ACTION COMICS #49: A young boy is being bullied but Vandal Savage's Black Mass changes him to his favorite character Salvaxe the barbarian king. Meanwhile, Superman busts out of his self-imposed Kryptonite prison, battles the Puzzlerbot and destroys it with one punch. Etta Candy warns Superman that the Kryptonite is still killing him, as he flies off to rendezvous with Wonder Woman. As they approach Savage's ship, Salvaxe attacks and he and Superman brawl. Wonder Woman tells Superman that Savage's ship blasted Jupiter and it looks like it’s going to pull it’s moons into itself. In the end, everything was a diversion for the REAL mission: stealing the Fortress of Solitude.
Want to know what happens next? Head over to SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #26. The “Savage Dawn” storyline rumbles on and…yay: Superman is getting repowered again. He has a new power set and I know we’ll see that develop as the months go on. What you need to know is that Greg Pak, Aaron Kuder and Ardian Syaf are responsible and this will probably all come to a head before the “rebirth” in June, when this title will be renumbered to #957 and ships twice a month! Double the pleasure…and possibly Dan Jurgens at the helm. STAY TUNED!
AQUAMAN #49: Mera and Arthur are hanging out at the lighthouse when Erika shows up and asks them to go to the Amnesty Sea Festival and bring friends. That means Tula, Garth and Murk are going with them with humorous results. Arthur tells Mera that he wants her to head the Atlantean embassy on land while he wants Tula to do the same in Atlantis. That means Mera treats herself to a new costume. Meanwhile, a mysterious creature or creatures seem to be making their way towards attacking the surface by attacking from a number of everyday water sources.
Wow! While the action wasn’t prevalent, Dan Abnett makes quite the impression in his first issue of this title. Abnett knows how to write a story and he demonstrates it here as he does a beautiful job of characterization here. Husband and wife are back together again and they are as sexy as they were in the first issues of this title. Vincente Cifuentes art is top notch and just the final image of Mera on the last page of the issue is enough to illustrate his ability. Come June, this title reboots to #1 and will ship twice monthly. It remains to be seem what the creative team will be, but I hop it could be this duo.
BATGIRL #48: A rooftop picnic between Batgirl and Batwing gets interrupted when the video game villains team known as Co-Op attempts a robbery. Batgirl has met these two before in the 8 page preview from last May but she has no memory of it. Back at her apartment, she finds Black Canary roughing up Greg, who she found rifling through Babs’ personal affairs. The pair do some digging and that leads them to the basement of the Hall of Records, where they battle the Fugue: the mystery figure from Barbara’s dreams. Quickly defeated, he is revealed as Greg, who quickly escapes in a jet tube. Unfortunately, it looks like Batgirl may be dead.
Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher give us another story of what I like to refer to as the teen Batgirl. Maybe it’s me: how do we go from a paralyzed Oracle to a crime-fighting member of the Birds of Prey to a seemingly juvenile Barbara Gordon. And I still do not like it. The industry actually refers to this transformation as the “Batgirling” of a character. While Stewart and Fletcher are good writers, it still doesn’t mean it makes for a pleasing character. Babs Tarr handles the art with some breakdowns by Rob Haynes. I cannot recommend the book only because I can’t picture THIS Batgirl being played by either Yvonne Craig OR Alicia Silverstone! And, by the looks of the new DC REBIRTH, July will see TWO Batgirl titles: BATGIRL #1 and BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY #1.
BATMAN #49: Despite his protestations, Alfred shows Bruce to the Batcave and explains how he destroyed the machine that Batman had created which would clone him and put all of Batman’s knowledge inside the clone's head. But he only destroyed the hard drive containing Batman’s mind, so the machine still works. Once strapped in, we learn that the machine is trying to force false memories of Batman onto Bruce's new mind. Alfred tries to convince Bruce not to erase his mind because that would be the equivalent of having Joe Chill kill Bruce’ parents again. Julie Madison shows up and, as she admits that she has always known Bruce was Batman, she presses the button that leads to Bruce experiencing brain death. They restart the machine and shove the Caped Crusader’s consciousness into Bruce's wiped mind. In the last panel, a dark, brooding Bruce says that it’s time to go to work.
