DC's NEW 52, Month 20, Part 1

ACTION COMICS #20: Superman, who was infected with a virus at the end of last issue, is saved by Dr. Veritas, who teleported him to her facility. With the infection removed, it has mutated into a monstrous hand that has combined with his DNA. As Superman examines the hand, it attacks him and becomes a humanoid form. Veritas activates a red light that weakens both the creature and Superman. Hen uses his Arctic breath to shatter the creature. But all is not well, as the virus has spread to the people of Metropolis. Superman arrives to try and quarantine the infected, but they fuse together and attack him with their tentacles. Elsewhere, Lex Luthor puts on his warsuit and prepares to save the world from the menace of Superman. In the back-up, Jor-El blows off the Kryptonian Science Council as he discovers the ancient underwater city of Xan. Meanwhile, his future wife, Lara(who is engaged to Jax-Ur) has her side-arm stolen by Colonel Zod who kills one of the council elders with it.

Andy Diggle who basically bailed on this book after issues with DC Editorial, along with Tony S. Daniel (handling story with Diggle AND art) deliver a somewhat lackluster tale. Dr. Veritas? REALLY? You guys going to teach everyone Latin? And while we’re at it, can we name some people with Latin variations of Justice and the American Way?  And Lex Luthor is going to save the day? Sure. By the way: where is this set: in the pastor in the now. Never quite sure when it comes to this title. As far as the back-up by Scott Lobdell, Tony Hannah and Phillip Tan, we get to see Jor-El as a selfish tool and at least we see get to see Colonel Zod!

ALL STAR WESTERN #20: Jonah Hex and Booster Gold find Clem Hootkins and his gang murdered. So Hex cuts off Hootkins’ head as proof of claiming the bounty. Booster offers Jonah some of the gold stolen from his town as payment for him to help. That night, they go to a village where Mexcian bandits have the gold and Hootkins’ dwarf. Laster, Booster sneaks in and tries to steal the gold. But the dwarf attempts to wake the drunks and can’t, but succeeds in waking the rest of the town. The gathering fire at him but are stunned when he appears bulletproof, takes the gold and arrests the dwarf. When lead bandit Romeo wakes the next morning, he vows to Sheriff Booster Gold for himself to see if he bleeds. Meanwhile, Hex, Booster and the dwarf head back to town to return the gold and claim the bounty. In the back-up, the Western version of Stormwatch search for the lost city of gold and battle vampires in the process.
Hustin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti, along with Moritat, continue to rewrite the Old West by letting Booster Gold run wild as a sheriff. We get action, adventure, death and a dwarf. And a BIG Gatling Gun too! As far as the back-up goes, I tire of this whole Stormwatch of the West story and can’t wait for it to end. PLEASE don’t let this lead to a spin-off title!

ANIMAL MAN #20: Buddy Baker, after watching his life go to hell in the last issue, sits alone and watches the movies he starred in, TIGHTS. In a nutshell, it parallels his life. He plays Chas Grant who is also the superhero Red Thunder whose life is in turmoil. His ex-wife and her boyfriend have to pay his medical bills. But a talent agent named Tom Drummond takes on Grant who soon becomes a major celebrity. Eventually that backfires on him when he realizes the agency owns his likeness. Taking a photo of his son with him, it appears Chas decides to jumps to his death off a bridge. A funeral is held even without a body, where Paige plays the guitar at the burial. Later, Jamie sees a news report where a mystery hero has saved two children from a fire. Buddy stops the movie, looks at a photo of Cliff and breaks down. Just then, his agent calls: Buddy has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Truth is stranger than fiction, especially for Buddy Baker who realizes the weird parallel between his movie role and his real life. But then light shines on him and he gets nominated for an Oscar! Bet that’s going to make him forget his son died saving the world! This title rolls along nicely, even after the great storyline that was ROTWORLD. This book only bears SOME resemblance to the previous incarnation, which is okay, especially when you compare it to the classic runs.

AQUAMAN #20: On an Apache Reservation in Arizona, a resident confronts a Skinwalker. Next, Ya’wara teleports herself, Aquaman and Prisoner of War aboard The Living Room: the airplane and headquarters of The Operative. Aquaman sends The Others to the Arizona desert and retrieve an Atlantean Glove. Back on the reservation, we meet a girl named Sky, her brother and her grandmother the medicine woman. She meets with The Others when they are forced to make an emergency landing in the desert. She tries to take Kahina’s Seal of Clarity, as Sky is destined to take her place. Ya’wara agrees and gives her the seal as Sky reveals that, because she can communicate with the dead, she knows who has the Power Glove they seek. The team and Sky end up battling a team a group of Skinwalkers led by her Uncle Carl, who wear the glove. Defeating them, the team leaves with the Power Glove and Sky promises to be available when needed.

