JUSTICE LEAGUE #44: Green Lantern and Batman, still under the influence of the Mobius chair, travel to Earth-3 (home of the Crime Syndicate) to see the devastation left behind by the Anti-Monitor. This leads them to travel to Qward where they discover the place where the Mobius chair was forged and that the person who is the Anti-Monitor is Mobius. On Apokolips, Superman and Lex Luthor spar. On our Earth, Anti-Monitor and Darkseid duke it out as Grail blinds Kalibak and the Justice League gets involved. Power Ring tries to stop everything, but it may have killed her in the process. That’s when the Black Racer shows up, meaning someone will die. The Anti-Monitor gets the Black Racer to possess. The Flash and then blasts Darkseid with the Anti-Life Equation. The Black Racer is here because Darkseid is dead.
Geoff Johns and Jason Fabok have managed to take this book to a whole new place. The art is truly stunning and this story is amazing! This could truly be Geoff Johns’ finest hour as a writer. And to have the nerve to make Batman more of an ass than he already is, to make the Big Blue Boy Scout into a real jerk, and to kill off Darkseid is about as bold as you can imagine. Although I often don’t go this far and give credit where I should, I have to give a major shout out to Brad Anderson whose color work really makes this book come to life. This is a major masterpiece in the making.
JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 #4: This time around, we get a flashback to a story that takes place between JUSTICE LEAGUE 3000 and JUSTICE LEAGUE 3001 with The Flash on the planet Nirvana engaging in a training exercise concocted by Ariel/Lois Lois. In the process, she runs into Mirror Master and the pair are stuck in an avalanche and have to rely on each other to stay alive, especially when attacked by Piranha-Bears. This leads to Mirror Master bailing on Teri, who has to get back to Camelot Nine by herself.
Okay, so what we have here is a filler issue. I didn’t find the story by J.M. DeMatteis and Keith Giffen that appealing, except we get Mirror Master and he almost spills the beans about Ariel being Lois. Scott Kolins’ art is nice and really great to see. Other than that, this issue was a waste of three bucks. And I hate saying that, because I love this series so much!
JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED #13: It’s France in 1940 and Sgt. Rock and Easy Company run into a well dressed man by the name of Vandal Savage. Savage invites the Germans in to have a drink as they secure the town of Arracourt. Rock says he will kill Savage if they ever meet on the battlefield. Today, Animal Man forcibly recruits Savage onto the team, which also now includes Batgirl, Robotman, Steel, Equinox, Stargirl, and Alanna Strange. With the help of Adam Strange, or what he has become, they are assigned to try and shutdown the phenomenon known as the Breakers. They end up back in present day in Arracourt where troops from Word War I and World War II are doing battle. The team jumps in and, unfortunately for him, Robotman steps on a trip wire and becomes entrapped in a gel that short circuits his system. Stargirl gets caught in a aerial blast and is saved by Enemy Ace. Out of nowhere, the butt end of a rifle hits Savage in the head. It’s Rock and Easy Company, here to deliver on a promise.
Okay, so I will forgive Jeff Parker for having Sgt. Rock and Easy Company help the French against the Germans…FOUR YEARS BEFORE THEY ACTUALLY DID!!! Let’s not forget, we didn’t enter the war until after December 7, 1941. That having been said, it was great to not only see Rock and Easy BUT The Hammer of Hell too! And, if I was going to have someone draw these classic characters and it wasn’t Joe Kubert or Bill Tucci, I’d want it to be Paul Pelletier. Logic not withstanding, this was a great issue to drool over. Enjoy it now, as this title is gone with issue #16.
LOBO #10: Lobo has been given the task of eliminating all the Lanterns across the DC Universe and he is currently making his way towards killing Indigo-1. He shows up with a bag filled with fingers and rings and saves her from a rogue Indigo intent on killing her. The rings try to possess him, leading him to chew off a finger to prevent it. Having failed, he heads back to Sinestro to give him the rings he has collected and to receive his next assignment: the Red Lanterns. He faces off against Bleez and Rankorr, slaying Rankorr in the process and taking his ring. Unfortunately, he is going to have to face Atrocitus before this is all done.
Since the first issue, I have been dying for Lobo to have a little bit of the fire of the OLD LOBO. Finally, I can say that he does. He may still look like a Metrosexual, but he finally has developed a set of stones. Chewing off his own fingers? Gotta love it! Killing Rankorr? Never thought I would see that. Thank you to Cullen Bunn, Frank Barbiere and Robson Rocha for giving me a Lobo I can actually like. Too bad, now that he has developed some spunk, the title ends with issue #13. This is part of the SINESTRO RISING crossover and can only hope that we can some of this fire on Bunn’s SINESTRO.
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #4: Starting with a flashback involving Agent Wessel, we immediately jump to the Indian Ocean where J'onn rescues Pearl from some well-disguised White Martians. Actually, he only warns her as she does all the work fighting them. It seems that she too has powers and J’onn just appears to advise her of this. She ends up getting tossed off the ship she is on and Aquaman saves her. Meanwhile, Agent Wessel, Mr. Biscuits, Alicia and Leo are trying to get away from the giant White Martian with little success. In the process, Wessel is stabbed by the creature and the ambulance they are in crashes and explodes. Actually, it’s all in Wessel’s mind and he uses his mind to bring the Man-Eater back to what it really was-three white Martians. Later, the Martian moon Phobos appears to grow teeth and heads towards Earth.
All I can say is WOW! Rob Williams has written an amazing story that is just mind-blowing with every page. Meanwhile, Eddy Barrows is cranking out some of the best work of his career. I was hesitant about this title when it was announced and not completely blown away by the preview tale. But this book is now one of my favorite titles since the DC You relaunch.
MIDNIGHTER #4: In Moscow, we have young rich people paying money to torture and kill vampires. This totally does not sit well with either Midnighter or Grayson, who end up questioning some guys in a steam room. Before long, the boys are at the underground hellhole and dispatch the perps is quick fashion. At the same time, Dick figures out that the vampires were regular humans who had been treated with the cells of Martians to turn them into vampires. They also have been booby-trapped and disintegrate as soon as Dick and Midnighter try to cure them. In the end, the pair get to drinking while the scene in Russia m may be changing in short order.
Steve Orlando and Stephen Mooney give us a much better issue than the last few, but this still isn’t the Midnighter I know and love. This issue is most focused on the mission than the personal life, so that’s a step in the right direction. I would like to see more of this plot, especially how the bad guys got their hands on Martian cells and figured out that injecting humans with them would make us into vampires. This is still not the book we all hoped for, but this was an improvement over the last few issues. It’s Midnighter: give us action!
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #12: Most of our team is in rough shape as the issue begins. Reverse Flash is collapsing in the desert, Parasite is being experimented on and Harley Quinn is locked up with a bunch of children. Manta is getting the tour of the facilities when he is shown a Time Bomb that the League plans to use on their enemies. Later, he meets with Deadshot and informs him that he believes in what the League is doing and doesn’t plan on leaving or stopping them. While Reverse Flash hears part of a communication from Belle Reve that leaves him feeling betrayed, Harley arranges to have the children help her break out. Meanwhile, Manta meets with the leader and explains the Task Force X plan to him.
The good news is you don’t have to wait a whole month to find out what happens as it continues into the NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1 and that synopsis is next. Sean Ryan and Philippe Briones turn in another good issue that sets up an ending, in more ways than one. I mean, poor Reverse-Flash is fighting for his life in the desert and he gets part of a communication from Belle Reve where he hears that they think he’s been a total bust from the beginning. Parasite is being tortured while Manta is being the typical villain and betraying the team. Things can’t get much worse…or can they.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL #1: Continuing from NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #12, Boomerang is in a water filling death trap, surrounded by League loyal and other already drowned prisoners. This is what happens when you don’t follow the rules. Meanwhile, Reverse Flash finds Harley, who is totally depressed that she killed all these League soldiers in front of the kids. Black Manta is Saladin, who plans on using the bomb in his neck trick to make him a martyr for Saladin’s cause. Deadshot tries to save Boomerang, but his skills aren’t what they used to be and he kills a League soldier instead of freeing Boomerang. That’s okay though as Reverse Flash has arrived and taken care of that. As the team makes a final assault on the League, Manta realizes he’s been played and kills Saladin. Unfortunately, the madman’s last act is to activate the time bomb. As the team clears out of town, Reverse Flash realizes that innocent children will be killed and he goes back and grabs the bomb. He dumps it in the ocean but is caught in the blast and pays the ultimate price. In the end, Waller is ordered to go off in the field from now on with team missions and the Pearl Group arrives in what is left of the League’s compound to find a future weapon in the fight against Task Force X.
What a great conclusion to this story arc from Sean Ryan and Philippe Briones. Now THIS is what paying five bucks for an Annual is all about! We get a killer story, literally and say farewell to Reverse Flash…for now, I’m sure. So, since we’re probably not totally clear, even though this series is probably out of continuity, this Reverse-Flash is PROBABLY Daniel West and not the Eobard Thawne from THE FLASH comic or TV show. Anyway, he pays the price for his heroism and not a total surprise as that what the Suicide Squad has always been about: someone eventually dies! This is a wild series and Ryan and Briones are totally kicking the crap out of some of the more recent versions of the book. Well done!
OMEGA MEN #4: Kyle Rayner and Princess Kalista talk about their lives. In the end, the two have a moment and she asks him to save them all.
One long filler issue by Tom King and guest artist Toby Cypress. It’s nice to have a recap of Rayner’s life and adventures and the same with Kalista. This book was scheduled to bite the dust in two issues, but now it has a reprieve and will go 12 issues. But I’m still not sure how the plot threads are getting wrapped up, but a fill-in issue at this point seems a waste. DC should just have bumped it off the schedule for a month and play catch up. If this was your first issue, you wouldn’t be coming back for another.
PREZ #4: In the year 2037, the United States answer to the immigration problem is to kill anyone who tries to enter the country illegally. That means using armored sentries and that means that President Beth needs to change things, especially after a sentry kills a young soccer player. In the meantime, a new model sentry named the War Beast is introduced. As a test, a handful of Muslims are released from prison and the sentry performs admirably. By the end, the sentry is loose and who knows what will happen next.
This issue takes a major turn to the dark side. The immigration issue is a major talking point in this country as we enter into the Presidential Election season and this issue hits the nail right on the head regarding it. Where one would expect Mark Russell and guest artist Dominike Stanton to make a big joke out of it, they play the whole thing straight, complete with the killing of imprisoned Muslims and a small boy. Meanwhile, the politicians point fingers at who is really to blame, as they refuse to take ownership of it. All in all, I like this book better when it is being its’ funniest best, but the dark tone of this issue truly brings home to folly that is the climate in America.
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #4: We begin at the end as Red Hood and Arsenal encounter the new Batman. Flashing back six hours, we discover that our heroes have come to Gotham to track down Underbelly. Jason has a flashback moment of his own when the waitress in the diner they are in recognizes him from their youth. Meanwhile, Roy visits with Croc in a sewer underneath of an A.A. meeting. Meanwhile, Palette wakes up from seeming death back in issue #1 to team up with Suzie Su, who we also thought was dead from the previous series. In the end, we are back at the beginning, with our boys fighting Jim Gordon's Batman. And that is when Underbelly shows up and decides to kill three for the price of one.
The good part of this book? We get to see a nice moment with Roy and Croc. The worst part of the book? We have a killer cover that hypes the BRAWL WITH BATMAN, which accounts for a whopping five pages. In between the opening teaser and the finale, we get a lot of dramedy and a really silly flashback that I see as an excuse to put the classic Batman and some of his Rogue’s Gallery into the book. Scott Lobdell wrote it, Denis Medri and I, unfortunaely, bought it.
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #4: We begin with a flashback to Damian’s younger days, when one of Ra’s al Ghul’s servants accidentally spies Ra's pouring blood over himself and Damian, rather than granting the man freedom, has him blinded. Back in the present day, Robin and Ducard are returning canopic jars to a tomb in Egypt and get interrupted by Deathstroke, who has tracked Maya here and wants to settle a debt. Robin’s answers to that, after a multi-page fight sequence, is to pay Slade 5 million dollars to leave her alone. In the end, they return the jars to the base of the tomb and find a huge Lazarus Pit. Can Ra’s and Talias be far behind.
Another solo effort from Patrick Gleason. Another great story, although I am tiring of this being the adventures of Robin and Ducard. And Goliath too. It looks tremendous and reads beautifully, with nice character touches by Gleason. Unfortunately, at times, it seems a bit directionless.
SECRET SIX #6: So The Riddler has captured our team but Strix can totally excel at beating people up and takes The Riddler and his crew down. That’s when Sue Dibney steps in and threatens to blow everyone up. This allows The Riddler to take control again, as Sue tells Ralph that she has no idea who he is, for which he blames himself. Ralph hulks up and begins attacking the team while Ventriloquist’s puppet attacks The Riddler during the distraction. Lori, possessing the powers of Black Orchid gets involved but Sue blows up the dock, seemingly killing her and The Riddler, while the team escapes. But…Lori passes out, claiming that The Spectre is calling to her. And then she stops breathing…
I so love this book. While I still haven’t figured exactly where Gail Simone is going with it, it’s a mind-blowing experience. All of this, everything that has happened thus far, all goes back to a diamond he wanted to give to Sue Dibney? Wow! I didn’t see that coming. And the joke in the end is that the dummy stole the diamond and then loses it! The art by Tom Derenick is amazing as he once again proves himself to be one of the most underrated guys in the business. This book is a neat roller coaster ride that needs to be on everyone’s pull list.
SINESTRO #15: On the desert Planet Arklu, Saint Walker encounters Lobo, who knocks him out and tells the people of the planet that their life is going to get worse before it gets better. Then a yellow Lantern ring comes down and tries to turn the bounty hunter into a Yellow Lantern, but he cuts off his finger instead. He brings Saint Walker to Sinestro, telling how much he dislikes the drafting attempt. Sinestro wants Saint Walker so he can use his powers to influence the Sinestro Corps with his ability to provide hope. Walker refuses but Sinestro shows Manhunters on Planet Arklu, where they are giving the people crates of food and water. Saint Walker approves of what Sinestro is doing, which then leads to Sinestro bringing out his science team to experiment on him.
Well, that was an incredibly dark ending to this story. Cullen Bunn, with this issue and LOBO this month, has come up with some of his best writing in recent memory. And Ethan Van Sciver art looks awesome! Van Sciver will be at the upcoming Rhode Island Comicon and I hope he’ll be available to do a Sinestro sketch for me! With the first two chapters of SINESTRO RISING in the books, I cannot wait for more. Our favorite anti-hero has showed both his sides in this issue and this is finally the book I have been waiting for.
STARFIRE #4: We begin with Atlee and Kori battling the Chida monster and Atlee comes up with the solution and throws the Chida out into the ocean. She then explains that she grew up inside the Earth in a place called Strata, where all of her people are. When she came here, she saw Power Girl and they became besties. Now she, Kori and Stella are besties, hanging out in the pool while Sol drools. In the end, bounty hunter Soren Hook arrives and it looks like Kori is his next hired target.
The best thing about this book is STILL the art of Emanuela Lupacchino. Although I have to give some credit to Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti for bringing Atlee out of Pre-New 52 continuity and drop her here. Besides that, Kori is still the annoying ditz who has no clue about anything. Heck, Atlee has to come up with a solution to the monster problem. So, if you break up with your superhero boyfriend(s), does that cause your brain to shrink, because that continues to be the case here.
