ACTION COMICS #28: Ukur brings Superman and Lana to Imperial Subterranea, where they meet Queen Kokya, who wants to talk to Lana, who she thinks is the queen of the surface world. Superman and Lana, who get taken to a room to clean up and, hearing a scream, discover a creature having its’ energy drained. As Superman attempts to save it, the Ghost Soldier gets involved and reveals himself as Leonard Sawyer. Stone warriors attack the pair while Kokya tries to convince Lana into giving Superman to her. Lana refuses and Ukur attempts to capture her, but is saved by Baka. All four make their way topside but the creature, not used to sunlight, turn into monsters which prompts Ghost Soldier to stab Superman, saying that he won’t side with monsters.
So: let’s all be honest. Is this not the book in the NEW 52 that has made the biggest and best change in the last few months or what? Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder have turned this into a beautiful to look at, fun to read romp! Underground cities! Lana Lang! Monsters! Aliens! Cute little creatures that turn INTO monsters! The Ghost Soldier! This book has become one of my favorite reads each month and…it is appropriate as it comes out during week one every month!
ALL-STAR WESTERN #28: When last we saw Jonah Hex, a truck had hit him. He gets hospitalized and ends up in a three month long coma with his doting girlfriend watching over him. He finally wakes and discovers that the doctors did facial reconstruction surgery and removed the cataract in his right eye. The take off the bandages and our bounty hunter is truly a new man. After a night to contemplate his life, he leaves the hospital and Booster Gold arrives, wanting to set things right. After a quick costume change back into a Confederate uniform, and with Gina by his side, he travels back in time to his home era. It isn’t long before they encounter Apaches. Jonah explains who he is but they don’t believe him, as he no longer bears the Mark of the Demon. Their plan: kill Hex and take Gina.
First off, we get an AWESOME COVER from Darwyn Cooke. Yeah-DARWYN COOKE! From there, it becomes a waiting game until Jonah comes out of his coma and comes face to face with a new him. How do you top that? Go back home and have a band of Apaches think you’re a liar because you no longer are scarred. Yeah, that is a bad position to be in! As always, a killer story from Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray with art this issue from Staz Johnson and Fabrizio Fiorentino rather than the usual Moritat. As much as I like Moritat’s work, I quite enjoy the change of artistic pace.
ANIMAL MAN #28: We begin where last issue ended with Brother Blood about was about to choke Maxine to death in order that he could rule The Red. Meanwhile, Buddy is fighting against the last of the Totems and slays him with his own horns. He heads to help his daughter, who is fighting back, calling herself ANIMAL GIRL. She transfers her power to Shepherd even as Blood drags Ellen Baker in The Red and holds her hostage, telling her to surrender her power or he will kill Mom. Buddy arrives and defeats Brother Blood, promising to never leave the family again. However...a promise was made and Buddy will have to live up to it.
So how DOES Buddy baker get out of this one? Personally, I think somehow that Buddy’s son Cliff gets reborn and he goes off to be the new alien on the block. But then again: I’m not making a living writing comics. So that would be for Jeff Lemire and Rafael Albuquerque to decide. We’ll all find out next month as the final issue of this series rolls off the presses.
AQUAMAN #28: Aquaman saves the poor diver from the end of last issue, despite having torpedoes fired at him. He manages to get him aboard what is known as Triton Base and renews his friendship with Dr. Shin. Later, he and Mera return to Amnesty Bay where he discovers there is a High School Reunion on the next night. He refuses to go because he beat up a kid who was carving his name into a live-beached whale, putting the kid into a coma. Back on Triton Base, the wounded diver is an amputee in a vegetative state. So the commander allows Dr. Orson to experiment on him. Arthur and Mera go to the reunion and many old classmates meet and greet him. Some treat him with respect and some with disrespect. But almost all of them have had some experience with him since he became the Sea King. Then finally, Kevin Bernard has his meeting and he is scared stiff as he was the one who keyed Arthur’s car Senior Year. Arthur forgives him, even those he has no recollection of the incident, and Kevin feels relief. And the guy he beat up in high school? He spends the days bragging how he got knocked out by Aquaman. Meanwhile, the shadowy guy who has been asking too many questions in town has stolen the trident, flown to the Azores and , put it in an ancient runestone. What happens next? Wait until next month.