In a nutshell, this is a fill-in issue as Aquaman only appears long enough to give the team their mission. Comic legend John Ostrander writes a clever tale and Manuel Garcia does a beautiful job of illustrating it. But DC Editorial gets NO POINTS for having a cover that says it’s by the regular team of Geoff  Johns, Paul Pelletier and Sean Parsons. Simple little mistakes like this seem to happen more than they should have in the NEW 52 and I find it frustrating. I mean, Pelletier and Rod Reis did the cover so someone knew this issue was happening. Someone couldn’t figure out that the interior was by a different team? Maybe Johns was too busy getting patted on the back for finishing his GREEN LANTERN run to appear this month.

BATGIRL #20: The issue begins nine years ago when Shauna Belzer added weed-killer to birthday party punch and came home with a blood-stained ventriloquist's dummy. Flash forward to today as Barbara Gordon makes a surprising visit to her Psychiatrist’s office. Without revealing too much information, we learn that she tore the bat-emblem and went out on patrol. She ends up outside of the reality show "Gotham's Got a Star," where a grown up Shauna Belzer has been rejected with her ventriloquism act and has killed one of the judges and taken another hostage. She watches the judge be dragged into the same parking garage where Ricky lost his leg. Charise Carnes, owner of the Three Towers, sends her security to stop the kidnapping. Meanwhile, Ricky now has a titanium prosthetic leg paid for by the Wayne Foundation. Ricky’s brother Rolo warns him not to spend time with associates of the bat. Batgirl follows Shauna to the garage and finds herself attacked by the dummy. Carnes security arrives and Shauna throws her voice convincing the guards that Batgirl is responsible for the kidnapping and manages to escape with the hostage in the process. Back at her house, where the kidnapped Ms. Xavia sits next to Shauna’s murdered parents, Shauna and her dummy decide to kill Batgirl. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon knows that Batgirl is responsible for his son’s death and she is “going to pay”.

Gail Simone, Daniel Sampere and Carlos Rodriguez continue to turn it a killer story here. Meet the new Ventriloquist which many die hard DC fans will absolutely hate! Here’s a psychotic girl as opposed to the mild mannered, MALE predecessor. Personally, I’m okay with it. After nearly two years, we have to realize that the NEW 52 is not the DCU we grew up with. And I truly love having Gail Simone back with her killer dialogue and such. C’mon: the dummy feels remorse in having to kill Batgirl because he likes her “excellent rack”. WOW! That’s politically correct!

BATMAN #20: Clayface swallows Bruce Wayne and dumps him into a trash compactor where Lucius Fox has already been dumped. Bruce puts on this suit he finds there that greatly resembles the BATMAN BEYOND suit and busts them out of their prison. Meanwhile, Clayface is out masquerading as Bruce Wayne and causing havoc. That soon ends as Batman, in a secure batsuit, battles back.  Gordon and his men arrive just in time to see Clayface reveal Bruce Wayne under the mask. Batman drops a Chamber on Clayface and the only way to open the chamber is with Basil Karlo’s voice. but, since Karlo no longer has enough of his own DNA within him, he can’t get out. Batman reveals that his mask was covered with Bruce Wayne’s DNA and that was how he fooled the police into believing it. The issue ends with a tearful Bruce and Alfred watching video of Damien Wayne. The back-up tale concludes the GHOST LIGHTS story begun last issue.

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo present a tale with some good and some bad. The good? Capullo’s art. The bad? Batman was wearing Bruce Wayne’s DNA and the Police BUY IT? Talk about suspension of disbelief! This is one of the dumbest explanations I have ever heard in a comic (well…maybe not the dumbest) and the legendary GCPD believe it? Yeah…not happening! As far as the back-up goes: I thought it was filler last issue and I still didn’t find anything great top say about it. Oh yeah: Batman and Superman remain friends. Next issue: ZERO YEAR begins. This should be interesting!

