ALL STAR WESTERN #34: Jonah wakes to find Tallulah gone from his side and searches fore her, to find she is skinny dipping in a nearby pond. At breakfast, he tells her of his intentions to end the life of the man who is impersonating him. On their way to town, they pass the broken carriage of L.B. Farnham, who runs a wild west show and, despite his pleas, refuse to help him. In town, they register at the hotel under the name of George Barrow and, after a short romp in bed, head to the bar, where Jonah finds his impostor playing poker. A man named Michael Wheeler bursts in and warns that a group outside wants to kill the fake Jonah. Tallulah takes Wheeler in the back room to find that the fake Jonah has taken over the Ambassador Hotel across town and that Wheeler is writing a book about Hex. Unfortunately, he has been interviewing the impostor. That night, despite Tallulah’s wishes, Jonah guns down the imposter’s men, and burns down the Ambassador Hotel, before finally killing the impostor with a knife through his heart. Tallulah and Wheeler show up and Wheeler asks his name, as he will go down in history as the man who killed Jonah Hex. The real Jonah declares that his name is George Barrow. While the townspeople robs the corpse of valuables, L.B. Farnham takes the corpse, as he plans on having a taxidermist stuff it and make Jonah Hex live again as part of his Wild West Revue. And Tallulah and Jonah? They spend the rest of their days at sea on a boat called the Louisiana Purchase.
WOW! All I can say is WOW! What a tremendous ending to a book that never should have been allowed to die. Unfortunately, not enough fans, despite the critical praise for this title, bought on to this title and thus, almost three years in, the title and the character go away again. Here’s the good news: not only do we get the usual great story by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, but we get another tremendous cover by Darwyn Cooke who illustrates the story as well! Best of all, for us OLDER comic fans, the “death” of Jonah Hex plays nicely off the classic, Pre-Crisis continuity death of Jonah Hex. In that continuity, George Barrow was the name of the man who allegedly shot and killed Jonah Hex. And L. B. Farnham was the man who collected Jonah’s body for his wild west show. In fact, Farnham is also credited with killing Hex’s biographer, Michael Wheeler. So, in the end, Gray and Palmitotti give us a happy ending. Thank you for this wonderful book which, hopefully, will become sought after by collectors who eventually realize the beauty of it.
AQUAMAN #34: As Chimera tries to attack the hospitalized Dr. Shin, Aquaman steps in to defend injured man. They battle out the hospital window and into the sea, eventually battling across town. Chimera tries to swallow Aquaman’s head and takes him to a vision of himself as another king, and has him battling the Karaqan. That is when he realizes this is why he cannot control Chimera. Aquaman battles back, frreing himself and blasting poor Mr. Combs out of the Chimera skin, thus freeing him from the beast’s clutches. Or did he? As the paramedics tend to Combs, we see he retains the eyes of the Chimera.
Jeff Parker ends this rambling story. Finally! I have nothing against his work or do I have a problem with “guest penciller” Carlos Rodriguez. It was just this undersea tale seemed to go on forever. And, let’s be honest, there are times, especially at the beginning of the series, that Aquaman had found his cool at last. But now: he’s just become a carbon copy of Namor, without the anger and angst. And a hot looking wife!
AQUAMAN AND THE OTHERS #5: Legend has the others right where he wants them and plans on melting down the Atlantean gold to be forged into armor that will allow him to live forever. Meanwhile, after a bit of a battle on the moon, Ya’wara and Vostok arrive to take up the fight. They throw the mortally wounded Aquaman into the Pool of Visions, which heals him. To save his friends, he uses the trident to stab Legend, turning him into a pile of dust and ending his attempt to conquer. Darya and Anton gets transported to a hospital to heal their wounds and we discover that the Vostok we knew was actually a clone and THIS Vostok is the real one. Sdayeh bids goodbye to her sister and kahina and the cloned Vostok move on to their final resting place.
