ACTION COMICS #43: Picking up from last issue, Superman is punching out a cop. Only it isn’t really a cop, it’s this slimy shadow creature that is attacking everyone and everything until the police dispatches it with Superman’s help. The Mayor gets pictures of it, doesn’t like what she sees and orders Superman out of Metropolis. He and Jimmy head back to his apartment to find out it has been searched by the police and trashed, compete with GO HOME ALIEN spray painted on his floor. He meets with his neighbors and tells them they are all Superman now. Later, Officer Petruzelli meets with the Mayor to tell her side of what happened and it turns out that mayor’s aides are Shadow Creatures too. Luckily, Superman and the rest of the police arrive to try and save the day.
Greg Pak. Aaron Kuder. The most exciting Superman story in a long time. HARD TRUTH rolls on with a lot more questions than answers. This is great stuff and should absolutely be on the top of everyone’s reading list!
ALL STAR SECTION EIGHT #3: Beuno discovers that he needs to fight Sir Percival Orifice, Tape of the Wyrn for the honor and love of Guts. Meanwhile, Martian Manhunter finds it an honor and a privilege to join Section Eight, even though he believes that Baytor may be an ancient Martian god. J’onn and Six Pack have a long heart to heart, leading Six Pack to realize this IS his calling and he believes he can lead the team into action. Unfortunately, J’onn goes to the bathroom and seeing what is transpiring between Sir Percival, Beuno and Guts, he flees in absolute disgust.
This book is TRULY not for the faint of heart! It is disgusting on all levels from visual to low brow and foul humor. We have out favorite DC heroes swearing up a storm! We have J’onn going to the bathroom because he feels a great movement coming on! We have a mostly naked Beuno fighting a tapeworm for the honor of Guts. Garth Ennis and John McCrea have outdone themselves here. But, when HAVEN’T they?
AQUAMAN #43: We begin with a flashback where Aquaman tells her how this other civilization can be saved and her response is to brand him a traitor and the break-up begins! Aquaman goes to visit Poseidon for advise and gives Aquaman his powers to help in the battle to save Thule. Back in the present, the former sea king battles Garth, King Shark a team of elite Atlantean soldiers. But a giant creature from Thule forces them to work together and Aquaman gets to test out his new powers. The Atlanteans allow him to leave for now and we discover that Mera isn’t really Mera, but someone who is impersonating her and referring to her as her sister.
Oh how this title has drifted down from the greatness it was. Cullen Bunn’s story is too warped and confusing for me, with too many obligatory flashbacks cluttering it up. And the dynamic art duo of Trevor McCarthy with Jesus Merino just doesn’t fit with this book. Not to mention, when I have characters in the background that barely have faces on them, I find that a problem! Just a major bummer since CONVERGENCE.
BATGIRL #43: We begin with a tiger attack before jumping to Barbara helping Alysia with her wedding plans. Barbara learns of the tiger attack and heads to Foxtech to talk to Luke Fox. She runs an algorithm and finds out that Qadir let the tiger out, even though he denies it. Another tiger attack and Batgirl shows up to find Frankie there. After chewing her up, she runs off to a dress fitting with Alysia. Barbara gets called away again as Frankie has figured where the next tiger attack will occur. Batgirl arrives to save the day, but not before getting scratched in the process. Back home, she has a fight with Frankie, who later goes out dressed as Batgirl and meets with Qadir. We end finding out that Jo was responsible for releasing the tigers and then the real villain arrives.
Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr continue what has become known as the “Batgirling” of DC Comics. And, as I have said since this revamp started, this is NOT the Batgirl we fans want. Now, DC claims that this is to bring more girls into the comic shops but my comics loving daughter reads MY LITTLE PONY and BATMAN. Oh yeah…and classic Sixties comics like SUPERBOY and T.H.U.N.D.E.R. AGENTS. She CERTAINLY doesn’t read this. IS IT bringing in female readers? You’d have to ask a retailer.
BATMAN #43: Jim Gordon reveals himself as Batman to a bearded Bruce Wayne and asks for his help dealing with this mysterious Mr. Bloom, who says he is no longer the person he was and can’t help him. Meanwhile, Clark Kent meets with Alfred and learns the real secret of Bruce Wayne. It seems Bruce DID die but somehow was brought back to life by the Dionesium, which also changed the paths in his brain. The OLD Bruce no longer exists and he knows nothing of his career as Batman. Clark threatens to tell Bruce but Alfred reveals, as he whips out a Kryptonite ring, that telling Bruce that would do no good, as he no longer has any of the fighting skills he once had. He also gets shown the one thing he had been working on: a way to use his DNA to always make a 27 year old version of him, so there would ALWAYS be a Batman. The New Batman goes out after Mr. Bloom and gets involved in a fight where he uses his new Batarang gun and a shark to defeat his enemies. But he also falls into a trap that Julia can’t help him out of, as she herself has been taken out. But then again, it looks like Oswald Cobblepot and his associates have been taken out too!
Wow! And the hits just keep on coming courtesy of Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. The most popular DC title continues to rock and shock! Bruce Wayne lives but has never remembered being Batman and can no longer have the skills he once had? And who is Mr. Bloom and why does he have it out for everyone? And just what is the continued connection between Bruce and Duke Thomas? This book just keep getting better and better with each issue!
BATMAN BEYOND #3: We find Tim Drake drugged in a chair in The Lodge so that Brother Eye can find the location of Neo Gotham. Alfred shocks Tim and this disables the chair long enough for him to get the drugs out of his system, leading him into a fight with Inque. It seems that Inque has sold herself out because Brother Eye had kidnapped her daughter, but soon discovers that Deanna has gotten free. So Tim saves Barbara and Inque and destroys the place. Unfortunately, Brother Eye has injected itself into the Batman suit and now The Veil has been compromised. Micron arrives and it seems that Tim has doomed Neo Gotham instead of saving it.
Okay, this book is getting a little on the silly side now. Not to mention that Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang are giving us a supporting cast, with the exception of Tim and Barbara, that I really don’t have a loving connection with. Terry McGuiness’ brother is a jerk who seems to have it in for Tim because he didn’t get to be Johnny Bravo and wear the suit! The first issue really surprised me, but the quality of it has gone down increasingly since. C’mon guys: give me something to make me excited about.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #23: Superman goes underground to check out Ukur and finds an entire camp that is looking for light, not looking to conquer the Earth. In disguise as one of the Dawn Command, he saves one of the Upperworlder’s from attack and then gets the story. It appears that people have willingly left Gotham and other “unsafe” surface world cities to come down here an be protected by Ukur. Meanwhile, Gordon meets with Fox and wonders if Clark can be trusted. Then Gordon meets with Perry White, who is still hopping mad that he hired an alien. The Lois Lane, who is guarded by Metallo, meets with Gordon and suggests that although Clark will always do the right thing, his right thing may not always be everyone else’ idea of right. Down below, Ukur introduces his newest ally: Arthur of Atlantis.
TRUTH HURTS Part Three by Greg Pak and Adrian Syaf brings the relationship between Superman and his supporting cast to a whole new level of mistrust. Right from the start, Jim Gordon admits he’s NOT the old Batman. And it’s pretty clear that Perry White, who always saw Clark as an adopted son, is pretty pissed off at being lied to for so long. And Lois? We’re still not sure what led to her outing him in the first place but here she is acting the part of strong journalist with Metallo by her side. What we learn here is that Clark Kent WILL always do what’s right and in this case, it may be what’s right for the people living underground.
BAT-MITE #3: Damian Wayne is trying to retrieve the Batmoboile that Bat-Mite stole in issue #1 but gets into a battle with Gridlock, who paralyzes the Boy Wonder with just one touch. Meanwhile, Bat-Mite is becoming a bit of a bothersome house guest at the expense of Weed and Reagan, who apparently works for the government and wants to know everything they can about Bat-Mite. Gridlock announces that he has captured the Boy Wonder and Bat-Mite, armed with Bat Shark Repellent, pops into action to help. This doesn’t sit well with the Boy Wonder but, once Gridlock shows up, it’s time for a super-hero team-up. But Bat-Mite gets frozen by Gridlock’s touch allowing the bad guy to beat feet. Next up: it looks like Booster Gold is going to need Bat-Mite’s help.
Dan Jurgens and Colin Howell continue to make this the funniest book on the market. Bat-Mite is a cigar smoking, hard drinking little best trying his best to be a good superhero. Unfortunately, his good intentions aren’t always helpful. The art is cute, the stories are fun, and I just love this title. It’s a shame that it’s going to be a mini series only but what can you do? I now: ask for more!
BIZZARO #3: Chastity Hex is hunting for Jeremiah Blackhearse in the Ol' Gulch Ghost Town and that’s where she meets up with Jimmy and Bizzaro. In the process, the ghost of El Papagayo and his parrot Pepito arrive. And that means a battle with The Bizarro Kid. Unfortunately, El Papagayo possesses Bizarro. Jimmy goes to call Superman on his signal watch and it turns out that The Riddler stole it last issue so HE ends up with the Man of Steel in his house. Jimmy blows a bugle call and in comes the cavalry led by Jonah Hex himself. With things settled, Chastity, Jimmy and Bizarro are on the road to Branson Missouri where Zatanna, the Mistress of Magic is performing.
Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte continue to deliver a funny book that is all about taking the serious characters of Jimmy Olsen and Bizarro and twisting them all over the place! This book is great, I wish it wasn’t a mini-series and with that…GO READ THIS THING!
BLACK CANARY #3: Dinah confronts her ex husband, who tells her that Ditto is in danger due to the creepy operatives from her world. We also find out that our government wants Ditto too. It seems that they used her genes to give Dinah her sonic scream. Hearing this, Ditto leaves and gets picked up by Bo Meave. Yeah…that can’t be good.
Short review for a great book! Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu do a wonderful job telling the tale of a rock star who was a superhero. The art is a bit quirky, but it fits the book perfectly. This is one of the interesting and surprisingly good newcomers that have the “Batgirl style”, which apparently DC higher ups have now wanted toned down due to lagging sales. Hopefully, this one WON’T be affected!
CATWOMAN #43: While Selina is at a party, she tells Ward and Antonia that they are in charge as she has Catwoman business to do.Meanwhile, Black Mask visits the Hisagawa training facility to discuss business regarding the various Gotham families. While out on a training mission, Spoiler and the Eiko Catwoman find a wounded Lewis and realize that Sionis is after Selina, leading to him shooting Eiko Catwoman. Antonia meets with Cobblepot who insists she bring him the head of Selina Kyle. Selina, as Catwoman, runs into the new Batman, who can’t manage to apprehend her but lets her know that he will someday. Selina changes up and goes to the Fox Center for Gotham Youth, where she meets a bearded Bruce Wayne. In the end, Selina Catwoman meets with Antonia while Croc seemingly attempts to rescue Eiko.
Genevieve Valentine writes another great issue here with more twists and turns than a British mystery show. And while I’m not fond of David Messina’s, but the story is great! This isn’t a costumed adventure book anymore: it’s a crime drama with teeth. And it’s some of the best this title has exhibited in years!
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #3: In the past, Constantine, Gaz, Georgie and Veronica Delacroix are at a concert involving demons and a band known as The End of the World. In the present, John and Georgie are involved in the investigation of an orgy gone bad. This leads John to track down a Succubi responsible for the deaths. In actuality, the killer was an incubus and Georgie helps him dispatch it. John admits to Georgie that he needs help with his ghost issue. She also tells him that Veronica died three years ago and blames him for both her death and Gaz’. Maybe that explains the blood on his hands.
Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV are writing a really weird, non PC version of John Constantine. That having been said, this book just can’t seem to get out of the rut it is slowly putting itself into. We’re three issues in and we’re still messing around with this ghost issue that came into play in the first two issues. But this issue swerved away from the ghost chase to introduce some supporting cast that we may or may not see again. And John is still no closer to catching his ghosts. Doyle and Vanessa Del Rey handle the art, which seems to morph into something new with each issue. I had very high hopes for this title when it started, but it has slowly slipped downhill. I hope it gets better or it will last as long as the TV series did.
CYBORG #2: The Tekbreakers return home after their battle with the Technosapiens and being to talk about how they killed Cyborg in the Preview story from last May. Victor is troubled by a strange dream and then goes to S.T.A.R. Labs so they can test him against their newest cybernetic creations. Meanwhile, the protester from the first issue goes to an underground doctor and has surgery to have cybernetic prosthetics installed. Sebastian Cardona meets with Vic to let him know that his friend has had these cybernetics installed and Vic suffers from extreme pain as he realizes that "they" are coming. Of course, they have also come for Bobby
David Walker and Ivan Reis continues to tell the tale of the NEW Cyborg. Reis’ art is top notch, but Walker’s story is a bit confusing. Besides giving us a whole subplot with a guy from last issue who is getting illegal cybernetic upgrades, we get a reference to a story that appeared in CONVERGENCE: CRIME SYNDICATE #2. Now, in case you feel lost and didn’t read the CONVERGENCE mini-series (and that was most of the world as it BOMBED in sales allegedly was partially responsible for DC’s recently announced 2 million dollar loss), you can find it archived on line and download it for free from DC. So, can we guess that the other cyborg came from somewhere in the Multiverse? Again…confusing!
DEATHSTROKE #9: With Diana and Slade just back from last month’s annual, it’s right back into battle with Lapetus and his army, that is currently destroying the Amazons on Paradise Island. Slade follows Lapetus away from the battlefield for a fierce one on one. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, he and the Amazons are losing the battle. That’s when Superman arrives and attacks Deathstroke, thinking he is the cause and is responsible for his current sweetie being injured. Deathstoke uncorks the power of his sword and lets loose as the anti-hero and the Big Blue Boy Scout do battle. Eventually, Wonder Woman intervenes and explains to her boyfriend that Slade, as bad as he is, is actually here to help. It’s a good thing that they are all on the same page now as Lapetus comes back, stronger than ever and bearing a new toy of destruction.
When you thought to yourself “just how many issues can Tony S. Daniel keep up the one man attack and stay on track, what was your answer”. As we have noted over the past few months, it is less than nine issues…way less than nine issues. Tony S. Daniel has James Bonny by his side on the writing end and and Eduardo Pansica taking care of the art chores. The book looks fine as Pansica can ape Daniels’ work easily and, with all that blood and guts, can anyone really notice? The story is a bit on the weak side, as it gets divided between an Amazon battle, a one on one with the bad guy and then a one on one with the Man of Steel. The storyline ends next month and maybe we can get back to the whole “why isn’t Slade old anymore” plot.
DETECTIVE COMICS #43: Bullock and company find an exhausted Batman, who has stepped out of the Robo Batsuit and taken down the members of La Morte, but the power core that had been stolen is missing. While Gordon, Bullock and Montoya try to figure who has to core and what is going on with Yip, who Bullock believes is dirty, a member of La Morte visits the Joker’s Daughter, seeking her help. Bullock confronts Yip, who admits to giving out the seating information for the circus to some unknown person. The La Morte mercenaries get sprung, leading Batman into action. Unfortunately, it looks like he may be fighting a mecha bigger than he is in the form of a Jokerbot may!
Brian Buccellato remains for a little while, even though Francis Manapul has departed. I don’t know when Buccellato’s last issue is, but I hope he can finish this arc before he splits. I’m dying to know who is behind all of this, although it seems that it may be part of the Falcone Family. But is THIS who Yip has been talking to? Fernando Blanco handles the art in a nice way. Again, it’s not manapul, but I’ll take it. And while BATMAN is the book with more bite, I like where this is going and concentrating on G.C.P.D.
DOOMED #3: Three years ago, during a terrorist attack, Roman becomes the Alpha Centurion. In the now of course, Roman is Reiser’s roommate. Reiser goes off to see Jayne and let her know that he took off his suit, even though he won’t tell her about his side effects. Miles manages to get his hands on Oui Oui the dog, leading to Reiser’s transformation. The two battle and Miles is ready to dispatch our hero when he takes pity on him and leaves him be, telling him to lay low. Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, some folks have learned about the whole Doomed thing and have called in Wonder Girl, Power Girl and Flash Boy(AKA Kid Flash).
Uh…what? Scott Lobdell wrote it, Javier Fernandez drew it and I can’t believe I am still READING IT! Looks like it just became another excuse to tie in the Teen Titans.
DR. FATE #3: Khalid uses the Dr. Fate helmet to deal with the flooding in Brooklyn. Meanwhile, Anubis is on a quest to find the vessel of Bastet, who died in the first issue. Khalid gets a visit from Nabu, who makes him don the helmet again and use his powers to save a helicopter in trouble. Oh yeah: he forgot to text his girlfriend Shaya goodnight the night before and realizes he is in BIG TROUBLE!
What? Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew: just what in the name of the Wide Wide World of Sports(sorry Mel Brooks-had to use it!) are you doing to this classic character? He’s more concerned about NOT TEXTING his girlfriend then why Nabu chose him? Oh brother-why bother!
