DC's NEW 52 Month 12, Part 2

JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK #12: We get a partial origin story for Doctor Mist. He was doctor in Uganda when his wife was killed during the civil war He made a deal with Felix Faust to get him a way to master death and bring his wife back. Deadman finds his way back from the Deadlands and he and Zatanna head to Peru to get Mist and Faust while Constantine and Black Orchid head to Slaughter Swamp. We also discover that Constantine caused the death of Zatanna’s father some time ago. Arriving in the Swamp, the duo is under attack by Blackbriar Thorn. Mist and Faust meet with a mysterious man who discovers the books HE wants are in Nanda Parbat. Meanwhile, the mysterious man travels to the House of Secrets and meets with Doctor Occult. He recognizes ther man and allows himself to be murdered to allow the House of Secrets to be passed on. Meanwhile, Madame Xanadu talks with Timothy Hunter about why he gave up magic.

This was a strange, uneven issue this time with the bright spot being the appearance of both the House of Mystery AND the House of Secrets. Not to mention a possible future glimpse of Nanda Parbat. Could Dr, Fate be far behind?  Leave it to Jeff Lemire to keep us guessing. Next issue will be the #0 issue and will feature the true connection between Constantine and Zatanna. And then? We shall see where the second year takes us.

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL #12: The team, those who are able, gathers at the monument for their fallen Russian comrade to pay tribute when they are attacked by Lightweaver’s brother. He gets defeated and sent away. While it looks like the end of the team, Batman tells them they have a new HQ being built and they decided to stay together, minus Batwing and Batman. Booster Gold and Guy Gardner as co-leaders? This should be interesting.

And thus we say goodbye to MY FAVORITE Justice league team. While they have one more appearance in the forthcoming J.L.I. ANNUAL #1, this puts an end to a fun title with a diverse cast. Dan Jurgens, Aaron Lopresti and Matt Ryan: thank you for making comics fun again!

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL ANNUAL #1: Booster Gold tells the team that the “real” Justice League is going to the Hall of Justice to meet them. What actually happens is he introduces two new members: The Olympian and Blue Beetle. Guy Gardner’s fed up with it all and quits the team. O.M.A.C. gets taken over by Brother Eye and proceeds to trash the League, starting with August General in Iron and the The Olympian, in that order. Beetle gets sent “home” in some kind of Boom Tube transport. That leaves Godiva and Booster, who confesses that none of the Justice League is coming; none of them even returned his phone calls. Booster battles O.M.A.C. one on one and initiates a Skeets Protocol download which separates O.M.A.C. and Kevin. That is when time gets frozen and the future Booster Gold arrives to tell himself that the burgeoning relationship between Superman and Wonder Woman must be stopped. Then both Booster’s pop out of existence. The epilogue has Batman speaking with his creation, Brother Eye. Brother Eye says his programmer is coming and he will destroy Batman and thr Justice League. The tag line says “continued in Justice League in 2013."

This is the final nail in the JLI coffin and the fact the Booster has been eradicated from the Time Stream certainly is a plot point for further consideration. Geoff Johns and Dan Didio do an okay job and throw in a couple of plot threads for future measure. We get a Rip Hunter mention, references to the Global Guardians and Brother Eye refers to Batman as “creator”-all nice kudos to Pre NEW 52 continuity. Jason Fabok handles the art duties and, while he is no Aaron Lopresti, he does a good job on it. Fabok’s next assignment is as the regular penciler on DETECTIVE COMICS, so having him work with Batman at the tale’s conclusion gives us a nice sneak peak. Either way, I bit farewell to this title and look forward to these characters making their way into other DC titles.

NATIONAL COMICS: LOOKER #1: In the old DCU, the character of Looker was Emily "Lia" Briggs and made her debut in Batman & the Outsiders #25. During a mission in Markovia, she became a vampire. After the Outsider book ended, she bounced around the DCU serving in a number of capacities including talk show host. In this universe, Emily Briggs is a vampire but the rest of her tale is far different.