And I wonder if this book should also move to it’s final resting place. I so respect Dan Jurgens for what he has done in the industry, but this book is filled with cardboard characters that I really had no interest in when they first appeared in AQUAMAN. I can’t blame Jurgens completely: Geoff Johns created a bunch of totally boring, international heroes. However, I will give props to Lan Medina for some nice looking artwork. So, it all comes down to the thought of whether this book is worth three dollars of my hard earned cash each month. And, even after almost a half year, I’m still on the fence. With the real Vostok back, let’s see where this takes us.
BATGIRL #34: Batgirl, Black Canary, Huntress and Obscura lead an attack on Charise Carnes’ yacht. Charise initiates Operation: Rebirth and sends Bonebreaker and Gretel to face the heroes as mercenaries move in on Gotham to eliminate all criminals. Batgirl knocks Bonebreaker out as Knightfall, Grotesque and their hired hands arrive to join the fight. Batgirl shows Charise a picture of her the Carnes family and tells her how much they would disapprove of what she is doing, finally causing her to break down. She informs Barbara that her brother James Jr. is still alive and she did not kill him. Later, returning to her apartment, she tells Alysia that she is leaving Cherry Hill and offers her a chance to come with her.
And thus two tales come to and end. The first involves the current plotline and leaves many of them unresolved. Now Barbara knows she isn’t a murderer, but that doesn’t mean James won’t come after her. Also, what happens to the relationship between Rickey and Babs with her leaving town with her lesbian roommate? The other tale that ends: the creative team of Gail Simone and Fernando Pasarin. Starting with issue #35, the creative team becomes newcomer artist Babs Tarr(this is her first comic book) and writers Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher. And from what I have seen of the preliminary work, this is a major change artistically as well as plot wise. Basically, minor spoiler here, Babs ends up replacing her costume with stuff she finds in a thrift store and the look is, well…real different from the classic spandex we all know and love. Be here in October to see how it all plays out.
BATMAN #34: Batman informs Dr. Leslie Thompkins that he believes the patients of hers who have missed appointments may have been murdered, Unbeknown to him, it appears a man we see digging a grave is responsible. But he does determine that the killer is driving a red pickup truck and follows traffic cams to trace the murderer to where he has killed his last victim. He deputizes the victim’s dog and the dog follows the scent to Leslie's clinic where the killer is attacking her. But she removes her disguise to reveal she is actually Batman, who quickly defeats the killer and arranges to have him imprisoned in the Joker’s cell at Arkham Asylum. Batman tracks down the cemetery the killer used to dump all the bodies. Troubled by it all, the Dark Knight insists on watching every body be exhumed.
Well, this was an odd and disappointing issue that I would characterize as a fill-in, even though Scott Snyder was involved with the story. Actually, my guess is he plotted it or thought of it and Gerry Duggan was the person responsible. With art by Matteo Scalera, this certainly was a far cry from what we’ve been rocking and rolling with in the last six months. Next month is the FUTURE’S END story and then, we come back to the regular creative team for the start of the next big story arc. All inside rumors say this will be a big, big story. And I can’t wait!
BATMAN ETERNAL #17-20: In issue #17, we that Deacon Blackfire once was an evangelist for the homeless who would select audience members and have them chained up below his ministry. He also captured Batman and tried to get his followers to kill him. But Batman turned the tables and Blackfire’s followers beat him instead. But now he is being resurrected into the body of Maxie Zeus. But Batwing and Jim Corrigan are determined to keep that from happening. Corrigan begs The Spectre to come forth, but he doesn’t and Batwing is missing. Meanwhile, Red Robin and Harper Row are in Tokyo where they find out that the nanobots that were attacking Gotham were based on Sergei Alexandrov’ old designs.
In issue #18, Batgirl, Red Robin and Batwoman find themselves in Rio de Janeiro trying to find the man they believe framed Jim Gordon. Batgirl finds him and is quickly hypnotized by him, causing her to attack Red Hood and Batwoman. Meanwhile, Lt. Jason Bard is becoming the lead candidate to replace imprisoned Commissioner Gordon. He and Batman end up in the sewers and running into Killer Croc, who lashes out at batman for deserting Gotham when Bane was in control. Bard tries to arrest him with less than expected results.
