BATMAN BEYOND #15: In the middle of rolling blackouts throughout Neo Gotham and that means Batman and Barbara Gordon are super busy trying to keep the peace. Then Rewire, who thinks he is Davis Dusk, and Spellbinder, who is posing as Mrs. Shelby, capture Barbara. When Tim finds out, he goes hunting, ending up in what used to be Blackgate Prison, which turns out to be a trap. First he must face a brainwashed Barbara Gordon and then finds out, along with Matt McGinnis, that Terry McGinnis is alive. Terry believes that the only chance he has to stay alive is by killing Tim and using the Batman suit to power his pace maker.
But how DID Terry end up here when he died in FUTURE’S END in our present day? And how did Spellbinder manage to keep him alive? Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang push this story to its’ final climax next month. Now, advance solicitations show that Terry McGinnis will be Batman once again, so that leads to the question of what happens to Tim Drake? I can’t wait for the ending and can’t wait for what comes next. Oh yeah: Aparo Park? NICE!!!
BLOODLINES #5: As everyone figures out what to do, Duncan threatens to kill Blake before he can turn into a demon. Out on the street, the entire towns has been turned and are being led by the good reverend. They all begin to use their powers and battle the reverend, who defeats them and takes the townspeople to the site of the crater. Inside the hole, they find a gigantic monster with townspeople hanging there. Just when they decide to act, they notice that Blake has turned.
So…if I wanted to go back to the 80’s, I’d check into MTV Classic. J.T. Krul and V. Ken Marion truly continue to mine 80’s drama here with this truly annoying story that has more cliches than I care to count. The characters are truly cookie cutter and predictable as a teen in a slasher film. Marion gets points for drawing like Brett Booth, but I’d certainly rather have him on the book. One more issue…I can get through it!
DOCTOR FATE #15: Mummies are loose in Central Park and it’s up to Khalid to try and stop them, especially since Shaya is smack dab in the middle of it! Meanwhile, a peaceful protest in Bay Ridge turns ugly when the mummies show up there too. Khalid manages to dispatch them all and, in the end, an unknown evil looms.
I’m sorry: I want the REAL Dr. Fate back. Not Khalid, not even this version of Kent Nelson. Paul Levitz and Inaki Miranda gave us the main story in issue #14, which totally feels like a fill-in story. The back-up is by Levitz and Breno Tamura and also feels like a fill-in. Issue #15 is by Levitz and Sonny Liew, although the credits say it’s Moustafa. So…we get two full issues with nothing to move the story of our hero along. In fact, it’s the same every issue: Khalid gets a near impossible task that he must accomplish on his own and spends most of his time whining about it before he actually goes off and gets it done. So, when this ends, our hero moves on to appear in BLUE BEETLE. Yay…
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #15: Firepattern has been ordered to kill Dick Grayson, but he realizes it’s his “daddy” and refuses before fleeing. Fury secures the casket and Dick begs Huntress to find his son. An argument ensues as to whether the casket should be destroyed until Flash reminds them that Captain Steel might die. Alan Scott realizes that Ultra-Humanite is responsible and the Humanite breaks into the video feed to tell them that he is in control. To prove his point, he takes control of Alan, makes him will his ring back to him and now he is once again the most powerful person on the planet. And to make matters worse, he is under the control of the Ultra-Humanite and is heading for the casket.
So, when I saw Tony Harris’ name in the credits, I was rather excited. I mean, here was the guy who made such a great impression on me with his work on STARMAN. But then I saw he was only doing the first eight pages, while Angel Hernandez was handling the rest of the book. But then I saw his work and was glad he only did eight pages. I don’t know what happened, but his style has become radically different and angular and left me wondering what happened. Dan Abnett is still writing it and it looks like it all comes to an end next issue. Of course, there is a new EARTH 2 title coming, so what happens next will set the stage for the future. Oh wait: Huntress’ search for John Grayson won’t end in the next issue, as that storyline is continued in the forthcoming EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY ANNUAL #1: We begin with John Grayson fighting Grief before going to a flash-forward, where John and his father are talking. Dick drones on about how he’s not a very good Batman. Then we flashback again to John as Firepattern trying to break the control of the Ultra-Humanite. Huntress shows up and tries to convince Firepattern to come with her back to Batman Grief shows up, leading to an all-out brawl between her and Grief, as John hides. Being Huntress, she takes Grief down, allowing her and John to head back to Dick. Dick promises that he will protect his son and the trio head off to battle the Ultra-Humanite.
This was a disappointing issue by Dan Abnett, Bruno Redondo, and Diogenes Neves. Basically, there was no real movement of the plot. It consisted of a fight sequence and a lot of monologuing by Dick Grayson. And unfortunately, his monologuing is all the same: “woe is me…I’m a horrible Batman. I’m not Bruce Wayne…I’m a horrible Batman.” Here’s hoping that the next issue of EARTH 2 SOCIETY brings this tale to an end and just furthers along Dick Grayson’s self-flagellating.
GOTHAM ACADEMY ANNUAL #1: During a thunder storm, Maps sees someone in a cape near the chapel and, the next day, the Detective Club checks out the damage from the lightning that hit the chapel. Colton makes mention that a lot of people have turned up sick and Pomeline believes it is because there is a vampire on campus. She knows this because she saw bite marks on Jen Thompson’s neck and the garlic is missing from the kitchen. Colton feels that visiting lecturer Derek Powers must be resposnible and is actually poisoning the students. So Pomeline and Tristan follow their leads while Colton and Kyle break into Powers’ office. Inside, they hear a heartbeat coming from beneath the floorboards. As it turns out, Kyle, Colton and maps finds a grandfather’s clock with a beating heart in it. Warren McGinnis gets turned into a vampire and tries to attack Pomeline, leading to Tristan turning into Man Bat and making the save. Vampire Gustav Decobra shows up, as does Powers, beter known as Blight,who is here from the future to kill Warren, who will become Terry McGinnis father. Pom buries a stake in Gustav’s hear, but it does nothing because his heart is in the clock, which is actually a time machine. Colton tricks Powers into following he and Warren into the clock, sending him back to the future, while Pomeline shoots an arrow at the clock face, killing Gustav. So, whether it was the flu, radiation poisoning, or vampirism, everyone gets better.
This was a fun book and a nice way to put an end to this title before it is reborn in REBIRTH. Brenden Fletcher and Becky Cloonan did a great job on the story, which managed to put the Detective Club back together, give us a vampire, AND bring us Blight! Art by Adam Archer, Msassyk, Michael Dialynas and Chris Wildgoose mirrored the feel of the regular title. This was one of those books that bounced back and forth with me as far as how much I liked or didn’t like it. This was a nice way to close it all out.
HARLEY QUINN AND HER GANG OF HARLEYS #4: The issue begins with Hannukah Quinn defending her uncle Sy Borgman from an assassination attempt. She saves him but gets cut in the process and passes out. Sy attempts to bring her to the hospital, but Coach rules against it and has him go to meet a “guy” that Tony knows. Coach and Tony pay a visit to Mr. Brand and reveal they know that his daughter is really Harley Sinn. He tells them she is on the Island of Horrible Death, where we discover that Harley Quinn is in a bikini getting attacked by a Joker Shark. In actuality, Harley Sinn has her in a holographic room. Meanwhile, the gang heads to the Island of Horrible Death where they fight off killer robotic joker fish, killer seaweed and robotic versions of Power Girl, Poison Ivy and Catwoman.
How can I tell that Frank Tieri is working with Jimmy Palmiotti and NOT Amanda Conner on this book? The sexual innuendo count is way WAY down. Basically, there’s a butt biting joke. That’s it! To that end, the story is fun without all the extra added smut that makes Harley Quinn the Harley we know and love! Mauricet’s art is tight and sexy at the same time. And, if you haven’t figured it out, Brand is Trump…just saying!
HARLEY QUINN AND HER GANG OF HARLEYS #5: Harley Sinn reveals her origin. Born to a very rich real estate magnate and his wife, he used his money to cover up all the bad things she did as a youth. After she burns down her house and killing two people, her parents send her away to a remote island to live. As much as she has everything she could ask for, she is not happy. Eventually, she gets off the island and blackmails her father before making amends with him as her mother’s funeral. He remarries and his Sinn falls in love with her step-sister, Gina, until she dies of a heroin overdose. Sinn is preparing to kill herself when she sees an article about Harley in the newspaper and becomes enamored with her. She even goes as far as auditioning for the Gang of Harleys but when she doesn’t get in, decides to kill them all. And she is offering ten million dollars for the head of Harley Quinn. Meanwhile, the Gang of Harleys are getting beat on by the Power Girl, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman robots and Harlem issues the retreat order. But this is just a ruse to get the robots to follow them through the Eggy minefield. They find Harley up a tree where she is being attacks by some kind of monster goats and they use the weapon pieces from the destroyed robots to destroy them. No it’s time to kick some booty!
You know: I am enjoying this mini-series far more than I think I should be! With snappy, not slutty, dialogue by Jimmy Palmiotti & Frank Tieri and blockbuster art from Mauricet, this book has become the book that MERCS FOR MONEY wants to be with the boys and girls from Marvel. While I will be glad to see this end and have our Gang of Harleys roll back into the regular book, I am totally liking the Harley Sinn character and hope she ends up as a permanent part of Harley’s Rogues Gallery.
HARLEY'S LITTLE BLACK BOOK #4: We begin with Harley and the DC Bombshells going on a mission. From there, we flash back to six days from now where Harley is messing with a Time Travel ball she took from Superman’s Fortress in the NEXT issue of this title. That causes her to end up in Worls War II Europe where Amanda Waller is her commander and Bombshells Batwoman and Bombshells Big Barda are her teammates. Sgt. Rock explains their mission: parachute onto the Alps, infiltrate Hozenverfen Castle, and free captured General Beatty. They end up in Verfen, where Catwoman, who gets them into town through a secret tunnel, meets them. Over at the castle, we find out that Commander Hausser is waiting for Schlachterochter: a female interrogator picked by Adolf Hitler, who may visit to watch her work over the General. Meanwhile, the girls are en route towards the castle when there is a car accident where
Bombshell Harley Quinn and Harley Quinn meet, with our Harley getting knocked out in the process. Seems that the WWII Harley is Die Schlachterochter and is working deep undercover to gain access to Hitler. Our Harley is in dreamland and has a dream about being wooed and eventually killing Count Jokula. She wakes in a meat locker, but makes an escape an heads out to find the rest of the Bombshells. Along the way, she gets picked up by Adolph Hitler and his driver, leading to her eliminating him from the game...maybe. She makes her way to the castle and, with the other Bombshells, frees General Beatty, kills a bunch of Nazi’s and causes Hitler to take himself out permanently. Just when it looks like she may be here for awhile, the time travel spell wears off and she ends up back in her apartment with Tony and her beaver.
This was a blast! Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti give us a fun story that makes me think I should be reading DC BOMBSHELLS…just because it’s a weird take on our heroines. But the biggest highlight here is the art team. The majority of the book is by Billy Tucci, who gives this issue such a fresh look. Flaviano gives us the pages set in our time and they fit the usual style of regular HARLEY QUINN artist Chad Hardin. The extra special bonus is the dream sequence which is by the always talented Joseph Michael Linsner. This could be the best single comic issue I have looked at in some time…certainly the best issue of this title to date.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #9: Flash and the Infinity Corporation are in Rao's cathedral prior to him coming to Earth and converting everyone. Eventually, Flash and company time shift and head back to the present where Superman is dead. Diana refuses to take that as an answer and skews him with her bolt that manages to revive him. Meanwhile, Green Lantern is still being held captive in Ancient Krypton by future Rao, even though Ancient Rao does not agree with that. Future Rao, armed with Kryptonian warriors, and the Life and Forever Stones, transports ancient Krypton to the present day Earth. Good thing that Hal has managed to get free.
Ugh…this is so confusing. Last issue, which was a million years ago, the Infinity Corporation was in 1961 and Superman was dead. Now, the Infinity Corporation is somewhere different, we have a world’s worth of time traveling confusion, and Superman was still dead. Bryan hitch’ art is great, but this story, which should have been over months ago, just continues to limp on. The World’s Greatest Superheroes are second rate in this book.
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW #6: We begin the FIRESTORM tale with Firestorm battling the creatures that have come out of the various realities. Multiplex is bullying Dr. Cunningham and General Eiling has launched an attack on Multiplex’ base, which will kill them all. Ronnie and Professor Stein decide to separate, allowing Ronnie to attack Multiplex while Stein shuts down the Quantum Field Generator, which gets rid of the manifests. Firestorm reforms and flies out with Dr. Cunningham, leaving Multiplex to the mercy of the missiles being fired from Eiling’s jets. In the end, Jason reschedules his interview with Glo-Tech and Ronnie turns down the scholarship.
In the METAMORPHO tale, Metamorpho takes on and defeats Java, with the help of a sedative given by Sapphire. She goes with Rex to return to Orb to its’ proper home and that’s when Kanjar Ro attacks and the Orb gets cracked in the process. It merges with Sapphire, turning her into Unity, who will stay here and maintain the planet. Kanjar Ro escapes and Rex leaves the planet, returning home with Java and confronts Stagg.
In the SUGAR AND SPICE tale, the pair are setting up shop at the Metahuman Museum of Oddities when Saturn Girl, Lightning Boy and Cosmic Boy arrive. They want to hire Sugar and Spike to track down the Trans-Dimensional Modulating Refractor, which will cause problems in the 30th Century. Shortly thereafter, Supergirl, Brainiac 5 and Lightning Lad arrive and we discover that there may be a problem with a Time Paradox. Supergirl and Sugar go to S.T.A.R. Labs to attain the Trans-Dimensional Modulating Refractor and return to the Museum, where they discover a LOT of Legionnaires. Then Starfinger shows up and they a;; fight, except for Sugar, Supergirl and Spike, who asks Supergirl if she is seeing anyone.
In the METAL MEN tale, the old Metal Men and the new Metal Men team up to battle Chemo, but are all destroyed in the process. Tin is the last survivor and crafts himself into an arrow that pierces Chemo and causes the creature to be drained, but destroys Tin in the process. Mother Machine, last seen in the BLACKHAWKS, arrives and we find out she is the big bad from the previous five issues. She demands the responsometers but Magnus figures a way to have her suck inside forever. In the end, the General gets shipped to Antarctica and Magnus creates a new look line of Metal Men
And that is that! Firestorm was by Gerry Conway and Eduardo Pansica, Metamorpho was by Aaron Lopresti, Sugar and Spice was by Keith Giffen and Bilquis Eveley, and Metal Men was by Len Wein and Yildiray Cinar. I still was not thrilled with Firestorm but I warmed up to Sugar and Spice in the very end because Giffen added some really nice nostalgic touches including a picture of the young Sugar and Spice. The METAMORPHO piece ended up being my favorite, although I wasn’t thrilled to see Sapphire written off as a cosmic deity. And to have the metal Men updated…not a fan. In the end, I could go for series with all except Firestorm, just because I find this too wrapped up in feeling like it came from a television show
SIX PACK & DOG WELDER HARD TRAVELIN HEROEZ #1: Dog Welder spies on his family, with kids no longer having dogs on their faces and a new daddy figure in their life. Meanwhile, over at Noonan’s, Six Pack is reading classic GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW and tells Hacken he wants to go out and fix America. While Starfire, Power Girl and Catwoman sip drinks with Guts, and sexually harass Baytor, we find out that Bueno has been cheating on Guts with every dumpster in town. Dog Welder shows up and town and gets met by Constantine, who does his best to explain to Dog Welder that he is somehow connected with Ancient Egypt. The team goes outside and finds that The Spectre is here and is coming for “the fugitive from divine justice”. So is that Dog Welder or Six Pack?
I was a huge fan of the first SECTION 8 series and it looks like this is going to be no different. Garth Ennis has written another sick and twisted book and Russ Braun does a wonderful job of providing us with some pretty disgusting visuals. And how can you not love Catwoman getting frisky with Baytor? To make it better, Neal Adams did the variant cover, which is a total send-up of one of his classic GREEN LANTERN/GREEN ARROW #76 cover. Guess what I’ll be looking to buy as a print when I see him in November.
SUICIDE SQUAD’S MOST WANTED: EL DIABLO AND BOOMERANG #1: In the first story, El Diablo is ordered to burn down a church during a mission, after which he decides he wants out of Task Force X. Waller refuses and has two potential Task Force X recruits beat him up. That’s when Uncle Sam, now a part of Checkmate, arrives to save him and offer him a deal. He heads to his old stomping grounds in East L.A. where Pinche Cabron, altered into a tentacled creature by some general, battle, leading to Cabron being defeated and El Diablo accepting Sam’s offer.
In the Boomerang story, a mission in South America goes bad and the Suicide Squad is forced to leave Captain Boomerang behind. Now he needs to make his way through the countryside while being chased by a group of superhumans. In the process, a girl with powers named Breaker meets up with him and teams up to get them both out.
Once again, the fine folks at DC attempt to capitalize on the Suicide Squad franchise. Unfortunately, the movie has already left the theaters and while it held its’ own at the box office, didn’t exactly set records. Jai Nitz and Cliff Richards are responsible for the El Diablo tale and I found it quite enjoyable, as we touch on Santana’s guilt and his wanting out of the business. Nitz writes some great dialogue and Richards’ art is pretty rocking too! Michael Moreci and Oscar Bazaldua are the team on the Boomerange story and it’s just okay. I mean, hero gets left behind and muct get out. I’m sorry-I saw BLACKHAWK DOWN.
TEEN TITANS #23: With the team hanging out in New Orleans, H.I.V.E. Queen shows up and begins possessing the townspeople. Bunker and Wonder Girl go off to destroy a satellite dish on top of the Superdome, while Power Girl and Beast Boy head off to do the same with the dish in Jackson Square. Unfortunately, they get affected and are possessed, leaving Red Robin and Raven to break into her lair, only to get possessed too. The H.I.V.E. Queen takes a look into Tim’s mind, screams, and faints. It seems Time set a Chaos Trap in her mind. And that’s what Titans do-win.
Tony Bedard and Miguel Mendonca bring this era of the Teen Titans to a close. And it does what it is supposed to do: tie up plotlines and leave us all with a final, good-feeling, splash page. To be honest, I expect no more or no less. Let’s see where the REBIRTH TEEN TITANS takes us…
Monday, September 12, 2016
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
DC REBIRTH Month 3, Part 2
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #2: John Stewart and the Lost Lanterns are recovering from a journey that has cost them over 6000 members of the Corps. Meanwhile, Hal Jordan is battling two members of the Sinestro Corps while Sinestro himself discovers that Hal has reclaimed the mantle of Green Lantern and flips out! He flips out even more when he finds out that Hal has been captured by his Corps members and orders them to leave. Hal tracks them to a inhabited planet. Where he finds they have back-up…lots of back-up!
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #3: John is still trying to reach Hal while Guy is in a pit with bloodied fists. Hal is trying to protect the residents of Chall’Enn. Off on Warworld, Sinestro is meeting with members of the Sacrament, which certainly upsets his daughter Soranik. Back on Chall’Enn, Hal pushes his power levels beyond normal levels and crashes to Earth defeated.
And now the action starts, with three plotlines running at once. We have Hal trying to get back in step as a Green Lantern. Sinestro is trying to take back the reigns of the Sinestro Corps, now that he has been restored by Parallax. And the Lost Lanterns are trying to figure out where they are and Guy Gardner is the guy who is going to go out and figure things out. Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval combine for some fun issues that set in motion the next few months worth of story. I’m pretty sure it will eventually end with Hal and the Corps back together. But for now, they just exist in their own little worlds.
HARLEY QUINN #1: This issue begins with Harley and Ivy relaxing in a spa. Then, for anyone who doesn’t know, Harley tells her story and introduces her supporting cast. Harley meets with Red Tool and Jimm Salabim, informing Jimm that she’ll need him to work at Madame Macabre’s. That’s when the zombies show up, who were created by eating Nathan’s Nateman’s hot dogs containing alien parts. Red Tool gets bitten by a zombie, so Harley cuts off his arm at the elbow. She packs the arm in a cooler and launches Red Tool towards the hospital via the Scatapault. Now we just have to hope that he wakes up soon!
HARLEY QUINN #2: Red Tool, thanks to Harley’s crack shot ability, makes it safely into the hospital. With that out of the way, Harley and her team go out and start taking out the Nateman’s Hot Dog zombies. Unfortunately, there are more zombies than they can handle. Just when things look the worst, Poison Ivy shows up with a Weedwacker and an attitude!
So, if you were a fan of the New 52 HARLEY QUINN book, then you’ll be loving this as the characters and all have made their way to REBIRTH. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, Chad Hardin, Bret Blevins and John Timms all combine to bring us more wackiness, sexual innuendoes and crazy situations. My favorite moment is when Tony takes out a zombie metalhead and Harley mentions that maybe he went to Heavy Metal Heaven with (Ronnie James) Dio, (Randy) Rhodes, Bon (Scott), Lemmy (Kilmister) and Wendy O.(Williams). Thanks for the nod to some legends!
