a great story that fleshed out a lot of Black Manta’s inner feelings. Nice work by Geoff Johns and Tony with art by Claude St. Aubin. Can I see manta as part of a revamped Suicide Squad down the road? Sure…provided he gets to keep the trident!

BATMAN #23.2 RIDDLER: Having escaped from Arkham, The Riddler prepares to break into Wayne Tower. He arranges a flash-mob protest which allows him to use his ID card to walk into the building with ease, along with a device he gets through the metal detectors. The security team realizes they are under attack by The Riddler. But, at that exact moment, the Crime Syndicate’s message appears on every monitor. Stopped by a security guard, The Riddler drops a riddle on him who costs the guard his life, leaving the villain to eat a cup of yogurt. He approaches a conference room door, puts plastic explosive into his now empty yogurt cup and blows the door down. He demands that Caroline Slater, the Junior VP of Finance, identify herself. He drags her by the hand to the executive elevator and uses her hand print to open it. He goes to his old office, but he is interrupted by a former Arkham Guard. The guard lunges at him, but has his right arm blown off by an explosive device the Riddler shot at him. The Riddler heads to the roof, as he has heard that the Batman is dead. He begins a game of solitaire and waits for a worthy opponent.

Ray Fawkes and Scott Snyder, with art by Jeremy Haun deliver an average tale that, at its worst, shows us that Ed Nygma likes yogurt and knows how to disarm someone-literally. At its best, it shows him as a deranged man who has only one goal: Batman. The real highlight of this issue is the killer Guillem March cover, which rocks in either the standard or Lenticular version.

BATMAN AND ROBIN #23.2 COURT OF OWLS: Despite Gotham being destroyed and the Justice League, including Batman being declared dead, The Court of Owls believes their way of life will survive if they go digging into the past. In 1974, R.H. Orchard had a meeting with the mayor of Gotham City, where he was told his meeting with five national union heads was unacceptable to the Court. Angered by the demands, the Court surrounded him and the next day, he threw the union leaders out of Gotham. Of course, that night he was dropped into their labyrinth and murdered by a Talon. Going further back in time, back to 1871, a young photographer had discovered the hideout of the Court of Owls. While he thought nothing of them, his wife believed they were dangerous. The next day, as he prepared to take his picture to the Philadelphia Press, he attempted to kiss his wife goodbye. A noose was slipped around his neck, hanging him until he was dead. Then a man placed a drugged cloth over the mouth of his wife. They became headlines themselves in the following edition of the Gotham Gazette. Today, a prominent member of the Court leads his daughter to where the Court began and tells her of the Gotham Butcher, Felix Harmon: a Talon who had a penchant for murder. The Court was forced to go underground for most of a decade because of Harmon. The father explains they have come down below to save the city. A woman jumps out, warning that they can’t bring back the first. But the man’s daughter climbs on her back cuts her open with her knives. As proud as any father could be, he leads his daughter through the wooden doors to the chamber of the First Talon.

James Tynion IV and Jorge Lucas gives us a great back story to the mysterious Court of the Owls and, at the same time, sets things in motion for future issues of TALON. This story was so entertaining, it is ALMOST enough to make me go read TALON: a book and a character that did NOTHING for me. The history of the organization, the little ways that they have controlled Gotham and then-the kid proves she can cut and run with the best of them. Absolutely one of my favorite reads from this batch. And the Lenticular cover worked REALLY well on this one.

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #23.2 MR FREEZE: We begin with the retelling of Victor Fries and how he murdered his mother after he felt she abandoned him during her accident. Victor discovered, via a clipping someone gave him at Arkham, that the father who had abandoned his family so long ago, had started a new family and was making headlines for his fund raising regarding cancer research. He discussed wanting to meet this family with his doctor and the doctor promised to take a letter to the family. Victor promised to kill him if he was lying. Victor escapes from Arkham with the events of the Crime Syndicate and killed his doctor with the frozen letters that were never sent. On route to visit his father, he asked the help of a nurse he rescued during his trip on a barge. Unfortunately, he learns that his father has died before he has gotten a chance to see him. Victor arrives at his father’s house and explains to the family how he ended up the way he is. He helps himself to a glass of wine and even says grace. He has frozen the widow and her children solid. After all, he did arrange to have his father murdered.

This was such an AWESOME story and I know why. They dynamic duo of Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, those fine folks responsible for ALL STAR WESTERN each month, turn their creative juices loose and allows Victor Fries to get a small amount of revenge on the part of the family that made his childhood miserable. Now, does this make him bad because he craved revenge? I am not one to judge. But I think we might all go a little mad if we had the opportunity to eliminate a part of your past that caused you much pain. By the way, the art by Jason Masters is pretty cool too.

