JUSTICE LEAGUE #26: Earth 3's Alfred Pennyworth maintains a watch over Dick Grayson to make sure that no one but Owlman gets to see him. Meanwhile, grid is having issues of humanity and downloads information on the Syndicate members. Then we get a flashback to five years ago in Coast City of Earth 3 where janitor Harold Jordan was spying on his boss, Carol Ferris. Her father finds him and realizes he was taking notes to sell secrets to competitors. During his interrogation, he was selected to wear the Ring of Volthoom. He took it from a dying Abin Sur, who was happy to be rid of this curse, and gained power but at a price. To charge the ring, he went to a pocket dimension and faced a nasty creature. We then get, from Central City of Earth 3 five years ago where police officers Mick Rory and Leonard Snart planning a slow death from career criminal Jonathan Allen. But Allen's girlfriend Rhonda crashed a truck into the transport van, freeing Allen and torturing the two officers.Rhonda suggested the policemen fight to the death to save the winner's family. Mick killed Leonard, but Johnny killed him anyway, setting off alarms. They found themselves trapped on the roof of S.T.A.R. Labs when a lightning strike hit Johnny and Rhonda was thrown into a device Ray Palmer had designed. We learn that Martin Stein would lure homeless people into becoming his guinea pigs. He eventually began to experiment on himself, merging with a corpse to become Deathstorm. Grid tries to look into Superwoman's files, but they have been deleted. Meanwhile, Dr. T.O. Morrow and Silas Stone try to revive Victor Stone. Victor wakes and declares that the villains haven't won yet.
Okay Geoff Johns: I am totally loving where this story is going. I mean, we introduce the Crime Syndicate and then give us their twisted origins. And twisted they certainly are! A creepy Hal Jordan(yeah...I know OUR Hal can be creepy at times too!). Roray and Snart as cops who get tortured and killed by the future Johnny Quick and Atomica. And Martin Stein merging with a corpse to make Deathstorm? Yeah-some truly twisted stuff here! Anyway, I LOVE where this is going and love Ivan Reis' art. I know this has to end soon, but I am in now hurry for it, as each issue drops me further into this amazing world which, despite all the complaints are rewriting history, is so amazingly fresh and fun.
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #26: So, the entire team died last issue except for Deadman who is the last hope for the team. When they awaken from the spell they were put under to escape the Blight, Nightmare Nurse jabs a scalpel into Constantine's neck to verify that the vision of where Deadman is located is real. They head under the sea in search of the corpse of the Sea King, who died when the Crime Syndicate arrived on our Earth and find him in a place called Nan Madol. They also find that the Sea King has been possessed by the ancient magic of the city. After battling the ghosts of Nan Madol, Pandora lets Constantine know that The Sea King is also Deadman. It takes a special knife through the skull to stop the Sea King's assault, but leave Deadman within. Meanwhile, the Phantom Stranger has seemingly sold out Dr. Thirteen and company and joining forces with The Blight. To be continued in PHANTOM STRANGER #15.
J.M. DeMatteis and Mikel Janin d a good job of telling this next piece in The Blight epic. What I thought was the coolest of the whole book was seeing the resurrected Sea King with his old school Arthur Curry beard and one hand! Miss that version of Aquaman, but understand how we need the clean-cut version in the NEW 52. So, this story rolls along and we follow it into the PHANTOM STRANGER to see if Judas himself is playing a game or really joining The Blight to lose some more coins.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #10: We begin with Courtney in danger of being trapped within the memory of the night she stole the Cosmic Staff while Martian Manhunter works to free her from the illusion. A lot of this deals with her being caught on video and becoming an Internet sensation. J'onn uses her mentor Pat to try and wake herself up. J'onn takes control of her body, using her to fight back against the Society. While she drifts back and forth between the now and her past training, J'onn guides her through a fight with Giganta and Shadow Thief. With Deathstroke's arrival, they flee and see that Washington, D.C. has been laid to waste and head to LexCorp Tower. Courtney pulls J'onn into the memory and begins to attack him and then separates from him. She warns that he should go find the Justice Leagues while she will find her family by herself. And J'onn tries to figure how to free the Justice League from the soon to be nuclear meltdown that is Firestorm.