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #3: Terry Sloan is trying to get his terraforming machine to remake the new Earth 2 with everything to old Earth 2 had by using the Source Vault. Power Girl flies through the machine, causing lightning bolts to shoot down, hit Sloan and making a mess out of the machine. This leads to a flashback to a year ago when Red Tornado was an outcast looking for a permanent home and helping a mother and daughter get reunited with their husband and father. Back in the present, Green Lantern shows up to stop the monsters coming forth from the damaged machine. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, Terry Sloan has been killed and the Source Vault has been stolen.
Do I really care? Earth 2 should have ended before CONVERGENCE. This is just silly! Daniel H. Wilson and Jorge Jimenez: I blame you both. A plague on BOTH your houses. Nah…that’s a little too harsh. Seriously: let off the world and let it go already!
FLASH #43: We begin with Professor Zoom talking with his collection of New Rogues and telling them that it’s about killing The Flash and tearing down the image of the icon. Barry finds his father and the rest of the escaped cons (except for Girder who’s been caught). After a brief hug, Henry tells Barry that he needs to stay away from this Flash like speedster and sends his son away. After a visit with his roommate, the former Pied Piper, he heads off to a school event where Wally races a sports car he designed. Iris and Wally are so happy to see him, even if he does flip out on the football coach. Later, The Flash takes on a hostage situation involving the convicts to discover the hostages are only mannequins and the hostage taker is his dad. Henery tells him to keep his son safe by killing Eobard Thawne, the real murderer of Barry’s mother. Before you know it, Henry if off to jail but gets sprung by Block, Roscoe and the Folding Man, sending Barry to the bottom of the sea.
And here is another book with a big thumbs up and a great WOW factor! Robert Venditti and Van Jensen have been writing an incredible run on this title and with Brett Booth handling the art, it has been a dram to read. The whole reveal, AT LAST, that Thawne is Nora’s killer was a long time coming, even if we all knew it was coming! This book tows an interesting line between comic book and television show, much like GREEN ARROW has been doing as of late. But I’m okay with that and reintroducing Iris and Wally is a great move!
GOTHAM ACADEMY #9: Olive, Maps, Colton and Kyle get to work finding out what attacked Tristan. Colton goes into an old RV that has a computer and a lab so he can analyze the DNA from the fur they found. They go to visit Pomeline and she gives them silver to protect them from what they believe is a werewolf. Olive finds Katherine in her room and she leaves behind Olive’s school admission papers. Olive’s mother was a villain named Calamity and Olive had been placed here so she could be watched over, not because she had been given a Wayne Scholarship. Tristan was also put here to be watched, as Milo was responsible for turning him into a Man Bat. As he and Olive speak, the werewolf bursts in and Tristan transforms to save her. The team captures the werewolf with a tranquilizing dart and it’s revealed that it is Coach Humphrey. In the end, Pomeline tries to reveal some key information about Calamity when the villain appears at a school play rehearsal and the room bursts into flame. At least, it appears to be Calamity’s fault.
Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl do here so well what the other teen titles cannot. There is a lot of connection to the Batman mythos presented here They manage to give us a group of interesting characters, some with mysterious pasts, and bring them together into a modern day Scooby Gang. I love how their pasts are getting revealed one tiny piece at a time and not all at once. That alone keeps me reading, as does the whole Hogwarts vibe you get from the campus itself. This is just a fun ride!
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #8: While people in downtown Gotham suddenly begin attacking each other for no good reason, Kate Spencer meets with Detective Rook, who has enough bad information on the Midnight Shift to put them all away for a long time. And he is more than willing to spill his guts to the Grand Jury. Corrigan visits Drake in the hospital, where she is being treated for her wounds from the downtown Gotham attack. Corrigan goes to downtown and meets with Tarr and finds out there is massive psychic action going on and the GNN television broadcasts are to blame. They sneak into the GNN studios and find a mass of bloodshed. They also find that the broadcasters have made some sort of deal with Hell and, in the end, they become monsters and both die from consuming each other. Tarr notes that the strange black flowers have begun to grow where Corrigan had been sitting. They race back to their office to find Peyton and Rook waiting with search warrants.
Ray Fawkes Juan Ferreyra slam another one out of the park! This is the coolest single issue yet! While Peyton and Rook work behind the scenes to nail the Midnight Shift to the wall, Corrigan tries to keep the Spectre in check as Dr. Tarr faces the evil possessed broadcasters. This issue feels like THEY LIVE with a twisted Wes Craven( Rest in Peace) twist to it. The story moves along nicely as we still don’t know what the ultimate evil that is responsible truly is. And Ferreyra delivers nicely with the art. I love this book and where it’s going and it is far more satisfying than all the other books from the previous “dark” line combined.
GRAYSON #11: When last wqe saw Dick, he was getting ready to kill Agent 1, but it quickly becomes obvious that THIS isn’t really Dick as a second Dick arrives. He begins guessing who is masquerading as him, with failed guesses of Clayface and Killer Croc and that leads to a battle with Dick on Dick. The other Dick drops all sorts of clues to Grayson’s identity, showing that someone knows who Agent 37 REALLY is. The fake Dick even accuses him of sleeping with Agent 8, Agent 1’s lover, and accuses him of letting her die. Then the fake Dick hacks into Grayson’s hypnos and controls him, dropping all the puzzle pieces in place from the last few issues. With the whisper of a magic word "Tsuchigumo", Dick passes out. Agent 1 awakens and rips the hypnos out of his eyes to reveal Agent 8. Later, Agent 1 tells Helena that Maxwell Lord, head of Checkmate, was the spy killer. Agent 37 quits Spyral and heads back to Gotham to find Bruce. In the end, Agent 8 meets with Doctor Netz, who reveals she and Agent 0 are sisters.
Tom King, Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin have created the BEST BOOK featuring Dick Grayson in the last two decades. Forget Batman and Robin, forget Nightwing…even forget his turn as the Dark Knight himself. This book is a mind blower and where it goes from here is anyone’s guess! This is truly becoming a classic in the genre and is redefining the former Boy Wonder. Left hanging by the man who put him here, it'’ a study of things going sour real quick! And we get Max Lord and Checkmate brought into the DC You too! What an absolutely amazing ride, even with the occasional butt jokes!
GREEN ARROW #43: Oliver is still being held captive by self claimed Supremacist Zimm, who reveals himself to be disguising himself as a racist to attract followers. While searching for him by boat, Emiko and George run afoul of one of the robots and she manages to destroy it, with George rescuing her and dragging her onto shore. Zimm’s albino partner arrives, realizing that Zimm is only using the White Supremacy cause as a ruse and plans to eliminate him. But Zimm is one step ahead and has his robot rip the man to pieces. In the process, Ollie slips free, meeting up with Emiko and George in the woods. Together they attack an army of the robots but don’t get all the help they need, as Henry is busy in the bathroom. Luckily, he is able to hack into the system, causing the robots to explode. All but one, which Zimm has been tangled up in and dragged to the bottom of the ocean, where a hungry shark awaits him.
While Ben Percy and Patrick Zircher aren’t the team of Jeff Lemire and Andrea Sorrentino, this run so far has been fun, if not a bit on the gory side. We’ve had racist murders and now the racist gets torn to pieces. Percy’ story has just enough dark humor in it, like Henry sitting on the toilet when he needs to be hacking into the robot’s system. And George having to save Emiko. Of course, there is a convenient plot hole there as it just so happens that George brings her on shore on the island where Zimm is. Zircher’s art is top notch and possibly the best of his career. This does have a bit of the ARROW feel to it now, but it still is a worthwhile read.
GREEN LANTERN #43: With Hal having lost the Corps and Virgo having lost his home and his people, the pair now have a common bond. Hal steps out to talk to Relic and we discover there is a huge hole in the Source Wall, which was caused by the monster that burst free at the conclusion of GODHEAD. And those pieces of the Source Wall are probably causing the calcification that is happening through the universe. Back on the ship, Virgo tries on Krona's Gauntlet, which sends out a surge of green emotional energy and alerts Relic, who believes he is going to be attacked. It also knocks out Virgo and plays havoc with “Darlene”’s system, causing Hal to eventually reboot her so they escape. In the end, there is a new problem on the horizon in the form of the Gray Agents. Oh yeah: Black Lantern has lost his touch and is headed back to the Coast City Cemetery.
Robert Venditti continues his epic where Hal Jordan has long hair and dresses like The Spectre! I like this Hal because he has finally stopped whining about his life, even though he has lost his beloved Lantern Corps. It was real nice to see Ethan Van Sciver on art, as I’ve always been a fan of his work. His Black Lantern is just SO CREEPY looking!!! I would love to see him make this his regular gig. This book has elevated from what it was and is still a way from what it could be. Here’s hoping…
GREEN LANTERN: LOST ARMY #3: The misplaced Lanterns meet up with Relic from a time before Relic was the Relic trying to stop the Lanterns from using up all the light energy and destroying the universe. He tells them how the War of the Dwindling Light goes on and he is looking for a reservoir. John Stewart tells him that the Lanterns know where there is a reservoir and they can guide him to it. Of course, this gets Guy all in a snit because he has a problem with Stewart lying to Relic. The Light Pirates show up and the Lanterns attack, only some of them may not make it back.
Well, I must say this is the most excitement we have seen thus far in this book. Unfortunately, that all happened in the last five pages of the story. Before that it was a lot of Blah Blah Blah from Cullen Bunn. And Jesus Saiz art seemed to get an upgrade on those last five pages. Maybe that is where Cliff Richards jumped in to help. Oooh: I knew this title was going to be weak, but I didn’t think it would be THIS WEAK.
HARLEY QUINN #19: Things start badly, as the parents of some of Harley’s gang come home to find their girls’ missing. Meanwhile, Harley, Ivy and Tony head out to help the captured girls (and boy). She parachutes onto Horatio Strong’s boat and attacks, leading him to race off to the bathroom. Gnarly volunteers to check on him after Harvey chickens out. Elsewhere, The girls’ mom show up at the Coney Island headquarters and threatens Eggy, Tony and Ivy. Over in Brooklyn, someone is stealing expensive medical equipment and Sy Borg intervenes, promising to help get her out of her predicament. Back on the boat, a thong wearing Horatio emerges with strange powers and multiple references to his bowel movement, leading Harley to make multiple references to vomit. Just as things look grim, mom flies in and rescues the team, causing everyone to find out that the girls are only 14, not 19 as they made themselves off to be. Everyone gets invited home for lasagna as Harley has to deal with a team five persons lighter. In the end, Harleen meets with Sam and the woman who was stealing the medical equipment. It seems a Hollywood cult kidnapped her daughter and is going to kill her, so Harley takes the case!
So the team of Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Chad Hardin are at it again, filling the book with gratuitous sexy shots and sophomoric, grade school puns. Yes, tell me why we need 7 new ways to say I POOPED and 10 new ways to say UPCHUCK! That’s what I thought. This was a better than average issue when it comes to plot, but just another excuse to have Harley be the Deadpool with Breasts of the DC Universe.
HARLEY QUINN POWER GIRL #3: Harley and Power Girl, along with Groovicus, continue their trip to find Vartox and get themselves back to Earth. Arriving at the Lustox Moon, they discover a ton of naughty statues of Power Girl. After a brief space battle, they return to their ship to find a wasted Groovicus, which leads to a drug sequence featuring a modified Hunter S. Thompson and a familiar road trip. They finally get to Vartox, who attacks and seems to defeat Power Girl in a battle that could result in him killing her.
I would LOVE to say how much I like this book, but even the influence of Justin Gray cannot keep Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti to sinking below DEADPOOL humor as there are just way too many dick jokes (and I don’t mean Grayson!). To top it off, it takes three artists, Stephane Roux, Moritat, and Elliot Fernandez, to tell this tale. And let us not forget that the entire mini-series takes place between panels in an issue of HARLEY QUINN. Great concept but an overabundance of sophomoric toilet humor just ruins it.
JUSTICE LEAGUE #43: Steppenwolf gathers Kalbak and tells him that Darkseid needs him, as he plans on going to Earth to bring back Grail and Myrina Black. Superman and Lex Luthor get attacked on Apokolips and it comes to their realization that there is no yellow sun available and Superman is SERIOUSLY underpowered…so much so that he is bleeding. Lex drops Superman into a fire pit, which provides the solar energy he needs to power back up, but also inspires him to want to kill Lex. Meanwhile, on the Rock of Eternity, the Justice League listens to Batman, who sits upon what he refers to as HIS Mobius Chair and gets the history about Grail. The only question it can’t answer is who the Anti-Monitor is. Scot Free arrives and, after shackling Metron so he can’t get free, transports everyone away using a Boom Tube. They arrive to where Grail and the Anti-Monitor is, but she has created a blood spell that has called for her father and he has arrived with his army.
Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok absolutely blow the top off of this book as they have done with every issue of this run so far. We get great drama, cool dialogue, a creepy Batman (old school…the new guy ain’t here…yet), fantastic looking art and a roller coaster ride from page one to the end of the book. This book has again become THE Justice League title to read...well: along with the DeMatteis/Giffen/Porter future giggle fest.
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #3: Hal and Flash are on Oa due to a wormhole Hal created. This wormhole has place them on 250,000 years ago. Flash spins about fast enough to get out of there, leaving Hal alone with Kryptonian warriors who wish to take him to meet their god Rao. Wonder Woman is on what is left of Olympus as an Oraculum explains how the gods all left and she is stuck there. The Infinity Corporation is now in 1961, where it is revealed that THEY pulled Flash off of Oa. Back on Earth, Rao continues to answer the prayers of the people and tells the U.N. that he'll do whatever he wants to make life better. In true fashion, Batman doesn’t trust him and plans on keeping a close eye on him, despite what Superman thinks.
Bryan Hitch writes a great, I’m assuming, out of continuity story here as we still have Hal as part of the Lanterns and Bruce Wayne in the Batsuit. The story is totally confusing, what with the multiple timelines and all, but the artwork is killer! I really don’t see this title lasting as a monthly, as it feels more like it should be a mini-series. That being said, the ride is interesting if not a little bumpy along the way.
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #3: Over on Woodin Twelve as Starro Prime tells them he is doing an awesome job running the planet. So they head back to Camelot Nine, where Supergirl can't believe how much of a jerk her cousin has become. But he and Batman head out drinking on Takron -Galtos and Batman tells him how much he misses his old best friend. That’s when they get a visit from Sheriff Tariq, causing them both to split. Clark chases after a purse snatcher only to find the thief roughed up with a bloody Bat Symbol painted above him.Meanwhile, Ariel Masters/Lois Lane and Guy Gardner have a meeting and it is decided that Guy has to baby-sit the Starro Consciousness. Problems continue for the rest of the team as Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Fire and Ice, Flash and Hal Jordan have to deal with a Giant Turtle that turns out to be Jimmy Olsen. In the end, Lois wants out of Ariel’s body, Guy and Wonder Woman have “coffee talk” and Supergirl, now roomies with The Flash, BEGS to be sent 1,000 years into the future.
J.M. Dematteis, Keith Giffen and Howard Porter continue to give us the greatest Justice League book on the market today. Full of wit and whimsy, we get Guy having identity issues as a “smokin’ hot babe”, Clark and Bruce having issues with their friendship and Lois wanting to break free from the prison she put herself in. Oh…did I mention we get the return of Jimmy Olsen as Turtle Man? Yeah: old school comic fan GEEKING OUT HERE!!! Buy this book before DC looks at the sale figures and cans it! Seriously! It’s the most twisted thing since…well, since the LAST THING DeMatteis and Giffen worked on!
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #12: Poison Ivy, Mera, Equinox and Etrigan are still stuck in the blood and guts monster that we were introduced to and are trying to find Swamp Thing. Through their combined efforts, they get the creature off the ground and Etrigan uses the fires of Hell to destroy it. Swamp Thing is nothing besides a shriveled head, but Poison Ivy is going to do her best to nurse him back to health. Meanwhile, Alanna Strange visits with Dr. John Henry Irons to explain what is going on with system anomalies in the universe. Star Girl is in the Alps trying to explain all of this to the Doom Patrol, before heading to Burnside to let Batgirl know she is needed for the next mission.
I have so many mixed feelings about this book. The idea of a rotating team is a bit like the Suicide Squad meets Justice League Dark and that’s not what I’m looking for. Now, the old JLU team was okay, but also never bowled me over. This feels a wee bit like the Marvel Universe where you have more Avenger and X-teams than you can keep track of. I DO like Jeff Parker’s pacing and Travel Foreman’s extremely moody artwork. I also like the idea of reintroducing the Doom Patrol into this universe, as I don’t believe we have seen them since JUSTICE LEAGUE #30, where we found out the Niles Caulder was a bit more evil than the original DC Universe one. Which one will be here? Who knows. For that reason alone, I will still be reading this title. Better yet: give us a real DOOM PATROL title again!
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Thursday, August 6, 2015
DC YOU Month 2, Part 2
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #2: Ariel Masters/ Lois Lane walks off the set of an interview because she can’t find anything good to say about her Justice League. Flash heads off to find Starro-Prime and finds a spaceship containing Supergirl, who is rather upset that a thousand years have passed. So SHE goes off, finds Starro-Prime, and gets him to agree to a truce, thus ending the war. With these results, Ariel/Lois decides she needs a bottle of scotch. In addition, we get two Fun Fact FAQ’s with Ariel Masters and Maxwell Lord.