SUPERMAN #44: In the final chapter of TRUTH, Superman takes on The Royal Flush Gang, who are camped outside of his apartment. Later, there’s a hostage situation at the Daily Planet. Live Wire, Killer Croc, Killer Frost, Atomic Skull and Shockwave are holding Steve Lombard and others hostage. In the end, it seems this guy whose wife got killed during the Titano incident a couple of months back hired them to get back at Superman. In the ensuing battle, a stray bullet hits Perry White in the shoulder. Later, Clark hits the road as he no longer has a job and his friends no longer want to be around him. And Hordr_Root has a new body and joins up with Wrath, Vandal Savage and Mr. Bend.
Well, this was kind of a letdown. What was a great story just kind of fizzled at the end by having this poorly orchestrated hostage drama be the center of the issue. Gene Luen Yang and John Romita Jr. have contributed great things to this mythos in just four issues, but this wasn’t one of them. The art looked rushed in spots, even with Klaus Janson inking it. And the story was just so anti-climactic. I expected a big battle, which kind of came LAST issue. So from here, Clark begins that Great American Road Trip with a new look, diminished powers and no money. Welcome to Earth!
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #21: The issue begins with Firestorm being attacks for his power source. This moves us to Diana quizzing Lois, who she has wrapped up in her Lasso of Truth. Superman arrives, busting through the wall, and is not happy with what he sees. He gets the others freed and discovers that a bunch of villains he and Wonder Woman are being held here too as this is a rehabilitation research center for super criminals. Then these shadow monsters arrive, taking the villains inside of the giant black hole they turn into to make their escape Saying that the ladies in his life betrayed him, he transports himself to the Watchtower. In the end, Mr. Bend, who we last saw observing Firestorm, gets fired by the President and goes off to meet up with Vandal Savage and company.
If you haven’t been reading the TRUTH storylines in the other Superman titles, then this is a big confusing mess to you. However, for those of us who HAVE been following along, this was a nice payoff. First, we get Firestorm, who we haven’t seen in a while. Then we have the continuing falling apart of the Clark/Lois/Diana triangle. It all ends up with Vandal Savage continuing to gather his forces and make life a mess for Superman. Peter J. Tomasi and Doug Mahnke do an awesome job again and, despite the soap opera drama with these characters, I had a ball with it! But…who is Mr. Bend REALLY?
WE ARE ROBIN #4: The book opens following Troy Walker's death last issue where everyone is bummed out. No one more so than a Robin named Riko. She eventually suits up and battles some kids who light fires on rooftops to gain the attention of superheroes. Batgirl shows up, lends a hand and gives her permission to keep doing what she does.
While I get what Lee Bermejo was trying to do here, by actually giving us a little depth to one of these faceless want-to-be heroes, but I felt it all kind of fell flat. Although the scenes involving Riko and her mom were nicely portrayed. James Harvey does a guest artist turn and his work is nice, but totally out of the style that we have grown accustomed to during the last three issues. Bermejo’s cover was a Home Run and makes me so wish he would draw at least one issue in this series before DC decides to cancel it.
WONDER WOMAN #44: Wonder Woman awakes from being shot at the end of the last issue and heads off to heal up. Hera pops into her bathroom mirror to tell her that the death of the Fates is very bad. Then Hephaestus pops in to say that the arrow is a God Killer and was made on his forge, but he didn’t make it. Over in London, Donna Troy beats up some girl’s pimp and they become besties, with her taking Donna underground and getting her new duds. Back on Olympus, Diana confronts Strife and in pops Aegeus who insists that he will become the God of War.
Well, David Finsh is back at the drawing board again for his wife Meredith and that’s nice to see. The book still rambles on for a bit and the fact that we take 11 pages from the main story and give it to Donna Troy, plus the 2 page origin given to Aegeus means we don’t have a lot of space for the star of the book. She spends most of this issue being talked at by her god family peeping on her through her bathroom mirror. Go seek out the 75th Anniversary Green Lantern cover by Terry and Rachel Dodson.
Monday, October 5, 2015
DC YOU Month 4, Part 1
ACTION COMICS #44: Superman is battling the Shadow Monsters, including the Mayor, who is actually Wrath. This leads to him immediately battling Wrath, who is feeding off his rage and that is making her stronger. The Shadow monsters infect Lee, but she uses that power to save people who have also been infected. As Superman seemingly defeats Wrath, who disappears after flying into a parked car, Lee harnesses that power and continues to save people, telling Superman that she feels right with the Shadow inside her. In the end, Wrath frees a creature waiting two thousand years to come back. A mystery indeed!
Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder wrap of this piece of the TRUTH storyline in pretty disappointing fashion. It seemed way too rushed, spending too much time concentrating on Lee’s story and not enough on Clark’s. Kuder provides the art for most of the book while Howard Porter gives us the epilogue piece. And just who is this mysterious individual? It all seems like a rush to get to the mysterious visitor at the end of the book. This is my least favorite issue of the Pak/Kuder run thus far.
ALL STAR SECTION EIGHT #4: Wonnder Woman shows up and chastises Section Eight but then Baytor whacks her in the head with a big hammer which scrambles her brain and suddenly causes her to want to join the team. Soon she has managed to make herself the Maid of Honor in a wedding between Bueno Excellente and Ms. Guts. During the post wedding reception, Baytor accidentally hits her again with the hammer, which scrambles her brains back again. She storms out, but not before calling SixPack Sidney, leading him to wonder who Sidney is. A mystery indeed!
Garth Ennis, John McCrea. A killer book that is completely off the normal grid! Just go buy it before the mini-series ends!
AQUAMAN #44: Aquaman teleports into Mera's sleeping chambers so he can explain what is going on with his fascination with the other people and try to make up. This leads to them kissing and REALLY making up. The next morning, he feels guilty and she turns into Mera’s sister Siren. She refuses to reveal where Mera is and he won’t get an answer anytime soon as Atlantean guards burst in and force him to teleport away. Unfortunately for him, he has teleported to an alien world.
Is Cullen Bunn DC’s answer to Gerry Duggan, since it seems like he is writing a butt ton of books for the company. And most of them aren’t that good. This book has gotten so sluggish since CONVERGENCE and I hate the current story arc. I don’t want Aquaman on a distant planet or helping save Thule. I want him duking it out with Black Manta and Arthur’s collection of Rogues like Fisherman…if he is still around. Alec Morgan’s art is okay…I guess. It’s kind of hard to tell when you have Art Thibert and Jesus Merino finishing it for him.
BATGIRL #44: The Velvet Tiger is battling Batgirl and causes her utility belt to misfire. That leads her back to home base where Qadir and Luke figure out that Gilcom CEO Lani Gilbert is really Velvet Tiger. She heads off to visit Jeremy, who has been helping her all along to save his career. Back at Velvet Tiger’s lair, Batgirl tries to save Jo, but it takes Alysia to do that and it takes a remote control Bat cycle to take out Velvet Tiger and get Batgirl to safety. Later, Barbara finds out that Luke offered Frankie a job but she turned it down because she was in the middle of a career change. The pair also exchange their first kiss and Barbara invites him to Alysia and Jo’s wedding. Finally, Frankie is messing around with a cybernetic link that allows her to control things.
As we all know by now, I am not a fan of this title in the least, but it is improving. Bengal is the artist this issue and I like the style much better than Babs Tarr. It’s just a much cleaner look. Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher continue to treat Batgirl/Barbara like a teenager and I still find that disturbing. We went from shot by Joker, crippled, helping the Bat Family as Oracle, no longer crippled, running Birds of Prey and now this? Talk about taking continuity and throwing it out the window. However, the writing here seems much more focused than past issues. Maybe there is hope after all.
BATMAN #44: Set in a time just after Zero Year, Batman finds the body of a fifteen year old boy and connects him to The Penguin. The boy is Peter Duggio, who once went to Bruce Wayne for help, as his father became ill during Zero Year, and the Four Fives took over the area of town where he lives. Peter went to the Penguin and offered to run his business through his family’s bodega. But The Penguin gave it back to the Four Fives. Peter then met with Mr. Bloom and was given a drink that gave him crazy super powers. He tried to stop the Four Fives from setting his family business on fire, but is too late. He does get shot by a policeman, but manages to flee, eventually transforming into a Man Bat. He dies because the serum wore off and he fell to the earth.
Can you say fill-in issue? DC charges us FIVE BUCKS for this beautifully drawn issue, which is only beautiful provided you like Jock’s art. But this overly long, wandering story by Scott Snyder and Brian Azzarello that bounces from the recent past to the semi recent present is just a mess. It’s the Bruce Wayne Batman, we get Mr. Bloom for two panels and the whole story leaves me feeling cheated. We all want Bruce back in the suit, but this is not called whetting our appetite. All this does is make me feel ripped off.
BATMAN ANNUAL #4: Bruce Wayne and Julie Madison go over to the Wayne Mansion to sign papers, as Powers International’s Geri Powers is being nice enough to give poor Bruce his home back. All of the patients have been taken out of the place, but it seems that Clayface made clay models of Riddler, Mr. Freeze and himself. So the models went away, but the real villains are here. Of course Bruce, with his amnesia, has no idea who these crooks are. Alfred manages to get Bruce to safety through the underground tunnels but it isn’t long before they catch him and begin the “What are you, Bruce Wayne” game. It seems The Riddler found the files where Bruce had admitted himself into Arkham and now wants Bruce to admit that he is crazy. But Bruce activates a security measure that Alfred had told him about and takes out the bad guys.
So we get a five-dollar BATMAN ANNUAL and have no appearances by either Batman? Thank you James Tynion IV and Roge Antonio for making me feel like I wasted five bucks! I remember when an Annual was a BIG DEAL. It was a special story or concluded a story arc, like this month’s NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL. This was just an excuse to take Bruce’ move back into the mansion into a five-dollar romp.
BATMAN BEYOND #4: The invasion has begun and it’s Tim Drake’s fault as his suit took the Veil offline. Micron is not happy about these developments and splits, leaving Tim on his own. The Jokerz join in the battle as Brother Eye continues to send his monsters against Tim who gets help from Micron’s return. Meanwhile, Inque teams up with Barbara Gordon as she hates Brother Eye as he has her daughter Deanna under his control. With Tim surrounded by Brother Eye’s transformed creatures, Barbara shows up in the Batmobile and saves Back in the Bat Cave, Barbara presents him with Batman 1.0: Jim Gordon's Bat Suit.
We get another interesting issue here, although I am slowly getting tired of where this book is headed. Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang tell an interesting story, but that story is getting a bit tired. It is starting to look like Tim Drake has just been totally ruining things in the DC Universe. He couldn’t stop brother Eye and now he’s responsible for a full-blown invasion. The cool twist this issue was revealing that Jim Gordon's Bat Suit survived the last 35 years. Despite the plodding of this issue, I am looking forward to how Tim handles "The Suit.”
BATMAN SUPERMAN #24: Aquaman and Superman are brawling while Batman and Lucius try to stop the artificial sun from exploding. In the midst of all this, Ukar's troops are heading for the oil rig that holds that sun. Gordon launches the container holding the sun into the sky and the Dawn Command arrives and steals it away from everyone. Aquaman gets Ukar to realize he needs to stop trusting people while Batman tells Superman to stay out of Gotham City. In the epilogue, Clark meets with Bruce Wayne while Wrath meets with the mystery man from ACTION COMICS: Vandal Savage.
Greg Pak, along with Ardian Syaf, Yildiray Cinar and Howard Porter, gives us another piece of the puzzle that seems to show that good old Vandal Savage is back to cause mayhem. After all, we haven’t seen him since DEMON KNIGHTS got cancelled, with the exception of a version of him appearing in Morrison’s THE SOCIETY OF SUPERHEROES. I have to admit though, I was glad to get the main story ended, as it was starting to drag on. Once Aquaman got involved, I knew it would be a little bumpy. I DO LIKE seeing that Jim Gordon is not seeing eye to eye with Clark and the whole Bruce/Clark meeting was cool. But, if Batman and Superman can’t co-exist, does that mean we need to change the title of the book?
BAT-MITE #4: Bat-Mite is trying his best, but is completely trashing Weed and Reagan’s apartment, completely ruining Reagan’s family photo album in the process. Skeets and Booster Gold arrive and ask for Bat-Mite’s help in saving the future from Gridlock. In the process, Bat-Mite decides that Booster needs to be dark and gritty and has him create a new costume and a new persona in the form of Black Gold. Bat-Mite transports them to Gridlock's "Vault of Timelessness", where he keeps all his goodies from his childhood preserved forever. During the battle between our heroes and Gridlock, Gridlock’s precious treasures are ruined. Gridlock flees, Booster Gold rises from the ashes of Black Gold, and Reagan’s photo album gets restored thanks to time travel.
While I have been absolutely loving this series, this issue was nowhere near as good as the previous three. Dan Jurgens and Corin Howell do a good job, but it loses steam about halfway through the issue. It was almost like Jurgens just couldn’t figure out where he wanted his punchlines to go and the whole bit solution for the photo album was predictable from the moment Booster shower up. I’m hoping issue #5 will bring this book back to it’s winning style and lead to a nice conclusion for issue #6.
BIZZARO #4: Our happy-go-lucky trio is in Branson, Missouri where Chastity is still tracking down bad guys. But there’s a time for work and a time for fun, so Jimmy and Bizzaro take in a magic show starring Zatanna, who proceeds to send Bizzaro around the DC Universe, whether he likes it or not. Travelling through the Rock of Eternity, Gemworld, The House of Mystery, Hades, the Parliament of Trees, Skartaris, he eventually returns, only to have he and Jimmy swap personalities. That also means swapping body types as Jimmy now looks like and sounds like Bizzaro while Bizzaro is now intelligent and human. With both of them now seeing how the other half has to live, they are transformed back to their old selves. And just in time too as Agents Mahalo and Paillard from ARGUS arrive asking for their help. They need them to break into Area 51.
What a long strange trip to Canada this is. Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte give us another wild issue, complete with trips to the corners of the DCU. Wait: didn’t Warlord DIE during CONVERGENCE? Wasn’t Amethyst scarred during FUTURE’S END? Oh…that’s right: stories are written out of continuity now. That’s cool: I can dig it! By the way: Darwyn Cooke are listed as a guest artist but all I can see is part of one panel, which is the portrait of Zatanna. It is IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZABLE as Cooke’s work. But I don’t see it anywhere else, so calling him a “guest artist” is a bit misleading. Other than that, we have another great issue as we raced towards the final issue with #6.
BLACK CANARY #4: Bo Maeve and Ditto are on the road. Bo tells how she went from watching MTV to growing up and forming the band Alas Insane. After having creative difference, she walks away from her gig, only to be replaced to Dinah Drake, which explains her dislike of our hero. Bo lit the theater on fire and that forced Dinah to use her powers to put it out. Back in present day, Bo turns Ditto over to Amanda Waller, but a masked, blonde ninja puts a stop to that, allowing Ditto to escape. Ditto ends up at the motel Dinah is holed up at and there is a happy reunion. Meanwhile, Bo is injected with special mixture that gives her Dinah’s screaming ability.
Here’s my problem with comics these days: guest artists. Pia Guerra steps in for Annie Wu this month. So, it’s not just this book, it’s a LOT of books at many companies. Whatever happened to the days when the legends of our business were drawing a literal handful of books or more each month? That gripe aside, this issue is cool and love what Brenden Fletcher is ding with it. I like the origin story for Bo and the way that Amanda Waller comes rolling into the story, but who is the mysterious ninja? And where does this tale go from here? I’m guessing D.D. is putting the band back together. Should be an interesting rest of the road trip!
