JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #2: Ariel Masters/ Lois Lane walks off the set of an interview because she can’t find anything good to say about her Justice League. Flash heads off to find Starro-Prime and finds a spaceship containing Supergirl, who is rather upset that a thousand years have passed. So SHE goes off, finds Starro-Prime, and gets him to agree to a truce, thus ending the war. With these results, Ariel/Lois decides she needs a bottle of scotch. In addition, we get two Fun Fact FAQ’s with Ariel Masters and Maxwell Lord.
Possibly THE BEST Justice League title being put out today. Now, that’s just my opinion and many will fight with me about this. But this title has some hilarious dialogue and plot twists courtesy of J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, along with the absolutely amazing art of Howard Porter. Laughs, more laughs and some of the best lines even given to Guy Gardner who, you might recall, is now a woman. How can you lose?
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #11: We begin with a new version of the JLU heading off into battle. Composed of Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing, Equinox, Etrigan and Mera, and put together with the combined talent of a number of heroes, including Animal Man, Stargirl, Alana Strange, and a Zeta Beam riding Adam Strange, the team goes to Lake Eerie. There they fight a monstrous island of blood and innards that seems to swallow up both the Swamp Thing and the Green. But, according to Adam Strange, everything is going according to plan.
Jeff Parker and Travel Foreman put a real twist into this series and it certainly needs it. Now, is this lineup permanent? Probably not. But let’s take a look at this: Poison Ivy can’t spend all her time hanging with Harley, Swamp Thing is out of TWO BOOKS, Mera is feuding with her hubby and Etrigan has had troubles in a number of centuries. The story is fun, if not confusing…just what the hell is going on with Adam Strange? Foreman’s art rocks too! This book has become a winner!
LOBO #8: A trio of assassins sent to take him out is attacking Lobo. He cuts the head off the Martian attacker before dispatching the other two. But the Martian’s head has a mind of its’ own and comes back for more, as does the Martian’s body. Lobo continues to battle and is finally saved by a mysterious hunter. Later, he has the Mechanic take a look at the scorpion like creature that contains some pretty high-tech, mind controlling tech. Lobo heads off to Saidris to meet up with Countess Odessa, where he dispatches some guards and finds a lab with thousands of spider bots being cultivated. Odessa and some of her hired thugs show up and, before he knows it, he loses control of himself as one of the spider-bots is under his skin and controlling him.
The best thing about this book is Cliff Richards’ amazing painted art. The next best thing is the gore. Now, third up is Cullen Bunn’s story. Maybe it’s me, but I think there could be a problem with a book when the story is the THIRD best thing about it. I don’t like the Metrosexual Lobo, but I am appreciating his zest for mayhem and his way with the ladies. And I love Richards’ art!
LOBO ANNUAL #1: Lobo continues his hunt for Sinestro and that leads him through a bunch of ugly battles and collecting yellow rings in the hopes that this will lead Sinestro to him. Then he goes to a decommissioned space prison and captures some Korugarians. The Sinestro Corps shows up and Lobo gets ripped apart. Luckily he has those regeneration powers. Sinestro finally arrives and they brawl until Sinestro calls off the contract that he put upon himself, revealing this was only a test and he wants them to be in the business of destroying mutual enemies..
While this is my favorite issue thus far in the series, it still falls short of being the Lobo I grew up with. Cullen Bunn writes a great story here and Robson Rocha’s art is to die for! You gotta love an artist who can give you beauty and violence all at once! And the Corps vs. Lobo two page spread was amazing! So, DC keeps my interest for another moth here. Nice job!
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2: J'onn has gone to Helen Demoff of NASA and wants her to kill him. Superman arrives and wants to know how J’onn knew of all these terrorist attacks and he reveals it was because the Martians used him to plan them. It seems everything that we have ever known about his family being killed was all implanted in his mind by the White Martians. J’onn and the League battle until they realize that the battle was only an implant that allowed J’onn to vaporize himself. Meanwhile, White Martians intent on melting her are chasing the thief in Dubai named Pearl. The issue ends with the mysterious Mr. Biscuits and Alicia going off to stop the Martians.
Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows again give us one of the more exciting DC YOU releases in the form of this book! When it was first announced, I was a really big nay sayer, having seen this character messed with and screwed up for far too long. But the story is totally captivating, the art work is killer and this book is filled with so many twists and turns that it just makes me want to come back for more! Add this to you reserve list!