First off, images or alternate timelines that never occurred bombards us. Once we wade through that, Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV and Yanick Paquette take us on a tale we all knew what be coming once the DC Universe reacted to the NEW Batman. While we know that Snyder and Capullo, who are leaving with issue #51, are wrapping up their run, what we don’t know is what this NEW NEW Batman will display for his personality. What we do know is that this title gets a new number one issue in June, the book will ship twice monthly, and MAY have Tom King at the helm. And with Julie Madison knowing his identity, does this make her a new addition to the Batman family? I can’t wait for the next issue.
BATMAN AND ROBIN ETERNAL #18-21: In issue #18, we find the Robins at St. Hadrian's where they are teaming up with Spyral to figure out what Mother’s end game is. In the flashback, Mother reveals to Batman that Cassandra is the person responsible for killing Harper’s mother. Then she bites a cyanide capsule, forcing Batman to save her even as the Arab boy rushes in with the police and attempt to apprehend the Dark Knight. In the present day, Harper is horrified by Orphan’s revelation to her and how Batman knew, but never made her his Robin. In the end, it seems that Mother is using an audio signal to trigger the Ichthy’s Virus, so they lock themselves down in the bowels of St. Hadrian's. They also realize that Harper is missing.
In issue #19, a bus filled with children triggered by crashes into a coffee shop in Suffolk and kills one of St. Hadrian's teachers. At St. Hadrian's, Paris Pantoja saves Miss Gold as the students attack. In the basement, Harper has freed Orphan and Poppy and Jason Todd has been taken down with the taser Harper carries. In Spyral Control Center, Tim figures out that Mother is after Spyral's Hypnos and the Somnus Satellite. Just then, he and Cassandra are taken over by the Virus, forcing Dr. Netz to hit Tim and Cassandra with Scarecrow's Fear Gas, which neutralizes the virus. They head down to find Jason and Harper and Cassandra puts the fear gas mask on Harper. It breaks her from Mother’s influence, but also allows her to see Cassandra as a monster, and attacks her.
In issue #20, St. Hadrian's is under attack by it's students that are being controlled by Mother's signal. Miss Gold and Paris Pantoja barricade themselves in the Gym while , Tim, Dr. Netz and Helena try to shut the signal down and Dick and Jason try to stop Harper from killing Cassandra. Dick and Helena end up battling Poppy and Orphan, who use their abilities to gain access to the Somnus Satellite. Tim succeeds in shutting down the signal just as the students are bursting into the gym. Somnus was created in case Dick ever wanted to have the world forget who he was. Unfortunately, Mother has access to that satellite. Luckily, Damian Wayne and Goliath are here.
Issue #21 is a complete flashback issue that begins with Harper Row holding her dead mother in her arms. Following this, Bruce goes to Eastern Europe to meet with Miss Marchenko regarding Mother’s history. She grew up in the principality of Gardevia where, one day, the Red Army came in and massacred the town. Mother was gravely injured but survived. That night, after digging herself out from under the bodies of the townspeople, she slit the throats of all the soldiers. She left Gardevia and hid out at Miss Marchenko’s home, killing her parents and declaring herself Miss Marchenko’s mother now. When Bruce leaves, the presumed dead Mother kills Marchenko. Back in Gotham, Batman tells Harper’s father that he will straighten up and take care of his family. And then the Dark Knight goes back to the Batcave and erases all traces of his computer records about Mother.
And the end is now near. So, Batman has a pretty good sized skeleton in his closet. James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, Tim Seeley, Ed Brisson and Scot Eaton are responsible for the stories in these for issues while Paul Pelletier, Roge Antonio, Geraldo Borges, and Tony S. Daniel handle the artwork. Five issues to go…
BATMAN BEYOND #9: While the refugees desperately try to talk their way into New Gotham, Batman heads off to Metropolis to find Matt McGinnis. He disguises himself and goes to a shantytown to get some information that sends him off to what is left of the Justice League Watchtower. Matt is already there, but the animal men capture him before he can get closer to the remains. Batman arrives and fights them, but loses and is turned over to their Dr. Cuvier. During the fight, John Stewart's ring flies out of Matt’s pocket and he gives chased, leading him right into the Watchtower where he finds the preserved bodies of the Justice League.
Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang continue to make this a better book that I truly expected it to be. If you were a fan of the television series, then you will start to recognize these characters who are dropping in. First off, we have Superman, Aquagirl, Big Barda, Green Lantern and Warhawk, although I thought we saw a robotic version of Barda destroyed. With the appearance of Dr. Abel Cuvier, we now know that the animal men are Splicers and the result of his experiments. Sorry-I was REALLY HOPING that we would get Kamandi out of all of this. What all this means is that Jurgens and Chang need to wrap this up in the next few issues as this title will get a new first issue when BATMAN BEYOND goes through REBIRTH in the Fall.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #29: The father of the dead alien arrives on the moon and Superman goes off to investigate a spaceship that is filled with angry aliens. It seems they are using a Kryptonian to power their ship. But leave it to Batman, who suspected it was a trap and the alien girl’s father is responsible for it. Lobo shows up and confirms that the alien father hired him to kill of Batman. The Dark knight has rigged the spaceship with explosives and sets them off, scarring Lobo and angering the alien. He tries to warn Superman, but it’s too late, as he is attacked by the freed Kryptonian.
Considering that Kal-El was supposed to be the sole survivor of the planet Krypton (well…except for all those Kandorians), we have had an awful lot of Kryptonians showing up lately. Tom Taylor writes a great second part to this tale, Robson Rocha, the talent that was behind LOBO, illustrates it, and the whole thing rocks! There is some great, humorous dialogue between Batman and Superman and it makes me miss this team, since we have been dealing with a brief Jim Gordon/Superman team. It’s up to Taylor to now find a way to finish this off before the Fall as this title and SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN will go away and be merged into a new title called TRINITY.
BLACK CANARY #8: The police interrogate the band about the supposed deaths of Ditto and Kurt, but fail miserably, leading to the band being released. Outside the station house, they get handed an envelope containing a flyer for a show in Berlin and a note from Kurt explaining that Dinah is in trouble. On the plane, they discover that Ditto and Maeve are going to Berlin too. Meanwhile, Dinah and Vixen are being held in an abandoned Nazi amphitheater in Germany where Dinah is forced to battle a group of armed warriors while a mysterious blonde woman Vixen calls Grey Eyes watches. Dinah is powerless thanks to a collar bolted around her neck and Vixen is also powerless because Grey Eyes has her totem. The white ninja arrives and explains that she is Dinah’s Aunt Rena and this is all part of a plan to infiltrate Grey Eyes’ organization and find out who is killing people connection to Dinah’s mother’s martial arts institution. Vixen purposely starts a fight with Dinah which leads to the guards arriving and forces Dinah to take them down, ruining her aunt’s plans. She removes the collar and takes down Grey Eyes, which allows Vixen to get her totem back. The pair head back to America while Black Canary and Maeve arrive in Germany.
Brenden Fletcher bombards us with all sorts of important information in this issue, although I still don’t get this whole book. I mean, I don’t get the whole Kurt Lance time traveling thing. The revelation that the white ninja is Dinah’s aunt can only make me believe that we will see mom in the near future. Guest artist Sandy Jarrell does an okay job, but certainly is no Annie Wu. The DC REBIRTH in June seems to leave this title out in the cold and the fact that the cover DC has revealed for the May issue seems to echo that a change is on the way. Since BATGIRL & THE BIRDS OF PREY is on tap, I assume the band is breaking up and Dinah and Babs team-up again.
CATWOMAN #49: Croc has Catwoman in his clutches and plans on cashing in on the million buck Penguin is offering for her. Luckily, Batgirl arrives and unknowingly to makes the save while showing up to arrest Selina for murder. As the pair fight, Croc makes his way back into the game and takes Batgirl down. Just when it looks like he is going to collect his bounty, Gotham PD helicopters arrive and Croc creates a diversion to allow her to escape. No sooner does she reach ground level, she runs into the Riddler, but she knocks him out and gets away. It turns out that the Frost Diamond is really a fake that contains a USB drive with all of Penguin’s blackmail files on it. Selina goes to meet with the one person she believes she can trust-Bruce Wayne. But Bruce isn’t the person he used to be and he has notified the police and that means she’s busted…again!