Possibly THE BEST Justice League title being put out today. Now, that’s just my opinion and many will fight with me about this. But this title has some hilarious dialogue and plot twists courtesy of J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, along with the absolutely amazing art of Howard Porter. Laughs, more laughs and some of the best lines even given to Guy Gardner who, you might recall, is now a woman. How can you lose?
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #11: We begin with a new version of the JLU heading off into battle. Composed of Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing, Equinox, Etrigan and Mera, and put together with the combined talent of a number of heroes, including Animal Man, Stargirl, Alana Strange, and a Zeta Beam riding Adam Strange, the team goes to Lake Eerie. There they fight a monstrous island of blood and innards that seems to swallow up both the Swamp Thing and the Green. But, according to Adam Strange, everything is going according to plan.
Jeff Parker and Travel Foreman put a real twist into this series and it certainly needs it. Now, is this lineup permanent? Probably not. But let’s take a look at this: Poison Ivy can’t spend all her time hanging with Harley, Swamp Thing is out of TWO BOOKS, Mera is feuding with her hubby and Etrigan has had troubles in a number of centuries. The story is fun, if not confusing…just what the hell is going on with Adam Strange? Foreman’s art rocks too! This book has become a winner!
LOBO #8: A trio of assassins sent to take him out is attacking Lobo. He cuts the head off the Martian attacker before dispatching the other two. But the Martian’s head has a mind of its’ own and comes back for more, as does the Martian’s body. Lobo continues to battle and is finally saved by a mysterious hunter. Later, he has the Mechanic take a look at the scorpion like creature that contains some pretty high-tech, mind controlling tech. Lobo heads off to Saidris to meet up with Countess Odessa, where he dispatches some guards and finds a lab with thousands of spider bots being cultivated. Odessa and some of her hired thugs show up and, before he knows it, he loses control of himself as one of the spider-bots is under his skin and controlling him.
The best thing about this book is Cliff Richards’ amazing painted art. The next best thing is the gore. Now, third up is Cullen Bunn’s story. Maybe it’s me, but I think there could be a problem with a book when the story is the THIRD best thing about it. I don’t like the Metrosexual Lobo, but I am appreciating his zest for mayhem and his way with the ladies. And I love Richards’ art!
LOBO ANNUAL #1: Lobo continues his hunt for Sinestro and that leads him through a bunch of ugly battles and collecting yellow rings in the hopes that this will lead Sinestro to him. Then he goes to a decommissioned space prison and captures some Korugarians. The Sinestro Corps shows up and Lobo gets ripped apart. Luckily he has those regeneration powers. Sinestro finally arrives and they brawl until Sinestro calls off the contract that he put upon himself, revealing this was only a test and he wants them to be in the business of destroying mutual enemies..
While this is my favorite issue thus far in the series, it still falls short of being the Lobo I grew up with. Cullen Bunn writes a great story here and Robson Rocha’s art is to die for! You gotta love an artist who can give you beauty and violence all at once! And the Corps vs. Lobo two page spread was amazing! So, DC keeps my interest for another moth here. Nice job!
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2: J'onn has gone to Helen Demoff of NASA and wants her to kill him. Superman arrives and wants to know how J’onn knew of all these terrorist attacks and he reveals it was because the Martians used him to plan them. It seems everything that we have ever known about his family being killed was all implanted in his mind by the White Martians. J’onn and the League battle until they realize that the battle was only an implant that allowed J’onn to vaporize himself. Meanwhile, White Martians intent on melting her are chasing the thief in Dubai named Pearl. The issue ends with the mysterious Mr. Biscuits and Alicia going off to stop the Martians.
Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows again give us one of the more exciting DC YOU releases in the form of this book! When it was first announced, I was a really big nay sayer, having seen this character messed with and screwed up for far too long. But the story is totally captivating, the art work is killer and this book is filled with so many twists and turns that it just makes me want to come back for more! Add this to you reserve list!
MIDNIGHTER #2: A woman named Marina is offered the chance to gain revenge for her husband her died due to a food allergy that Windcrest Foods knew could kill some people. She gladly accepts and heads off to take out the folks from Windcrest Foods, until Midnighter shows up and tries to stop her. But, before he can, he needs to not be able to hear and punches his own ears until they burst. Although he agrees with her motives, he doesn’t go along with her methods, even though he puts a beat down on one of the Wind crest folks before serving Marina up to the police. Later, we see how Midnighter and Apollo broke up before Midnighter converses with Marina in her cell. He instructs her to do her time and be his peer when she gets out. Meanwhile, he is ready to face off with some enemies…a lot of them!
Well, unfortunately it only took one issue for the art team to go south. Joining writer Steve Orlando this month is Alec Morgan. His art is nice…but it certainly isn’t Aco, so I’m pretty disappointed in the way the issue looks. But the story continues to be alternately gruesome and hilarious as our hero kicks ass and works on his dating skills! I mean, Midnighter boxing his own hears to make himself deaf? Wow! Yeah…it’s THAT kind of book. But hey: what did you expect from Midnighter anyway? And hey: kudos for locking Marina up in Bridgewater. Ahh…nice to see my old stomping grounds represented! The town that is, not the prison!
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #10: Deadshot, Manta, and Boomerang have allegedly joined a group once attached to the League of Assassins and witness how the League uses children to further their cause and grow their ideology. This causes Boomerang to question their motives and leads to him getting beat down. The beating gets even worse when he decides that maybe all these League kids in training should have some fun and play some soccer, leading to Manta decreeing that the only punishment for Boomerang is death. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn, Reverse Flash, and Parasite are waiting around, as they are the extraction team. Back at Belle Reve, Sage has Waller’s assistant show him around the place. Waller shows up and can’t believe how naive her assistant really is!
Sean Ryan and Philipe Briones provide an issue that’s really fun to look at but has a bunch of weird plot pieces that just don’t work. Point #1: we get this whole plot with Boomerang being the sole advocate for the little kids. Yeah: that’s not in his normal character make-up. Point #2: Harley, Reverse Flash and Parasite hanging around, with some silly dialogue, attributed mostly to Harley and playing with weapons. That scene is only here to show us that there is more to the team that just the trio tied into the League. Point #3: how in the world did Waller hire someone SO DUMB? Take out those issues and this issue was pretty good!
OMEGA MEN #2: Last issue, the Omega Men killed 39 soldiers so now the Viceroy has arrived on Ogyptu to oversee the execution of citizens. Meanwhile, Primus has placed a watch in Kyle Rayner’s neck that will explode if he tries to escape. Broot manages to get the Omega men’s ship back and they leave the planet that means that 4,000 innocents get executed. To say that this upsets Kyle is a huge understatement, as he opens up his neck and changes the Omega Men on his uniform to a Green Lantern symbol
Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda continue to make this one of THE books to read as part of the DC YOU revamp. This is NOT the OMEGA MEN I grew up with, thanks to Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton.. This is also not the OMEGA MEN title that had such luminaries as Roger Slifer, Doug Moench, Shawn McManus and Keith Giffen working on it. This is not the title that featured the first appearance of the classic Lobo. Instead, we have a team fighting against the evil empire with the former White Lantern in tow, whether he wants to be or not. It is a typical Tom King romp and it rocks! This is SO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
PREZ #2: While Beth’s father is dies from cat flu, the attempt to elect a new president continues, with the two major candidates looking to buy votes and make deals. Beth gets visited by the people fro the Church of Wormology and gets a revisionist history of the Bible. When all is said and done, Beth gets 26 votes and becomes President. She gets visited by Preston Rickard, who claims he was almost President once, who offers himself up to be her Vice President.
In case you might be wondering, Prez Rickard was the title character in DC’s first PREZ comic. So, to add him into the mix of this book is a nice tip of the cap to long time fans. While he insists he was “almost” President once, he actually was in 1974 DC history where he was President of Earth One. He even showed up in an issue of SANDMAN, but most recently was the President on Earth-23. Whatever the case, this book continues to throws shots at the American political system thanks to Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell. While the preview totally disappointed, this book has been a winner thus far!
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #2: Roy shows off his new invention, the Teflon spraying shower head, by attacking Jay in the shower with a gun fueled by napalm. Afterwards, they realize they are going to be evicted because Roy spent the ransom money from last issue on cool new gadgets. So they go to Tara Battleworth to get another job, that leads them to Paris to collect a thumb drive containing sensitive data. But before they can do that, they have to fight terrorist, “monster-ninja people” and arms dealers while NOT keeping a low-profile. They battle a group of villainous mimes and succeed in their task “off panel”. They also have switched the thumb drive, but get hired to work for the government after all.
Wow! Welcome to Deadpool cloned and dressed up as former sidekicks. This is just plain bad! It is full of puns, bad jokes, toilet humor and two huge two-page video game inspired spreads. This shouldn’t be rated T for Teen it should be rated K for Kiddie. Scott Lobdell gets points for touching on Roy’s past alcoholic ways and Paolo Pantalena turns in some nice looking art. But the title really has nothing to add to this Universe. We have Two Mercs with Mouths and the one at Marvel is bad enough!
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #2: We begin with a flashback to the Year of Blood, showing a young Damian victorious over Talia that leads to a ceremony to mark the occasion. Back in the present, Damian and Goliath are in South America where he is atoning for what he did during Year of Blood: returning the head of a stone guardian. But with the head reattached, the guardian comes to life and they battle. During the fight, Nobody II shows up to watch, eventually being forced to de-cloak and lend a hand. Seems there is an evil cartel that is running the village, so they take down the cartel with the help of…the stone guardian. The villagers see them as heroes and Nobody decides that they should be partners, whether he likes it or not.
This is a well-written, beautiful looking book by Patrick Gleason with a twist for an ending. So, now that Batman is flying alone, I guess we decided it was time to give Robin a partner? This should be interesting. The book is a treat, even if the back-story jumps around a bit. I got confused at one point, as the flashback where the young Damian decapitates the guardian occurs 16 pages into this 22-page book. And that’s another thing: $3.99 for 22 pages? DC gives 20 pages for $2.99, but it’s a buck more for two crummy pages? Really? Did you all need the moving expense money THAT BADLY!?
SECRET SIX #4: The team settles into their new home: Big Shot’s house. Not long after, Ragdoll, Banshee and Scandal Savage show up to discuss a mutual enemy and eat some cookies. That leads to a epic battle where Catman learns that Savage was the person who brought him the kitten while he was in captivity. They agree to join forces before the trio invites our team to an LGBTQ mixer. Oh yeah: and Banshee tells them one of them is going to die soon.
We need to get more books like this and not SWORDS OF SORROW from Gail Simone. This issue is a great mix of quirky dialogue and cool action. And an invite to an LGBTQ mixer, which fits right into DC’s diversified books. The first 8 pages, which sets up how the group ended up at Big Shot’s pad, is by Ken Lashley and is his typically beautiful stuff The rest of the book is by Tom Derenick and is a beautiful contrast. It took forever to get four issues out, but I want to see how Mockingbird/The Riddler and Big Shot/Ralph Dibney all tie together. Thanks Gail for a cool mystery action adventure book with a sense of humor!
SINESTRO #13: Soranik has been turned into a Yellow Lantern by her father and is not happy about it. She also finds it difficult for Sinestro to lead when he can’t even find the traitor among them. Bekka and Sinestro discuss why she’s part of the team and asks him about his ultimate plan. He unleashes Parallax and binds the creature to the planet to stabilize it, which leaves Sinestro without his greatest weapon. He has three members of the team executed to prove that he will not tolerate traitors. And then he reveals to Lyssa Drak that he knows she is the traitor, he has always known and they will still be useful to him to a while.
I didn’t see that coming! Cullen Bunn and Brad Walker continue to surprise me with this title. Prior to CONVERGENCE, I couldn’t BEAR to read this, as the supporting cast was just so annoying. But the characters have been streamlined and more focus is being given to Soranik, Bekka Lyssa Drak, along with Sinestro. Walker’s art gets better with each issue and yeah, I hate to admit it, this is now becoming one of my favorite reads. Go figure!
STARFIRE #2: Hurricane Betty is whacking the heck out of West Key and it’s up to Starfire to try and be the newest hero in town. At the same time, the sherriff’s brother is ready to head out to sea, directly into the storm, to drive and save a boat full of people. So, the sheriff grabs a SWAT tank, picks up Kori, and heads out. The people on the boat gets saved, Kori gives Sol mouth-to-mouth, her trailer is trashed and…just what is that big monster that crawled out of the hole in the ground?
Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti took what had the makings of a really cool book and shot it in the foot with this issue. The story jumped around so much that I had to read each piece as a self contained story, flipping back and forth through the issue. We still have Kori acting as the stereotypical dumb blonde, taking naivete to a whole new level. Emanuela Lupacchino pencils, Ray McCarthy’s inks, and Hi-Fi’s colors are the true heroes of this book and make it pop! Now, if we can only get a brain in her head and get Jaybird and Roy out of Deadpool mode, DC might be able to salvage these characters!
SUPERMAN #42: Having been shot last issue, Clark finds himself starting to heal and battling robot ninjas to save the lives of Condesa, Jimmy and Lois. Lois finally puts 2+2 together and tears off Clark’s shirt to reveal his Superman garb. They all travel to Gotham for some help from the Toy Master so they can defeat HORDR. With counterfeit masks, they manage to make their way onto HORDR Island, where Condesa quickly betrays them. It seems that Clark’s mysterious text messager is the head of the organization and goes by the name of HORDR_ROOT. While Superman battle his forces, Lois takes him out with a lead pipe to reveal he is only a hard light construct. Superman uses his solar flare and gets attacked by a mystery enemy in the process. In the end, Clark is down for the count and the others are trying to get away before the whole complex comes down.
Well, this issue just took a left turn to weirdville. We go from mysterious texts to a college in the sky that you have to take a magic bus to get to. And then, we find out the leader is a hard light construct? And Lois, apparently feeling betrayed that Clark told Jimmy his secret and not her, is pissed enough to reveal his identity in the next issue or so. Thumbs down to Gene Yang for this issue, although thumbs stay up for John Romita Jr.’s art. Hopefully the next issue will not only clarify things but make them right again!
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #19: The Suicide Squad are here and they are ready to take in a powered down Clark Kent. But they have to deal with him and Wonder Woman and all Superman wants to know is where everyone in Smallville has gone. Black Manta tells him they were gone when the Squad got here, but that doesn’t make it any easier or him any calmer. Together, they take down the Squad, who beats a hasty retreat, but not before the former Man of Steel takes quite a bullet beating from Deadshot. Later, as Wonder Woman tends to his wounds, Superman makes a decision about a fight that he needs to be involved in. That takes him to the office of the President of the United States and it seems that he’s expecting him.
Thanks you Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke for giving us the most action packed issue of the TRUTH saga yet! Part Two of DARK TRUTH looks absolutely amazing and the story just runs at breakneck speed. Not only do we have Waller’s team trying to take down the illegal alien, but it looks as though the President and some shady figure are involved too. Holy Conspiracy Theory! These creators have totally reinvigorated this character and we have finally put the romance piece in the background for now. This book rocks!
TEEN TITANS #10: Manchester Black’s team faces off against the Teen Titans over the rights to capture Superboy. Following the battle, he flees with the new Power Girl trying to stop him to no avail. Cassie eventually wakes up and the Manchester Black’s team realizes that the Teen Titans have flown the coop and gone to New York. Well, come of them, as Red Robin and Raven end up with Manchester Black, who messes with Raven’s mind long enough for his team to arrive and he tells them it’s a trip to a Supermax prison if they want to save Superboy.
Will Pfeifer and Felipe Watanabe give us another lackluster issue filled with a lengthy fight and not much substance. Really-not a whole lot I can say about this except Manchester Black has a tough team and the Titans keep getting bopped around. And Superboy is the wild card. Hopefully this will end soon…either the story line or the book!
WE ARE ROBIN #2: Duke and the rest of the Robin team are beating on the homeless from the underground and are losing. A flare allows The Robins to escape to street level where they get a text from ‘The Nest’ and desert Duke. Duke gets taken in by the police, who immediately interrogate him. But he soon realizes that he is not at a police station but in a warehouse and makes a break for it, ending up on a rooftop with the rest of The Robins. As they go off to try and diffuse the first bombs in the city, the mysterious figure walks the underground and plans.
This was just another okay issue for me. I really want more of the back-story on the team. It’s not that I am in a big hurry to find out who The Nest is, although that would be cool. I want to know who these characters are because, except for Duke, we know nothing and that is leading me to not care about any of them. Lee Bermejo writes a good story, even if I wish that his art filled the book instead of Jorge Corona’s. I want to know where this is going and that’s the only reason I’m staying on board for now. Damn you, Bermejo for writing a mystery AND a great hook at the same time!
WONDER WOMAN #42: Diana and Hessia are unwinding in a nightclub when some poor soul grabs Diana’s behind with painful results. Out on the street, Diana becomes the subject of a failed attack by the kid with the bomb from last issue. He calls for Pegasus and escapes through a magic portal. In a flashback, we learn his name is Aegeus and that he is a descendant of Theseus-the child of Aethra, Aegeus and Poseidon. As his mother dies, she gives him a coin from his father, leading Aegeus to have designs to become God of War and have words with a mysterious portal that may contain Strife. Back on Olympus, Diana meets with Donna, before Strife arrives and slips her the key that will lead to her escape.