MIDNIGHTER #2: A woman named Marina is offered the chance to gain revenge for her husband her died due to a food allergy that Windcrest Foods knew could kill some people. She gladly accepts and heads off to take out the folks from Windcrest Foods, until Midnighter shows up and tries to stop her. But, before he can, he needs to not be able to hear and punches his own ears until they burst. Although he agrees with her motives, he doesn’t go along with her methods, even though he puts a beat down on one of the Wind crest folks before serving Marina up to the police. Later, we see how Midnighter and Apollo broke up before Midnighter converses with Marina in her cell. He instructs her to do her time and be his peer when she gets out. Meanwhile, he is ready to face off with some enemies…a lot of them!
Well, unfortunately it only took one issue for the art team to go south. Joining writer Steve Orlando this month is Alec Morgan. His art is nice…but it certainly isn’t Aco, so I’m pretty disappointed in the way the issue looks. But the story continues to be alternately gruesome and hilarious as our hero kicks ass and works on his dating skills! I mean, Midnighter boxing his own hears to make himself deaf? Wow! Yeah…it’s THAT kind of book. But hey: what did you expect from Midnighter anyway? And hey: kudos for locking Marina up in Bridgewater. Ahh…nice to see my old stomping grounds represented! The town that is, not the prison!
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #10: Deadshot, Manta, and Boomerang have allegedly joined a group once attached to the League of Assassins and witness how the League uses children to further their cause and grow their ideology. This causes Boomerang to question their motives and leads to him getting beat down. The beating gets even worse when he decides that maybe all these League kids in training should have some fun and play some soccer, leading to Manta decreeing that the only punishment for Boomerang is death. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn, Reverse Flash, and Parasite are waiting around, as they are the extraction team. Back at Belle Reve, Sage has Waller’s assistant show him around the place. Waller shows up and can’t believe how naive her assistant really is!
Sean Ryan and Philipe Briones provide an issue that’s really fun to look at but has a bunch of weird plot pieces that just don’t work. Point #1: we get this whole plot with Boomerang being the sole advocate for the little kids. Yeah: that’s not in his normal character make-up. Point #2: Harley, Reverse Flash and Parasite hanging around, with some silly dialogue, attributed mostly to Harley and playing with weapons. That scene is only here to show us that there is more to the team that just the trio tied into the League. Point #3: how in the world did Waller hire someone SO DUMB? Take out those issues and this issue was pretty good!
OMEGA MEN #2: Last issue, the Omega Men killed 39 soldiers so now the Viceroy has arrived on Ogyptu to oversee the execution of citizens. Meanwhile, Primus has placed a watch in Kyle Rayner’s neck that will explode if he tries to escape. Broot manages to get the Omega men’s ship back and they leave the planet that means that 4,000 innocents get executed. To say that this upsets Kyle is a huge understatement, as he opens up his neck and changes the Omega Men on his uniform to a Green Lantern symbol
Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda continue to make this one of THE books to read as part of the DC YOU revamp. This is NOT the OMEGA MEN I grew up with, thanks to Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton.. This is also not the OMEGA MEN title that had such luminaries as Roger Slifer, Doug Moench, Shawn McManus and Keith Giffen working on it. This is not the title that featured the first appearance of the classic Lobo. Instead, we have a team fighting against the evil empire with the former White Lantern in tow, whether he wants to be or not. It is a typical Tom King romp and it rocks! This is SO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
PREZ #2: While Beth’s father is dies from cat flu, the attempt to elect a new president continues, with the two major candidates looking to buy votes and make deals. Beth gets visited by the people fro the Church of Wormology and gets a revisionist history of the Bible. When all is said and done, Beth gets 26 votes and becomes President. She gets visited by Preston Rickard, who claims he was almost President once, who offers himself up to be her Vice President.
In case you might be wondering, Prez Rickard was the title character in DC’s first PREZ comic. So, to add him into the mix of this book is a nice tip of the cap to long time fans. While he insists he was “almost” President once, he actually was in 1974 DC history where he was President of Earth One. He even showed up in an issue of SANDMAN, but most recently was the President on Earth-23. Whatever the case, this book continues to throws shots at the American political system thanks to Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell. While the preview totally disappointed, this book has been a winner thus far!
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #2: Roy shows off his new invention, the Teflon spraying shower head, by attacking Jay in the shower with a gun fueled by napalm. Afterwards, they realize they are going to be evicted because Roy spent the ransom money from last issue on cool new gadgets. So they go to Tara Battleworth to get another job, that leads them to Paris to collect a thumb drive containing sensitive data. But before they can do that, they have to fight terrorist, “monster-ninja people” and arms dealers while NOT keeping a low-profile. They battle a group of villainous mimes and succeed in their task “off panel”. They also have switched the thumb drive, but get hired to work for the government after all.