CATWOMAN #44: Picking up from last issue, Selina visits Croc who has been taking care of the injured Eiko. She gets her home and Selina and Croc have a long talk about her. Later, she is continuing to train Stephanie Brown and Eiko admits that she and Selina had a fight and they need to talk stuff over. Finishing their training, Stephanie runs into Selina and chews her out for dumping her, even as Catwoman is tells her she needs her help. Afterwards, Antonia and Ward have a dinner meeting with Selina where Antonia tells Selina she has been meeting with Penguin and Selina tells her that she wants Antonia to run the family, which will allow her to go back to being Catwoman on a regular basis. In the end, Black Mask assaults Hasigawa’s place and executes him.
Okay, so it looks like Genevieve Valentine is setting things up for Frank Tieri to run with as the next writer by bringing many plot threads to an abrupt end. With the death of Hasigawa, Eiko can now focus on revenge, Anthonia can focus on the family business, and Selina can go back to trying to find her long lost boyfriend. Maybe this will be more of a costume book again instead of the female version of THE GODFATHER. David Messina’s art gets better all the time and this is one of his best outings yet.
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #4: With most of the issue set in the past, we see a really drunk Constantine dealing with the great tentacled monster that we find out is really Veronica.
Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV throw a really convoluted and confusing issue our way. Set in both the past and the present, we see how John’s group descends into the world of bad magic. The fact that the great monster is really his ex-lover was a nice little twist and I’m sure that secret will be revealed next issue. The art by Vanesa Del Rey and Chris Visions was okay, but this book continues to try to find its’ palce in the DC Universe.
DEATHSTROKE #10: The battle against Lapetus continues as the god has decided that Themyscira isn’t the only goal, now he wants to take down Olympus too. After a fierce battle, Deathstroke slays the enemy but is told by Hephaestus that this was all set in place by Apollo. But the slaying of a Titan calls for a blood sacrifice, so Slade plucks out his right eye.
Tony S. Daniel and James Bonney, with art by Tyler Kirkham, brings this long-winded epic to an end. I say long-winded because it ran through a bunch of issues AND an annual and, in the end, Deathstroke slays the god and has to pluck out his eye to make amends. Honestly, that is a bit over the top but also a good way to get our hero(?) back to his cyclopean vision. This would have been so much better if Daniels had been drawing it too, but I guess I can settle for Kirkham. The overall issue is like most of the issues in the series: run of the mill.
DETECTIVE COMICS #44: Bullock is trying to reach Yip who is sitting with Falcone in his limo and getting paid for her work. When he drops her off, she calls Bullock, begging him to pick up his phone. Batman is battling the Joker Bot, which ends up trashing the car that Bullock, Montoya AND Yip are in. Harvey gets Montoya out and then sets fire to the car, presumably with Yip in it. Bullock and Montoya head to the circus where we find that the targets are actually police officers who are not in bed with the Falcones. With the help of his team, Batman takes out the Joker Bot, defeating the Joker's Daughter in the process and with plenty of time to spare to get to the circus and take down the assassins. Later, Yip meets with Bullock where he tells her that she is officially listed as dying in the line of duty, even though Gordon and Montoya are aware of it.
This issue marks the end of Brian Buccellato’s run on the title and it felt like more of a whimper than a bang. While the story was good, it was expected that Yip wouldn’t be killed off by Bullock, even after we saw the teaser to that car burning scene months ago. The Joker Bot made me chuckle in its’ complete silliness and the fact that Yip goes away means she could end up back in the mix somewhere down the road. Fernando Blanco’s art continues to set this book apart from the other titles in the “Bat Family” and that’s cool. Next month: a new creative team jumps in with both feet!
DOCTOR FATE #4: Khalid continues to try and learn his place in the world as a hero while the city continues to experience the flooding. Meanwhile, his father is desperate to reach him as he speaks with Bast.
This book just continues to roll on and I don’t know how. I LOVE the character of Doctor fate and have always found his back-story interesting. But this book, by Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew, is just a tangled mess. I don’t care for the character or characters and we’re four issues in and Khalid is STILL saving people and questioning why. C’mon: has he NEVER read a comic or seen a movie? You know: great power and all that. Seriously!
DOOMED #4: Wonder Girl is here and beat the snot out of Doomed. Flashback to a half hour earlier as he takes Oui Oui the dog back home with comical results. Then Reiser dreams of what will happen when he gets stuck in Doomed’s body for the rest of his life. Clarice arrives, whispers something to him and he changes back to Reiser. Coming back to the fight, Doomed saves Wonder Girl and she realizes that he’s not bad, just misunderstood and also gets him to change back. What a surprise for her when she finds out he wears no costume and is butt naked! Later, Superman arrives as Jayne figures out that Reiser could have been infected by the Doomsday spores.
Scott Lobdell and Javier Fernandez turn out another interesting issue as this title tries its’ hardest to be likable. Unfortunately, DC has already lowered the axe on it with issue #6, which means the creators have two more issues to wrap all of this up. I have to admit that the book has gotten better since the dreadful first issue, but is still not high on the sales chart, meaning a permanent end. Maybe they can roll Reiser into the Teen Titans in the future. In fact, I bet they do!
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #4: Batman and Flash arrive at Val-Zod’s City of Solitude and accuse him of the murder of Terry Sloan. This leads to a flashback where Val and Kara used Sloan's nano-bots to build Neotropolis. For a time, Val and Kara were like the kings and queens until there is a bomb explosion and Anarky takes responsibility for the explosion. Sloan activates a death ray and kills a number of the protesters, minus Anarky, who has escaped. Sloan sends in his Sandmen and Val knocks them out and transports to Sloan’s lair. Once there, he tells Kara that it was Val who figured out how to detonate the fire pits that killed Superman. This eventually leads to a confrontation between the two lovers leading to a big break up. Back in the here and now, Overwatch One is coming down…complete with a big Anarky symbol painted on it!.
What a colossal mess! This was one long flashback and…wait: didn’t Superman die in an EMPTY FIRE PIT where Desaad had his clone lab? So we’re already RETCONING stuff? Jorge Jimenez's art looks okay but Daniel H. Wilson apparently doesn’t remember what was written less than a year ago. Tis series continues to be a major disappointment.
FLASH #44: The Flash finds a way to get out of his watery predicament while Professor Zoom and his Speed Force Team of Rogues continue to make his life hell. That includes tormenting Barry’s father too. Meanwhile, Frye and Hartley have a tiff regarding that possibility that Frye may be outed by having his lover show up at work. The next morning, Barry meets up with Wally and gets him a gig working in the CCPD garage. The new Rogues show up downtown and they cause all sorts of havoc, including Wally’s new mentor Tim. With a force field around him, Barry’s speed just manages to increase the damage he causes which is not only bad for him, but also for Central City.
Robert Venditti, Van Jensen and Brett Booth continue to rewrite history and pave the way to the future with this title. The story really is filled with great action and Booth’s artwork is stellar. At times, it feels like it is pandering to fans of the television show by throwing in plot points that most fans question. Of course, most fans are still trying to get over the concept of Iris and Barry not being together and Wally being black. That’s okay: this IS a new DC and diversity is key, right?
GOTHAM ACADEMY #10: After everyone flees from the burning play rehearsal and then gets composed again, with a new student named Katherine in the mix, we learn from Eric that a ghost has been responsible for sabotaging the play. Olive believes it is the ghost of her mother, which results in some trust issues between Maps and Olive. Olive goes to the office of Hugo Strange and instructs her not to do any extra curricular activities. Meanwhile, the Detective Club goes ghost hunting and discovers that Katherine is really Clayface. Clayface created the persona to gain access and to get revenge on director Simon Trent. When he makes fun of Olive’s mom, she hits him with a hose full of water and he turns back into Katherine. In the end, Pomeline shows Olive a newspaper that suggests her mom may still be alive.
Wow! I so love this title and here’s why. It’s all about the characters. Sure, Karl Kerschl’s art is nice and all. But Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher have given us a great wealth of characters to work with and we have all seen them grow and change in the last ten issues. And I love the way the creators have managed to drop famous characters from Batman history into this title as educators. Last issue we had Kirk Langston and this time around we get Hugo Strange. Oh…and points to Simon Trent for invoking Uta Hagen. Btw: she was a Tony Award winning German actress.
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #9: Corrigan and Lisa have been officially arrested and placed in individual interrogation rooms. Meanwhile, Agent Rook and his team execute a search of Precinct 13 looking for evidence that proves Corrigan is dirty. At the same time, Dr. Tarr has figured out what the deal is with the creepy black flowers and that they mark a place where something supernatural is going to happen. After continued pressure by Casimiro and Palmer, the Spectre comes out and blows them up, leaving bits of bodies parts all over the walls.
Just when this series is starting to take off, DC puts the hammer down and cancels it in three issues. That’s a drag as Ray Fawkes and Juan Ferreyra really brings their A game with this issue. Blood, horror and a pissed off Spectre that apparently is NOT the creature we thought he was and all of this comes from within Corrigan. Okay…that’s a game changer! Anyway, this is one of the strongest issues yet and hopefully, if you haven’t scored the issues, we might get a TPB from DC. It really is a complex series.
GRAYSON #12: Dick Grayson returns to Gotham and, in disguise as Mr. Sparrow, meets with Bruce Wayne. Their meeting is broken up by a Agent Zero who knocks Bruce out and threatens to tell the world that Batman is Bruce Wayne unless Dick heads back home to Spyral. Later, Dick meets with Jason and Tim and they are not happy Dick faked his death and didn’t let them in on it. Even more upset is Barbara, who had a physical relationship with Dick at one point. Less bothered by it all is Damian, who actually knows what it was like to be dead. When he leaves them, each of them begins working on the “Cluemaster’s Code”, which allows them to hack into the Hypnos. This allows Dick to see who Agent Zero really is: Luka Netz
This book just gets better and better! Tom King, Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin have taken the whole secret agent meets hero in tights genre and elevated it to an amazing place. Dick finally comes back home after being dead and obviously, this is pissing people off. And, best of all, we get the reveal of who Agent Zero really is. And if that wasn’t obvious before, it is now as Luka Netz is Kathy Kane’s real name. So, which Kane is this one? Kate Kane is Batwoman and her mom is supposed to be dead. Kathy Kane WAS a key character in the original BATMAN INCORPORATED run, so I guess this is her. Very cool!
GRAYSON ANNUAL #2: The issue begins with years ago while Batman and Robin are attending to apprehend Blockbuster when they get an assist from Superman. While Robin thinks Superman is cool, Batman is suspicious of him. back in present day, Robin is set to leave Gotham and head back to his assignment with Spyral when he encounters Superman, who thought that Dick was dead. The Fist of Cain, who Dick knows from Spyral killing their leader Christian Fleischer some time back, attacks them. And, of course, they are looking to take out Clark because the whole world knows he is Superman. After a lengthy fight between our heroes and the FOC folks, they break out their secret weapon: Blockbuster. Not sure how to defeat him, Superman calls Lex Luthor and asks for a favor and build a power inhibitor, which he does while sitting on his toilet. The inhibitor takes down the bad guys and, in the end, the two heroes bid farewell to each other, but not before Superman agrees it’s okay to bury the name Nightwing and be known only as "Grayson".
What I really like about this story by Tom Seeley and Alvaro Martinez is that it tied into current continuity, with Dick leaving Gotham after his recent visit there in GRAYSON #12. The artwork is nice and the story, while a bit sappy in points, displays the mutual respect these two heroes have for each other. And I didn’t feel totally ripped off for paying five bucks for an annual that really didn’t do much for the ongoing story in the regular title. While not a direct continuation from the book, it does tie into current events and that’s okay by me.
GREEN ARROW #44: Oliver and Kyra are out on a date, along with his pet wolf George when they encounter Wart Lady. She psychically bonds with George and we get the secret origin where wolves eliminated most of an entire tribe except an old Indian man named Old One killed all but the Alpha of the pack them with a magic axe made from the jaw of a demon. He took him home, healed him and he became the old man’s pet. Eventually, a cult kills Old One and the wolf, but not before a husky gives birth to a wolf pup whose bloodline belongs to the wolf. And that pup is George. Later, Oliver and George is attacked by the cult that want’s George’s bones, only to be saved by Tarantula.
I like what Ben Percy and Patrick Zircher are doing on this title, but did we need an entire issue to give us the origin of the wolf and the crazy cult that is going after them? I really want to have a Green Arrow book and that means having Green Arrow in it. Especially after seeing Green Arrow and Green Lantern on the Green Lantern 75th Anniversary variant. I would LOVE to see the Green team back again…HINT, HINT, HINT! Until then, this is the only game in town…even though they need to change the game a bit.
GREEN LANTERN #44: Trapper and Hal are on the Planet Gallun where they are taking the injured Virgo to a doctor. While he is getting patched up, Thangarian marauders arrive. It seems the port is kept open as bait and the Thangarians have dismantled communications on the planet to keep the inhabitants from sending out a distress signal. Unfortunately, the marauders don’t realize that there is someone with the power of the green in their midst and Hal and Trapper defeat the marauders. Hal gets injured, but also gets healed, as does Virgo and, with Gallum safe, all three head off into space again.
Robert Venditti and Billy Tan continue the story of the former head of the Green Lanterns as he travels through space with his new traveling companions. I like Venditti’s writing, but this issue just feels like a filler issue rather than a real one. Sure, Virgo is injured from last issue and needs to be healed. But we spend the whole issue building up a new found team-up between Hal and Trapper and it feels like Curtis and Portier in THE DEFIANT ONES. Tan’s artwork is his usual great stuff. Oh…seek out the variant cover to this one featuring classic Jordan and Alan Scott by the legendary Howard Chaykin.
GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #4: Our story begins with Hal Jordan telling Virgo and Trapper a story of when he fought off an entire squad of Green Lanterns. He has dealings with Lobo before meeting the Lanterns but eventually lets loose and takes all the lanterns on and defeats them. What we learn is that the way it happened is not the way it actually happened. The version he tells is the one he heard from a drunk alien. But that story and the retelling of it builds on the reputation that he is the toughest person in the universe. In the end, the Gray Agents arrive on Planet Spire and plan to kill off the legend now as Hal Jordan.
This was nice to see Robert Venditti and Pascal Alixe continue the story points from the current GREEN LANTERN series but this was basically a flashback story that filled a lot of pages. The moral here was rumors helped build Hal’s reputation. The other moral is not to fall for every five dollar annual that comes down the pipe.
GREEN LANTERN: LOST ARMY #4: It turns out that Arisia is not dead, just badly injured and John uses his ring to keep her alive while the rest of the Lanterns fight off the enemy. With the ship in jeopardy, Relic and Krona quickly retreat to save themselves. Following a lengthy flashback where we see that Stewart won’t leave a soldier behind, we see that the Lanterns have been captured and their jailers are sucking the life energy out of their prisoners. Guy leads a minor uprising while B'dg travels through the air vents and frees the rest. Now they stand ready to “teach these pirates” a lesson.
Corny! Why are we getting corny dialogue here? And the lengthy flashback sequence. I started to feel like I was watching a rerun of LOST, but in a BAD WAY. Cullen Bunn gives us a so-so story and Javier Pina’s art is not a fully fleshed out as I would like. All in all, this book is running out of gas and it’s no wonder that this is ending in two issues. Maybe that will allow our writer to concentrate on SINESTRO, where we’re also seeing characters who drain life energies out of people!