A high school reunion? This is the highlight of this issue? If you had told me that in the advance solicitations, I probably would have thought it was an early April Fool’s joke. But it isn’t. It IS the main story in this issue. And it’s…AWESOME!!! This hasn’t been this much fun since the very early issues when Geoff johns was writing some incredibly funny dialogue for the Sea King.
Jeff Parker delivers some good moments in this issue with the highlight being the reunion. Having lived through several high school reunions, this is the epitome of them. We discover most of the townspeople have stayed behind and do not have much to say except be in awe of their classmate. At most reunions, it is a matter of who can brag the most about their accomplishments. As always, outstanding art from the ever-reliable Paul Pelletier. But what IS the purpose of the trident in the rune stone and what will that bring about?
BATGIRL #28: We meet Mr. Uchida, who believes that The Joker, Penguin and Two Face are Freedom Fighters and Nightwing, Batman and Batgirl are the Nocturnal Destroyers that he is planning on hunting. Batgirl is scouting out a group of copycat house theives wearing Halloween masks. But by the time she gets to street level, she discovers that Strix has taken them out. She wants Batgirl’s help to find a missing 8-year-old girl that can’t speak. Uchida watches from a distance and sees Strix and Batgirl as vampires feeding on the thieves they just apprehended. Batgirl contacts Charise Carnes (Knightfall) and asks for a favor to took for the girl. Meanwhile, Silver (Mr. Uchida) goes to the apprehended thieves and decides they are vampires and he dispatches them. Strix and Batgirl, disguised as detectives, question the missing girl’s mom and then get attacked by Silver, who believes they are in league with the vampires. The Gotham City Police arrive and break up the fight as Sliver tells Barbara he has their vampire queen: 8 year old Cissie Chastain.
Okay: this is a totally confusing issue! I mean, it seems to begin with some crazy guy getting ready to hunt the remaining living members of the Bat Family and then we find out he thinks that the Bat family are vampires out to hunt EVERYONE. Okay, so Silver is nuts and Gail Simone and Fernando Pasarin have crafted another unusual chapter in the legacy of Batgirl. And if Knightfall is involved, things could get rough for the Girl Wonder.
BATMAN #28: The police accost Harper Row because she is in violation of the 8 o’clock curfew. One of them is about to beat her when she says: "Midnight in Gotham is the bee's knees." She is shoved into an armored van, only to find herself at the only nightclub still in Gotham: The Egyptian. She is here because her brother became infected because they were in the Narrows at Ground Zero. Come to find out her password is three days old and now it looks like she is going to pay. She kills the power in the room and Batman appears, chewing her out for bringing the thing he told her not to bring and orders her to put her uniform on. Batman and Bluebird fight their way through the casino and to the club owner: Selina Kyle. He asks for the key to winning Gotham back and she responds by wrapping her whip around his throat. He reminds her that people are dying because of what she is keeping from him. She has her men lead them to the safe and they open it. Inside is Stephanie Brown-The Spoiler. And apparently she is the only one who can stop what’s coming.
