DC YOU Month 13

BATMAN BEYOND #13: Picking up from last issue, Barbara is forced to shock Batman’s suit to bring it back to full working capability. Once in the Batcave, we see the dual story about Tim searching for Rewire and Terry looking for the missing Tim Drake shortly after he had become Batman. a few months after he first became Batman. In the end, Tim catches Rewire, but again is defeated. It is then revealed that Rewire is Terry McGinnis and his mysterious partner is Spellbinder. 

WOW! I didn’t see that coming! Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang gives us a great story, even if it was a bit confusing reading two timelines at once. Terry searching for the missing Tim, which we all know was the result of FUTURE’S END, was cool and the tease of a reborn Joker was equally cool. Terry as Rewire? How does that happen? Shouldn’t he be erased because of FUTURE’S END? Yeah-I can’t wait to see how this ends!

BLACK CANARY #12: It’s Dinah’s last show with Black Canary. Flash forward a year later and she is on a talk show discussing her upcoming work with Izak Orato. Flash forward another year and she decides to move out of the slum she is living in and move on. Two years later and she gets a visit and a plea for help from Wonder Woman to battle Ravedeath, but turns her down to work on her music some more. Six years later and she is releasing a dance record. Four years later and she is heading towards forty. It turns out that Izak Orato is the villainous beast known as Ravedeath. But all Dinah is concerned about is making more money. Six years later and  she attempts to put Black Canacry back together but Paloma shoots that idea down and tells Dinah she has no idea who Ditto is. Seven more years and Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Barbara Gordon inform her that her husband Oliver Queen has died while on an a mission against Ravedeath. Sixteen years later and her teenage daughter is with a very old and sick Dinah, The daughter turns into Ditto and the ghost of Dinah’s mom visits, causing her to remember the Five Heavens Palm. Back in the present, Dinah removes the sword stuck in her and uses the Five Heavens Palm to heal herself. The two teams pick up the fight, leading to a one on one between Dinah and Ravedeath, where she uses the Five Heavens Palm to destroy him. In the end, she visits Kurt’s grave, turns her spot in the band over to Bo Maeve, and heads off into the sunset.

Brenden Fletcher, Annie Wu and Sandy Jarrell bring this chapter to a close as we get ready for Dinah to become part of the GREEN ARROW title. I love the multiple, if not confusing layers that may or may not have been foreshadowing of events that never did happen. It was kind of like a superhero version of IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. And having four versions of Dinah from various points in the DCU along with her mother present to deliver the Five Heavens Palm on Ravedeath was sheer genius! This was a fun, sometimes great, sometimes really confusing run (really-Kurt Lance is old and giving them their marching orders?). Hopefully, the supporting cast will show up in other DC Rebirth titles.

BLOODLINES #3: Duncan explains that he had to kill his mutated family to keep them from killing him. Officer Blake notices the unusual mark on Duncan’s neck, which means he too has been infected. Blake’s powers kick in and Duncan flees, screaming something about how Blake will “kill us all” and gets away in the process. Meanwhile, at Eddie, Albert and Dana discuss their powers and how they are afraid. Later, Duncan saves a woman in a convenience store who was about to become victim to an infected clerk. Blake meets with Haley, who shows off her new powers. Arthur uses his dad’s connections to use the hospital’s MRI to scan his, Dana and Eddie’s bodies. Eddie has a parasite that is moving towards his brain and this causes him to transform, smashing the machine in the process. In the end, the local morgue seems to be the site of the newest of the creatures.

This book is so filled with Nineties cliches that you would think Scott Lobdell was writing it. J.T. Krul does his best Lobdell imitation while V. Ken Marion works on being Brett Booth. I have no idea why DC has this book out there, except to lay claim on the BLOODLINES name and or theme; not that anyone remembers that line of books.