Wow! Welcome to Deadpool cloned and dressed up as former sidekicks. This is just plain bad! It is full of puns, bad jokes, toilet humor and two huge two-page video game inspired spreads. This shouldn’t be rated T for Teen it should be rated K for Kiddie. Scott Lobdell gets points for touching on Roy’s past alcoholic ways and Paolo Pantalena turns in some nice looking art. But the title really has nothing to add to this Universe. We have Two Mercs with Mouths and the one at Marvel is bad enough!
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #2: We begin with a flashback to the Year of Blood, showing a young Damian victorious over Talia that leads to a ceremony to mark the occasion. Back in the present, Damian and Goliath are in South America where he is atoning for what he did during Year of Blood: returning the head of a stone guardian. But with the head reattached, the guardian comes to life and they battle. During the fight, Nobody II shows up to watch, eventually being forced to de-cloak and lend a hand. Seems there is an evil cartel that is running the village, so they take down the cartel with the help of…the stone guardian. The villagers see them as heroes and Nobody decides that they should be partners, whether he likes it or not.
This is a well-written, beautiful looking book by Patrick Gleason with a twist for an ending. So, now that Batman is flying alone, I guess we decided it was time to give Robin a partner? This should be interesting. The book is a treat, even if the back-story jumps around a bit. I got confused at one point, as the flashback where the young Damian decapitates the guardian occurs 16 pages into this 22-page book. And that’s another thing: $3.99 for 22 pages? DC gives 20 pages for $2.99, but it’s a buck more for two crummy pages? Really? Did you all need the moving expense money THAT BADLY!?
SECRET SIX #4: The team settles into their new home: Big Shot’s house. Not long after, Ragdoll, Banshee and Scandal Savage show up to discuss a mutual enemy and eat some cookies. That leads to a epic battle where Catman learns that Savage was the person who brought him the kitten while he was in captivity. They agree to join forces before the trio invites our team to an LGBTQ mixer. Oh yeah: and Banshee tells them one of them is going to die soon.
We need to get more books like this and not SWORDS OF SORROW from Gail Simone. This issue is a great mix of quirky dialogue and cool action. And an invite to an LGBTQ mixer, which fits right into DC’s diversified books. The first 8 pages, which sets up how the group ended up at Big Shot’s pad, is by Ken Lashley and is his typically beautiful stuff The rest of the book is by Tom Derenick and is a beautiful contrast. It took forever to get four issues out, but I want to see how Mockingbird/The Riddler and Big Shot/Ralph Dibney all tie together. Thanks Gail for a cool mystery action adventure book with a sense of humor!
SINESTRO #13: Soranik has been turned into a Yellow Lantern by her father and is not happy about it. She also finds it difficult for Sinestro to lead when he can’t even find the traitor among them. Bekka and Sinestro discuss why she’s part of the team and asks him about his ultimate plan. He unleashes Parallax and binds the creature to the planet to stabilize it, which leaves Sinestro without his greatest weapon. He has three members of the team executed to prove that he will not tolerate traitors. And then he reveals to Lyssa Drak that he knows she is the traitor, he has always known and they will still be useful to him to a while.
I didn’t see that coming! Cullen Bunn and Brad Walker continue to surprise me with this title. Prior to CONVERGENCE, I couldn’t BEAR to read this, as the supporting cast was just so annoying. But the characters have been streamlined and more focus is being given to Soranik, Bekka Lyssa Drak, along with Sinestro. Walker’s art gets better with each issue and yeah, I hate to admit it, this is now becoming one of my favorite reads. Go figure!
STARFIRE #2: Hurricane Betty is whacking the heck out of West Key and it’s up to Starfire to try and be the newest hero in town. At the same time, the sherriff’s brother is ready to head out to sea, directly into the storm, to drive and save a boat full of people. So, the sheriff grabs a SWAT tank, picks up Kori, and heads out. The people on the boat gets saved, Kori gives Sol mouth-to-mouth, her trailer is trashed and…just what is that big monster that crawled out of the hole in the ground?
Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti took what had the makings of a really cool book and shot it in the foot with this issue. The story jumped around so much that I had to read each piece as a self contained story, flipping back and forth through the issue. We still have Kori acting as the stereotypical dumb blonde, taking naivete to a whole new level. Emanuela Lupacchino pencils, Ray McCarthy’s inks, and Hi-Fi’s colors are the true heroes of this book and make it pop! Now, if we can only get a brain in her head and get Jaybird and Roy out of Deadpool mode, DC might be able to salvage these characters!