Okay…if you are a bit confused here, you are not alone. We stop the ZERO YEAR story that has been running and will continue to run through BATMAN for the foreseeable future (or until Scott Snyder leaves the title, which may be happening very soon) to give the introductory part of the new weekly BATMAN ETERNAL series. Set somewhere in the future, or possibly in another timeline totally (or even another Earth…who knows?), we see Harper Row as a Robin of sorts(FINALLY!) and Selina Kyle as the Queen of the Gotham Underworld. But best of all, we get the NEW 52 introduction of Stephanie Brown-The Spoiler. Finally-STEPHANIE BROWN! So who knows if this is in the future or an alternate future. WE GET STEPHANIE BROWN! Thanks to Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Dustin Nguyen for this tale. See the next part in BATMAN ETERNAL #1.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #28: Picking up from where we left off last issue, Two-Face has been captured and is about to be executed live on television. Batman figures out where he is being held, but ejects Erin into the waiting arms of the Gotham City Police Department. He bursts into the courtroom where Harvey is being held and manages to free him and discovers that Harvey knows his secret identity. Jim Gordon and the Gotham Police arrive to escalate the situation. Dent and Gordon end up isolated and Harvey spins his coin and it lands on the edge. Frustrated, he flees. Meanwhile, Erin is beginning to make friends in jail and is beginning to lead her own following. Back in his home, Two Face flips the coin and puts a gun to his head. We hear a gun go off and see blood splattered on a picture of Gilda.
Yeah…I love the work of Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason. And it looks like we may have a reboot in the works. We have lost The Joker and replaced him with The Joker’s Daughter . We had a temporary Penguin for a time. And now, it looks as though we may have a changing of the guard as Harvey Dent gives up the mantle of Two Face and it looks like it is going to passed to Erin McKillen. It is amazing that this title is still being published. I thought that this title would end up being tanked after the death of Robin but Tomasi and Gleason have kept this book rolling with a rotating co-headliner in what is becoming the best team-up title out there. I can’t wait to see who is next on the agenda. Keep up the GREAT WORK guys!
BATMAN: JOKER’S DAUGHTER #1: In case you didn’t read the VILLAIN’S MONTH issue. Here’s the quickie on this character. Duela Dent, who spent her life struggling with dysmorphia that made her disfigure herself, eventually headed to the Gotham Underground. She found the Joker's face floating by and wore it, becoming the Joker's Daughter. To please her father, she targets the Batman by staging a bus crash filled with mannequins, along with a note containing a tracker. Batman the sewers and Duela attacks him. She refuses to believe that the Joker is dead, and he offers her one chance to get help. He gets a police report and leaves her, but she follows. And is surrounded by police and arrested. She chews through her skin and slides out of her handcuffs, causing the cruiser to crash and kills a policewoman. She heads to Arkham and encounters a group of maintenance workers, demanding information about her “father”. One of them describes the horrors he saw and says that she is not the Joker-she is just a nobody and her namesake would be disgusted with her. She heats her smile-brand on a light-socket, shoves it into Roger's chest and kills him.
She finds the cell of the Anchoress, who grabs her and calls her a trespasser. She proceeds to Duela’s mind and tells her she is so confused she doesn’t even know who she is, causing Duela to flee the Asylum. She decides to seek out The Dollmaker and, when she finds him, she convinces him to sew the Joker's face onto her own. Reluctantly, he agrees - in exchange for new flesh to play with from the Underground. As his needle and thread pierce her flesh, and attach the face firmly to her own, she decides that so long as the Joker is absent, she will be his prophet and heir. She will rule in Gotham. She then has him inject some of the Joker’s blood into her bloodstream. She flees to an abandoned farmhouse she used to live in after she initially ran away from home. Then she sees a note attached to her cat’s collar reading: "Hello Beautiful." She now realizes that the Joker has been watching her and approves.
So, if you thought that the guy whose face she wears was the crazy one, you haven’t met this whack job! In all honesty, she is truly as insane as her “father”, if not more so. And this should just really upset people with Mental Illness who read this tale as it’s obvious that she is writing the book on insanity. Marguerite Bennett and Meghan Hetrick present a tale of a confused girl who only wants the acceptance of the man whose face she wears and, apparently in the end, she may have done that. I do not see this leading to a regular monthly for her, but I do see her popping up to cause problems for the various members of the Bat Family.