THE HELLBLAZER #1: We begin with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of World War I. We see that it could have been prevented but someone named Adnan kept his brother Marid back from stopping it. In the present day, Constantine is woken up by Chas, who takes him out to the greenhouse to meet with the Swamp Thing, who is looking to collect a debt. That takes us back to some months ago in New York when Swamp Thing showed up in some oranges and asked John to help find Abby. Constantine agrees, but only if Swamp Thing agrees to back him up for what he is planning to do in London(see the REBIRTH SPECIAL). To pay that debt, John hooks Swamp Thing up with the woman named Mercury we met in the Special. In the end, Marid visits his brother Adnan and kills him, saying it was right to do what was done and that disproves the existence of God.
I’m loving what Simon Oliver and Moritat are doing with our favorite crafty magician. Gone is the nice Constantine from JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK and gone is the guy who masqueraded as him in the last series. This is more like the Vertigo guy we all know and love. Oliver’s writing is top notch and I have long been a fan of Moritat’s art. I can’t wait to see more of this team and this version of John Constantine in the months to come.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #2: The Lanterns and The Flash are battling all these possessed people when suddenly the possession just stops. They all end up on the Watchtower with Cyborg who explains that something known as The Kindred is causing the earthquakes. That’s when an alien invasion happens and the possessions start all over again. Batman decides this is a job for Superman.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #3: Wonder Woman tangles with The Kindred: a giant being which is made up of people it has merged with. Meanwhile, Simon and Jessica are fighting the bugs, the other Kindred giants around the world appear to be on the move and getting ready for the Purge. Batman asks for Cyborg to meet him at the Kent Farm, where he creates a Boom Tube that will take Superman to the center of the Earth to take out the “Extinction Machines”. The bugs show up and Cyborg saves Lois, Jon and Batman, while they attack him instead. While the song stops and the four Kindreds join together with the powers they have stolen from the Justice League, Superman gets closer to the Earth’s core and realizes he doesn’t now what to do.
Well…Tony S. Daniel’s artwork is nice. Other than that, this book is an embarrassment to the great name of the Justice League. This feels exactly like Bryan Hitch’ work on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA did and I found that one long limping story. Heck-there is even a reference in the book about how Superman defeated Rao. Really? Those final issues of JLA are still waiting to be published! This is enough to make me want the days of the Gypsy and Vibe team to come back and those were pretty bad times!
NEW SUPER-MAN #2: The Bat-Man and Wonder Woman of China jumping into Kenan’s face and it’s a battle between the Chinese Trinity. Wonder Woman ties him up which allows Bat-Man to knock him out. When he finally comes to, he immediately calls his dad and tells him that he didn’t come home last night. Dr. Omen takes the phone and plays a recording, with Kenan’s voice, saying he was out studying. She then tells Kenan he is now part of the Justice League of China. Bat-Man and Wonder Woman discover that a super villain named Sunbeam is attacking the CEO of a large data firm at her house. Bat-Man and Wonder Woman get inside the house and she brings out the CEO's young daughter, who gets left with Kenan. Sunbeam comes out with the CEO, causing her daughter to cry. Flashing back to how he felt when his mother died, Kenan tackles the villain, which allows the CEO to escape. Sunbeam blasts Kenan with her solar gun and it actually restores his powers. Having defeated the villain, Laney Lan shows up and Kenan reveals his secret identity to all of China.
Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic continue to make this book a great treat! What a fun ride this book is after only two issues. The concept is fresh, the characters are refreshing, and the look is engaging. Of the “new” REBIRTH titles, this is my favorite by far. With nods to classic DC characters, especially Batman, Wonder Woman and Laney Lan, this book is just a great guilty pleasure and I look forward to the next issue!
NIGHTWING #2: So Dick has a new partner in the form of Raptor and they go off on their first mission. Batgirl calls from her mission in Japan and makes a day with him for the next day. Dick and Raptor take control of the ship that Kobra has infested and finds infected people and a ship filled with refugees that the Parliament is going to use for slave labor. The pair are sent on another mission which Dick is not a fan of. But Raptor reveals he has something to bring down the Owls. That means Dick needs to play along for a while and also means blowing off the date with Barbara.
NIGHTWING #3: Our issue begins with Nightwing and Batgirl facing Raptor, who apparently has killed someone. Flashing back to earlier, we see that Nightwing and Raptor are looking to make their way into the house of the guy who made the Parliament's Crete fortress. The Parliament has ordered them to kill him, but they plan on stealing the blueprints to the fortress. And then Batgirl shows up and, after her and Dick work out some of their issues, the trio make their way through the booby trapped house. Raptor gets ahead of Dick and Babs and when they catch up with him, he is standing over the dead body of Knute Rudd. The Parliament of the Owls is watching and approve but, when they sign off, we see that this was all a put on and the blood on the floor is from Raptor. In the end, Barbara tells Dick off and he and Raptor go to Raptor’s hideout in Turkey where he has a certain Dr. Leviticus in a cage.
Leave it to Dick to be one! Yeah…he just made a best effort to patch things up with his ex and now he goes off and screws it up again! Then he fixes it and screws it up AGAIN! I understand you have a mission, dude…but really! Tim Seeley is writing a fun story, complete with a partner who may be a good guy in disguise. Or maybe he is just seeing how loyal Nightwing is. Either way, I’m having a ball with it. Nice art from Javier Fernandez too!
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1: We begin with a flashback to a times years ago when Jason got involved with a fight between Batman and Ma Gunn. That brings us to today when Jason is actually saving Ma Gunn from an explosion at the School for Wayward Boys. And it seems Black Mask is responsible, as she turned down an offer from him. Through guile, Jason secures a meeting with Roman and looks to be drafted into his family as his second in command. Jason gets sent out on a mission with some of Black mask’s men, but he runs into some trouble…in the form of Artemis.
Well…this was a lot of fun! Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy combine for a rollicking issue that is equal parts action and intrigue. Lobdell has stepped away, at least for the moment, from writing 90’s comic dialogue and given the reader a true sense of Jason’s past. Soy’s art is cool too and his action sequences are nicely set up. I love his interpretation of Ma Gunn and his Black mask, looking like the gimp from PULP FICTION, is freaky!
SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1: The President, based on some of the shenanigans of her team, wants to shut down Task Force X. But Amanda Waller convinces him that Corporal Rick Flag is going to be the solution who can handle the team. Unfortunately, Flag is in Guantanamo Bay for disobeying orders that cost the lives of his troops. The Suicide Squad, Captain Boomerang, Harley, and Deadshot, are on a mission in Mongolia where they are trying to save a Meta Gene researcher from his kidnappers The Dogra War. He has developed a meta-gene bomb that, for 36 hours, can give unpowered folks super powers and remove the powers from the super powered. One of the new metahumans grabs hold of him and threatens to drag him back to The Dogra War, but Captain Boomerang uses a boomerang to cut off the good doctor’s hands which are holding the briefcase with the plans. Deadshot shoots Dr. Ljungberg between the eyes and then detonate the bomb, removing the metahuman’s powers. Just then, Rick Flag shows up to lead the team to “save the world”.
Okay…I would like to say this was a great reintroduction for the Suicide Squad but, in all honesty, it was a way to tie the movie to the book and vice versa. C’mon-we start off by making Amanda Waller her old rotund self from back in the days before NEW 52. And then we introduce Rick Flag, whose original character does have history with the Pre-Flashpoint Suicide Squad. But he is also the big star of the movie, so we need to tie him to this team. It’s no different than Marvel turning the Marvel Cinematic Universe into Samuel L. Jackson after his doppelganger appeared in the Ultimate Universe. And then they made Nick Fury into The Watcher and introduced the NEW, illegitimate bastard Nick Fury. Anyway, the story was rushed, the concept of Boomerang and Deadshot being a little extreme in handling the situation, and then having Flag appear on the last to pages and making us assume they are off to victory just left me cold. Here’s hoping that Rob Williams and Philip Tan do a better job with the regular title.
SUICIDE SQUAD #1: Amanda Waller arrives at Belle Reve where she is putting the team together for a mission. This time around it is Rick Flag, Katana (billed as his second in command), Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and June Moon (The Enchantress). The rules are the same: go on a mission and don’t try to split or have your head exploded. The mission is that they are to go to Siberia and, to get them there, they are being shot into space. Unfortunately, Boomerang soils himself and Croc gets space sick, throwing up inside his space helmet which leads to the possibility of him drowning in his own vomit. Flag gets free and breaks Croc’s helmet, but that causes the spaceship to wobble out of control. Flag order’s June to let the Enchantress out, but it may be too late as the ship, and all inhabitants, crash into the waters below.
In the back-up, Deadshot tells a tale about the time he was contracted by Kobra to kill Bruce Wayne, t save the life his kidnapped daughter. In the process, he secretly contacted Batman for help and agreed to use rubber bullets. In the end. One guy is left to threaten his daughter and Floyd takes him out with a single real bullet, for which Batman sends him off to prison.
While this was a vast improvement over the one shot, it was still a disappointment. Again, Rob Williams has written a story involving characters from the SUICIDE SQUAD movie, as we have dragged June Moon onto the team. Considering we haven’t seen her in comics since the first JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK story, you know this is all about a movie tie-in. Second, the main story for this month, as it will be each month, is a scant 13 pages of Jim Lee. And it is not his best work as Scott Williams’ inks are doing their best to make those pencils look better. The back-up, by Williams and Jason Fabok looks really good, but suffers from a story that I didn’t care about. Yeah…fans know that Floyd loves his daughter and Batman gets points for going in with the villain on a semi BRAVE AND THE BOLD moment. But to turn around and bust him for saving his daughter, because he broke his promise and used a real bullet, is just a bogus ending. For what DC is calling one of their flagship titles this is a major disappointment.
SUICIDE SQUAD WAR CRIMES #1: We begin in New York City as the former Secretary of Defense, George Carmody, gets kidnapped by Strikeforce Europa. They want him to stand trial in the Netherlands for war crimes that he allegedly authorized during the last Gulf Action. Amanda Waller sends the Task Force X team, comprising Harley, Deadshot, Boomerang, El Diablo and Mad Dog, off to rescue him. The team arrives in the Netherlands and manages to kidnap Carmody back while also battling it out with Strikeforce Europa. Unfortunately, Mad Dog gets captured by Guerrieroa, leading Waller to explode his neck bomb, killing both of them. Then Shado shows up, grabs Carmody for herself, and tosses him into a black helicopter. Boomerang takes down the copter and Harley apparently takes out Shado, allowing the team to grab Carmody and deliver him back to Waller in the States. He’s a little upset that his former allies sent Shado to take him out and he threatens to expose Task Force X if she doesn’t send them to eliminate Black Mountain Ltd. So Waller shoots him in the back, saying that she will spin it as him dying of a heart attack.
Classic SUICIDE SQUAD writer John Ostrander teams up with Gus Vasquez and Carlos Rodriguez to give us an entertaining little gem. Yes…I said gem. This was a fun, if expensive ride, which could have been wrapped into a 20 page story, but works well here. The art is cool and Ostrander’s dialogue fits the bill too. We get Shado and Digger being called “Boomiebutt” and Mad Dog…who I THOUGHT was getting his own series. Well…not unless he can resurrect himself.
SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1: Some time ago, in Argo City, Zor-El sends Lar-On into the Phantom Zone because of his dangerous Red Kryptonite transformations. In the here and now, Supergirl, currently powerless, is flying a spaceship towards the Sun for Cameron Chase and the D.E.O., all in an effort to get her powers back. Suddenly, Lar-On shows up from out of the Phantom Zone and turns into a Red K werewolf. The trip to the sun works and Supergirl comes racing back to Earth to help save Chase, the D.E.O. staff, and her foster parents. She learns that her father put Lar-On in the Phantom Zone, gets him to calm down and promises to abandon him. She then makes it a point that the D.E.O. does their best to help cure him. Chase now gives Superghirl, who apparently has only been on Earth for two months, the new identity of Kara Danvers and assigns her with these foster parents, while she promises to help the D.E.O. while being a student by day. In the end, we may see her father return…in the form of the person he was in the previous series.
So, Supergirl ends up at the D.E.O. because she lost her powers. But she has only been on Earth for two months. So, do we just forget about the three plus years of her NEW 52 title PLUS her appearance in THE LAST DAYS OF SUPERMAN? I’m confused! Are we writing a comic here or just trying to find a way to make this an extension of the television series? Steve Orlando writes a confusing story with beautiful art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Not a fan at the moment, but it IS an introduction to a forthcoming first issue
SUPERMAN #4: Superman and son find themselves in a heated battle with the Eradicator when his containment suit explodes and Superman, Lois and Jon end up in Metopolis on the pool table at Bibbo's Ace O' Clubs in Metropolis. Our hero is weakened as the ghosts of Krypton enter the bar too. Lois guesses that a moon rock that Bibbo has recently acquired is a piece of Kryptonite. When she tosses it away, her husband gets his strength back. He also figures out how to free the ghosts, but the Eradicator arrives and begins to reabsorb the ghosts while trying to eliminate Jon’s human side. The ghosts fight back and take out the Eradicator. Superman puts his family into Bibo’s mini-sub and heads off with them to the moon.
SUPERMAN #5: The Superman family land on the moon and he takes them to the Batcave that Batman has set up there. Not long after, the Eradicator shows up and the two Kryptonian’s are brawling again. The Eradicator proceeds to absorb the Man of Steel and begin chasing after Jon. Meanwhile, Lois finds the armored Batsuit and attacks the Eradicator. Superman asks for help from the ghost of Krypton and they enter him, allowing him to exit the Eradicator and fight back.
Welcome to the continuing adventures of Clark Kent and his family. A Batcave on the moon? Is Bruce THAT paranoid? Apparently! Issue #4 is by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, with art by Gleason while #5 is by Tomasi and Gleason with art by Doug Mahnke. I’m having so much fun with this series because this “trinity” works so well together. Lois has settled into her role as a wife and mother while Jon is slowly starting to use his powers. At times, he feels like Damian Wayne, but that is familiar territory for Tomasi and Gleason. Other than that, this series rocks!
SUPERWOMAN #1: Going back to a few weeks ago, Lois lane is helping Lana Lang on her farm by hoisting a tractor over her head Come forward to today where Lois Lane is Superwoman. Apparently, when Superman went Supernova, Lois and Lana got super powers. Today, Lex Luthor is introducing a new aircraft carrier but a terrorist makes him lose his powers and it’s up to Super Lois and Super Lana, who previously had been whispering instructions to Lois, to save the day. They go below inside the aircraft carrier and find a laboratory with the scientists torn apart. The next thing you know, this strange Bizarro-like version of Lois appears and Lois, calling out Clark’s name and saying she understands, ends up exactly as he did in his last moments. Is this the end of Superwoman?
Wow! That was unexpected. Actually, almost the entire book was unexpected. Phil Jimenez, handling both the story and the art, with inks from Matt Santorelli, deliver a great looking book that is filled with stuff that I’m sure will be fleshed out in the months to come. Instead of one Superwoman, we get two, even though it looks like that might change. It would make sense to eliminate Lois because we have a Lois in continuity now. Two would just be weird! My questions include such topics as how did they get their costumes-the Krypton fairy made them? And who is this mysterious person who apparently is at the center of Lex’ power loss and everything else that occurs in this issue? Jimenez has piqued my interest enough to make me want to come back for issue #2.
TITANS #2: Linda Parks is trying to figure out what is going on with Kid Flash when the Teen Titans show up: Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl. They start attacking everyone when the Titans show up as Kadabra watches. Wally gets hold of the Lasso of Truth and gets Wonder Girl to reveal that Kadabra is behind all of this. Garth goes after Kadabra and it looks like it may have cost him his life.
Dan Abnett and Brett Booth gives us a ton of action here, but still leaving us with a lot of questions. How did Kadabra mange to conjure up the Teen Titans of Yesteryear? How is he responsible for the gap in their memories? How is it that Linda Park is starting to remember at last? Abnett’s writing is great, certainly better than what we got in this months’ EARTH 2 SOCIETY ANNUAL. And, if you have read my work before, you know how I so love Booth’ art, going all the way back to his Image days. This book is a major surprise, as the mini-series was.
WONDER WOMAN #4: Part Two of YEAR ONE. The Council of Themyscira is meeting to discuss what has happened with the soldiers’ crash landing here. They also see it as a sign from the Gods and wonder what to do next. The decision is made to have a contest and let one of them go to the outside world and act as an ambassador. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor awakes and discovers that his fellow soldiers are dead. Diana comforts him and promises him that she will keep him safe. Whoever ends up as the ambassador will be taking him back home and will never be able to return. Hippolyta tries to prevent Diana from entering the contest but she does and ultimately wins. Hippolyta gives her daughter the Treasure of Themyscira in the form of the magic lasso. The Amazons have also fixed Trevor’s airplane and turned it into the invisible jet. With a series of tearful goodbyes, Diana and Steve head off to “Man’s World”.
WONDER WOMAN #5: In Part Three of LIES, we see Etta Candy meeting with her superior, a woman named Sasha, and tells her that Steve Trevor has gone silent. The decision is made that, with Wonder Woman in the area, any rescue mission will be put on hold. Steve and his men have been captured by the warlord Cadulo and it looks like they will be a blood sacrifice for the god Urzkartaga. Specifically, Cadulo decides that Steve is going to be the means to have the great god walk the Earth once more. Meanwhile, Diana explains to Cheetah that her memories and history have been messed with and she needs help in fixing it. They make their way into Cadulo’s stronghold and find Steve’s men. But Steve is nowhere to be found, as the ritual is about to take place. Elsewhere, Sasha seems to not be what she seems.
Although I am still a bit miffed over the whole “let’s alternate the story every issue”, Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott are delivering a great retelling/reworking of Wonder Woman’s origin while Rucka and Sharp are delivering the present day story. The past story, with added details, is well-written, as one would expect from a New York Times best-selling author. And what can you say about Nicola Scott that hasn’t been said. Her work is truly spectacular. And we all know what kind of work Liam Sharp can deliver. This series is elevated to a new level thanks to the enthusiasm of the creators. But who is Sasha and what is her motive?
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS #3: John is still trying to reach Hal while Guy is in a pit with bloodied fists. Hal is trying to protect the residents of Chall’Enn. Off on Warworld, Sinestro is meeting with members of the Sacrament, which certainly upsets his daughter Soranik. Back on Chall’Enn, Hal pushes his power levels beyond normal levels and crashes to Earth defeated.
And now the action starts, with three plotlines running at once. We have Hal trying to get back in step as a Green Lantern. Sinestro is trying to take back the reigns of the Sinestro Corps, now that he has been restored by Parallax. And the Lost Lanterns are trying to figure out where they are and Guy Gardner is the guy who is going to go out and figure things out. Robert Vendetti and Rafa Sandoval combine for some fun issues that set in motion the next few months worth of story. I’m pretty sure it will eventually end with Hal and the Corps back together. But for now, they just exist in their own little worlds.
HARLEY QUINN #1: This issue begins with Harley and Ivy relaxing in a spa. Then, for anyone who doesn’t know, Harley tells her story and introduces her supporting cast. Harley meets with Red Tool and Jimm Salabim, informing Jimm that she’ll need him to work at Madame Macabre’s. That’s when the zombies show up, who were created by eating Nathan’s Nateman’s hot dogs containing alien parts. Red Tool gets bitten by a zombie, so Harley cuts off his arm at the elbow. She packs the arm in a cooler and launches Red Tool towards the hospital via the Scatapault. Now we just have to hope that he wakes up soon!
HARLEY QUINN #2: Red Tool, thanks to Harley’s crack shot ability, makes it safely into the hospital. With that out of the way, Harley and her team go out and start taking out the Nateman’s Hot Dog zombies. Unfortunately, there are more zombies than they can handle. Just when things look the worst, Poison Ivy shows up with a Weedwacker and an attitude!
So, if you were a fan of the New 52 HARLEY QUINN book, then you’ll be loving this as the characters and all have made their way to REBIRTH. Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner, Chad Hardin, Bret Blevins and John Timms all combine to bring us more wackiness, sexual innuendoes and crazy situations. My favorite moment is when Tony takes out a zombie metalhead and Harley mentions that maybe he went to Heavy Metal Heaven with (Ronnie James) Dio, (Randy) Rhodes, Bon (Scott), Lemmy (Kilmister) and Wendy O.(Williams). Thanks for the nod to some legends!
THE HELLBLAZER #1: We begin with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the start of World War I. We see that it could have been prevented but someone named Adnan kept his brother Marid back from stopping it. In the present day, Constantine is woken up by Chas, who takes him out to the greenhouse to meet with the Swamp Thing, who is looking to collect a debt. That takes us back to some months ago in New York when Swamp Thing showed up in some oranges and asked John to help find Abby. Constantine agrees, but only if Swamp Thing agrees to back him up for what he is planning to do in London(see the REBIRTH SPECIAL). To pay that debt, John hooks Swamp Thing up with the woman named Mercury we met in the Special. In the end, Marid visits his brother Adnan and kills him, saying it was right to do what was done and that disproves the existence of God.
