JUSTICE LEAGUE: THE DARKSEID WAR – BATMAN #1: Now possessing the power of the Mobius Chair, Batman returns to Gotham City and explains to Jim Gordon that he is engaging in pre-emptive strikes to stop crime. While this is a good idea, he behaves a bit like the Spectre as he brings a man with the potential to murder his wife to Themyscira, He visits the scene of his origin and then has the chair bring him to Joe Chill. He takes Chill out of his prison cell and takes him back to Crime Alley, where he reveals himself to Chill, before eventually returning him back to his cell and declaring that Batman now is Chill’s bogeyman. He returns to the Batcave and decides to use his absolute power on only one criminal-The Joker.
I certainly hope the rest of these side stories connected to The Darkseid War are this good! This was an amazingly well written look at the darkness Batman has slipped into thanks to the always-amazing writing skills of. Peter J. Tomasi. Add into that Fernando Pararn’s amazing art, with inking by the always dependable Matt Ryan, and this book is an amazing read! When you get to the final page, filled with classic images of the Clown Prince of Crime, you will lose your mind! It is everything from Laughing Fish vintage to Killing Joke to the current incarnation. This was one of the best things I read all month long from DC. Absolutely a real treat that I didn’t mind paying four dollars for! .
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #4: Superman brings Cyborg some Kryptonian blood where he is working on a secret project for Batman. Meanwhile, Green Lantern is meeting with Rao 250,000 years in Krypton's past, where Rao is looking for Hal to accompany him on a peace mission to Argo City. He has some of his prophets give him part of their life so he can be young again. Back on Earth, Rao is gathering more prophets and they continue to spread his word. Aquaman and Mera watch all this on television and wonder how good an idea is was to leave a prophet in Atlantis. Part of Rao’s acts deposit protein markers in people’s blood that changes them and makes them calmer. That’s when Rao and some of his prophets arrive at Superman’s Fortress of Solitude.
As much as this book looks beautiful, it can’t end soon enough. Bryan Hitch’ story is so far out of continuity that I want to think of it as an imaginary tale. His writing is just so long-winded that I get tired reading it. Again, the art is beautiful but the story is so bogged down that it stops making sense. For example, Aquaman is watching television and NOT helping the League? What’s up with that?
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #5: Guy Gardner is having a hard time not only adjusting to being a woman but having a roommate in the form of the Starro Consciousness and asks Firestorm for help in fixing her. Meanwhile, Fire and Ice take Jimmy Olsen to Area 13, where he will be locked up for the rest of his life. Supergirl and Batman battle the new armored Batman, which turns out to be a fifteen-year-old girl piloting the Batbot. When they take her away, a disgruntle Harley Quinn shows up and expresses her extreme displeasure about losing her playmate. Lois continues to plot and has Bane bring her old body to her, as she might want to switch back. That may be smart, especially since Superman just found out that to Ariel is working with the Injustice League.
Here’s a message to Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis and Howard Porter: thank you. Thank you for giving us a superhero book that is fun, action packed and silly all at the same time. If you have read this blog before, you know my feelings about this title. And again, we get another issue with all of those wonderful elements presented to us. Harley Quinn is here, Lois is insane, guy Gardner is confused and Bane likes to dress up Lois’ body and have tea parties! Yeah-it’s that kind of book!
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #14: Sgt. Rock and Easy Company have captured Vandal Savage but, lucky for him, Batgirl shows up with a smoke grenade and frees him. They run into a patrol of Germans, but manage to fight their way out, even as the Unknown Soldier watches them. Stargirl is still with the Enemy Ace when she realizes that her staff has fallen from the sky and impaled a poor GI. Not to worry as the GI is GI Zombie and he unleashes the Creature Commandos upon Cyborg and Robotman. Cyborg wrestles Stargirl’s staff from GI Zombie’s hands, wondering how they were able to shoot he and Robotman down. That is when the real culprit shows up to claim responsibility: the One Machine Attack Construct-OMAC.
You know: if you’re going to cancel a book, you may as well line everything up and have it go out with a bang. That’s what is going on here. I understand the lackluster sales on the book, as it was very uneven for the first dozen issues. But these last two issues have been fun and action packed! Thanks to Jeff Parker and Paul Pelletier for injecting some life into this book. Tune in next month for the last stand of the Justice League United.
