ACTION COMICS #48: Coming out of last month’s SUPERMAN ANNUAL. Superman, the Supremacists have taken down the Justice League including Wonder Woman. Vandal, telling Wrath how she disappointed him with failure in Houston, unleashes an attack on Metropolis that keeps the Man of Steel busy. Luckily, the Justice League United arrive to lend a hand. When Steel and Lana show up with Ray Palmer in tow, Clark gets set up with a super suit powered by Kryptonite. He frees Wonder Woman first, but before Vandal Savage can make the final strike, Wrath attacks him leading to an explosion and the JLU gets captured. Tune into SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #25 for the next installment..
Greg Pak turns the heat up and makes this one of his best issues to date. Besides all the action going on, we get version 5.0 of Metallo’s suit, which not only gives Superman something close to his powers, but also means it’s killing him too. Then we toos in Steel, The Atom and the JLU and this book was action packed from beginning to end. And we get a cool cliffhanger too! Aaron Kuder and Rafa Sandoval do the art duties and this book looks great! As we race to issue #50, the status quo is about to change again!
AQUAMAN #48: As much as The Drift, Garth, Tula, Swatt and Murk, want to not believe it, seeing Mera versus Mera convinces them that Aquaman has ben telling the truth about her doppelganger. She and Arthur share a kiss and then it’s back into battle. Aquaman uses his trident and the powers Poseidon gave him to have our world to consume Thule. The world is saved, Wonder Woman says she'll talk Poseidon about giving Aquaman his powers back and now he has to figure how to rule a kingdom now filled with the refugees from Thule.
And thus ends Cullen Bunn’s run on this title; a run that was never embraced by fandom. So Bunn has decided to step down and Dan Abnett prepares to step in. This was an okay wrap up to the plot threads that Bunn has been weaving. Vincente Cifuentes handles the art and it looks really good. So, where does our hero go from here? He gets to reunite with his wife, rebuild his kingdom, and try to figure out how to be Aquaman again without the powers of Poseidon. Should be a fun ride, provided that Abnett decides to address those issues.
BATGIRL #47: Batgirl teams up with Spoiler and Bluebird to try and figure out how GCPD obtained information from her. Disguised as police officers, Spoiler and Batgirl infiltrate GCPD and discover that police reports say it was Barbara who tipped them about the Forster Lane Gang, leading our heroine to wonder if she is losing her mind. The duo gets caught and is forced to change into costume and fight the cops. A wrinkle comes into play when Corporal Punishment gets in the middle of it all and fights with the duo. It takes Bluebird to come to their rescue. In the end, a mysterious figure from Barbara’s dreams convinces her to go on with Luke’s plan to create a company to bring the world renewable, sustainable energy.
Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher continue their stint on this title and introduce what feels like a new version of the BIRDS OF PREY. But what should be a big event is slightly hampered by an uneven art job. I am not now and haven’t been a fan of the cartoony art of Babs Tarr. But she is not here this month and BATGIRL fans are crying about it! Instead, we get Eleonora Carlini and Moritat sharing the art duties. Now, we haven’t seen Moritat since ALL STAR WESTERN went under but the style is truly morphed to look like Tarr. DC has recently Tweeted out an image of a blue curtain with the word REBIRTH on it. Rumors have been flying about DC rebooting their line AGAIN. If that happens, maybe we’ll actually lose the Batrgirled Batgirl!
BATMAN #48: Bruce and the Joker continue their park bench conversation, with the Joker, who may or may not realize who he realize is, begging Bruce not to go back to his own life. Just when it seems that the Joker is going to shoot himself, Gotham errupts with explosions as a giant Mr. Bloom unleashes his attack on Gotham City with Jim Gordon in his clutches. As he reveals Gordon’s identity to the world, he tells the citizens to go searching for his seeds and them inplant them in their skin. Unfortunately, it causes them to morph and explode. When Liv explodes in front of him, Bruce tracks down Alfred and demands he take him to his cave.
Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo gear up towards the big finish of this story. You know the one-the one that brings Brcue Wayne back into the suit. As always, the book looks great and Snyder's’story is amazingly complex but subtlety simple at the same time. Does the Joker know who he really is? How does either Batman stop Bloom? What happens to Jim Gordon with Bruce back in action? What happens when Baba finds out her dad was Batman? I’m sure a lot of these questions will go unanswered for a time. But this much is sure: BATMAN IS COMING BACK, BABY!
BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL: #14-17: In issue #14, the flashback has Batman and Robin break up a chemical plant in Prague. During the fight, Batman gets a private call from the Scarecrow, who wants to set up a face to face meeting with him regarding Mother. At that meeting, Batman informs Scarecrow that he now works for the Dark Knight. Back in the present, the bomb in the Nursery is still ticking as Orphan tells Dick, Harper, and Cassandra that the children here were killed because they were imperfect. He activates the defense system for the Nursery and they get attacked by hundreds of laser firing robots. Harper can’t disarm the bomb, but Dick defeats Orphan and manages to shut down the robots. The Nursery blows up and Dick informs everyone they are heading to Spyral Headquarters in England.
In issue #15, Tim and an unconscious Red Hood arrive at Gnosis-the Secret City of St. Dumas. Once brought inside by Azrael, Jason is put into a prison hole while Tim is given a tour of the place. As Jason breaks free, Tim meets the current Saint Dumas and is forced to fight Azrael. Both our heroes find out about Project Ichthys, where Jason gets visited by the apparition of The Joker with a crowbar. In the Prague flashback, Scarecrow meets with Mother and Batman tells Robin that Scarecrow is on his way to Cairo.
In issue #16, we see that Batman and Robin had tracked Scarecrow to Cairo, where they have captured him. This led to Batman retrieving a gun from a trashcan and heading off to pass Mother’s final test. In the present, Tim is still trapped in Gnosis by Azrael and St. Dumas while Ichthys is still making Jason fight the Joker in his mind. Tim talks enough to dig up a memory for Jean Paul that turns him around and sets him into attacking St. Dumas and his monks. This allows Tim to convince Jason not to fight his fear but experience his death at Joker’s hands all over again. With the order defeated and Azrael in control of Gnosis, Jason and Tim head off to join Dick, Harper, Cassandra, and Orphan.
In issue #17, we see Dick and Helena Bertinelli unsuccessfully attempt to interrogate Orphan. At the same time, Harper spends some time at St. Hadrian’s before having a conversation with Orphan, who tells her he knows secrets that she needs to know. In the flashback, Batman has shot the parents of a boy in Cairo. But Mother has figured out that he shot them with rubber bullets and sets the boy and Orphan after him. But she has a plan and that will involve orphaning someone in America. For now…she orders Orphan to kill Batman.
With two months to go, we race towards the conclusion. Who was the target in America? Who was Sculptor supposed to kill? Will our team get the answer in time to save more kids? Again James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly provide the story while Fernando Blanco, Christian Duce, Andrea Mutti, Roger Robinson, Scot Eaton, and Goran Sudzuka give us the art. This series has been a fun ride and, since it isn’t running 52 issues like BATMAN ETERNAL did, it has managed to maintain my interest.
BATMAN BEYOND #8: Batman Beyond is turning Neo Gotham upside down looking for the missing Matt. Meeting with Micron, he tells of how Brother Eye converted Warhawk and Barda and that he survived because he went miniature. The story gets interrupted when thousands of people arrive looking for sanctuary, but Mayor Luke Fox isn't letting them in. Meanwhile, Matt has John Stewart's ring and has made his way to Metropolis and is making his way to the remains of the Justice League Watchtower. He is being watched though, by a group of animal men.