I’m loving what Simon Oliver and Moritat are doing with our favorite crafty magician. Gone is the nice Constantine from JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK and gone is the guy who masqueraded as him in the last series. This is more like the Vertigo guy we all know and love. Oliver’s writing is top notch and I have long been a fan of Moritat’s art. I can’t wait to see more of this team and this version of John Constantine in the months to come.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #2: The Lanterns and The Flash are battling all these possessed people when suddenly the possession just stops. They all end up on the Watchtower with Cyborg who explains that something known as The Kindred is causing the earthquakes. That’s when an alien invasion happens and the possessions start all over again. Batman decides this is a job for Superman.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #3: Wonder Woman tangles with The Kindred: a giant being which is made up of people it has merged with. Meanwhile, Simon and Jessica are fighting the bugs, the other Kindred giants around the world appear to be on the move and getting ready for the Purge. Batman asks for Cyborg to meet him at the Kent Farm, where he creates a Boom Tube that will take Superman to the center of the Earth to take out the “Extinction Machines”. The bugs show up and Cyborg saves Lois, Jon and Batman, while they attack him instead. While the song stops and the four Kindreds join together with the powers they have stolen from the Justice League, Superman gets closer to the Earth’s core and realizes he doesn’t now what to do.
Well…Tony S. Daniel’s artwork is nice. Other than that, this book is an embarrassment to the great name of the Justice League. This feels exactly like Bryan Hitch’ work on JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA did and I found that one long limping story. Heck-there is even a reference in the book about how Superman defeated Rao. Really? Those final issues of JLA are still waiting to be published! This is enough to make me want the days of the Gypsy and Vibe team to come back and those were pretty bad times!
NEW SUPER-MAN #2: The Bat-Man and Wonder Woman of China jumping into Kenan’s face and it’s a battle between the Chinese Trinity. Wonder Woman ties him up which allows Bat-Man to knock him out. When he finally comes to, he immediately calls his dad and tells him that he didn’t come home last night. Dr. Omen takes the phone and plays a recording, with Kenan’s voice, saying he was out studying. She then tells Kenan he is now part of the Justice League of China. Bat-Man and Wonder Woman discover that a super villain named Sunbeam is attacking the CEO of a large data firm at her house. Bat-Man and Wonder Woman get inside the house and she brings out the CEO's young daughter, who gets left with Kenan. Sunbeam comes out with the CEO, causing her daughter to cry. Flashing back to how he felt when his mother died, Kenan tackles the villain, which allows the CEO to escape. Sunbeam blasts Kenan with her solar gun and it actually restores his powers. Having defeated the villain, Laney Lan shows up and Kenan reveals his secret identity to all of China.
Gene Luen Yang and Viktor Bogdanovic continue to make this book a great treat! What a fun ride this book is after only two issues. The concept is fresh, the characters are refreshing, and the look is engaging. Of the “new” REBIRTH titles, this is my favorite by far. With nods to classic DC characters, especially Batman, Wonder Woman and Laney Lan, this book is just a great guilty pleasure and I look forward to the next issue!
NIGHTWING #2: So Dick has a new partner in the form of Raptor and they go off on their first mission. Batgirl calls from her mission in Japan and makes a day with him for the next day. Dick and Raptor take control of the ship that Kobra has infested and finds infected people and a ship filled with refugees that the Parliament is going to use for slave labor. The pair are sent on another mission which Dick is not a fan of. But Raptor reveals he has something to bring down the Owls. That means Dick needs to play along for a while and also means blowing off the date with Barbara.
NIGHTWING #3: Our issue begins with Nightwing and Batgirl facing Raptor, who apparently has killed someone. Flashing back to earlier, we see that Nightwing and Raptor are looking to make their way into the house of the guy who made the Parliament's Crete fortress. The Parliament has ordered them to kill him, but they plan on stealing the blueprints to the fortress. And then Batgirl shows up and, after her and Dick work out some of their issues, the trio make their way through the booby trapped house. Raptor gets ahead of Dick and Babs and when they catch up with him, he is standing over the dead body of Knute Rudd. The Parliament of the Owls is watching and approve but, when they sign off, we see that this was all a put on and the blood on the floor is from Raptor. In the end, Barbara tells Dick off and he and Raptor go to Raptor’s hideout in Turkey where he has a certain Dr. Leviticus in a cage.
Leave it to Dick to be one! Yeah…he just made a best effort to patch things up with his ex and now he goes off and screws it up again! Then he fixes it and screws it up AGAIN! I understand you have a mission, dude…but really! Tim Seeley is writing a fun story, complete with a partner who may be a good guy in disguise. Or maybe he is just seeing how loyal Nightwing is. Either way, I’m having a ball with it. Nice art from Javier Fernandez too!
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #1: We begin with a flashback to a times years ago when Jason got involved with a fight between Batman and Ma Gunn. That brings us to today when Jason is actually saving Ma Gunn from an explosion at the School for Wayward Boys. And it seems Black Mask is responsible, as she turned down an offer from him. Through guile, Jason secures a meeting with Roman and looks to be drafted into his family as his second in command. Jason gets sent out on a mission with some of Black mask’s men, but he runs into some trouble…in the form of Artemis.
Well…this was a lot of fun! Scott Lobdell and Dexter Soy combine for a rollicking issue that is equal parts action and intrigue. Lobdell has stepped away, at least for the moment, from writing 90’s comic dialogue and given the reader a true sense of Jason’s past. Soy’s art is cool too and his action sequences are nicely set up. I love his interpretation of Ma Gunn and his Black mask, looking like the gimp from PULP FICTION, is freaky!
SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH #1: The President, based on some of the shenanigans of her team, wants to shut down Task Force X. But Amanda Waller convinces him that Corporal Rick Flag is going to be the solution who can handle the team. Unfortunately, Flag is in Guantanamo Bay for disobeying orders that cost the lives of his troops. The Suicide Squad, Captain Boomerang, Harley, and Deadshot, are on a mission in Mongolia where they are trying to save a Meta Gene researcher from his kidnappers The Dogra War. He has developed a meta-gene bomb that, for 36 hours, can give unpowered folks super powers and remove the powers from the super powered. One of the new metahumans grabs hold of him and threatens to drag him back to The Dogra War, but Captain Boomerang uses a boomerang to cut off the good doctor’s hands which are holding the briefcase with the plans. Deadshot shoots Dr. Ljungberg between the eyes and then detonate the bomb, removing the metahuman’s powers. Just then, Rick Flag shows up to lead the team to “save the world”.
Okay…I would like to say this was a great reintroduction for the Suicide Squad but, in all honesty, it was a way to tie the movie to the book and vice versa. C’mon-we start off by making Amanda Waller her old rotund self from back in the days before NEW 52. And then we introduce Rick Flag, whose original character does have history with the Pre-Flashpoint Suicide Squad. But he is also the big star of the movie, so we need to tie him to this team. It’s no different than Marvel turning the Marvel Cinematic Universe into Samuel L. Jackson after his doppelganger appeared in the Ultimate Universe. And then they made Nick Fury into The Watcher and introduced the NEW, illegitimate bastard Nick Fury. Anyway, the story was rushed, the concept of Boomerang and Deadshot being a little extreme in handling the situation, and then having Flag appear on the last to pages and making us assume they are off to victory just left me cold. Here’s hoping that Rob Williams and Philip Tan do a better job with the regular title.
SUICIDE SQUAD #1: Amanda Waller arrives at Belle Reve where she is putting the team together for a mission. This time around it is Rick Flag, Katana (billed as his second in command), Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, and June Moon (The Enchantress). The rules are the same: go on a mission and don’t try to split or have your head exploded. The mission is that they are to go to Siberia and, to get them there, they are being shot into space. Unfortunately, Boomerang soils himself and Croc gets space sick, throwing up inside his space helmet which leads to the possibility of him drowning in his own vomit. Flag gets free and breaks Croc’s helmet, but that causes the spaceship to wobble out of control. Flag order’s June to let the Enchantress out, but it may be too late as the ship, and all inhabitants, crash into the waters below.
In the back-up, Deadshot tells a tale about the time he was contracted by Kobra to kill Bruce Wayne, t save the life his kidnapped daughter. In the process, he secretly contacted Batman for help and agreed to use rubber bullets. In the end. One guy is left to threaten his daughter and Floyd takes him out with a single real bullet, for which Batman sends him off to prison.
While this was a vast improvement over the one shot, it was still a disappointment. Again, Rob Williams has written a story involving characters from the SUICIDE SQUAD movie, as we have dragged June Moon onto the team. Considering we haven’t seen her in comics since the first JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK story, you know this is all about a movie tie-in. Second, the main story for this month, as it will be each month, is a scant 13 pages of Jim Lee. And it is not his best work as Scott Williams’ inks are doing their best to make those pencils look better. The back-up, by Williams and Jason Fabok looks really good, but suffers from a story that I didn’t care about. Yeah…fans know that Floyd loves his daughter and Batman gets points for going in with the villain on a semi BRAVE AND THE BOLD moment. But to turn around and bust him for saving his daughter, because he broke his promise and used a real bullet, is just a bogus ending. For what DC is calling one of their flagship titles this is a major disappointment.
SUICIDE SQUAD WAR CRIMES #1: We begin in New York City as the former Secretary of Defense, George Carmody, gets kidnapped by Strikeforce Europa. They want him to stand trial in the Netherlands for war crimes that he allegedly authorized during the last Gulf Action. Amanda Waller sends the Task Force X team, comprising Harley, Deadshot, Boomerang, El Diablo and Mad Dog, off to rescue him. The team arrives in the Netherlands and manages to kidnap Carmody back while also battling it out with Strikeforce Europa. Unfortunately, Mad Dog gets captured by Guerrieroa, leading Waller to explode his neck bomb, killing both of them. Then Shado shows up, grabs Carmody for herself, and tosses him into a black helicopter. Boomerang takes down the copter and Harley apparently takes out Shado, allowing the team to grab Carmody and deliver him back to Waller in the States. He’s a little upset that his former allies sent Shado to take him out and he threatens to expose Task Force X if she doesn’t send them to eliminate Black Mountain Ltd. So Waller shoots him in the back, saying that she will spin it as him dying of a heart attack.
Classic SUICIDE SQUAD writer John Ostrander teams up with Gus Vasquez and Carlos Rodriguez to give us an entertaining little gem. Yes…I said gem. This was a fun, if expensive ride, which could have been wrapped into a 20 page story, but works well here. The art is cool and Ostrander’s dialogue fits the bill too. We get Shado and Digger being called “Boomiebutt” and Mad Dog…who I THOUGHT was getting his own series. Well…not unless he can resurrect himself.
SUPERGIRL REBIRTH #1: Some time ago, in Argo City, Zor-El sends Lar-On into the Phantom Zone because of his dangerous Red Kryptonite transformations. In the here and now, Supergirl, currently powerless, is flying a spaceship towards the Sun for Cameron Chase and the D.E.O., all in an effort to get her powers back. Suddenly, Lar-On shows up from out of the Phantom Zone and turns into a Red K werewolf. The trip to the sun works and Supergirl comes racing back to Earth to help save Chase, the D.E.O. staff, and her foster parents. She learns that her father put Lar-On in the Phantom Zone, gets him to calm down and promises to abandon him. She then makes it a point that the D.E.O. does their best to help cure him. Chase now gives Superghirl, who apparently has only been on Earth for two months, the new identity of Kara Danvers and assigns her with these foster parents, while she promises to help the D.E.O. while being a student by day. In the end, we may see her father return…in the form of the person he was in the previous series.
So, Supergirl ends up at the D.E.O. because she lost her powers. But she has only been on Earth for two months. So, do we just forget about the three plus years of her NEW 52 title PLUS her appearance in THE LAST DAYS OF SUPERMAN? I’m confused! Are we writing a comic here or just trying to find a way to make this an extension of the television series? Steve Orlando writes a confusing story with beautiful art by Emanuela Lupacchino. Not a fan at the moment, but it IS an introduction to a forthcoming first issue
SUPERMAN #4: Superman and son find themselves in a heated battle with the Eradicator when his containment suit explodes and Superman, Lois and Jon end up in Metopolis on the pool table at Bibbo's Ace O' Clubs in Metropolis. Our hero is weakened as the ghosts of Krypton enter the bar too. Lois guesses that a moon rock that Bibbo has recently acquired is a piece of Kryptonite. When she tosses it away, her husband gets his strength back. He also figures out how to free the ghosts, but the Eradicator arrives and begins to reabsorb the ghosts while trying to eliminate Jon’s human side. The ghosts fight back and take out the Eradicator. Superman puts his family into Bibo’s mini-sub and heads off with them to the moon.
SUPERMAN #5: The Superman family land on the moon and he takes them to the Batcave that Batman has set up there. Not long after, the Eradicator shows up and the two Kryptonian’s are brawling again. The Eradicator proceeds to absorb the Man of Steel and begin chasing after Jon. Meanwhile, Lois finds the armored Batsuit and attacks the Eradicator. Superman asks for help from the ghost of Krypton and they enter him, allowing him to exit the Eradicator and fight back.
Welcome to the continuing adventures of Clark Kent and his family. A Batcave on the moon? Is Bruce THAT paranoid? Apparently! Issue #4 is by Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason, with art by Gleason while #5 is by Tomasi and Gleason with art by Doug Mahnke. I’m having so much fun with this series because this “trinity” works so well together. Lois has settled into her role as a wife and mother while Jon is slowly starting to use his powers. At times, he feels like Damian Wayne, but that is familiar territory for Tomasi and Gleason. Other than that, this series rocks!
SUPERWOMAN #1: Going back to a few weeks ago, Lois lane is helping Lana Lang on her farm by hoisting a tractor over her head Come forward to today where Lois Lane is Superwoman. Apparently, when Superman went Supernova, Lois and Lana got super powers. Today, Lex Luthor is introducing a new aircraft carrier but a terrorist makes him lose his powers and it’s up to Super Lois and Super Lana, who previously had been whispering instructions to Lois, to save the day. They go below inside the aircraft carrier and find a laboratory with the scientists torn apart. The next thing you know, this strange Bizarro-like version of Lois appears and Lois, calling out Clark’s name and saying she understands, ends up exactly as he did in his last moments. Is this the end of Superwoman?
Wow! That was unexpected. Actually, almost the entire book was unexpected. Phil Jimenez, handling both the story and the art, with inks from Matt Santorelli, deliver a great looking book that is filled with stuff that I’m sure will be fleshed out in the months to come. Instead of one Superwoman, we get two, even though it looks like that might change. It would make sense to eliminate Lois because we have a Lois in continuity now. Two would just be weird! My questions include such topics as how did they get their costumes-the Krypton fairy made them? And who is this mysterious person who apparently is at the center of Lex’ power loss and everything else that occurs in this issue? Jimenez has piqued my interest enough to make me want to come back for issue #2.
TITANS #2: Linda Parks is trying to figure out what is going on with Kid Flash when the Teen Titans show up: Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Speedy and Wonder Girl. They start attacking everyone when the Titans show up as Kadabra watches. Wally gets hold of the Lasso of Truth and gets Wonder Girl to reveal that Kadabra is behind all of this. Garth goes after Kadabra and it looks like it may have cost him his life.
Dan Abnett and Brett Booth gives us a ton of action here, but still leaving us with a lot of questions. How did Kadabra mange to conjure up the Teen Titans of Yesteryear? How is he responsible for the gap in their memories? How is it that Linda Park is starting to remember at last? Abnett’s writing is great, certainly better than what we got in this months’ EARTH 2 SOCIETY ANNUAL. And, if you have read my work before, you know how I so love Booth’ art, going all the way back to his Image days. This book is a major surprise, as the mini-series was.
WONDER WOMAN #4: Part Two of YEAR ONE. The Council of Themyscira is meeting to discuss what has happened with the soldiers’ crash landing here. They also see it as a sign from the Gods and wonder what to do next. The decision is made to have a contest and let one of them go to the outside world and act as an ambassador. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor awakes and discovers that his fellow soldiers are dead. Diana comforts him and promises him that she will keep him safe. Whoever ends up as the ambassador will be taking him back home and will never be able to return. Hippolyta tries to prevent Diana from entering the contest but she does and ultimately wins. Hippolyta gives her daughter the Treasure of Themyscira in the form of the magic lasso. The Amazons have also fixed Trevor’s airplane and turned it into the invisible jet. With a series of tearful goodbyes, Diana and Steve head off to “Man’s World”.
WONDER WOMAN #5: In Part Three of LIES, we see Etta Candy meeting with her superior, a woman named Sasha, and tells her that Steve Trevor has gone silent. The decision is made that, with Wonder Woman in the area, any rescue mission will be put on hold. Steve and his men have been captured by the warlord Cadulo and it looks like they will be a blood sacrifice for the god Urzkartaga. Specifically, Cadulo decides that Steve is going to be the means to have the great god walk the Earth once more. Meanwhile, Diana explains to Cheetah that her memories and history have been messed with and she needs help in fixing it. They make their way into Cadulo’s stronghold and find Steve’s men. But Steve is nowhere to be found, as the ritual is about to take place. Elsewhere, Sasha seems to not be what she seems.
Although I am still a bit miffed over the whole “let’s alternate the story every issue”, Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott are delivering a great retelling/reworking of Wonder Woman’s origin while Rucka and Sharp are delivering the present day story. The past story, with added details, is well-written, as one would expect from a New York Times best-selling author. And what can you say about Nicola Scott that hasn’t been said. Her work is truly spectacular. And we all know what kind of work Liam Sharp can deliver. This series is elevated to a new level thanks to the enthusiasm of the creators. But who is Sasha and what is her motive?
DC REBIRTH Month 3, Part 1
ACTION COMICS #961: While Lex Luthor tries his super-best to save everyone in Metropolis from Doomsday’s destruction, he can’t save everybody. This where an unseen but mentioned Superwoman comes in(see the review later on of that titles). Back upstate, Wonder Woman and Superman battle the creature but finds them not succeeding. In fact, Jon needs to help out, distracting Doomsday enough that his dad can get back in the game and knock the monster for a loop. He orders Wonder Woman to take Lois and Jon up to the Watchtower and flies off to continue the battle. Meanwhile, Mr. Oz continues to watch and sends out some mysterious troops, where they manage to detain Doomsday and prepare him for "the gate".
ACTION COMICS #962: Mr. Oz's plan to push Doomsday through some gate is falling apart with most of his hired hands dying in the process. Superman shows up and the fight with the creature begins anew. He manages to get Doomsday to his firtress, but he is still getting beat on pretty badly. Wonder Woman arrives and, with her help, he manages to get his homemade Phantom Zone projector to work and he sends Doomsday away.
Superman heads back to Metropolis, where he thanks Luthor for helping to save the city. In the end, it seems that Mr. Oz has circumvented Superman’s plan as the Phantom Zone projector sent Doomsday to him instead.
Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia continue this tale of the Pre-FLASHPOINT Superman and his battle with Doomsday and the aftermath. What I love so much about this is that all of the characterizations are so great! Lois is the perfect wife and mom as opposed to the hard-nosed reporter we know and love. Jon is that child just trying to deal with these new powers AND that his dad is Superman. Plus we have a mysterious Clark Kent, Lex Luthor as superhero, Doomsday and, of course, the mysterious Mr. Oz. This book continues to be an interesting ride
ALL STAR BATMAN #1: We begin with Killer Moth and Firefly chasing Batman into a truck stop diner. Going back in time, we see that Batman is taking Two-Face to a place known some 500 miles outside of Gotham to a place known as “the house”. But Two-Face has put it out that if anyone can set him free, he will give them the fortunes of the three biggest crime families in Gotham. The Batwing gets shot out of the sky and that takes us back to the present, where Black Spider and even the folks in the diner all want a shot at that money. Batman manages to once again subdue Two-Face and proceeds to press on. In the end, with the Gentleman Ghost hanging on to the tractor-trailer Batman is driving, we discover it was a tearful Alfred who shot down the Batwing. The back-up is the Cursed Wheel story where Duke is to be tested to see what kind of hero or villain he'll become as they try to stop Zsasz and his new reign of terror.
Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr. present the first chapter in this first story arc of what I can best describe as an anthology series. We all know that Snyder can write one heck of a story and he has a proven track record writing the Dark Knight. Romita: you either love his style or your don't. He has truly developed into a legend over the years. So his work, with Danny Miki inking and Dean White adding the colors, just jumps off the page. I really want to see where this goes from here as the story pulled me in from page #1. The back-up by Snyder and Declan Shalvey is cool and looks to be ready to give us Duke Thomas in his first real adventure as Batman’s new “not Robin”.
AQUAMAN #4: Aquaman has allowed the government to hold him because of the sinking of the USS Pontchartrain. Meanwhile, Mera is at the White House when she calls Tula, who finds out that no one survived the sinking and that it was definitely caused by an Atlantean weapon. Then Special Forces arrive and attacks Murk and his troops. Meanwhile, Black Jack continues to meet with Black Manta and convinces him that he needs to be part of N.E.M.O. Back in Washington, the Secretary of State angers Mera enough that she decides to go off and break Arthur out of prison. While it may have seemed like a good idea, it also seems like the entire Army has shown up to stop them.