Meredith Finch and David Finch give us another less than stellar issue of this title. The problem I have with it is in Meredith’s story. It’s bad enough that David’s art is not as crisp as it once was and he needs a stronger inker working with him, her tale is just not a fun read. Give me a strong supporting cast again, because Hessia isn’t it. Give me the Gods of Olympus fighting like siblings. Give me some sense that this God of War has something to offer the reader. In other words, give me back something with the feel of Azzarello and Chaing!
Possibly THE BEST Justice League title being put out today. Now, that’s just my opinion and many will fight with me about this. But this title has some hilarious dialogue and plot twists courtesy of J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen, along with the absolutely amazing art of Howard Porter. Laughs, more laughs and some of the best lines even given to Guy Gardner who, you might recall, is now a woman. How can you lose?
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #11: We begin with a new version of the JLU heading off into battle. Composed of Poison Ivy, Swamp Thing, Equinox, Etrigan and Mera, and put together with the combined talent of a number of heroes, including Animal Man, Stargirl, Alana Strange, and a Zeta Beam riding Adam Strange, the team goes to Lake Eerie. There they fight a monstrous island of blood and innards that seems to swallow up both the Swamp Thing and the Green. But, according to Adam Strange, everything is going according to plan.
Jeff Parker and Travel Foreman put a real twist into this series and it certainly needs it. Now, is this lineup permanent? Probably not. But let’s take a look at this: Poison Ivy can’t spend all her time hanging with Harley, Swamp Thing is out of TWO BOOKS, Mera is feuding with her hubby and Etrigan has had troubles in a number of centuries. The story is fun, if not confusing…just what the hell is going on with Adam Strange? Foreman’s art rocks too! This book has become a winner!
LOBO #8: A trio of assassins sent to take him out is attacking Lobo. He cuts the head off the Martian attacker before dispatching the other two. But the Martian’s head has a mind of its’ own and comes back for more, as does the Martian’s body. Lobo continues to battle and is finally saved by a mysterious hunter. Later, he has the Mechanic take a look at the scorpion like creature that contains some pretty high-tech, mind controlling tech. Lobo heads off to Saidris to meet up with Countess Odessa, where he dispatches some guards and finds a lab with thousands of spider bots being cultivated. Odessa and some of her hired thugs show up and, before he knows it, he loses control of himself as one of the spider-bots is under his skin and controlling him.
The best thing about this book is Cliff Richards’ amazing painted art. The next best thing is the gore. Now, third up is Cullen Bunn’s story. Maybe it’s me, but I think there could be a problem with a book when the story is the THIRD best thing about it. I don’t like the Metrosexual Lobo, but I am appreciating his zest for mayhem and his way with the ladies. And I love Richards’ art!
LOBO ANNUAL #1: Lobo continues his hunt for Sinestro and that leads him through a bunch of ugly battles and collecting yellow rings in the hopes that this will lead Sinestro to him. Then he goes to a decommissioned space prison and captures some Korugarians. The Sinestro Corps shows up and Lobo gets ripped apart. Luckily he has those regeneration powers. Sinestro finally arrives and they brawl until Sinestro calls off the contract that he put upon himself, revealing this was only a test and he wants them to be in the business of destroying mutual enemies..
While this is my favorite issue thus far in the series, it still falls short of being the Lobo I grew up with. Cullen Bunn writes a great story here and Robson Rocha’s art is to die for! You gotta love an artist who can give you beauty and violence all at once! And the Corps vs. Lobo two page spread was amazing! So, DC keeps my interest for another moth here. Nice job!
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #2: J'onn has gone to Helen Demoff of NASA and wants her to kill him. Superman arrives and wants to know how J’onn knew of all these terrorist attacks and he reveals it was because the Martians used him to plan them. It seems everything that we have ever known about his family being killed was all implanted in his mind by the White Martians. J’onn and the League battle until they realize that the battle was only an implant that allowed J’onn to vaporize himself. Meanwhile, White Martians intent on melting her are chasing the thief in Dubai named Pearl. The issue ends with the mysterious Mr. Biscuits and Alicia going off to stop the Martians.
Rob Williams and Eddy Barrows again give us one of the more exciting DC YOU releases in the form of this book! When it was first announced, I was a really big nay sayer, having seen this character messed with and screwed up for far too long. But the story is totally captivating, the art work is killer and this book is filled with so many twists and turns that it just makes me want to come back for more! Add this to you reserve list!
MIDNIGHTER #2: A woman named Marina is offered the chance to gain revenge for her husband her died due to a food allergy that Windcrest Foods knew could kill some people. She gladly accepts and heads off to take out the folks from Windcrest Foods, until Midnighter shows up and tries to stop her. But, before he can, he needs to not be able to hear and punches his own ears until they burst. Although he agrees with her motives, he doesn’t go along with her methods, even though he puts a beat down on one of the Wind crest folks before serving Marina up to the police. Later, we see how Midnighter and Apollo broke up before Midnighter converses with Marina in her cell. He instructs her to do her time and be his peer when she gets out. Meanwhile, he is ready to face off with some enemies…a lot of them!
Well, unfortunately it only took one issue for the art team to go south. Joining writer Steve Orlando this month is Alec Morgan. His art is nice…but it certainly isn’t Aco, so I’m pretty disappointed in the way the issue looks. But the story continues to be alternately gruesome and hilarious as our hero kicks ass and works on his dating skills! I mean, Midnighter boxing his own hears to make himself deaf? Wow! Yeah…it’s THAT kind of book. But hey: what did you expect from Midnighter anyway? And hey: kudos for locking Marina up in Bridgewater. Ahh…nice to see my old stomping grounds represented! The town that is, not the prison!
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #10: Deadshot, Manta, and Boomerang have allegedly joined a group once attached to the League of Assassins and witness how the League uses children to further their cause and grow their ideology. This causes Boomerang to question their motives and leads to him getting beat down. The beating gets even worse when he decides that maybe all these League kids in training should have some fun and play some soccer, leading to Manta decreeing that the only punishment for Boomerang is death. Meanwhile, Harley Quinn, Reverse Flash, and Parasite are waiting around, as they are the extraction team. Back at Belle Reve, Sage has Waller’s assistant show him around the place. Waller shows up and can’t believe how naive her assistant really is!
Sean Ryan and Philipe Briones provide an issue that’s really fun to look at but has a bunch of weird plot pieces that just don’t work. Point #1: we get this whole plot with Boomerang being the sole advocate for the little kids. Yeah: that’s not in his normal character make-up. Point #2: Harley, Reverse Flash and Parasite hanging around, with some silly dialogue, attributed mostly to Harley and playing with weapons. That scene is only here to show us that there is more to the team that just the trio tied into the League. Point #3: how in the world did Waller hire someone SO DUMB? Take out those issues and this issue was pretty good!
OMEGA MEN #2: Last issue, the Omega Men killed 39 soldiers so now the Viceroy has arrived on Ogyptu to oversee the execution of citizens. Meanwhile, Primus has placed a watch in Kyle Rayner’s neck that will explode if he tries to escape. Broot manages to get the Omega men’s ship back and they leave the planet that means that 4,000 innocents get executed. To say that this upsets Kyle is a huge understatement, as he opens up his neck and changes the Omega Men on his uniform to a Green Lantern symbol
Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda continue to make this one of THE books to read as part of the DC YOU revamp. This is NOT the OMEGA MEN I grew up with, thanks to Marv Wolfman and Joe Staton.. This is also not the OMEGA MEN title that had such luminaries as Roger Slifer, Doug Moench, Shawn McManus and Keith Giffen working on it. This is not the title that featured the first appearance of the classic Lobo. Instead, we have a team fighting against the evil empire with the former White Lantern in tow, whether he wants to be or not. It is a typical Tom King romp and it rocks! This is SO HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
PREZ #2: While Beth’s father is dies from cat flu, the attempt to elect a new president continues, with the two major candidates looking to buy votes and make deals. Beth gets visited by the people fro the Church of Wormology and gets a revisionist history of the Bible. When all is said and done, Beth gets 26 votes and becomes President. She gets visited by Preston Rickard, who claims he was almost President once, who offers himself up to be her Vice President.
In case you might be wondering, Prez Rickard was the title character in DC’s first PREZ comic. So, to add him into the mix of this book is a nice tip of the cap to long time fans. While he insists he was “almost” President once, he actually was in 1974 DC history where he was President of Earth One. He even showed up in an issue of SANDMAN, but most recently was the President on Earth-23. Whatever the case, this book continues to throws shots at the American political system thanks to Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell. While the preview totally disappointed, this book has been a winner thus far!
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #2: Roy shows off his new invention, the Teflon spraying shower head, by attacking Jay in the shower with a gun fueled by napalm. Afterwards, they realize they are going to be evicted because Roy spent the ransom money from last issue on cool new gadgets. So they go to Tara Battleworth to get another job, that leads them to Paris to collect a thumb drive containing sensitive data. But before they can do that, they have to fight terrorist, “monster-ninja people” and arms dealers while NOT keeping a low-profile. They battle a group of villainous mimes and succeed in their task “off panel”. They also have switched the thumb drive, but get hired to work for the government after all.
Wow! Welcome to Deadpool cloned and dressed up as former sidekicks. This is just plain bad! It is full of puns, bad jokes, toilet humor and two huge two-page video game inspired spreads. This shouldn’t be rated T for Teen it should be rated K for Kiddie. Scott Lobdell gets points for touching on Roy’s past alcoholic ways and Paolo Pantalena turns in some nice looking art. But the title really has nothing to add to this Universe. We have Two Mercs with Mouths and the one at Marvel is bad enough!
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #2: We begin with a flashback to the Year of Blood, showing a young Damian victorious over Talia that leads to a ceremony to mark the occasion. Back in the present, Damian and Goliath are in South America where he is atoning for what he did during Year of Blood: returning the head of a stone guardian. But with the head reattached, the guardian comes to life and they battle. During the fight, Nobody II shows up to watch, eventually being forced to de-cloak and lend a hand. Seems there is an evil cartel that is running the village, so they take down the cartel with the help of…the stone guardian. The villagers see them as heroes and Nobody decides that they should be partners, whether he likes it or not.
This is a well-written, beautiful looking book by Patrick Gleason with a twist for an ending. So, now that Batman is flying alone, I guess we decided it was time to give Robin a partner? This should be interesting. The book is a treat, even if the back-story jumps around a bit. I got confused at one point, as the flashback where the young Damian decapitates the guardian occurs 16 pages into this 22-page book. And that’s another thing: $3.99 for 22 pages? DC gives 20 pages for $2.99, but it’s a buck more for two crummy pages? Really? Did you all need the moving expense money THAT BADLY!?
SECRET SIX #4: The team settles into their new home: Big Shot’s house. Not long after, Ragdoll, Banshee and Scandal Savage show up to discuss a mutual enemy and eat some cookies. That leads to a epic battle where Catman learns that Savage was the person who brought him the kitten while he was in captivity. They agree to join forces before the trio invites our team to an LGBTQ mixer. Oh yeah: and Banshee tells them one of them is going to die soon.
We need to get more books like this and not SWORDS OF SORROW from Gail Simone. This issue is a great mix of quirky dialogue and cool action. And an invite to an LGBTQ mixer, which fits right into DC’s diversified books. The first 8 pages, which sets up how the group ended up at Big Shot’s pad, is by Ken Lashley and is his typically beautiful stuff The rest of the book is by Tom Derenick and is a beautiful contrast. It took forever to get four issues out, but I want to see how Mockingbird/The Riddler and Big Shot/Ralph Dibney all tie together. Thanks Gail for a cool mystery action adventure book with a sense of humor!
SINESTRO #13: Soranik has been turned into a Yellow Lantern by her father and is not happy about it. She also finds it difficult for Sinestro to lead when he can’t even find the traitor among them. Bekka and Sinestro discuss why she’s part of the team and asks him about his ultimate plan. He unleashes Parallax and binds the creature to the planet to stabilize it, which leaves Sinestro without his greatest weapon. He has three members of the team executed to prove that he will not tolerate traitors. And then he reveals to Lyssa Drak that he knows she is the traitor, he has always known and they will still be useful to him to a while.
I didn’t see that coming! Cullen Bunn and Brad Walker continue to surprise me with this title. Prior to CONVERGENCE, I couldn’t BEAR to read this, as the supporting cast was just so annoying. But the characters have been streamlined and more focus is being given to Soranik, Bekka Lyssa Drak, along with Sinestro. Walker’s art gets better with each issue and yeah, I hate to admit it, this is now becoming one of my favorite reads. Go figure!
STARFIRE #2: Hurricane Betty is whacking the heck out of West Key and it’s up to Starfire to try and be the newest hero in town. At the same time, the sherriff’s brother is ready to head out to sea, directly into the storm, to drive and save a boat full of people. So, the sheriff grabs a SWAT tank, picks up Kori, and heads out. The people on the boat gets saved, Kori gives Sol mouth-to-mouth, her trailer is trashed and…just what is that big monster that crawled out of the hole in the ground?
Amanda Connor and Jimmy Palmiotti took what had the makings of a really cool book and shot it in the foot with this issue. The story jumped around so much that I had to read each piece as a self contained story, flipping back and forth through the issue. We still have Kori acting as the stereotypical dumb blonde, taking naivete to a whole new level. Emanuela Lupacchino pencils, Ray McCarthy’s inks, and Hi-Fi’s colors are the true heroes of this book and make it pop! Now, if we can only get a brain in her head and get Jaybird and Roy out of Deadpool mode, DC might be able to salvage these characters!
SUPERMAN #42: Having been shot last issue, Clark finds himself starting to heal and battling robot ninjas to save the lives of Condesa, Jimmy and Lois. Lois finally puts 2+2 together and tears off Clark’s shirt to reveal his Superman garb. They all travel to Gotham for some help from the Toy Master so they can defeat HORDR. With counterfeit masks, they manage to make their way onto HORDR Island, where Condesa quickly betrays them. It seems that Clark’s mysterious text messager is the head of the organization and goes by the name of HORDR_ROOT. While Superman battle his forces, Lois takes him out with a lead pipe to reveal he is only a hard light construct. Superman uses his solar flare and gets attacked by a mystery enemy in the process. In the end, Clark is down for the count and the others are trying to get away before the whole complex comes down.
Well, this issue just took a left turn to weirdville. We go from mysterious texts to a college in the sky that you have to take a magic bus to get to. And then, we find out the leader is a hard light construct? And Lois, apparently feeling betrayed that Clark told Jimmy his secret and not her, is pissed enough to reveal his identity in the next issue or so. Thumbs down to Gene Yang for this issue, although thumbs stay up for John Romita Jr.’s art. Hopefully the next issue will not only clarify things but make them right again!
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #19: The Suicide Squad are here and they are ready to take in a powered down Clark Kent. But they have to deal with him and Wonder Woman and all Superman wants to know is where everyone in Smallville has gone. Black Manta tells him they were gone when the Squad got here, but that doesn’t make it any easier or him any calmer. Together, they take down the Squad, who beats a hasty retreat, but not before the former Man of Steel takes quite a bullet beating from Deadshot. Later, as Wonder Woman tends to his wounds, Superman makes a decision about a fight that he needs to be involved in. That takes him to the office of the President of the United States and it seems that he’s expecting him.
Thanks you Peter Tomasi and Doug Mahnke for giving us the most action packed issue of the TRUTH saga yet! Part Two of DARK TRUTH looks absolutely amazing and the story just runs at breakneck speed. Not only do we have Waller’s team trying to take down the illegal alien, but it looks as though the President and some shady figure are involved too. Holy Conspiracy Theory! These creators have totally reinvigorated this character and we have finally put the romance piece in the background for now. This book rocks!
TEEN TITANS #10: Manchester Black’s team faces off against the Teen Titans over the rights to capture Superboy. Following the battle, he flees with the new Power Girl trying to stop him to no avail. Cassie eventually wakes up and the Manchester Black’s team realizes that the Teen Titans have flown the coop and gone to New York. Well, come of them, as Red Robin and Raven end up with Manchester Black, who messes with Raven’s mind long enough for his team to arrive and he tells them it’s a trip to a Supermax prison if they want to save Superboy.
Will Pfeifer and Felipe Watanabe give us another lackluster issue filled with a lengthy fight and not much substance. Really-not a whole lot I can say about this except Manchester Black has a tough team and the Titans keep getting bopped around. And Superboy is the wild card. Hopefully this will end soon…either the story line or the book!
WE ARE ROBIN #2: Duke and the rest of the Robin team are beating on the homeless from the underground and are losing. A flare allows The Robins to escape to street level where they get a text from ‘The Nest’ and desert Duke. Duke gets taken in by the police, who immediately interrogate him. But he soon realizes that he is not at a police station but in a warehouse and makes a break for it, ending up on a rooftop with the rest of The Robins. As they go off to try and diffuse the first bombs in the city, the mysterious figure walks the underground and plans.