HARLEY QUINN #20: Following a strange dream sequence where Harley is a flight attendant with Mr. J. and Ivy flying the plane, she resumes her search for Sparrow and ends up in Los Angeles. Right off the bat, she kills the airplane Customer Service representative for being rude to her. She ends up at a Hollywood party and hooks up with a cowboy sidekick, as they find Sparrow and get her back to a nearby hotel. Unfortunately, that’s where the cowboy makes his last stand as he gets shot by the person originally hired to find Sparrow: Deadshot!
It’s another wacky issue from Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art this time from John Timms. My biggest question about Amanda and Jimmy is just how many books will the public endure? I mean, we have HARLEY QUINN, HARLEY QUINN POWER GIRL, the forthcoming HARLEY’S LITTLE BLACK BOOK, in addition to the quarterly “specials” that seem to pop up every time you turn around. I mean, just how much will the public endure before we grow tired of her. It’s not like she is Deadpool with a whole bunch of…Oh, never mind. You get it, don’t you? Harley has jumped the shark and we’re all still on the end of that fishing line. Please remove the hook from my mouth now!
HARLEY QUINN POWER GIRL #4: Vartox beats on Power Girl until Harley rides in on a Caticorn and saves her. He grabs Harley and threatens to kill her until the purring of the Caticorn calms him down, allowing Power Girl to come over and knock him out. When he wakes, he grabs her and gives her a big kiss, prompting her to throw him into a distant wall. He proceeds to tell her how he knew Power Girl, as she helped repopulate his planet using the Pregnoray. This is when the Ex-Girlfriend Force arrives just to fill six panels and then leave. Then there is a visit from the Sanctified Shotgun Sisters of the NRA: an offshoot of the group Nuns With Attitude. After Oreth burns off Vartox’ clothes, Power Girl sends him packing…just in time for the arrival of the Harvester of Sorrow.
Message to Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray: Blue Oyster Cult called and wants their song title back. Except for saying that Stephanie Roux’ artwork is the book’s highlight, refer to my comments above.
HARLEY QUINN ROAD TRIP SPECIAL #1: Dr. Harleen Quinzell finds out that her Uncle Lou has died and her mom wants her to go to Los Angeles and get his ashes. So, Harley, Selena Kyle and Ivy hit the road in Uncle Lou’s old school Airstream as they travel from the West Coast to the East. Along the way, Selena meets with a fellow thief known as Darkwolf and tries to retrieve a priceless necklace. This only leads to a wild road rage car chase involving all the parties and ending with Harley fashioning a cactus into boxing gloves and knocking him out. Without wheels, they end up being picked up by a Native American hauling firewater, which the girls consume, leading to a six page dream sequence. Coming out of their booze fueled trance, they make stops in Colorado, Kansas, and Illinois before picking up a hitchhiking pair known as Jimmy Olsen and Bizzaro. Back home, they bury Uncle Lou’s ashes and Poison Ivy grows a new tree over the grave and the girls head off to Coney Island to drink champagne.
Here we have another Harley Quinn special but this time around DC is asking you to shell out SIX BUCKS for it for 38 pages of comic story. I know I’m old, but I still remember having to shell of TWENTY-FIVE CENTS for 64 pages of story. What we have here is a story by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Bret Blevins, Moritat, Flaviano Armentaro, Pasquale Qualand and Jed Dougherty. It was a fun ride, but WAY OVERPRICED! SIX BUCKS! REALLY?! Be glad I bought this so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome!
Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder wrap of this piece of the TRUTH storyline in pretty disappointing fashion. It seemed way too rushed, spending too much time concentrating on Lee’s story and not enough on Clark’s. Kuder provides the art for most of the book while Howard Porter gives us the epilogue piece. And just who is this mysterious individual? It all seems like a rush to get to the mysterious visitor at the end of the book. This is my least favorite issue of the Pak/Kuder run thus far.
ALL STAR SECTION EIGHT #4: Wonnder Woman shows up and chastises Section Eight but then Baytor whacks her in the head with a big hammer which scrambles her brain and suddenly causes her to want to join the team. Soon she has managed to make herself the Maid of Honor in a wedding between Bueno Excellente and Ms. Guts. During the post wedding reception, Baytor accidentally hits her again with the hammer, which scrambles her brains back again. She storms out, but not before calling SixPack Sidney, leading him to wonder who Sidney is. A mystery indeed!
Garth Ennis, John McCrea. A killer book that is completely off the normal grid! Just go buy it before the mini-series ends!
AQUAMAN #44: Aquaman teleports into Mera's sleeping chambers so he can explain what is going on with his fascination with the other people and try to make up. This leads to them kissing and REALLY making up. The next morning, he feels guilty and she turns into Mera’s sister Siren. She refuses to reveal where Mera is and he won’t get an answer anytime soon as Atlantean guards burst in and force him to teleport away. Unfortunately for him, he has teleported to an alien world.
Is Cullen Bunn DC’s answer to Gerry Duggan, since it seems like he is writing a butt ton of books for the company. And most of them aren’t that good. This book has gotten so sluggish since CONVERGENCE and I hate the current story arc. I don’t want Aquaman on a distant planet or helping save Thule. I want him duking it out with Black Manta and Arthur’s collection of Rogues like Fisherman…if he is still around. Alec Morgan’s art is okay…I guess. It’s kind of hard to tell when you have Art Thibert and Jesus Merino finishing it for him.
BATGIRL #44: The Velvet Tiger is battling Batgirl and causes her utility belt to misfire. That leads her back to home base where Qadir and Luke figure out that Gilcom CEO Lani Gilbert is really Velvet Tiger. She heads off to visit Jeremy, who has been helping her all along to save his career. Back at Velvet Tiger’s lair, Batgirl tries to save Jo, but it takes Alysia to do that and it takes a remote control Bat cycle to take out Velvet Tiger and get Batgirl to safety. Later, Barbara finds out that Luke offered Frankie a job but she turned it down because she was in the middle of a career change. The pair also exchange their first kiss and Barbara invites him to Alysia and Jo’s wedding. Finally, Frankie is messing around with a cybernetic link that allows her to control things.
As we all know by now, I am not a fan of this title in the least, but it is improving. Bengal is the artist this issue and I like the style much better than Babs Tarr. It’s just a much cleaner look. Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher continue to treat Batgirl/Barbara like a teenager and I still find that disturbing. We went from shot by Joker, crippled, helping the Bat Family as Oracle, no longer crippled, running Birds of Prey and now this? Talk about taking continuity and throwing it out the window. However, the writing here seems much more focused than past issues. Maybe there is hope after all.
BATMAN #44: Set in a time just after Zero Year, Batman finds the body of a fifteen year old boy and connects him to The Penguin. The boy is Peter Duggio, who once went to Bruce Wayne for help, as his father became ill during Zero Year, and the Four Fives took over the area of town where he lives. Peter went to the Penguin and offered to run his business through his family’s bodega. But The Penguin gave it back to the Four Fives. Peter then met with Mr. Bloom and was given a drink that gave him crazy super powers. He tried to stop the Four Fives from setting his family business on fire, but is too late. He does get shot by a policeman, but manages to flee, eventually transforming into a Man Bat. He dies because the serum wore off and he fell to the earth.
Can you say fill-in issue? DC charges us FIVE BUCKS for this beautifully drawn issue, which is only beautiful provided you like Jock’s art. But this overly long, wandering story by Scott Snyder and Brian Azzarello that bounces from the recent past to the semi recent present is just a mess. It’s the Bruce Wayne Batman, we get Mr. Bloom for two panels and the whole story leaves me feeling cheated. We all want Bruce back in the suit, but this is not called whetting our appetite. All this does is make me feel ripped off.
BATMAN ANNUAL #4: Bruce Wayne and Julie Madison go over to the Wayne Mansion to sign papers, as Powers International’s Geri Powers is being nice enough to give poor Bruce his home back. All of the patients have been taken out of the place, but it seems that Clayface made clay models of Riddler, Mr. Freeze and himself. So the models went away, but the real villains are here. Of course Bruce, with his amnesia, has no idea who these crooks are. Alfred manages to get Bruce to safety through the underground tunnels but it isn’t long before they catch him and begin the “What are you, Bruce Wayne” game. It seems The Riddler found the files where Bruce had admitted himself into Arkham and now wants Bruce to admit that he is crazy. But Bruce activates a security measure that Alfred had told him about and takes out the bad guys.
So we get a five-dollar BATMAN ANNUAL and have no appearances by either Batman? Thank you James Tynion IV and Roge Antonio for making me feel like I wasted five bucks! I remember when an Annual was a BIG DEAL. It was a special story or concluded a story arc, like this month’s NEW SUICIDE SQUAD ANNUAL. This was just an excuse to take Bruce’ move back into the mansion into a five-dollar romp.
BATMAN BEYOND #4: The invasion has begun and it’s Tim Drake’s fault as his suit took the Veil offline. Micron is not happy about these developments and splits, leaving Tim on his own. The Jokerz join in the battle as Brother Eye continues to send his monsters against Tim who gets help from Micron’s return. Meanwhile, Inque teams up with Barbara Gordon as she hates Brother Eye as he has her daughter Deanna under his control. With Tim surrounded by Brother Eye’s transformed creatures, Barbara shows up in the Batmobile and saves Back in the Bat Cave, Barbara presents him with Batman 1.0: Jim Gordon's Bat Suit.
We get another interesting issue here, although I am slowly getting tired of where this book is headed. Dan Jurgens and Bernard Chang tell an interesting story, but that story is getting a bit tired. It is starting to look like Tim Drake has just been totally ruining things in the DC Universe. He couldn’t stop brother Eye and now he’s responsible for a full-blown invasion. The cool twist this issue was revealing that Jim Gordon's Bat Suit survived the last 35 years. Despite the plodding of this issue, I am looking forward to how Tim handles "The Suit.”
BATMAN SUPERMAN #24: Aquaman and Superman are brawling while Batman and Lucius try to stop the artificial sun from exploding. In the midst of all this, Ukar's troops are heading for the oil rig that holds that sun. Gordon launches the container holding the sun into the sky and the Dawn Command arrives and steals it away from everyone. Aquaman gets Ukar to realize he needs to stop trusting people while Batman tells Superman to stay out of Gotham City. In the epilogue, Clark meets with Bruce Wayne while Wrath meets with the mystery man from ACTION COMICS: Vandal Savage.
Greg Pak, along with Ardian Syaf, Yildiray Cinar and Howard Porter, gives us another piece of the puzzle that seems to show that good old Vandal Savage is back to cause mayhem. After all, we haven’t seen him since DEMON KNIGHTS got cancelled, with the exception of a version of him appearing in Morrison’s THE SOCIETY OF SUPERHEROES. I have to admit though, I was glad to get the main story ended, as it was starting to drag on. Once Aquaman got involved, I knew it would be a little bumpy. I DO LIKE seeing that Jim Gordon is not seeing eye to eye with Clark and the whole Bruce/Clark meeting was cool. But, if Batman and Superman can’t co-exist, does that mean we need to change the title of the book?
BAT-MITE #4: Bat-Mite is trying his best, but is completely trashing Weed and Reagan’s apartment, completely ruining Reagan’s family photo album in the process. Skeets and Booster Gold arrive and ask for Bat-Mite’s help in saving the future from Gridlock. In the process, Bat-Mite decides that Booster needs to be dark and gritty and has him create a new costume and a new persona in the form of Black Gold. Bat-Mite transports them to Gridlock's "Vault of Timelessness", where he keeps all his goodies from his childhood preserved forever. During the battle between our heroes and Gridlock, Gridlock’s precious treasures are ruined. Gridlock flees, Booster Gold rises from the ashes of Black Gold, and Reagan’s photo album gets restored thanks to time travel.
While I have been absolutely loving this series, this issue was nowhere near as good as the previous three. Dan Jurgens and Corin Howell do a good job, but it loses steam about halfway through the issue. It was almost like Jurgens just couldn’t figure out where he wanted his punchlines to go and the whole bit solution for the photo album was predictable from the moment Booster shower up. I’m hoping issue #5 will bring this book back to it’s winning style and lead to a nice conclusion for issue #6.
BIZZARO #4: Our happy-go-lucky trio is in Branson, Missouri where Chastity is still tracking down bad guys. But there’s a time for work and a time for fun, so Jimmy and Bizzaro take in a magic show starring Zatanna, who proceeds to send Bizzaro around the DC Universe, whether he likes it or not. Travelling through the Rock of Eternity, Gemworld, The House of Mystery, Hades, the Parliament of Trees, Skartaris, he eventually returns, only to have he and Jimmy swap personalities. That also means swapping body types as Jimmy now looks like and sounds like Bizzaro while Bizzaro is now intelligent and human. With both of them now seeing how the other half has to live, they are transformed back to their old selves. And just in time too as Agents Mahalo and Paillard from ARGUS arrive asking for their help. They need them to break into Area 51.
What a long strange trip to Canada this is. Heath Corson and Gustavo Duarte give us another wild issue, complete with trips to the corners of the DCU. Wait: didn’t Warlord DIE during CONVERGENCE? Wasn’t Amethyst scarred during FUTURE’S END? Oh…that’s right: stories are written out of continuity now. That’s cool: I can dig it! By the way: Darwyn Cooke are listed as a guest artist but all I can see is part of one panel, which is the portrait of Zatanna. It is IMMEDIATELY RECOGNIZABLE as Cooke’s work. But I don’t see it anywhere else, so calling him a “guest artist” is a bit misleading. Other than that, we have another great issue as we raced towards the final issue with #6.
BLACK CANARY #4: Bo Maeve and Ditto are on the road. Bo tells how she went from watching MTV to growing up and forming the band Alas Insane. After having creative difference, she walks away from her gig, only to be replaced to Dinah Drake, which explains her dislike of our hero. Bo lit the theater on fire and that forced Dinah to use her powers to put it out. Back in present day, Bo turns Ditto over to Amanda Waller, but a masked, blonde ninja puts a stop to that, allowing Ditto to escape. Ditto ends up at the motel Dinah is holed up at and there is a happy reunion. Meanwhile, Bo is injected with special mixture that gives her Dinah’s screaming ability.
Here’s my problem with comics these days: guest artists. Pia Guerra steps in for Annie Wu this month. So, it’s not just this book, it’s a LOT of books at many companies. Whatever happened to the days when the legends of our business were drawing a literal handful of books or more each month? That gripe aside, this issue is cool and love what Brenden Fletcher is ding with it. I like the origin story for Bo and the way that Amanda Waller comes rolling into the story, but who is the mysterious ninja? And where does this tale go from here? I’m guessing D.D. is putting the band back together. Should be an interesting rest of the road trip!
CATWOMAN #44: Picking up from last issue, Selina visits Croc who has been taking care of the injured Eiko. She gets her home and Selina and Croc have a long talk about her. Later, she is continuing to train Stephanie Brown and Eiko admits that she and Selina had a fight and they need to talk stuff over. Finishing their training, Stephanie runs into Selina and chews her out for dumping her, even as Catwoman is tells her she needs her help. Afterwards, Antonia and Ward have a dinner meeting with Selina where Antonia tells Selina she has been meeting with Penguin and Selina tells her that she wants Antonia to run the family, which will allow her to go back to being Catwoman on a regular basis. In the end, Black Mask assaults Hasigawa’s place and executes him.
Okay, so it looks like Genevieve Valentine is setting things up for Frank Tieri to run with as the next writer by bringing many plot threads to an abrupt end. With the death of Hasigawa, Eiko can now focus on revenge, Anthonia can focus on the family business, and Selina can go back to trying to find her long lost boyfriend. Maybe this will be more of a costume book again instead of the female version of THE GODFATHER. David Messina’s art gets better all the time and this is one of his best outings yet.