In issue #19, Batwoman goes searching for the man responsible for putting the hypnotic suggestion into Batgirl’s head. They now believe this is how Jim Gordan THOUGHT he saw a gun at the train station. Batwoman confronts Dr. Falsario, dousing him with Fear Gas and arresting him, as he confesses to the hypnotizing of Gordon. He tries to escape but Batgirl, now clear of her programming, gives chase. In the sewers of Gotham, Batman and Jason Bard are using Killer Croc to help them find a kidnapped girl. He shows them a room filled with what he believes are reanimated corpses who Batman believes are aliens that where described by Batwing and Jim Corrigan in Arkham Asylum. Under Arkham, the Ten-Eyed Man taunts girl Jade before Batman and Croc leaps down to rescue her. At Blackgate, the prison is put on lockdown because of a riot and a hostage situation based on a war breaking out between the Penguin and the Roman. Gordon grabs a fire-extinguisher and heads to the electrical room to try and save the hostage guards. While the the Roman's men search of the Penguin's men, Gordon fires off the fire-extinguisher and knocks them all out.
In issue #20, Batgirl catches up with Dr. Falsario only to find an assassin has murdered him. But Batwoman has apparently found enough evidence to prove her father’s innocence. Meanwhile, Batman, Killer Croc, and Lt. Bard battle cultists while Croc saves Jade before the underground collapses. Bard then attempts to arrest Croc for murdering two GCPD detectives and a SWAT captain, but he bursts through a wall causing further collapse to the Underground. In Blackgate, Maggie Sawyer attempts to negotiate with Volt while Jim Gordon continues to try and save the guards. His cellmate, Leo, shaves his beard and transforms himself into Rex Calabrese - The Lion, who tears apart some of the rioting men. With order now restored, Gordon discovers that Calabrese acted to keep Gordon or any of the guards' daughters from losing their fathers. Over at a local cafe, Stephanie uses her blog to out her super-villain father and attempt to stop him by becoming a masked vigilante.
Four more action packed, plot oriented issues. That means four weeks with a lot of plot to swallow. Written by Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Ray Fawkes, John Layman and Tim Seeley with art by Dustin Nguyen, Andy Clarke, and Emanuel Simeoni, the book continues to drop story bits all over the place. If you’re not reading this book, then you are missing the pieces that will play out in the main monthlies for the immediate future.
BATMAN AND ROBIN #34: Batman has brought his allies together to try and bring Damian back to life. He shows them the Mother Box that he can use to journey to Apokolips. He asks his family to keep Gotham City safe while he is gone and if he doesn’t come back. He tells Dick Grayson, hiding in the shadows(the world thinks he’s dead), that the world needs a Batman if he doesn’t return. Meanwhile, on the Justice League Satellite, Luthor realize they have been fighting holograms and have been distracted by Batman. Luthor offers to help, but Batman insists he needs to do this alone. Luthor makes adjustments to the Hellbat suit and wishes him luck. With that, he activates the Mother Box and heads to Apokolips.
And thus the rescue mission begins. Batman heads off to Apokolips to try and not only bring Damian back to life but bring him back to Earth. Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason continue on this amazing tale of loss and grief. We have never seen the Dark Knight this desperate. How far will he go to save his son?
BATMAN SUPERMAN #13: Kaiyo has made her way to Satanus’ world bearing gifts in return for the chance to stay for a while. She has stripped Batman and Superman of their memories and that is her gift to him: Superman finds himself in Gotham City, naked, alone and with no memory. Catwoman is watching him but then finds herself chased by a giant machine. He wraps himself in a bit of red cloth and rescues her. She convinces him to join her. Not far away, in Crime Alley, Batman wonders where he is, who he is and why he is dressed as he is and under attack by the Scarecrow. He takes a blast of Fear Gas but, by having no memories, finds he has no fear. He pulls out a gun and begins shooting at the villain. Heading into a public restroom, he examines himself in the mirror and, still unsure of who he is, accidentally calls the Batmobile, steps in and ends up in the Batcave. Meanwhile, Lois Lane is headed to Gotham to interview the man who built the machine Superman had fought, who believes that Superman is trying to kill him. Superman arrives and rips open the train she is riding in. And then he admits he doesn’t know her or recognize the name Superman.
