DC's NEW 52 MONTH #11, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #11: Felix Faust and his demons battle Steve Trevor who luckily has some help when Justice League Dark shows up. A decision is made that the only way to defeat faust is to let John Constantine get to the Books of Magic. But Trevor tells Dr. Mist and Black Orchid not to let him out of their sight. Constantine gets the Books and the upper hand. But there is a traitor in their midst in the form of Dr. Mist. Elsewhere, Madame Xanadu seeks for the last person to handle the Books of Magic: Timothy Hunter.

Another killer issue from Jeff Lemire and Mikel Janin. While we’re all watching out to see what kind of sneaky move that John Constantine is going to do, Dr. Mist sneaks in the back door and proves to be the bad guy within the team. By biggest complaint isn’t with the book but with the fact the we now have two DC titles with traitors on the teams. What next? Superman a bad guy too!

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #11: The team has been captured by Breakdown and his gang of super baddies and they are being publically harangued. But leave it to Guy Gardner to anger O.M.A.C. enough to get Kevin’s persona t go away and the real beast to emerge(can you say HULK?). The team breaks loose and defeats the villains, destroying Breakdown and killing Lightweaver in the process. But Lightweaver’s brother promises revenge and gains his brother’s powers. All this and Booster and Godiva share a tender victory kiss.

This title is in the home stretch as it ends with issue #12 and it feels like it. This entire storyline has been good up until now. We get the big battle scene, O.M.A.C. doing his best Bruce banner imitation and a guy swearing revenge. here’ the revenge: your book has been cancelled! That’s a shame because I have said that this book by Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan was my favorite Justice League title.

NATIONAL COMICS #1: ETERNITY: Christopher Freeman dreams of his father’s death and he finds himself in a world of the dead.  When he awakes he goes to his job at the coroner's office, where he sees this girl he has the hots for. He works on Darby Quinn: a murdered owner of an antique store. Christopher goes to the land of the dead and brings Quinn back for 24 hours. We learn that Quinn, a nasty, bigoted old man, tried to rape this girl from a band and, in self defense, she shot him. He sends the old man back to his dead space, saves the girl and solves the crime. Before it’s all done, we meet, for the third time, Mr. Keeper, who leaves us with more mysteries than answers. The next day at work, after a night WITHOUT his recurring dream, he goes to the table and realizes his next body to work on is that of the girl he had the hots for.

This is a strange new anthology title and this introduces a new version of Kid Eternity to thwe New DC Universe. Jeff Lemire, seemingly the king of supernatural DC books writes a killer, weird and confusing script while Cully Hamner provides the art. I guess, based on audience reaction, this book may or may not end up with a series. I hope so, provided we can get quality stories and NO FILL-IN ARTISTS!!!

NIGHTWING #11: Paragon tells the Republic of Tomorrow that Nightwing has to die to save Gotham. Nightwing battles back but has to save some civilians in danger, thus allowing Paragon and The Republic to escape. Nightwing has a confrontation with Detective Nie, who we all know hates Nightwing and has no problem with framing someone to get his way. Paragon and The Republic get into a heated discussion about putting civilians in harms way, so Paragon kills them. Sonia Zucco informs Dick that the bankers shot down hisloan application even thought she voted for it. And we find out that Nie hates Nightwing because he blames him for the death of a cop from issue #1, who was Nie’s lover. Later that night, Nie is visited by Paragon who says: “Do I have a case for you."

Okay, so we don’t know anything more about Paragon except he/she has no problem taking out his/her own followers. We still don’t get the agenda. Oh, but we do get Nie’s motives. And is it just me, or is the NEW 52 populated with a LOT of homosexual characters? No complaints from me. I understand DC is embracing their “audience” but populating it with characters just because they are waving the diversity flag is annoying. How about writing a great character and they HAPPEN to be gay instead of shoving it at us? Let’s look at comics’ history: Obsidian, Extrano, Midnighter, Northstar, Karma, Renee Montoya, The Pied Piper, Jennifer Kale, Rictor, Shatterstar. Heck: Marvel even eventually made The Rawhide Kid gay(although that was just embarrassing). But these were characters we accepted because they were good characters and not just because some writer was using their orientation as a plot device.

THE RAVAGERS #3: Brother Blood makes his NEW 52 debut in this issue. He goes after our heroes and tries to turn two of them to his way of thinking. meanwhile, Beast Boy and Terra have their own issues with hunters and Blood’s followers. And is the Red he keeps referring to the same Red that is running wild in ANIMAL MAN?