Before being turned into a vampire, Emily Briggs was a supermodel. But being a vampire means no swimsuit photo shoots and that pretty much ends her career, which she blames publicly on Lupus. Thus she begins a modeling agency. At a showcase of Rhodes Royce's designs, her personal assistant Roma tells her two of her models are missing, Esther and Siren. Roma discovers some drug residue and Emily tastes it to find it is cocaine mixed with blood. Memories of many murdered women assault her and she collapses. When she wakes two days later, she is informed that Siren was murdered and mutilated. We get the back-story regarding how she hired Roma and Charles: her two assistants. Emily visits a blind sculptor friend and feels grief that she can’t be with him except as a model. After doing some detective work, she ends up with an rich eccentric art collector named Simon Glass. It turns out he is an incubus who kills supermodels and actresses on an annual basis. The two of them battle and Emily rips out his heart out with her bare hand. Dying, he tells her he knows who turned her. Following his death, Emily save Esther. The issue ends with Emily getting the key to Paul’s apartment for her to attend a one-man art show.

This is such an unusual take on a previously bland character. Ian Edginton does an admirable job with the story, making all the pieces fit, including her history in a single story. Mike S. Miller provides the art and, as always with Miller, it’s sparkles. The front cover is by Guillem Marsh and it is truly a killer!  I would like to see a second take on this character. I don’t know if I could handle a full series, perhaps a mini-series. But I think it would be interesting to work her into the world of either Justice League Dark or Andrew Bennett. As you know, supernatural characters are hot!

NIGHTWING #12:  Dick has a bit of a verbal altercation with Detective Nie regarding Paragon when he realizes this meeting is a set-up. Paragon appears, and causes a cave-in which separates Nightwing from the police. Nie fights his way out of the cave-in and heads off to make an arrest. We learn that Paragon was in a car that Nightwing rescued back in issue #2. But, by saving the Strayhorns who were driving that car, the pair changed their objectives and had their tattoos removed. Paragon murdered them and tried to pin it on Nightwing  to make it a battle cry. Nightwing takes Paragon out and Nie cuts him some slack and lets Dick get away. After the battle, Dick tells Lucius Fox he wants to invest his entire trust fund into the Amusement Mile project. He finds out that Sonia Branch lied to him and was against them being partners. Uncomfortably, they are now partners and she kisses him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Penguin discovers that Lady Shiva is on her way to Gotham to kill off all of organized crime.

And so ends the first year of NIGHTWING. Kyle Higgins thankfully finishes this storyline. This title hasn’t had the pop it should have since the COURT OF THE OWLS  ended. The fact that Paragon’s methods for murdering the Strayhorns go all the way back to issue #2 is cool, but I didn’t care about this character from the start. The only thing is managed to do was introduce Nie as a major character in the title and ultimately give him a chance to re3deem himself by the end. I will see where issue #13 and bey9nd goes before I fully commit to another year of this book.

PHANTOM LADY AND DOLL MAN #1:  Many years ago, reporter Harry Knight and his wife were executed by a crimelord named Robert bender while their daughter Jennifer watched. That daughter went on to become the crimefighter known as the Phantom Lady. Six months ago, we see Jennifer trying to get info on earlier and Jennifer works as a gossip hack while trying to take down Bender's sons, Eli and Cyrus. She wants to prove that Cyrus murdered his own father so she sleeps with him and hopes to dig up some dirt that way. Jennifer is also sleeping with a scientist Dane Maxwell who is working on shrink technology. She asks him to hack Cyrus’ cell phone and what he does is mail it BACK to the mob guy. This ends up badly as Cyrus and his goons show up, shoot Jennifer in the leg and unknowingly cause Dane to get shrunk and become Doll Man.

Oh man: is this book a bummer! Let’s start off with the fact that we have a heroine and role model who trades sex for possible information and trades sex for scientific help. Oh, did I bother to mention that she allows one of her girlfriends to get beat up just to maintain her undercover ruse. Yeah, she’s a piece of work. Shame on both Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray, responsible for JONAH HEX, who are usually so much better at their craft than this. Okay, we can all figure that she will smarten up by the end of the mini-series and become more of a role model. But this tramp is not going to be on my reading list past this issue. The best part of the book for me was the Amanda Conner cover.

RED HOOD AND THE OUTLAWS #12: When last we saw Roy, he was held captive by The Blight. He still is, and continues his tale to them. Starfire has mixed feelings about whether she should rescue her sister or not. Depalo warns her not to get involved with a earthling. Jason admits to Isabel that this is his first outer space date, but she continues to crush on him anyway. Roy convinces the crew to reroute energy from the ship's propulsion unit to life support functions. A Blight transport beam drops the bad guys onto the ship and Roy jumps in front of a beam designed for Starfire. THAT’S how he ended up a prisoner. It turns out that Kommand'r isn’t really a prisoner, Roy grabs her and brings her back to HMSS Starfire. The sisters kiss and make up as they prepare to return to their home planet to battle the blight. Meanwhile, the Blight commander tortures a human colonel and his wife. Before dying, he utters the words "The Thirteen". Rumor has it ‘The Thirteen’ would result in the end of the omniverse. 