I’m not a regular reader of this title, but I have gone back and filled in holes, so I figured I’d give it a chance. With Greg Pak writing and Jae Lee drawing, how can I go wrong. Well, as with many Greg Pak pieces, it takes a bit to get rolling and there is usually a lot of mysteries going on that takes several issues to figure out. That’s a lot of work, but I generally like that. And my biggest complaint with Jae Lee’s current style of art is the fact that many of the character look alike. It it weren’t for Super suits and bat suits…well: you get my point!
BATWOMAN #34: Batwoman finds herself facing off against Night-Thief, Killshot, and Nocturna, eventually defeating them but not before her mask gets knocked off and Nocturna gets a look. Following the battle, Kate decides to move out of Maggie’s apartment. Maggie’s ex-husband has dropped his custody lawsuit and therefore Kate is keeping her half of the bargain. She leave a note behind saying that she had a negative influence on the custody case and she hopes that a few years will pass quickly. That night, Nocturna sees Kate’s picture on the front page of the Gotham Magazine and recognizes her as Batwoman. She pays Kate a visit and proceeds to bite her neck.
Well, here’s a handful of twists that I didn’t see coming. Batwoman is going to become a REAL bat. Kate and Maggie are splitsville and not just for a short time. And what of Maggie’s feelings? Who will she gravitate to next? I never thought I would be pleased with the original creative team being replaced but…well: here we are. Marc Andreyko, Moritat and Jeremy Haun are changing up the status quo and everything you thought would havppen, basically a wedding (which DC had banned) and a happy two mom situation has all crumbled away. The book picks up intensity and, after slicing away key cast members(dad and her sister, who are off on an island), it is slowly becoming Kate’s war with the underworld and herself.
BIRDS OF PREY #34: While the Birds and Suicide Squad are teaming up to protect Dr. Amadou Mambety., Amanda Waller tells Black Canary that Kurt Lance never loved Dinah. Thinking all would die on the Gamorra mission, he set up a wedding so she could die happy. Despite her disbelief, she understands how the resurrection process wiped his memory and the only reason Amanda told her he was dead was t spare her this pain. As the two teams take their leave, Dinah reveals the history of Team 7 to Batgirl. Back in Gotham, Dinah and the Birds meet with Kurt who accepts Amanda’s offer and leaves with her. Batgirl storms out, as she believes that by Dinah keeping all of this a secret, it could have had serious repercussions for the team. Batgirl apologizes to Strix for not being as good a friend as she could have been and Mother Eve decides to take her in and do everything in her power to provide her with a voice. Sadly, Mother Eve says that things will get worse before they get better.
And thus ends one of the original NEW 52 titles. And it does so with a yawn, like most of the latter half of this run. The whole Kurt/Dinah/Condor triangle was too weird and unsatisfying and, I’ll be honest, I totally miss Lady Blackhawk! Christy Marx and Robson Rocha never let this book live up to its’ greater potential and that’s a shame, given what the run prior to the reboot HAD been. Here’s to hoping that a Black Canary book is NOT in the future, but a Strix title, something dark and gritty, is.
CATWOMAN #34: Selina decides to take Alice into the real world for a change. Alice suggests that they go looking for a new safehouse, especially after everything that occurred during the Race of Thieves. Alice suggests an old murder museum and they go off together. Once inside, Alice finds herself trapped by a man she had played an online game with only to discover he was a hacker who raked her files. She ends up in a real life, 3D battle with her opponent, Cyberius while Catwoman works at destroying the stolen data. Having soundly defeated him, the pair return back to Alice’s workshop where they find the battle in the museum was all a ruse to get her out of the workshop. One of his creations has been here, looking for more data. It had also been to Catwoman's apartment. But Alice had been smart and had stolen all of Cyberius' data while they were fighting. Meanwhile, Cyberius has combined his avatar with Alice's to make an almost unbeatable soldier of artificial intelligence.