BATMAN AND ROBIN #20: Carrie Kelley, friend of the late Damian Wayne who was giving him acting lessons, shows up unannounced at Wayne Manor. After asking why Damian was taking acting lessons, he dismisses her by saying that his son would be studying aboard for several years. She refuses his money and then strikes up a relationship with Titus, quoting a line from Shakespeare’s TITUS ANDRONICUS in the process. Alfred offers her a job walking the dog for them. Bruce contacts Jason Todd about a mission in Ethiopia involving snipers, which he joins his former partner on. Batman has upped his level of non lethal attacks as he uses electrically charged gauntlets which kill the nerves in the snipers' hands. After the snipers are put out of commission, Bruce drives Jason to Magdala Valley, which is where Jason Todd was beaten to death by the Joker. Bruce admits to bringing him here to jog a memory on how he came back to life so he can do the dame for his son. Jason and Bruce trade blows with Jason standing tall. he takes the car and leaves Bruce to wait for the Batplane. Meanwhile, Harvey Dent makes a decision that will have ramifications for everyone.

Okay, so we all know that Bruce has lost his genetically created son and all, but he is totally be a tool! And, besides taking a couple of verbal bites out of the future Robin(wait and see…), he brings zombie Jason Todd out to Magdala Valley so he can try to figure out how to bring Damian back to life. Hey Brucie: did you ever read PET SEMATARY? Maybe you saw the movie? Bringing him back to life is probably NOT the smartest idea without a Lazarus Pit to help out. Peter Tomasi, Patrick Gleason and Cliff Richards continue to make this a wonderful piece of the Batman legend. Also nice: the fact that despite the NEW 52 taking many pieces of the patchwork that was the DCU and rewriting it, some things remain the same. Jason Todd did die in Magdala Valley because the fans REALLY hated him and voted to kill him and that remains part of the lore. Now if someone can explain how Barbara Gordon learned to walk again…

BATMAN INCORPORATED #11: In Tokyo, teams of “motorcycle riding hooligans” are terrorizing the downtown area. The police arrive but can’t handle the “hooligans” so they send out the bat Alarm. The Batman of Japan, Jiro, is having dinner with his partner, Canary. They suit up and battle the motorcycle team only to take a pretty severe beating. They go back to the Batbase and regroup. A short time later, they battle the motorcyclists in the lair of their leader. Jiro and canary hurl special Bat Darts at their enemies which causes their helmets to melt and reveal their horribly scarred cybernetic faces. They were recruited by Leviathan, the experiment went wrong and were abandoned. So they join forces to battle their leader:, Lady Tiger Fist, locking her into a virtual reality prison.

Welcome to our second fill-in issue of the month in the NEW 52. I don’t get it. We have less than 52 titles here (not counting annuals) but we still can’t stay on time? Chris Burnham and Jorge Lucas turn in a rather fun and funny issue with some great lines and some nice nods to Japanese Sci-Fi culture. Oh yeah: and a GREAT DOCTOR WHO reference which may be off color but is rather funny! I would have liked to se this as a one shot, maybe in the cancelled DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS anthology. But I really want to get back to Morrison’s wind up of this title.

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT #20: Batman searches for Mad Hatter through the underground tunnels beneath Gotham City but comes up empty handed. Mad hatter has a new Alice in his life as he has kidnapped Natalya Trusevich, Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend. Bruce has a nightmare and decides to visit Natalya and tell her he doesn’t plan on being Batman forever. When he arrives, he finds that GCPD are investigating the break in. He has Alfred activate a tracker he placed on her and gives chase. Meanwhile, hatter decides she is NOT his Alice and decides she nuts die, but not before she reveals Batman’s identity. She takes a savage beating but refuses to give up the information. She the Hatter throws her out of the helicopter they have been travelling in. Batman arrives but is too late as she crashes into the Bat-Signal on the roof of GCPD.

Yeah…Bruce Wayne is having a really bad year. First his son and now his girlfriend? This will lead to one PISSED OFF Dark Knight! Greg Hurwitz turns out another excellent issue and Szymon Kudranski steps into Ethan Van Sciver’s shoes with some very atmospheric work. Do I think Natalya is dead? No…I think she will end up being crippled, much like Barbara Gordon was. Hey-maybe she can be the NEW Oracle! 

BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT ANNUAL #1: Set on a Halloween night, the Mad Hatter finds himself invited to the Arkham Detention Facility for Youth by The Penguin. The Penguin arrives with a similar letter from the Hatter - meaning that neither had actually invited the other. The Scarecrow is also there, having received a letter from Hatter and Penguin. A flash of lightning reveals the silhouette of the Batman and the trio panics. They try to escape by going outside only to be lost in a hedge maze while the song THREE BLIND MICE plays. They find themselves gassed by Fear Toxin and a forced to relive their painful childhood memories. They each get knocked unconscious. When they wake in the morning, they go their separate ways and agree never to speak of this again. In Wayne Manor, we see that Bruce Wayne delivered the invitations and the villains had done all the mental damage to themselves.