LOBO #11: Atrocitus is in the process of creating new Red Lanterns while Lobo observes and decides that he will be the hardest Lantern to defeat. And then he attacks, slaying Dex-Starr first, before slaying the rest. But before he can destroy their power battery, Rage Mother gives birth to them yet again. Not only is Sinestro not going to be happy, this could be a problem.
If you want an all out action filled issue with lots of blood and guts, then this is your baby! Cullen Bunn and Frank Barbiere, along with artist Robson Rocha, turn this issue into what the old RED LANTERNS title was: a bloodbath! With a killer cover by industry legend Leonardo Manco, this is probably the best issue of the series to date. If they had all been this rocking, then the title wouldn’t be in the unenviable place it is.
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #5: Mr. Biscuits is trying to make his way through the airport, even if he is in multiple bags, while telling Agent Wessel that Mould is going to make everything okay. Wessel, Leo, Alicia and Mr. Biscuits and getting onto a flight out of Dulles International Airport. Biscuits puts himself back together and then says goodbye to Alicia, knowing that none of them will likely return from this mission. Immediately after, the Martians show up to abduct her. Meanwhile, Aquaman tries to awaken Pearl, who begins to make out with him before he beings her to Mould. They end up at a crater where it looks like Mars once landed in the past…and is ready to live again on Earth.
Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows are creating what I can only describe as once of the coolest and trippiest books on the market. If you haven’t figured it out yet, Wessel, Leo, Alicia, Pearl, Mould, and Mr. Biscuits are all parts of Martian Manhunter’s consciousness. So, Pearl is really J’onn J’onzz and she was making out with Aquaman. Like I said, TRIPPY!! You should be reading this book as I feel it is going to be looked at by future critics as one of the best titles to come out of DC in years. To be honest, it is so weird that it should be a Vertigo title.
MIDNIGHTER #5: Midnighter is in Hazan, where he and Grayson are battling the Russians while he is also chatting with his boyfriend back in the States. He handcuffs himself to Grayson and they end up on a train filled with "weaponized bears, werewolves and other creatures of folklore, leading to them eventually meeting Akakyevich. But he has some God Garden tech and makes a quick getaway. But Midnighter has a trick up his sleeve and teleports back to Akakyevich and paralyzes him. Akakyevich reveals that he was just the middle-man, so the hunt will continue. Later, Midnighter and his boyfriend are having Thanksgiving dinner while a sniper takes aim.
I am really starting to hate this series, although this issue did a nice job of tying Grayson, Midnighter and the whole God Garden tech thing together, as the God Garden stuff has been running in Grayson’s own book. The book gets silly as Steve Orlando has Midnighter talking with his boyfriend while he’s fighting the Russians. So silly! It was nice to see Stephen Mooney back on the art, but even that can’t save this from being an unintentionally silly book. When Midnighter and Apollo were together in The Authority, they had their relationship thing, but it didn’t account for most of the plot.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #13: A meeting in Rio with someone selling a new drug designed to give a random superpower goes bad and Boomerang and Deadshot have their cover blown, meaning Harley, Parasite and Amanda Waller need to come into save the day. The bad guys have taken the drug and have their own super powers now and Deadshot reveals to Waller that he is still having issues from being injured recently. Parasite begins to absorb the bad guys’ powers, which causes him to overload and explode. The riot police show up to arrest them, but Boomerang stirs up the crowd to riot, allowing the team to make a quick getaway. Waller gets away, hunts down the drug dealer, and executes him. Waller calls Bonnie and tells her the team is going off the grid. Bonnie immediately tells Sage, despite Waller telling her NOT TO, and he gets ready to explode the team’s neck bombs.
Sean Ryan gives us a brand new arc and that means, after what happened last time, Waller is part of the field team. I miss Reverse Flash. but He gave his life for the team because that is why they are called Suicide Squad. Sop, things look bad for our team except we all know they’re NOT going to die because there’s a movie coming! By the way, I am not a fan of Philippe Briones’s art. I really want Paul Pelletier on this book because his style fits nicely to these characters.
OMEGA MEN #5: Broot and Scapps are walking up the stairs of the Changralynian Temple and being hit with insults and dung, joins the rest of the Omega Men inside. This is all so there can be a peaceful exchange for the kidnapped Princess Kalista, who is actually part of the Omega Men. The Omega Men are here to gain the Key of Omega, which is their key to salvation. Since they are using Broot to try and get it, we learn that his name was Charis-Nar and he was raised by the High Pontifix. He accused the Temple of Sin of corruption and was branded a "Broot". The Pontifix has sold out the Omega Men to the Citadel. Brott gains the Key, but the rest of the team has been captured in the process.
Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda bring us another great issue in the series that was slated to die, but has been given new life…for now. This is such a strange and wonderful ride! And it is not your daddy’s OMEGA MEN book. I am totally thrilled this book is getting to finish it’s storyline, even if it won’t continue past twelve issues. I just hope the fan following increases enough to warrant going past 12.
PREZ #5: While the cat-flu epidemic continues to rage across America, President Beth Ross travels to Vietnam, Nicaragua, Japan, and Iraq to apologize for everything the United States did in the past. All accept her apology except Iraq who gives her a big F U. The World Apology Tour moves on to Pakistan, where she helps save the life of the Pakistani Ambassador by giving her a hot dog heart. Meanwhile, War Beast decides he needs to be forgiven and wants to be called Tina.
This is the next to last issue of what was originally solicited as a 12 issue series. I will be sorry to see it go, as it has been a fun biting commentary on our world while trying to pass itself off as a comic book. Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell have been doing a great job and hopefully this will get resurrected in the future. Until then, go find the first five issues and get ready for the ride. After all, the best part apart the upcoming political season is that we can read all the silliness here instead of watching it on television.
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #5: It’s Batman and the remaining two-thirds of the Outlaws battling Underbelly. We learn that Underbelly was born when the psychic siphon, that Arkham created to lobotomize patients, got broken. Underbelly went on to make multiple versions of itself all over the world. Back at the battle, Roy uses a special arrow that disrupts and destroys this particular Underbelly, which will eliminate all the other ones. While Suzie Su gathers her new team, known as Hero Manifesto, Jason goes to the Rec Center he grew up at and sees Bruce Wayne. Unfortunately, Joker’s Daughter sneaks up on Roy and puts a gun to his head. The last thing we see is a gunshot.
This was quite the cliffhanger from Scott Lobdell and Denis Medri. While I am not a fan of this series or of Lobdell’s writing in general, this was a really good couple of issues. I liked Medri’s art on it and the story flowed nicely…even if the whole concept of Underbelly was a bit weird.
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #5: Damian continues on his quest to redeem himself from all the wrongs that he did when Talia returns. As the two of them argue, we find out that Damian has inadvertently allowed the Lu’un Darga to be reborn. This leads to al Ghul Island being destroyed and Damian’s failed clone brothers sacing their lives by paying with their own. In the end, they all escape in a submarine Ravi had prepared.
Patrick Gleason does another great job with this title. His writing is crisp and so is his art. It was great seeing Talia return in the role of hero for a change. You know you’re a good writer when you drop in two pages where Damian’s cloned brothers appear and sacrifice themselves in the name of family and totally bring your reader to tears. Nice job Patrick!
SECRET SIX #7: We begin with a meeting between Deadman, Felix Faust, the Phantom Stranger, Dr. Thirteen, Zatanna, and Baron Winters, who wonder what they should do about Black Alice. It seems her super power is stealing the powers of the magical denizens of the Universe. Their solution, by the time Cheetah, Blue Devil, Klarion, and Eclipso show up, is to go to the hospital she is in and kill her. The team is split, as most of them have been off playing basketball and then miniature golf. But Etrigan has attacked them, so they can’t get to the hospital to help Dibney and Catman. Luckily Black Alice is awake and bearing the powers that she has purloined.
Gail Simone’s story is just a ton of fun, although I don’t get all these sorcerers and elementals getting together for a party…especially since some of them are villains. What’s the old saying: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. But Dale Eaglesham’s artwork is the true highlight of this book. It just gets better with every issue and Jason Wright’s vibrant colors just blow the top off the book. We all know there were delays and problems in the beginning getting this book out. But it’s here now and it rocks!
SINESTRO #16: Sinestro and his Corps come to Khandaq where he meets with Black Adam, asking who the Pale Bishop is and seeking advice on how to defeat The Paling. The two head to the Vaults of Wisdom and discover the mummified corpse of the Pale Bishop. It comes to life and everyone is surprised to see that it’s a Guardian of the Universe.
Without question, this is the BEST issue of this series to date! We get these two powerful individuals joining together for the first time since they battled the Crime Syndicate and they are fantastic together. They are such amazing and dynamic anti-heroes that there is no other need for the rest of the Corps to be involved, except for a page or two. This issue, superbly written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Brad Walker and Ethan Van Sciver, is about these two and their journey together. Add into it the last moment cliffhanger, and this is a winner!