Okay…this is the LAST review you will see of this book from me. I’m done! Ian Churchill can’t even give us three full issues as he is assisted by Jon Sibal, Tom Raney and Norm Rapmund. Howard Mackie’s script falls flat and I find all these characters totally uninteresting. This is a poor attempt at a GEN 13 title. I won’t even give them the courtesy of finishing this storyline.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #11: Between last issue’s ending and now, Roy has been captured by the blight. We flashback as to how this happened. Starfire and her crew defeated the Blight fleet but sustained severe damage to her ship. Kori then proceeds to tell the tale of how she became a slave. Her older sister, Komand’r traded her for peace. During captivity, she met Orn, Depalo and Ktten, who make up her crew. She returned to Tamaran as a hero, but left with the Starfire(the ship, that is). The Blight are rather upset here because they have to listen to a flashback of a flashback while torturing Roy harper. But things get worse: Komand’r is working with the Blight.

Scott Lobdell writes another fun issue here, especially the flashback within a flashback and the entire bit with Jason wayward date. And, as always, the art on the book is great. Boy: is this book gonna look a whole lot different when Kenneth Rocafort leaves to go work on SUPERMAN.

RED LANTERN #11:  Guy Gardner leads a crew to Ysmault and discovers that it’s pretty much trashed. On Zamaron, Star Sapphire and Bleez battle each other and there may be a change of colors from Red to Purple. Rankorr needs to find his way out of deep space to rescue his other Red Lanterns but runs into the bodies of those Abysmus has killed. Atrocitus engages in a blood prophecy to help him find Abysmus, which he does. Can the “son” actually kill “the father”?

This title continues to disappoint me. Peter Milligan’s writing is getting more cohesive and I like what he is doing with Bleez. But Atrocitus is becoming Captain Ahab and Rankorr is boring. Can someone bring him back to life…please? Miguel Sepulveda’s art is the highlight of this title. At this rate, I may take the book off my list after the current storyline ends unless it picks up soon.

RESURRECTION MAN #11:  Mitch and Kim end up in the Soder factor in Viceroy, South Carolina as they search for the captured Darryl Roth. What they find is The Lab where Mitch was created and that Darryl is still a villain after all. Turns out it was a set up so that Hooker and the Body Doubles could take out Mitch, which they do. Can this be the end for Resurrection Man? No, but the next issue is!

Well, if you have read my work at all since the beginning of the NEW 52, you know how much I love this book. And you can also imagine how much I will miss this book. The team of Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Jesus Saiz and Javier Pina are responsible for one of the most entertaining and unusual books on the market and, once again, the book goes down because of less than stellar sales. While it’s late to jump on the book now, you can pick up the first volume of the trade paperback when it’s available in August.

STORMWATCH #11: We start the book 30,000 years ago with some sort of a Neanderthal super team. And somehow, while keeping their bloodline pure for all these years, they have also become known as The Hidden People. Three Neanderthals become Bloodline, Flame, and Soul designed to keep the line pure.  But now it’s 2012 and Stormwatch is battling the Neaderthal trio who are trying to use the Devolver. They get what they came for and leave. The Engineer digs through some records and learns of a previous team killed in a single day. And the Devolver lets loose, but The Engineer ends ingesting it and has to vomit it up later on,(but after Martian Manhunter’s joke, I’d vomit too). Mean, off in Antarctica, Harry Tanner has convinced The Projectionist to love him even while he tortures The Fox.

Oh please help this title! Peter Milligan is writing this book like it’s THE AUTHORITY and even though I loved that title, THIS AIN’T THE AUTHORITY. There is just too much back story being thrown about here for me to care. I like the concept that Stormwatch  has been around for most of history. But now we throw in their ancient enemies, The Hidden People. Nope…not buying it. Eduardo Pansica and Ignacio Calero provide the artwork, all though only Calero gets credit on the cover. And then to have to deal with The Engineer vomiting the Delvolver and a lame joke. Sigh…this book may be off my list soon. Maybe it IS time for what used to be the Wildstorm Universe to away for good.

SUICIDE SQUAD #11: The team is off on a new mission when a Basilisk supporter sets off her implant and blows up the plane they are all on. So those who survive end up on an island that it a Mayan paradise. They all end up in a big argument about who t6he traitor in the group is before they all end up taking unexpected naps. When they awake, they discover they are going to be sacrificed by the Mayans.

I found this to be one the lamest issue of this series so far. Adam Glass writes a nice story and Carlos Rodriguez turns in an okay art job (I am SO SICK of fill-in issues all across the NEW 52) but this issue is full of fluff. We get Waller giving El Diablo the third degree at the beginning because he didn’t find the cyanide tooth in Seattle (go back and do your research…I’ll wait) and then it becomes a long trip in the Mayan city. Please get this train back on track next month. This is one of the coolest NEW 52 books and everyone loves Harley. But this issue, and I’m sure the follow-up next month, was just a bore.

SUPERBOY #11: Bunker is visiting Superboy in his lavish apartment, which is furnished with money he stole(no one told him breaking into a bank and stealing money is illegal). Then it’s off to a tattoo parlor where Superboy gets the S symbol inked on his arm. They end their day battling an alien named Detritus.