What a great waste of FIVE BUCKS! Greg Hurwitz and Szymon Kudranski give us a full length tale of tremendous silliness. Batman never appears in the issue, except on the cover. This is a Halloween tale that hits the comic stands in May! If there is any socially redeeming factor to this book is that it fleshes out some back story on the three villains. But, if you’re a long time comic reader, we KNOW they had rough childhoods. So the promise of a tie-in, at least in my mind, to the current BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT story, never delivers. Thanks for nothing guys!


BATWOMAN #20: Batwoman is having trouble believing that her sister Beth, who she saw fall to her death from a helicopter many years ago, is still alive. But Agent Chase assures her the woman on the other side of the glass is really her sister. Chase explains how she tried to connect Kate to Batwoman and discovered a sect of the Religion of Crime that was totally obsessed with Batwoman. Tracking them to an abandoned airstrip, the DEO and the Religion of Crime engaged in a battle that left everyone dead or wounded except Chase. She discovered an Egyptian sarcophagus in a hanger and called in Director Bones. Apparently the sarcophagus brought Beth back to life and had managed to keep her in suspended animation until it was opened. Kate removes her mask and meets with her sister. Kate agrees to deliver the Batman in exchange for her family. Bones also knows Kate will die trying to accomplish this, even if she does. Kate goes home to find her girlfriend and her whole family waiting for her. They know Beth is alive because of a bug Bette had placed on her. They all tell her they need to work together to accomplish this and Maggie has an ultimatum: let them help or she is breaking up with her.

Ah, young love is so fickle! One minute it’s hearts and flowers and then it’s “let us help you get the Batman or we’re through!” Seriously-this just became an episode of THE L WORD in the last three panels! And I LOVED that show, so don’t get my sentiments wrong. But we spent the entire issue doing MAJOR revelations regarding the character we thought long dead and then…BANG! I’m packing my bags and hitting the road! WTF!  J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman handle the story, which rocks except for the over the top last panels. Trevor McCarthy provides the art and it’s just okay. Now, I can’t draw worth a darn so I’m not slamming him. I just want to see Williams beautiful style.

BIRDS OF PREY #20: Black Canary realizes she’s been had as it looks like Starling has betrayed them and has been playing them all along. In actuality, it looks like she has aligned herself with Mister Freeze because of a long standing debt. She also claims that she is merely trying to keep the Court of Owls from misusing Freeze’ work. The Court’s scientists attempt an escape and call to their Grandmaster to report that Strix has returned. Freeze catches up with them and kills one before the other reveals the Owl’s secret is alloy electrum. Meanwhile, Batgirl and Starling battle until Freeze says it’s time to leave. Black canary chases after her and lets loose a scream that unintentionally pushes Starling out of the harm’s way. Condor saves canary from the collapsing roof by dragging her to safety. Condor uses the last of the explosives to open a door for them. As Canary and Condor team up to chase after Freeze, Batgirl and Strix are confronted by another Talon.

Is this how we try to save a book that is having trouble finding an audience by having him guest star in another title? If it is, it’s a bad idea! This book continues to struggle and find its own identity as it moves from being a great team book run by Barbara Gordon in a wheelchair and featuring such cool characters as Lady Blackhawk. This title drifts between being an all girl team up title (whoops… scratch that…we have Condor!) and a feature book for B level characters with angst!  And when did Starling get aligned with Freeze? Last we knew, she was being all secret and shady and having conversations with Amanda Waller. WTF folks?! Christy Marx continues to write this and Romano Molenaar continues to draw it and I continue to read it in hopes that it will improve. Someday I’ll learn otherwise. And speaking of the “other Talon”: can we cancel his book and give Strix her own title? She can team up with Black Canary, they both can find themselves and we can leave Condor in the dust somewhere. If I want a book with Condor in the title, I’ll go back and read the OLD BLACK CONDOR series.

CATWOMAN #20: Catwoman follows The Penguin to his family’s crypt, knocks out his guard(who was someone she ran into during her time in the Black Room) and robs the crypt. Naturally, The Penguin is P.O.’ed! Back at Selina’s penthouse, she and Gwen review hidden camera footage of Detective Alvarez’ office, which leads to questions of who bailed Gwen out and why Selina’s cut on jobs, is smaller than Gwen’s. Thanks to Selina’s adventure in The Black Room, Joe Pazzo has been possessed by the demon Escalate and uses his abilities to increase the amount of lust in the bar Catwoman is hanging out in. Although she fends off her three attackers, Escalate breaks into the place and throws her out of it and the two of them brawl on the beach. He uses his powers to make the beach goers feel suicidal and they begin to march into the sea. Catwoman slits the demons throat, but he turns back into Joe Pazzo and those around her now believe she has killed an innocent man. Just then, a helicopter appears, collecting Pazzo's body to take back to the Penguin. Still P.O.’ed about his crypt being broken into AND one of his men being injured, Oswald Cobbletpot declares war on Catwoman's neighborhood.