CONSTANTINE: THE HELLBLAZER #4: With most of the issue set in the past, we see a really drunk Constantine dealing with the great tentacled monster that we find out is really Veronica.
Ming Doyle and James Tynion IV throw a really convoluted and confusing issue our way. Set in both the past and the present, we see how John’s group descends into the world of bad magic. The fact that the great monster is really his ex-lover was a nice little twist and I’m sure that secret will be revealed next issue. The art by Vanesa Del Rey and Chris Visions was okay, but this book continues to try to find its’ palce in the DC Universe.
DEATHSTROKE #10: The battle against Lapetus continues as the god has decided that Themyscira isn’t the only goal, now he wants to take down Olympus too. After a fierce battle, Deathstroke slays the enemy but is told by Hephaestus that this was all set in place by Apollo. But the slaying of a Titan calls for a blood sacrifice, so Slade plucks out his right eye.
Tony S. Daniel and James Bonney, with art by Tyler Kirkham, brings this long-winded epic to an end. I say long-winded because it ran through a bunch of issues AND an annual and, in the end, Deathstroke slays the god and has to pluck out his eye to make amends. Honestly, that is a bit over the top but also a good way to get our hero(?) back to his cyclopean vision. This would have been so much better if Daniels had been drawing it too, but I guess I can settle for Kirkham. The overall issue is like most of the issues in the series: run of the mill.
DETECTIVE COMICS #44: Bullock is trying to reach Yip who is sitting with Falcone in his limo and getting paid for her work. When he drops her off, she calls Bullock, begging him to pick up his phone. Batman is battling the Joker Bot, which ends up trashing the car that Bullock, Montoya AND Yip are in. Harvey gets Montoya out and then sets fire to the car, presumably with Yip in it. Bullock and Montoya head to the circus where we find that the targets are actually police officers who are not in bed with the Falcones. With the help of his team, Batman takes out the Joker Bot, defeating the Joker's Daughter in the process and with plenty of time to spare to get to the circus and take down the assassins. Later, Yip meets with Bullock where he tells her that she is officially listed as dying in the line of duty, even though Gordon and Montoya are aware of it.
This issue marks the end of Brian Buccellato’s run on the title and it felt like more of a whimper than a bang. While the story was good, it was expected that Yip wouldn’t be killed off by Bullock, even after we saw the teaser to that car burning scene months ago. The Joker Bot made me chuckle in its’ complete silliness and the fact that Yip goes away means she could end up back in the mix somewhere down the road. Fernando Blanco’s art continues to set this book apart from the other titles in the “Bat Family” and that’s cool. Next month: a new creative team jumps in with both feet!
DOCTOR FATE #4: Khalid continues to try and learn his place in the world as a hero while the city continues to experience the flooding. Meanwhile, his father is desperate to reach him as he speaks with Bast.
This book just continues to roll on and I don’t know how. I LOVE the character of Doctor fate and have always found his back-story interesting. But this book, by Paul Levitz and Sonny Liew, is just a tangled mess. I don’t care for the character or characters and we’re four issues in and Khalid is STILL saving people and questioning why. C’mon: has he NEVER read a comic or seen a movie? You know: great power and all that. Seriously!
DOOMED #4: Wonder Girl is here and beat the snot out of Doomed. Flashback to a half hour earlier as he takes Oui Oui the dog back home with comical results. Then Reiser dreams of what will happen when he gets stuck in Doomed’s body for the rest of his life. Clarice arrives, whispers something to him and he changes back to Reiser. Coming back to the fight, Doomed saves Wonder Girl and she realizes that he’s not bad, just misunderstood and also gets him to change back. What a surprise for her when she finds out he wears no costume and is butt naked! Later, Superman arrives as Jayne figures out that Reiser could have been infected by the Doomsday spores.
Scott Lobdell and Javier Fernandez turn out another interesting issue as this title tries its’ hardest to be likable. Unfortunately, DC has already lowered the axe on it with issue #6, which means the creators have two more issues to wrap all of this up. I have to admit that the book has gotten better since the dreadful first issue, but is still not high on the sales chart, meaning a permanent end. Maybe they can roll Reiser into the Teen Titans in the future. In fact, I bet they do!
EARTH 2: SOCIETY #4: Batman and Flash arrive at Val-Zod’s City of Solitude and accuse him of the murder of Terry Sloan. This leads to a flashback where Val and Kara used Sloan's nano-bots to build Neotropolis. For a time, Val and Kara were like the kings and queens until there is a bomb explosion and Anarky takes responsibility for the explosion. Sloan activates a death ray and kills a number of the protesters, minus Anarky, who has escaped. Sloan sends in his Sandmen and Val knocks them out and transports to Sloan’s lair. Once there, he tells Kara that it was Val who figured out how to detonate the fire pits that killed Superman. This eventually leads to a confrontation between the two lovers leading to a big break up. Back in the here and now, Overwatch One is coming down…complete with a big Anarky symbol painted on it!.
What a colossal mess! This was one long flashback and…wait: didn’t Superman die in an EMPTY FIRE PIT where Desaad had his clone lab? So we’re already RETCONING stuff? Jorge Jimenez's art looks okay but Daniel H. Wilson apparently doesn’t remember what was written less than a year ago. Tis series continues to be a major disappointment.
FLASH #44: The Flash finds a way to get out of his watery predicament while Professor Zoom and his Speed Force Team of Rogues continue to make his life hell. That includes tormenting Barry’s father too. Meanwhile, Frye and Hartley have a tiff regarding that possibility that Frye may be outed by having his lover show up at work. The next morning, Barry meets up with Wally and gets him a gig working in the CCPD garage. The new Rogues show up downtown and they cause all sorts of havoc, including Wally’s new mentor Tim. With a force field around him, Barry’s speed just manages to increase the damage he causes which is not only bad for him, but also for Central City.
Robert Venditti, Van Jensen and Brett Booth continue to rewrite history and pave the way to the future with this title. The story really is filled with great action and Booth’s artwork is stellar. At times, it feels like it is pandering to fans of the television show by throwing in plot points that most fans question. Of course, most fans are still trying to get over the concept of Iris and Barry not being together and Wally being black. That’s okay: this IS a new DC and diversity is key, right?
GOTHAM ACADEMY #10: After everyone flees from the burning play rehearsal and then gets composed again, with a new student named Katherine in the mix, we learn from Eric that a ghost has been responsible for sabotaging the play. Olive believes it is the ghost of her mother, which results in some trust issues between Maps and Olive. Olive goes to the office of Hugo Strange and instructs her not to do any extra curricular activities. Meanwhile, the Detective Club goes ghost hunting and discovers that Katherine is really Clayface. Clayface created the persona to gain access and to get revenge on director Simon Trent. When he makes fun of Olive’s mom, she hits him with a hose full of water and he turns back into Katherine. In the end, Pomeline shows Olive a newspaper that suggests her mom may still be alive.
Wow! I so love this title and here’s why. It’s all about the characters. Sure, Karl Kerschl’s art is nice and all. But Becky Cloonan and Brenden Fletcher have given us a great wealth of characters to work with and we have all seen them grow and change in the last ten issues. And I love the way the creators have managed to drop famous characters from Batman history into this title as educators. Last issue we had Kirk Langston and this time around we get Hugo Strange. Oh…and points to Simon Trent for invoking Uta Hagen. Btw: she was a Tony Award winning German actress.
GOTHAM BY MIDNIGHT #9: Corrigan and Lisa have been officially arrested and placed in individual interrogation rooms. Meanwhile, Agent Rook and his team execute a search of Precinct 13 looking for evidence that proves Corrigan is dirty. At the same time, Dr. Tarr has figured out what the deal is with the creepy black flowers and that they mark a place where something supernatural is going to happen. After continued pressure by Casimiro and Palmer, the Spectre comes out and blows them up, leaving bits of bodies parts all over the walls.
Just when this series is starting to take off, DC puts the hammer down and cancels it in three issues. That’s a drag as Ray Fawkes and Juan Ferreyra really brings their A game with this issue. Blood, horror and a pissed off Spectre that apparently is NOT the creature we thought he was and all of this comes from within Corrigan. Okay…that’s a game changer! Anyway, this is one of the strongest issues yet and hopefully, if you haven’t scored the issues, we might get a TPB from DC. It really is a complex series.
GRAYSON #12: Dick Grayson returns to Gotham and, in disguise as Mr. Sparrow, meets with Bruce Wayne. Their meeting is broken up by a Agent Zero who knocks Bruce out and threatens to tell the world that Batman is Bruce Wayne unless Dick heads back home to Spyral. Later, Dick meets with Jason and Tim and they are not happy Dick faked his death and didn’t let them in on it. Even more upset is Barbara, who had a physical relationship with Dick at one point. Less bothered by it all is Damian, who actually knows what it was like to be dead. When he leaves them, each of them begins working on the “Cluemaster’s Code”, which allows them to hack into the Hypnos. This allows Dick to see who Agent Zero really is: Luka Netz
This book just gets better and better! Tom King, Tim Seeley and Mikel Janin have taken the whole secret agent meets hero in tights genre and elevated it to an amazing place. Dick finally comes back home after being dead and obviously, this is pissing people off. And, best of all, we get the reveal of who Agent Zero really is. And if that wasn’t obvious before, it is now as Luka Netz is Kathy Kane’s real name. So, which Kane is this one? Kate Kane is Batwoman and her mom is supposed to be dead. Kathy Kane WAS a key character in the original BATMAN INCORPORATED run, so I guess this is her. Very cool!
GRAYSON ANNUAL #2: The issue begins with years ago while Batman and Robin are attending to apprehend Blockbuster when they get an assist from Superman. While Robin thinks Superman is cool, Batman is suspicious of him. back in present day, Robin is set to leave Gotham and head back to his assignment with Spyral when he encounters Superman, who thought that Dick was dead. The Fist of Cain, who Dick knows from Spyral killing their leader Christian Fleischer some time back, attacks them. And, of course, they are looking to take out Clark because the whole world knows he is Superman. After a lengthy fight between our heroes and the FOC folks, they break out their secret weapon: Blockbuster. Not sure how to defeat him, Superman calls Lex Luthor and asks for a favor and build a power inhibitor, which he does while sitting on his toilet. The inhibitor takes down the bad guys and, in the end, the two heroes bid farewell to each other, but not before Superman agrees it’s okay to bury the name Nightwing and be known only as "Grayson".
What I really like about this story by Tom Seeley and Alvaro Martinez is that it tied into current continuity, with Dick leaving Gotham after his recent visit there in GRAYSON #12. The artwork is nice and the story, while a bit sappy in points, displays the mutual respect these two heroes have for each other. And I didn’t feel totally ripped off for paying five bucks for an annual that really didn’t do much for the ongoing story in the regular title. While not a direct continuation from the book, it does tie into current events and that’s okay by me.
GREEN ARROW #44: Oliver and Kyra are out on a date, along with his pet wolf George when they encounter Wart Lady. She psychically bonds with George and we get the secret origin where wolves eliminated most of an entire tribe except an old Indian man named Old One killed all but the Alpha of the pack them with a magic axe made from the jaw of a demon. He took him home, healed him and he became the old man’s pet. Eventually, a cult kills Old One and the wolf, but not before a husky gives birth to a wolf pup whose bloodline belongs to the wolf. And that pup is George. Later, Oliver and George is attacked by the cult that want’s George’s bones, only to be saved by Tarantula.
I like what Ben Percy and Patrick Zircher are doing on this title, but did we need an entire issue to give us the origin of the wolf and the crazy cult that is going after them? I really want to have a Green Arrow book and that means having Green Arrow in it. Especially after seeing Green Arrow and Green Lantern on the Green Lantern 75th Anniversary variant. I would LOVE to see the Green team back again…HINT, HINT, HINT! Until then, this is the only game in town…even though they need to change the game a bit.
GREEN LANTERN #44: Trapper and Hal are on the Planet Gallun where they are taking the injured Virgo to a doctor. While he is getting patched up, Thangarian marauders arrive. It seems the port is kept open as bait and the Thangarians have dismantled communications on the planet to keep the inhabitants from sending out a distress signal. Unfortunately, the marauders don’t realize that there is someone with the power of the green in their midst and Hal and Trapper defeat the marauders. Hal gets injured, but also gets healed, as does Virgo and, with Gallum safe, all three head off into space again.
Robert Venditti and Billy Tan continue the story of the former head of the Green Lanterns as he travels through space with his new traveling companions. I like Venditti’s writing, but this issue just feels like a filler issue rather than a real one. Sure, Virgo is injured from last issue and needs to be healed. But we spend the whole issue building up a new found team-up between Hal and Trapper and it feels like Curtis and Portier in THE DEFIANT ONES. Tan’s artwork is his usual great stuff. Oh…seek out the variant cover to this one featuring classic Jordan and Alan Scott by the legendary Howard Chaykin.
GREEN LANTERN ANNUAL #4: Our story begins with Hal Jordan telling Virgo and Trapper a story of when he fought off an entire squad of Green Lanterns. He has dealings with Lobo before meeting the Lanterns but eventually lets loose and takes all the lanterns on and defeats them. What we learn is that the way it happened is not the way it actually happened. The version he tells is the one he heard from a drunk alien. But that story and the retelling of it builds on the reputation that he is the toughest person in the universe. In the end, the Gray Agents arrive on Planet Spire and plan to kill off the legend now as Hal Jordan.
This was nice to see Robert Venditti and Pascal Alixe continue the story points from the current GREEN LANTERN series but this was basically a flashback story that filled a lot of pages. The moral here was rumors helped build Hal’s reputation. The other moral is not to fall for every five dollar annual that comes down the pipe.
GREEN LANTERN: LOST ARMY #4: It turns out that Arisia is not dead, just badly injured and John uses his ring to keep her alive while the rest of the Lanterns fight off the enemy. With the ship in jeopardy, Relic and Krona quickly retreat to save themselves. Following a lengthy flashback where we see that Stewart won’t leave a soldier behind, we see that the Lanterns have been captured and their jailers are sucking the life energy out of their prisoners. Guy leads a minor uprising while B'dg travels through the air vents and frees the rest. Now they stand ready to “teach these pirates” a lesson.
Corny! Why are we getting corny dialogue here? And the lengthy flashback sequence. I started to feel like I was watching a rerun of LOST, but in a BAD WAY. Cullen Bunn gives us a so-so story and Javier Pina’s art is not a fully fleshed out as I would like. All in all, this book is running out of gas and it’s no wonder that this is ending in two issues. Maybe that will allow our writer to concentrate on SINESTRO, where we’re also seeing characters who drain life energies out of people!
HARLEY QUINN #20: Following a strange dream sequence where Harley is a flight attendant with Mr. J. and Ivy flying the plane, she resumes her search for Sparrow and ends up in Los Angeles. Right off the bat, she kills the airplane Customer Service representative for being rude to her. She ends up at a Hollywood party and hooks up with a cowboy sidekick, as they find Sparrow and get her back to a nearby hotel. Unfortunately, that’s where the cowboy makes his last stand as he gets shot by the person originally hired to find Sparrow: Deadshot!
It’s another wacky issue from Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti, with art this time from John Timms. My biggest question about Amanda and Jimmy is just how many books will the public endure? I mean, we have HARLEY QUINN, HARLEY QUINN POWER GIRL, the forthcoming HARLEY’S LITTLE BLACK BOOK, in addition to the quarterly “specials” that seem to pop up every time you turn around. I mean, just how much will the public endure before we grow tired of her. It’s not like she is Deadpool with a whole bunch of…Oh, never mind. You get it, don’t you? Harley has jumped the shark and we’re all still on the end of that fishing line. Please remove the hook from my mouth now!