Matt Kindt and Eddy Barrows continue their portion of the FOREVER EVIL epic and this is by far the weakest of the main four. Nothing to do with Kindt and Barrows work: I just find the whole Courtney/J'Onn storyline uninteresting. While it was fun seeing them traverse all the layers of Firestorm's prison, this bit of origin story left be bored. Save this for the forthcoming SECRET ORIGINS series.
THE MOVEMENT #7: James Cannon questions his son and asks if he is the Cornea Killer. Terry admits he did try but was interrupted and is only trying to scare the people of Coral City. But Terry admits he likes killing, just like he did to his mother. Meanwhile, Katharsis and Tremor are begging bystanders to call an ambulance for Mouse. Virtue heads out to search for Mouse while Vengeance Moth watches Christopher. We then learn she is really Drew Fisher, 19 years old recovering substance abuser who has muscular dystrophy. And although he has had his demons exorcised, he still has sexual feelings he tries to control. Suddenly, all their monitors go out as the Graveyard Faction is on their way in and begins to attack. Seemingly defeated, Moth tells Christopher the exorcism was a fake and that allows him to uinleash his inner demon. Virtue arrives and Katharsis takes Mouse to the hospital on their own, where they learn that Mouse' prognosis is not good. Officer Whitt tries to organize a team of officers to go back to Movement headquarters to take care of them but Officer Yee stands in their way.
Well, another month goes by. And it's another month where I wonder what Gail Simone and Freddie E. Williams II are looking to accomplish. Well, whatever it is, I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT. As every issue goes by, the characters get a little more fleshed out and I wonder where Gail is going to take this. While I think the current story could have been told in about five issues thus far, I give her the benefit of the doubt as she knows her pacing. My greatest fear is that DC will kill this title before she has a chance to finish her tale. We shall see, but I hope this title gets to at least 12.
NIGHTWING #26: We find out that there have been robberies at three Chicago hospitals that were conducting trials for a drug containing Kanium Carbonate. Nightwing catches her and discovers she is Mali the mimic who copies his moves and escapes. As she leave, she announces she is no longer Mimi the mimic but now the Marionette. When he returns to his apartment, he discovers the window is locked and is forced to use his secret clothing stash on the roof to get changed. Meanwhile, Mali returns to her apartment and is immediately attacked by two crooks. She beats on them and, just as the police arrive, she injects herself with a syringe filled with Kanium Carbonate and flees. Dick, in order to pay his rent, gets a job at McClellin's pub: a cop hangout. Luckily cops in a cop bar like to talk and one Detective talks about an upcoming stakeout that he invites Michael to go out on. Apparently, as Michael later explains, the Detective has a sore spot about masks. That night, Marionette manages to get inside Drexler and finds Nightwing waiting for her. He offers to get her help as bullets suddenly rip through the place. A third person explains that the only person who can help Mali is the person who created her: The Mad Hatter, who admits she is his favorite Alice.
So now that we have resolved the issues with Dick Grayson, Dick Grayson BEFORE the world knows Nightwing is Dick Grayson, Nightwing has new adventures to engage in. The whole Marionette story is rolling around here but now we find out the Mad Hatter is involved and may be responsible for her creation. Kyle Higgins continues to give us a great cast of supporting characters to populate Dick's life. But expect all that to change when the FOREVER EVIL story invades this book. With Higgins writing compelling stories and great dialogue and Will Conrad giving us some great art, this book is better than SOME of the Bat titles out there. I won't drop names, but look at WHAT Bat titles I DON'T review and you can figure it out.
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #26: We go back a year to find that Talia al Ghul submerged Jason Todd in a Lazarus Pit. Today, Jason, along with Roy and Starfire, find themselves being attacked by Ra's al Ghul, who has just emerged from the Well of Sins. The three all say their goodbyes and spread about their respective apologies. Outside the sacred city Essence wants to help Jason, but Ducra warns otherwise. Jason tries as hard as he can and begins to reform the memories he promised himself to forget, including his training with Batman and Lady Shiva. He easily takes out the Man-Bats AND Lady Shiva, while Cheshire tries to rescue Roy and Kori. Essence believes that Roy will win but Ducra claims he will soon die, as he regained his memories too soon.