CONSTANTINE #13: Constantine is working hard at trying to gain control of Neron’s collection of souls and uses his magic to make New ork the most boring city on the planet. In doing so, this makes all of the souls he has collected worthless. Lady Alexandriel shows up and suggests that they even their debt by her getting control of New York City. In the process, he reveals to her that his magic will end in a few hours and all will be as it was, except she will control the souls. He asks to get Oliver’s daughters back and she agrees. With that, he meets Oliver at the bar to find out that Oliver had already made a deal to get them out and he gets taken to Hell. In the end, Constantine is alone.

How’s that for a bummer of an ending!? Ming Doyle, James Tynion IV and Eryk Donovan bring the saga of this version of John Constantine to an end and it can’t be too soon. This ambiguous, horny mage, willing to shag and all, just didn’t have the stuff to make it this time around. While he was a bit closer to where he was when he was in Vertigo, he was nothing like the conflicted wizard of JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK and that was a turn-off to mainstream fans. Hopefully the NEXT series will be spot on!

CYBORG #12: Cyborg discovers two super powered intruders, one of whom accidentally kills a security guard. It turns out the siblings were exposed to the contents of a broken test tube and that gave them special powers. It is also killing them. Dr. Stone discovers they are becoming human black holes and have the potential to explode and take everyone with them. Autumn transforms into a cocoon and wraps herself around her brother to contain the explosion. Somehow she succeeds, although, in the end, something at the bottom of Lake Erie stirs.

Goodbye Cybog. We’ll see you in the next series. Thanks to Marv Wolfman, Felix Watanabe, Daniel Had and Julio Ferreira for their work on this title. Not much else to say.

DEATHSTROKE #19: Rose is dying and Ra's offers to heal her, but she will have to be dependant on his elixir for the rest of her life. The good news is that it will keep Lawman from controlling her mind. Additional bad news: Deathstroke must join the League of Assassins. Slade goes off to fight the Dead Bastards, along with Victor Ruiz, Lawman, Snakebite and Mystasia. Meanwhile, Jericho uses his powers to go into his sisters’ mind and convinces her to come back to him here in the world of the living. It’s a good thing, because they show up just in time to save daddy from death at Lawman’s hands, causing the bad guys to beat a hasty retreat. Back in Nanda Parbat, Slade discovers that Ra's has made the deal include Slade, Rose AND Jericho in the League of Assassins. I see a major battle coming for next issue!

James Bonny and Paolo Pantalena bring us what I believe is the penultimate issue of this series, although who knows at this point! The writing was fun with ton of action of Pantalena does a nice job of putting in enough blood to satisfy. This book has been up and down, so I’m curious to see where we go from here.

DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #2: In a story taking place after DEATHSTROKE #20, Deathstroke is in the country of Rhapastan, where he is taking on a new mercenary job that involves another assassin by the name of The Balkan. After numerous skirmishes across the country, we see that Deathstroke IS The Balkan and he has been hired to bring down this country. In the end, he succeeds, but leaves a legacy for a young man in his wake.

Phil Hester, along with Mirko Colak and Roberto Viacava, do a nice job of giving us a tale of a mercenary with a conscious. This is a different side of Deathstroke, as opposed to the shoot up everyone for a dollar. This time, he was shooting ‘em up for a dollar and a cause!

DOCTOR FATE #13: Khalid is getting advice from Uncle Kent before they go off as dual Doctor Fate’s, shutting down some burning oil tanks and some missiles. In the end, Khalid discovers that the demon Afreet is using a model of the city from the 1964 World's Fair as his effigy. Afreet shrinks down and Khalid traps him into the model of the globe from the World’s Fair, which lets Kent take him back to Salem’s Tower.

Paul Levitz and Ibrahim Moustafa continue the story of a kid trying to be a hero. This was actually better than most issues, as it was a lot of action…and the REAL Doctor Fate. And so it continues on…maybe ending next issue and maybe the one after. Not totally sure. I do know that when this ends, Kahlid will just be another character who slips into the fabric of the DC You. Count on it!