STARFIRE #5: Starfire and Soren Hook are having drinks when she suddenly sees his creepy secret origin where he was a doctor who had the ability to absorb cancer out of people. Unfortunately for him, he began growing a tumor of his own and killed one of his colleagues in the process. This whole thing freaks her out. Later, she goes off to an interview at an aquarium, which she doesn’t get. But then she begins talking to the dolphin, so they hire her. That night, at a party to celebrate her success, Sol is found in a pool of blood and Soren needs to talk.
Ugh! Can’t this be a six issue series and we can be done with it next issue? Kori continues to be dumb, the plot continues to ramble from Point A to Point B and I continue to shake my head that a book this awful continues to sell enough for DC to keep it going. Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti have done for stupidity what they have done for insane former sidekick chicks. Meanwhile, the highlight, as it were, continues to be Emanuela Lupacchino’s art. Other than that, I cannot recommend this book. And yeah: that’s what SHE said!
SUPERMAN #45: Superman meets with Condesa to learn all he can about Hordr, which leads to him bailing on the meeting. Before he goes, she tells him about a company called Sungetix and that leads our hero literally hopping on a plane to Oakland, California. Once there, he makes his way inside and quickly discovers that it’s a secret Hordr complex. He gets attacked by by Apolaki, who is being controlled by Hordr_Root. This leads Superman to the Thousand One House, an underground Fight Club for super powered individuals and eventually results in him becoming one of the fighters. Welcome to Mythbrawl.
Gene Luen Yang and Howard Porter continue to weave a strange, twisted tale of the former Big Blue Boy Scout. I like where this book is going, even if it is taking our hero into strange new places. Porter’s art is his usual fine work and this is just a fun ride. Seeing our hero having to ride an airplane as opposed to flying from place to place is truly bizarre and I wonder how long his being depowered will last. For now, it’s a wild ride.
SUPERMAN LOIS AND CLARK #1: We begin with the history of how this Superman observed the New 52 Justice League battled Darkseid. He left the battle to head back to the home he shred with his wife Lois. This is all because their universe was gone and Telos and company, following the defeat of the Anti-Monitor during the Convergence event, reset things. But that was then and now, they now live in that same house with their young son Jon and Lois is a successful author. Reading the paper, a bearded Clark sees that the Excalibur returns to Earth today. In what was their universe, this event created the Cyborg Superman, which sends our black suited hero off to make sure it doesn’t happen here. What he discovers is that Henshaw is alone in the ship and the rest of the crew is gone. In the end, someone in a distant star system is pretty pissed off that someone has pilfered the Oblivion Stone.
Because…we really need another Superman title, right? Dan Jurgens and Lee Weeks do their best to make this book interesting but it’s just not there. I mean, how many Supermen do we need? And why is this one flying about in a black suit? There are a bunch of dangling plots here and I cannot believe that not a single member of the Justice League has questioned that someone is stopping natural disasters and such. C’mon: these guys are all so super snoopy that someone farts and they know about it. So you expect me to believe that THIS Superman is getting under their radar? Yeah…so much for the suspension of disbelief here!
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #22: A blood-splattered Clark Kent arrives on the Justice League satellite, knocks out the Flash, steals a shuttle, and flies into the sun in an effort to recharge the solar batteries in his cells. Wonder Woman follows him, as they get transported back to the satellite, he tells her that he is uncertain if he still loves her. They team up to attack a military helicopter heading towards Belle Reve and free Parasite. That leads to Superman grabbing Parasite by the throat and saying that it’s time to make a deal.
Wow! This is one of the best LOOKING books of the month. Thank you Doug Mahnke! Couple that with a great story from Peter J. Tomasi and this book continues to elevate to truly cool new levels! It has managed to make its’ way from being about the romantic attraction between these two super-powers to being about the crumbling relationship. And there’s a boatload of action too!
TEEN TITANS #12: Superboy wants his life back and Red Robin tells him that they all need to work together to figure out what’s going on. They discover that they have lost their powers and that’s when Harvest shows up and each Titan is forced to live a life from their past. Harvest explains that he tried to raise Kon as his son, leading Superboy to join Harvest. He then reveals that the team came together to fulfill their destiny: to join his army.