Can this book get any worse? With the exception of the killer cover by the always talented Terry and Rachel Dodson, Ann Nocenti and Patrick Olliffe deliver a book so lame that I want to pull out a gun and put it out of its’ own misery. What happened to the sexy Selina Kyle who, although she is slowly attempting to take over the mobs in Gotham, stole things, fleeced things and lived a high life style while pining after Batman? No, now we get this poor attempt at THELMA AND LOUISE that feels more live LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY. She’s not a villain, she’s not an anti-hero: she’s just boring. Heck-I would rather see Alice with her own title.
CONSTANTINE #17: John Constantine has been hit with two spells that threaten to tear him apart but manages to find it off and finds himself on a beach, ready to battle the Cult of the Cold Flame. But there is a problem. One of the spells was actually a temporal displacement spell that has dropped him into Tanzania in 1914, is quickly surrounded by German soldiers and taken hostage. Luckily British fighter planes take out the aggressors and John is free again. Unfortunately, John’s plan to attack a Sargon weakened by Julia can’t happen as he is in the wrong time which means Julia will die without him there. Mister E tries to convince John to release him to provide Constantine with the magic to get back to Julia. John finally knows where he is and breaks into the sanctum of Doctor Occult, warning him that the ritual he is working on won’t work. It appears that Anton Arcane is responsible for betraying him and has poisoned the spell. Occult does not believe him and sends John back home, which is what he wanted all along. Unfortunately, he drops the Moonblade containing Mister E at Occult’s feet as he is whisked away in the portal. It appears he is too late to save Julia and Spellbinder and Julia, as both have been slain. But John has worse problems: he hasn’t landed in present day England-he is on Apokolips.
Things just deteriorated for our favorite mage. I don’t mean in the comics; I mean on TV. Even before CONSTANTINE the show airs, one of the main cast members is gone and Standards and Practices say he can’t smoke. Really? Next they’ll be removing his trench coat for a three piece suit! Here in comic book land, Ray Fawkes and Edgar Salazar have taken our boy, time shifted him and end up dropping him in Apokolips. And without whining Mister E complaining from within the Moonblade. This title is very up and down as far as each issue goes. This one happens to be a winner.
DETECTIVE COMICS #34: Annette Aguila has the chance to kill Jonny Loman for killing her mother and pulls the trigger. Meanwhile, Batman and Harvey Bullock, in the midst of a fist fight between them, hear an explosion coming from the East End Waterfront. On arrival, Bullock learns that radiation levels are extremely high to investigate further, while Batman prepares his hazmat Batsuit. Holter and his gang arrive and Batman blames him for getting Jonny Loman up to kill the mother of Holter’s child, Elena Aguila. That’s when Gertrude the Squid grabs Holter and drags him under the water. Batman dives in to help but is knocked unconscious by one of her tentacles. Harvey Bullock pulls him to safety before cuffing him. But Batman being Batman, finds his way out of the cuffs and disappears. Later, Bruce meets with Annette and she explains that he has been cleared of all suspicion in Elena’s murder. He offers her help, but she turns it down, claiming Bruce, in his own way, is partly responsible for Elena’s death.
What an amazing end to Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato’s first story arc. We see a human side to Harvey Bullock and find out that not EVERY WOMAN in Gotham City likes Bruce Wayne. A great story, that leaves enough plots dangling to run throughout future issues of this and the other Bat Books, and the art just gets better and better. This is runner up for most improved title in the NEW 52, right behind ACTION COMICS. Well done!
EARTH 2 #26: The heroes of Earth 2 have banded together to try and stop the invading force and rescue Mister Terrific and Sloan, who are being controlled by Bedlam. As the heroes battle Bedlam, the Queen of Atlantis gives him water on the brain, knocking him out, freeing Terrific and Sloan and shutting down the Boom Tub that threatened to pull Earth into it. Meanwhile, Superman and Val-el face off as Lois arrives and acts as a distraction to Superman, who starts to crack and blows away. He was Bizarro after all. Unfortunatrely, bedlam got away and took Terrific, Sloan and Mister Miracle with him. His next move: unleashing Barda and Fury to allow him to take over Earth 2 in the name of Darkseid.