EARTH 2 SOCIETY #13: The Wonders all get together to talk about what to do now that peace is restored and Green Lantern has become just Alan Scott again. Fury discusses her plans and explains how she brought back the Amazons with her Pandora Vessel. Dr. fate thinks that maybe this Pandora Vessel could be able to bring back their lost world, so they can get off of this one. Meanwhile, the Ultra-Humanite has genetically modified children, making them into teenager and brainwashing them to do his bidding. These are the lost children of Earth 2…including John Grayson.

This book was long and boring until the Ultra-Humanite plot kicked in. Can we see, courtesy of Dan Abnett and Federico Dallocchio, a renuion between Batman and son? And will the children of Earth-2 be responsible for its’ final downfall? This series isn’t done yet!

GRAYSON ANNUAL #3: Constantine, Jim Corrigan, Harley Quinn, Azrael, and Simon Baz get together to try and figure out who Agent 37 really is. They each tell a tale of a meeting involving Agent 37, but none can tell who he really is. They finally figure out that Agent 37 is Dick Grayson who shows up, explains that he faked his death and then tells them they have all had hypnos implanted in them so they will never remember any of tonight or of Agent 37.

Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly write the final tale of Dick Grayson as Agent 37 Super Secret Agent. Roge Antonio handled the art for the interstitials while Natasha Alterici, Christian Duce, Flaviano, and Javier Fernandez illustrate individual tales. From here, Dick Grayson becomes Nightwing again and joins up with…The Court of the Owls? Maybe…

GREEN LANTERN CORPS EDGE OF OBLIVION #6: Our lost heroes continue to try to take down the Blackest Knights, which is also costing the lives of many of the Lanterns. They transport the people of the Last City onto Mogo and then, because the Universe they are in is dying, they all head off into the rift in space that consumed B'dg and Arisia.

Okay…thus ends the saga of the Lost Lanterns, who will hopefully reappear in one of the new Green Lantern series. Until then, thanks to Tom Taylor, Scott McDaniel and Jack Herbert, this band of heroes fades off into emptiness….literally.

HARLEY QUINN #29: At the Henshin Auto Plant, CEO Mr. Tomo is reviewing his newest produced vehicles, which turns out to be transforming robots. He proceeds to use one to bump off his cheating wife and her lover, before killing himself. Several days later, Harley and Tony are looking over a collection of snow globes, then uses one of them to plug a hole in her beaver (hey…I just report them!). After meeting Poison Ivy for lunch, Tony and Harley have the idea to repossess some cars and that leads them directly to client Mitch O’Bannon. O’Bannon owns a bunch of bowling alleys and pays the duo Twnety Grand and throws in some free games too. But O’Bannon gets into one of Tomo’s robots and tries to extort the twenty grand back. Dominic Capablo, whose son had been accidentally killed during Harley’s fight with Red Tool, had hired O’Bannon. Harley jumps into one of the cars and it transforms into a giant robot. After a battle, Harley eliminates the competition by blasting him with a barrage of rockets from the robot’s ass. They then head off to Capablo’s mansion and proceed to take a giant missile dump on him too.

ASS MISSILES? Well, what would you expect from Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti? Art is by Chad Hardin. The nice thing, besides his art, is that this ties up a loose end from several issues back

HARLEY QUINN AND HER GANG OF HARLEYS #3: An RPG has blown up Bolly Quinn’s parents’ restaurant. Luckily, the Gang of Harleys hid out in an bomb-proof industrial refrigerator. Unfortunately, they are trapped in there and are slowly freezing to death. Luckily, they find a trap door in the floor of the freezer, which gets them through an old Speakeasy and onto Bum Crap Alley. They head to Coach’ mansion in Woodstock, where she has set up a super cool war room. Meanwhile, Harley attempts to escape by choking Harley-Sinn, but her gang shows up and puts a quick end to that. The team wants to get paid and gets a bit on the threatening side. When the Gang of Harleys arrive, they find the sidekicks killed by their boos, except for the one tells them the place is rigged with time bombs which go off just as the Gang leaps out of the window.