I HATE the fact that this story gets continued in the CATWOMAN ANNUAL, which is an excuse to charge five bucks or more to give us a main story and a bunch of back-ups. THAT having been said, I really want to know where all of this is heading. In nearly two years, the title has gone from being about Selina Kyle, the anti-hero with the hots for Batman, to the mourning and vengeful anti-hero Catwoman who lost her best friend in a very violent manner to a card carrying member of the Justice League of America who has a new partner who may be screwing her over. Wait: is Gwen in cahoots with The Penguin? Gee, isn’t that like Starling in cahoots with Mr. Freeze over in BIRDS OF PREY. Is everyone at DC stealing plot ideas from everyone else at DC? Ann Nocenti writes it, Rafa Sandoval illustrates it and we all read it.

CATWOMAN ANNUAL #1: Catwoman receives a text informing her that she can stop a murder but arrives too late to save one of Rat-Tail gang. The murder case goes to Detective Alvarez and his partner Tammy Keyes', who believes that Catwoman is responsible. Harvey Bullock arrives and points out that the Penguin’s men are responsible and Penguin is trying to start a gang war. Penguin is meeting with Catwoman’s partner, Gwen Altamont, and informs her that he will kill Catwoman if she refuses to work under him. Penguin has Volt design heat seeking missile tailored to Catwoman’s signature and has Lark arrive with Hypnotic, whose presence is there only because his family was threatened. GCPD investigates the murder scene when they are caught in a drive-by and only are saved by Catwoman who tells them to look for a new drug called "black ice". Later, Catwoman has a woman named Alice to design her a camouflaged cape to confused Penguin’s rockets. That night, the rockets attack and get sent back to Penguin’s control station, blowing it up. Catwoman soon follows but finds herself in manacles after looking at Hypnotic. She manages to get free and warns the Penguin to stay out of her business. Penguin swears to kill all of the Rat-Tails and Catwoman. Catwoman decides to strike an alliance with Rat-Tail to protect the Badlands. 

Thus begins the battle for the badlands as Catwoman joins forces with rat-tail and goes to war with The Penguin. Ann Nocenti turns in a nice if not wordy script that drops all the key players into the mix. Christian Duce’ art with assists from Aaron Lopresti and John Livesay is also fitting to the story and a nice change of pace from the Guillen Marsh styles. All in all, this looks to be a fun summer story that will be sure to have major consequences by the end. Personally, I think Selina, if she really IS SELINA, will be looking for a new roommate and partner by the end of it all. 

CONSTANTINE #3: Our title character is not only in a race to find the final piece of Croydon’s Compass before Sargon the Sorceress and Mister E can, but he is cursed and the city of London is trying to kill him. He hooks up with his old friend Julia(not that kind of hook up-she’s married now) and although she attempts to give them magical protection, cars begin to attack them. Suddenly they find themselves in a nightmarish psychic maze where this creature made of deformed body parts tells Constantine death is the only escape. John rejects the noose and offers something for their being allowed to leave. Arriving back in London, John sends Julia away for her own safety and he enters a nearby optics shop, immediately being threatened by Sargon and Mister E. We learn that the shop keeper is Angus Croydon’s son and the missing lens is Philip Croydon’s eyes. The Riddling Butcher, the creature from the labyrinth, arrives, blasts Mister E, takes Philip Croydon’s eyes and attacks Sargon, while Constantine finds a way to escape back to his apartment in New York City. He realizes that the Cult of the Cold Flame AND the Spectre will be after him soon.

Okay…the story arc is through. I’m done! No really…John Constantine is a marvelous character and the long run of his Vertigo title is proof. But this John Constantine is…different. He’s not the magician who is one step ahead of dire peril. He’s not the cocksure chain smoking charlatan I knew to love. He is a watered down version. Now, that’s not totally Jeff Lemire’s fault: I blame DC Editorial. I just can’t get into this remorseful John Constantine, who was so troubled by the death of his friend in the first issue. The John Constantine I KNOW would have felt it was a consequence of knowing him and that they should have expected death to be on their tail just by association. So this storyline, by Lemire and Ray Fawkes comes to a close and, unless there is some major connection during the TRINITY WAR, I doubt I will be reading this again. Sorry, mate: nice knowing you.  