“The Thirteen” refers to the Thirteen Scions of Salvation which has been appearing as plot points in many DC books in recent months, specifically in SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1. What is it? How does it relate to Helspont, the Daemonites and many of DC’s “alien” superheroes including Martian Manhunter, Starfire, and Hawkman (all of whom have encounters with Helspont’s minions regarding The Thirteen Scions of Salvation. Other than that bit three pages before the end of the story, it was just an okay issue. Scott Lobdell and Timothy Green II tell a decent story that continues to turn this non-team team into Speedy, Red Hood and his girlfriend in space with the hot Tamaran chick. Oh yeah: no points in stealing the font from KNIGHTS OF THE OLD REPUBLIC for cover lettering!

RED LANTERN #12:  It’s the battle we’ve been waiting for: Abysmus battles Atrocitus. It’s a battle for affection as Abysmus wants to know that his “father” actually loved him when he was created. Atrocitus ends up pulling a “blood seed” from within his son and then feeds him to the Red Lantern cat!  Star Sapphire tries to convince Bleez to leave the Lanterns and join the Star Sapphires but that doesn’t happen. When it’s all over, Atrocitus attempts to restart the power battery and give new life to the Red Lanterns. But bubbling beneath the surface are the original denizens of the planet who will obviously take center stage in a future issue.

Okay, now that we have finished with the whole daddy/son story, can we get back to making this a kick-ass book once again? Peter Milligan’s writing improves and he is getting the feel of these characters. Miguel Sepulveda’s art is still the highlight of this title. Issue #0 promises the origin of Atrocitus. Let’s see how that plays out.

RESURRECTION MAN #12: Mitch ends up in a continuing series of Virtual Reality scenarios where he continues to die so Hooker can investigate his powers. Seeing him being treated like a lab rat, Darryl decides to become a hero and breaks Kim out of her prison to go rescue Mitch. Although he apparently cannot die, Mitch finds a way to kill Hooker. And just when it looks like everything ends find and dandy, Darryl gets his head blown off by a big robot thing that apparently is piloted by…Mitchell Shelley. Now THAT is what I call a cliffhanger!

And thus ends the run of one of my favorite DC titles…for the second time in my comic reading career. You cannot imagine how much I will miss this book. Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Javier Pina bring this series to short but intriguing conclusion which will be ultimately wrapped up in next month’s RESURRECTION MAN #0.

STORMWATCH #12:  We start with busts of Queen Nefertiti appearing all over the world. While the team is trying to gather them up, Martian Manhunter begins mind-wiping members of the team, making them forget that he was part of the team. He gets everyone and goes after The Engineer. In the process, The Shadow Cabinet bring him to The Island of Avalon. He tells them he needs to leave Stormwatch. The Cabinet allows his request as long as he gives them something in the future. The Engineer confesses that she knew what he was up to and was helping him mind-wipe the team. She allows him to mind-wipe her too. And, in case you forgot, Harry Tanner reveals the busts were a distraction and he is using what is left of The Fox as a dimensional transporter. he plans on posing as the fourth Shadow Lord.

Yeah, I’m feeling the waning hours for this title with me. Now it is much closer to being THE AUTHORITY, since Martian Manhunter, a former Justice League member (it went badly) leaves the team. Either make Harry Tanner the big bad guy or don’t. Popping him in for a couple of pages each issue doesn’t work. Where are the characters I know and love. Midnighter and Apollo are a couple. Oh…thery’re not. Jenny is a kid who has threatened to take o ut Midnighter several issues back. Yeah, that storyline was dropped.

Everything I loved about this book in the first few issues has gone away. And after issue #0, that would include me too. And Will Conrad as the artist? Nothing against him…BUT IT’S ANOTHER FILL IN ART JOB! Maybe a monthly schedule for all these titles is too much for these guys. How about 52 BI-MONTHLY titles and maybe we can all be happy.