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #28: It seems that people are once again being drained of blood by some one of the Man Bats. Immediately Batman questions Dr. Kirk Langstrom. But it seems there is another Langstrom in the business of using the Man Bat formula: Abraham Langstrom-something quickly confirmed by the Bat Computer. Bruce meets with Lucius who informs him that Patriarch Biopharmaceuticals is the exact opposite of Wayne Enterprises. It turns out that Langstrom the father hates his son because he is weak. The elder Man Bat goes out on patrol again and Batman is well armed. Or so he thinks as the hypodermic needle he has containing the antidote breaks on Man Bat’s skin. And when last we see the Dark Knight, he is falling from the heavens to the street below.
Greg Hurwitz makes up for two silent issues here by peppering this issue with a ton of dialogue. And isn’t it interesting to know that we have three Man Bat’s plaguing the city? Of course, I am slightly confused and this all goes back to that whole thing about continuity again. I seem to recall that Kirk and Francine Langstrom ended up in Arkham Asylum recently at the conclusion of the last story involving them. So, Kirk’s out, daddy’s a bigger, badder Man Bat and the corporate spy/wife is…where? As with all of Hurwitz’ work, this one is a winner and it is SO NICE to see Ethan Van Sciver back again. Alex Maleev’ work is great, but I so missed the detailed work of Mr. V. Looking forward to the next part next month as this title races towards its’ last issue with the next issue.
BATWOMAN #28: Last issue ended with Maggie’s daughter catching Kate Kane changing out of her Batwoman costume. This issue begins with a bit of juxtaposition between the indecent and the battle Batwoman is currently in, where she wants to know who the Wolf Spider really is. Flashback to sometime earlier as Kate runs into her old high school friend Evan at the police station and he is almost as beat up as she is. She meets up with Maggie for a private conversation, after Maggie has one of the other officers take Jaime out of the room. Maggie expresses her love for Kate and insists that she see a professional concerning her PostTraumatic Stress Disorder that she is suffering from. Meanwhile Bette Kane has been doing some research on the paintings that have been stolen. They are all by an artist named Alden Eisenstadt and they are hiding maps beneath them. There are two more paintings to be stolen: one is in Arkham Asylum and the other is on the Kane Family Estate.
Marc Andreyko continues to attempt to put his own spin on the legend and loves of Batwoman while Jeremy Huan has the impossible task of creating artwork that was as captivating as J. H. Williams III did. This is truly a difficult task for both writer and artist. But the book continues along and is trying to be a straight out adventure book while trying not to shift slightly away from the controversial topic of Maggie and Kate’s relationship. This issue, there is a lot of time spent with Maggie and Kate trying to examine their relationship after Maggie’s daughter realizes that Kate is not as innocent as she may have seemed. And am I the only one who thinks that Evan is really Wolf Spider? I mean, is it a coincidence they BOTH were at the same party and they BOTH ended up with injuries? Hmmmm…
BIRDS OF PREY #28:A GOTHTOPIA tie-in issue. We learn that the Birds have been reimagined as The Wings of Truth and they are Artemis (Strix), Eagle(Condor), Warbler(Black Canary) and Bluebelle (Batgirl) and life in Gothtopia is wonderful. Except that Eagle feels he is missing something in his life. That night they try to enjoy movie night but the Bat-signal appears, calling them to the scene in DETECTIVE COMICS #27 Catbird, Brightbat, Gothamite and Flying Fox have apprehended Batman and are taking him to The Crane Center for Health and Wellness.). They spend the next few days picking up the slack left by Batman’s incarceration. They even end up trying to bring Batman and Poison Ivy to justice after the pair attempt to break loose (this happens in DETECTIVE COMICS #28). Later that night, Ra’s al Ghul shows up and offers her the antidote to all of this as long as she and her team does not side with Mother Eve. Black Canary tricks Condor and Strix into leaving so they are no longer influenced by drugs that are affecting everyone else. Eventually Batgirl rejoins the team on Mother Eve’s boat(these events follow events in DETECTIVE COMICS #29) and Canary tells her to lead the team from now on, as she ponders what decision she needs to make.