AQUAMAN #5: It’s a full-on battle between the military and Aquaman and Mera, who seems intent on killing the soldiers even as Arthur is dead set against it. Meanwhile, the White House Chief of Staff has convinced the President that extreme force might be needed. Under the sea, the Atlanteans have gotten away from the Special Forces folks, but the order is given to mobilize the Atlantean war fleet against them. Over in Antarctica, Black Jack is introducing Black Manta to the Fisher King. In Amnesty Bay, Lieutenant Joana Stubbs is at Arthur’s childhood home and gives Officer Watson something to pass on to Aquaman. Back to the battle and it seems the government has a secret weapon…Superman. And he wants to talk.
Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones continue this killer run on this title. First off, Briones art looks amazing! I could go on and on about what makes it amazing, but it would be just words. You need to see it. Crisp, clean and no caffeine (old school soda reference). Abnett’s story is a fun one, even if I find myself questioning the fact that Mera is the one taking a bite out of the government and Arthur is being the pacifist, but I guess that’s because he’s trying to be a diplomat. And what’s with Joana Stubbs coming back and stalking Arthur. Could she have the hots for the old Sea King? As far as the series goes, I like the direction it’s going. Now all we need is Orm…
BATGIRL #2: In Singapore. after busting a Peeping Tom who is using a drone to get his jollies, she reviews a photo of the schoolgirl attacker from last issue and sees a tattoo that reads “student”.Later, she tries to get herself into the Adapt MMA group but they won’t sign her because she is a girl. But a guy sends her to meet May at the Lightspeed Gym and, using the alias of Amy Beddoes, she starts to train there. Meanwhile, Kai uses some illegal means to get them into the rooftop pool at the Sands Casino at Marina Bay. He tells her he has gotten a job as a data distributor, even though she knows it’s a lie and, after a kiss, realizes she is beginning to fall for him. Finally, Babs gets a fight against a mute woman known as “the Moth”. During the match, Babs sees the same tattoo the girl last issue had and gets herself knocked out in the process.
Another interesting issue from Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque, although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the last issue. I think that’s because this one focused more on characters and story rather than action. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the forthcoming relationship between Babs and Kai, but it is starting to grow on me…even if I think he is totally wrong for her. And what is the deal with all these tattooed fighters and who is the teacher?
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #1: After a Flashback to an early time when Barbara Gordon was still Oracle and Black Canary was working with/for her, we jump into the now as Batgirl and Canary are chasing Huntress, who is chasing after a Mafia guy named Terroni. What they find is that he has been bitten to death, leading to Huntress leaving and threatening to reveal the girls’ secret identities. On the plus side, Batgirl used her money from her Gordon Clean Energy project to buy back their old stomping grounds. After receiving a call from the new Oracle, they head off to the mansion of Santo Cassamento, where they tussle with Huntress, who is trying to kill Cassamento. That’s when a new villain called The Asp shows up with his array of snakes. Unfortunately for him, Canary has one heck of a power and she blows him away and off the property. The girls agree to team up and, with some help from GCPD, go after the Mafia together. Meanwhile, The Asp shows up at his employer and, after contacting Oracle, they decide to call in reinforcements.
Julie and Shawna Benson give us a fun story that ties the distant past with the recent past with the present. I like that we touch on the days of Babs as Oracle and then Helena as Spyral operative. But the highlight, by far, is the art of Claire Roe, which is amazing. It’s hard to pin her style down, but her ability to pin down faces is killer! There are some panels with Babs and Dinah where you know what they are thinking without reading dialogue. A little like Babs Tarr and a little like Chris Campagna, it certainly enhances the story.
BATMAN #4: We begin with Batman arriving to find Gotham Girl in a panic, 27 dead men caused by someone with “Superman’s powers” and the grisly words “I am Gotham” on a wall. At that moment, Gotham is trying to keep a suicidal man with blowing himself up, which he does as he declares that the “Monster Men are coming”. Over in the Batcave, Duke comforts where Batman has taken Gotham Girl while he also begins working on a pattern regarding what has happened. Batman confronts Gotham and tells him he killed 27 men. As Gotham leaves, after destroying the Batmobile, Duke informs Batman that the dog tag numbers on the dead add up to 24 and that is the letter X and that means… Task Force X. Amanda Waller is meeting with Sam Lane when Batman arrives. She tells him how she had entrusted Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate with taking care of the crazies in Gotham, but Strange had his own agenda. Waller tells Batman that 28 of her men were killed. It seems one of them was playing dead and went off to find Gotham’s parents, who he killed. Enraged, and with Batman watching, he snaps the last soldiers’ neck and flies off, saying he is going to kill Gotham to save it.
BATMAN #5: Gotham has arrived in downtown Gotham and so has Alfred in the form of Batman, who runs over Gotham with the Batmobile. Luckily, the real Batman arrives and blows up the Batmobile in an effort to stop Gotham. He even drops the Batplane on him, to no avail. In the Batcave, Gotham Girl realized what is actually going to happen and she loses it, destroying the glass case containing the Robin suit. The story of these heroes is they were given powers but, depending on how often they used them, affected their life expectancy. Unable to stop Gotham, the Justice League arrives and they too are unable to stop him. Gotham Girl arrives and it become a battle between the two, ending with Gotham’s death. Next issue: Gotham Girl Year One.
Wow! These two issues were full of twists and turns and some stuff that just doesn’t add up. However, let’s go to the good stuff. Tom King and David Finch are totally bringing it on this series. Gotham and Gotham Girl were great additions, even if things ended badly for them. We have Hugo Strange back, also the Psycho Pirate and we have a plot piece where it looks like Duke, and Gotham Girl end up married in the future. How Duke miraculously figures out that 27 dead soldiers adds up to the letter X is a bit of a stretch, even for a genius kid like Duke Thomas. We also get an Amanda Waller who is suddenly heavier than she was in the NEW 52 but not as heavy as she is depicted in the SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH one shot. So, DC Editorial needs to make sure there is continuity in their books…remember: we threw that away in the DC YOU era. Other than that, I am finding the new adventures of the Dark Knight to be most entertaining.
BLUE BEETLE REBIRTH #1: We begin with Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes fighting two villains known as Rack and Ruin, Flashing back, we get introduced to Jaime's parent's, his sister and his best friends Paco and Beth. On his way to school, he gets a call from mentor Ted Kord telling him Rack and Ruin have taken hostages and that means he has to ditch school for the second time in two weeks. When he gets to the scene, it turns out to be a setup. During the battle, Jaime's scarab blows the bad guys up, who were only robots to begin with. But wait: the pieces come back together and continue to fight Blue Beetle until they realize they are no match and split. Beetle ends up back with Ted Kord, thanking him for the help. As he leaves, Dr. Fate arrives and tells Ted that the scarab is really magic and not some alien technology. In the end, the woman who hired Rack and Ruin finds out that he was talking to someone during his fight, which causes her eyes to glow.
Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins bring us a hero that I really had no interest in during his NEW 52 run. I found his character too much like a Spider-Man wanna-be and really wanted Ted Kord back. Well, Ted is back and Jaime’ mentor. I guess if anyone is going to handle this book, I’m glad it’s Giffen, because he is always so much fun to read AND worked with Ted in the distant and recent past. So what is the deal with the crazy auntie at the end of the book? And, just for the record, this occurs BEFORE the REBIRTH SPECIAL because of the scene with Dr. Fate and Ted. Now, which Dr. Fate do we get? Rumor has it this will be Khalid and not Kent. We shall see.
DEATHSTROKE REBIRTH #1: This issue begins a flashback to an earlier time when Slade is out hunting with his two sons, Grant and Joe. When Slade threatens Grant’s mouth with his belt, Grant runs off, eventually encountering a bear. Slade kills the bear and then Wintergreen arrives, telling him he needs to leave on a mission. In the present, Slade is involved in a deal with Ja Zaki, the Red Lion that takes him to the lair of a dying Clock King. In the end, Slade changes plans, double crosses Ja Zaki and looks to be in the job of freeing…Wintergreen?
Now THIS is a DEATHSTROKE that I want to read! Christopher Priest does a great job of tying the past and the present together by giving Slade his classic look back and by giving us BOTH of Slade Wilson’s sons. And Wintergreen! The art is by Carlo Pagulayan and it’s great! He conveys the action with every page and his Clock King, dying of an unnamed disease, looks frail and weak. Slade is the master of the cross and double cross and that looks to be how he will be playing it in the series. And who is this kid Hosun who looks to be handling Slade’s finances. This book left me dying for the next step!
DEATHSTROKE #1: Picking up directly from the REBIRTH issue, Congressman Hasgrove is going to be re-elected, which is what Deathstroke promised to Matthew Bland. But we didn’t expect the Congressman to get some compromising pictures and committing suicide. After some flashbacks showing the origins of "Kenilworth" and Deathstroke, we find a revived Clock King with a captured Bland. Meanwhile, Deathstroke frees Wintergreen and they head off to keep Clock King from killing Bland. He saves Bland’s life, exposing Clock King’s illusion in the process and also fulfilling his contract with Bland's men. In the end, Wintergreen and Deathstroke hash out their differences and we discover that Wintergreen getting Deathstroke to wear Dr. Ikon’s prototype suit was all part of a big con that may yet benefit Bland and the Red Lion.
Wow! Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan rock this tale two issues in a row. The story seems to be all about crosses and double crosses. And Pagulayan’s art is super, making me pretty much forget about that Tony S. Daniels guy who helmed the early issues of the last series. This series has been given a major shot of adrenaline and I look forward to where this direction is headed.
DETECTIVE COMICS #938: We open with a flashback showing Colonel Kane and Kate during a life changing moment not long after the deaths of her mother and sister. Back in the present, Kane and some of his closest followers are fleeing their Batcave as Batman and his team are making the most of decimating the Colony. Cassandra is handling a group of followers, as is Clayface, while Tim meets with Ulysses, leading to a quick save from Spoiler. Kane comes back and challenges our heroes, who make a quick getaway after Batman explains that Colony exists to take down an imagined group called the League of Shadows and what Colony is really up to. In the end, Ulyssess produces a modified series of drones and it looks like he may have played a trump card.
DETECTIVE COMICS #939: After opening with Kate and her cousin Bruce at the funeral for his parents, we shift gears as Batman, Batwoman and their team take control of the Belfry. After Kate makes Batman promise never to keep stuff from her again, he calls the President to let him know that something is rotten in the military. Following some tender time between Spoiler and himself, Robin puts his skills to the test and finds out that there is a second drone fleet on its’ way to Gotham. With a list of porbable targets, the team heads out to try and save as many lives as possible. Tim stays behind and hacks into Ulysses' computer, changing the multiple targets to just one: himself. Maybe his plan to quit the superhero game and go back to school may not happen after all.
For issue #938, James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez handle the creative duty, while Al Barrionuevo is responsible for the flashback on the first four pages. What we get is a full issue of almost complete non-stop action! Barrionuevo’s pastels on the flashback are beautiful and then we jump straight into the action with Martinez diving right in front the beginning. Tynion does a great job with the action and the dialogue and I love Ulysses. He’s a great addition to the Batman credo of characters. In issue #939, Tynion IV teams with Eddy Barrows and that just cranks the look of the book that much higher. This series continues to impress as Batman and Batwoman work with their team of trainees to battle Batwoman’s father and his followers. Great stuff!
THE FLASH #4: Barry is at the S.T.A.R. Labs Speed Force Training Center and loving his new job. Iris shows up with information that Dr. Carver was looking for a way to weaponize the Speed Force and she gives him 24 hours to find out information before she publishes her information. The Flash and Meena find Black Hole's headquarters and confronts Carver who gets overloaded by the Speed Force and turns into a monster. August shows up in costume with two Speed Force students and they all work together to defeat Carver. Afterwards, The Flash and Meena share a kiss and he reveals his identity to her. Meanwhile, Wally West, the New 52 Wally West, decides to enroll in the S.T.A.R. Labs school to learn how to better control his powers.
THE FLASH #5: We see Meena acting, in costume, as the “Fastest Woman Alive”. Next, we see Barry and Meena enjoying a sunset in Bali together. Later, he goes off and has breakfast with Iris while Meena heads off to the STAR LABS Speed Force Center. She goes outside and finds Wally there and convinces him to let her teach him about using the Speed Force. After some successful rescue missions, things go bad fast as Godspeed shows up at the lab. Avery runs off to get the Flash and brings back August and Barry. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dead bodies and Meena’s costume…but no Meena.
Okay, I’m going out on a limb and predicting that Meena is Godspeed. I only suggest this because Flash has now swapped spit with her AND revealed his identity. AND she is taking an awful personal interest in Wally. Yeah…kiss of death and probably designed to break his heart. Joshua Williamson and Neil Googe, filling in for Carmine Di Giandomenico, handle the chores on issue #4 while Felipe Watanabe works on issue #5. While I’m liking the story, I am tiring of his supporting cast, specifically August, who may also be Godspeed. But I’m sticking with my first guess…
GREEN ARROW #4: Oliver is duking it our with the Seattle PD when he gets saved by none other than John Diggle, who explains that whatever Oliver did to the woman Diggle loved is in the past and, after a brief tete a tete, they agree to team up. They head over to Fyff’s place and, as much as he wants nothing to do with either of them, they persuade him back into the game. He discovers that the Ninth Circle has ties to a good portion of the DCU, including the Flacones and the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Black Canary is on her way to the Inferno when Emiko arrives and puts her out with a tranquilizer arrow. The Burned creates their own followers by dipping them in burning lye and purposely scar them for life. And it seems that she is about to be initiated next. The Burned then contact Oliver and let him know that Dinah is about to be a new sacrifice. That sends him and Diggle off to the floating home of the Ninth Circle.
GREEN ARROW #5: Oliver and Diggle have made their way to the Inferno, where Diggle finds a disguise that will let him infiltrate the ship. Oliver listens in on a meeting and realizes that Broderick is there. Meanwhile, Shado is trying to teach Emiko about how important it is that she fulfills her destiny. Her immediate destiny is to free Black Canary. Oliver arrives and discovers that Emiko was responsible for everything that led to him not being killed, being rescued, and getting here. Despite her being angry that Ollie didn’t tell her he was still alive, Canary works things out and then they all get into a stand-off with The Burned. Oliver makes the decision to blow up the Inferno and put an end to The Burned and the Ninth Circle, It also means he ends up BACK on the island again!
Ben Percy continues to amp up the story here and leaves us wondering where Emi and Shado’s loyalties lie. I like this direction far better than the end of the NEW 52 series, where we were dealing with Ollie being part werewolf. And I was a fan of Juan Ferreyra when he was drawing ABE SAPIEN and then NEW SUICIDE SQUAD, along with the work he did on GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT. His work here is stunning! And with Ollie stuck on the damned island again, this is going to get really interesting really quickly! Strap in: I expect great things in the months to come.
GREEN LANTERNS #4: Jessica has been affected by the rage of the Red Lanterns and is beating on Simon. They both end up at the bottom of the Hell Tower, where the battle continues even though Simon’s power levels are dangerously low and he’s worried about losing the teddy bear he has for Farid. The two battle and, when all seems lost, there is an overload and Jessica pushes away the rage and is cured. They force their way out in time to run headlong into Atrocitus and company. He has an offer for one of them: join the red Lanterns and their families will be spared. Meanwhile, Simon's family is desperately dealing with the Guardian in their house.
GREEN LANTERNS #5: Our heroes battle most of the Red Lanterns while Atrocitus has Dex-Starr deliver the Rage Seed to the base of the Hell Tower to fulfill the prophecy of Red Dawn. In the midst of the battle, Simon is blessed with Emerald Sight and sees a vision of Atrocitus leading a team of Justice League members affected by Rage. Simon heads off to try and drive the rage from Atrocitus while he leaves Jessica to defeat the rest. Unfortunately, Atrocitus breaks Simon’s arm and Jessica is to afraid to defend herself. Yeah…things look grim for our heroes.
Sam Humphries writes these issues which are long on action, mostly, but short on logic. For example, how is it that Zilius Zox and Skallox, who died in their own New 52 Series, are suddenly back to life again and poised to attack our Lantern pair? And we really have to deal with Simon sweating out a teddy bear when it looks like he is going to get killed by his partner? More troubling is the issues with the art. Pencils in issue #4 are by Ed Benes, Robson Rocha, and Tom Derenick while it takes SIX INKERS in the form of Rob Hunter, Mark Irwin, Vincente Cifuentes, Jay Leisten, Marc Deering, and the legendary Tom Palmer to handle a twenty-page book Issue #5 has pencils by Robson Rocha and Eduardo Pansica with Jay Leisten and Julio Ferreira handling the inks. Where is Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott when we need them?
ACTION COMICS #962: Mr. Oz's plan to push Doomsday through some gate is falling apart with most of his hired hands dying in the process. Superman shows up and the fight with the creature begins anew. He manages to get Doomsday to his firtress, but he is still getting beat on pretty badly. Wonder Woman arrives and, with her help, he manages to get his homemade Phantom Zone projector to work and he sends Doomsday away.
Superman heads back to Metropolis, where he thanks Luthor for helping to save the city. In the end, it seems that Mr. Oz has circumvented Superman’s plan as the Phantom Zone projector sent Doomsday to him instead.
Dan Jurgens and Stephen Segovia continue this tale of the Pre-FLASHPOINT Superman and his battle with Doomsday and the aftermath. What I love so much about this is that all of the characterizations are so great! Lois is the perfect wife and mom as opposed to the hard-nosed reporter we know and love. Jon is that child just trying to deal with these new powers AND that his dad is Superman. Plus we have a mysterious Clark Kent, Lex Luthor as superhero, Doomsday and, of course, the mysterious Mr. Oz. This book continues to be an interesting ride
ALL STAR BATMAN #1: We begin with Killer Moth and Firefly chasing Batman into a truck stop diner. Going back in time, we see that Batman is taking Two-Face to a place known some 500 miles outside of Gotham to a place known as “the house”. But Two-Face has put it out that if anyone can set him free, he will give them the fortunes of the three biggest crime families in Gotham. The Batwing gets shot out of the sky and that takes us back to the present, where Black Spider and even the folks in the diner all want a shot at that money. Batman manages to once again subdue Two-Face and proceeds to press on. In the end, with the Gentleman Ghost hanging on to the tractor-trailer Batman is driving, we discover it was a tearful Alfred who shot down the Batwing. The back-up is the Cursed Wheel story where Duke is to be tested to see what kind of hero or villain he'll become as they try to stop Zsasz and his new reign of terror.
Scott Snyder and John Romita Jr. present the first chapter in this first story arc of what I can best describe as an anthology series. We all know that Snyder can write one heck of a story and he has a proven track record writing the Dark Knight. Romita: you either love his style or your don't. He has truly developed into a legend over the years. So his work, with Danny Miki inking and Dean White adding the colors, just jumps off the page. I really want to see where this goes from here as the story pulled me in from page #1. The back-up by Snyder and Declan Shalvey is cool and looks to be ready to give us Duke Thomas in his first real adventure as Batman’s new “not Robin”.
AQUAMAN #4: Aquaman has allowed the government to hold him because of the sinking of the USS Pontchartrain. Meanwhile, Mera is at the White House when she calls Tula, who finds out that no one survived the sinking and that it was definitely caused by an Atlantean weapon. Then Special Forces arrive and attacks Murk and his troops. Meanwhile, Black Jack continues to meet with Black Manta and convinces him that he needs to be part of N.E.M.O. Back in Washington, the Secretary of State angers Mera enough that she decides to go off and break Arthur out of prison. While it may have seemed like a good idea, it also seems like the entire Army has shown up to stop them.
AQUAMAN #5: It’s a full-on battle between the military and Aquaman and Mera, who seems intent on killing the soldiers even as Arthur is dead set against it. Meanwhile, the White House Chief of Staff has convinced the President that extreme force might be needed. Under the sea, the Atlanteans have gotten away from the Special Forces folks, but the order is given to mobilize the Atlantean war fleet against them. Over in Antarctica, Black Jack is introducing Black Manta to the Fisher King. In Amnesty Bay, Lieutenant Joana Stubbs is at Arthur’s childhood home and gives Officer Watson something to pass on to Aquaman. Back to the battle and it seems the government has a secret weapon…Superman. And he wants to talk.