This was just another okay issue for me. I really want more of the back-story on the team. It’s not that I am in a big hurry to find out who The Nest is, although that would be cool. I want to know who these characters are because, except for Duke, we know nothing and that is leading me to not care about any of them. Lee Bermejo writes a good story, even if I wish that his art filled the book instead of Jorge Corona’s. I want to know where this is going and that’s the only reason I’m staying on board for now. Damn you, Bermejo for writing a mystery AND a great hook at the same time!
WONDER WOMAN #42: Diana and Hessia are unwinding in a nightclub when some poor soul grabs Diana’s behind with painful results. Out on the street, Diana becomes the subject of a failed attack by the kid with the bomb from last issue. He calls for Pegasus and escapes through a magic portal. In a flashback, we learn his name is Aegeus and that he is a descendant of Theseus-the child of Aethra, Aegeus and Poseidon. As his mother dies, she gives him a coin from his father, leading Aegeus to have designs to become God of War and have words with a mysterious portal that may contain Strife. Back on Olympus, Diana meets with Donna, before Strife arrives and slips her the key that will lead to her escape.
Meredith Finch and David Finch give us another less than stellar issue of this title. The problem I have with it is in Meredith’s story. It’s bad enough that David’s art is not as crisp as it once was and he needs a stronger inker working with him, her tale is just not a fun read. Give me a strong supporting cast again, because Hessia isn’t it. Give me the Gods of Olympus fighting like siblings. Give me some sense that this God of War has something to offer the reader. In other words, give me back something with the feel of Azzarello and Chaing!
DC YOU Month 2, Part 1
ACTION COMICS #42: While Superman is fighting a shadow monster that he’s seen before, even if we haven’t, the Police are ready to tear down Kentville by any means possible. The people of Kentville decide to sit down in a silent demonstration, even as tear gas flies towards them. Superman arrives to stand with them and protect them, even as the Sergeant in charge whines about how much he hates Superman. Then Metro S.W.A.T. decides to give him an epic beating until the citizens rise up to defend him, leading to an all out beating. That’s when Superman opens up and begins fighting back.
So…this issue feels a little too much like it was “ripped from the headlines”, if you know what I mean. We have Police breaking up a situation, a peaceful protest, and then have the issue of police brutality shoved down our throat. This issue was WAS too preachy for me! I like Greg Pak’s work, but this was too over the top for me. Aaron Kuder, on the other hand, nails it! His art style continues to grown exponentially. I find myself really looking forward to the next issue, despite the story flaws.
ALL STAR SECTION EIGHT #2: Three months ago, someone goes into a pawnshop and…Dogwelder is reborn! Today, the Section Eight team is sitting around drinking and Sixpack decides that Green Lantern should be their eighth member. Quickly, the team is dressed in Green Lantern tee shirts…except for Guts, who is dressed as Star Sapphire. Sixpack is having a bad day, as he is so drunk he keeps vomiting on everyone and everything. The team goes off to drink some more and that allows Bueno Excellenteto spy on Guts in the dirty bathroom. He also encounters something there that leaves him looking horrified. Meanwhile, Sixpack tries to return the stained Green Lantern garments at Achmed’s Tourist Hovel as Hal Jordan defeats a giant sword wielding Tyrano****er Prime. Sixpack approaches, causing Jordan to hail a taxi and leave, threatening legal action.
Garth Ennis and John McCrea have done it again by turning out yet another hilarious and decidedly sick issue! I keep wondering just how far these guys can get away with this in a mainstream DC Comic! We’ve got a very drunk team, each with their “issues”, a pile of guts dressed seductively, leading to Beuno pleasuring himself in a disgusting looking bathroom, Hal Jordan referring to the villain as a “wielding Tyrano****er Prime”, and a lot of vomit! This is one wild book and I’m totally bummed that it is only lasting for six issues!
AQUAMAN #42: Aquaman is fighting off monsters in the parallel world that is slowly moving into our world. And this whole thing may be Aquaman’s fault as it seems that one of the ancient Atlanteans that he saved uses his magical power to open the portal so Aquaman can save more of these people. And both worlds are having ill effects on each other, so Entriaz the Warlock uses his magic to stop that from happening. But eventually something has got to give and it may be the other world. Another structure bleeds through to our world but Aquaman must fight the hunting team that Mera has sent for him, meaning the creature from beyond starts destroying our world while the Atlanteans fight.
So, the King of the Sea has a new look and a new mission and I could really care less about it. Cullen Bunn gives us a tale of Aquaman and it appears he’s off to save an invading kingdom and now his own people are pissed at him. What happened during CONVERGENCE? Also, we get a hunt team that includes the soon to be Aqualad, but Arthus doesn’t know who he is? Wtf?! And Trevor McCarthy’s art is just too artsy for my taste. I mean, we went from Paul Pelletier’s clean lines to this? I am definitely not a fan of this book now and hope things change real soon. Sooner rather than later!
BATGIRL #42: Batgirl and the new Batman continue their standoff from last issue and he explains how the new regime wants everyone who worked with the old Batman taken off the streets. In the end, he tells her to run and she does. Meanwhile, we get the origin of Livewire: a wannabe Internet video star who gets jolted and gets her powers. It seems that the HOOQ Cult has managed to break her out of prison and set her loose on Gotham City. With a little help from a device made by her friend Qadir, she teams up with Batman to take her down. In the end, her former roommate Alysia pays her a surprise visit to announce that she and her girlfriend are getting married and that Babs is going to be the Maid of Honor. SQUEEEALL!!!
Like…OH MY GAWD!!! Totally Tubular!!! I feel like I should be trapped in the 80’s! This book continues to irritate me, even while it is trying to appeal to that rare customer: the teenage female. I have stood on this “podium” for nearly 20 years saying how badly we need to get female blood into the comic shops and get them into comics. Now, I go to lots of show and sees lots of female fans, so that’s a good thing. But I don’t see a lot of them cosplaying THIS version of Batgirl. Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr are trying to give us a Batgirl for a new generation. Unfortunately, to me at least, it just feels hackneyed and silly, especially because the changes in her character came in mid stream and not after a cataclysmic event like CONVERGENCE. If you want appealing teen girl fiction, go read JEM.
BATGIRL ANNUAL #3: We begin with Batgirl teaming up with Helena Bertinelli and Spyral, along with an unseen Dick Grayson against a group of terrorists known as Gladius. They have been using hive-mind technology on a group of kidnapped world leaders to create a super brain. In the end, a bearded “Agent Backup” saves the day and never reveals his secret, although Babs thinks she might recognize Backup’s backside! The next part continues with Batgirl teaming up with Spoiler. As a fan of Batman Eternal and Catwoman, it was cool seeing Stephanie Brown again, especially since she fits this book so well. While they continue chasing down Gladius, it is brief and after enjoying the little bit we got, felt liked a missed opportunity. Next we have Batgirl and Spoiler teaming up to take down one of the Gladius scientists. Finally, she teams up with Batwoman and they save Kate Kane's old army Colonel. In the end, Batgirl goes to Gotham Academy, where she gets help from Maps and Olive that leads directly into a confrontation between Batgirl and Gladius herself. With the villain taken down, Babs and the girls check out some secret microfilm in what could be the start of the superhero club.
Well, talk about loading the deck with girls, girls girls! This issue was all about superhero girls and how many cameos, crossovers and cultural nods we could throw in. And that is what made this more fun than most issues of the main title. Written by: Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, we get four different connected chapters (it would have been cooler if each section HAD been separated into chapters) featuring four different artists: Bengal, David LaFuente, Ming Doyle and Mingjue Helen Chen. Babs checking out Agent Backup’s butt and wondering if it was Dick was truly genius as was the numerous verbal reverences to the 1966 BATMAN show throughout the Gotham Academy piece. Thrown in Spoiler and Batwoman and the cast is complete. Can we combine all of these elements into a new BIRDS OF PREY series?
BATMAN #42: Jim Gordon is working on target practice with the batarang while Julia has Daryl show him the new, 15 million dollar Batmobile. Then it’s off to The Narrows to battle Gee Gee Heung-leader of the Devil Pigs gang. But Gee Gee now has powers that allow him to manipulate silicate, meaning he can create a giant creature out of the physical city of Gotham. To defeat him, he drops the 15 million dollar Batmobile on him. Unfortunately, Gee Gee hasn’t got long to live because he has had a high tech seed implanted into him that will kill him, just as it has several other of the high-level crime bosses. Later, Julia Perry confesses that she worked with the former Batman and her name ISN’T Perry. Elsewhere, a bearded Bruce Wayne is working at a facility run by Julie Madison. When he goes into the store room to get some clay for her, he finds Jim Gordon there, who introduces himself as Batman and says they need to talk.
I can only say it so many times: THIS is why this is DC’s BEST SELLING BOOK! Scott Snyder. Greg Capullo. Danny Miki. Jim Gordon SuperCop. Alfred’s niece in disguise. A new super villain in town. Duke Thomas (there’s the WE ARE ROBIN tie-in). A bearded Bruce Wayne. The return of Julie Madison. The book looks great and the story is compelling as always. A great, great read and always the first book I crack open on release week.
BATMAN BEYOND #2: When we last saw Batman Beyond Tim Drake, he was in an The Lodge and ran into Barbara Gordon. She informs him that Brother Eye is totally responsible for the ills of the world and there is an easy way to see who is under his spell and how deep. People with happy expressions are Stage 1, blank faced people are stage 2 and Stage 3 are his cyborgs. Max Gibson gets captured along the way is interrogated by Terry McGinnis’ greatest enemy- Inque. Along with the hero who used to be Cyborg, they attack Tim and Barbara, but luckily, Alfred comes back online and so does the Batman suit, which now gives Tim a fighting chance. Barbara gets taken out just as a Stage 1 infected Max arrives to finish off Tim, meaning Brother Eye will get a chance to process the Batman.
Dan Jurgens and Cliff Chiang bring us the next chapter in the NEW BATMAN BEYOND. As I have said in the past, I was not a fan of the television series or the comic. But I have become a fan of this series as Tim Drake has made his way through the time stream he is in, or was in, to the future that is the way it is because Tim couldn’t save it during FUTURE’S END. Jurgens knows how to write a fun read and he seems really comfortable with these characters. And Chiang’s work looks really good too. Again, this is a fun read that helps if you knew the back story, but it isn’t essential.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #22: The New Batman tries to arrest Clark Kent for stealing evidence from a crime scene. Clark suggests they form a partnership, which doesn’t sit well with the new Dark Knight, While Jim Gordon doesn’t trust Clark, Clark doesn’t trust him either, and an unsteady truce is reached. They both head back to Gotham where Batman warns Lucius Fox of an impending attack, leading Fox to believe it’s the fault of Dawn Command. Apparently S.T.A.R. Lbs accidentally created an artificial sun which could power the country for a hundred years or destroy everything in a three mile radius if it fell into the wrong hands. As they go off to fight the Dawn Command, Clark is attacked by Ukur: Beastlord of Subterranea and his creature. While the pair battle, Clark suggests a truce between them to better both their world, but Batman attacks and injures Ukur, sending him off to gather his army. Clark follows Ukur below ground to try and stop an impending war.
Greg Pak and Adrian Syaf are back for another chapter in the TRUTH HURTS saga, which ties into the TRUTH saga running through all the Superman themed titles. And, while we still don’t know the whole concept of what happened to cause Clark to be powered down and totally hated, we do know that he and the new Batman do not like each other. Jim Gordon is far more intense than Bruce Wayne was…and that’s going some. At one point he declares “I am Batman” and unfortunately he is, but he is really just a former serviceman and cop PLAYING BATMAN. Clark knows it and unfortunately for him, isn’t about to get any real trust or sympathy from Gordon. It’s a great twist on a concept set down by Robert A. Heinlein so long ago. I like where it’s going…then again: I have always been a fan of Pak’s work.
BAT-MITE #2: Bat-Mite is desperately trying to find a way to free Hawkman and get out of the clutches of Doc Trauma. Miraculously he does so, gives him a full body wax gets him reborn and recostumed as Hawkman The Savage. Her goons show up, overpower our small hero and toss him off a cliff and into the drink. The mad doctor goes on with her brain switching experiment even as the Dark Mite rises from the ocean depths. Lots of battling and clever, witty puns abound before Bat-Mite gets the upper hand and forces Agnes to switch Hawkman and the doctor back. All of the captive are freed and two of them take Bat-Mite the Homeless in, even as Gridlock plans his/her revenge.
If you’re expecting high drama and suspense, this AIN’T the book for you! If you are looking for tongue in cheek, really bad puns and jokes just a shade better than some of the stuff coming out of HARLEY QUINN these days, then jump it. Dan Jurgens and Corin Howell give you silly, on top of sophomoric on top of over-the-top. Just read it, laugh a bit and get to the serious stuff later.
BIZARO #2: Smallville has fallen under the influence of King Tut as he has convinced the residents to buy one of his used cars. Luckily Bizaro has escaped that influence and sends Tuttle to gnaw on jimmy’s head long enough to snap him back to reality. Bizaro uses his Super-Hypnosis to convince Tut he is a chicken, Jimmy breaks the staff and thus ending his reign of terror. Queen Tut gives them both medallions for helping and a convertible, even as she finds a way to put the staff back together and swear her revenge. On their way out of town, they stop at the Lex Mart to stock up on supplies for the road trip, which leads them through Gotham City, Central City, Starling City, Chicago, Iron Heights Penitentiary, Swamp Thing’s home in Louisiana and a visit to Gorilla Grodd. They end up in Ol’ Gold Gulch, where they meet Chastity Hex and prepare to battle some ghosts.
The insane road trip continues, courtesy of Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte. My writing a synopsis of it really doesn’t do this book the justice it deserves. It is truly a wild ride that swipes at the humor and superhero genre equally! With guest appearances by Grodd, Swamp Thing, Batman, The Riddler and The Flash, it is a humor book like no other. Just do yourself the favor and read it. I cannot recommend it enough!
BLACK CANARY #2: In lieu of the fact that someone is causing mayhem every time the band shows up somewhere, Dinah has begun to teach the rest of the band how to shoot. She is made aware of someone watching them and, off in the distance, is a mysterious craft with a mysterious crew. Ditto seems to have the best ability with a gun, scoring perfect bulls-eyes. Despite the troubles, the band hits the road and continues to turn heads. Somewhere along the way, former lead singer Maeve shows up.Dinah tells Paloma that she is prepared to finish the tour and then leave the band. Soon someone who knows how to use a vocal inhibitor on Dinah attacks the group in a music store. Either way, she kicks the assailants butt and we discover the masked assailant is Kurt Lance.
Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu deliver another cool issue that has almost NOTHING to do with being a superhero. The story is mystifying and funky, complete with a surprise appearance by Kurt Lance! The art is even wilder, complete with a pull-out, teen magazine style poster in the middle that gives the character bios and is so retro it’s hip! If you want to read this, expecting a superhero book where Dinah Drake Lance ends up meeting Oliver Queen and having a romance, then you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re looking for a cutting edge rock comic with someone action and mystery, this is it!
CATWOMAN #42: With Batman missing, everyone in Gotham, from crime families to Keyes and Alvarez are trying to work a deal. Selina saves Cobblepot from a potential assassination attempt, leaving the crook to the Penguin’s own devices. Later, during a meeting between Sionis, Hasigawa, Cobblepot and Eiko, Eiko excuses herself and goes off to meet with Selina, where she explains the meeting. After that, Selina meets with Alvarez, telling him everything she knows. Later, Spoiler meets with Catwoman and mixes it up, losing in the process. When Spoiler awakes, she finds that she was beat up by the Eiko Catwoman, as Selina Catwoman offers to train her. At the same time, the Calabrese Family is joining together to
Genevieve Valentine and David Messina give us another chapter in the continuing saga of Selina Kyle as she tries to run the Calabrese Crime Family, while Black Mask, Hasigawa, and others have their own machinations to run Gotham’s crime empire. Valentine’s story is top-notch noir and Messina’s art fits the feel perfectly. I love where this book is going and all the nay-sayers who had issues with Selina’s sexuality need to step off and either enjoy the book for the comic it is and step away from it. Me-I love where it’s going!
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #2: Constantine and Gaz are trying to find a way to stop whatever is killing ghosts. Along his journey through the dark, thin places of New York, he gathers up ghosts and meets with a strange man named Mister Rumor, who has been buying up haunted real estate. Come to find out, Constantine has been collecting all the ghosts to use them as bait for the ghost killer. Unfortunately, his plan backfires and the creature comes and kills Gaz again. He manages to have the other ghosts flee and spends some last minutes with his old friend. And then, he books a flight from JFK to London to seek out the person Gaz told him he needed to find in the first pace: someone named Geordie.
Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV have given John Constantine so much energy that it’s hard to even think about the last incarnation. He’s mean and nasty and only concerned about himself. This is the classic John Constantine that just oozed nastiness. This is the John Constantine that would “shag” anything’. This is the John Constantine who made deals with demons for his own good. Riley Rossmo's art is angular and weird but totally fits the feel of this book. New York has never looked so downright ugly. This book needs to be on everyone’s pull list!