Christy Marx and a host of artists (Romano Molenaar, Daniel Sampere and Scott McDaniel) weigh in with their take on GOTHTOPIA and it is far from a smashing success, aside from the awesome cover by Jorge Molina. We get more canned dialogue, an incredibly goofy sequence in the team’s apartment as the two lovebirds (did she REALLY have to write that line) argue over the type of movie to watch, a Bat Signal appearance (this is a plot device? The Bat Signal is needed in a crime free city) and a mysterious Ra’s al Ghul appearance with a promise of an antidote. So, if everything comes out fine at the end of the issue, based on whatever happens in next month’s DETECTIVE COMICS, and then why should Canary have to make a deal with him? So, we have a plot point with no reason…much like most of this issue.
CATWOMAN #28: A GOTHTOPIA tale. We begin with Selina working the Suicide Prevention Crisis Hotline trying to convince people to see through Scarecrow’s illusion of what Gotham is. She meets with Steeljacket and finds out that he is light as a feather as his bones were hollowed out when he was in the V.A. That night dressed as Catwoman, she breaks in to a place and steals some jewels, wallets and scratches her victims up(but she did provide Band Aids). The next day, Detective Alvarez investigates the robbery while Catbird saves a young bride from committing suicide. Later that night, she and Steeljacket get into it with the rest of the Batman’s assistants and they manage to get away. Selina breaks down, saying she loves her new life and never wants to be Catwoman again. Does that mean she wants to fight to keep Gothtopia going?
Hey-at least Ann Nocenti is consistant, as she once again spells Bluebelle wrong. It IS NOT BLUEBELL. Again, maybe something got missed in Editorial. But, two months straight? This is another waste of a tie-in as Selina Kyle spends the whole book wavering between the person she is and wants to be. And, in the end, it looks like she may WANT to be Catbird forever.
Pat Oliffe and Tom Nguyen (with Keith Champagne) provide the art and, once again, it really helps to get through the boring writing. Again, the highlight of the book is another awesome cover by Terry and Rachel Dodson. I so love the character and so dislike what has been done to this book. But I can’t give it up BECAUSE I love the character. Someone help Selina…PLEASE!
CONSTANTINE #11: Already reviewed as part of THE BLIGHT storyline. See earlier blog post
DETECTIVE COMICS #28: A GOTHTOPIA TIE-IN: Batman is in the Crane Center for Health and Wellness-at least that is what he is supposed to believe. He is convinced it is merely a hallucination. Even though his utility belt is gone, he has everything he needs in his suit and, since he toured Arkham’s security system recently, he can get into a backdoor he put into that security system. He sneaks into the Control Room, knocks Flamingo and Nocturna unconscious, and loops security footage of him sleeping in his cell. He makes his way to Scarecrow's lab and discovers the cause of this hypnosis is similar to Fear Toxin. Earlier in the day, “Catbird” visited and was told by Dr. Crane that Dr. Valentin will be performing brain surgery if he doesn’t return to the delusion. He tracks down Poison Ivy so she can speed up the anti-toxin needed to reverse the delusional states. And because of the way the toxin works, it creates greater fear, which is why the suicide rate is up. With the anti-toxin complete, the pair spread a sedative through the building, which they are immune to. They make their way outside, only to run into the rest of the Bat Family-who are under Scarecrow's control.
John Layman and Aaron Lopresti present the penultimate chapter in GOTHTOPIA. Although this started out like a torn out page straight out of ALICE IN WONDERLAND, and has had some fairly lame chapters thrown in along the way(BIRDS OF PREY being a perfect example), the concept and the pacing of THESE CHAPTERS(issues #27 and #28) have been Layman’s usual great work. His dialogue is witty and while it tends to be wordy, he packs a ton of plot into each issue I have been a major fan of Aaron Lopresti’s art going back to his Malibu Comics days on SLUDGE and his work now is more amazing than ever! Thanks to Art Thibert for some great looking inks on the title and then you slide it into a Jason Fabok cover and you have a great read. I am really looking forward to the finale of this story/.