Jimmy Palmiotti, Frank Tieri and Mauricet give us a title with more fun and adventure than any of the other Harley titles to date. Gone is most of the innuendoes and all that is left is fun and adventure. THANK YOU!!! And now can we have the Gang with their own series?
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JUSTICE LEAGUE #51: Set six months after the beginning of the New 52, the Justice League is giving Batman a hard time about having Robin on The Watchtower, even though Batman swears he can handle himself. Pretty soon they have headed back to Earth to help Superman fight some giant cybernetic wolves. Soon a red headed giant strongman and a green alien named Bron Wox arrive. Wox explains that all of this is happening due to the defeat of Darkseid and how these creatures are all bleeding through different times and spaces. In the end, as a mysterious narrator tells the tale, Cyborg and Green Lantern team up to defeat all and Batman explains to Robin that someday he will lead the League. The narrator mentions that the secret to his/her success is through Robin.

Dan Abnett and Paul Pelletier drop in what is best described as a one-off fill-in issue. What was nice was seeing Abnett working on the big team while still able to put his stamp on a young Dick Grayson. Yes, working on TITANS REBIRTH certainly helped to get him inside Dick’s head. Pelletier’s art is his usually dynamite work. His lines are clean and his characterizations are fully amazing. THIS is what superhero comics are all about!

JUSTICE LEAGUE #52: Lex is at the Daily Planet checking out their memorial to Superman, where they have his cape displayed. The Justice League show up and Lex questions them how Superman died. However, they don’t tell him about the Pre Flashpoint Superman that seems prepared to take their friend’s place. With Superman dead, Lex, with his own Mother Box, goes out to defend Metropolis with his own brand of hard justice. He also stops to visit his sister, who he is powerless to revive. In the end, he buys the Daily Planet and takes possession of the cape, then declares himself Superman.
 
This all leads into ACTION COMICS as this issue brings this New 52 series to an end. Dan Jurgens and Tom Grummett give us an interesting character sketch of the bald headed megalomaniac and it works perfectly. Here is the great villain who may or may not have reformed. All that matters is that he gets to be the hero he always wanted to be deep down. This is going to be an interesting marriage between Lex and the Pre-Flashpoint Superman…if you can even call it a marriage.

LEGENDS OF TOMORROW #4: Firestorm has been captured and is being tortured by the military. Stuck in a plasma field, it will eventually be shut off and cause our hero to go critical. Meanwhile, Jason and his dad, Tonya and Ronnie's mother are trying to find out what happened, when Jason uses a special helmet that shows him what is happening.
Jason drives into one of the generators, which allows Firestorm to escape.

In the Metamorpho tale, Metamorpho makes his way into the tower, where the orb explains that it created Metamorpho so he could restore it to where it belongs. He emerges with it in a protective case designed to not depower him, just as Kanjar Ro and his team arrive and attack. In the process, Sapphire steals the orb and contacts Simon Stagg, telling him she has retrieved the package.

In the Sugar and Spice story, Green Lantern hires them to investigate a museum of superhero and villain memorabilia owned by the former Lamplighter. He is most interested in a display containing his old pal Itty. In the process, Rebecca, the girl responsible for the killings on Superman island, arrives with an armed team to take Itty. But this Itty is actually one of 34 and came to Earth to find out about its’ father. Sugar saves the day and breaks the girl nose, just as Hal Jordan arrives to clean up the mess.

The military have Doc Magnus and the Metal Men when Robotman arrives with a court document that releases them to him. They stowaway on the Justice League Satellite where Cyborg discovers who was responsible for messing with Red Tornado and who the mysterious Nameless is. But the government has been busy and has created their own team: Lithium, Magnesium, Silicon, Zirconium, Aluminum and Copper. The Metal Men find out that Nameless is really the Calculator, who attacks them with hard light constructs. They defeat them and him, but now the NEW TEAM is here and it looks like next issue will feature some hardcore robot on robot action!