I like this run by Frank Tieri so much, except for what I see as a really bad couple of plot points in this issue. Why is Batgirl is Gotham City? Did she get tired of being in Burnside or did DC Editorial forget to tell Tieri about this development. And how come Bruce, with his memory gone, doesn’t have the beard he has been sporting since his battle with the Joker? Other than that this issue, with guest art by Inaki Miranda, was nicely done. Oh wait: this will come to a conclusion soon as this title is off DC’s title list come REBIRTH.
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #9: Constantine and Papa Midnite are being tortured by Neron in the city of Dis in the Ninth circle of Hell. He pulls out Constantine’s heart and lets his chest heal, so he can do it again later on. Neron tells how he plans to get every human to sell their souls so they can learn the secrets of magic. Constantine’s demon lover Blythe shows up and offers to get him and Midnite out, as long as he takes her with him, which he agrees to do. He also finds out that Midnite didn’t poison Oliver and only pretended to do so to gain John’s help. Using his blood, Blythe opens a doorway and he splits, leaving Midnite and Blythe behind. Constantine finds himself being attacked by evil elves and a centaur.
Ming Doyle & James Tynion IV have ramped out the action in the last two issues and it has made the book a million times better! Our hero and Papa Midnite find themselves in Hell and the dialogue couldn’t be wittier! Riley Rossmo adds to the delight with some spacey art and that just makes the whole thing that much more fun. This title goes away come July and gets replaced by THE HELLBLAZER. DC is still barely releasing info about the new series, so what we will get when it arrives is anyone’s guess right now.
CYBORG #8: Almost two months ago, Cyborg and his father discuss the upcoming Cybernetics Regulation Act and what it will mean from Victor. Then he shows his dad the ghost of his mother that had been hanging around as of late. Meanwhile, the government drafts Zirrozinski to work for them. Cyborg and Shazam fight and defeat a villain known as The Zookeeper. That’s when Zirrozinski and the governemnt show up and try to arrest Cyborg
Someone PLEASE tell me that, come the Fall when this title goes twice monthly, that it is going to get better! PLEASE! David Walker wrote it and some of his dialogue is just so corny! Things are so bad, and I don’t know if we blame Walker, artists Felipe Watanabe, Daneil Hdr and Julio Ferreira, or DC Editorial, but there is a conversation between Victor and his father with a word balloon attributed to dad that I think should be Victor’s. Why is dad asking his son to “pass the syrup” when he has it in his hands? And that’s just the surface of this. Badly executed time jumps, a slimly veiled plot and worst of all, the bad dialogue, and this book needs to be rebooted badly!
DEATHSTROKE #15: Slade finds himself in an issue long battle against Lex Luthor’s Bizarro clones that ends when he creates an energy loop that shuts them down. His search for Rose leads him to a box with what he fears may be a part of her but turns out to be her comb with some hair on it. It seems a character known as the lawman has her and he is making her watch all the developments happening that is involving Slade. Continuing his search he runs into Victor, who saves him from a sniper. Not satisfied, Slade attacks Victor only to be interrupted by Red Hood, who challenges Deathstroke to a fight.
Enough with the lame crossovers and long, boring fight sequences that lead nowhere. James Bonny is just going through the motions as far as I’m concerned and it’s a good thing that he has Tyler Kirkham handling the art, because that’s what saves this book. He brings us two spectacular two-page spreads and a pair of equally amazing splash pages. Beyond that, this book doesn’t have much to offer. Here’s hoping that come the Fall, when this book ships twice monthly, that the quality will be better.