Dan Abnett and Philippe Briones continue this killer run on this title. First off, Briones art looks amazing! I could go on and on about what makes it amazing, but it would be just words. You need to see it. Crisp, clean and no caffeine (old school soda reference). Abnett’s story is a fun one, even if I find myself questioning the fact that Mera is the one taking a bite out of the government and Arthur is being the pacifist, but I guess that’s because he’s trying to be a diplomat. And what’s with Joana Stubbs coming back and stalking Arthur. Could she have the hots for the old Sea King? As far as the series goes, I like the direction it’s going. Now all we need is Orm…
BATGIRL #2: In Singapore. after busting a Peeping Tom who is using a drone to get his jollies, she reviews a photo of the schoolgirl attacker from last issue and sees a tattoo that reads “student”.Later, she tries to get herself into the Adapt MMA group but they won’t sign her because she is a girl. But a guy sends her to meet May at the Lightspeed Gym and, using the alias of Amy Beddoes, she starts to train there. Meanwhile, Kai uses some illegal means to get them into the rooftop pool at the Sands Casino at Marina Bay. He tells her he has gotten a job as a data distributor, even though she knows it’s a lie and, after a kiss, realizes she is beginning to fall for him. Finally, Babs gets a fight against a mute woman known as “the Moth”. During the match, Babs sees the same tattoo the girl last issue had and gets herself knocked out in the process.
Another interesting issue from Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque, although I didn’t enjoy it as much as the last issue. I think that’s because this one focused more on characters and story rather than action. I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the forthcoming relationship between Babs and Kai, but it is starting to grow on me…even if I think he is totally wrong for her. And what is the deal with all these tattooed fighters and who is the teacher?
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY #1: After a Flashback to an early time when Barbara Gordon was still Oracle and Black Canary was working with/for her, we jump into the now as Batgirl and Canary are chasing Huntress, who is chasing after a Mafia guy named Terroni. What they find is that he has been bitten to death, leading to Huntress leaving and threatening to reveal the girls’ secret identities. On the plus side, Batgirl used her money from her Gordon Clean Energy project to buy back their old stomping grounds. After receiving a call from the new Oracle, they head off to the mansion of Santo Cassamento, where they tussle with Huntress, who is trying to kill Cassamento. That’s when a new villain called The Asp shows up with his array of snakes. Unfortunately for him, Canary has one heck of a power and she blows him away and off the property. The girls agree to team up and, with some help from GCPD, go after the Mafia together. Meanwhile, The Asp shows up at his employer and, after contacting Oracle, they decide to call in reinforcements.
Julie and Shawna Benson give us a fun story that ties the distant past with the recent past with the present. I like that we touch on the days of Babs as Oracle and then Helena as Spyral operative. But the highlight, by far, is the art of Claire Roe, which is amazing. It’s hard to pin her style down, but her ability to pin down faces is killer! There are some panels with Babs and Dinah where you know what they are thinking without reading dialogue. A little like Babs Tarr and a little like Chris Campagna, it certainly enhances the story.
BATMAN #4: We begin with Batman arriving to find Gotham Girl in a panic, 27 dead men caused by someone with “Superman’s powers” and the grisly words “I am Gotham” on a wall. At that moment, Gotham is trying to keep a suicidal man with blowing himself up, which he does as he declares that the “Monster Men are coming”. Over in the Batcave, Duke comforts where Batman has taken Gotham Girl while he also begins working on a pattern regarding what has happened. Batman confronts Gotham and tells him he killed 27 men. As Gotham leaves, after destroying the Batmobile, Duke informs Batman that the dog tag numbers on the dead add up to 24 and that is the letter X and that means… Task Force X. Amanda Waller is meeting with Sam Lane when Batman arrives. She tells him how she had entrusted Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate with taking care of the crazies in Gotham, but Strange had his own agenda. Waller tells Batman that 28 of her men were killed. It seems one of them was playing dead and went off to find Gotham’s parents, who he killed. Enraged, and with Batman watching, he snaps the last soldiers’ neck and flies off, saying he is going to kill Gotham to save it.
BATMAN #5: Gotham has arrived in downtown Gotham and so has Alfred in the form of Batman, who runs over Gotham with the Batmobile. Luckily, the real Batman arrives and blows up the Batmobile in an effort to stop Gotham. He even drops the Batplane on him, to no avail. In the Batcave, Gotham Girl realized what is actually going to happen and she loses it, destroying the glass case containing the Robin suit. The story of these heroes is they were given powers but, depending on how often they used them, affected their life expectancy. Unable to stop Gotham, the Justice League arrives and they too are unable to stop him. Gotham Girl arrives and it become a battle between the two, ending with Gotham’s death. Next issue: Gotham Girl Year One.
Wow! These two issues were full of twists and turns and some stuff that just doesn’t add up. However, let’s go to the good stuff. Tom King and David Finch are totally bringing it on this series. Gotham and Gotham Girl were great additions, even if things ended badly for them. We have Hugo Strange back, also the Psycho Pirate and we have a plot piece where it looks like Duke, and Gotham Girl end up married in the future. How Duke miraculously figures out that 27 dead soldiers adds up to the letter X is a bit of a stretch, even for a genius kid like Duke Thomas. We also get an Amanda Waller who is suddenly heavier than she was in the NEW 52 but not as heavy as she is depicted in the SUICIDE SQUAD REBIRTH one shot. So, DC Editorial needs to make sure there is continuity in their books…remember: we threw that away in the DC YOU era. Other than that, I am finding the new adventures of the Dark Knight to be most entertaining.
BLUE BEETLE REBIRTH #1: We begin with Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes fighting two villains known as Rack and Ruin, Flashing back, we get introduced to Jaime's parent's, his sister and his best friends Paco and Beth. On his way to school, he gets a call from mentor Ted Kord telling him Rack and Ruin have taken hostages and that means he has to ditch school for the second time in two weeks. When he gets to the scene, it turns out to be a setup. During the battle, Jaime's scarab blows the bad guys up, who were only robots to begin with. But wait: the pieces come back together and continue to fight Blue Beetle until they realize they are no match and split. Beetle ends up back with Ted Kord, thanking him for the help. As he leaves, Dr. Fate arrives and tells Ted that the scarab is really magic and not some alien technology. In the end, the woman who hired Rack and Ruin finds out that he was talking to someone during his fight, which causes her eyes to glow.
Keith Giffen and Scott Kolins bring us a hero that I really had no interest in during his NEW 52 run. I found his character too much like a Spider-Man wanna-be and really wanted Ted Kord back. Well, Ted is back and Jaime’ mentor. I guess if anyone is going to handle this book, I’m glad it’s Giffen, because he is always so much fun to read AND worked with Ted in the distant and recent past. So what is the deal with the crazy auntie at the end of the book? And, just for the record, this occurs BEFORE the REBIRTH SPECIAL because of the scene with Dr. Fate and Ted. Now, which Dr. Fate do we get? Rumor has it this will be Khalid and not Kent. We shall see.
DEATHSTROKE REBIRTH #1: This issue begins a flashback to an earlier time when Slade is out hunting with his two sons, Grant and Joe. When Slade threatens Grant’s mouth with his belt, Grant runs off, eventually encountering a bear. Slade kills the bear and then Wintergreen arrives, telling him he needs to leave on a mission. In the present, Slade is involved in a deal with Ja Zaki, the Red Lion that takes him to the lair of a dying Clock King. In the end, Slade changes plans, double crosses Ja Zaki and looks to be in the job of freeing…Wintergreen?
Now THIS is a DEATHSTROKE that I want to read! Christopher Priest does a great job of tying the past and the present together by giving Slade his classic look back and by giving us BOTH of Slade Wilson’s sons. And Wintergreen! The art is by Carlo Pagulayan and it’s great! He conveys the action with every page and his Clock King, dying of an unnamed disease, looks frail and weak. Slade is the master of the cross and double cross and that looks to be how he will be playing it in the series. And who is this kid Hosun who looks to be handling Slade’s finances. This book left me dying for the next step!
DEATHSTROKE #1: Picking up directly from the REBIRTH issue, Congressman Hasgrove is going to be re-elected, which is what Deathstroke promised to Matthew Bland. But we didn’t expect the Congressman to get some compromising pictures and committing suicide. After some flashbacks showing the origins of "Kenilworth" and Deathstroke, we find a revived Clock King with a captured Bland. Meanwhile, Deathstroke frees Wintergreen and they head off to keep Clock King from killing Bland. He saves Bland’s life, exposing Clock King’s illusion in the process and also fulfilling his contract with Bland's men. In the end, Wintergreen and Deathstroke hash out their differences and we discover that Wintergreen getting Deathstroke to wear Dr. Ikon’s prototype suit was all part of a big con that may yet benefit Bland and the Red Lion.
Wow! Christopher Priest and Carlo Pagulayan rock this tale two issues in a row. The story seems to be all about crosses and double crosses. And Pagulayan’s art is super, making me pretty much forget about that Tony S. Daniels guy who helmed the early issues of the last series. This series has been given a major shot of adrenaline and I look forward to where this direction is headed.
DETECTIVE COMICS #938: We open with a flashback showing Colonel Kane and Kate during a life changing moment not long after the deaths of her mother and sister. Back in the present, Kane and some of his closest followers are fleeing their Batcave as Batman and his team are making the most of decimating the Colony. Cassandra is handling a group of followers, as is Clayface, while Tim meets with Ulysses, leading to a quick save from Spoiler. Kane comes back and challenges our heroes, who make a quick getaway after Batman explains that Colony exists to take down an imagined group called the League of Shadows and what Colony is really up to. In the end, Ulyssess produces a modified series of drones and it looks like he may have played a trump card.
DETECTIVE COMICS #939: After opening with Kate and her cousin Bruce at the funeral for his parents, we shift gears as Batman, Batwoman and their team take control of the Belfry. After Kate makes Batman promise never to keep stuff from her again, he calls the President to let him know that something is rotten in the military. Following some tender time between Spoiler and himself, Robin puts his skills to the test and finds out that there is a second drone fleet on its’ way to Gotham. With a list of porbable targets, the team heads out to try and save as many lives as possible. Tim stays behind and hacks into Ulysses' computer, changing the multiple targets to just one: himself. Maybe his plan to quit the superhero game and go back to school may not happen after all.
For issue #938, James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez handle the creative duty, while Al Barrionuevo is responsible for the flashback on the first four pages. What we get is a full issue of almost complete non-stop action! Barrionuevo’s pastels on the flashback are beautiful and then we jump straight into the action with Martinez diving right in front the beginning. Tynion does a great job with the action and the dialogue and I love Ulysses. He’s a great addition to the Batman credo of characters. In issue #939, Tynion IV teams with Eddy Barrows and that just cranks the look of the book that much higher. This series continues to impress as Batman and Batwoman work with their team of trainees to battle Batwoman’s father and his followers. Great stuff!
THE FLASH #4: Barry is at the S.T.A.R. Labs Speed Force Training Center and loving his new job. Iris shows up with information that Dr. Carver was looking for a way to weaponize the Speed Force and she gives him 24 hours to find out information before she publishes her information. The Flash and Meena find Black Hole's headquarters and confronts Carver who gets overloaded by the Speed Force and turns into a monster. August shows up in costume with two Speed Force students and they all work together to defeat Carver. Afterwards, The Flash and Meena share a kiss and he reveals his identity to her. Meanwhile, Wally West, the New 52 Wally West, decides to enroll in the S.T.A.R. Labs school to learn how to better control his powers.
THE FLASH #5: We see Meena acting, in costume, as the “Fastest Woman Alive”. Next, we see Barry and Meena enjoying a sunset in Bali together. Later, he goes off and has breakfast with Iris while Meena heads off to the STAR LABS Speed Force Center. She goes outside and finds Wally there and convinces him to let her teach him about using the Speed Force. After some successful rescue missions, things go bad fast as Godspeed shows up at the lab. Avery runs off to get the Flash and brings back August and Barry. Unfortunately, there are a lot of dead bodies and Meena’s costume…but no Meena.
Okay, I’m going out on a limb and predicting that Meena is Godspeed. I only suggest this because Flash has now swapped spit with her AND revealed his identity. AND she is taking an awful personal interest in Wally. Yeah…kiss of death and probably designed to break his heart. Joshua Williamson and Neil Googe, filling in for Carmine Di Giandomenico, handle the chores on issue #4 while Felipe Watanabe works on issue #5. While I’m liking the story, I am tiring of his supporting cast, specifically August, who may also be Godspeed. But I’m sticking with my first guess…
GREEN ARROW #4: Oliver is duking it our with the Seattle PD when he gets saved by none other than John Diggle, who explains that whatever Oliver did to the woman Diggle loved is in the past and, after a brief tete a tete, they agree to team up. They head over to Fyff’s place and, as much as he wants nothing to do with either of them, they persuade him back into the game. He discovers that the Ninth Circle has ties to a good portion of the DCU, including the Flacones and the Yakuza. Meanwhile, Black Canary is on her way to the Inferno when Emiko arrives and puts her out with a tranquilizer arrow. The Burned creates their own followers by dipping them in burning lye and purposely scar them for life. And it seems that she is about to be initiated next. The Burned then contact Oliver and let him know that Dinah is about to be a new sacrifice. That sends him and Diggle off to the floating home of the Ninth Circle.
GREEN ARROW #5: Oliver and Diggle have made their way to the Inferno, where Diggle finds a disguise that will let him infiltrate the ship. Oliver listens in on a meeting and realizes that Broderick is there. Meanwhile, Shado is trying to teach Emiko about how important it is that she fulfills her destiny. Her immediate destiny is to free Black Canary. Oliver arrives and discovers that Emiko was responsible for everything that led to him not being killed, being rescued, and getting here. Despite her being angry that Ollie didn’t tell her he was still alive, Canary works things out and then they all get into a stand-off with The Burned. Oliver makes the decision to blow up the Inferno and put an end to The Burned and the Ninth Circle, It also means he ends up BACK on the island again!
Ben Percy continues to amp up the story here and leaves us wondering where Emi and Shado’s loyalties lie. I like this direction far better than the end of the NEW 52 series, where we were dealing with Ollie being part werewolf. And I was a fan of Juan Ferreyra when he was drawing ABE SAPIEN and then NEW SUICIDE SQUAD, along with the work he did on GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT. His work here is stunning! And with Ollie stuck on the damned island again, this is going to get really interesting really quickly! Strap in: I expect great things in the months to come.
GREEN LANTERNS #4: Jessica has been affected by the rage of the Red Lanterns and is beating on Simon. They both end up at the bottom of the Hell Tower, where the battle continues even though Simon’s power levels are dangerously low and he’s worried about losing the teddy bear he has for Farid. The two battle and, when all seems lost, there is an overload and Jessica pushes away the rage and is cured. They force their way out in time to run headlong into Atrocitus and company. He has an offer for one of them: join the red Lanterns and their families will be spared. Meanwhile, Simon's family is desperately dealing with the Guardian in their house.
GREEN LANTERNS #5: Our heroes battle most of the Red Lanterns while Atrocitus has Dex-Starr deliver the Rage Seed to the base of the Hell Tower to fulfill the prophecy of Red Dawn. In the midst of the battle, Simon is blessed with Emerald Sight and sees a vision of Atrocitus leading a team of Justice League members affected by Rage. Simon heads off to try and drive the rage from Atrocitus while he leaves Jessica to defeat the rest. Unfortunately, Atrocitus breaks Simon’s arm and Jessica is to afraid to defend herself. Yeah…things look grim for our heroes.
Sam Humphries writes these issues which are long on action, mostly, but short on logic. For example, how is it that Zilius Zox and Skallox, who died in their own New 52 Series, are suddenly back to life again and poised to attack our Lantern pair? And we really have to deal with Simon sweating out a teddy bear when it looks like he is going to get killed by his partner? More troubling is the issues with the art. Pencils in issue #4 are by Ed Benes, Robson Rocha, and Tom Derenick while it takes SIX INKERS in the form of Rob Hunter, Mark Irwin, Vincente Cifuentes, Jay Leisten, Marc Deering, and the legendary Tom Palmer to handle a twenty-page book Issue #5 has pencils by Robson Rocha and Eduardo Pansica with Jay Leisten and Julio Ferreira handling the inks. Where is Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott when we need them?
Friday, August 12, 2016
DC YOU Month 14
BATMAN BEYOND #14: Beginning with Tim and Matt out on a run, Matt tells the tale of when he found out that Terry was Batman. Batman was fighting Shriek and Matt is collateral damage in the process. At the hospital, as he is feeling guilty, Terry tells Matt about his double life. In the end, Tim takes Matt to Wayne Manor and the Batcave and Matt gives a short glance at the Robin costume in the glass case. Meanwhile, Spellbinder, in the guise of an old woman, has convinced Terry that he is Davis Dusk.
Wait: how is Terry alive when he is dead? I’m confused! Thank you Dan Jurgens for telling a great story and throwing in a couple of major curveballs while Bernard Chang continues to provide us with great looking visuals. So, we all know this series is winding down and getting rebooted with Terry back in the suit. Does that mean his brother becomes Robin? And what happens to Tim? Wait a few months and we’ll know!
BLOODLINES #4: Officer Blake and Haley have their night in bed interrupted by Duncan, who wants to kill them before they get a chance to become monsters. Meanwhile, Eddie, Dana and Albert are hanging out at Pine Ridge High School when they hear screaming coming from the big homecoming football game. There they find a gigantic monster made up of the bodies of several people attacking and absorbing more people. Luckily, Blake, Haley, and Duncan show up to help in the fight and the six of them take the parasite-infected person down. In the end, the local infected priest talks with his equally infected parishioners.
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Ugh…is this series done yet? J.T. Krul gives us another issue of this mini-series and it just plods along. Krul’s dialogue is fine, but the plot just rumbles about and goes nowhere. We could have had the events in this issue drop in place in issue #2 and we would be none the worse. V. Ken Marion handles the art and I have no problem with it, as it is very reminiscent of Brett Booth’s work. But that is truly the high point.
DEATHSTROKE #20: We begin in the now, with Deathstroke and Ra's al Ghul are dueling it out on Danger Island. Flashing back to earlier, Deathstroke, Rose, Jericho, and Ra’s agree to go to Danger Island to take down Snakebite and company, who are preparing for their arrival. Upon arriving, the two teams battle, with Slade demanding that no one takes Victor down. As the battle winds down, Ra’s offers to spare the lives of their opponents if they swear allegiance to the League of Assassins, which they all do. All but Victor, who is killed by Slade before he gets a chance to say otherwise. This is what leads to the opening battle we saw. Jericho steps in an threatens to kill everyone with his power unless the duo stop fighting, which they do. Ra’s releases Slade from his allegiance and leaves, while Slade orders his kids to leave him.
James Bonny and Paolo Pantalena bring this chapter in the life of Slade Wilson to a close. I was a huge fan of this series when it began, thanks to Tony S. Daniel, who was the creative force behind it. But that didn’t last long as he left the book and I lost a lot of interest. I like the idea of bringing Slade’s kids back into the NEW 52 and really liked a bunch of thew supporting cast of villains. But I was never a fan of the “Slade gets young” and all and I can only hope this is corrected during his upcoming REBIRTH run.
DOCTOR FATE #14: Kent Nelson berates Khalid for leaving a doorway to open after he returned from the land of the dead, which let a monkey djinn loose in New York. So, it’s up to Khalid to go off and spend the rest of the issue closing the door to Anubis' world. We also get a back-up story dealing with racial prejudice and how Dr. Fate uses his powers to calm an angry mob.
I’m sorry: I want the REAL Dr. Fate back. Not Khalid, not even this version of Kent Nelson. Paul Levitz and Inaki Miranda gave us the main story, which totally feels like a fill-in story. The back-up is by Levitz and Breno Tamura and also feels like a fill-in. So…we get a full issue with nothing to move the story of our hero along. In fact, it’s the same every issue: Khalid gets a near impossible task that he must accomplish on his own and spends most of his time whining about it before he actually goes off and gets it done.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #14: Batman, Khalid, Power Girl and Huntress tell Fury about their idea to use the Pandora Vessel to bring the old Earth 2 back to life. She proceeds to tell them their plan is ludicrous and dangerous. The Ultra-Humanite's altered group of children show up and try to take the casket. Turncoat steals Power Girl's powers, while Scalpel cuts up Captain Steel. Fury shows up, giving enough time for the Wonders to get Captain Steel some medical help. Firepattern arrives and reveals himself to his dad, Dick Grayson.
Dan Abnett is trying his best to tie all these multiple plots together before this series comes to an end. With the artistic help of Federico Dallochio and Angel Hernandez, Abnett turns out one of the best-written issues in awhile. While I really can’t stand this version of Dick Grayson, who spends way too much time continuing to whine and grieve the loss of his family, I do like where this story is going with father meeting son and ultimately resolving that. Will the old world get reborn? We’ll have to see in the next few issues.
HARLEY QUINN #30: While Harley and the gang are watching a movie, she steps out for some snacks and steps into a weird world of her mind. Wait: it’s all in her mind as she has actually chained herself to a tree to save it and has been dreaming. She convinces Big Tony to take her place, so she can go handle her job at the Assisted Living Facility. By the time she gets back, the company looking to tear the tree down has upped its’ game and that means Harley calls out the big guns in the form of a Transformer type truck. But the “Man” has better ideas and that leads to the gang ending up at the local bar where the wait for Poison Ivy to show up. She ends up creating a whole jungle where a tree once stood and that’s how you get a happy ending.