SUICIDE SQUAD #12: While the team is trying to get free from their captors, Basilisk soldiers show up to rescue them. And they’re being led by Captain Boomerang who has joined the Basilisk fighters and now calls Regulus his leader. Well, not really as we all know Boomerang is only in it for himself. He double crosses Basilisk and leads an attack on Regulus. But then the traitor is revealed (drum roll please). It’s Black Spider. And now the game changes as he sends someone to kill Amanda Waller’s grandmother.

As I expected last month, this was another boring issue. First off, we have a cover that has nothing to do with the story. Amanda Waller meets the traitor…not this issue she doesn’t. Adam Glass has dragged the whole traitor story on too long and I somehow don’t even know if this represents the end of it. Fernando Dagnino is back doing art and it looks great again. But the story is so convoluted that I just can’t go there. This has always been THE NEW 52 book I couldn’t wait to read. Not so much after these last two issues.

SUPERBOY #12:  Superboy continues living the fast life thanks to the money he stole. He ends up partying with the wrong crowd, one of whom is celebrity hottie Dallas Sorrentino. Midway through it all, she gets kidnapped by Kiva The Mistress of the Lost Domain. So it’s up to Superboy, in civilian wear, to come to her rescue. Unfortunately, Kiva reaches into his brain and warps the perception around him. Eventually he decides the only way to fight her is to surrender his mind and something there scares her so bad she collapses. What is behind Dallas and what lurks in Superboy’s soul?

Not a good issue of this series which has been one of my favorite NEW 52 titles since it’s’ inception. Tom DeFalco is now on his own, no longer working off of Scott Lobdell’s plots. And it shows. DeFalco is a legend in the business but he doesn’t seem to have any idea where to go with this character. And that is very disappointing as I expected his work to be as cool as Lobdell’s was. Add in another DC TITLE with a fill-in artist in the form of Robson Rocha and I find myself at the crossroads on yet ANOTHER DC title. What started out so great has now just turned into a pile of bad clichés.

SUPERMAN #12: Lucy Lane shows up at Clark Kent’s apartment, pretty pissed that he has broken yet another date, this time to go bungee jumping. Superman is too busy trying to deal with the E.T. that the Russians have under lock and key. All the creature wants to do is create a gateway to go home. The Russians plan to do what they always plan to do: cover it up. This time, they plan on dropping a nuke on the plant. Superman gets free and gets away from the blast area. Unfortunately lets the Russians know that the facilities the Russians used to capture the creature got destroyed too. Returning home, he and Lucy go bungee jumping off the Bogdanove bridge. 

Okay, we get the inside joke and Jon Bogdanove was a longtime contributor to the Superman titles. The rest of the book? Well, Dan Jurgens still writes like it’s the 1980’s and that’s okay if you like a nostalgic feel to your superheroes. Jesus Merino’s art? It is what it is, angular faces and all. I look forward to see what the Scott Lobdell era has in store for us. 

SUPERMAN ANNUAL #1: We begin with the tale of Daemonite prince Artus being cast out of his people because he was responsible for the genetic decline of their species.  In present day, Clark Kent grumbles about having the sloppy Jimmy Olsen live with him and share the rent. He also whines about how the Daily Planet is no longer a real newspaper since being taken over by Galaxy Communications. And he misses Lois Lane. From here, it’s a battle with Helspont, who trashes the Man of Steel pretty impressively. Superman awakes on Grifter’s ship and must help him, along with Deathblow, defeat Biomass. This puts our hero back on Helspont's ship where he taunts Superman about how his people are killing Daemonite agents all over Earth. As expected, Helspont reveals he was once Artus and he discovered that Earth was the best location for the genetic salvation of the Daemonites. In fact, the metagenes they need are in humans and by having Superman protect them, he is ensuring that the Daemonites will succeed. Before disappearing, Helspont makes mention of Jor-El, leaving Superman more confused than ever.  Meanwhile Martian Manhunter, Starfire and Hawkman all encounter Daemonite emissaries seeking to recruit them to their cause: The Thirteen Scions of Salvation.

The Scott Lobdell era on SUPERMAN begins here. And it’s a pretty bumpy ride. The plot from Lobdell is complicated and convoluted and he lets Fabian Nicieza handle the script which is filled with some neat clichés. Pascal Alixe and Tom Raney handle the art and, to be honest, I would have been thrilled if it was just Raney, as I am a huge fan of his art. What this issue does is set the plot for the next year and beyond as the Daemonites become the signature alien villain in the NEW 52 Universe.