CYBORG #1: The issue begins in a far away galaxy where Technosapiens and Tekbreakers are battling each other. The Tekbreakers discover the technology that makes up Cyborg and decide they need to make it there own. Back in Detroit, Cyborg reveals his new look and new abilities to his father and the other S.T.A.R. scientists, tries to make amends with Sarah and ends up in the middle of a protest..
I had high hopes for this book when I saw the creative team and, despite it being an entire issue of long-winded exposition, I still do. David Walker and Ivan Reis do a nice job with it, but I just got so bored so quickly. And then we have the Tekbreakers and the Technosapiens. So, I guess that somehow Vic is going to get involved with them when they invade Earth. Again, not the greatest first issue but I have high hopes still.
DEATHSTROKE #8: Deathstroke and Wonder Woman duel over the fact that he has opened the prison that held Lapetus. After a book length fight, Diana discovers that Hessia and Slade have some history together. Diana agrees to let him help stop Lapetus. Unfortunately, Lapetus has been reborn and is loose on the island. Continued in DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #1.
Hey Tony S. Daniel and James Bonny: ask me how much I like dropping three bucks on a beautiful looking book-length fight? Not really all that much! I mean, sure-the book looks great but give me something more than a full length fight with a little bit of back story and plot development thrown in. Did it ever make you wonder how it is superheroes can monologue all over the place during a fight when the rest of the world can barely get two words edgewise while getting beat up? Things that make you go um!
DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #1: Picking up where the latest issue of DEATHSTROKE left off, with he and Wonder Woman battling Lapetus. Unfortunately, the pair end up being sent to a hellish place created from the powers of the offsprings of the Titans. As they fight, they get separated: she goes to a future where Superman tells her the world eneded because of her while Deathstroke meets with Hessia and tries to save his children from Turkish terrorists. Turns out to be nothing more than Lapetus messing with their heads and together they fight their way out of this place and back to Paradise island, where the Amazons are being slaughtered.
Our regular writing team of Tony S. Daniel and James Bonny combine with artist Tyler Kirkham to give us their take on IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Not really, but it feels that way. Wonder Womand and Deathstroke go off to battle their private hells all for the glory of YOUR FIVE BUCKS! Thanks guys: I would just as much have preferred this to run through a couple of issue of the regular book and paid more in the end. But maybe the story would have been a bit more cohesive. And, as it is, we STILL have it continued in next month’s issue.
DETECTIVE COMICS #42: Batman, Bullock and GCPD are engaged in a gun battle with a heavily armed gang called La Morte. Batman takes one of them out, forcing the rest of the crew to run. This Batman DOES believe in using guns. Later, Sawyer orders the force, including Keyes and Alvarez, to go to Le Cirque de Volant the following day. Harvey discusses how he sees Montoya as a snitch and then heads home with his partner, who is also his newest girlfriend. Later, Bullokc, Montoya and Yip are called on to be back-up for Batman, who is going after La Morte. Yip goes for coffee and Bullock asks Montoya to run a phone number, presumably from Yip’s call record. Batman gets ambushed by La Morte and his suit fails him. Luckily, he gets himself out of the suit and prepares to fight them without weapons.
Wow! Batman out of the suit! AWESOME!!! Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul provide another great story with a lot of twists in it. Bullokc and Yip: bed mates? Really?! Didn’t see that coming. But, at the same time, we have to figure that she may be up to her neck in trouble. Fernando Blanco delivers another great looking issue too. Overall, we get another killer read!
DOOMED #2: We begin in Oak Park Elementary School where someone names Miles is an intergalactic bounty hunter who dispatches his coach with some sort of weapon. Seems the coach isn’t who he seemed and was wanted in three panverses. Meanwhile, we go back to Reiser, who is in all sorts of trouble as he has been turned into this Doomed character and can’t communicate only scare people. Two police officers show up to arrest Reiser, who manages to escape via a centric blast. He eventually ends up back at his place, where he curls up on a couch and hopes he doesn’t have to go through that again. In the end, our two police officers find a “scared” Miles.
I truly cannot stand this book! I have no attachment to Reiser or his roommate or the girl he wants. Now Miles: THAT’S a cool character! Can Scott Lobdell and Javier Fernandez give us a book with Miles, the Intergalactic Bounty hunter instead of this loser?
DR. FATE #2: Khalid Nassour, wearing the helmet of Doctor Fate, goes off to rescue his injured father, even as Anubis drops a plane on him. In an effort to save them, Khalid actually causes the plane to fall faster. Realizing he has made a mistake, he delivers his father to an EMT attending to the crash victims. Later, news in the hospital is not good, so Khalid and his girlfriend go back home to prepare for their first day in Med School when the helm, more specifically Nabu, tells him this is his destiny. Forced to put on the helmet again, Khalid battles wild dogs in the street and wonders what is happening to him.
To steal from Comic Book guy: Worst. Hero. Ever. There is NOTHING to like about this guy. A plane falls out of the sky and it'’ time for a with great power moment and yeah, like Spider-Man many years before, he blows it. So, we correct our mistake and help, right? Nope: we take care of family first and the hell with the pane full of people crashed in the middle of the street! Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew are doing no justice to this character and if DC thinks that diversifying him makes him cool, they are wrong! All they have done is given us an insult to the legend of Dr. Fate.
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #2: Sloan has managed to get his hands on the Source Vault. Then we flashback a year to the TSS Overwatch-One which is being attacked by a mysterious survivor on board. So Sloan has the other ships crash land where he has directed them to, while he has his ship leave Earth’s atmosphere. Back in present day, Batman has infiltrates TSS-Endurance just as Sloan fires up the Source Vault which is now hooked up to the Genesis Machine. Sloan has become God as he makes Earth 2 in his image.
Wow! I didn’t think this book could be that bad, but it is! Daniel H. Wilson’s writing is clunky, the plot did nothing for me and I really am hating these characters. I’m also not a big fan of Jorge Jimenez’ art. All in all, I thought this could a very cool series…but I see I was wrong. And oh wait: DC just announced a series featuring TELOS! OH BOY: just what we DON’T NEED!
FLASH #42: Henry Allen and some other prisoners have broken out of Iron Heights and Barry and the Central City Police Department are investigating, meaning Barry gets to do a bit of super sleuthing in the cell. Henry and the gang are gathering supplies from Medi-Barn Supplies when the security guard arrives and, thanks to Professor Zoom’s hand, Henry kills the guard. After the shooting, the team splits up and Girder goes to visit his grandmother. Unfortunately for him, The Flash finds him and they battle. He convinces Girder to give him some information and that leads him to the home of the prison guard knocked out during their escape. Zoom shows up and leads Barry on a merry little chace…back to the place where his mom died.
Here we have another great issue from the writing team of Robert Venditti and Van Jensen, with Brett Booth and Norm Rapamund doing a great job on the art! Although this story is drifting into little moments that seem to be inspired by the television show, it tries its’ best to stick to the plot established throughout the old NEW 52 run. But when did Iris became a big time reporter and Wally West’s sub-plot get tossed off the bus? Maybe they’re holding Wally back until after he makes his impact on the TV show. Either way, I’m curious to see how long before we get the full Zoom reveal.
FLASH ANNUAL #4: Professor Zoom makes his way through history to gather people connected to the Speed Force and bring them to his side. Starting in Mexico in 1520, he saves Magali from the Spanish Conquistadors. Next stop is 1883 South Africa, where diamond miners taken revenge on the family of someone known as the Folding Man, leading him to join Zoom. 1957 brings the team to Australia where they save a strong woman from a circus freak show. At last, they stop in Oklahoma in 1982, where they gather up a boy named Roscoe with the power to harness tornadoes. Together, the team trains to take down The Flash. In the Epilogue, we see how Thawne had been responsible for manipulating each of his team to bring them to his side. In Oklahoma, he stole the medicine to keep Roscoe in check. In Australia, he put the bug in the ear of her challenger. In Africa, he planted the diamond on Xolani’s family. In 1520, he tells the Spanish how to find Magali.
This super team isn’t all about the Speed Force. This team is about gathering unique powers to defeat The Flash. What I loved here was the various layers Van Jensen used to tell this story. I also loved that we have added a storm controller named Roscoe, which will hopefully allow him to be identified as Roscoe Dillon-the original Top from the classic Rogues (although we already got a version of The Top in the form of Turbine Roscoe Hynes). Bong Dazo does an amazing job with the art and this issue is a winner all the way around! This is a must read if you are following the series at all and was my favorite of the July Annuals.
GOTHAM ACADEMY #8: We begin at the funeral of Olives' mother. From there, we learn that Kyle has been spying on Dr. Langstron and Tristan, finding out that Tristan is a Man-Bat. He and Maps go sneaking into Tristan’s room, only to be chased out and attacked. In the process, Tristan is injured and they bring him back to Dr. Langstrom. Later, Kyle tells Olive Tristan was attacked by an animal and she discovers a mysterious envelope with a letter written by her mom.
Curiouser and curiouser. Despite the quick jump back to a plotline dropped on us before the Damian Wayne issue last month, the issue mostly centers on Tristan and how it turns out he’s a Man-Bat. Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl do a fine job of introducing this fact, reintroducing us to Kirk Langstorm, who is now a professor here, and dropping more hints regarding Olive’s mom. All in all, a good issue to set up future plotlines.
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #7: Five people are dead in the East End of Gotham and that means that the team is on another case. When it seems that whatever killed these people is some sort of demon spawn, a grieving Jim Corrigan is called in along with his partner The Spectre. The Spectre cleans the building and the block, discovering over fifty dead bodies in the process. Meanwhile, an inmate named Fred Anderson tells Rook that he saw Detective Drake and Corrigan gun down three men. And, if things weren’t bad enough, Spencer informs the Lieutenant that someone with power is looking to put down the team.
I totally love this book, even though I find it hard to figure out who some of the characters are because of Juan Ferreyra’s unique style. Ray Fawke’s story continues to intrigue although I am floored that DC hasn’t decided there isn’t a big enough audience for this book and pulled the plug on it
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT ANNUAL #1: Lisa Drake and Jim Corrigan are on the trail of Gentleman Jim Craddock, better known as The Gentleman Ghost. This version of Craddock is less murderer than lover, who uses his powers to attempt to acquire a special necklace. Craddock, who has the use of four spiderlike arms now, was once cursed by a witch to do her bidding After she died, he kept on living and eventually fell in love with a woman who met an untimely end. The connection is the necklace that he gave to her. In the end, the Spectre takes his revenge on Craddock, destroying him and the necklace.
And thus the legend and the afterlife of the Gentleman Ghost comes to an end. Bummer! Not the greatest of Batman villains, he was always a bit of fun. This was a nice, touching issue by Ray Fawkes and Christian Duce that brought up some real characterization in Craddock, Corrigan and especially Lisa Drake. Plus, we get a plot device that will surely show up in future issues of the regular run.
GRAYSON #10: It seems that not only has Dick used his Spyral powers to get away, but Agent 1 has managed to take out the guards and made his escape too. Back at St. Hadrian’s, Director Bertinelli observes the Spyral machine, run by three odd looking individuals while telling Agent 1 that she will handle Agent 37 personally. Over in Corsica, Agent 37 meets with his contact regarding that stolen Kryptonite necklace and he is totally shocked when that contact turns out to be Lex Luthor. After some back and forth, Dick bails out on the meeting by jumping off the cliff and into a special Spyral craft. He has another agenda: Agent 1.
What can I say? This is one super cool, super sexy, great looking, kick-ass-reading comic book. Thanks to Tom King and Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin for making spies cool again!
GREEN ARROW #42: Wart Lady is out talking about the horrors that make their nests in the clouds when the bleached body of Willis Coleman falls to the street. The police have decided to fight crime by using Mr. Zimm’s Panopticon. This robotic crime fighter is about to clean up the streets through profiling, which results in a everyone from bank robbers to homeless people being dealt with using extreme prejudice. Oliver calls the home office and is told that if he doesn’t like it, since he signed the contract, then he should step down from his company. The white faced guy from the last issue joins the police and the Panopticon as they confront a group of protesters. Meanwhile, Green Arrow goes to the Panopticon factory but finds himself in a trap with Mr. Zimm piloting his very own Panopticon. Back at home, Oliver’s pet wolf, now named George, howls a mournful cry.
So…can I guess that Ben Percy may have seen ROBOCOP once or twice? Because this is what it’s starting to feel like. We have a racist killing black people and a mad scientist using his pet robot to eliminate anyone else he feels like. This can’t go well for anyone. I like the story thus far. Percy’s not Jeff Lemire but then again who is? Patrick Zircher's art is great and I love the look of the book. Again, Zircher is nbot Andrea Sorrentino but…yeah: you get it!
GREEN LANTERN #42: Hal, Virgo and the captured Trapper are heading towards Ketleth Prime only to find that everyone on the planet has been turned to stone. Trapper’s crew arrives on scene and gets into a battle with Hal. During the fight, Hal sends a piece of the mysterious asteroid towards their ships, but gains composure over Krona’s gauntlet at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, a pebble breaks loose and turns all the ships and their occupants to stone. Feeling guilty, he takes Virgo and Trapper on as his crew to go find the missing Lanterns and discover what is causing all this death and destruction. Meanwhile, Black Hand is trying to make stone dead aliens rise again, but finds his own hands turning to stone in the process.
Go back and look at GREEN LANTERN #39, where we saw these asteroids floating around and turning everything to stone. Yeah-THOSE ASTEROIDS! Well, Robert Venditti and Billy Tan have brought that plot piece back and apparently with one heck of a vengeance! Hal still looks like The Spectre but Billy Tan’s art shines! And the story doesn’t suck! I mean, Hal has one whiny moment or two, but not as wimpy as he was in the past. This is a renegade, lean and mean Hal Jordan with long flowing hair and big muscles! You go boy!
GREEN LANTERN: LOST ARMY #2: John Stewart, Guy Gardner and the team are attacked by a bunch of aliens wielding Red Lantern energy constructed weapons. When they are done defeating them, John and Guy use their rings to change the pyramid from red energy to green, providing them with a super clean energy source. That’s when a young version of Relic from his original Universe arrives.
I really don’t like John Stewart and never have. With that, I have to give Cullen Bunn and Jesus Saiz credit for getting me through at least issue #2 without ripping the book in half. I don’t really like the title, but do like the idea that we have Krona and Relix from before where we know them from. That alone will make me go at least another issue.
HARLEY QUINN #18: Harley and the Gang, including Eggy in a shark suit, go to Harpoon Hanks to discover that Harlem and Harvey are at Coney General Hospital. So Harley and Bolly head off to find Horatio and end up getting get phone jacked, leading to them blowing up the bombers and tracking down Horatio. Bolly hits him in the eye with a hammer causing him to cry out about his “painful peeper”. Harley decides to have a bite of Horatio’s seaweed and that leads her onto a six-page pirate hallucination. When she wakes, Ivy is by her side and she has been in a hospital for a day and a half. It seems the team attacked Horatio but he captured them all and carried them away onto his boat where he plans to kill them all.
It’s another issue filled with innuendos and salacious statements by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. But I actually ENJOYED most of them! We have sick lesbian jokes, Popeye riffs, dumb dialogue, and Eggy in a shark costume. Great art from Chad Hardin until we get our six-page dream sequence and Jed Dougherty shows up to hit it out of the park. Ivy as a mermaid, the Joker as a rival pirate and the most awesome, one panel KILLING JOKE homage are the highlights! So, it’s still a book that has seen better days, but this issue was better than most!
HARLEY QUINN/ POWER GIRL #2: Harley fights a Killy-Happy-Bot 2.0 while Power Girl fights a bunch of bad guys until she gets saved by the XGF Team. The XGF Team is made up of Vartox's ex-girlfriends and his one ex-boyfriend. Once Harly beats up the Killy-McHappy-Bot 2.0, the XGF and the girls head off to Lust Moon to save Vartox, who has undergone a bit of a change…for the better.
And what was a barrel of fun last issue has become one, long bad joke. Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray give us an issue with nothing worth liking except for Stephane Roux’ art. The only good thing right now is it’s a mini-series and hopefully will get better next issue. After all, the first issue totally impressed me with how good it is. Looks like the creative team shot their best in the first issue
JUSTICE LEAGUE #42: Superman is tending to Lex’s bullet wounds when they realize that they are on Apokolips, something that make Steppenwulf, Desaad and Darkseid very happy. Back on Earth, Wonder Woman battle Grail and the Anti-Monitor, who has pretty much decimated the rest of the League. Luckily Metron arrives and transports our heroes away via Boom Tube. At the same time, Mister Miracle is with Myrina Black, who was responsible for getting the Anti-Monitor out of the Multiverse to come and kill Darkseid. Unfortunaely, she has decided that Earth will be the battleground. We end with our heroes and Metron, who is pulled out of his chair by Wonder Woman. This allows Batman to sit in it and learn the secret to all of his questions. And then, he deems himself a God.
Geoff Johns Jason Fabok give us a mind messing issue! There isn’t much more I can say. I mean, Lex and Superman on Apokolips, Mister Miracle getting the story from Myrina Black and Batman becomes a God. The Darkseid War heats up!