DETECTIVE COMICS #49: Batman is investigating the latest mysterious historical murder, as we have a corpse in Alan Shepard’s spacesuit. That causes Batman to end up at the Old World’s fair Exposition Grounds where he brings his detective talents into use. Meanwhile, someone in a Joan of Arc face mask kidnaps a young woman and tries to burn her at the stake. Batman makes the save, but the bad guy gets away in the process. This allows him to stage a new act, featuring a bunch of Union soldiers being paraded down Aparo Avenue.
Right off the bat, let me say that the tag team of Fernando Pasarin and Matt Ryan makes this book just look amazing! There are a couple of spots where the gymnastics that Jim Gordon is performing looks a bit impossible, but that’s minor. Many an artist has made careers with overblown proportions in their style. Peter J. Tomasi is writing a really wild tale that keeps posing more questions than answers. I love the back and forth between Bullock and Gordon, especially Bullock showing how much he is a NASA geek. And when we next see DETECTIVE COMICS in June, it will be bi-weekly, begin it’s numbering where the pre New 52 continuity left off with issue #934, and might POSSIBLY be written by Scott Snyder. One thing for certain is that is ships twice monthly.
DOCTOR FATE #9: There are protesters at the United Nations and they are being severely beaten by possessed New York City Police officers. Khalid gathers them up in a fence and drops them into the river, waking them from their trance. Then he splits the street in half, to separate the protesters from the police. He decides to look for Akila and finds that she was arrested by the police, which leads him to the police station where he gives them a mild electric shock and breaks her out. He heads to the Egyptian consulate looking for the others who were arrested and finds them in holding cells in the basement. Unfortunately, the ghosts of Egypt are there too and bearing arms.
Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew do their best to try and make this series fun and interesting, but I just can’t get a warm, fuzzy feeling for this book. I don’t like Khalid’s character or any of the supporting cast. And I know that many people out there would throw the Race card at me, but that has nothing to do with it. I just find them all so flat and one-dimensional. Here we are, nine issues in, and he’s still whining about trying to be a hero. He is certainly NO KENT NELSON. And DC must agree too, as this book is gone from the lineup when REBIRTH happens.
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #9: Ark Home Colony and Erebus City on the verge of war and the Wonders are doing their best to let cooler heads prevail. Commander Sato and Sandman become aware of a situation in Clearwater Valley, they send Power Girl to handle it, and she gets an assist from Green Lantern. Meanwhile, Batman, Red Arrow, and Wildcat are teaming up to take down the Energy Company that has been stealing and murdering. Flash, Val-Zod and Captain Steel have discovered that this planet is a lie-there are no natural resources here and this planet is not capable of sustaining human life. In the end, Kendra finds out that Amazons have replaced everyone who was on Fury’s ship.
Dan Abnett and Jorge Jimenez are doing their best to make this series interesting but, unfortunately, this book goes nowhere. And I love Abnett’s history of work, but this is not a great one. When the NEW 52 Earth 2 characters were introduced, I relished them as they were just different enough to work. While the mainstream media were whining about Green Lantern being gay, I welcomed the change and where it could go in the character’s motivations. But that was a long time ago and all these characters do is taken up space on a page. This title will go away in the Fall and replaced by a new EARTH 2 title. I can only hope that the classic Earth 2 comes home!
FLASH #48: Captain Frye explains that Barry's new assignment is as the forensics specialist on a task force made up of The Rogues. The goal is to catch The Flash and this leaves Barry a bit concerned, of course. Frye has drone’s send out throughout the city to track The Flash’s speed energy. Meanwhile, Barry heads off to have a coffee with his father but a planned accident in the Industrial District causes Barry to put on his costume and head there, not knowing that it’s a trap. He rescues two stranded workers, but Frye and the Rogues arrive and begin fighting The Flash. He wins and gets away while we see that Wally is at home and experiencing strange, speed related vibrations. Meanwhile, the mysterious character who started the fire in the Industrial District is toying around with a new experiment: Heat Wave.
Robert Venditti and Van Jensen weave another great FLASH story and enjoy it while you can as Jensen will be leaving the book after issue #51. Jesus Merino makes his debut on art, handling both pencils and inks and while it’s not Brett Booth, I love his work. Starting in June, this title will go back to #1 and ship twice monthly. Rumors have been flying that we may see Wally West, a WHITE Wally West, back in the fold. All of this remains to be seen. I just hope Flash maintains some classic traditions and doesn’t become an adaptation influenced by the television show.