Okay…now I am REALLY excited about this! While the back story that Micron tells manages to fill in some holes in the story, the really exciting piece of it has to do with the final page revelation. By the looks of it, we are going to find out that what happened in the future is what was The Great Disaster. Now, as someone who absolutely loved Jack Kirby’s legendary KAMANDI series, I would be thrilled to have this lead to that character making his New 52 debut. That would also mean that these animals had been given doses of Cortexin and that is what made them intelligent. Maybe we can get the whole cast in here: Ben Boxer, Steve, Renzi, Dr. Canus, Tuftin, Great Caesar and Mylock. Yeah…thank you Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang for giving me hope that part of my childhood will find itself into my adulthood.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #28: Commander Randall is on a space walk outside of the lunar space station when an explosion puts her life in jeopardy and Superman saves the day. A giant reptile space traveler has turned up dead on the moon and that leads Superman to help his pal Batman defeat Clayface and take the World’s Greatest Detective to the moon to investigate. Batman believes that the alien has been murdered and the fact that a drone is watching them seems to prove it. It seems that the traveler was searching to meet with Superman, but she came across something from Krytpton.
Well, that is quite a set up. And I was totally thrilled to see Superman teaming up with the Bruce Wayne Batman and not the Jim Gordon one. Tom Taylor wrote a great story that ends with a nice little cliffhanger. However, Robson Rocha’s art is uneven and I want to lay the blame on three different inkers. This book has been a bit of a disappointment with the TRUTH story stepping into it, so this was a welcome change.
BLACK CANARY #7: The aged Kurt Lance is the record label owner behind everything that has gone on with the band. He explains that Ditto is an alien who is the physical embodiment of sound and when Dinah and Bo sang together it caused she and Kurt to go to another time and another dimension. When they came back, they did so at a different point in time and with Kurt older. A monster named Quietus can eat sound and is responsible for most of what has gone on since issue #1. Amanda Waller shows up and wants to take Ditto. Kurt says if she lets Dinah and Bo defeat Quietus, he will give her what she wants. Bo and Dinah team up and defeat the creature. Kurt’s deal with Waller is to take HIM, as he now has in his DNA what Ditto has in hers. The only problem…Dinah is missing and ready to have the mysterious woman in white
Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu bring this art to a conclusion…but not really. We get an origin story for Ditto and a semi-origin for Kurt Lance’ aging. But that also gives us a bit of a time dilemma. How could old Kurt be the guy who was pulling the strings about all this at the same time young Kurt was running around helping the band? You can’t have two people in the same space and time, can you? That would be like having two Hal Jordans or two Clark Kents or two Donna Troys…oh wait: never mind!
CATWOMAN #48: Catwoman is in New York City and Detective Vincent Scagnetti and his officers have walked into a murder scene and think she is responsible. Well, Scagnetti admits that she is the patsy. With her guile and a little slight of hand, she gets away and makes her way to one of her safe houses, where she has Tesla do some investigating for her, finding out that Scagnetti likes to play cards at The Iceberg Lounge. She pays Penguin a visit and demands he arrange to get the murder charges off her back, but Clayface intervenes. She gets away, but Tesla lets her know that she found out there is a bounty on Selina’s head…and Croc may be the first to try and collect.
Frank Tieri and Inaki Miranda have certainly managed to cut a lot of Selina’s mob ties and dropped her back into the suit and in the game of stealing and dealing. But the mob ties still play a supporting role in this title. Miranda’s art shines and Selina looks super attractive. Oh yeah: she has also cut her hair and now she’s a blonde and Tesla reminds her that she now looks like Michelle Pfeiffer in LADYHAWKE. Now THAT is a pop culture reference!
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #8: With John’s current boyfriend captured, Papa Midnite and Constantine infiltrate Papa’s building and nightclub in an attempt to get it back from Mr. Rumor. Constantine discovers that Papa has a portal to hell that powers a pocket dimension. But Rumor has a partner in the form of Neron and it looks like the boys are screwed.
This book continues to be an uneven ride, although this issue was a bit better than most. Riley Rossmo and Brian Level are resposnible for the kicking look of this issue and having five gorgeous two-page spreads is the reason. Trippy, sexy and cool is the buzz words for their work here. Oh yeah-Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV’s story is pretty neat too, although having a rooster-snake be the one torturing John’s boyfriend is just a little...weird!
CYBORG #7: The government claims S.T.A.R. Labs and everyone in it, including Cyborg. In the meantime, Victor’s mom, a ghost in the machine, visits with him and he fills her in on events since her death.