Well, that turns thing to an interesting place. First off, this book has becoming much more interesting with Will Pfeifer joining Scott Lobdell. His influence on the story is evident and the book just seems new again. It will never be where it was in the golden days of Wolfman and Perez, but it is probably the best this title has been since the launch of the New 52. Ian Churchill turns in another killer issue on the art side of the ledger. All in all, if this is where this book should have been twelve issues ago, I wouldn’t have spent the last year talking about how awful it was.
TELOS #1: Telos confronts Brainiac about how he feels that he was lied to regarding where he could find his family. Brainiac says that he lost most of his memories and that’s why what he told Telos was wrong. So he sends Telos off to fight Computo and rendezvous with the resistance leader, Techne.
There are so many plot holes in Jeff King’s story that I could drive several buses through it. The most notable is that Brainiac was still a giant when he told Telos where he could find his family. So the tale that he gave that information after his memory loss is either a lie or a bad plot point. The best part of the book, out side of Carlos Pagulayan’s art, is the appearance of LEGION OF SUPERHEROES favorites Computo and Validus. This is a horrible, wordy first issue that goes nowhere. Here’s hoping #2 goes somewhere better than this.
TITANS HUNT #1: Roy Harper suffers a bit of deja vu when Gnarrk sells him a bottle of booze. Meanwhile, Grayson is trying to stop a black market organ-selling ring. He gets help from Garth, who arrives and kills all those responsible, which leads to Dick having a deja vu moment. He later gets visited by a psychic projection of Lilith who tells him that he needs to find “them” because time is running out. We learn that Lilith is an addiction counselor and has a series of files on all the people that were once Titans in the Pre Convergence timeline. She breaks the Fourth Wall and declares that she will not let this hidden person get them.
Leave it to Dan Abnett to turn out a gem like this. Now, this book will mean NOTHING to you unless you were reading the Titans BEFORE the NEW 52 came around. But, for an old time fan like me, I’m blown away! We get a drunk Roy Harper, a modern day Caveboy, a confused Dick Grayson, a vengeful Aqualad, a protective Lilith and the potential for appearances by Donna Troy, Mal, Hawk and Dove and more. Paulo Siqueira and Geraldo Borges turn in a tremendous job on the art, which really helps to push the narrative along. This book was a treat and my favorite of the three new titles introduced this month.
WE ARE ROBIN #5: Robin Izzy is working as a waitress and got confronted by some gang members, when Riko and Duke show up and lend a hand. Turns out that the ringleader of the gang is her brother. Several years ago, he put her in a hospital because she wouldn’t join his gang. Flashing forward, we see the Robins meet for the first since Troy died, followed by the arrival of The Nest, complete with a huge Robin truck that is to be their Command Center. A disagreement between Duke and Dre leads to Dre and Dax leaving the group. The gang bangers show up and open fire on the team, hitting Duke in the process. A Talon arrives and carves up the gang members, calls himself the Robins’ new father and promises to show them how to dish out real justice.
I still have mixed emotions about this title, although this is one of the better issues. I truly wish that Lee Bermejo was drawing this, instead of Jorge Corona, but that’s not my problem with the book. My biggest complaint is that Bermejo is throwing all of these kids together and giving us so little to go on to actually make us LIKE these characters or even CARE about them. We don’t know enough about them to make us have a relationship with them. I have a problem with that. Sure, you need to have some mystery here. But these kids have so little back story, with the exception of Robina’s reveal this issue, for me to want to invest my time in.
WONDER WOMAN #45: Aegeus beats on Wonder Woman until Strife shows up, threatening to eat him, which leads to his quick exit. Back in London, Violet leads Donna Troy on a sight-seeing tour before bidding her goodbye, but saying that they’ll meet again. Violet forgets her purse and Donna tracks her down, just in time to see the poor girl’s pimp kill her. Wonder Woman shows up and Donna attacks her. Aegeus arrives and shoots a God Killer Arrow through Donna’s heart, seemingly killing her. Apparently, this was not part of the plan and Eirene, the Goddess of Peace, is not pleased.
Wha? While the art of David Finch makes this book look beautiful, the story by his wife Meredith is just a jumbled mess. It jumps from Aegeus wanting to kill Diana to saving her. We get a wonderful supporting cast character in the form of Violet get murdered by her pimp. And we bump off Donna Troy…maybe. This was just a really confusing issue, as has become common with this title since the Finch’s came on board. What was once a great title has slipped a lot.
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