When did all the villains becomes heroes? First harley and now Ivy and what is up with their relationship? Anyway, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Elsa Charretier put an end to this series with this issue. But wait: DC’s answer to DEADPOOL is back next month with a brand new REBIRTH series which, I am sure, will pick up where this one left off. More of the same smutty dialogue, more of the usual Chad Hardin art and more one-shot specials.
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW #5: We begin the FIRESTORM tale with Ronnie and Jason back in high school and Professor Stein figuring out where Multiplex is. Ronnie doesn't know if he should take that football scholarship and Jason is trying to interview for an internship again. Of course we know what happens: Stein gets a lead on Danton Black that calls the boys back to him and allows himself and Ronnie to become Firestorm again. Not only has Black used a Quantum Field Generator that has shattered the boundaries of realities, Mulitplex is here to give Firestorm a butt whooping!
In the METAMORPHO tale, Metamorpho takes on and quickly defeats Kanjar Ro. Meanwhile, Sapphire Stagg, who took the Orb of Ra for her dad, regrets her decision and returns it. Unfortunately, she doesn’t bother to tell Rex that Java has arrived to handle the task himself by killing Rex.
In the SUGAR AND SPICE tale, Spike tells Bernie of his attraction to Sugar and how it all began. They were private investigators that ended up catching Computron violating his parole. Things looked bad until The Flash arrived to handle it. From that point on, they have been hired by the superhero community to deal with stuff they would rather have go away. In the end, Sugar calls to say they have been given office space in the museum they busted last issue.
In the METAL MEN tale, the old Metal Men and the new Metal Men battle it out to see who is the BEST Metal Men. The Calculator gets caught and…Chemo is back!
And one to go. Firestorm is by Gerry Conway and Eduardo Pansica, Metamorpho is by Aaron Lopresti, Sugar and Spice is by Keith Giffen and Bilquis Eveley, and Metal Men is by Len Wein and Yildiray Cinar. All in all, this is just an attempt to keep the name LEGENDS OF TOMORROW in the forefront and see if thee is some kind of interest in these characters. I’m not a fan of Firestorm or the way Sugar and Spice have been treated, although it has been nice to see some old characters come sliding into their tales. I have mixed feelings about the other two, although I really like what Lopresti is doing with Metamorpho as a character and the look. And I would like some tweaking to Metal Men, specifically bringing Doc Magnus back as the "older" Doc Magnus. Personally, I would really like them to come back in legit REBIRTH stories.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #22: Harley Quinn analyzes Harley Quinn. She meets Batman, rides a roller coaster known as the Death Trap, flashes back to her childhood, her time as a doctor at Arkham Asylum, her father’s death, and more. In the end, Harley is in her cell at Belle Reve and hallucinated the whole thing.
While Sean Ryan does a great job of giving a look into the mind of Harley Quinn and Ronan Cliquet does a great job illustrating it, the book IS CALLED the NEW SUICIDE SQUAD, NOT THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF HARLEY QUINN. What a disappointing way to end this series. Hey kids: there’s a movie about these guys!
TEEN TITANS #22: The team finds Tim missing because he has been captured by Amanda Waller and is being held in Belle Reve Prison. The team tracks him down and it’s a full-on assault of Belle Reve. This is all a ruse though, as Tim has been free for some time and this is all to prove to Waller that they are their own team.
Really? This was all to prove a point? Sounds like a waste of time to be, Tony Bedard and Ian Churchill. And it was a waste for me as, although it was fun and looked great, it meant NOTHING to continuity or plot or anything!
Wait: how is Terry alive when he is dead? I’m confused! Thank you Dan Jurgens for telling a great story and throwing in a couple of major curveballs while Bernard Chang continues to provide us with great looking visuals. So, we all know this series is winding down and getting rebooted with Terry back in the suit. Does that mean his brother becomes Robin? And what happens to Tim? Wait a few months and we’ll know!
BLOODLINES #4: Officer Blake and Haley have their night in bed interrupted by Duncan, who wants to kill them before they get a chance to become monsters. Meanwhile, Eddie, Dana and Albert are hanging out at Pine Ridge High School when they hear screaming coming from the big homecoming football game. There they find a gigantic monster made up of the bodies of several people attacking and absorbing more people. Luckily, Blake, Haley, and Duncan show up to help in the fight and the six of them take the parasite-infected person down. In the end, the local infected priest talks with his equally infected parishioners.
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Ugh…is this series done yet? J.T. Krul gives us another issue of this mini-series and it just plods along. Krul’s dialogue is fine, but the plot just rumbles about and goes nowhere. We could have had the events in this issue drop in place in issue #2 and we would be none the worse. V. Ken Marion handles the art and I have no problem with it, as it is very reminiscent of Brett Booth’s work. But that is truly the high point.
DEATHSTROKE #20: We begin in the now, with Deathstroke and Ra's al Ghul are dueling it out on Danger Island. Flashing back to earlier, Deathstroke, Rose, Jericho, and Ra’s agree to go to Danger Island to take down Snakebite and company, who are preparing for their arrival. Upon arriving, the two teams battle, with Slade demanding that no one takes Victor down. As the battle winds down, Ra’s offers to spare the lives of their opponents if they swear allegiance to the League of Assassins, which they all do. All but Victor, who is killed by Slade before he gets a chance to say otherwise. This is what leads to the opening battle we saw. Jericho steps in an threatens to kill everyone with his power unless the duo stop fighting, which they do. Ra’s releases Slade from his allegiance and leaves, while Slade orders his kids to leave him.
James Bonny and Paolo Pantalena bring this chapter in the life of Slade Wilson to a close. I was a huge fan of this series when it began, thanks to Tony S. Daniel, who was the creative force behind it. But that didn’t last long as he left the book and I lost a lot of interest. I like the idea of bringing Slade’s kids back into the NEW 52 and really liked a bunch of thew supporting cast of villains. But I was never a fan of the “Slade gets young” and all and I can only hope this is corrected during his upcoming REBIRTH run.
DOCTOR FATE #14: Kent Nelson berates Khalid for leaving a doorway to open after he returned from the land of the dead, which let a monkey djinn loose in New York. So, it’s up to Khalid to go off and spend the rest of the issue closing the door to Anubis' world. We also get a back-up story dealing with racial prejudice and how Dr. Fate uses his powers to calm an angry mob.
I’m sorry: I want the REAL Dr. Fate back. Not Khalid, not even this version of Kent Nelson. Paul Levitz and Inaki Miranda gave us the main story, which totally feels like a fill-in story. The back-up is by Levitz and Breno Tamura and also feels like a fill-in. So…we get a full issue with nothing to move the story of our hero along. In fact, it’s the same every issue: Khalid gets a near impossible task that he must accomplish on his own and spends most of his time whining about it before he actually goes off and gets it done.
EARTH 2 SOCIETY #14: Batman, Khalid, Power Girl and Huntress tell Fury about their idea to use the Pandora Vessel to bring the old Earth 2 back to life. She proceeds to tell them their plan is ludicrous and dangerous. The Ultra-Humanite's altered group of children show up and try to take the casket. Turncoat steals Power Girl's powers, while Scalpel cuts up Captain Steel. Fury shows up, giving enough time for the Wonders to get Captain Steel some medical help. Firepattern arrives and reveals himself to his dad, Dick Grayson.
Dan Abnett is trying his best to tie all these multiple plots together before this series comes to an end. With the artistic help of Federico Dallochio and Angel Hernandez, Abnett turns out one of the best-written issues in awhile. While I really can’t stand this version of Dick Grayson, who spends way too much time continuing to whine and grieve the loss of his family, I do like where this story is going with father meeting son and ultimately resolving that. Will the old world get reborn? We’ll have to see in the next few issues.
HARLEY QUINN #30: While Harley and the gang are watching a movie, she steps out for some snacks and steps into a weird world of her mind. Wait: it’s all in her mind as she has actually chained herself to a tree to save it and has been dreaming. She convinces Big Tony to take her place, so she can go handle her job at the Assisted Living Facility. By the time she gets back, the company looking to tear the tree down has upped its’ game and that means Harley calls out the big guns in the form of a Transformer type truck. But the “Man” has better ideas and that leads to the gang ending up at the local bar where the wait for Poison Ivy to show up. She ends up creating a whole jungle where a tree once stood and that’s how you get a happy ending.
When did all the villains becomes heroes? First harley and now Ivy and what is up with their relationship? Anyway, Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Elsa Charretier put an end to this series with this issue. But wait: DC’s answer to DEADPOOL is back next month with a brand new REBIRTH series which, I am sure, will pick up where this one left off. More of the same smutty dialogue, more of the usual Chad Hardin art and more one-shot specials.
LEGENDS OF TOMORROW #5: We begin the FIRESTORM tale with Ronnie and Jason back in high school and Professor Stein figuring out where Multiplex is. Ronnie doesn't know if he should take that football scholarship and Jason is trying to interview for an internship again. Of course we know what happens: Stein gets a lead on Danton Black that calls the boys back to him and allows himself and Ronnie to become Firestorm again. Not only has Black used a Quantum Field Generator that has shattered the boundaries of realities, Mulitplex is here to give Firestorm a butt whooping!
In the METAMORPHO tale, Metamorpho takes on and quickly defeats Kanjar Ro. Meanwhile, Sapphire Stagg, who took the Orb of Ra for her dad, regrets her decision and returns it. Unfortunately, she doesn’t bother to tell Rex that Java has arrived to handle the task himself by killing Rex.
In the SUGAR AND SPICE tale, Spike tells Bernie of his attraction to Sugar and how it all began. They were private investigators that ended up catching Computron violating his parole. Things looked bad until The Flash arrived to handle it. From that point on, they have been hired by the superhero community to deal with stuff they would rather have go away. In the end, Sugar calls to say they have been given office space in the museum they busted last issue.
In the METAL MEN tale, the old Metal Men and the new Metal Men battle it out to see who is the BEST Metal Men. The Calculator gets caught and…Chemo is back!
And one to go. Firestorm is by Gerry Conway and Eduardo Pansica, Metamorpho is by Aaron Lopresti, Sugar and Spice is by Keith Giffen and Bilquis Eveley, and Metal Men is by Len Wein and Yildiray Cinar. All in all, this is just an attempt to keep the name LEGENDS OF TOMORROW in the forefront and see if thee is some kind of interest in these characters. I’m not a fan of Firestorm or the way Sugar and Spice have been treated, although it has been nice to see some old characters come sliding into their tales. I have mixed feelings about the other two, although I really like what Lopresti is doing with Metamorpho as a character and the look. And I would like some tweaking to Metal Men, specifically bringing Doc Magnus back as the "older" Doc Magnus. Personally, I would really like them to come back in legit REBIRTH stories.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #22: Harley Quinn analyzes Harley Quinn. She meets Batman, rides a roller coaster known as the Death Trap, flashes back to her childhood, her time as a doctor at Arkham Asylum, her father’s death, and more. In the end, Harley is in her cell at Belle Reve and hallucinated the whole thing.
While Sean Ryan does a great job of giving a look into the mind of Harley Quinn and Ronan Cliquet does a great job illustrating it, the book IS CALLED the NEW SUICIDE SQUAD, NOT THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF HARLEY QUINN. What a disappointing way to end this series. Hey kids: there’s a movie about these guys!
TEEN TITANS #22: The team finds Tim missing because he has been captured by Amanda Waller and is being held in Belle Reve Prison. The team tracks him down and it’s a full-on assault of Belle Reve. This is all a ruse though, as Tim has been free for some time and this is all to prove to Waller that they are their own team.
Really? This was all to prove a point? Sounds like a waste of time to be, Tony Bedard and Ian Churchill. And it was a waste for me as, although it was fun and looked great, it meant NOTHING to continuity or plot or anything!
Monday, August 8, 2016
DC Rebirth Month 2
ACTION COMICS #959: Lois is reminded of the last time her husband fought Doomsday and has to explain to Jon how Doomsday is a really bad, bad dude. In the city, Superman is fighting Doomsday and Lex is trying to help the civilians while jimmy tries to convince Clark Kent to change into Superman. As Superman forces Doomsday into the sewers, Clark tells everyone to stay back and proceeds to fall into the sewer and break his arm. Clark tells Superman he needs to save him like when he forced Kent into hiding several months ago-an event Superman has no idea about. Lex shows up and he flies Kent to safety. Doomsday grabs a gas line and there is a massive explosion in the sewer that Doomsday alone walks out of and approaches Kent.
ACTION COMICS #960: While the mysterious Mr. Oz watches events unfold, the battle with Doomsday continues, with Diana thrilled to see this version of her dead lover. At the family home, Jon is elated to see his father winning and lets out a super "YEAH!", which breaks the windows in the house and alerts Doomsday to Jon's presence on Earth, causing it to leave the area. Superman quickly figures out the monster's plan and heads home with Diana, leaving Lex in charge of Metropolis. The duo arrives to meet Lois and Jon, but Doomsday has arrived too and takes on Diana.
Dan Jurgens and Tyler Kirkham do their best to introduce this new Superman, who is really our OLD Superman, to the DC Universe. It has a weird feeling to it, as I am still trying to get use to Lois the mommy as opposed to Lois the bitchy reporter. But I like Jon’s character a lot, as I did in the LOIS AND CLARK series, and Superman being back in blue as opposed to his black outfit is a nice sight to see. What also feels strange is how this continuity ties in with SUPERMAN and how it will tie in with SUPERWOMAN when it arrives. And what of Mr. Oz? When will he be revealed?
AQUAMAN #2: The issue begins with the retelling of how Aquaman killed Black Manta’s father and leads right into Manta trying to take his revenge now. Meanwhile. Spindrift is collapsing and the Lieutenant from the Royal Navy is trying to save Mera. Aquaman defeats Manta but then offers his foe a chance to kill him, which Manta cannot do as he realizes that would end his reason for existing if is enemy is dead. Manta is taken away in cuffs but is freed by a mysterious lady and her flunkeys.
AQUAMAN #3: Atlantean head of security Murk and Aquaman are told that Spindrift is off limits due to the carnage from the last two issues. Aquaman meets with Mera and they go off to Washington to meet with the President. Meanwhile , Manta finds out he has been freed by a group called N.E.M.O., who want to use his abilities for their common goals. While Aquaman and Mera are meeting with the White House Chief of Staff, the USS Pontchrtrain is attacked and all on board are killed, with Atlantis claiming responsibility. The government sees Aquaman’s meeting as a ruse and promptly has him arrested for crimes against the United States.
It looks like the concept of multiple issues in a single month is already starting to take its’ toll on the creative teams on these books. Perfect example is here where Dan Abnett has written both issue but Philippe Briones replaces Scot Eaton on issue #3. At the same time, the art on both issues is good and doesn’t really have an effect on the story. The story has its’ good and bad points. On the good side: Black Manta is back with a vengeance and now we have a new villain introduced into the picture in the form of N.E.M.O. On the bad side, it looks like Lieutenant Stubbs gets introduced, has potential as an ongoing character, and then gets left out of the story at the end of issue #2. Overall, these two issues are a nice setup for where this series will go.
BATGIRL #1: Barbara Gordon is backpacking her way through Japan, where she is looking for the world’s oldest living superhero: Chiyo Yamashiro. Fighting crime in the 1940’s as Fruit Bat, she is now 104 years old and lives in Naha with her son. Barbara ends up staying in the same hostel as her old friend Kai, who used to live in the neighborhood with her back in Chicago. They go out for food and drinks and he gets sick! The next day, she meets a wheelchair bound Chiro and the next thing you know, an attacker dressed like Sailor Moon with clown makeup, is attacking Kai. Suddenly, Batgirl springs into action, but it’s a revitalized Fruit bat who saves the day. After that, Chiro collapses, telling Batgirl she must flee before they arrive and must go find the teacher to be able to see the future. Later, Babs sees a sign advertising the “future” of Mixed Martial Arts at a tournament in Singapore. Kai arrives home and says he knows Batgirl is here to protect Babs, who then asks him if he wants to go to Singpore with her.
Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque combine for a very strange first chapter in the NEW Batgirl. With Barbara Gordon suddenly uprooted to Japan, she meets what is best described as the Japanese answer to Batgirl…an OLD Batgirl who can still kick ass! We get a new villain and a new supporting cast member/possible future boyfriend in Kai and we get a fair amount of action mixed in with a fair amount of back story on our new characters. While I am still not totally thrilled with this direction, I do like it better than Babs’ adventures in Burnside.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY REBIRTH #1: Batgirl takes down some would-be bank robbers and finds out the person who hired them for this job is Oracle. Then we get a history of Barbara Gordon, complete with her Killing Joke moment and beyond, including forming the Birds of Prey and being able to get out of her wheelchair because of her surgery. She decides she needs to reconnect with Black Canary, who has recently left her band but is still watching their backs. They team up and go about seeing who might be behind this. Meanwhile, Helena Bertinelli, the former Matron, has a hit list of Mafia people that destroyed her family and she is working her way through it. as The Huntress. She interferes with Dinah and Barbara as they are trying to get information out of Louis Terroni. That leads to a brawl between the heroes and the shocking revelation that huntress knows everything about the other two. And so, apparently does the new oracle.
Julie Benson, Shawna Benson gives us the starting point for the new Birds of Prey team. Claire Roe’s art is a perfect fit and expertly captures the classic moment in THE KILLING JOKE perfectly. The book does a nice job of filling in Barbara’s back story for new readers, although it would be nice to do the same with Dinah and Helena. Overall, this feels like a good start for the team and I can only hope that, since the Secret Six is no more, maybe we can add Strix to the team.
BATMAN #2: Batman is battling Solomon Grundy with Gotham and Gotham Girl do their best to assist. Later, a man shows up at Commissioner Gordon’s office, confesses to helping Grundy escape and then cuts his own throat declaring that "The Monster Men are Coming!" Gordon calls Batman, who brings Gotham and Gotham Girl with him, and explains the situation. In the end, it seems that Hugo Strange is up to his old tricks and Amanda Waller is pleased..
BATMAN #3: We begin with a flashback to a father and his two children being saved from a robbery by Batman. Moving to the present, Matches Malone has a talk with the parents of Gotham and Gotham Girl and we get their origin. We also see that the two children in the flashback was them. As he leaves their house, Alfred alerts Batman of a suicide bomber and he finds Gotham and Gotham Girl already there and needing little help. Seeing how well they handled the situation, Batman heads off after hinting that he knows their true identities. The duo heads off to the scene of an explosion and find Professor Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate.
Yeah…I’m having too much fun with this series. Tom King is writing a great story and I really am starting to like this new “Dynamic Duo” that he has introduced. I had apprehensions at the beginning, but they are starting to grow on me. David Finch’ art is nice and clean and looks so much better than it did on his recent WONDER WOMAN run.
DETECTIVE COMICS #936: Kate Kane talks about her days in the military and how she was trained to lead. At the same time, she meets with Renee Montoya, who tells her that she needs to trust herself. Red Robin calls and soon she ends up at the new Batcave and finds that Batman has been beaten down pretty badly. So the call goes out to the rest of the trainees who find out what the deal is with The Colony, coming from Kate’s father. Suddenly, The Colony attacks The Belfry and we discover that Kate’s father is in cohoots with them. He tries to convince her and the rest to join him but Red Robin hacks into their network. That’s a big mistake, as it compromises their whole system and gives The Colony full access to all the Belfry’s files. Clayface becomes a giant ball and that allows them to escape…for now
DETECTIVE COMICS #937: Batman has been taken captive but, because of a special little goodie hidden in a tooth, he gets free, even as members of The Colony are rifling through his utility belt. This gives him a glimpse of the version of the Batcave that Colony has set up. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is now underneath Gotham, where an incredible bullet train system has been set up. Back at the Colony Batcave, Batman meets his biggest fan in the form of Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, who tells him the origin and reasons for Colony. They are trying to develop a super soldier to do what Batman did during ZeroYear. Batman’s Uncle Jake shows up with some of his troops, telling Batman that the real danger in Gotham is the League of Shadows. Just as Jake is about to execute Batman, Kate shows up with the rest of the team.
It goes like this: James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. It is a rocking writing job with back story, great plot, and a ton of action. It’s a beautiful looking book with some amazing pops on every page. One of my favorite bits is the DARK KNIGHT RETURNS poster that hangs at Ulysses’ desk. Absolute genius. Who do I credit for that-Tynion’s script or Martinez’ inventiveness? Either way, it’s classic!
THE FLASH #2: The Flash tries to console August Heart, who was hit by the Speed Force at the end of last issue. Heart reveals to The Flash that he knows his true identity. Meanwhile, Iris checks in with S.T.A.R. Labs and quizzes a couple of security guards about the recent break-ins there by Black Hole. She calls Barry to give him a tip on what she hasn’t really found, when she gets kidnapped by some of Black Hole. Luckily she brought some mace with her and gets free while Barry and August head to the scene. Barry rescues Iris but gets taken down by a Speed Force gun one of Carver’s guys shoots at him. August shows up and uses his powers to recharge Barry and they take down the bad guys. But they only get a few minutes to enjoy their victory as a Speed Force storm hits the city and it looks like there may be more Speedsters on the way.