Short review for this issue. David F. Walker’s story about Victor and his mom was wonderful. The rest of it…not so much. But Claude St. Aubin’s art was especially nice.
DEATHSTROKE #14: Slade is making his way through Lexcorp in search of his missing daughter Rose. Along the way, he runs into Luthor’s Lexbots and then Luthor’s suit controlled by Lex’ intellectual algorithm. As a mysterious figure with glowing eyes forces Rose to watch, Slade end up in the basement of Lexcorp and runs into a trio of Bizarros.
Things are looking bad for Slade as he spends the whole issue fighting his way through Lexcorp only to end up in the basement with Bizarros. While this book may not be as bloody as when it started in the hand of Tony S. Daniels, James Bonny and Tyler S. Kirkham are doing a great job of keeping the action and mystery going on this title. Who are the mystery folks holding Rose and what is their final plan?
DETECTIVE COMICS #48: While Batman watches over Gotham City, he calls his daughter, who is out fighting crime herself. Hearing a gunshot, he finds a man dressed like George Washington dead in an alley before Batman gets shot by a flintlock pistol. Luckily, his back-up team are in the blimp close by and pull him to safety. The shooter heads back to his hideout in Woodcrest Cemetary, where he has quite the collection of false faces. At the Gotham Morgue, Gordon and Bullock examine the dead George Washington who was actually a decorated Gotham firefighter. Gordon heads off in the blimp to investigate a weather balloon on the top of Wayne Tower. Only it’s not a weather balloon-it’s a dead astronaut.
First things first: Fernando Pasarin’s artwork is so incredible and this book looks fantastic! I seriously hope he hangs around for longer than just this story arc. Add to that Peter J. Tomasi’s great story that does wonders for the Jim Gordon character. My question is what is going to happen when Bruce Wayne walks back into this role. How does Jim go back to being a member of GCPD after he has been a superhero? I’m sure that Tomasi will handle that with his usual flair.
DOCTOR FATE #8: Khalid continues to learn how to use his powers as he also comes to grips with understanding what it is that Nabu wants from him. He spends the issue saving lives and dealing with the after effects of the flooding. His girlfriend is mad because she cannot reach him, his dad and he have a heart to heart talk and Professor Bradus and his dog Sheba try to convince him that he is being watched over along his journey.
Paul Levitz and Ibrahim Moustafa, filling in for Sonny Liew, continue to give us a lackluster title. It wants to be AMAZING SPIDER MAN in his earliest years by having him follow a path of self-exploration. Unfortunately, Levitz’ Khalid doesn’t have the wide-eyed wonder that Stan Lee’s Peter Parker did. This book continues to flounder, as it is more about the man and not the battle. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it isn’t great right now.
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #8: In Neotropolis, Commander Sato, Captain Steel, Val-Zod, Green Lantern, Khalid and Sandman have banded together to figure out how to bring the peace between the warring cities. Green Lantern heads out ot help Power Girl, Huntress and Flash fight a giant monster. Meanwhile, over in New Gotham, Batman is battling some thugs when the energy pack they have explodes leaving a question as to who survives. In the end, Hawkgirl enters a strange cliff opening and runs into an army of Amazons led by Fury.
This book is still having problems getting itself off the ground on the right foot. Dan Abnett writes a good story but I find these characters to be cardboard ones and even John Steinbeck would have problems making this group interesting. Jorge Jimenez handles the art and it’s just okay. Overall, this book continues to struggle to be as captivating as its’ predecessor.
FLASH #48: Delayed until February
GOTHAM ACADEMY #14: Set just before Winter Break, Olive gives Maps a scrapbook, so she can make herself a yearbook detailing their adventures from the past school year. The first story is about Prank Week and involves Eric and Colton accidentally releasing a bat winged goat monster from Dr. Langstrom’s lab. In return, he makes them stand in the courtyard wearing sheep costumes and signs that read, “I’m a baaaaad student.” The next story is about Dillyn from the Glee Club and how she created an app that controls people’s minds. Olive is affected by it and it takes Maps use of a cat video to break Dillyn’s concentration, allowing Olive to breaks Dillyn’s tablet. The third story goes back to 1985 and involves a young Professor MacPherson. She gets to meet a girl named Toni, who has the ability to turn invisible. Toni gets her the number of a boy MacPherson likes after she had her get a makeover. In the present, MacPherson sees a headline declaring that “La Pisada”, the girl who was Toni, is a wanted assassin on the loose.