FLASH #49: Trickster is meeting with the mysterious stranger, which causes him to be late for a meeting with the rest of the Rogues and increases the tension between them. Meanwhile, Wally experiences a burst of Speed Force energy and that triggers the drones, leading the Rogues to his school. This leads The Flash to the school to battle them but, when Trickster appears to attack one of the students, it turns out to be a swerve that traps our hero. Frye and The Rogues have arrested the Flash.
We get a double dose of the Scarlet Speedster this month as issue #48 was late last month. Again, Robert Venditti and Van Jensen provide the story while Philippe Briones is doing the art. The shudder moment for me was the variant cover by Neal Adams and Frank Miller. If you had any doubts about Miller’s waning art ability, just check out the cover.
GOTHAM ACADEMY #15: “Yearbook” continues with a series of stories. The first story features Maps and Colton as they spy on the staff party, featuring such characters as Egghead and Bookworm. In the second story, Olive and Maps meet a magic crow while playing Serpents and Secrets and end up in a real life game where they face off against a Lich. Our heroes retrieve a special book and it gets returned to the rightful owner, who wants to know why someone wanted his wife’s special locket that was hidden inside. The final story follows Professor McPherson's dog who has a hiding spot for many of Gotham Academy’s treasures.
Brenden Fletcher, Adam Archer, Zac Gorman, Eduardo Medeiros, Rafael Albuquerque, and Helen Chen pool their talents to give us four more previously untold tales of Gotham Academy. I have to admit that these “Yearbook” issues feel like fillers to me. I want a story not a bunch of cute vignettes. Although I have to admit to being totally captivated by Gorman’s first story, featuring Egghead and Bookworm. I bet Vincent Price and Roddy McDowell would be thrilled with the way they were presented. My guess is that this is all we will get until the title ends and it gets replaced by GOTHAM ACADEMY NEXT SEMESTER in the Fall.
GRAYSON #17: We begin with Grifter chatting with Tao and trying to get him to piece the puzzle of Helena Bertinelli together. Their ultimate goal: kill Helena. Meanwhile, Agent 1 and 37 are in Honduras to meet with Maxwell Lord and Checkmate and have to deal with Frankenstein and a bunch of crazed monkeys. Our heroes go to Mexico City where they get into it with Grifter and Keshi and figure out that Spyral is the real target.
Well, this was a bit of a bummer. Tim Seeley and Tom King seemingly fell down on the job on this one as the usually rocking story fell flat. Maybe it has to do with this being their swan song as the last three issues of the title will be be Jackson Lanzig and Collin Kelly. While it was nice to see Grifter back in the game, he was totally underutilized and the appearance of tao was wasted here. And to have Carmine DiGiandomenico fill in for Mikel Janin was another mistake, as his line work is not up to Janin’s incredible work. The last three issues of this title will be by Roge Antonio. GRAYSON is nearing the end of his time in Spyral as this title, which will be published twice monthly starting in July, will be replaced by NIGHTWING.
GREEN ARROW #49: Back in Seattle, Ollie is trying to deal with the racists making speeches about the Wargs. He goes off to a Queen Industries business meeting that all goes to hell and leads to a fight between a beastly Oliver and a Korean gangster named The Kraken. The Kraken gets away and Oliver’s potential business partner gets killed in the process. Luckily Emiko shows up and hits him with a tranquilizer arrow, allowing her to capture him and inject him with something to take the Warg out of him. Meanwhile, the Patriots work on their plan to break Marrock out of the Super Max he is in. In the end, Oliver realizes a war is coming and neither side is worth fighting for.
I am still having a tough time warming up to Ben Percy’s work on the Emerald Archer, but it is getting better. It’s just that I want the Oliver Queen who fought against authority, was a Mayor with an iron fist and got it on with Black Canary. On the plus side, Ollie is not a werewolf anymore and Szymon Kudranski’s art delivers! This team has three months to finish this up because this title goes back to #1 in June and rolls out twice monthly.