EARTH 2 #20: The current, cobbled together version of the Justice Society, Batman, Aquawoman, Hawkgirl and Sonia Sato battle a sky full of Parademons until Aquawoman manages to whip up the ocean and drown the villains in the sky. Back underground, Most of the team, including Jimmy Olsen, Red Tornado, and the mysterious Kryptonian Val-el. Meet with Red Arrow (Connor Hawke) and Doctor Fate. While Doctor fate babbles incoherently, Val has a panic attack as we learn that he agoraphobic, having never been out of the capsule until today. Meanwhile, Superman and the Parademons begin an all out assault on the religions and religious icons of the world, declaring there is only one God and he is Darkseid. Back in the underground cave, while Jimmy spends part of his time ogling the former Lois lane, she goes off and talks to Val and explains his role in all of this; convincing him that he needs to embrace the sun and embrace his real powers. At last, he ventures outside to begin soaking up the warmth and the energy of the Earth’ sun.
First off: Jae Lee and June Chung provide the amazing cover to this book which right away jumps off the comic shop’s shelves. With Red Tornado, Hawkgirl and Aquawoman beautifully rendered, all you want to do is dive in. And dive we do, as Tom Taylor and Barry Kitson take us on another great ride this month. We have Parademons galore and super heroics all over the place. PLUS, despite being a robot now, Lois Lane looks HOT as rendered by Kitson! And what is the deal with this Superman? Is he truly Superman possessed by something from Apokolips? Is he a clone of Superman that was bred by Darkseid? I WANT ANSWERS! But I guess we will get those when Taylor is ready and he’s not spilling his guts anytime too soon.
GREEN ARROW #28: Last issue we learned that Robert Queen is alive and is the one responsible for Oliver Queen’s trials on the island. He threatens to kill the person he thinks is an imposter until Robert tells of Oliver’s first “battle scar” as a child. When Lacroix betrayed Queen, he knew what had to be done so, with Magus’ help, he and Emerson arranged faked. Then he bought the island and, when the time was right, arranged to have him end up on the island. Oliver’s last day on the island was a test by his father to see if he was prepared for the war to come. Magus help nurse Robert back to health and Emerson arranged for Oliver's rescue. Everything to this point, including Oliver’s meetings with Magus and Shado, has been arranged. Oliver is angry with his father AND Shado, but has no time to fully express it as Kodiak of the Shield Clan attacks. After a lengthy battle, Robert kills Kodiak. Oliver grabs Kodiak, knocks his father out and tells Shado to go to hell and take his father with her. Meanwhile, Naomi and Henry Fyff get surprised by John Diggle, who used to assist the Green Arrow. Since Oliver is not around, he insists that it be their jobs to stop Richard Dragon. Over in Prague, Lacroix and Emiko argue over the Outsiders. She suggests he should kill the others and take over the leadership of the group, to which he responds with a slap to her face. The leader of the clans tells the rest how Kodiak has fallen and Lacroix criticizes them for not sending him. Golgotha orders Onyxto kill Lacroix but she refuses as Lacroix kills Golgotha with an arrow through his head. Simon Lacroix now leads The Outsiders.
If you think this recap was long, you should have read the original comic! Once again, Jeff Lemire proves why he is an incredible storyteller as he fully explains the machinations of Robert Queen within his son’s life. Of course, this sort of blows away the whole origin of Oliver Queen that Judd Winick gave us in GREEN ARROW #0. As a refresher, Oil stealing terrorists attacked Oliver’s yacht and blew up the yacht, killing all on board except Oliver and his friend Tommy Merlyn. Does that mean, if we are to believe that version of the origin, that Robert Queen arranged for the alleged “terrorists” and Oliver just really screwed things up by being a drunk jerk and causing the explosion? If so, then Robert Queen is more of a schemer than we first thought. Oh wait: we thought he was DEAD! What can I say: this was another amazing issue from Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino.