DETECTIVE COMICS #23.2 HARLEY QUINN No longer connected to the Suicide Squad and bored with the new Secret Society, Harley Quinn heads to Gotham City to reflect on her life. With a family that didn’t support her pursuit of her masters and then doctorate in criminal psychology, she choose to work at the best hospital in Gotham. But that proved unchallenging to her and she transferred to a position at Arkham Asylum. Convinced she could help them, she actually wore a disguise to break down the doctor/patient wall. That was when she approached the Joker, who went and kissed on her lips. Soon, they escaped together and h dropped her into a chemical bath. Lately Harleen is trying to take over the mind she shares with Harley. But Harleen’s intelligence has helped produce a software that, when loaded into handheld gaming system, will explode when updated. And sure enough, the update causes Gotham to light up with explosions. Deadshot arrives and explains that the Suicide Squad  needs her back. He makes the analogy that they are all like bullets and need targets. Harley: "So... shoot me."

Leave it to Matt Kindt, who I know some comic fans can’t stand (yeah-you know EXACTLY who you are!) to take the classic origin of Harley Quinn that we have all read and seen in MAD LOVE and twist it just enough to make it interesting to those getting into the NEW 52 for the first time. And isn’t she just a little Dickens to load all those non Game Boy Game Boys with an explosive new update. That will certainly cure your addiction to gaming for a while! Nice art by Neil Googe but nothing can beat the cover by Chris Burnham and Nathan Fairbairn. Because noting says BUY ME to drooling fanboys than a Lenticular cover with a lots of bouncing boobs on it!

EARTH 2 #15.2 SOLOMON GRUNDY: It’s the origin of Solomon Grundy, In 1889, he lived in Slaughter Swamp with his wife and newborn son. They worked long hours at the Henry Slaughterhouse while Henry’s employees starved. One day, Solomon’s wife was sexually assaulted by Mr. Henry. Ashamed of it all, she later returned with a knife and shoved it into her throat. Mr. Henry ordered Solomon to retrieve his wife's body before the alligators ate it. So outraged was he, he took his knife and killed everyone in the slaughterhouse. Then he killed himself, falling into the swamp.  Many years later, Solomon Grundy has returned to Earth with the ability to drain all life force with the power of The Grey. He makes his way through the desert, causing destruction on his way to meet The Green Man. The military uses a missile to blow him up, but it isn’t long before he puts himself back together. Just like the rhyme, Solomon Grundy is always born on a Monday.

Hey-it’s that Matt Kindt guy again that SOME PEOPLE don’t like! This time he creates a great history to the legendary Solomon Grundy that is about as weird and perverse as we get. We get a rape, a suicide, a mass murder and than another suicide. But what about the boy, to use a line from TOMMY: what about the boy? He’s left an orphan but that never gets resolved. The back section basically is a partial retelling of the tale from EARTH 2 #5 where Grundy battles Green Lantern. The ever amazing Aaron Lopresti provides the interior art and he legendary Ken Lashley gives us the cool looking cover. Not the best EARTH 2 tale that I have ever read, but certainly not the worst.

FLASH #23.2 REVERSE FLASH: Daniel West visits his father and realizes that he needs to go back in time and kill him to erase what future harm he caused. He can do that because, three months ago, he got out of jail and landed in a city run by gorillas, where he was captured. He got saved by the Rogues but ended up stealing a car and ended up crashing into the Speed Force Battery and Dr. Elias’ monorail. He ended up in the desert of the Badlands with the ability to turn back time, but with his body bound to the remains of the monorail and the battery. He could also sense those who had been touched by the Speed Force and knew that if he could take their power, he might have enough to go back in time and change his life. In the recent past, The Flash sent him to prison. In the distant past, Daniel was responsible for crippling his abusive father; an act which caused him to run away from home and his sister Iris. Four years prior, Daniel learned that his mother was very sick before she gave birth to him and therefore he wasn’t responsible for her death. As he entered the house, he saw the Reverse-Flash, preparing to murder their father, as he drained the Speed Force energy from the Flash.

Now, die-hard FLASH fans know that the Reverse Flash was Professor Zoom, who killed Barry Allen’s mother and was responsible for FLASHPOINT which was the ignition point for the NEW 52. Well, in THIS world, he’s Iris West’s brother and Iris West has nothing to do with Barry Allen. So the die-hards may find this a bit hard to swallow. That having been said, Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato write a great story that leads into the next issue of THE FLASH. Scott Hepburn provides the interiors and they fit the style of the book, which is normally featuring Manapul and Buccellato. All in all, an interesting take on a classic character.

GREEN LANTERN #23.2 MONGUL: Commander Pyri from the Oblivoron Federation finds himself teleported onto Warworld where two races are battling to the death and Mongul is in charge. Mongul gives a tour of the facilities, including Black Mercies which induce nightmares of dread. Warworld sends Oblivoron’s moon crashing to the planet below, killing many but leaving enough alive to serve Mongul as guards and gladiators. As a finishing touch, Mongul tears off Commander Pyri’s head as a final show of his power.

Okay, I kind of expected this kind of story from Jim Starlin. That’s why I can’t read STORMWATCH anymore because his scripts are so obtuse. This is another one. It rambles on for the length of the story until Mongul tears off Pyri’s head. The highlight of the book is the art from legendary artist Howard Porter. Yeah, don’t have a heck of a lot more to say about this issue than that. It definitely was a disappointment.