GREEN LANTERN #49: Hal flips out while watching the television report on his attack on the Modoran training camp. Unfortunately, that leads to a fight with his brother Jim over it, which leads to Hal heading off the United Nations to stop a potential attack. Hal busts in, puts a green muzzle on everyone and collects their translators before they explode. Saving everyone there, Hal receives their applause and adulation. In the end, Howard comes out of his coma and the Modorans blow up their hideout, preparing to fight another day. Oh wait: the OTHER Hal is ready to meet our Hal and keep him from destroying Coast City.
Robert Venditti continues this tale of Hal on the road to possible ruin while the parallax Hal prepares to duke it out with him. Personally, I cannot wait! Martin Coccolo provides the pencils with the exception of the final page, which is by Billy Tan. This title will ship twice monthly in June as it will become GREEN LANTERNS. Personally, that tells me the title will feature Hal and Hal. Well…that could be fun!
GREEN LANTERN CORPS EDGE OF OBLIVION #2: The Lanterns discover Mukmuk and that the creature known as Marniel, who lives within Perduron, is to blame. Then Marniel sends out her followers and they destroyed the planet’s engines. The team saves the planet but Marniel fires off missiles causing Arisia and B'dg to be sucked into a void. And that leads to an upset Guy punching Kolowog in the mouth in frustration.
Tom Taylor gives us a disappointing second chapter that seems to throw a lot of stuff at us with no real payoff, as far as I see. Either way, Ethan Van Sciver still turns in a kick-ass performance on the artistic side. But the downside is that he is off this book after the next issue to go work on REBIRTH. This book is only a six-issue series and it drops off the schedule in July, when it is replaced by the twice monthly title HAL JORDAN & THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS.
HARLEY’S LITTLE BLACK BOOK #2: Two guys meet a dying alien who hands them a box that has Green, Black, and Red Lantern power rings inside. The rings go up on WeBay and Geoff Johns outbids Harley for the Green ring. The Black and Red rings get joined together because of their clumsiness and that’s where they fun begins as Harley buys it. When the ring arrives, she gets super evil and Hal Jordan gets involved to try and stop her, which leads to a Power Ring arm wrestling match over the Brooklyn Bridge. An Azakarian warship arrives to reclaim their ring that Harley proceeds to lose in the battle against them. So she steals Hal’s ring and beats up the bad guys a giant mallet. With victory assured, Hal kisses Harley and she squeezes his butt. Meanwhile, the London Legion of Heroes have arrived in Coney Island to hang out with Harley.
This title is off the schedule come the REBIRTH and it’s a good thing. While Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner are quite good at writing smarmy innuendoes and stuff into Harley’s books, it just doesn’t work for a 38 page comic. John Timms and Mauricet share the art duties and it’s just okay. Again, my biggest complaint is that the book is too long and doesn’t have enough to make me laugh. Sure, there is a couple of great jokes but spread throughout a book of this length, it just doesn’t work.
HARLEY QUINN #25: Poison Ivy comes to visit her friend Harley, who is looking to get into Arkham and bust out Mason. After some quality time together, she makes her way into Arkham and unleashes a gas that “Ferrignofies” the guards and most of the inmates. She gets Mason out of his cell, but finds herself being tempted and taunted by The Joker, who is in the cell next door. Harley goes in and that leads to a knock down, drag out fight between the two, complete with Harley biting off the Clown Prince’ lower lip. Once outside, the pair chats until Ivy shows up in the Batboat. Of course, that means Batman is here too, along with Queenie, Eggy, Tony and Madame Macabre. Batman puts Mason into witness protection and his mom is going with him, so she leaves Harley in charge of her business. In the end, Harley has big dreams and big ideas.
Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner brings this story to a close with promises of even more craziness in the months to come. Chad Hardin brings his usual A Game to the artwork and the fact that he has a way with the female figure helps! Come the Fall, this title will ship twice monthly. With the other Harley title off the schedule and the hope that the multiple mini-series and one shots will end, maybe the husband and wife team can truly concentrate on making their ONE BOOK a real winner.
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