GREEN LANTERN #28: Red Lantern Supergirl attacks Green Lanterns Lok and Barreer before she collapses from exhaustion during their battle. On Mogo, Hal is trying to swear in some of the ex-convicts off the prison ship into the Corps with one of the silliest swearing in speeches ever written. Soon there is a great commotion and it seems Supergirl has broken loose. With additional forces, they apprehend her and Hal, discovering she is Kryptonian, decides they will find a way to cure her of her affliction. Meanwhile, Saint Walker is still depressed over the loss of his entire race and decides, since he cannot remove Supergirl’s red ring, that solitude is best for him. So Hal and some of the other Lanterns head off to Ysmault to confront guy and the Red Lanterns. They confront him first and Guy reminds Hal that THEY are now in charge of Sector 2814, NOT the Green Lanterns.
This is a double, flip issue where we get BOTH GREEN LANTERN #28 AND RED LANTERNS #28. That’s right: 21 pages of each for the price of ONE BOOK! Of course, if they were both AMAZING, I would be happy. And, if DC can give us 42 pages of story for three bucks, why can’t we get this EVERY MONTH-make it the NEW 26! Or, give us 21 pages for $1.99…like the old days! Anyway, Robert Venditti and Billy Tan continue the tale of the whiniest version of Hal Jordan YET! He’s more boring than Ryan Reynolds was in the movie. Please give this guy whatever he lost when someone emasculated him!
HARLEY QUINN #3: A potential assassin again attacks Harley Quinn as she rides the Scare-O-Rama ride at Coney Island, but she uses his own shotgun to make him pay for ruining her Valentine’s Day. When she arrives him, Big Tony gives her the flowers that were for Queenie. She apparently was with another man, so Harley suggests she could be his date, but he turns her down. So, after a bath, she decides that spending the night alone with her beaver is not going to work. She notices that one of the plants Poison Ivy left her has berries, so she eats them. Discovering she got a job as a therapist at the nursing home, she heads out for a night in a singles a bar in Sheepshead Bay. Once outside, she suddenly finds everyone from corrections officers to criminals to shop owners immediately are falling in love with her. Soon she finds herself defending herself with a weed-wacker and starts cutting her way through her stalkers. A policewoman tries to arrest her but gets one whiff of her and falls in love too, claiming she smells better than the best doughnut. Figuring out that it must be the effect from the berries, she races home and chucks the plant out her window. Tony enters and asks for his bouquet back as he decides he needs to fight for Queenie. She gives him the flowers and some of the berries. Unfortunately, Queenie AND her date are now in love with Tony.
Who do you feel sorry for in this tragic tale: Harley or Tony. Has to be Tony because Harley, although she ends up alone with her dogs, he gets stuck with two lovers when he seems like a one woman man, not a one woman and one man man!. I love the humor in this title, especially the policewoman who could eat Harley up like a “strawberry filled donut”. Yeah-that is an awesome visual there. Speaking of visuals, the monthly schedule seems to be affecting Chad Hardin as his work doesn’t appear as clean or tight as it has. Maybe he should stop trying to do it all by himself and let an inker step in every now and then. Despite that, the Amanda Conner/ Jimmy Palmiotti story is a ball of fun. If you are expecting high drama from this book, you’re in the wrong book.
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 #3: Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman end up on a disgusting, waste filled planet known as Takron-Galtos. And they eventually end up surrounded by the followers of Sheriff Aaban Tariq. They learn that Coeval set Tariq up as the law and that Takron-Galtos was once Earth a long time ago. Meanwhile, the Wonder Twins decide that maybe it is time to shut this experiment down, especially considering the team in lost, Green Lantern has been eaten and The Flash has been rendered to pieces. Reality bending nineteen-year-old named Locas has decided to expel Green Lantern and keep him in a prison, threatening to give him cancer if he doesn’t confess his love for her. Ariel gets a call from Aaban Tariq and learns that the Trinity are with him and he learns that this may be the REAL Trinity which Ariel has managed to reconstruct. So she heads off to Talkron-Galtos and, unbeknownst to her, may find something named Kali waiting for her when she arrives.