HARLEY QUINN POWER GIRL #4: Vartox beats on Power Girl until Harley rides in on a Caticorn and saves her. He grabs Harley and threatens to kill her until the purring of the Caticorn calms him down, allowing Power Girl to come over and knock him out. When he wakes, he grabs her and gives her a big kiss, prompting her to throw him into a distant wall. He proceeds to tell her how he knew Power Girl, as she helped repopulate his planet using the Pregnoray. This is when the Ex-Girlfriend Force arrives just to fill six panels and then leave. Then there is a visit from the Sanctified Shotgun Sisters of the NRA: an offshoot of the group Nuns With Attitude. After Oreth burns off Vartox’ clothes, Power Girl sends him packing…just in time for the arrival of the Harvester of Sorrow.
Message to Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray: Blue Oyster Cult called and wants their song title back. Except for saying that Stephanie Roux’ artwork is the book’s highlight, refer to my comments above.
HARLEY QUINN ROAD TRIP SPECIAL #1: Dr. Harleen Quinzell finds out that her Uncle Lou has died and her mom wants her to go to Los Angeles and get his ashes. So, Harley, Selena Kyle and Ivy hit the road in Uncle Lou’s old school Airstream as they travel from the West Coast to the East. Along the way, Selena meets with a fellow thief known as Darkwolf and tries to retrieve a priceless necklace. This only leads to a wild road rage car chase involving all the parties and ending with Harley fashioning a cactus into boxing gloves and knocking him out. Without wheels, they end up being picked up by a Native American hauling firewater, which the girls consume, leading to a six page dream sequence. Coming out of their booze fueled trance, they make stops in Colorado, Kansas, and Illinois before picking up a hitchhiking pair known as Jimmy Olsen and Bizzaro. Back home, they bury Uncle Lou’s ashes and Poison Ivy grows a new tree over the grave and the girls head off to Coney Island to drink champagne.
Here we have another Harley Quinn special but this time around DC is asking you to shell out SIX BUCKS for it for 38 pages of comic story. I know I’m old, but I still remember having to shell of TWENTY-FIVE CENTS for 64 pages of story. What we have here is a story by Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by Bret Blevins, Moritat, Flaviano Armentaro, Pasquale Qualand and Jed Dougherty. It was a fun ride, but WAY OVERPRICED! SIX BUCKS! REALLY?! Be glad I bought this so you didn’t have to. You’re welcome!
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
Some short, quick reviews
A few quick takes:
ALICE COOPER VS. CHAOS: A great looking cover made me have high hopes for this title from Dynamite. Unfortunately, Jim Terry and Tim Seeley’s writing doesn’t hold that much weight and neither does Terry’s art. Sure, we get those classic Chaos Comics characters, but the story is incredibly silly. I guess it might have helped if I had read the PREVIOUS Cooper series. All in all, I found this to be a horrible first issue that just makes me realize how much the old MARVEL PREMIERE issue and the Gaiman mini-series were!
BEAUTY: So half of the country has contracted a new sexually transmitted disease that makes people become beautiful. Unfortunately, this disease has deadly side effects. Following the police officers working the case of a beauty who combusted form within, we learn these people have more at stake than they knew. Jeremy Haun, who go wrote the story with Jason A. Hurley, also handles the art. The condept is fresh, although the idea of a sexually transmitted disease changing an individual for the better has already been worked with in DEATH SENTENCE and DEATH SENTENCE LONDON, even if the results of the STD is different. A great first issue and promise of a great story to come.
DANGER GIRL RENEGADE: If the idea of a DANGER GIRL comic sounds familiar, that’s because J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell created the character of Abbey Chase and the Danger Girl team some 17 years ago. Since then, no less than 14 mini-series or one-shots. This time around, IDW brings Hartnell and Stephen Molnar together for a fun romp that begins a dozen years ago with a great bit of back story and then races to the present where we find our heroine in danger again. I was really skeptical about this title, but gave the first issue a try and it was filled with that wondrous Nineties feel to it. In other words, although I wish the book carried a 1998 price tag, it’s a fun, mindless romp.
DARK CORRIDOR: From the warped mind of Rich Tommaso, the guy responsible for such great comic works as CLOVER HONEY and 8 ½ GHOSTS, comes DARK CORRIDOR: an anthology title set within the city of Red Circle. We get two tales here: “The Red Circle” and “Seven Deadly Daughters”. In the first tale, we get a dog covered in blood that leads to a little detective work and a twist! In the second tale, police detectives question a man in the Emergency Room of a hospital, leading to a case of Karma biting him in the butt! Tommaso’s art style is a lot like Charles Burns meets Herge while his writing just WANTS to be Miller meets Spillane, even if it isn’t. Most will have issues with the art style because it’s not “typical comic art”, but work past it.
KING TIGER: Leave it to Dark Horse to resurrect another of their old superhero titles. And once again, they hit it out of the park! Randy Stradley teams up with the ever-amazing Doug Wheatley for a legendary tale! Action, adventure, blood sacrifices, evil despots and scary monsters. The story is a rocket ride with great characters and cool dialogue, the art is killer and the only bad thing about this is that it’s only a four issue mini-series. With reboots this good, can we get more from the Comics Greatest World like X and THE MACHINE!
NEW ZODIAX: Joe St. Pierre. You know the name, as he has worked on a bunch of comics, both as a writer and an illustrator. You’ve seen his work on SECRET WEAPONS, RAI, SPIDER MAN, SUPERBOY, and many more. Now he’s out on his own and NEW ZODIAX is his baby. This wild ride features the orgin of a new hero in every issue of the series and obviously the heroes are inspired by and tie into the signs of the Zodiac. The action is incredibly fast moving, the plot is amazingly complex and the art is bombastic, over the top, superhero stuff in the very best way. The only drawback, if you want to call it that, is that you will find yourself going back and rereading earlier issues to make sure you don’t miss something in the plot. It is THAT complex and detailed. Read them all in one sitting or, if you can’t find the single issues, order the upcoming trade paperback. This is a great addition to your regular pull list!
PHONOGRAM THE IMMATERIAL GIRL: Nine years ago, the team responsible for the critically acclaimed THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, created a title called PHONOGRAM. This is the third volume in the series, which revolves around a coven of phonomancers. It is a series that is filled with musical references, wild parties, and magic with the focus on Emily Aster, who once sold half of her personality for the power to rule the coven. The main concept is Music is Magic and that will run through the whole mini-series as our heroine ends up living in the world of video. The book looks great and, if you’re a fan of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, you’ll be wanting to read this!
PUBLIC RELATIONS: I totally don’t know how to tell you about this title. We have egotistical characters, flying dragons, romance, innuendos, sex, horny moms, castles, kings, wizards and so much more. The hero of our piece is Dan Clover who has suddenly reconnected with his father and a brother he never knew he had. The story by Matthew Sturges and Dave Justus is a riot and I found myself standing in my comic shop laughing out loud as I read some of the lines. David Hahn’s art is perfectly suited for the story; somewhere between cartoon and comic style. From Devil’s Due, you may have to have this book special ordered for you. But it’s worth the wait and worth the read.
SHO-TIE: The newest work from prolific creator Eric Lebow and his Deadboy Press is a great example of more bang for your buck. 68 pages, if I count right, for five bucks! Divide into two huge chapters, we start in Japan with the arrival of two sons to a barren couple and from there, it’s a non stop action ride with a great superhero, a magic dragon, and a bunch of classic 1930’s gangsters. Lebow writes and inks this huge tome with art from Bernard Kolle and Antonio Rojo. Actually, it’s a worldwide effort as there are contributions from France, Spain, Brazil and Slovenia. It’s a great undertaking with a fun, roller coaster ride of a story. My only real complaint is that I wish Lebow had drawn one of the two chapters as I am a long time fan of his art. Seek this out and lend some support to the small indys.
THIS DAMNED BAND: It’s 1974 and Motherfather is the hottest band in the world. Unfortunately, they are a heavy metal band that ingests far too many drugs and are devil worshippers. At a concert in Tokyo, their faith is totally tested. This book is like THIS IS SPINAL TAP on acid! It is a funny look at the life of a rock band in the Seventies who are having trouble controlling their own destinies. Paul Cornell’s story is great, complete with a two-page discography and fake T-shirt ad! And Tony Parker’s art is a mind-blowing trip without the drugs. This is a wild ride. You need to dive into this and just enjoy…preferably with some sweet Sixties psychedelic music for your soundtrack.
ALICE COOPER VS. CHAOS: A great looking cover made me have high hopes for this title from Dynamite. Unfortunately, Jim Terry and Tim Seeley’s writing doesn’t hold that much weight and neither does Terry’s art. Sure, we get those classic Chaos Comics characters, but the story is incredibly silly. I guess it might have helped if I had read the PREVIOUS Cooper series. All in all, I found this to be a horrible first issue that just makes me realize how much the old MARVEL PREMIERE issue and the Gaiman mini-series were!
BEAUTY: So half of the country has contracted a new sexually transmitted disease that makes people become beautiful. Unfortunately, this disease has deadly side effects. Following the police officers working the case of a beauty who combusted form within, we learn these people have more at stake than they knew. Jeremy Haun, who go wrote the story with Jason A. Hurley, also handles the art. The condept is fresh, although the idea of a sexually transmitted disease changing an individual for the better has already been worked with in DEATH SENTENCE and DEATH SENTENCE LONDON, even if the results of the STD is different. A great first issue and promise of a great story to come.
DANGER GIRL RENEGADE: If the idea of a DANGER GIRL comic sounds familiar, that’s because J. Scott Campbell and Andy Hartnell created the character of Abbey Chase and the Danger Girl team some 17 years ago. Since then, no less than 14 mini-series or one-shots. This time around, IDW brings Hartnell and Stephen Molnar together for a fun romp that begins a dozen years ago with a great bit of back story and then races to the present where we find our heroine in danger again. I was really skeptical about this title, but gave the first issue a try and it was filled with that wondrous Nineties feel to it. In other words, although I wish the book carried a 1998 price tag, it’s a fun, mindless romp.
DARK CORRIDOR: From the warped mind of Rich Tommaso, the guy responsible for such great comic works as CLOVER HONEY and 8 ½ GHOSTS, comes DARK CORRIDOR: an anthology title set within the city of Red Circle. We get two tales here: “The Red Circle” and “Seven Deadly Daughters”. In the first tale, we get a dog covered in blood that leads to a little detective work and a twist! In the second tale, police detectives question a man in the Emergency Room of a hospital, leading to a case of Karma biting him in the butt! Tommaso’s art style is a lot like Charles Burns meets Herge while his writing just WANTS to be Miller meets Spillane, even if it isn’t. Most will have issues with the art style because it’s not “typical comic art”, but work past it.
KING TIGER: Leave it to Dark Horse to resurrect another of their old superhero titles. And once again, they hit it out of the park! Randy Stradley teams up with the ever-amazing Doug Wheatley for a legendary tale! Action, adventure, blood sacrifices, evil despots and scary monsters. The story is a rocket ride with great characters and cool dialogue, the art is killer and the only bad thing about this is that it’s only a four issue mini-series. With reboots this good, can we get more from the Comics Greatest World like X and THE MACHINE!
NEW ZODIAX: Joe St. Pierre. You know the name, as he has worked on a bunch of comics, both as a writer and an illustrator. You’ve seen his work on SECRET WEAPONS, RAI, SPIDER MAN, SUPERBOY, and many more. Now he’s out on his own and NEW ZODIAX is his baby. This wild ride features the orgin of a new hero in every issue of the series and obviously the heroes are inspired by and tie into the signs of the Zodiac. The action is incredibly fast moving, the plot is amazingly complex and the art is bombastic, over the top, superhero stuff in the very best way. The only drawback, if you want to call it that, is that you will find yourself going back and rereading earlier issues to make sure you don’t miss something in the plot. It is THAT complex and detailed. Read them all in one sitting or, if you can’t find the single issues, order the upcoming trade paperback. This is a great addition to your regular pull list!
PHONOGRAM THE IMMATERIAL GIRL: Nine years ago, the team responsible for the critically acclaimed THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie, created a title called PHONOGRAM. This is the third volume in the series, which revolves around a coven of phonomancers. It is a series that is filled with musical references, wild parties, and magic with the focus on Emily Aster, who once sold half of her personality for the power to rule the coven. The main concept is Music is Magic and that will run through the whole mini-series as our heroine ends up living in the world of video. The book looks great and, if you’re a fan of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE, you’ll be wanting to read this!
PUBLIC RELATIONS: I totally don’t know how to tell you about this title. We have egotistical characters, flying dragons, romance, innuendos, sex, horny moms, castles, kings, wizards and so much more. The hero of our piece is Dan Clover who has suddenly reconnected with his father and a brother he never knew he had. The story by Matthew Sturges and Dave Justus is a riot and I found myself standing in my comic shop laughing out loud as I read some of the lines. David Hahn’s art is perfectly suited for the story; somewhere between cartoon and comic style. From Devil’s Due, you may have to have this book special ordered for you. But it’s worth the wait and worth the read.
SHO-TIE: The newest work from prolific creator Eric Lebow and his Deadboy Press is a great example of more bang for your buck. 68 pages, if I count right, for five bucks! Divide into two huge chapters, we start in Japan with the arrival of two sons to a barren couple and from there, it’s a non stop action ride with a great superhero, a magic dragon, and a bunch of classic 1930’s gangsters. Lebow writes and inks this huge tome with art from Bernard Kolle and Antonio Rojo. Actually, it’s a worldwide effort as there are contributions from France, Spain, Brazil and Slovenia. It’s a great undertaking with a fun, roller coaster ride of a story. My only real complaint is that I wish Lebow had drawn one of the two chapters as I am a long time fan of his art. Seek this out and lend some support to the small indys.
THIS DAMNED BAND: It’s 1974 and Motherfather is the hottest band in the world. Unfortunately, they are a heavy metal band that ingests far too many drugs and are devil worshippers. At a concert in Tokyo, their faith is totally tested. This book is like THIS IS SPINAL TAP on acid! It is a funny look at the life of a rock band in the Seventies who are having trouble controlling their own destinies. Paul Cornell’s story is great, complete with a two-page discography and fake T-shirt ad! And Tony Parker’s art is a mind-blowing trip without the drugs. This is a wild ride. You need to dive into this and just enjoy…preferably with some sweet Sixties psychedelic music for your soundtrack.
Saturday, September 26, 2015
Double Take's Ultimate Night of the Living Dead Universe
You have to be pretty confident of your product to release TEN #1 issues in a single day in this comic book market (although DC did that when they released 50+ versions of JUSTICE LEAGUE UNITED a little over a year ago). But that is exactly what Double Take Comics did on September 16 when they dropped ten first issues into comic shops. Double Take is run by former Marvel vice president Bill Jemas and is backed by Take-Two Interactive: a video game company responsible for such classics as BIOSHOCK, BORDERLANDS and everyone’s favorite GRAND THEFT AUTO. Double Take has set all of their titles in the 1966 NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD universe and even is bold enough to feature some of the recognizable characters within the books, complete with well known scenes and classic lines. Not the first time NOTLD was worked into comics, most notably a gory series from Avatar a few years back. So…does it all work?
SPRING #1: Sunday April 24th @ 12:00 PM. A collection of sights and sounds on a spring day in Eastern Pennsylvania that ends in tragedy when people start disappearing under the water of a local swimming hole.