James Tynion IV writes a good story. I REALLY like his work. I wish I could get past the character of Talon so I could enjoy his writing there. But that’s a different story. I like the characters and the fact that Jason Todd’s back-story has a bunch of new information but enough of the old, pre-NEW 52 story, to make him less of a cardboard character than I expected him to be. Really, the book should be called RED HOOD and his partners should be supporting cast members and not featured players. Oh yeah: the art by Julius Gopez is cool too!
RED LANTERNS #26: The Red Lanterns, or most of them anyway, find themselves captured by Gensui. Zilius Zox is in Pirate Barg's ship and he crash-lands it in the midst of Gensui’s army. Bleez takes matter into her own hands and kills Gensui. Ratchet manages to save his fellow Lanterns but dies in the process. Ratchet’s ring leaves him in search of a new owner. And it finds one-Atrocitus.
Well, this just got REAL interesting. Thank you Charles Soule for kicking this one up a notch. This book, which has been coming through in a good way as of late, is really picking up steam. But I laughed when I saw the artwork. It’s great looking and the credits are to J. Calafiore. Really JIM? We have shortened our name to an initial? What are you-Prince? In all seriousness, the book is getting over the slump that almost made me drop it.
SUICIDE SQUAD #26: Belle Reve has been pretty much trashed and Amanda Waller has only one surviving ally in the form of King Shark. Unfortunately, he discovers that his father is Kamo and is so strong that she has kept him to solitary for the last four years. Kano explains that he must kill King Shark but Waller tries to convince him that if he helps her defeat O.M.A.C., it will undo the spell that holds him, which allows him to return to his worshippers. She explains how and why he ended up where he did and that they thought they could raise and control King Shark. We learn that Waller learned not to trust anyone after seeing footage from a Cadmus involving the O.M.A.C. Virus. Meanwhile, James Gordon, Jr is surprised to see an apparently successful Suicide Squad returning to the prison. Unfortunately, Harley has double-crossed the team delivering O.M.A.C. to the Thinker and she attacks him from behind. Gordon strikes back, thrusting a knife behind her shoulder blade and too close to her spine to be removed or moved without permanent damage. She admits she betrayed the team because she was bored. He removes the blade and snaps an explosive collar around her neck. She tells him that the Thinker plans to transfer his mind into O.M.A.C.'s body. Gordon and Harley meet up with Waller and realize that Thinker has succeeded with his plan. Meanwhile, we discover that Deadshot has survived the avalanche and is now ready to kill who ever is responsible.
Matt Kindt and this team of Suicide Squad members are a pretty messed up bunch and with the world coming down around them, things just keep getting worse. Deadshot is buried in an avalanche and is ready to kill whoever is responsible as he starts to dig out. Harley turns traitor and ends up getting into a battle with the totally psychotic James Gordon Jr.Patrick And Amanda Waller has her own problem, caught between Kano and King Shark. How many promises can you make before they all catch up with you. And Patrick Zircher shines as always with his art. This is another great example of a NEW 52 book that surpassed earlier versions. This book, despite a number of creator changes, still rocks! And, dewspite it all, DC is STILL CANCELING IT!
SUPERMAN #26: Clark is having dinner with Wonder Woman when Lois suddenly creates herself as an astral projection. Diana steps out and Lois tells Clark that her powers have been growing steadily since she went back into her coma and can hear the thoughts of everyone in Metropolis. Taking her astral form to the hospital, Superman and Lois see her father telling her that he has been chosen to replace Senator Hume and investigate something called the Tower. Meanwhile, in Suicide Slum, two paramedics give a homeless man to the hospital. Unfortunately, he's The Parasite. When he arrives there, he senses someone with great power. Later Superman talks with Dr. Veritas regarding Lois' coma. Suddenly the Parasite confronts Superman, copying his cold breath and freezes him. That's when Superman learns the villain is not after him, but after Lois' power.