Tom Taylor, Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott continue to make this one of the must read book out there today. Taylor writes it with a lot of flair and fills it with action and plot details and the Scotts art is super clean and crisp and very reminiscent of one of my favorite artists, Jerry Ordway. This book is going to play a big role in the upcoming war between the Earths, including the new weekly. With the end of this arc, now is the time to jump on.
THE FLASH #34: Despite what he believes, Patty doubts Barry’s theory about Detective Seborn being the Mashup Killer. The Flash catches Seborn and his partner, Seborn admits his guilt and takes his own partner hostage. Then he disappears courtesy of a stolen teleporter from the evidence room. He also explains that he switched sides during the Crime Syndicate crisis to save himself and then killed off the crew he freed(and stole their tech) to cover his tracks. While Barry experiences a ripple in the Speed Force that weakens him and allows Seaborn to strangle him, Seborn’s partner shoots him in the shoulder and saves Barry. Singh orders Patty to take a blood sample so he can figure out who the Flash is. She promises to swap out the samples to protect his identity but is angry that he keeps pushing her out of his life. Later, Barry lets Wally visit Daniel at Iron Heights, who tells him he did commit his crimes and wasn’t wrongly arrested. This makes Wally think differently and makes Iris very happy. Only they are not aware that Barry had to bribe him to talk to Wally and is being threatened by Daniel to keep paying him or he will tell the truth on how he feels. Seven year into the future and the Flash has run back to five years from now knowing he has to take out the the Reverse-Flash, who has just gotten out of prison and is looking to kill The Flash. Barry catches up to him and promises that he will kill both Daniel and himself.
You know: Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato set the world on fire when they were on this title. But Robert Venditti, Van Jensen and Brett Booth are just totally tearing up this book! I have always been a huge fan of Booth’s work back since his Image days. And Venditti and Jensen have managed to take this title in a new direction and throw in a a ton of curves alone the way. The whole concept of Flash going back in time and erasing his problems is not new to fiction, but it IS new in the way he is eliminating those problems. I’m totally loving this!
GRAYSON #2: We begin at St. Hadrian College where Helena Bertinelli is teaching the art of using the crossbow when The Hood almost gets shot by a crossbow bolt. Over in Gotham City, Batman gets a call from Dick Grayson saying that the scavenger hunt will proceed. After he finishes his call, Dick runs into Matron and they go off to their debriefing together. Mr. Minos announces the return of The Hood, who has a number of serious wounds including being missing a few fingers and toes. Minos sends Helena and Dick to follow up on the Hood's mission. Not long into their mission, Dick finds himself attacked by a woman with super-speed, before escaping him. He and Helena discover a bomb shelter from WWII and learns the woman was Poppy Ashemoore, a member of the group called T.H.E.Y. who apparently once killed and ate some British Intelligence Agents. Ashemoore returns saying she did what she did to make certain humanity survived, before she races past Dick and takes a bite out of his arm. Helena offers Ashemoore a job with Spyral in exchange for the device they have been searching for. Helena uses her Hypnos implant to knock Dick out to keep him from objecting. Following their mission, Dr. Netz removes Ashemoore’s stomach while Mr. Minos believes that there is an 87% match to The Flash’s blood. Dick contacts Batman and tells him the scavenger hunt was successful but Mr. Minos remains a mystery. Meanwhile, Midnighter is trying to find out who kept him from his target of a few nights ago in Ninel Dubov. Wanting to find a way around Spyral's technology, the Gardener tries to reassign him while he is one leave from Stormwatch. He refuses saying that he will use his super brain to remember what the agent’s face looked like.
This is one strange book. Tim Seeley, Tom King, Mikel Janin, Guillermo Ortego and Juan Castro deliver a book that is equal parts WINTER SOLDIER, THE PRISONER and SECRET AGENT. We have strange characters with equally strange missions, a mysterious hypnotic leader of a strange spy organization and some of the grossest action we have seen in a while. Cannibalism? Really? And who let Midnighter loose? Spyral. T.H.E.Y. The Gardener. I can pretty much guarantee that this title will end up crashing and burning, even if it is a “Bat title”. It’s just too weird for most comic readers. Hope I am wrong, but I fear I am 100% right. I give it less than 12 issues. And the nod to “Aparo Park”? Priceless!