THE FLASH #3: Following the Speed Force storm, S.T.A.R. Labs sets up a training center for all those affected by new powers, which The Flash and his partner August investigate. Dr. Dhawan, who has also been affected by the storm, joins the two men, as they go to the house of a young girl who is having issues adjusting to the Speed Force. Once there, Barry teaches her how to control her power. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, August and two other are attacked and critically injured by someone known as Godspeed, who used the Speed Force as a weapon. Meanwhile, Iris and Wally investigate the Black Hole incidents by Wally stealing the file from the Central City Crime Lab.
Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico continue to give a strange new version of The Flash that I’m not sure is going in a good direction. While we do get a glimpse of the Rogues, most of the old supporting cast has been totally sent to other places, with the exception of Iris, Waly and David Singh. Where is David’s partner? Where is Barry’s dad? Where is Barry’s old flame? Di Giandomenico’s art is quirky enough to fit into my tastes, although I do long for the clean lines of Brett Booth.
GREEN ARROW #2: We begin with Emiko and Shado dumping the apparently dead body of Oliver Queen overboard, leaving him for shark bait. They then go to meet up with their leaders, The Burned. Meanwhile, word travels throughout the world that Queen has died as the result of a murder/suicide. But Henry gets a homing signal he believes is Emiko’s and that leads him to a barely alive Oliver, who then gets nursed back to health by Henry's Nainai. But while he has been gone, Broderick has been talking smack about Queen, ruining his name and eliminating Queen Industries. In the end, Black Canary investigates and finds out about something called the Ninth Circle.
GREEN ARROW #3: Oliver makes his way into what was once his headquarters and ends up face to face with members of The Burned. After fighting them off, he confronts Broderick, who gets saved by Shado and The Burned, forcing Oliver to flee with Broderick’s laptop. With Shado in pursuit, she reveals that she is doing this because the Ninth Circle inherited her Blood Oath. The police stop him and accuse him of blowing up Queen Industries. Meanwhile, Diggle is off in Italy learning about how the Ninth Circle is a bank and The Burned are bankers. At the headquarters of The Burned, Dante reveals his disgust at Shado’s continued failure to Emiko, who plans on using Black Canary as bait to trap Qliver.
While I like the story that Ben Percy is delivering, I have a major problem with the dialogue which reads like a bad television script. I also have an issue with the continuing art changes. I know this books ships twice a month, but shifting from Otto Schmidt to Juan Ferreyra is just distracting to the tale. While I like where the plot is going, especially bringing Shado back into it and introducing The Ninth Circle, I would like a little consistency here.
GREEN LANTERNS #2: Atrocitus is inciting his followers and going on about how both Hell Tower and the Red Dawn are coming. And he is right because Hell Tower is active in Pima County, Arizona. Over in Oregon, Jessica is dealing with a rage outbreak and Simon arrives to give her some backup Despite her objections, Simon convinces Jessica that this is bigger than both of them and they see that Red Lanterns symbol is covering the Earth's surface.
GREEN LANTERNS #3: Atrocitus, Bleez and Dex-Starr show up in a cornfield and threaten a farmer and his son with talk of the Red Dawn. Bleez is then instructed to head over a nearby city where she battles with Jessica and Simon. Simon uses his will power to cure Bleez, who tells him to destroy Hell Tower. Then Jessica arrives and Bleez reverts back to her Red Lantern self, leading to the pair arguing again. They finally agree to a truce and head off to Hell Tower where they find unconscious A.R.G.U.S. agents that had been affected by rage. And Jessica becomes infected by the rage as well. Meanwhile, the last guardian shows up at Simon’s home looking for him.
I really didn’t like Simon Baz as a Green Lantern when he was introduced way back when. But I equally dislike Jessica Cruz and nothing Sam Humphries can do is making me like these two at all. They are whining poor excuses for Green Lanterns. And how many times can I watch them fight with each other? This is truly like a bad buddy movie. Issue #2 features the art of Robson Rocha while #3 needs the combined efforts of Rocha, Tom Derenick, Jack Herbert, and Neil Edwards, All in all, give me another RED LANTERNS book and let’s put this one to bed.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1: While the Sinestro Corps controls Warworld, Hal Jordan is now a construct who uses the ability of Krona’s Gauntlet to free the other Lanterns from their individual places in the universe. He also manages to construct a new Lantern ring for himself, which he charges in a power battery before the power is gone. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, has returned. Back on Warworld, Sinestro meets with Parallax and asks for everything as a final request.
Well, this was a very disappointing issue, minus the awesome artwork of Ethan Van Sciver. I wasn’t disappointed with Robert Venditti’s writing, which was top notch as always. I was disappointed that this book wasted 20 pages to tell a tale that could have been wrapped up in half the space. In a nutshell, Sinestro is cozying up to Parallax again and Hal Jordan has managed to reach out to all the other Lanterns and becomes a Green Lantern again in the process. Done. Now let’s get to the REAL BOOK!
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS #1: Hal is off in the Outer Rim looking for any leads that will put him back in touch with the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro, who has gotten old quite fast since his series ended, is on Warworld, where he drains Parallax of all the space energy it has left, revitalizing him. He sends his Sinestro Corps out to instill fear in the universe and Hal feels it where he resides with the smugglers of the Outer Rim. The Sinestro Corps shows up, eliminates some smuggler, and proceeds to go at it with Hal. Meanwhile, The Green Lantern Corps, or what is left of them, emerge from the Fringe of the Cosmos.
Robert Vendetti ups his game a little bit here and manages to bring in Sinestro and the Green Lantern Corps. So, that makes this issue a better read than the one-shot. Rafa Sandoval’s art is nice and he does a great job of getting all the faces right. I expect this series to be more space oriented than the last GREEN LANTERN series, now that Hal is no longer guarding Earth. I also expect that Hal and Company will be dealing with Sinestro and his Corps in upcoming issues.
THE HELLBLAZER REBIRTH #1: We begin with John Constantine in London many years ago and getting beaten an angry demon he calls Laughing Boy. He threatens to send John to Hell, but opts to send him to New York City instead. Now he is heading back to London because he fears Donald Trump may become President. He has his old friend Chas pick him up at the airport and reminds him about how he had been cursed when last he was here. He whips out a machete Chas brought to the airport and this gets the attention of a meditating woman. Laughing Boy catches up with Constantine, but the mage pricks the demon and uses his blood to remove the soul-stealing curse and place it on everyone in London. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Swamp Thing are deciding what to do about the situation Constantine has created and Swamp Thing convinces them to let it play out. The meditating woman, whose name is Mercury, arrives and tells John the demon’s name is Nybbas, which allows him to banish the demon and save the day.
Kudos to Simon Oliver and Moritat from getting John Constantine out of NYC and putting him back where he belongs: Jolly Olde England! He hooks up with his old buddy Chaz and then we get Mercury and then he decides to show his true colors and screw all of London for his own gains. I love this John Cnstantine and hope that we will have more of a darker, Vertigo version of the mage than the superhero one that inhabited the New 52. And yes, I LOVE that Donald Trump is referred to as a “racist, short-fingered, failed meat salesman”.
JUSTICE LEAGUE REBIRTH #1: While Lois and Clark talk about the importance of their place on this Earth, the Justice League fights an alien invader. When all seems lost, Superman appears and lends a hand, helping to defeat the invaders as part of the Justice League.
Absolutely awful! Shame on Bryan Hitch for taking looks like it what may have been an issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, retooling it, and turning it out as this. It is 20 pages that goes nowhere. I certainly hope the regular book doesn’t have this little energy to it.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1: Wonder Woman is somewhere in Eastern Europe taking out some Russians wielding guns and tanks. Unfortunately, an ‘extinction level event” earthquake hits right in the middle of this all over the world, leading to the League going out and saving lives. Suddenly, the living and the dead become possessed, attack our heroes and drain their powers. They claim that The Kindred are coming and Diana tells them to bring it.
This is not much better than the REBIRTH issue except we have Tony S. Daniel on the art chores. Again, we have a story that is dragged out for 20 pages with not much substance to it. This is far from a good beginning for a flagship title like this.
NEW SUPER-MAN #1: The issue begins in Shanghai, China, where we meet a bully named Kong Kenan. He runs into a villain named Blue Condor and saves the kid he was bullying by throwing a can of soda at Blue Condor. The video of him shot by Laney Lan goes viral and gets seen by the Dr. Omen of the Ministry of Self Reliance. At home, Kenan’s dad gives him a hard time because of who he saved. Later, while visiting his mother’s grave, he is visited by Dr. Omen, who convinces him to go with her to the Oriental Pearl Tower. There, while dreaming of how he could have saved his mother in the plane crash that killed her, he is transformed into Super-Man. This is great, except the Batman and Wonder Woman of China arrive to shut him down.
Wow! What a great start to a new character! This is so much better than who Doctor Fate became. Gene Luen Yang’s writing is great, with some funny bits and some really awesome dialogue while Viktor Bogdanovic nails it in the art department. And since every Superman needs a Lois Lane, or at least someone with the initials L.L., we get would be journalist Laney Lan. I cannot wait for the next issue of this. Oh wait: when did China get their own Batman and Wonder Woman?
NIGHTWING REBIRTH #1: The issue begins with Dick Grayson battling The Madmen, before going off to the present, where he is hanging out with Damian. We then flashback to three days ago, where he prepares to say his good-byes to Helena Bertinelli. She gives the excuse that she isn’t feeling well when she is actually getting into her new role at The Huntress. More flashbacks are interspersed throughout including episodes with Tiger and Midnighter. When he finishes helping Midnighter with his mission, he gets a gift from the God Gardener that he later uses to remove the bomb that the Court of the Owls placed inside Damian’s head at the end of Robin War. As Dick Grayson once again becomes Nightwing, so he can infiltrate the The Parliament of The Owls, Lincoln March is murdered by an unknown assailant who will now lead the Parliament.
So Tim Seeley and Yanick Paquette tie up loose ends from the GRAYSON series and give us a lot to chew on in this one shot. The fact that Damian had a bomb in his head all this time and never knew it seems like a useless plot point that got dropped in for no good reason. Paquette’s art looks stunning and Seeley’s story does a great job of setting things in motion for the future. But who is that masked man/woman that kills March with a dart through the eye?
NIGHTWING #1: Somewhere in Romania, a strange woman and what appears to be a zombie are digging up something for the Parliament of Owls when the zombie gets killed and she gets buried alive by someone named Raptor. Meanwhile, over in Italy, Nightwing saves Representative Manfredi from the clutches of Kobra. He ends up in Greece where he learns that the Parliament is not happy with his antics and he proceeds to tell them to bite him. He ends up in Gotham and then Burnside, where he meets with Batgirl. Dick ends up in Russia, where he meets Raptor, who describes himself as Nightwing’s new partner. Raptor beats Nightwing up, before declaring that everything Batman taught him is wrong.
Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez come out swinging with this first issue but doesn’t hit it out of the park. I found it way too jumbled to work. We start with the introduction of a character that we don’t get to really know who he is until almost the end of the book. We have Dick bouncing all over the world for a page or two and then off to the next locale. The conversation between him and Barbara just feels so forced, especially her wanting him to bring her back a present from his mission to Russia. So he gets her a nesting doll with her name on it. Really?
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS REBIRTH #1: The issue begins the retelling of Jason Todd’s meeting with Batman and how he began training with him. Throughout the book, we see Jason’s developing into the role of Robin, leading to his eventual death at the hands of The Joker and eventual resurrection. In the here and now, Red Hood seemingly kills the Mayor. In actuality, he only shot him with an antidote to counter-act a techno-organic virus. He later tells Batman that he is the best person to go undercover and infiltrate the Gotham Underground. Looks like he will be doing it alone as Batman doesn’t really believe he can do it.
Did Scott Lobdell read the NIGHTWING REBIRTH story, because it seems weird that both Dick AND Jason are going undercover to infiltrate the criminals in Gotham. With half the book retelling Jason’s life and death and the other half giving a lame little story with Jason impressing Black Mask’s people by shooting the Mayor, this was a long-winded waste of 20 pages. Dexter Soy’s art is okay and that becomes the high point of the book. Hopefully, once the actual Outlaws get into the book, this might get off the ground. And maybe Scott Lobdell will stop writing everything like it’s the Nineties.
SUPERMAN #2: Superman and Jon are in the Arctic where they team up to save a submarine and its’ crew from a giant octopus creature. But some blood gets spilled and an unknown predator makes note that it’s from the House of El. Back home, Jon is with Kathy Branden, when the tree branch they are sitting on breaks and he gets a concussion in the process. Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Solitude, the Eradicator has arrived.
SUPERMAN #3: Clark, Lois and an unconscious Jon arrive at the Fortress of Solitude to find the Eradicator there. As parts of the Fortress collapse during the obligatory fight, the Eradicator saves Lois and Jon, who is now awake. Superman runs some tests on Jon as The Eradicator tells his origin. Designed by General Zod, they were designed to suck the life energy out of criminals and put it in the Phantom Zone until they went on trial. When Krypton was destroyed, The Eradicator went searching for the lone spacecraft it saw: Kal-El’s. His true goal is to keep the Kryptonian’s alive and that means sucking out Jon’s human half. Krypto jumps in the way and he is eaten by the Eradicator, leading Jon to get mighty angry.
Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason do a super job on these two stories, as we get a little deeper into Clark’s relationship with his son. Issue #2 features art by Patrick Gleason while issue #3 is by Jorge Jimenez, which is a little bit of a bummer after seeing Gleason’s work. My biggest problem is not with the plot or the art, it’s with killing off Krypto! Really folks: you had to do it? ARRGGHHH!!!
TITANS #1: Lilith is trying to make sure the connection the Titans share with Wally is maintained and she comes across the name Linda Park in his head, leading him to explain it was someone he knew and still loves. Garth realizes that this lost time in their lives might have something to do with that mission they had against Mr. Twister, so they decide to go after Mammoth to get some answers. Donna and Roy find out that Mammoth now works for Simon, AKA Psimon. Back at Grayson's loft, Lilith thinks she might have done a bad thing by poking around in Wally's subconscious. That bad thing is a fat magician working a kid's birthday party who turns into Abra Kadabra and claims that he's the one who made Wally West disappear.
Can I first off say how much I love Brett Booth’s art? I first saw his stuff on BACKLASH way back when and grew to like it and then love it. This has the makings of being some of the best of his career to date. Dan Abnett has a great love for these characters and it shows throughout! The whole book is filled with wonderful dialogue and, by bringing back a classic villain, takes us back to the original days of the Teen Titans. This is the REAL Titans, as far as I’m concerned and two issues in, is already showing this to be a much better title than the TEEN TITANS book was through two incarnations!
WONDER WOMAN #2: Way back when, Diana and her Amazon sisters are stargazing while military man Steve Trevor and his colleague Nick are lost and trying to find their way to a safe place. Flashing back further, we see Trevor and Nick in the real world while Diana and her sisters are on Themyscira engaging in their every day lives. At one point, Diana is bit by a snake, falls ill and needs the help of a healer over a long amount of time to be fully helped. Nick and his wife start a family, but he and Steve find themselves flying out on a mission. Their plane crashes and everyone is killed, except for Steve. That is the bad news. The good news: they have crashed on Themyscira. Aditional bad news-they have crashed on Themyscira.
WONDER WOMAN #3: Wonder Woman and Cheetah have a confrontation, where Diana reminds her that, although they have been enemies, she always will think of Barbara as a friend. The Hyena Men are under the command of the Warlord Cadulo. They worship the God Urzkartaga, who gave the power of the Cheetah to Barbara and they are chasing after Diana. They cross paths with the Hyena Men and Cheetah is shot with an arrow, which sends her into an animalistic and hungry frenzy, feeding on the corpses of the Hyena Men. As Diana calms her down, she begs her to find and kill Urzkartaga to free her from her curse. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor and his men are following Cadulo's men, who kidnapped this village's daughters. They get captured and Cadulo believes that they have been brought here to serve Urzkartaga.
Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott handle issue #2, which features the first installment of YEAR ONE. Scott’s art on this issue is so beautiful. This may very well be her best work yet. Every, single page is a piece of absolute beauty. Issue #3 goes back to the present story line and features the equally stunning work of Liam Sharp. While I have an issue separating the two stories and would much rather have one storyline end and then give us the second, I will deal with it. This is a book that is quickly finding a proper place in the Wonder Woman canon and the works of Strazynski and Azzarello.
ACTION COMICS #960: While the mysterious Mr. Oz watches events unfold, the battle with Doomsday continues, with Diana thrilled to see this version of her dead lover. At the family home, Jon is elated to see his father winning and lets out a super "YEAH!", which breaks the windows in the house and alerts Doomsday to Jon's presence on Earth, causing it to leave the area. Superman quickly figures out the monster's plan and heads home with Diana, leaving Lex in charge of Metropolis. The duo arrives to meet Lois and Jon, but Doomsday has arrived too and takes on Diana.
Dan Jurgens and Tyler Kirkham do their best to introduce this new Superman, who is really our OLD Superman, to the DC Universe. It has a weird feeling to it, as I am still trying to get use to Lois the mommy as opposed to Lois the bitchy reporter. But I like Jon’s character a lot, as I did in the LOIS AND CLARK series, and Superman being back in blue as opposed to his black outfit is a nice sight to see. What also feels strange is how this continuity ties in with SUPERMAN and how it will tie in with SUPERWOMAN when it arrives. And what of Mr. Oz? When will he be revealed?
AQUAMAN #2: The issue begins with the retelling of how Aquaman killed Black Manta’s father and leads right into Manta trying to take his revenge now. Meanwhile. Spindrift is collapsing and the Lieutenant from the Royal Navy is trying to save Mera. Aquaman defeats Manta but then offers his foe a chance to kill him, which Manta cannot do as he realizes that would end his reason for existing if is enemy is dead. Manta is taken away in cuffs but is freed by a mysterious lady and her flunkeys.
AQUAMAN #3: Atlantean head of security Murk and Aquaman are told that Spindrift is off limits due to the carnage from the last two issues. Aquaman meets with Mera and they go off to Washington to meet with the President. Meanwhile , Manta finds out he has been freed by a group called N.E.M.O., who want to use his abilities for their common goals. While Aquaman and Mera are meeting with the White House Chief of Staff, the USS Pontchrtrain is attacked and all on board are killed, with Atlantis claiming responsibility. The government sees Aquaman’s meeting as a ruse and promptly has him arrested for crimes against the United States.
It looks like the concept of multiple issues in a single month is already starting to take its’ toll on the creative teams on these books. Perfect example is here where Dan Abnett has written both issue but Philippe Briones replaces Scot Eaton on issue #3. At the same time, the art on both issues is good and doesn’t really have an effect on the story. The story has its’ good and bad points. On the good side: Black Manta is back with a vengeance and now we have a new villain introduced into the picture in the form of N.E.M.O. On the bad side, it looks like Lieutenant Stubbs gets introduced, has potential as an ongoing character, and then gets left out of the story at the end of issue #2. Overall, these two issues are a nice setup for where this series will go.
BATGIRL #1: Barbara Gordon is backpacking her way through Japan, where she is looking for the world’s oldest living superhero: Chiyo Yamashiro. Fighting crime in the 1940’s as Fruit Bat, she is now 104 years old and lives in Naha with her son. Barbara ends up staying in the same hostel as her old friend Kai, who used to live in the neighborhood with her back in Chicago. They go out for food and drinks and he gets sick! The next day, she meets a wheelchair bound Chiro and the next thing you know, an attacker dressed like Sailor Moon with clown makeup, is attacking Kai. Suddenly, Batgirl springs into action, but it’s a revitalized Fruit bat who saves the day. After that, Chiro collapses, telling Batgirl she must flee before they arrive and must go find the teacher to be able to see the future. Later, Babs sees a sign advertising the “future” of Mixed Martial Arts at a tournament in Singapore. Kai arrives home and says he knows Batgirl is here to protect Babs, who then asks him if he wants to go to Singpore with her.
Hope Larson and Rafael Albuquerque combine for a very strange first chapter in the NEW Batgirl. With Barbara Gordon suddenly uprooted to Japan, she meets what is best described as the Japanese answer to Batgirl…an OLD Batgirl who can still kick ass! We get a new villain and a new supporting cast member/possible future boyfriend in Kai and we get a fair amount of action mixed in with a fair amount of back story on our new characters. While I am still not totally thrilled with this direction, I do like it better than Babs’ adventures in Burnside.
BATGIRL AND THE BIRDS OF PREY REBIRTH #1: Batgirl takes down some would-be bank robbers and finds out the person who hired them for this job is Oracle. Then we get a history of Barbara Gordon, complete with her Killing Joke moment and beyond, including forming the Birds of Prey and being able to get out of her wheelchair because of her surgery. She decides she needs to reconnect with Black Canary, who has recently left her band but is still watching their backs. They team up and go about seeing who might be behind this. Meanwhile, Helena Bertinelli, the former Matron, has a hit list of Mafia people that destroyed her family and she is working her way through it. as The Huntress. She interferes with Dinah and Barbara as they are trying to get information out of Louis Terroni. That leads to a brawl between the heroes and the shocking revelation that huntress knows everything about the other two. And so, apparently does the new oracle.