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2: Superman greets Rao, but his powers shut down and Rao is forced to save him. As the world debates if Rao’s appearance is a good thing or a bad thing, Batman and Cyborg head to the cave to research things. They come up empty handed regarding the Infinity Corporation, Batman gives Cyborg every known way to stop a Kryptonian to see what they can use against Rao. Meanwhile, Aquaman meets with one of Rao’s prophets, who goes about trying to convince the Atlanteans that they need Rao in their lives. Superman travels the world, spreading the good news of Rao, even though he should be out looking for his missing friends. In the end, we see that Diana is in space and that Olympus has been destroyed.
Bryan Hitch handles it all again this issue, meaning it looks great and is incredibly wordy. Now that’s a good thing as there is a ton of cool dialogue and a bunch of nice plot pieces thrown around. It also means you’re getting your four dollars worth as it will take you about twice your normal comic read to get through it. Seeing Mount Olympus trashed in the end was also worth it and I SO WANT a print made of that page!
So…this issue feels a little too much like it was “ripped from the headlines”, if you know what I mean. We have Police breaking up a situation, a peaceful protest, and then have the issue of police brutality shoved down our throat. This issue was WAS too preachy for me! I like Greg Pak’s work, but this was too over the top for me. Aaron Kuder, on the other hand, nails it! His art style continues to grown exponentially. I find myself really looking forward to the next issue, despite the story flaws.
ALL STAR SECTION EIGHT #2: Three months ago, someone goes into a pawnshop and…Dogwelder is reborn! Today, the Section Eight team is sitting around drinking and Sixpack decides that Green Lantern should be their eighth member. Quickly, the team is dressed in Green Lantern tee shirts…except for Guts, who is dressed as Star Sapphire. Sixpack is having a bad day, as he is so drunk he keeps vomiting on everyone and everything. The team goes off to drink some more and that allows Bueno Excellenteto spy on Guts in the dirty bathroom. He also encounters something there that leaves him looking horrified. Meanwhile, Sixpack tries to return the stained Green Lantern garments at Achmed’s Tourist Hovel as Hal Jordan defeats a giant sword wielding Tyrano****er Prime. Sixpack approaches, causing Jordan to hail a taxi and leave, threatening legal action.
Garth Ennis and John McCrea have done it again by turning out yet another hilarious and decidedly sick issue! I keep wondering just how far these guys can get away with this in a mainstream DC Comic! We’ve got a very drunk team, each with their “issues”, a pile of guts dressed seductively, leading to Beuno pleasuring himself in a disgusting looking bathroom, Hal Jordan referring to the villain as a “wielding Tyrano****er Prime”, and a lot of vomit! This is one wild book and I’m totally bummed that it is only lasting for six issues!
AQUAMAN #42: Aquaman is fighting off monsters in the parallel world that is slowly moving into our world. And this whole thing may be Aquaman’s fault as it seems that one of the ancient Atlanteans that he saved uses his magical power to open the portal so Aquaman can save more of these people. And both worlds are having ill effects on each other, so Entriaz the Warlock uses his magic to stop that from happening. But eventually something has got to give and it may be the other world. Another structure bleeds through to our world but Aquaman must fight the hunting team that Mera has sent for him, meaning the creature from beyond starts destroying our world while the Atlanteans fight.
So, the King of the Sea has a new look and a new mission and I could really care less about it. Cullen Bunn gives us a tale of Aquaman and it appears he’s off to save an invading kingdom and now his own people are pissed at him. What happened during CONVERGENCE? Also, we get a hunt team that includes the soon to be Aqualad, but Arthus doesn’t know who he is? Wtf?! And Trevor McCarthy’s art is just too artsy for my taste. I mean, we went from Paul Pelletier’s clean lines to this? I am definitely not a fan of this book now and hope things change real soon. Sooner rather than later!
BATGIRL #42: Batgirl and the new Batman continue their standoff from last issue and he explains how the new regime wants everyone who worked with the old Batman taken off the streets. In the end, he tells her to run and she does. Meanwhile, we get the origin of Livewire: a wannabe Internet video star who gets jolted and gets her powers. It seems that the HOOQ Cult has managed to break her out of prison and set her loose on Gotham City. With a little help from a device made by her friend Qadir, she teams up with Batman to take her down. In the end, her former roommate Alysia pays her a surprise visit to announce that she and her girlfriend are getting married and that Babs is going to be the Maid of Honor. SQUEEEALL!!!
Like…OH MY GAWD!!! Totally Tubular!!! I feel like I should be trapped in the 80’s! This book continues to irritate me, even while it is trying to appeal to that rare customer: the teenage female. I have stood on this “podium” for nearly 20 years saying how badly we need to get female blood into the comic shops and get them into comics. Now, I go to lots of show and sees lots of female fans, so that’s a good thing. But I don’t see a lot of them cosplaying THIS version of Batgirl. Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher and Babs Tarr are trying to give us a Batgirl for a new generation. Unfortunately, to me at least, it just feels hackneyed and silly, especially because the changes in her character came in mid stream and not after a cataclysmic event like CONVERGENCE. If you want appealing teen girl fiction, go read JEM.
BATGIRL ANNUAL #3: We begin with Batgirl teaming up with Helena Bertinelli and Spyral, along with an unseen Dick Grayson against a group of terrorists known as Gladius. They have been using hive-mind technology on a group of kidnapped world leaders to create a super brain. In the end, a bearded “Agent Backup” saves the day and never reveals his secret, although Babs thinks she might recognize Backup’s backside! The next part continues with Batgirl teaming up with Spoiler. As a fan of Batman Eternal and Catwoman, it was cool seeing Stephanie Brown again, especially since she fits this book so well. While they continue chasing down Gladius, it is brief and after enjoying the little bit we got, felt liked a missed opportunity. Next we have Batgirl and Spoiler teaming up to take down one of the Gladius scientists. Finally, she teams up with Batwoman and they save Kate Kane's old army Colonel. In the end, Batgirl goes to Gotham Academy, where she gets help from Maps and Olive that leads directly into a confrontation between Batgirl and Gladius herself. With the villain taken down, Babs and the girls check out some secret microfilm in what could be the start of the superhero club.
Well, talk about loading the deck with girls, girls girls! This issue was all about superhero girls and how many cameos, crossovers and cultural nods we could throw in. And that is what made this more fun than most issues of the main title. Written by: Brenden Fletcher and Cameron Stewart, we get four different connected chapters (it would have been cooler if each section HAD been separated into chapters) featuring four different artists: Bengal, David LaFuente, Ming Doyle and Mingjue Helen Chen. Babs checking out Agent Backup’s butt and wondering if it was Dick was truly genius as was the numerous verbal reverences to the 1966 BATMAN show throughout the Gotham Academy piece. Thrown in Spoiler and Batwoman and the cast is complete. Can we combine all of these elements into a new BIRDS OF PREY series?
BATMAN #42: Jim Gordon is working on target practice with the batarang while Julia has Daryl show him the new, 15 million dollar Batmobile. Then it’s off to The Narrows to battle Gee Gee Heung-leader of the Devil Pigs gang. But Gee Gee now has powers that allow him to manipulate silicate, meaning he can create a giant creature out of the physical city of Gotham. To defeat him, he drops the 15 million dollar Batmobile on him. Unfortunately, Gee Gee hasn’t got long to live because he has had a high tech seed implanted into him that will kill him, just as it has several other of the high-level crime bosses. Later, Julia Perry confesses that she worked with the former Batman and her name ISN’T Perry. Elsewhere, a bearded Bruce Wayne is working at a facility run by Julie Madison. When he goes into the store room to get some clay for her, he finds Jim Gordon there, who introduces himself as Batman and says they need to talk.
I can only say it so many times: THIS is why this is DC’s BEST SELLING BOOK! Scott Snyder. Greg Capullo. Danny Miki. Jim Gordon SuperCop. Alfred’s niece in disguise. A new super villain in town. Duke Thomas (there’s the WE ARE ROBIN tie-in). A bearded Bruce Wayne. The return of Julie Madison. The book looks great and the story is compelling as always. A great, great read and always the first book I crack open on release week.
BATMAN BEYOND #2: When we last saw Batman Beyond Tim Drake, he was in an The Lodge and ran into Barbara Gordon. She informs him that Brother Eye is totally responsible for the ills of the world and there is an easy way to see who is under his spell and how deep. People with happy expressions are Stage 1, blank faced people are stage 2 and Stage 3 are his cyborgs. Max Gibson gets captured along the way is interrogated by Terry McGinnis’ greatest enemy- Inque. Along with the hero who used to be Cyborg, they attack Tim and Barbara, but luckily, Alfred comes back online and so does the Batman suit, which now gives Tim a fighting chance. Barbara gets taken out just as a Stage 1 infected Max arrives to finish off Tim, meaning Brother Eye will get a chance to process the Batman.
Dan Jurgens and Cliff Chiang bring us the next chapter in the NEW BATMAN BEYOND. As I have said in the past, I was not a fan of the television series or the comic. But I have become a fan of this series as Tim Drake has made his way through the time stream he is in, or was in, to the future that is the way it is because Tim couldn’t save it during FUTURE’S END. Jurgens knows how to write a fun read and he seems really comfortable with these characters. And Chiang’s work looks really good too. Again, this is a fun read that helps if you knew the back story, but it isn’t essential.
BATMAN SUPERMAN #22: The New Batman tries to arrest Clark Kent for stealing evidence from a crime scene. Clark suggests they form a partnership, which doesn’t sit well with the new Dark Knight, While Jim Gordon doesn’t trust Clark, Clark doesn’t trust him either, and an unsteady truce is reached. They both head back to Gotham where Batman warns Lucius Fox of an impending attack, leading Fox to believe it’s the fault of Dawn Command. Apparently S.T.A.R. Lbs accidentally created an artificial sun which could power the country for a hundred years or destroy everything in a three mile radius if it fell into the wrong hands. As they go off to fight the Dawn Command, Clark is attacked by Ukur: Beastlord of Subterranea and his creature. While the pair battle, Clark suggests a truce between them to better both their world, but Batman attacks and injures Ukur, sending him off to gather his army. Clark follows Ukur below ground to try and stop an impending war.
Greg Pak and Adrian Syaf are back for another chapter in the TRUTH HURTS saga, which ties into the TRUTH saga running through all the Superman themed titles. And, while we still don’t know the whole concept of what happened to cause Clark to be powered down and totally hated, we do know that he and the new Batman do not like each other. Jim Gordon is far more intense than Bruce Wayne was…and that’s going some. At one point he declares “I am Batman” and unfortunately he is, but he is really just a former serviceman and cop PLAYING BATMAN. Clark knows it and unfortunately for him, isn’t about to get any real trust or sympathy from Gordon. It’s a great twist on a concept set down by Robert A. Heinlein so long ago. I like where it’s going…then again: I have always been a fan of Pak’s work.
BAT-MITE #2: Bat-Mite is desperately trying to find a way to free Hawkman and get out of the clutches of Doc Trauma. Miraculously he does so, gives him a full body wax gets him reborn and recostumed as Hawkman The Savage. Her goons show up, overpower our small hero and toss him off a cliff and into the drink. The mad doctor goes on with her brain switching experiment even as the Dark Mite rises from the ocean depths. Lots of battling and clever, witty puns abound before Bat-Mite gets the upper hand and forces Agnes to switch Hawkman and the doctor back. All of the captive are freed and two of them take Bat-Mite the Homeless in, even as Gridlock plans his/her revenge.
If you’re expecting high drama and suspense, this AIN’T the book for you! If you are looking for tongue in cheek, really bad puns and jokes just a shade better than some of the stuff coming out of HARLEY QUINN these days, then jump it. Dan Jurgens and Corin Howell give you silly, on top of sophomoric on top of over-the-top. Just read it, laugh a bit and get to the serious stuff later.
BIZARO #2: Smallville has fallen under the influence of King Tut as he has convinced the residents to buy one of his used cars. Luckily Bizaro has escaped that influence and sends Tuttle to gnaw on jimmy’s head long enough to snap him back to reality. Bizaro uses his Super-Hypnosis to convince Tut he is a chicken, Jimmy breaks the staff and thus ending his reign of terror. Queen Tut gives them both medallions for helping and a convertible, even as she finds a way to put the staff back together and swear her revenge. On their way out of town, they stop at the Lex Mart to stock up on supplies for the road trip, which leads them through Gotham City, Central City, Starling City, Chicago, Iron Heights Penitentiary, Swamp Thing’s home in Louisiana and a visit to Gorilla Grodd. They end up in Ol’ Gold Gulch, where they meet Chastity Hex and prepare to battle some ghosts.
The insane road trip continues, courtesy of Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte. My writing a synopsis of it really doesn’t do this book the justice it deserves. It is truly a wild ride that swipes at the humor and superhero genre equally! With guest appearances by Grodd, Swamp Thing, Batman, The Riddler and The Flash, it is a humor book like no other. Just do yourself the favor and read it. I cannot recommend it enough!
BLACK CANARY #2: In lieu of the fact that someone is causing mayhem every time the band shows up somewhere, Dinah has begun to teach the rest of the band how to shoot. She is made aware of someone watching them and, off in the distance, is a mysterious craft with a mysterious crew. Ditto seems to have the best ability with a gun, scoring perfect bulls-eyes. Despite the troubles, the band hits the road and continues to turn heads. Somewhere along the way, former lead singer Maeve shows up.Dinah tells Paloma that she is prepared to finish the tour and then leave the band. Soon someone who knows how to use a vocal inhibitor on Dinah attacks the group in a music store. Either way, she kicks the assailants butt and we discover the masked assailant is Kurt Lance.
Brenden Fletcher and Annie Wu deliver another cool issue that has almost NOTHING to do with being a superhero. The story is mystifying and funky, complete with a surprise appearance by Kurt Lance! The art is even wilder, complete with a pull-out, teen magazine style poster in the middle that gives the character bios and is so retro it’s hip! If you want to read this, expecting a superhero book where Dinah Drake Lance ends up meeting Oliver Queen and having a romance, then you will be sorely disappointed. If you’re looking for a cutting edge rock comic with someone action and mystery, this is it!
CATWOMAN #42: With Batman missing, everyone in Gotham, from crime families to Keyes and Alvarez are trying to work a deal. Selina saves Cobblepot from a potential assassination attempt, leaving the crook to the Penguin’s own devices. Later, during a meeting between Sionis, Hasigawa, Cobblepot and Eiko, Eiko excuses herself and goes off to meet with Selina, where she explains the meeting. After that, Selina meets with Alvarez, telling him everything she knows. Later, Spoiler meets with Catwoman and mixes it up, losing in the process. When Spoiler awakes, she finds that she was beat up by the Eiko Catwoman, as Selina Catwoman offers to train her. At the same time, the Calabrese Family is joining together to
Genevieve Valentine and David Messina give us another chapter in the continuing saga of Selina Kyle as she tries to run the Calabrese Crime Family, while Black Mask, Hasigawa, and others have their own machinations to run Gotham’s crime empire. Valentine’s story is top-notch noir and Messina’s art fits the feel perfectly. I love where this book is going and all the nay-sayers who had issues with Selina’s sexuality need to step off and either enjoy the book for the comic it is and step away from it. Me-I love where it’s going!
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #2: Constantine and Gaz are trying to find a way to stop whatever is killing ghosts. Along his journey through the dark, thin places of New York, he gathers up ghosts and meets with a strange man named Mister Rumor, who has been buying up haunted real estate. Come to find out, Constantine has been collecting all the ghosts to use them as bait for the ghost killer. Unfortunately, his plan backfires and the creature comes and kills Gaz again. He manages to have the other ghosts flee and spends some last minutes with his old friend. And then, he books a flight from JFK to London to seek out the person Gaz told him he needed to find in the first pace: someone named Geordie.
Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV have given John Constantine so much energy that it’s hard to even think about the last incarnation. He’s mean and nasty and only concerned about himself. This is the classic John Constantine that just oozed nastiness. This is the John Constantine that would “shag” anything’. This is the John Constantine who made deals with demons for his own good. Riley Rossmo's art is angular and weird but totally fits the feel of this book. New York has never looked so downright ugly. This book needs to be on everyone’s pull list!
CYBORG #1: The issue begins in a far away galaxy where Technosapiens and Tekbreakers are battling each other. The Tekbreakers discover the technology that makes up Cyborg and decide they need to make it there own. Back in Detroit, Cyborg reveals his new look and new abilities to his father and the other S.T.A.R. scientists, tries to make amends with Sarah and ends up in the middle of a protest..
I had high hopes for this book when I saw the creative team and, despite it being an entire issue of long-winded exposition, I still do. David Walker and Ivan Reis do a nice job with it, but I just got so bored so quickly. And then we have the Tekbreakers and the Technosapiens. So, I guess that somehow Vic is going to get involved with them when they invade Earth. Again, not the greatest first issue but I have high hopes still.
DEATHSTROKE #8: Deathstroke and Wonder Woman duel over the fact that he has opened the prison that held Lapetus. After a book length fight, Diana discovers that Hessia and Slade have some history together. Diana agrees to let him help stop Lapetus. Unfortunately, Lapetus has been reborn and is loose on the island. Continued in DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #1.