DEMON KNIGHTS #20: The Demon Knights have saved Themyscira by killing all the vampires, even though the Shining Knight may become one. As thanks, Hippolyta sends the Knights to direct the Demon Knights to their library where they find information regarding the location of the Holy Grail, Vandal Savage gets to read the “Kama something” and we learn that Amazons castrate the men who lie down with them. They are given a ship as a gift and set sail to find the Grail. While at sea, they find a navy graveyard and that is because of a landmass that is hidden from most eyes. Upon the island, they are attacked by a giant octopus named Architeuthis that grabs Xanadu. The team join together to attack, Etrigan frees Xanadu and she shoots a bolt of lightning into the creature, exploding its’ head. Behind the octopus is a blood covered door with Merlin’s glyphs, including one that represents The Holy Grail.

This tale continues to ramble and wander and this is the LONGEST search for The Holy Grail. Maybe that explains why this title is being cancelled with issue #23, out in August. Robert Vendetti gets points for putting his tongue in his cheek and firing away. Vandal Savage searching for the Karma Sutra and relishing seeing some things he has never done before is priceless. However, when he says things like “huzzah” all I can hear is John DiMaggio doing his killer version of Aquaman from BATMAN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD (Outrageous!). With that visual in my head, I now find Aquaman looking at the Karma Sutra and THAT’S creepy! Chad Hardin provides the art this issue and it fits the established style on the title. All in all, this is a really nice issue. But let’s get this Grail hunt over with and MOVE ON!

DETECTIVE COMICS #20: Oswald Cobblepot has found a way to get the trespassing and weapons charges against him thrown out. Batman interrogates Mister Mosaic, who reveals that Ignatius Ogilvy was responsible for the Man-Bat plague. Batman heads to Oswald Cobblepot’s mansion to confront Ogilvy and learns that he has injected himself with the Man-Bat Serum infused with Venom, making him super strong and allowing him to hang Batman from a tree. Suddenly, he is freed by The Penguin who admits that to get his life back; he needs to save the Dark Knight’s life. Batman defeats Ogilvy with The Penguin’s help. Afterwards, Cobblepot revamps the children’s centre and turns it back into the Martha Wayne Children’s Centre. Meanwhile, a female assassin stalks Bruce Wayne. In the back-up, Ignatius Ogilvy, whose parents died much like Thomas and Martha Wayne did, gets an initiation at Blackgate Penitentiary. He meets The Boss, tells his origin story and then, after killing The Boss, declares himself Emperor Blackgate.

Can I just go all fanboy for a moment and say how absolutely much LOVE Jason Fabok’s art? Because I am going to go there! This guy has to be one of the most underrated artists in the business today. His style is clean, yet dynamic! Pick a book with issues on the art, whether it be looking shabby or riddled with fill-ins artists, and let this guy go to town on it. And this John Layman guy writes a good tale too! Seriously, I’m loving where this thing is going. However, my feeling on back-ups, even this one by Layman and Andy Clarke, remains the same: lose them and give me a buck of my money back!

DIAL H #12: In Australia, Nelson and Roxie fins themselves in conflict with The Centipede and the Fixer. The Fixer grabs the H-Dial from Nelson but Roxie uses the S-Dial and fights to keep herself free from The Fixer’s influence, kicking the H-Dial from him and getting it back to Nelson. Then they run for their lives. Once they get somewhere somewhat safe, she reverse dials herself back to herself and suggest they discuss the fact they had sex. Nelson admits it was humiliating just as the Fixer and the Centipede arrive. But they find themselves saved by Open-Window-Man, causing the Fixer to transform into some balloons and fly away. Open-Window-Man, Nelson and Roxie jumps through one window and into another, where they meet Dial Bunch and begin to battle again with The Fixer. They manage to trap The Centipede and The Fixer in a doorless room in the lab in Toronto. While the two teams introduce themselves, Dial Bunch’ leader promises answers. Unfortunately, The Centipede and the Fixer are exactly where they wanted to be.

This book is just getting way, WAY too weird, which explains why DC is giving this book the axe with issue #15, out in August. We all knew that China Mieville would put a spin on the story of the Dial, but I never figured it would be like this. I find it getting be to like a car accident: I can’t stand to read it because it is SO WEIRD, but I can’t put it down and look away. Alberto Ponticelli is cool, but I still miss having David Lapham on the book. As I say each month, I guess I’ll hang around for a while. There are truly worst books to be reading.