Julie Benson, Shawna Benson gives us the starting point for the new Birds of Prey team. Claire Roe’s art is a perfect fit and expertly captures the classic moment in THE KILLING JOKE perfectly. The book does a nice job of filling in Barbara’s back story for new readers, although it would be nice to do the same with Dinah and Helena. Overall, this feels like a good start for the team and I can only hope that, since the Secret Six is no more, maybe we can add Strix to the team.
BATMAN #2: Batman is battling Solomon Grundy with Gotham and Gotham Girl do their best to assist. Later, a man shows up at Commissioner Gordon’s office, confesses to helping Grundy escape and then cuts his own throat declaring that "The Monster Men are Coming!" Gordon calls Batman, who brings Gotham and Gotham Girl with him, and explains the situation. In the end, it seems that Hugo Strange is up to his old tricks and Amanda Waller is pleased..
BATMAN #3: We begin with a flashback to a father and his two children being saved from a robbery by Batman. Moving to the present, Matches Malone has a talk with the parents of Gotham and Gotham Girl and we get their origin. We also see that the two children in the flashback was them. As he leaves their house, Alfred alerts Batman of a suicide bomber and he finds Gotham and Gotham Girl already there and needing little help. Seeing how well they handled the situation, Batman heads off after hinting that he knows their true identities. The duo heads off to the scene of an explosion and find Professor Hugo Strange and the Psycho Pirate.
Yeah…I’m having too much fun with this series. Tom King is writing a great story and I really am starting to like this new “Dynamic Duo” that he has introduced. I had apprehensions at the beginning, but they are starting to grow on me. David Finch’ art is nice and clean and looks so much better than it did on his recent WONDER WOMAN run.
DETECTIVE COMICS #936: Kate Kane talks about her days in the military and how she was trained to lead. At the same time, she meets with Renee Montoya, who tells her that she needs to trust herself. Red Robin calls and soon she ends up at the new Batcave and finds that Batman has been beaten down pretty badly. So the call goes out to the rest of the trainees who find out what the deal is with The Colony, coming from Kate’s father. Suddenly, The Colony attacks The Belfry and we discover that Kate’s father is in cohoots with them. He tries to convince her and the rest to join him but Red Robin hacks into their network. That’s a big mistake, as it compromises their whole system and gives The Colony full access to all the Belfry’s files. Clayface becomes a giant ball and that allows them to escape…for now
DETECTIVE COMICS #937: Batman has been taken captive but, because of a special little goodie hidden in a tooth, he gets free, even as members of The Colony are rifling through his utility belt. This gives him a glimpse of the version of the Batcave that Colony has set up. Meanwhile, the rest of the team is now underneath Gotham, where an incredible bullet train system has been set up. Back at the Colony Batcave, Batman meets his biggest fan in the form of Ulysses Hadrian Armstrong, who tells him the origin and reasons for Colony. They are trying to develop a super soldier to do what Batman did during ZeroYear. Batman’s Uncle Jake shows up with some of his troops, telling Batman that the real danger in Gotham is the League of Shadows. Just as Jake is about to execute Batman, Kate shows up with the rest of the team.
It goes like this: James Tynion IV and Alvaro Martinez. It is a rocking writing job with back story, great plot, and a ton of action. It’s a beautiful looking book with some amazing pops on every page. One of my favorite bits is the DARK KNIGHT RETURNS poster that hangs at Ulysses’ desk. Absolute genius. Who do I credit for that-Tynion’s script or Martinez’ inventiveness? Either way, it’s classic!
THE FLASH #2: The Flash tries to console August Heart, who was hit by the Speed Force at the end of last issue. Heart reveals to The Flash that he knows his true identity. Meanwhile, Iris checks in with S.T.A.R. Labs and quizzes a couple of security guards about the recent break-ins there by Black Hole. She calls Barry to give him a tip on what she hasn’t really found, when she gets kidnapped by some of Black Hole. Luckily she brought some mace with her and gets free while Barry and August head to the scene. Barry rescues Iris but gets taken down by a Speed Force gun one of Carver’s guys shoots at him. August shows up and uses his powers to recharge Barry and they take down the bad guys. But they only get a few minutes to enjoy their victory as a Speed Force storm hits the city and it looks like there may be more Speedsters on the way.
THE FLASH #3: Following the Speed Force storm, S.T.A.R. Labs sets up a training center for all those affected by new powers, which The Flash and his partner August investigate. Dr. Dhawan, who has also been affected by the storm, joins the two men, as they go to the house of a young girl who is having issues adjusting to the Speed Force. Once there, Barry teaches her how to control her power. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, August and two other are attacked and critically injured by someone known as Godspeed, who used the Speed Force as a weapon. Meanwhile, Iris and Wally investigate the Black Hole incidents by Wally stealing the file from the Central City Crime Lab.
Joshua Williamson and Carmine Di Giandomenico continue to give a strange new version of The Flash that I’m not sure is going in a good direction. While we do get a glimpse of the Rogues, most of the old supporting cast has been totally sent to other places, with the exception of Iris, Waly and David Singh. Where is David’s partner? Where is Barry’s dad? Where is Barry’s old flame? Di Giandomenico’s art is quirky enough to fit into my tastes, although I do long for the clean lines of Brett Booth.
GREEN ARROW #2: We begin with Emiko and Shado dumping the apparently dead body of Oliver Queen overboard, leaving him for shark bait. They then go to meet up with their leaders, The Burned. Meanwhile, word travels throughout the world that Queen has died as the result of a murder/suicide. But Henry gets a homing signal he believes is Emiko’s and that leads him to a barely alive Oliver, who then gets nursed back to health by Henry's Nainai. But while he has been gone, Broderick has been talking smack about Queen, ruining his name and eliminating Queen Industries. In the end, Black Canary investigates and finds out about something called the Ninth Circle.
GREEN ARROW #3: Oliver makes his way into what was once his headquarters and ends up face to face with members of The Burned. After fighting them off, he confronts Broderick, who gets saved by Shado and The Burned, forcing Oliver to flee with Broderick’s laptop. With Shado in pursuit, she reveals that she is doing this because the Ninth Circle inherited her Blood Oath. The police stop him and accuse him of blowing up Queen Industries. Meanwhile, Diggle is off in Italy learning about how the Ninth Circle is a bank and The Burned are bankers. At the headquarters of The Burned, Dante reveals his disgust at Shado’s continued failure to Emiko, who plans on using Black Canary as bait to trap Qliver.
While I like the story that Ben Percy is delivering, I have a major problem with the dialogue which reads like a bad television script. I also have an issue with the continuing art changes. I know this books ships twice a month, but shifting from Otto Schmidt to Juan Ferreyra is just distracting to the tale. While I like where the plot is going, especially bringing Shado back into it and introducing The Ninth Circle, I would like a little consistency here.
GREEN LANTERNS #2: Atrocitus is inciting his followers and going on about how both Hell Tower and the Red Dawn are coming. And he is right because Hell Tower is active in Pima County, Arizona. Over in Oregon, Jessica is dealing with a rage outbreak and Simon arrives to give her some backup Despite her objections, Simon convinces Jessica that this is bigger than both of them and they see that Red Lanterns symbol is covering the Earth's surface.
GREEN LANTERNS #3: Atrocitus, Bleez and Dex-Starr show up in a cornfield and threaten a farmer and his son with talk of the Red Dawn. Bleez is then instructed to head over a nearby city where she battles with Jessica and Simon. Simon uses his will power to cure Bleez, who tells him to destroy Hell Tower. Then Jessica arrives and Bleez reverts back to her Red Lantern self, leading to the pair arguing again. They finally agree to a truce and head off to Hell Tower where they find unconscious A.R.G.U.S. agents that had been affected by rage. And Jessica becomes infected by the rage as well. Meanwhile, the last guardian shows up at Simon’s home looking for him.
I really didn’t like Simon Baz as a Green Lantern when he was introduced way back when. But I equally dislike Jessica Cruz and nothing Sam Humphries can do is making me like these two at all. They are whining poor excuses for Green Lanterns. And how many times can I watch them fight with each other? This is truly like a bad buddy movie. Issue #2 features the art of Robson Rocha while #3 needs the combined efforts of Rocha, Tom Derenick, Jack Herbert, and Neil Edwards, All in all, give me another RED LANTERNS book and let’s put this one to bed.
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS REBIRTH #1: While the Sinestro Corps controls Warworld, Hal Jordan is now a construct who uses the ability of Krona’s Gauntlet to free the other Lanterns from their individual places in the universe. He also manages to construct a new Lantern ring for himself, which he charges in a power battery before the power is gone. Hal Jordan, Green Lantern, has returned. Back on Warworld, Sinestro meets with Parallax and asks for everything as a final request.
Well, this was a very disappointing issue, minus the awesome artwork of Ethan Van Sciver. I wasn’t disappointed with Robert Venditti’s writing, which was top notch as always. I was disappointed that this book wasted 20 pages to tell a tale that could have been wrapped up in half the space. In a nutshell, Sinestro is cozying up to Parallax again and Hal Jordan has managed to reach out to all the other Lanterns and becomes a Green Lantern again in the process. Done. Now let’s get to the REAL BOOK!
HAL JORDAN AND THE GREEN LANTERNS #1: Hal is off in the Outer Rim looking for any leads that will put him back in touch with the Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro, who has gotten old quite fast since his series ended, is on Warworld, where he drains Parallax of all the space energy it has left, revitalizing him. He sends his Sinestro Corps out to instill fear in the universe and Hal feels it where he resides with the smugglers of the Outer Rim. The Sinestro Corps shows up, eliminates some smuggler, and proceeds to go at it with Hal. Meanwhile, The Green Lantern Corps, or what is left of them, emerge from the Fringe of the Cosmos.
Robert Vendetti ups his game a little bit here and manages to bring in Sinestro and the Green Lantern Corps. So, that makes this issue a better read than the one-shot. Rafa Sandoval’s art is nice and he does a great job of getting all the faces right. I expect this series to be more space oriented than the last GREEN LANTERN series, now that Hal is no longer guarding Earth. I also expect that Hal and Company will be dealing with Sinestro and his Corps in upcoming issues.
THE HELLBLAZER REBIRTH #1: We begin with John Constantine in London many years ago and getting beaten an angry demon he calls Laughing Boy. He threatens to send John to Hell, but opts to send him to New York City instead. Now he is heading back to London because he fears Donald Trump may become President. He has his old friend Chas pick him up at the airport and reminds him about how he had been cursed when last he was here. He whips out a machete Chas brought to the airport and this gets the attention of a meditating woman. Laughing Boy catches up with Constantine, but the mage pricks the demon and uses his blood to remove the soul-stealing curse and place it on everyone in London. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, Shazam, and Swamp Thing are deciding what to do about the situation Constantine has created and Swamp Thing convinces them to let it play out. The meditating woman, whose name is Mercury, arrives and tells John the demon’s name is Nybbas, which allows him to banish the demon and save the day.
Kudos to Simon Oliver and Moritat from getting John Constantine out of NYC and putting him back where he belongs: Jolly Olde England! He hooks up with his old buddy Chaz and then we get Mercury and then he decides to show his true colors and screw all of London for his own gains. I love this John Cnstantine and hope that we will have more of a darker, Vertigo version of the mage than the superhero one that inhabited the New 52. And yes, I LOVE that Donald Trump is referred to as a “racist, short-fingered, failed meat salesman”.
JUSTICE LEAGUE REBIRTH #1: While Lois and Clark talk about the importance of their place on this Earth, the Justice League fights an alien invader. When all seems lost, Superman appears and lends a hand, helping to defeat the invaders as part of the Justice League.
Absolutely awful! Shame on Bryan Hitch for taking looks like it what may have been an issue of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, retooling it, and turning it out as this. It is 20 pages that goes nowhere. I certainly hope the regular book doesn’t have this little energy to it.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #1: Wonder Woman is somewhere in Eastern Europe taking out some Russians wielding guns and tanks. Unfortunately, an ‘extinction level event” earthquake hits right in the middle of this all over the world, leading to the League going out and saving lives. Suddenly, the living and the dead become possessed, attack our heroes and drain their powers. They claim that The Kindred are coming and Diana tells them to bring it.
This is not much better than the REBIRTH issue except we have Tony S. Daniel on the art chores. Again, we have a story that is dragged out for 20 pages with not much substance to it. This is far from a good beginning for a flagship title like this.
NEW SUPER-MAN #1: The issue begins in Shanghai, China, where we meet a bully named Kong Kenan. He runs into a villain named Blue Condor and saves the kid he was bullying by throwing a can of soda at Blue Condor. The video of him shot by Laney Lan goes viral and gets seen by the Dr. Omen of the Ministry of Self Reliance. At home, Kenan’s dad gives him a hard time because of who he saved. Later, while visiting his mother’s grave, he is visited by Dr. Omen, who convinces him to go with her to the Oriental Pearl Tower. There, while dreaming of how he could have saved his mother in the plane crash that killed her, he is transformed into Super-Man. This is great, except the Batman and Wonder Woman of China arrive to shut him down.
Wow! What a great start to a new character! This is so much better than who Doctor Fate became. Gene Luen Yang’s writing is great, with some funny bits and some really awesome dialogue while Viktor Bogdanovic nails it in the art department. And since every Superman needs a Lois Lane, or at least someone with the initials L.L., we get would be journalist Laney Lan. I cannot wait for the next issue of this. Oh wait: when did China get their own Batman and Wonder Woman?
NIGHTWING REBIRTH #1: The issue begins with Dick Grayson battling The Madmen, before going off to the present, where he is hanging out with Damian. We then flashback to three days ago, where he prepares to say his good-byes to Helena Bertinelli. She gives the excuse that she isn’t feeling well when she is actually getting into her new role at The Huntress. More flashbacks are interspersed throughout including episodes with Tiger and Midnighter. When he finishes helping Midnighter with his mission, he gets a gift from the God Gardener that he later uses to remove the bomb that the Court of the Owls placed inside Damian’s head at the end of Robin War. As Dick Grayson once again becomes Nightwing, so he can infiltrate the The Parliament of The Owls, Lincoln March is murdered by an unknown assailant who will now lead the Parliament.
So Tim Seeley and Yanick Paquette tie up loose ends from the GRAYSON series and give us a lot to chew on in this one shot. The fact that Damian had a bomb in his head all this time and never knew it seems like a useless plot point that got dropped in for no good reason. Paquette’s art looks stunning and Seeley’s story does a great job of setting things in motion for the future. But who is that masked man/woman that kills March with a dart through the eye?
NIGHTWING #1: Somewhere in Romania, a strange woman and what appears to be a zombie are digging up something for the Parliament of Owls when the zombie gets killed and she gets buried alive by someone named Raptor. Meanwhile, over in Italy, Nightwing saves Representative Manfredi from the clutches of Kobra. He ends up in Greece where he learns that the Parliament is not happy with his antics and he proceeds to tell them to bite him. He ends up in Gotham and then Burnside, where he meets with Batgirl. Dick ends up in Russia, where he meets Raptor, who describes himself as Nightwing’s new partner. Raptor beats Nightwing up, before declaring that everything Batman taught him is wrong.
Tim Seeley and Javier Fernandez come out swinging with this first issue but doesn’t hit it out of the park. I found it way too jumbled to work. We start with the introduction of a character that we don’t get to really know who he is until almost the end of the book. We have Dick bouncing all over the world for a page or two and then off to the next locale. The conversation between him and Barbara just feels so forced, especially her wanting him to bring her back a present from his mission to Russia. So he gets her a nesting doll with her name on it. Really?
RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS REBIRTH #1: The issue begins the retelling of Jason Todd’s meeting with Batman and how he began training with him. Throughout the book, we see Jason’s developing into the role of Robin, leading to his eventual death at the hands of The Joker and eventual resurrection. In the here and now, Red Hood seemingly kills the Mayor. In actuality, he only shot him with an antidote to counter-act a techno-organic virus. He later tells Batman that he is the best person to go undercover and infiltrate the Gotham Underground. Looks like he will be doing it alone as Batman doesn’t really believe he can do it.
Did Scott Lobdell read the NIGHTWING REBIRTH story, because it seems weird that both Dick AND Jason are going undercover to infiltrate the criminals in Gotham. With half the book retelling Jason’s life and death and the other half giving a lame little story with Jason impressing Black Mask’s people by shooting the Mayor, this was a long-winded waste of 20 pages. Dexter Soy’s art is okay and that becomes the high point of the book. Hopefully, once the actual Outlaws get into the book, this might get off the ground. And maybe Scott Lobdell will stop writing everything like it’s the Nineties.
SUPERMAN #2: Superman and Jon are in the Arctic where they team up to save a submarine and its’ crew from a giant octopus creature. But some blood gets spilled and an unknown predator makes note that it’s from the House of El. Back home, Jon is with Kathy Branden, when the tree branch they are sitting on breaks and he gets a concussion in the process. Meanwhile, at the Fortress of Solitude, the Eradicator has arrived.
SUPERMAN #3: Clark, Lois and an unconscious Jon arrive at the Fortress of Solitude to find the Eradicator there. As parts of the Fortress collapse during the obligatory fight, the Eradicator saves Lois and Jon, who is now awake. Superman runs some tests on Jon as The Eradicator tells his origin. Designed by General Zod, they were designed to suck the life energy out of criminals and put it in the Phantom Zone until they went on trial. When Krypton was destroyed, The Eradicator went searching for the lone spacecraft it saw: Kal-El’s. His true goal is to keep the Kryptonian’s alive and that means sucking out Jon’s human half. Krypto jumps in the way and he is eaten by the Eradicator, leading Jon to get mighty angry.
Peter J. Tomasi and Patrick Gleason do a super job on these two stories, as we get a little deeper into Clark’s relationship with his son. Issue #2 features art by Patrick Gleason while issue #3 is by Jorge Jimenez, which is a little bit of a bummer after seeing Gleason’s work. My biggest problem is not with the plot or the art, it’s with killing off Krypto! Really folks: you had to do it? ARRGGHHH!!!
TITANS #1: Lilith is trying to make sure the connection the Titans share with Wally is maintained and she comes across the name Linda Park in his head, leading him to explain it was someone he knew and still loves. Garth realizes that this lost time in their lives might have something to do with that mission they had against Mr. Twister, so they decide to go after Mammoth to get some answers. Donna and Roy find out that Mammoth now works for Simon, AKA Psimon. Back at Grayson's loft, Lilith thinks she might have done a bad thing by poking around in Wally's subconscious. That bad thing is a fat magician working a kid's birthday party who turns into Abra Kadabra and claims that he's the one who made Wally West disappear.
Can I first off say how much I love Brett Booth’s art? I first saw his stuff on BACKLASH way back when and grew to like it and then love it. This has the makings of being some of the best of his career to date. Dan Abnett has a great love for these characters and it shows throughout! The whole book is filled with wonderful dialogue and, by bringing back a classic villain, takes us back to the original days of the Teen Titans. This is the REAL Titans, as far as I’m concerned and two issues in, is already showing this to be a much better title than the TEEN TITANS book was through two incarnations!
WONDER WOMAN #2: Way back when, Diana and her Amazon sisters are stargazing while military man Steve Trevor and his colleague Nick are lost and trying to find their way to a safe place. Flashing back further, we see Trevor and Nick in the real world while Diana and her sisters are on Themyscira engaging in their every day lives. At one point, Diana is bit by a snake, falls ill and needs the help of a healer over a long amount of time to be fully helped. Nick and his wife start a family, but he and Steve find themselves flying out on a mission. Their plane crashes and everyone is killed, except for Steve. That is the bad news. The good news: they have crashed on Themyscira. Aditional bad news-they have crashed on Themyscira.
WONDER WOMAN #3: Wonder Woman and Cheetah have a confrontation, where Diana reminds her that, although they have been enemies, she always will think of Barbara as a friend. The Hyena Men are under the command of the Warlord Cadulo. They worship the God Urzkartaga, who gave the power of the Cheetah to Barbara and they are chasing after Diana. They cross paths with the Hyena Men and Cheetah is shot with an arrow, which sends her into an animalistic and hungry frenzy, feeding on the corpses of the Hyena Men. As Diana calms her down, she begs her to find and kill Urzkartaga to free her from her curse. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor and his men are following Cadulo's men, who kidnapped this village's daughters. They get captured and Cadulo believes that they have been brought here to serve Urzkartaga.
Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott handle issue #2, which features the first installment of YEAR ONE. Scott’s art on this issue is so beautiful. This may very well be her best work yet. Every, single page is a piece of absolute beauty. Issue #3 goes back to the present story line and features the equally stunning work of Liam Sharp. While I have an issue separating the two stories and would much rather have one storyline end and then give us the second, I will deal with it. This is a book that is quickly finding a proper place in the Wonder Woman canon and the works of Strazynski and Azzarello.
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