GREEN ARROW #34: Richard Dragon has kicked John Diggle out of an upper story window and Green Arrow needs to save him and quickly with a foaming arrow. He then fires an explosive arrow back at Dragon’s loft, but he escapes. He orders Count Vertigo to use his ability to allow him to escape and take up the battle with Diggle and the Green Arrow. While engaging in a vendetta filled monologue, he he disarms Diggle, Oliver's bow and then breaks three of his ribs. Diggle tries to take him out, but a headbutt breaks his nose. Oliver also gets a broken nose for his trouble. Meanwhile, Tockman traps Naomi and Henry in Green Arrow’s bunker when Emiko arrives to help and knocks him out. But Killer Moth arrives, cornering Emiko until Naomi puts him down with charged darts. Naomi gets Henry to the hospital and Emiko tells her that it’s obvious that Henry loves her. Back at the battle scene, just when it looks like Green Aroow and Diggle will be defeated, Diggle pulls an arrow out of his hand, tosses it to Oliver who slices through Dragon's femoral artery. With the war seemingly over, Oliver admits that Emiko is his sister and he will be training her. Oliver also uses his insurance money from Queen Industries to open the Moira Queen Home for Homeless Youth.
Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino bring this arc to a close and also their tenure on this book, which brought it from just about average to stupendous in a very short time. Starting with issue #35, the new team will be Andrew Kreisberg and Ben Sokolowski (both writers on the ARROW TV show) with Daniel Sampere handling the art. Having seen the preliminary stuff, it appears that it will be hard to beat the intensity and pure perfection of the Lemire/Sorrentino run. Unfortunately, I fear the book will drop again to it’s average comic book level and leave fans missing this run.
GREEN LANTERN #34: Hal Jordan has tracked down Agarushnawoklias to arrest him for violation of the universal criminal code. After a lengthy battle, Hal brings him back to mogo. But the villain breaks loose, just as Hal’s family appear on a vacation to visit him. The panicked screams of his niece and his nephew bring the creature to his knees, allowing him to be recaptured with ease. Hal learns that his family is here courtesy of Kilowog, who thought that Hal could use some family time. Hal and his brother drink and talk while the kids play with Killowog and Saint Walker. But, on the boundaries of our universe, Highfather arrives to take the Life Equation. Godhead is coming.
How can Robvert Venditti, who writes such a killer book in THE FLASH, write such a total piece of drek such as this. Let us start at the cover, with a battle that NEVER EVEN COMES CLOSE to happening. Hal battles the villain, Simon Baz appears only on a few pages, and this is just TOTALLY MISLEADING! Then we have Hal trying to arrest Agarushnawoklias, whose name he cannot even pronounce. Can we make Hal any more of a MORON? Mogo is smarter! Billy Tan’s art looks really nice this issue. Maybe that’s because, along with Rob Hunter, he only drew nine pages(one of which was three over sized panels of space and the word BOOM). Martin Coccolo did the bulk of the book. This title is embarrassing to lantern fans everywhere (at least I feel that way). I would almost rather watch the Ryan Reynolds movie than deal with this. Unfortunately, GODHEAD is coming and the New Gods are back.
HARLEY QUINN #9: Madame Macabre is visiting her son on Riker’s Island, where she gets him a big kiss on the lips and passes him a set of lock picks into his mouth. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn is taking Madame Macabre's place in the burlesque show. She and Queenie start removing their clothes and end up accidentally causing a riot. The police arrive and she is arrested and driven to a house on Staten Island. It seems this officer actually killed a police officer, stole his uniform, and is the president of her fan club. In his spare time, he works at a cell phone store, and helps out at a comic shop on Wednesdays. Harley tries to analyze him while trying to escape. She gets out of her cage and explains that she will date him as long as he agrees to see a psychiatrist for at least a year. He is soon being sent to Hollowbrook Hospital for treatment with Dr. Francine Stein. She rescues the kids he captured and then abuses them with a pizza cutter before driving them to Brooklyn and kicking them out onto the Bridge. Then she gets changed for her new job: Skate Club.