Look kids: Scott Lobdell and Ken Lashley bring back the Parasite. Yeah-that was the highlight of the issue for me. This whole “Lois in a Coma” story is just a little too boring for me, especially when Superman is hanging and banging(read that ANY WAY YOU WANT) with the Amazon princess. Okay-Lois is a good friend, but it is not like it was. Let some other superhero worry about her condition. Let General Lane get involved. Hell-let Lex Luthor save her. Go back to saving the world, Supes!
SWAMP THING #26: Alec Holland, now that he has been replaced as Avatar of the Green, is able to know the thoughts and destiny of the Seeder. He sees the Seeder attack Capucine in Louisiana and forcing her to run for her life. To impress the Green, Seeder goes to San Diego where he plans on killing Animal Man. We flash back seven years ago to a time when Woodrue was studying Environmental Science and researching the concept of the Avatar.He eventually found his way to Mato Grosso, Brazil, where he discovered the Parliament of Trees and begged them to let him become their avatar.They eventually gave in when he completed a task to help them save Alec Holland. When he did, they gave him the power to alter seeds. He sought out more power from the Cult of the Cold Flame. Back in San Diego, Woodrue and Buddy battle, leaving Buddy confused as to why Swamp Thing would attack him. And Woodrue: he is not aware that Baker is not the Avatar of the Red. When he discovers Baker is not, he still decides to kill him until he can find Maxine. Buddy manages to use the strength of an ant, the regenerative power of a worm and a hawk's flight ability to attack Woodrue. Woodrue ends up in Peru and begins to destroy the rainforest, killing everyone there and letting their blood run in the rivers.
Life continues to suck for Alec Holland and his friends. But it looks like Jason Woodrue's life isn't so great either. At least, it wasn't before now. And, since he can't get what he wants, he takes it out on the poor people in the rain forest. Charles Soule and Jesus Saiz continue to write and draw some creepy stuff here. And with Buddy Baker having his own problems in his own book, this may be the last thing he needs...
TEEN TITANS #26: We get the futuristic origin of Kid Flash. Apparently, his parents were missionaries who ended up dying for their beliefs. Kid Flash manages to escape with his kid sister, Shira. Throughout it all, Kid Flash ends up killing to protect his sister. Realizing he can protect like he wants to, he hides her away in a better place. Then he decides to gain revenge, he must infiltrate the organization responsible for their death. Working for The Purifiers, he smuggled cargo across the galaxy. In the process, he absorbed interstellar radiation that eventually gave him his super speed powers. He becomes a rebel and gathers enough followers to begin attacking the government of The Functionary. In the process he was responsible for almost killing Shira and gave up the rebellion. All of which causes the Teen Titans to question their allegiance to their friend.
So…we DO know this book is ending soon and Scott Lobdell has gone on record saying he wrote the book that DC wanted him to write. So, is he NOT taking responsibility for writing bad Eighties crap in 2014? And, at the same time, he gets to through in his thoughts on organized religion too! And none of it works. Even the art from Tyler Kirkham and Scott McDaniel is sloppy. This book has so had its’ ups and downs in 26 issues. It’s going down in flames, but I’m following it there. Hey-after this long, what’s a few more issues and one more $5.00 Annual?
TRINITY OF SIN PANDORA #6: Last issue, Pandora was battling miniature versions of the Sins and The Blight. Now she is trying to defend Constantine and the others to keep them from being eaten by The Blight. The team comes around and battles the emissaries of The Blight, saving innocent citizens in the process, one who whom actually thanks The Phantom Stranger, calling him a hero. By using the Mark of Dun-Kon-Wen, they pool their powers to attack. Unfortunately, it all goes bad fast. Constantine is beheaded, Swamp Thing is burned up and Nightmare Nurse and Zatanna get impaled. Soon they are all dead and lying on the floor of the House of Mystery, where it is up to Terrence Thirteen to save them.