Hey Tony S. Daniel and James Bonny: ask me how much I like dropping three bucks on a beautiful looking book-length fight? Not really all that much! I mean, sure-the book looks great but give me something more than a full length fight with a little bit of back story and plot development thrown in. Did it ever make you wonder how it is superheroes can monologue all over the place during a fight when the rest of the world can barely get two words edgewise while getting beat up? Things that make you go um!
DEATHSTROKE ANNUAL #1: Picking up where the latest issue of DEATHSTROKE left off, with he and Wonder Woman battling Lapetus. Unfortunately, the pair end up being sent to a hellish place created from the powers of the offsprings of the Titans. As they fight, they get separated: she goes to a future where Superman tells her the world eneded because of her while Deathstroke meets with Hessia and tries to save his children from Turkish terrorists. Turns out to be nothing more than Lapetus messing with their heads and together they fight their way out of this place and back to Paradise island, where the Amazons are being slaughtered.
Our regular writing team of Tony S. Daniel and James Bonny combine with artist Tyler Kirkham to give us their take on IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE. Not really, but it feels that way. Wonder Womand and Deathstroke go off to battle their private hells all for the glory of YOUR FIVE BUCKS! Thanks guys: I would just as much have preferred this to run through a couple of issue of the regular book and paid more in the end. But maybe the story would have been a bit more cohesive. And, as it is, we STILL have it continued in next month’s issue.
DETECTIVE COMICS #42: Batman, Bullock and GCPD are engaged in a gun battle with a heavily armed gang called La Morte. Batman takes one of them out, forcing the rest of the crew to run. This Batman DOES believe in using guns. Later, Sawyer orders the force, including Keyes and Alvarez, to go to Le Cirque de Volant the following day. Harvey discusses how he sees Montoya as a snitch and then heads home with his partner, who is also his newest girlfriend. Later, Bullokc, Montoya and Yip are called on to be back-up for Batman, who is going after La Morte. Yip goes for coffee and Bullock asks Montoya to run a phone number, presumably from Yip’s call record. Batman gets ambushed by La Morte and his suit fails him. Luckily, he gets himself out of the suit and prepares to fight them without weapons.
Wow! Batman out of the suit! AWESOME!!! Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul provide another great story with a lot of twists in it. Bullokc and Yip: bed mates? Really?! Didn’t see that coming. But, at the same time, we have to figure that she may be up to her neck in trouble. Fernando Blanco delivers another great looking issue too. Overall, we get another killer read!
DOOMED #2: We begin in Oak Park Elementary School where someone names Miles is an intergalactic bounty hunter who dispatches his coach with some sort of weapon. Seems the coach isn’t who he seemed and was wanted in three panverses. Meanwhile, we go back to Reiser, who is in all sorts of trouble as he has been turned into this Doomed character and can’t communicate only scare people. Two police officers show up to arrest Reiser, who manages to escape via a centric blast. He eventually ends up back at his place, where he curls up on a couch and hopes he doesn’t have to go through that again. In the end, our two police officers find a “scared” Miles.
I truly cannot stand this book! I have no attachment to Reiser or his roommate or the girl he wants. Now Miles: THAT’S a cool character! Can Scott Lobdell and Javier Fernandez give us a book with Miles, the Intergalactic Bounty hunter instead of this loser?
DR. FATE #2: Khalid Nassour, wearing the helmet of Doctor Fate, goes off to rescue his injured father, even as Anubis drops a plane on him. In an effort to save them, Khalid actually causes the plane to fall faster. Realizing he has made a mistake, he delivers his father to an EMT attending to the crash victims. Later, news in the hospital is not good, so Khalid and his girlfriend go back home to prepare for their first day in Med School when the helm, more specifically Nabu, tells him this is his destiny. Forced to put on the helmet again, Khalid battles wild dogs in the street and wonders what is happening to him.
To steal from Comic Book guy: Worst. Hero. Ever. There is NOTHING to like about this guy. A plane falls out of the sky and it'’ time for a with great power moment and yeah, like Spider-Man many years before, he blows it. So, we correct our mistake and help, right? Nope: we take care of family first and the hell with the pane full of people crashed in the middle of the street! Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew are doing no justice to this character and if DC thinks that diversifying him makes him cool, they are wrong! All they have done is given us an insult to the legend of Dr. Fate.
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #2: Sloan has managed to get his hands on the Source Vault. Then we flashback a year to the TSS Overwatch-One which is being attacked by a mysterious survivor on board. So Sloan has the other ships crash land where he has directed them to, while he has his ship leave Earth’s atmosphere. Back in present day, Batman has infiltrates TSS-Endurance just as Sloan fires up the Source Vault which is now hooked up to the Genesis Machine. Sloan has become God as he makes Earth 2 in his image.
Wow! I didn’t think this book could be that bad, but it is! Daniel H. Wilson’s writing is clunky, the plot did nothing for me and I really am hating these characters. I’m also not a big fan of Jorge Jimenez’ art. All in all, I thought this could a very cool series…but I see I was wrong. And oh wait: DC just announced a series featuring TELOS! OH BOY: just what we DON’T NEED!
FLASH #42: Henry Allen and some other prisoners have broken out of Iron Heights and Barry and the Central City Police Department are investigating, meaning Barry gets to do a bit of super sleuthing in the cell. Henry and the gang are gathering supplies from Medi-Barn Supplies when the security guard arrives and, thanks to Professor Zoom’s hand, Henry kills the guard. After the shooting, the team splits up and Girder goes to visit his grandmother. Unfortunately for him, The Flash finds him and they battle. He convinces Girder to give him some information and that leads him to the home of the prison guard knocked out during their escape. Zoom shows up and leads Barry on a merry little chace…back to the place where his mom died.
Here we have another great issue from the writing team of Robert Venditti and Van Jensen, with Brett Booth and Norm Rapamund doing a great job on the art! Although this story is drifting into little moments that seem to be inspired by the television show, it tries its’ best to stick to the plot established throughout the old NEW 52 run. But when did Iris became a big time reporter and Wally West’s sub-plot get tossed off the bus? Maybe they’re holding Wally back until after he makes his impact on the TV show. Either way, I’m curious to see how long before we get the full Zoom reveal.
FLASH ANNUAL #4: Professor Zoom makes his way through history to gather people connected to the Speed Force and bring them to his side. Starting in Mexico in 1520, he saves Magali from the Spanish Conquistadors. Next stop is 1883 South Africa, where diamond miners taken revenge on the family of someone known as the Folding Man, leading him to join Zoom. 1957 brings the team to Australia where they save a strong woman from a circus freak show. At last, they stop in Oklahoma in 1982, where they gather up a boy named Roscoe with the power to harness tornadoes. Together, the team trains to take down The Flash. In the Epilogue, we see how Thawne had been responsible for manipulating each of his team to bring them to his side. In Oklahoma, he stole the medicine to keep Roscoe in check. In Australia, he put the bug in the ear of her challenger. In Africa, he planted the diamond on Xolani’s family. In 1520, he tells the Spanish how to find Magali.
This super team isn’t all about the Speed Force. This team is about gathering unique powers to defeat The Flash. What I loved here was the various layers Van Jensen used to tell this story. I also loved that we have added a storm controller named Roscoe, which will hopefully allow him to be identified as Roscoe Dillon-the original Top from the classic Rogues (although we already got a version of The Top in the form of Turbine Roscoe Hynes). Bong Dazo does an amazing job with the art and this issue is a winner all the way around! This is a must read if you are following the series at all and was my favorite of the July Annuals.
GOTHAM ACADEMY #8: We begin at the funeral of Olives' mother. From there, we learn that Kyle has been spying on Dr. Langstron and Tristan, finding out that Tristan is a Man-Bat. He and Maps go sneaking into Tristan’s room, only to be chased out and attacked. In the process, Tristan is injured and they bring him back to Dr. Langstrom. Later, Kyle tells Olive Tristan was attacked by an animal and she discovers a mysterious envelope with a letter written by her mom.
Curiouser and curiouser. Despite the quick jump back to a plotline dropped on us before the Damian Wayne issue last month, the issue mostly centers on Tristan and how it turns out he’s a Man-Bat. Becky Cloonan, Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl do a fine job of introducing this fact, reintroducing us to Kirk Langstorm, who is now a professor here, and dropping more hints regarding Olive’s mom. All in all, a good issue to set up future plotlines.
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #7: Five people are dead in the East End of Gotham and that means that the team is on another case. When it seems that whatever killed these people is some sort of demon spawn, a grieving Jim Corrigan is called in along with his partner The Spectre. The Spectre cleans the building and the block, discovering over fifty dead bodies in the process. Meanwhile, an inmate named Fred Anderson tells Rook that he saw Detective Drake and Corrigan gun down three men. And, if things weren’t bad enough, Spencer informs the Lieutenant that someone with power is looking to put down the team.
I totally love this book, even though I find it hard to figure out who some of the characters are because of Juan Ferreyra’s unique style. Ray Fawke’s story continues to intrigue although I am floored that DC hasn’t decided there isn’t a big enough audience for this book and pulled the plug on it
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT ANNUAL #1: Lisa Drake and Jim Corrigan are on the trail of Gentleman Jim Craddock, better known as The Gentleman Ghost. This version of Craddock is less murderer than lover, who uses his powers to attempt to acquire a special necklace. Craddock, who has the use of four spiderlike arms now, was once cursed by a witch to do her bidding After she died, he kept on living and eventually fell in love with a woman who met an untimely end. The connection is the necklace that he gave to her. In the end, the Spectre takes his revenge on Craddock, destroying him and the necklace.
And thus the legend and the afterlife of the Gentleman Ghost comes to an end. Bummer! Not the greatest of Batman villains, he was always a bit of fun. This was a nice, touching issue by Ray Fawkes and Christian Duce that brought up some real characterization in Craddock, Corrigan and especially Lisa Drake. Plus, we get a plot device that will surely show up in future issues of the regular run.
GRAYSON #10: It seems that not only has Dick used his Spyral powers to get away, but Agent 1 has managed to take out the guards and made his escape too. Back at St. Hadrian’s, Director Bertinelli observes the Spyral machine, run by three odd looking individuals while telling Agent 1 that she will handle Agent 37 personally. Over in Corsica, Agent 37 meets with his contact regarding that stolen Kryptonite necklace and he is totally shocked when that contact turns out to be Lex Luthor. After some back and forth, Dick bails out on the meeting by jumping off the cliff and into a special Spyral craft. He has another agenda: Agent 1.
What can I say? This is one super cool, super sexy, great looking, kick-ass-reading comic book. Thanks to Tom King and Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin for making spies cool again!
GREEN ARROW #42: Wart Lady is out talking about the horrors that make their nests in the clouds when the bleached body of Willis Coleman falls to the street. The police have decided to fight crime by using Mr. Zimm’s Panopticon. This robotic crime fighter is about to clean up the streets through profiling, which results in a everyone from bank robbers to homeless people being dealt with using extreme prejudice. Oliver calls the home office and is told that if he doesn’t like it, since he signed the contract, then he should step down from his company. The white faced guy from the last issue joins the police and the Panopticon as they confront a group of protesters. Meanwhile, Green Arrow goes to the Panopticon factory but finds himself in a trap with Mr. Zimm piloting his very own Panopticon. Back at home, Oliver’s pet wolf, now named George, howls a mournful cry.
So…can I guess that Ben Percy may have seen ROBOCOP once or twice? Because this is what it’s starting to feel like. We have a racist killing black people and a mad scientist using his pet robot to eliminate anyone else he feels like. This can’t go well for anyone. I like the story thus far. Percy’s not Jeff Lemire but then again who is? Patrick Zircher's art is great and I love the look of the book. Again, Zircher is nbot Andrea Sorrentino but…yeah: you get it!
GREEN LANTERN #42: Hal, Virgo and the captured Trapper are heading towards Ketleth Prime only to find that everyone on the planet has been turned to stone. Trapper’s crew arrives on scene and gets into a battle with Hal. During the fight, Hal sends a piece of the mysterious asteroid towards their ships, but gains composure over Krona’s gauntlet at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, a pebble breaks loose and turns all the ships and their occupants to stone. Feeling guilty, he takes Virgo and Trapper on as his crew to go find the missing Lanterns and discover what is causing all this death and destruction. Meanwhile, Black Hand is trying to make stone dead aliens rise again, but finds his own hands turning to stone in the process.
Go back and look at GREEN LANTERN #39, where we saw these asteroids floating around and turning everything to stone. Yeah-THOSE ASTEROIDS! Well, Robert Venditti and Billy Tan have brought that plot piece back and apparently with one heck of a vengeance! Hal still looks like The Spectre but Billy Tan’s art shines! And the story doesn’t suck! I mean, Hal has one whiny moment or two, but not as wimpy as he was in the past. This is a renegade, lean and mean Hal Jordan with long flowing hair and big muscles! You go boy!
GREEN LANTERN: LOST ARMY #2: John Stewart, Guy Gardner and the team are attacked by a bunch of aliens wielding Red Lantern energy constructed weapons. When they are done defeating them, John and Guy use their rings to change the pyramid from red energy to green, providing them with a super clean energy source. That’s when a young version of Relic from his original Universe arrives.
I really don’t like John Stewart and never have. With that, I have to give Cullen Bunn and Jesus Saiz credit for getting me through at least issue #2 without ripping the book in half. I don’t really like the title, but do like the idea that we have Krona and Relix from before where we know them from. That alone will make me go at least another issue.
HARLEY QUINN #18: Harley and the Gang, including Eggy in a shark suit, go to Harpoon Hanks to discover that Harlem and Harvey are at Coney General Hospital. So Harley and Bolly head off to find Horatio and end up getting get phone jacked, leading to them blowing up the bombers and tracking down Horatio. Bolly hits him in the eye with a hammer causing him to cry out about his “painful peeper”. Harley decides to have a bite of Horatio’s seaweed and that leads her onto a six-page pirate hallucination. When she wakes, Ivy is by her side and she has been in a hospital for a day and a half. It seems the team attacked Horatio but he captured them all and carried them away onto his boat where he plans to kill them all.
It’s another issue filled with innuendos and salacious statements by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti. But I actually ENJOYED most of them! We have sick lesbian jokes, Popeye riffs, dumb dialogue, and Eggy in a shark costume. Great art from Chad Hardin until we get our six-page dream sequence and Jed Dougherty shows up to hit it out of the park. Ivy as a mermaid, the Joker as a rival pirate and the most awesome, one panel KILLING JOKE homage are the highlights! So, it’s still a book that has seen better days, but this issue was better than most!
HARLEY QUINN/ POWER GIRL #2: Harley fights a Killy-Happy-Bot 2.0 while Power Girl fights a bunch of bad guys until she gets saved by the XGF Team. The XGF Team is made up of Vartox's ex-girlfriends and his one ex-boyfriend. Once Harly beats up the Killy-McHappy-Bot 2.0, the XGF and the girls head off to Lust Moon to save Vartox, who has undergone a bit of a change…for the better.
And what was a barrel of fun last issue has become one, long bad joke. Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray give us an issue with nothing worth liking except for Stephane Roux’ art. The only good thing right now is it’s a mini-series and hopefully will get better next issue. After all, the first issue totally impressed me with how good it is. Looks like the creative team shot their best in the first issue
JUSTICE LEAGUE #42: Superman is tending to Lex’s bullet wounds when they realize that they are on Apokolips, something that make Steppenwulf, Desaad and Darkseid very happy. Back on Earth, Wonder Woman battle Grail and the Anti-Monitor, who has pretty much decimated the rest of the League. Luckily Metron arrives and transports our heroes away via Boom Tube. At the same time, Mister Miracle is with Myrina Black, who was responsible for getting the Anti-Monitor out of the Multiverse to come and kill Darkseid. Unfortunaely, she has decided that Earth will be the battleground. We end with our heroes and Metron, who is pulled out of his chair by Wonder Woman. This allows Batman to sit in it and learn the secret to all of his questions. And then, he deems himself a God.
Geoff Johns Jason Fabok give us a mind messing issue! There isn’t much more I can say. I mean, Lex and Superman on Apokolips, Mister Miracle getting the story from Myrina Black and Batman becomes a God. The Darkseid War heats up!
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #2: Superman greets Rao, but his powers shut down and Rao is forced to save him. As the world debates if Rao’s appearance is a good thing or a bad thing, Batman and Cyborg head to the cave to research things. They come up empty handed regarding the Infinity Corporation, Batman gives Cyborg every known way to stop a Kryptonian to see what they can use against Rao. Meanwhile, Aquaman meets with one of Rao’s prophets, who goes about trying to convince the Atlanteans that they need Rao in their lives. Superman travels the world, spreading the good news of Rao, even though he should be out looking for his missing friends. In the end, we see that Diana is in space and that Olympus has been destroyed.
Bryan Hitch handles it all again this issue, meaning it looks great and is incredibly wordy. Now that’s a good thing as there is a ton of cool dialogue and a bunch of nice plot pieces thrown around. It also means you’re getting your four dollars worth as it will take you about twice your normal comic read to get through it. Seeing Mount Olympus trashed in the end was also worth it and I SO WANT a print made of that page!
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