EARTH 2#12: In order to save the world, Khalid Ben-Hassin has decided to allow Nabu to become part of him. Wearing the Helmet of Nabu, Khalid is now known as Doctor Fate. Fate and Wotan battle and, because of a mystical doorway opened by Nabu, Flash gets his mother back to Earth. In China, Hawkgirl and Green Lantern are investigating Alan’s boyfriend’s murder and the possible connection to Parademons that died during the Apokolips War. Alan gets the call from The Green and deserts Hawkgirl to go to Boston and help. Doctor Fate ends up using the powers of Set, Ptah, Menhit and Horus to defeat Wotan and send him to another dimension. Later, at the home of Alan Scott, the Green Lantern reveals his identity to The Flash and explains how he has media to put a spin on the incident. Alan prepares to go back to China, but Doctor fate warns against it as news report says that Steppenwolf has taken control of the Dherain and this will be the team’s priority for now.

James Robinson, Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott do their best to wrap up the origin of Doctor Fate and, at the same time, attempt to make this team into the next version of this Earth’s Trinity. At least, that’s what our heroes think. Month after month, I extol the praises of Robinson and his love for the Earth 2 characters. And the Scotts, no relation to my knowledge, take the art to the next place. Nicola Scott’s work has been compared to that of George Perez. Now, I wouldn’t go that far but she’s really damned good! With muscles popping and testosterone flying, this team actually has moments where they are more fun to read than the three Justice League teams. Now, if we could get Huntress and Power Girl off this rock, cancel their book and put them back on their own Earth, I would be thrilled.

EARTH 2 ANNUAL #1: On a trip to Cambodia, Captain Al Pratt flashes back to his origin when he was caught in a nuclear blast. He arrives in Phnom Penh, which is the largest black market for technology stolen during the Apokolips. Searching for a man named Henri Roy, he finds himself knocked unconscious and being interrogated. There he meets a disguised Roy, whom is told that Roy's own son, Henri, Jr, was responsible for the leak that brought Al here. Al grows to a giant's height, prompting Roy to climb into a war machine. That is when the Batman arrives; distracting almost everyone. Al captures the Frenchman as his superior, Major Sonia Soto, arrives to tell him that Steppenwolf has been located in Dherain. She also tells him that the Hero Initiative has been re-opened under her supervision, with terry Sloan in charge of the scientific aspect of it all. Al is ordered to round up Henri Roy Jr, who has agreed to be studied to atone for his father’s deeds. Meanwhile, Amar Kahn sends Captain Steel into a Brazilian fire pit created by Terry Sloan. The Batman travels to Spain, where he battles Mister Icicle, who reveals that Kanto considers Hawkgirl a threat to his plans. With that, Batman shoots Mister Icicle dead. Meanwhile, Mister Miracle and his companion Barda, fight to save the wasteland known as Gotham City. They are visited by Fury, who has arrived to bring them back to Steppenwolf. 

So, if you’re waiting to find out who the new Batman is: keep waiting. James Robinson is not about to let that secret slip any time soon. That being said, this was a fun extra sized issue that introduced Captain Steel, Mister Miracle AND Barda, who apparently is his fighting companion as opposed to his wife/lover. Art by Cafu and Julius Lopez is very cool and the whole thing is tied together by a great looking Andy Kubert cover. This issue is core to the series, as the story leads straight into EARTH 2 #21.

GREEN ARROW #20: Both Green Arrow and Komodo have finished their battles with wounds. Komodo chastises his daughter for calling her “Daddy” in public. Komodo’s superiors take offense that Oliver Queen stills lives and tell him to shut down his operation in Seattle and return to Prague. If not, they threaten to send the Bear after him and his daughter. Henry Fyff wakes a wounded Oliver and shows him a live Qcorp feed that shows Naomi alive and in trouble. He heads to the Queen Family Mausoleum, where he finds Naomi strapped to a bomb. As he tries to defuse it, he is attacked by Komodo, leaving Henry to defuse the bomb. During their battle, Oliver shoves an arrow into Komodo's eye. The masked man throws a smoke-bomb and manages to escape. Naomi offers to clear Oliver's name with the back-ups of Qcorp security tapes which shows his innocence. A week later, Oliver finds himself in Arizona to meet with Magus.