Ray Fawkes puts a nice twist on a story that has been rambling as of late. How do you do anything when the woman responsible for unleashing thew evils of the world may not be totally responsible as this was part of some cosmic plan from another Earth. So, how do you work with that? Fawkes makes use of the whole team, not that he had a choice, as this is part of the crossover. But he does a great job, even better than the work going on in the other TRINITY OF SIN title right now. Francis Portella and Staz Johnson provide the art and there's nothing glaringly bad about it. It fits the tale and that's all I want in a good comic. From here-JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #26.
TRINITY OF SIN THE PHANTOM STRANGER #14: When we last saw The Phantom Stranger, he, The Question and Pandora, found themselves kidnapped by John Constantine and his new version of Justice League Dark. After the two groups argue, The Phantom Stranger pulls the truth out of Constantine's mind, which means a recap of the last few issues from this crossover. The Stranger ends up going through the House Of Mystery and ends up at Golgotha to relive his shame. Pandora eases the pain by saying that if he hadn't done what he did, the world would have been a very different place. Meanwhile, Chris and Dr.Thirteen discuss recent events and Chris finds himself tempted and possessed by the serpent known as The Blight.Over in Los Angeles, Black Lightning and Blue Devil fight monsters, until Blue Devil gets sucked to Hell. The House of Mystery returns The Stranger and Pandora to the Rock of Eternity which was really the Foyer of the House. Swamp Thing give Stranger one of his coins, which he gives to Asa the Nightmare Nurse as payment for saving his life.Just then they are attacked by The Blight and the results continue in CONSTANTINE #9.
J. M. DeMatteis and Fernando Blanco continue with their piece of THE BLIGHT puzzle. I have totally mixed feelings about this story within a story. It's hard enough to keep track of everything going on with the main FOREVER EVIL story and the spin-offs and now this. Let's get back to the Stranger trying to find his humanity and get away from the Junior Justice League Dark here. An okay story, but not the greatest!
WONDER WOMAN #26: Orion has gone to Chernobyl to see if he can help Milan, but Cassandra threatens to blow Milan's head off unless Orion surrenders. Cassandra removes Milan's blindfold so he can see where the First Born is, although his eye sockets are filled with flies. He refuses as Hermes, Diana and Siracca arrive. Diana gives up the info: The First Born is in Olympus where we all know he is being tortured unmercifully. Secrets revealed, Cassandra plants a bomb on Milan and flees. Orion grabs his friend and endters a Boom Tube with him. Back in London, Diana and Hermes arrive to find that Zola and Zeke has left, but leave a note. Zola and child are in a subway station where they run into Dio again. This can't be good...
I'm sorry for all the fans of WONDER WOMAN's that cam before. This is a severe retelling of that legend. In fact, forget everything you ever knew about Diana the Amazon Princess because this bears NO RESEMBLANCE to anything you have ever read. This is the most dysfunctional family in the NEW 52 DC Universe and possibly in comics, although I think the Fantastic Four owns that one. Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang's artistic clone Goran Sudzuka rock the world of the Olympians every single month! LOVE THIS TITLE!!!
WORLDS' FINEST #18: With Power Girl's powers threatening to take down the Williamsburg Bridge, Huntress lassos her and, by using a nearby boat drags her down into the East River. The cold waters cool her powers temporarily, causing her to faint. Back in Brooklyn, the arsonist returns to her master, demanding to be freed of her curse. Back at their apartment, the pair wonder if anyone they loved on their world still exists. Helena does a little web searching and finds the arsonist in Brooklyn, where she gets attacked by the girl's master and, finally the demon Xazdi. Power Girl comes to her, but her powers go wacky and she collapses. But she keeps on fighting, grabbing the crossbow and firing an arrow into Xazdi's chest, which explodes and causes the demon to disappear. Later that night, they decide that they should sek some professional help concerning the power outage.
Paul Levitz does a great job of kind of wrapping up this story line, which is getting long in the tooth. .And, in actuality, the story is only a stop gap between the next piece, as we still haven't resolved the power outage thing. And Huntress is kind of like the Ethel to Lucy right now. I like these characters, but kind of want them to join the heroes back on Earth 2 and help them fight in their current storyline. Then Karen and her former boss could finally get that whole issue resolved! Nice art, as always, by the team of R.B. Silva and especially Scott McDaniel. Nice to see him around again.
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