This book is such an expensive mixed bag. FIRESTORM by Gerry Conway and Eduardo Pansica does nothing for me, basically because I was never a fan of the character and the plot is a pain to follow. METAMORPHO by Aaron Lopresti looks great and actually has some fun elements to it. Is Sapphire a good girl or a bad girl? While SUGAR AND SPIKE tries to entertain, thanks to Keith Giffen and Bilquis Evely, it tends to fall flat. But we do get cool cameos of the Red Tomato Brother Power the Geek, Tusky, and the original Green Team. THE METAL MEN by Len Wein and Yildiray Cinar was the most enjoyable, but even that has its’ flaws. Can we NOT make Doc Magnus into DC’s version of Amadeus Cho?

NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #21: The team is still in Germany and being trapped, although it looks like Captain Boomerang might come to the rescue. Cheetah is battling the Rose Tattoo while Adam Reed seemingly kills off Deathtrap, who just bumped off Deadshot. Diablo steps up to the plate and lights things up as he takes over the battle with Rose tattoo. And it seems Deadshot ain’t dead as he was shot with a Rose Bullet by Deathtrap, who is also not dead. Adam Reed decides it’s time to make use of the whole bomb in the neck thing but, before he can hit the detonator, Boomerang slice off his hand. Deathtrap opts to stay behind and blow the place up, giving him a satisfying death worthy of any member of the Squad. The team ends up back home, Waller continues to make deals with governments and Harley plans a new way to escape.

Thus ends this version of the Suicide Squad but, have no fear, as a soon to be hit movie and a new creative team will give it new life in REBIRTH. Tim Seeley writes a great tale, complete with several heroic endings, while Gus Vazquez does a killer job on the art. Obviously, this team is not going away anytime soon as the movie is ready to roll and the merchandise is already beginning to land in stores like Wal Mart and Target. Get ready for the next chapter.

POISON IVY CYCLE OF LIFE AND DEATH #6: It turns out wheelchair-bound Dr. Grimley is the villain of the piece. He was dying of cancer and began working with extracts from the Yew Tree. He then used stem cells from her plant-animal hybrids to regrow a new body. It also meant he had to kill to cover his tracks. Luckily her three girls and Swamp Thing show up to defeat the bad guy. Kind of. He reanimates and Thorn uses a machete to save her family. In the end, Ivy contacts Harley while Darshan gets the girls on a bus to Washington, DC for future adventures.

Did I actually submit my self to reading all six issues of this? Amy Chu wrote it while Al Barrionuevo and Cliff Richards drew it. Looked great, less filling. But we get a New 52 introduction of Rose and Thorn and they could be the next version of Charlie’s Angels…if the right creator comes along!

RED HOOD/ARSENAL #13: While Roy is waiting to be executed live for the world, Jason shows up and kills off the Iron Rule with arrows that cause them to melt. With Roy free, they have to contend with Joker’s Daughter, who gets taken down by an arrow that electrocutes her. Jason shoots out the camera providing the live feed and then walks away, saying he can never be the hero Roy wants him to be. In the end, a goofy looking tale of Roy as Speedy and Jason as Robin, saying myabe they should be partners someday.

And thus this series ends, not with a bang, but with a major whimper! Scott Lobdell and Joe Bennett gives us a tale that is equally sick and stupid. Jason melting bad guys? And then the cute little 70’s style story? Yeesh! And yecch!

ROBIN SON OF BATMAN #13: Suren, Maya and Robin are enjoying some ice cream when the Lu'un Darga show up to attack them. As Suren explains, their goal is to keep after them until they are all dead or until the world ends. They end up in Den Darga’s hidden lair and come face to face with him. He has a plan that will make him so powerful that he can destroy the world with mystical energy. Damian defeats Darga’s plan, but it kills him in the process. Maya uses her energy to convince Damian not to go into the light and as Damian comes back, Den's spirit tries to stop him. Suren uses his family's mystical powers, stops his dad and saves Damian. The trio get on Goliath and head off for new adventures.

Ray Fawkes and Ramon Bachs bring this part of Damian Wayne’s life to a close. But he is about to lead the new Teen Titans, so maybe his partners in crime will be part of the team. Either way, Fawkes gives us a satisfying end for what has been a tough year for our hero.