Yeah…I totally love this series now. I love it so much that it has actually got me watching ARROW, which I thought was a major drag during its early part of the season. I really like THIS Oliver Queen, as documented by Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino. While this is not the big mouthed, hard riding, bearded archer I grew up with, I can tolerate him. In his earlier NEW 52 incarnation, he was just way too much mouth and not a lot of substance. THIS Oliver Queen has had his life screwed up and is on a mission to find out why. Again, Jeff Lemire has breathed essential life into this title and it is now one of my Top 5 NEW 52 titles.

GREEN LANTERN #20: The issue begins with The Bookkeeper telling a new Green Lantern the story of Hal Jordan and the rest of the Corps and their greatest battles. After a brief bit of Hal’s origin, his death and resurrection, we discover that the Guardian of the Universe have been freed from their prison and head to Maltus, where they find the Heart of the Guardians has been consumed by Volthoom. It turns out The Great Heart is actually The First Lantern. He has to use the main Power Battery to access the past, but Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern Corps, along with the Blue, Violet, Yellow, Orange and Red Lanterns arrive to try and stop him by pouring all of their energy into Mogo. Volthoom is weakened but continues on, as he has seen his destiny.  In the Dead Zone, Hal Jordan contacts the Indigo Lanterns to try to help him out and the gate to the Dead Zone is opened, allowing Hal and the army of the dead to join the attack. Hal is captured and forced to deal with his father’s death, as a version of him as a child is brought forth. Sinestro calls Parallax out of a large yellow power battery and allows it to take control of him. he tears out Volthoom’s heart, but that doesn’t defeat him. Jordan calls upon Nekron, who cuts Volthoom in two. While the ring chooses Hal Jordan again as the Grfeen Lantern of this sector, Sinestro kills the Guardians. At this point, the tale returns to the Bookkeeper. He tells the future history of the Corps Members. Guy Gardner grew old and continued to get into barroom fights. John Stewart and Fatality returned to Earth, were married and John went into politics. Kyle Raynor became a Space Healer. Hal Jordan married Carol Ferris and had a baby named Martin. We also learn that Sinestro is the Bookkeeper, who didn’t kill Ganthet, saved Sayd and reunited them. 

And thus ends Geoff Johns lengthy run on GREEN LANTERN. With the art assistance of Doug Mahnke (who handles most of the art), Patrick Gleason, Cully Hamner, Ethan Van Sciver, Aaron Kuder, Jerry Ordway and Ivan Reis, this rambling tale has just about everything a Green Lantern fan would want: the heroes win, the villain loses, Sinestro returns to his roots(sort of) and the epic battle creates a pantheon for the creative reboot to come throughout all of the Lantern titles. Is it a classic? No. It has its flaws but what epic doesn’t? And the fact that we are filled with pages of creators giving their praises to johns is a little too much back slapping and butt kissing for my liking. in this digital age, maybe a section of the DC Homepage would have been appropriate for this…maybe even video greetings. Personally, I would liked to have had those pages become more story.

THE GREEN TEAM #1: The book begins with a rich kid named Mohammed heading to New York to meet with Commodore Murphy: the super rich kid leader of the Green Team. Mohammed’s goal is to prove to his father that he can make his own money and go to one of Murphy’s secret Expos where he views the latest gadgets which he buys for The Green Team. Mohammend ends up at POXPO 2013 and shortly thereafter, Commodore Murphy and his team arrive and begin checking out the various inventions. Eventually, Mohammed gets to meet the team. Unfort7unateky, he has been uploading pictures from the event tagged #GreenTeam with the GPS data on them. It doesn’t take long for a masked villain by the name of Riot Act shows up with guns drawn. While his bodyguard tries to fend off the villain, Commodore places a green disc on his chest and it becomes a green fighting suit. Unfortunately, he hasn’t figured out how to use the suit and there is more than one Riot Act here.

This book is supposedly designed to go hand in hand with THE MOVEMENT, but I don’t quite get the connection except these gets are rich and The Movement are kids FIGHTING the establishment? I like the previous work of Art Baltazar and Franco(i.e Frank Aureliani-a one time Indy comic guy who I have known since back in the day) which is why I was excited about this title. But I don’t see where it’s going to go. Rich kid superhero team? Not sure this is going to fly in the NEW 52 Universe. There is a history to THE GREEN TEAM as they first appeared in the DC anthology series 1ST ISSUE SPECIAL #2 way back in 1975 in a tale by Joe Simon and Jerry Granadetti. But they have also appeared in other Pre NEW 52 titles over the years, sometimes just in a single panel. That team, was fun and dumb in a Seventies sort of way. This team seems to be an extremely shallow and have none of the cute charm of their predecessors. Ig Guara’s art is nice though.