Is this where it all begins? What a great, simple story that does no more than set the scene for what is about to come next. We go from car radios to beach conversations to missing swimmers in the course of 26 pages While Bill Jemas’ story, with scripting assist from Jenn Sodini and John Flynn, is pretty simple, being that it is bits and pieces of peoples’ lives, it is pretty impressive. And the art from Young Heller, Kurt Tiede and Derlis Santacruz is really nice, thanks in part to the dynamic color palette of Marta Mertinez. This was one of the most fun reads in this group of 10 just because it wasn’t so much about reading it as it was feeling it. Great job!
HONOR #1: Sunday April 24th @ 12:00 PM. Chief McClelland and Officer Long are running a radar trap when they stop an out of state speeder from New York. They ticket him and go back to their position while the speeder and his female companion get busy in the car. Soon, local resident Old Fred comes whizzing by in his souped-up tractor. Unfortunately, he doesn’t see the copulating couple until it’s too late and the result is and accident that leaves Old Fred dead on the side of the road. The Chief puts Fred in a body bag but, as the police leave, that body bag sits up!
Like SPRING, this issue is set prior to NIGHT and is at the very beginning of the zombie incidents. There is a ton of character development in the story by Bill Jemas and Julian Rowe, with a script assist from Frank Ortega. I mean A TON on the part of Officer Long. Nice to see Chief McClelland making an appearance in the series, so as to validate it with the movie. Art from Julian Rowe and Carlos Rodriguez is uneven throughout. But check out the “Ultimate Technology Buyer’s Guide”showing off RCA color TV’s and AT&T Princess Phones. Very neat! And check out those prices!
MEDIC #1: An ambulance arrives at Universtiy Hospital with three injured people. The worst is a 27 year male with chest wounds. We also meet his 28 year old wife and a man with missing toes currently sitting in a cup of melting ice. Dr. Becker is the best dotor around but he also likes to talk about his youth, especially his first kiss. Not one to charm the nurses, he saves the man’s life and reports that to his wife. That’s when he gets a frantic call from the morgue. It seems the cadavers are coming back to life.
I assume this is where this title would go chronologically as it is the only one that doesn’t give a time or a place anywhere in the book. Bill Jemas and Brian Finkelstein provide the story, with scripting assistance from Mike Soviero and Michael Coast. Julian Rowe and Marcos Castiello are the artists and that gives the book a feel that is a cross between the Grantray-Lawrence Marvel cartoons of 1966(pretty appropriate since they debuted a little over five months after this story takes place) and Hanna Barbera. It is obvious major shortcuts have been taken and parts of panels are identical to each other. Truly, it feels like the barely animated Marvel Comics cartoons of the Sixties. The creepy photo realistic cover by Apple Qingyang Zhang is a highlight. Also cool is the statistical then and now between such things as world population, McDonald’s meal calories and the number of Wal Mart products made in China.
DEDICATION #1: Sunday April 24th @ 6:45 PM. It’s closing time at Geroge’s Supermarket and while George heads to the back to count his money, Trip and Joey are tasked with straightening all the shelves for tomorrow’s business. Before you know it, zombies have made their way inside and begun eating everything from boxes of cereal to flowers. Trip and Joey try to get them to leave and Joey makes what could be a critical mistake by waving her index finger near the mouth of one of the invaders. Meanwhile, George is counting his money and watching news reports from Washington and then from Dr.Grimes. That is when his three employees show up. Are they still alive or are they now undead?
This is a real unusual entry in the series as we have zombies who don’t LOOK like ZOMBIES. In fact, everyone looks quite normal, even if the art by Young Heller and JJ Dzialowski is extremely uneven and often amateurish. The story by Michael Coast, Matthew Summo, Bill Jemas, with a scripting assist by Mike Soviero, is a bit threadbare and really needs more depth to it. Not to mention, this is a book with zombies in it but no real action. I believe in setting up a storyline, but this needs more gas in the tank. And their LBJ looks nothing like him! However, Ruiz Burgos cover is stunning! I also love the opening page with “Ultimate Cocktail Party” recipes. Very, VERY cool!
HOME #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:30 PM. Tim arrives at the Foster’s house for dinner and we get to meet the family, including an incredibly foul-mouthed little sister named Lisa. As dad tries to fly a kite with Lisa, Tim and daughter Linda are getting busy upstairs, but are interrupted because dad’s truck needs a push. Tim and Linda head off as the rest of the family goes into town for gasoline and some lunch. While at the diner, a zombie arrives and begins to eat some of the desserts. He gets chased outside but, in the process, falls on young Kevin who gets injured.
All I want to know is what is up with the little kid? I haven’t seen that much foul language out of a kid since THE EXORCIST! This was a very weird story, as it went an entire issue before dropping the zombie into the last few pages. I like that we have a bunch of different characters, especially the comic versions of Ward and June Cleaver. And the interracial relationship between Tim and Linda is pretty intense for 1966. A real unusual story from Michael Coast, Julian Rowe, Eric Hobbs and Bill Jemas with better than average art from Julian Rowe, Monica Catalano and Fernando Melek.
Z-MEN #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:30 PM. Eddie Stevens is on his way home when he his stopped by local farmers and shot as he tries to get past their roadblock. Earlier that day, President Lyndon Johnson is reviewing the NSA information regarding the mass murders in Pennsylvania. He arranges for two of the members of the Secret Service motor pool, Clancy and Stuart, to go out to the site and investigate. Arriving at the roadblock, they are directed to see Chief McClelland but manage to get lost on the way. When Stuart asks someone on the side of the road for directions, he is attacked and only Clancy’s great aim saves him.
Story by Jeff McComsey and Bill Jemas is great fun, but the artwork by Kurt Tiede is very weak. I like bringing in both LBJ and Chief McClelland into it. That way, it feels like it is set in the proper time and place. I like the two Secret Service agents and I think their characters will get fleshed out in future issues.
RISE #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:45 PM. In a very familiar scene, Barbara and Johnny are in the graveyard to put flowers on their grandfather’s grave. Barbara is attacked, Johnny tries to save her and whacks his head on a grave marker. She flees in their car, holing herself up in a nearby house. Johnny awakens and watches as a priest in the nearby church kills some of the zombies. Unfortunately, the zombies overwhelm the church and kill those inside. He hears the sound of an exploding vehicle and watches as the zombies devour what is left of Tom and Judy. He arrives at the house and carries Barbara out to safety. Arriving back in the graveyard, they are again attacked by the first zombie there, but manage to distract him from eating them by giving him some candy.
Well, I didn’t see that plot twist coming! So the zombies don’t necessarily hunger for flesh…just food of any kind? Again: didn’t see that coming. Here is a cool story by Bill Jemas and Michael Coast, with plotting assist from Jeff McComsey, that is hampered by bland art. Kurt Tiede did layouts while Frederica Manfredi handled the pencils. The art is flat and looks more like animation storyboards than comic art. If you can get past that, it’s another fun read, especially by having Johnny and Barbara survive.
REMOTE #1: Sunday April 24th @ 10:15 PM. Samantha Stanton is all alone and manning the airwaves at KBRF, Actually, she is not all alone as some of the station personnel, now zombies, are in there with her. Station owner Ed Grubler calls and informs her she will get a nice bonus, because everyone else is dead, but she is going to have to keep the station on the air. That also means she has to make her way outside to make sure the power is on. She manages to do that, running into the former Ms. Prendergast in the process. Getting back inside, she reads a wire report saying that the area will be sanitized by the Air Force at 23:00 hours. That’s when she realzies the station is now filled with zombies.
This, mainly because of the really simple artwork of Young Heller and David Wilson, is the weakest entry in the series by far. Colin Mitchell, Bill Jemas and Michael Coast contribute to the story, which is a variation on the classic “heroine in distress” stories combined with “the monsters are coming and I’m all alone and defenseless” story. But I can forgive that. I can’t forgive the really disappointing art, especially when the cover by Jose Luis and Carlos Reno is so dynamic and image. A real bummer and, if this was the only title in the series you read, you’d stop right here and never read another. The standout highlight is the listings of classic TV shows that were introduced in the 1960’s.
SLAB #1: Sunday April 24th @ 11:45 PM. Over at KOV TV, Dr. Grimes is doing an on-air interview regarding the crisis and how the bodies of the recently deceased should be handled. The station’s director sees him as a ratings bonanza and sends Bradley to follow the doctor back to the hospital morgue, where they view a limbless reanimated corpse. Rumors abound from reporters in Washington and the station is more than happy enough to broadcast those rumors. Meanwhile, Dr. Grimes assistant goes to get his two daughters and bring them to safety. Unfortunately, his daughter Carol gets bit on the final page!
This is another good story that sets up the long-term story. What I loved here is bringing in Dr. Grimes, famous for his medical report in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and making him a central character in this title, along with the newsman. It’s a rather in-depth, wordy story by Brian Finkelstein, Bill Jemas and Michael Coast and that’s a good thing as a number of these stories are short on dialogue. The art by Julian Rowe and Joseph Cooper is good and better than I had expected based on the art on many of the titles in this series. This title seems to have the most potential for good old fashioned scary stuff! And check out the “Ultimate TV” Prime Time TV listings for the week of April 24-30, 1966. Pretty cool!
SOUL #1: Sunday April 25th @ 8:00 AM. It’s the morning after the Night of the Living Dead. The Army and local police are continuing to mop up. Chief McClelland accepts a cup of coffee and instructs his man Vince to shoot the zombie they believe is moving inside the house in front of them. Vince’ shot hits Ben in the temple, but does not kill him. He begins to shout that he is alive and that causes panic, especially in the White House where the realization is that a white man just shot a black man on live TV. The chief enters the house and interviews Ben, finding out how he arrived here and how they holed up to against the zombie attack. Meanwhile, in the basement, a seemingly dead Harry Cooper comes back to life.
Once again, the original NOTLD story gets turned on its’ ear as Ben survives the shooting and Harry resurrects! The story by Michael Coast, Julian Rowe and Bill Jemas does a nice job of picking up at the end of the film and bringing Chief McClelland back into this series for the third time out of ten books. While Carlos Reno’s art on the cover absolutely rocks, the interior work by Julian Rowe, Ricardo Sanchez, Jose Luis and Ricardo Silva is very uneven and, in spots panels, looks as if they were only pencilled and never inked. I am curious to see where this tale goes from here as it heads into new ground beyond the film.
To sum up, this is a very uneven bunch of books, but worth my time and investment. The concept of putting everything in a specific timeline in 1966 Pennsylvania is cool. Most of the stories work well while others need some serious fleshing out, pun intended! The biggest fault in all these tiles is the artwork that falls short on so many levels, especially when you start out with great looking covers. The best thing this series has working for them is the $2.50 cover price which means, if you have a subscription service, you can probably pick these up for around two bucks a pop! THAT’S A GREAT DEAL FOR 24+ pages of comic! It was pretty bold releasing all of these on one day and that, couple with a low print run, has made these hard to find, so I recommend you have your local retailer special order them. Bottom line: check them out. They are not on par with many titles put out by the bigger companies, but I find them an intriguing start and am DYING to see where they go from here!
SPRING #1: Sunday April 24th @ 12:00 PM. A collection of sights and sounds on a spring day in Eastern Pennsylvania that ends in tragedy when people start disappearing under the water of a local swimming hole.
Is this where it all begins? What a great, simple story that does no more than set the scene for what is about to come next. We go from car radios to beach conversations to missing swimmers in the course of 26 pages While Bill Jemas’ story, with scripting assist from Jenn Sodini and John Flynn, is pretty simple, being that it is bits and pieces of peoples’ lives, it is pretty impressive. And the art from Young Heller, Kurt Tiede and Derlis Santacruz is really nice, thanks in part to the dynamic color palette of Marta Mertinez. This was one of the most fun reads in this group of 10 just because it wasn’t so much about reading it as it was feeling it. Great job!
HONOR #1: Sunday April 24th @ 12:00 PM. Chief McClelland and Officer Long are running a radar trap when they stop an out of state speeder from New York. They ticket him and go back to their position while the speeder and his female companion get busy in the car. Soon, local resident Old Fred comes whizzing by in his souped-up tractor. Unfortunately, he doesn’t see the copulating couple until it’s too late and the result is and accident that leaves Old Fred dead on the side of the road. The Chief puts Fred in a body bag but, as the police leave, that body bag sits up!
Like SPRING, this issue is set prior to NIGHT and is at the very beginning of the zombie incidents. There is a ton of character development in the story by Bill Jemas and Julian Rowe, with a script assist from Frank Ortega. I mean A TON on the part of Officer Long. Nice to see Chief McClelland making an appearance in the series, so as to validate it with the movie. Art from Julian Rowe and Carlos Rodriguez is uneven throughout. But check out the “Ultimate Technology Buyer’s Guide”showing off RCA color TV’s and AT&T Princess Phones. Very neat! And check out those prices!
MEDIC #1: An ambulance arrives at Universtiy Hospital with three injured people. The worst is a 27 year male with chest wounds. We also meet his 28 year old wife and a man with missing toes currently sitting in a cup of melting ice. Dr. Becker is the best dotor around but he also likes to talk about his youth, especially his first kiss. Not one to charm the nurses, he saves the man’s life and reports that to his wife. That’s when he gets a frantic call from the morgue. It seems the cadavers are coming back to life.
I assume this is where this title would go chronologically as it is the only one that doesn’t give a time or a place anywhere in the book. Bill Jemas and Brian Finkelstein provide the story, with scripting assistance from Mike Soviero and Michael Coast. Julian Rowe and Marcos Castiello are the artists and that gives the book a feel that is a cross between the Grantray-Lawrence Marvel cartoons of 1966(pretty appropriate since they debuted a little over five months after this story takes place) and Hanna Barbera. It is obvious major shortcuts have been taken and parts of panels are identical to each other. Truly, it feels like the barely animated Marvel Comics cartoons of the Sixties. The creepy photo realistic cover by Apple Qingyang Zhang is a highlight. Also cool is the statistical then and now between such things as world population, McDonald’s meal calories and the number of Wal Mart products made in China.
DEDICATION #1: Sunday April 24th @ 6:45 PM. It’s closing time at Geroge’s Supermarket and while George heads to the back to count his money, Trip and Joey are tasked with straightening all the shelves for tomorrow’s business. Before you know it, zombies have made their way inside and begun eating everything from boxes of cereal to flowers. Trip and Joey try to get them to leave and Joey makes what could be a critical mistake by waving her index finger near the mouth of one of the invaders. Meanwhile, George is counting his money and watching news reports from Washington and then from Dr.Grimes. That is when his three employees show up. Are they still alive or are they now undead?
This is a real unusual entry in the series as we have zombies who don’t LOOK like ZOMBIES. In fact, everyone looks quite normal, even if the art by Young Heller and JJ Dzialowski is extremely uneven and often amateurish. The story by Michael Coast, Matthew Summo, Bill Jemas, with a scripting assist by Mike Soviero, is a bit threadbare and really needs more depth to it. Not to mention, this is a book with zombies in it but no real action. I believe in setting up a storyline, but this needs more gas in the tank. And their LBJ looks nothing like him! However, Ruiz Burgos cover is stunning! I also love the opening page with “Ultimate Cocktail Party” recipes. Very, VERY cool!