SUICIDE SQUAD MOST WANTED #6: Katana and Kobra team up to defeat the Aurakale. Katana saves the day, but kills many Kobar followers in the process and mortally wounds Naja, who gets to live out her life in the sword. In the end, the cat lives and Halo and Katana hit the road to adventure. In the Deadshot tale, Will Evans challenges Floyd to a duel with the fate of Lawton’s daughter at stake. Despite a no-cheating rule, Lawton does just then and kills Evans in the process. He ends up back at Belle Reve, but at least his daughter is safe.

Mike W. Barr and Diogenes Neves gave us the Katana tale and, for my money, only served to reintroduce Halo. Brian Buccellato and Viktor Bogdanovic did the Deadshot tale which, over the six issues, did a great job of fleshing out his story. Of the two, that was by far my favorite all around.

SWAMP THING #6: Matt Cable/Swamp Thing is still holding the town of Houma, Louisana hostage when Alec Holland shows up with the re-energized Hand of Fatima and some friends in the form of  The Phantom Stranger, Zatanna and The Spectre. We also learn that Matt has actually been in a coma and he is currently possessed by Anton Arcane. While Steve Trevor and Etta Candy consider calling in a nuke strike on Houma, the heroes mount an attack and Alec once again becomes Swamp Thing, forcing Arcane out of Trevor’s body. Then The Spectre sends Arcane to Hell, where he is restored to his original old man form and delivered into the hands of Etrigan. Back on the surface, the nukes get called off in time and Swamp Thing goes back to the swamp. Over in his hospital room, a comatose Matt Cable is visited by his long lost Abby and he wakes up.

Len Wein and Kelley Jones ends this short series, but manage to hit all the right buttons in the process. Not only do we get all the classic magical characters thrown together but we also have the return of Anton Arcane and Abby. Yeah…that’s what I’m talking about! Wein was the perfect writer for this series and these characters and Kelley Jones was the perfect artist, unless you were getting Bernie Wrightson or Nestor Redondo. A great series that ended to soon. let’s hope for appearances in the REBIRTH world.

TEEN TITANS #21: Monsieur Mallah and the Brain have taken over the minds of Metatroll93 and Wonder Girl. Raven removes the mind control from Metatroll93 and Red Robin manages to free Cassie. Mallah follows Red Robin to the zoo and it makes him sad to see the other animals in cages. The Brain arrives and begins to mind control sea lions and polar bears, along with some humans. The Titans are overwhelmed and all looks lost for our team when Power Girl and Raven show up and Raven removes all the devices Then she sends Mallah and Brain to the prison of Azarath until they can be sent to prison. In the end, Red Robin goes to Belle Reve Prison where Amanda Waller wants him as part of her team.

Ugh! Just when the book looked to be getting better, we get this. A homesick and depressed Mallah? A desperate and depressed Tim Drake being drafted by Waller? All of this is enough to make me want to holler! Credit this to Tony Bedard and Miguel Mendonca.

TEEN TITANS ANNUAL #2: Wonder Girl and Bunker are dancing the night away while Red Robin and Power Girl watch, before convincing him to join in. At the same time, some guy cuts in on Cassie and tries to give Bunker some drug called Green. He refuses but other people have taken it and they turn into green monsters of some sort. The Titans take them all down and Beast Boy joins in, leading to them going below the club and finding the remnants of Professor Pyg’s work, from when he took some of Gar’s blood. Sister Blood and her followers arrive and it brings back memories from THE RAVAGERS. Gar flips out, because his DNA has been poached and turned into a narcotic. It takes the combined forces of the Titans to stop him and Sister Blood and Company. In the end, a disgusted Tim Drake considers disbanding the Teen Titans.

So…is this an in continuity tale or not? And does it come after the current storyline? Confused! Bored and confused! Scott Lobdell wrote it and Cory Smith drew it. All in all, it feels that this should have been held back until after the final issue of the regular series.