Now, clever readers of this blog might be lost as the LAST issue ended with our hero on an upside island with a trap door. Well, that story is concluded in TEEN TITANS #10. So what we get here is a neat little buddy issue with the clone and his Teen Titan buddy. Nere we have another wonderful issue by Tom DeFalco from a plot by Scott Lobdell. DeFalco has spent a whole lot of years writing awesome teen dialogue and his work is almost as cool as Lobdell’s. And that’s a good thing as he will be fully taking over the title in September. I so love his characterizations! R. B. Silva handles the art chores this issue and that’s great to see again. This is still one of my favorite titles in the NEW 52 line.

SUPERMAN #11: Clark gets suckered into a double date with Lois, her boyfriend, and her sister Lucy.  Morgan Edge shows up and before too much verbal sparring can occur, they all receive word of a problem in Russia, and leaving poor Lucy stuck with the check. In Russia, Superman investigates the deaths that occurred when the scientists opened the cylinder Superman saved for them a few issues back. He also discovers a town not far away that also has had everyone killed. When the bad guy shows up, it speaks an alien language and looks like it escaped from PREDATOR. And it manages to totally whip Superman and destroy his suit.

I’m getting tired of stories that don’t pay off and misleading covers! First off, Dan Jurgens writes another story that starts in one place, flashes back a few hours, and then back to the present again. STOP IT!!! Did EVERYONE at DC just discover the flashback with NEW 52? It is really NOT a new device. It has been around for a couple of years. Secondly, we get the big cover story build-up  stating THE SECRET OF THE SUIT REVEALED. Yeah…that’s a half dozen panels showing how Kryptonian biotech forms the suit onto him when he goes off into battle. Wow! Sounds like Iron Man to me! Stop stealing ideas and be original.

SWAMP THING #11: Abigail battles Anton Arcane and the Un-Men wile Alec meets with the new version of the Parliament of Trees. Swamp Thing battles Arcane and his minions and, defeated, he eventually heads into a portal that leads to The Rot. Abby sees the future after The Rot takes control and that is when Animal Man, his wife, daughter and his kitty familiar arrive and tells them that Animal man and Swamp Thing must enter The Rot together! Welcome to the epicenter of the Crossover!

Scott Snyder delivers the payoff after 11 issues! Finally, with both books running alongside each other, we get the beginning of the true crossover. And, if that weren’t enough, we get Anton Arcane and his Un-Men going crazy, Abby showing why she is still one of the best and most unsung heroines out there and a newly formed Parliament . Marco Rudy handles the art this issue as we, once again, get a DC book with a fill-in artist. Other than that, another rocking issue!

TEEN TITANS #11:  Wonder Girl fights some invading creature, flips out, attacks her teammates and begs for help as she transforms. In the back-up story, three exiles from Mystery island raise havoc and lead into a story taking place in the next DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS.

What a waste of an issue! This story jumps around, goes nowhere and left me totally ripped off. We get a psychotic Wonder Girl in some bizarre Amazonian armored suit, attacking anything that moves and then relenting. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, we get a crappy back-up story feature characters I don’t want to care about. But the explanation is that they hitched a ride back on Danny the Street as he brought the Titans home. The highlight of the entire issue? Brett Booth’s art which always manages to amaze me! Keep up the good work, Brett. The rest of you: get back to doing what you do best-writing quality! And again I ask: where is Skitter?

WONDER WOMAN #11: Strife visits her mom; Demeter and Artemis have a conference. And Hermes, Lennox and Diana take Zola to a doctor. While they are there, they are visited by Artemis and Apollo and a battle begins. When it is over, Lennox is falling apart (literally) while Artemis and Apollo have taken Zola to Hera in exchange for Apollo getting Zeus’ throne. Not if Wonder Woman and Lennox have anything to say about it.

Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang continue to take the classic legend and turn it so far on it’s ear that it is almost unrecognizable. If this book doesn’t win MULTIPLE AWARDS I would be very much amazed. It is written in Azzarello’s amazing style, features Chaing’s quirky but technically perfect art and is just a ball to read. I LOVE THIS TITLE!!!

WORLD’S FINEST #3: The battle with Hakkou rages on and this time it’s Power Girl to the rescue. He retreats but not before he mentions that he knows they came from a distant place to get here. We get a flashback that takes us just under four years ago and see that Helena has been doing research on this universe’ counterparts. Karen tries to understand our computer programming and stumbles upon an article called “If you can’t build it, buy it”. Immediately, she decides to buy a genius (that explains part of how she landed Mr. Terrific). Two years later and she finally is getting that date with Michael Holt. When we flash forward again, the duo is fighting the bad guy again and this time, after destroying a good chunk of Tokyo, he gets tossed into Tokyo Bay. Now what?

The excitement factor for this book is beginning to wane for me. The modern day story should have taken one issue, not three and counting. And it’s not that good a story with a lame villain who seems like the Japanese version of Chemo. Give me Chemo! As I have found with the first three issues, the back story is the best part of the book. I’m running out of patience and enthusiasm. It’s going to take a home run in the next few issues by Levitz, Perez and Maguire to save this one for me.