SUPERMAN #42: Having been shot last issue, Clark finds himself starting to heal and battling robot ninjas to save the lives of Condesa, Jimmy and Lois. Lois finally puts 2+2 together and tears off Clark’s shirt to reveal his Superman garb. They all travel to Gotham for some help from the Toy Master so they can defeat HORDR. With counterfeit masks, they manage to make their way onto HORDR Island, where Condesa quickly betrays them. It seems that Clark’s mysterious text messager is the head of the organization and goes by the name of HORDR_ROOT. While Superman battle his forces, Lois takes him out with a lead pipe to reveal he is only a hard light construct. Superman uses his solar flare and gets attacked by a mystery enemy in the process. In the end, Clark is down for the count and the others are trying to get away before the whole complex comes down.
Well, this issue just took a left turn to weirdville. We go from mysterious texts to a college in the sky that you have to take a magic bus to get to. And then, we find out the leader is a hard light construct? And Lois, apparently feeling betrayed that Clark told Jimmy his secret and not her, is pissed enough to reveal his identity in the next issue or so. Thumbs down to Gene Yang for this issue, although thumbs stay up for John Romita Jr.’s art. Hopefully the next issue will not only clarify things but make them right again!
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #19: The Suicide Squad are here and they are ready to take in a powered down Clark Kent. But they have to deal with him and Wonder Woman and all Superman wants to know is where everyone in Smallville has gone. Black Manta tells him they were gone when the Squad got here, but that doesn’t make it any easier or him any calmer. Together, they take down the Squad, who beats a hasty retreat, but not before the former Man of Steel takes quite a bullet beating from Deadshot. Later, as Wonder Woman tends to his wounds, Superman makes a decision about a fight that he needs to be involved in. That takes him to the office of the President of the United States and it seems that he’s expecting him.
Thanks you Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke for giving us the most action packed issue of the TRUTH saga yet! Part Two of DARK TRUTH looks absolutely amazing and the story just runs at breakneck speed. Not only do we have Waller’s team trying to take down the illegal alien, but it looks as though the President and some shady figure are involved too. Holy Conspiracy Theory! These creators have totally reinvigorated this character and we have finally put the romance piece in the background for now. This book rocks!
TEEN TITANS #10: Manchester Black’s team faces off against the Teen Titans over the rights to capture Superboy. Following the battle, he flees with the new Power Girl trying to stop him to no avail. Cassie eventually wakes up and the Manchester Black’s team realizes that the Teen Titans have flown the coop and gone to New York. Well, come of them, as Red Robin and Raven end up with Manchester Black, who messes with Raven’s mind long enough for his team to arrive and he tells them it’s a trip to a Supermax prison if they want to save Superboy.
Will Pfeifer and Felipe Watanabe give us another lackluster issue filled with a lengthy fight and not much substance. Really-not a whole lot I can say about this except Manchester Black has a tough team and the Titans keep getting bopped around. And Superboy is the wild card. Hopefully this will end soon…either the story line or the book!
WE ARE ROBIN #2: Duke and the rest of the Robin team are beating on the homeless from the underground and are losing. A flare allows The Robins to escape to street level where they get a text from ‘The Nest’ and desert Duke. Duke gets taken in by the police, who immediately interrogate him. But he soon realizes that he is not at a police station but in a warehouse and makes a break for it, ending up on a rooftop with the rest of The Robins. As they go off to try and diffuse the first bombs in the city, the mysterious figure walks the underground and plans.
This was just another okay issue for me. I really want more of the back-story on the team. It’s not that I am in a big hurry to find out who The Nest is, although that would be cool. I want to know who these characters are because, except for Duke, we know nothing and that is leading me to not care about any of them. Lee Bermejo writes a good story, even if I wish that his art filled the book instead of Jorge Corona’s. I want to know where this is going and that’s the only reason I’m staying on board for now. Damn you, Bermejo for writing a mystery AND a great hook at the same time!
WONDER WOMAN #42: Diana and Hessia are unwinding in a nightclub when some poor soul grabs Diana’s behind with painful results. Out on the street, Diana becomes the subject of a failed attack by the kid with the bomb from last issue. He calls for Pegasus and escapes through a magic portal. In a flashback, we learn his name is Aegeus and that he is a descendant of Theseus-the child of Aethra, Aegeus and Poseidon. As his mother dies, she gives him a coin from his father, leading Aegeus to have designs to become God of War and have words with a mysterious portal that may contain Strife. Back on Olympus, Diana meets with Donna, before Strife arrives and slips her the key that will lead to her escape.
Meredith Finch and David Finch give us another less than stellar issue of this title. The problem I have with it is in Meredith’s story. It’s bad enough that David’s art is not as crisp as it once was and he needs a stronger inker working with him, her tale is just not a fun read. Give me a strong supporting cast again, because Hessia isn’t it. Give me the Gods of Olympus fighting like siblings. Give me some sense that this God of War has something to offer the reader. In other words, give me back something with the feel of Azzarello and Chaing!
No comments:
Post a Comment