SWAMP THING #12: It’s Part 2 of the ROTWORLD PROLOGUE. Animal Man and Swamp Thing are heading into the Rot down a large bone ladder. Above it all, Buddy’s family and Abby do their best to take down the Rot creatures that are attacking them. Abby is forced to shut down the portal and that is going to strand Animal Man and Swamp Thing with Anton Arcane. Abby knows where the heart of the Rot is and she intends to go there. Arcane informs our heroes that time is handled differently down below and they’ve been in the Rot for year. With that, they find themselves home and the world has indeed been overtaken by The Rot.

Scott Snyder, now getting an assist from Jeff Lemire, need to pick up the pace on this story. We KNOW The Rot is coming and the whole world is going to be afflicted with it. But this is just taking so long to tell this tale. The Prologue should have been a one-off special and issue #12 of ANIMAL MAN and SWAMP THING should have been the actual START of this epic. Marco Rudy handles the art  for what looks to be an extended run this issue.

TEEN TITANS #12: Wonder Girl is still stuck inside the Silent Armor. Superboy and Red Robin find a way to crack the armor and get Cassie free. Right after that, they get hit with paralyzing gas dropped by a guy named Diesel. He used to be Cassie’s boyfriend and he’s a bit upset over being dumped. He takes the power of the armor from her and claims to now be able to assume his role as the “harbinger of the end of days”. He escapes and Cassie now wants it back. She believes that the fate of the world means she needs to control the armor. In the back-up (yes, we get a back-up), Kid Flash and his new friend Teryx continue the tale started in DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS #12. Steg and Dac go on with their plan to free all their lizard brothers and sisters. 

Scott Lobdell comes back with one of his better issues of the last few months. Make Wonder Girl a major player in the mythos…I’m good with that! Brett Booth continues his great looking art! With issue #13 we are promised the origin of the Silent Armor. Do you think it has anything to do with the Silent Knight?

WONDER WOMAN #12: Hera decides that she is going to trade the throne of Mount Olympus to Apollo for the lives of Zola and her child. Wonder Woman and Hermes arrive to do battle with Apollo and Artemis. Zola’s water breaks and Hera confesses that she has no plans on keeping her deal with Apollo. She knows that Zeus will return soon and just take it back. And she tosses Zola into the abyss. Wonder Woman manages to rescue her with Hermes aid. Apollo takes the throne and then begins changing Olympus in his image. Among those changes, he exiles Hera. Wonder Woman sends Zola and Hermes back to Earth so she can deliver her child. She tells Apollo that if Zola’s child is truly the child of the prophecy, she will kill the child herself. Returning to Earth, Hermes delivers Zola’s baby, Hera cries over being exiled and has become mortal. Hermes, the god of thieves, steals the baby who he delivers to Demeter. And, as a fitting finale, we see a wounded man breaks through the ice he was buried under. He puts on his helmet, and enters the Boom Tube. Orion has arrived.

So Orion has arrived. Can Highfather, leader of the New Gods, be far behind? Brian Azzarello spends a year turning this title upside down and ends that first year with a reintroduction like this. Orion becomes the SECOND Fourth World character to debut in the NEW 52 Universe. This a mind-blowing ending to this first story arc and the usual great art from Cliff Chiang. This continues to be my favorite title of all the NEW 52 books.

WORLDS’ FINEST #4: Power Girl and Huntress continue to battle Hakkou the nuclear Man. We learn 45 months ago, the pair were in Rome with Kara breaking into technological research facilities trying to find a way home. She wanted money to build her own research facility in Micronesia. They beat up a bunch of Roman thugs and Helena sees a magazine showing a crossbow and she decides she misses being a superhero. Back in the present, the pair continues to battle with the Nuclear Man. Kara, despite the protests of the Japanese sailors, drags out the nuclear warhead from a US cruiser and she throws it into Hakkou's mouth. The explosion seems blow him up. But the American navy tries to arrest Huntress and she is saved by Power Girl. Flying off, they argue about whom gets top billing in this pair.

Yeah…I really am this close to being done with the title. George Perez, Scott Koblish and Kevin Maguire do a phenomenal job on the art. But Paul Levitz story is leaving me cold. As I mentioned previously, the back story is the best part of the book. Give me issue #0 and I will probably take a gander at issue #5 to see where the story goes. If it drags, it is gone off my list.