So this is the first issue with a new artist and we get four artists. I am hoping that Adam Archer stays on because his style is dead-on for this title. While the yearbook format allows for multiple stories in the issue, I wasn’t a huge fan of them. Brenden Fletcher and Archer handled the main story while the teams of Derek Fridolfs with Dustin Nguyen, Katie Cook, and Hope Larson with Kris Mukai handling the three tales respectively. I enjoyed Nguyen'’ work, as always, while the other two styles just left me cold. I hope this story arc is short lived and gets us back on track with our regular tale.
GRAYSON #16: Posing as a bartender, Dick takes out a target and grabs a briefcase, diving into a car driven by Tiger. It seems that the pair have been busy over the last five days as we see them continent hopping while Dick sings his own version of the theme from GOLDFINGER. Helena Bertinelli goes to the Syndicate and seeks the help of Frankenstein, Keshi, Tao, Bronze Tiger, Gwisin, King Faraday, and Grifter. This leads to Dick and Tiger going off to seek some help of their own…from Maxwell Lord on Checkmate.
While we get a whole bunch of beautiful Mikel Janin full page shots of our boys touring the world with Dick singing, one would think that I would be pissed at having almost 20% of the book devoted to this silliness. But it made me smile and was singing the stupid theme with the new lyrics in my head. Then we top it off by not only having Tim Seeley and Tom King reveal the Syndicate members and have Dick team up with Max Lord. LOVE IT!!!
GREEN ARROW #48: Oliver is out in the Rainier wilderness as he tries to get used to his transformation with the Lukos Virus. He comes across human footprints which leads him to Norton: the caretaker the Queen family hired to watch over their land whose son has recently passed away. Later, Ollie takes a phone call from Broderick, who is indulging in his masochistic tendencies. Oliver hears a noise outside and that leads him to lost hikers and, eventually Norton, who tells him that his son isn’t dead, but sick. This leads Ollie to the hikers again as they are attacked by Norton’s werewolf son. Ollie gives in to his animal instincts and leaps into combat with the creature. But it’s Norton who saves the day by killing his own son.
Yeah…not buying all this. While Patrick Zircher’s art shines, the story doesn’t. Ben Percy is trying to give some depth to a multi-part story that will play out over the next few issues, but it just doesn’t work for me. It felt too forced and way too predictable. I figured out what was going on the minute Norton talked about his dead son. For me, that’s not a spoiler…that’s just a bad cliché.
GREEN LANTERN #48: We begin in Coast City Hospital where the friends and family of the victims of Sonar's attack are waiting to hear potential good news about their loved ones. A news broadcast of Sonar demanding that the United Nations grant Modora the right to be a sovereign nation or else plays in the waiting room. This leads Hal to Gotham City to search for the head of the Modoran Separatist Army and he runs into Batman in the process. Gordon sends him to an M.S.A. training camp in Kahndaq where Hal confronts the M.S.A. soldiers. But they speak the words FREE MODORA and the bombs in their heads blow up. As Hal figures what to do, Parallax arrives to where Oa should be and decides that Hal Jordan must die.
Yes…CONVERGENCE rears its’ head and gives us this little dilemma. How can two Hals exist in this universe? Oh yeah…the same way that two Clark Kents can live in this universe. It’s called…CONVERGENCE! Robert Venditti wrote it while Martin Coccolo and Billy Tan drew it. My biggest gripes for the issue are as follows (and they’re small ones): First, why do we have a cover showing a battle between Hal and Jim Gordon when it never appears in the book. Also…hire a proofreader that knows Hal’s home is called Coast City not COST CITY!!!