  

JUSTICE LEAGUE #23.2 LOBO: Lobo attacks acclaimed tenor Ulrin Duc Xon, explains to the audience that he is really Xi'nrin the Url. He apparently has a thousand credit bounty on his head for murder and extortion and Lobo cuts him into pieces to collect that bounty at the Mad Wolf trading outpost.He is offered a job smuggling a certain cargo in exchange for some information her has long been searching for. Travelling through "Grave Space", his ship is hit and crashes on an unfamiliar planet. He battles the Vrenyin Scavengers who shot him down, cutting them into tiny pieces. He discovers his cargo are passengers who were kidnapped from their home world, where they were to be boiled down for their bones which are elemental and rare. While they think they are being saved, Lobo loads them back into the cargo hold as he truly needs this information. He sells them at the Southern Cross and receives a device that will allow him to find the one man who escaped from Czarnia whne he murdered everyone there. The one is the man WE KNOW as Lobo and now the REAL Lobo is coming to Earth for him.

Marguerite Bennett gives us a NEW Lobo who is more Metrosexual than Main Man. And fans have been pretty much up in arms about this too! His attitude is pretty much the same: anything for money. But his look is so different that I can’t wrap my head around it. I guess that is my way of saying that even with Ben Oliver’s dynamite pencils, this book answers no questions and leaves more than we started with.

JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7.2 KILLER FROST: Three years ago, Dr. Caitlin Snow arrives in the Arctic to run a S.T.A.R. Labs project. She is a replacement for the last lead-researcher, who wandered out into the snow one night and froze to death. After some time working at a job she loves, she is knocked out only to awaken inside the Self-Sustaining Thermodynamic Ultraconductor Engine. Her colleagues had put her there as they had been hired away by H.I.V.E. and were responsible for their previous colleague’s death. They activate the engine and Dr. Snow’s presence in the circuit caused a feedback that stopped an explosion of the unit. To save herself, she ripped out the wires of the coolant system, causing her to be encased in ice. When she broke out, she grabbed her colleagues and fed on their warmth. No longer human, she made her way back to Pittsburgh where she was forced to kill to feed. She was also forced to fight Firestorm whose blasts would temporarily turn her back to her old self. She realized he had a connection to him and his Firestorm Matrix was the key. But now, having learned that The Crime Syndicate has killed the Justice League including Firestorm, she feels enraged. If Firestorm has died, that her chances of being normal may have died with him.

This is a very sympathetic tale by Sterling Gates and Derlis Santacruz. I was never a big fan of Firestorm, either in this version or previously ones. Actually, I liked the original concept WAY BACK WHEN, but found his character too watered down over the years to care. When his NEW 52 book came out, it was one and done (two counting the ZERO issue) for me, so I am unaware of the back story, in the universe, between him and Killer Frost. I can see where she will likely end up siding with the “heroic villains” in the FOREVER EVIL conflict. Great use of characterization here making her one of the more sympathetic villains I’ve encountered this month.  

SUPERMAN #23.2 BRAINIAC: The Collector of Worlds, that would be Brainiac, and his Terminauts are on a mission to save examples of cultures which are about to be destroyed by Vyndktvx. We get the back story as related to Victoria Viceroy by the robot she built. Vril Dox is convinced that his home planet of Colu is going to be destroyed by the Fifth Dimensional Multitude and is convinced of a way to save his people But he begins by experimenting on his own son, much to his wife’ dismay, and it gets him a one way ticket into space exile. While in exile, he uses C.O.M.P.U.T.O. to free himself and upgrade his body. He returns home on the day the Multitude arrives, so he bottles a portion of the planet and its’ people, and sets off on a quest to other worlds to help him destroy the Multitude. When they can’t help, he bottle up new trophies for his collection and destroys the world himself. Viceroy’s planet is doomed for destruction too but Brainiac feels she is worthy to assist him. Preferring to die with her world, she sends a warning that reaches Dr Veritas.

Tony Bedard and Pascal Alixe give us a nice revised origin for Brainiac that touches nicely on bits and pieces from classic LEGION OF SUPERHEROES stories. This is truly a tale that propels the evil genius forward in NEW 52 lore, but also pays homage to the good old tales. And a great cover, 3D or otherwise, by the extremely talented Gene Ha is the icing on this cake.

TEEN TITANS #23.1 TRIGON: We get Trigon’s origin story. He is a demon who is meant to die but survives and grows up to rule every universe and realm he can encounter. He also needs heirs, so his process is simple: enslave the men and mate with all the women. Many die during the process while some die during childbirth and others take their lives before delivering a demon seed. By the end of the tale, we learn that the narrator is Arella, Raven’s mother who is warning an audience, presumably the Crime Syndicate that Trigon is coming back to Earth and they need to stop him.

Marv Wolfman comes home to the team he created with George Perez back in the Eighties. Unfortunately, it mostly retreads what we already knew: he’s a bad ass demon who gets busy with any woman on every realm. The fact that most of them don’t survive is a bit graphic to be run through this book but it is NEW 52 after all. Carlos Urbano’s art is okay but, no offense; he certainly is no George Perez. The question that remains is who is Arella talking to: Crime Syndicate, a villains team or someone else?