This book is so messed up that I find it to be my newest guilty pleasure title from DC (believe it or not, I have actually checked out some of Marvel’s ALL NEW MARVEL NOW titles and found some of them…intriguing. Maybe a blog on them soon…). We have twisted versions of our classic heroes and I LOVE IT! J. M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, always known for putting bizarre twists into things, have really turned this into a wild, weird and totally unexpected surprise. Howard Porter’s always sweet looking artwork. Pick this book up, ESPECIALLY if you feel jaded by all the changes the NEW 52 brought to continuity. This will make you realize that, in the end, they are just FUNNY BOOKS, KIDS!!!
JUSTICE LEAGUE #28: Victor Stone, the new and improved Cyborg, has gone to see Dr. Will Magnus to help him put a new team together. Magnus refuses because of something that happened six months ago. We find that the US Defence department recruited him to work on Project: Metal Men but he decided that people make mistakes but robots do not. He built the Responsometer and installed one in each of the six robots he built. Each robot was formed and developed their own personalities and developed something he had not expected: free will. The Secretary of Defense manages to have the door to his lab blown open. They learn they were designed to be used on assassination missions for the government and make their escape. As he searched for them, he learned someone stole the prototype Responsometer and dropped it into a vat of hazardous waste. When he returned home, he found them there. But so did the chemical creature and the Metal Men defend their creator by sacrificng themselves. As the story ends, Vic explains that their Responsometers still contain their minds and hearts. At last, Will grabs a Responsometer and agrees it’s time.
Okay…the old (yes…I am old) fanboy in me just got SO EXCITED! OMG!!! It’s the freakin’ METAL MEN!!! So everyone knows: I GREW UP loving THREE classic DC characters more than others (okay-I LOVED LOTS of old oddball DC characters including Gunner and Sarge, Sea Devils and Brother Power): the Inferior Five, The Doom Patrol and The Metal Men. How I loved reading the exploits of Gold, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Tin, and Platinum. Unfortunately the series had ups and down, was cancelled in the Sixties, reborn again for a while in the mid Seventies and then…got retconned in the Nineties in a horrible way I would like to forget. But this…THIS is so much closer to the Metal Men I knew and loved, obviously visually tweaked for the new Millennium. And don’t try and tell me that the toxic waste shouldn’t have a name and that name needs to be (all together now): CHEMO! Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis blow the top off this issue by continuing the plot AND giving me characters I could cuddle up with and remember my childhood. THANKS GUYS!
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #28: Already reviewed as part of THE BLIGHT storyline. See earlier blog post.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #12: Stargirl is drowning at the hands of Despero but channels her strength and memories into Cosmic Staff and frees herself from her watery grave. Thinking he has killed one hero, Despero attacks Martian Manhunter and beats him to a pulp. Stargirl finds him weak and dying. He insists she go to Los Angeles, because she is the only one who can free the Justice Leagues. He relates a story from his youth on Mars as a fable to convince her to leave him. While she doesn’t understand the moral of the story, he begs her to leave and she does, knowing thousands of lives are at stake. She wrestles with the memory of the home invasion in her past and wants to go to her family before seeking out the Firestorm Matrix. As she continues onwards, Despero attacks her again, and then proceeds to destroy her home and her city. As Firestorm reaches critical mass, J'onn takes his last breath.
Things are NOT looking good for any of our heroes, or the city of Los Angeles. Courtney is plagued by guilt by something that happened to her brother in the past, J’onn is lying in the snow dying and Firestorm is ready to blow up and take heroes and most of L.A. with him. It all comes down to next issue, which sets up the change to JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED. This was a nice issue by Matt Kindt and Eddy Barrows that proves these two characters actually COULD carry this title on their own for a number of issues. How do they paint themselves out of this corner and will anyone be left standing? Tune in next issue!
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