GREEN LANTERN CORPS EDGE OF OBLIVION #1: The Lanterns get Mogo to glow brightly so the lost Lanterns can find the living planet. It does get the attention of the lost Lanterns, but it also attracts a planet-sized city with a pair of giant protectors called Dimsas and Ausras. They want help and the Lanterns, while divided, agree to assist. So they get introduced to the citizens as their new champions even as some hooded figures seem to be making plans. Muk Muk heads out to explore the city and ends up getting killed for his curiosity.
Tom Taylor and Ethan Van Sciver combine to give us a fast-paced book that looks fantastic! I mean, I have always been a fan of Van Sciver, going all the way back to his work on CYBERFROG and FUZZY BUZZARD (yes…I was reading Hall of Heroes titles way back when!). And I generally like most of Tom Taylor’s work. This book seems to want to avoid the problems with the LOST Green Lantern title, in that the book moved with a snail’s pace. This one is action from the beginning and right up until the cliffhanger ending. I can’t wait to see what issue #2 brings us.
HARLEY QUINN #24: Harley goes off to City Hall to meet with the Mayor about getting Mason out of Arkham Asylum with no luck. Harley declares war, while the Mayor tells his assistant to take care of Harley. Harley goes back to Coney Island, where she gathers up her troops and prepares to go to war with City Hall. But they have the idea first and the Mayor’s men come a calling. There is a lot of gunplay and a lot of bloodshed, but Harley and her team prevail. After interrogating the attackers, she sends them back to the Mayor’s office by way of a catapult. In the end, Harley leaves for Gotham and Mason gets to know his new neighbor: Mr. J.!
Okay, Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti hit all the right funny bones buttons with this issue. I mean, we have a major gore-filled battle between Harley’s team and the Mayor’s thugs that sets new highs for tasteless lows. There are a ton of sight gags like Harvey cuddling a rooster, heads exploding because of boobs, the dog humping Harley in a dog costume, and the Hulk Hogan inspired “brother” who is part of the attack team. And of course, we have Chad Hardin’s always killer art. We all know this book is a cash cow for DC…they are rolling out ANOTHER HARLEY QUINN title in April…but this one finally shows that it hasn’t jumped the shark quite yet.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #48: Delayed until February
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #7: It seems that the folks at S.T.A.R. Labs have figured out that Rao is sucking out the "life energy" of the people. Batman and Cyborg have also figured out that Superman is being held by Rao. Even though olympus exploded, Wonder Woman and Aquaman survived and, since all the rest of the gods have bailed, she IS Olympus and has rebuilt Olympus. 250,000 years ago, Green Lantern and the young Rao find the Infinity Corporation inside the Argo Citadel, as well as the current Rao. Flash and Infinity Corporation are on their way back to where Hal is. At the same time, Superman uses his flying ability to crash Rao's space ship into the surface of the moon.
I really wish I knew what Bryan Hitch was doing here. I know some critics have been raving about this series, regarding how it reads and how it looks, but I am not one of those. Hitch’ art is beautiful, as always. But this story, jumping through various time frames and locations is just too busy. Hitch is taking shots, in my mind, at organized religion and I am okay with a questioning author. But Rao is a false icon who just doesn’t feel like a mega villain, like I feel he should. Let’s put it this way: I want this to be a 12-issue mini-series and not a continuing series. I just feel it needs to reach a conclusion.
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #8: It’s six months after the destruction of the Justice League and most of our team is trying to hide in plain sight. The Scullions are still searching for them and the team is breaking into their own cliques. Guy Gardner, who's personality is slowly being replaced by Shiryalla Tome, Ice and Fire are forming one group while Wonder Woman, Tina and the Flash form another. Meanwhile, Supergirl, still trying to fit into this time, comes up with a plan. Elsewhere, Lady Styx, the person who has been behind all of the machinations, has Terrance Magnus and plans on making him hers.
Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis continue to write one of the coolest takes on the classic superhero team. And now, because of the elimination of the guys on the team, it’s an all-girl group now. Well, except that guy is still a guy who is slowly becoming a girl again. Add Scott Kolins funky art to the mix and this series still is one of the coolest, quirkiest titles out there.
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