And remember: the first rule of Skate Club…I can’t comment on this title, which is probably the funniest DC superhero title since THE INFERIOR FIVE. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art from John Timms give us another winner. And, just because DC loves us(?), we get TWO ISSUES this month(must be making up for the missing month of JUSTICE LEAGUE)
HARLEY QUINN #10: Skate Club is roller derby without rules. The night begins with Skye Scrapper battling Connie Canal Street, who is really a man in drag. Connie tries to slam Skye with a bat but she grabs Connie by the chest hair he rides into a pole, private parts first, making Skye the winner. Next, Harley goes against Maria Monsterella and is immediately dropkicked across the rink. While she sees stars, she sees stars and galaxies far, far away. Sy manages to wake her up and offers her a tube of exploding toothpaste, which she squeezes onto Maria's stomach. The explosion that eventually occurs tears Maria in half, but Harley still loses as the match was declared over when Maria was killed. They all go out to dinner and, after dinner, the girls go skinny-dipping. After the swim, Harley stays around to watch the sunrise. But before that can happen., she sees a shooting star getting closer and closer. It lands at her feet and turns out that it is Power Girl.
Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Marco Failla gives us another classic fun story. What can I say; double the pleasure and double the fun this month!
INFINITY MAN AND THE FOREVER PEOPLE #3: The Forever People are spending time inside an abandoned warehouse and Infinity Man explains to them what his plans are. He also explains that Highfather and Darkseid are both tyrants that control their respective realms and he intends to stop them. Then, as a test to the Forever People, he releases Mantis arrives and they begin to fight with him. Mantis gets away. Beautiful Dreamer collapses and speaks with the Anti-Life Equation in her head and sees the future. Meanwhile, on New Genesis Himon learns that infinity man has appeared and prepares to send his daughter to handle what the Mother Box was supposed to do: kill them. Back in the warehouse, the Boom Tube goes Foom and the warehouse explodes!
Dan Didio does love working with Jack Kirby’s legacy of characters. So he and Keith Giffen run rampant on the old chestnut, The Forever People. The characters are there, most of their characteristics are there and so is Infinity Man and some of the classic villains. What differs is that they have been updated, Big Bear looks less hippie than the classic version and Infinity Man is on a mission to take down both Highfather and Darkseid. The good gods of New Genesis aren’t as good as they were once made out to be. This issue is illustrated by industry legend Jim Starlin and the only reason that works is the trippy conversation between Beautiful Dreamer and the Anti-Life Equation. Other than that, it is another wild issue that will tie into the storyline coming in October in the Green Lantern Pantheon of titles.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #33: The Justice League and the Doom Patrol are in a stand-off as Lex Luthor is still threatening to cripple Niles Caulder. Power Ring wakes up and Shazam threatens to arrest her even as Power Ring sends out a signal alerting the Anti-Monitor of New Earth’s existence. Lex tries to talk Power Ring down while Caulder believes in performing Psycho Surgery on her. While Luthor and Caulder battle for supremacy, Batman enters the situation and talks Jessica Cruz into letting go of her fear, making Power Ring powerless. Batman proceeds to tell Luthor that the League defeated Power Ring, not Luthor. Later, the Trinity discusses Luthor and decides the best place they can have him is with them so they can watch him. The issue ends with Superman shaking Lex Luthor’s hand and welcoming him to the Justice League.
So, can we get a DOOM PATROL series NOW? We have made the introduction, we have the classic team, even mildly modified (Caulder walks…not a bearded wheelchair confined clone of Charles Xavier. Anyway, Geoff Johns and Doug Mahnke end the FOREVER EVIL story with the resolution of the Power Ring. But Anti-Monitor? So…that speaks to me that the whole end of the New 52 that has been prophesied in the fan press may be closer than we think. The NEW 52 may not get to the FUTURE’S END. It may be retconed before we know it.
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