HOME #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:30 PM. Tim arrives at the Foster’s house for dinner and we get to meet the family, including an incredibly foul-mouthed little sister named Lisa. As dad tries to fly a kite with Lisa, Tim and daughter Linda are getting busy upstairs, but are interrupted because dad’s truck needs a push. Tim and Linda head off as the rest of the family goes into town for gasoline and some lunch. While at the diner, a zombie arrives and begins to eat some of the desserts. He gets chased outside but, in the process, falls on young Kevin who gets injured.
All I want to know is what is up with the little kid? I haven’t seen that much foul language out of a kid since THE EXORCIST! This was a very weird story, as it went an entire issue before dropping the zombie into the last few pages. I like that we have a bunch of different characters, especially the comic versions of Ward and June Cleaver. And the interracial relationship between Tim and Linda is pretty intense for 1966. A real unusual story from Michael Coast, Julian Rowe, Eric Hobbs and Bill Jemas with better than average art from Julian Rowe, Monica Catalano and Fernando Melek.
Z-MEN #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:30 PM. Eddie Stevens is on his way home when he his stopped by local farmers and shot as he tries to get past their roadblock. Earlier that day, President Lyndon Johnson is reviewing the NSA information regarding the mass murders in Pennsylvania. He arranges for two of the members of the Secret Service motor pool, Clancy and Stuart, to go out to the site and investigate. Arriving at the roadblock, they are directed to see Chief McClelland but manage to get lost on the way. When Stuart asks someone on the side of the road for directions, he is attacked and only Clancy’s great aim saves him.
Story by Jeff McComsey and Bill Jemas is great fun, but the artwork by Kurt Tiede is very weak. I like bringing in both LBJ and Chief McClelland into it. That way, it feels like it is set in the proper time and place. I like the two Secret Service agents and I think their characters will get fleshed out in future issues.
RISE #1: Sunday April 24th @ 7:45 PM. In a very familiar scene, Barbara and Johnny are in the graveyard to put flowers on their grandfather’s grave. Barbara is attacked, Johnny tries to save her and whacks his head on a grave marker. She flees in their car, holing herself up in a nearby house. Johnny awakens and watches as a priest in the nearby church kills some of the zombies. Unfortunately, the zombies overwhelm the church and kill those inside. He hears the sound of an exploding vehicle and watches as the zombies devour what is left of Tom and Judy. He arrives at the house and carries Barbara out to safety. Arriving back in the graveyard, they are again attacked by the first zombie there, but manage to distract him from eating them by giving him some candy.
Well, I didn’t see that plot twist coming! So the zombies don’t necessarily hunger for flesh…just food of any kind? Again: didn’t see that coming. Here is a cool story by Bill Jemas and Michael Coast, with plotting assist from Jeff McComsey, that is hampered by bland art. Kurt Tiede did layouts while Frederica Manfredi handled the pencils. The art is flat and looks more like animation storyboards than comic art. If you can get past that, it’s another fun read, especially by having Johnny and Barbara survive.
REMOTE #1: Sunday April 24th @ 10:15 PM. Samantha Stanton is all alone and manning the airwaves at KBRF, Actually, she is not all alone as some of the station personnel, now zombies, are in there with her. Station owner Ed Grubler calls and informs her she will get a nice bonus, because everyone else is dead, but she is going to have to keep the station on the air. That also means she has to make her way outside to make sure the power is on. She manages to do that, running into the former Ms. Prendergast in the process. Getting back inside, she reads a wire report saying that the area will be sanitized by the Air Force at 23:00 hours. That’s when she realzies the station is now filled with zombies.
This, mainly because of the really simple artwork of Young Heller and David Wilson, is the weakest entry in the series by far. Colin Mitchell, Bill Jemas and Michael Coast contribute to the story, which is a variation on the classic “heroine in distress” stories combined with “the monsters are coming and I’m all alone and defenseless” story. But I can forgive that. I can’t forgive the really disappointing art, especially when the cover by Jose Luis and Carlos Reno is so dynamic and image. A real bummer and, if this was the only title in the series you read, you’d stop right here and never read another. The standout highlight is the listings of classic TV shows that were introduced in the 1960’s.
SLAB #1: Sunday April 24th @ 11:45 PM. Over at KOV TV, Dr. Grimes is doing an on-air interview regarding the crisis and how the bodies of the recently deceased should be handled. The station’s director sees him as a ratings bonanza and sends Bradley to follow the doctor back to the hospital morgue, where they view a limbless reanimated corpse. Rumors abound from reporters in Washington and the station is more than happy enough to broadcast those rumors. Meanwhile, Dr. Grimes assistant goes to get his two daughters and bring them to safety. Unfortunately, his daughter Carol gets bit on the final page!
This is another good story that sets up the long-term story. What I loved here is bringing in Dr. Grimes, famous for his medical report in the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and making him a central character in this title, along with the newsman. It’s a rather in-depth, wordy story by Brian Finkelstein, Bill Jemas and Michael Coast and that’s a good thing as a number of these stories are short on dialogue. The art by Julian Rowe and Joseph Cooper is good and better than I had expected based on the art on many of the titles in this series. This title seems to have the most potential for good old fashioned scary stuff! And check out the “Ultimate TV” Prime Time TV listings for the week of April 24-30, 1966. Pretty cool!
SOUL #1: Sunday April 25th @ 8:00 AM. It’s the morning after the Night of the Living Dead. The Army and local police are continuing to mop up. Chief McClelland accepts a cup of coffee and instructs his man Vince to shoot the zombie they believe is moving inside the house in front of them. Vince’ shot hits Ben in the temple, but does not kill him. He begins to shout that he is alive and that causes panic, especially in the White House where the realization is that a white man just shot a black man on live TV. The chief enters the house and interviews Ben, finding out how he arrived here and how they holed up to against the zombie attack. Meanwhile, in the basement, a seemingly dead Harry Cooper comes back to life.
Once again, the original NOTLD story gets turned on its’ ear as Ben survives the shooting and Harry resurrects! The story by Michael Coast, Julian Rowe and Bill Jemas does a nice job of picking up at the end of the film and bringing Chief McClelland back into this series for the third time out of ten books. While Carlos Reno’s art on the cover absolutely rocks, the interior work by Julian Rowe, Ricardo Sanchez, Jose Luis and Ricardo Silva is very uneven and, in spots panels, looks as if they were only pencilled and never inked. I am curious to see where this tale goes from here as it heads into new ground beyond the film.
To sum up, this is a very uneven bunch of books, but worth my time and investment. The concept of putting everything in a specific timeline in 1966 Pennsylvania is cool. Most of the stories work well while others need some serious fleshing out, pun intended! The biggest fault in all these tiles is the artwork that falls short on so many levels, especially when you start out with great looking covers. The best thing this series has working for them is the $2.50 cover price which means, if you have a subscription service, you can probably pick these up for around two bucks a pop! THAT’S A GREAT DEAL FOR 24+ pages of comic! It was pretty bold releasing all of these on one day and that, couple with a low print run, has made these hard to find, so I recommend you have your local retailer special order them. Bottom line: check them out. They are not on par with many titles put out by the bigger companies, but I find them an intriguing start and am DYING to see where they go from here!
Thursday, September 10, 2015
DC YOU Month 3, Part 2
LOBO #9: Lobo is almost under the complete control of the Countesses’ spiderbot as she forces him to have sex with her. Later, she shows him her production room when his new friend from last issue arrives to help, but it only gets him injured in the process. He sets off an EMP that frees Lobo from his spiderbot and then introduces himself as Wyvern from the Citadel. Lobo only wants revenge right now on the Countess. Later, Wyvern attempts to hire Lobo to go after the Omega Men, but gets turned down. Instead, he gets hired by The Void to take on Sinestro. Meanwhile, Countess grows herself back and claims she has the pieces in place to build Czarnian flesh.
Cullen Bunn and Frank Barbiere are making this book totally more interesting than before. It’s just a shame that this issue came out AFTER the LOBO ANNUAL where the Sinestro storyline was resolved. That notwithstanding, the issue was fun and I love Szymon Kudranski’s art. And this Lobo, while still not MY LOBO (yes, I am still bitching about that), is getting better.
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3: The White Martians are in a bit of a panic as they try and figure out what to do now that their weapon has killed himself. Ma'alefa'ak arrives and betrays his Martian brothers by turning the four into one big monster he calls the Martian Man-Eater. Meanwhile, Agent Wessel is in the hospital with the murderous kid who claims he killed his mother because she was a Martian. The ghost of Martian Manhunter appears and tells Wessel that his fellow agents are actually White Martians who are coming to kill him. After finding out that the kid was telling the truth, Wessel kidnaps him and runs head on into the Martian Man-Eater. Luckily Mr. Biscuits arrives and fights off the creature, then reveals himself as Martian Manhunter.
WOW! Thank you Rob Williams and Edy Barrows for just tearing it up on this title. This is truly one of the bright spots of the new DC YOU regular titles. The story keeps you guessing, the art is mind blowing and this is just so, SO good! I can’t wait for the next issue and that’s going some because I NEVER thought I would see the day where a MARTIAN MANHUNTER book would go to the TOP of my reading pile! Can we get Williams to pull a Gerry Duggan and write MOST of the DC YOU books?
MIDNIGHTER #3: Midnighter visits a mother whose daughter has been kidnapped and that means Midnighter to the rescue, which takes us to where the last issue ended. Of course, he saves her in ultra violent fashion. Then he goes to spend time with his new boyfriend and we get a glimpse of how his relationship with Apollo ended. The issue ends with Midnighter paying a visit to his old friend Agent 37-Grayson.
Steve Orlando: what have you done? The first issue was great and the second was okay but this one was just awful! The dialogue was so clunky and even the break-up with Apollo felt…weird! Aco’s art continues to shiner and that is about the only thing making me keep this book in the pile. We know that the psycho has a softer side, but to turn a quarter of the book into his latest flame and past love just doesn’t work for me. And to be honest, it wouldn’t work if it was a straight relationship either. It’s Midnighter: let’s get some blood and guts and move on.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #11: The League, along with Deadshot and Manta, is off to take out the Lazaraus Pit factories. Of course, they are missing Boomerang, who betrayed the League and is probably going to pay for his treachery. Waller and Sage get the word that the factories are going to be attacked and, since a British company owns it, that’s a bad thing. Sage insists they pull out, but Waller knows that means blowing the mission. So that means Plan C: have Parasite, Harley and Reverse Flash get involved to stop the League. As the battle rages, Parasite gets frozen, Harley is taken out, Reverse Flash gets blown out of the fight and Manta seems to have gone to the other side as he eliminates the leader of the team defending the facility. In the end, the team has been torn apart and the facility has been left in flames.
We get another great, action filled issue from Sean Ryan and Philippe Briones. The story rocks, even if the makeup of this team is not my favorite. I see where the concept of story over continuity plays in as we have Reverse Flash being involved here while he is making The Flash’ life hell in his own title. Plus, we have the Parasite involved in this battle while he also appears in this month’s SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN. I love the action and you know that DC isn’t going to let this book sink with the movie due soon.
OMEGA MEN #3: The Princess Kalista of Euphorix is killing off natives of the planet as part of her daily sword practice. Tigorr shows up, kills her assistant Talim and attempts to kidnap her. But she uses her sword play to take him out fairly quickly, Scrapps arrives next and both players take each other out. Primus and Broot show up and they finally succeed in kidnapping the Princess, along with picking up the wounded. Back at the Omega Men’s home base, the Princess is put in a cell with Kyle Rayner, who is drawing a sketch of Carol Ferris. Apparently both of them have now had bombs installed within them and they are linked to each other. Soon, Tigorr comes and takes her to see Primus and that leads to them kissing. Kalista is the REAL leader of the Omega Men!
Wow! I didn’t see that coming! Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda through a curveball with this one! This book continues to impress and amaze with the writing and the art and goes into some totally cool places! Again, I was a fan of the original series and had high hopes for this book. I am totally thrilled that it did not and continues to impress. Let’s hope that, despite wherever this falls regarding sales figures, that DC will stand behind this book.
PREZ #3: We begin with Beth's Grandma watching television and finding out that her granddaughter has been elected President. Over at Esposito Enterprises, Manny is packaging Sexy Frog statues before having to take a much needed bathroom break. Later, he gets to be part of a rah-rah meeting featuring the head of the Smiley Corporation. Even later, his boss fires him for taking too much time in the bathroom. An adventure capitalist arrives at Beth’ house and try to convince her to take out an expensive life insurance policy on herself. Her next order of business is selecting her cabinet, beginning with Franklin Holyfield as her science adviser, a Mr. Wycheck as her Secretary of State, leading her to fire her current ambassador. Two senators go on television to debate a law that protects pigs from sexual abuse. On Inauguration Day, there is an assassination attempt that gets prevented by a defense robot that has been hacked into by guys in Guy Fawkes masks. In the end, a Sexy Frog appears on Beth’s desk.
With all the craziness going on as election season gets into gear, this is the perfect book to read as a mental soundtrack to it all. Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell nail it on the head with this issue, as they have with every one so far. It’s all fun and games and mind-bending stuff that totally skewers the political arena. Own this book! It’s a hoot!
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #3: Although Jason and Roy have earned a bunch of money from their last job, Roy has spent it all on ads for their new business Rent-A-Bat. The leads to their being fired by Tara Battleworth. So now they need to rely on someone to call them at (555) R-E-D - A-R-S-E. They head to Detroit to meet with a client who makes them guess what super-villain he works for. Come to find out that villain is someone called Underbelly. Arriving at his hideout, it turns out that Underbelly is a horrible creature who kills his assistant in front of the boys. Jason shoots him up, but the creature puts himself back together, explaining that he can’t be killed. Roy seemingly finishes him off by detonating an exploding arrow in his ass, leading the boys to think that their new calling is to use their business to take on the scum of the earth. So the boys head back to Gotham and run right into the middle…of the NEW Batman.
RED ARSE? C’mon Scott Lobdell: can’t you do better than that? Denis Medri turns in some nice looking art, but this whole thing feels like and Abbott and Costello movie. Honestly: these two got silly and Starfire, in her own book, got stupid. Not exactly a nice way to treat these heroes. Heck, it’s enough to have Speedy go back on the smack!
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #3: Damian, Nobody and Goliath are trying to escape from Iceland without getting killed and the only way to do that is for Damian to drop their special gem. Being that they don’t like each other, Nobody and Damian mix it up and she knocks out one of his baby teeth. Realizing they need to work together, even if they don’t like each other, she shows off her stealth ship and explains that she plans on fulfilling her father's contracts. But, in the end, she decides to quite, which doesn’t make Deathstroke happy. Oh yeah: Talia’s back too!
Patrick Gleason does the near impossible and elevates this book to BATMAN AND ROBIN levels! The story is intriguing, the art is great and I just totally love the characterizations of Damian and Nobody. This is one book that I thought could go either way and I am thrilled to see that it went in the RIGHT direction! Keep up the GREAT WORK!
SECRET SIX #5: Big Shot hosts a cookout for all the team members, except for Alice, who seems to be in her room troubled by nightmares involving wizards and “this swamp guy”. Blake spies a photo of Big Shot’s widow and recognizes her as the woman who tried to kill him. Racing downstairs, he and Big Shot get into a brawl while the rest eat the wieners. Black Alice separates them and Big Shot explains his story. He confesses that Mockingbird is The Riddler who, at the moment, is dealing with the team that attacked the Six and failed. Big Shot confesses that he is not Damon Wells but really is a Detective named Ralph Dibny who, with his wife Susan, was working to retrieve the India Star, which was in the possession of The Riddler. Blake had been hired as security, as had Strix.In fact, all of them were there that night. Riddler unveiled the Star, proposed to Susan Dibney and then the lights went out, the star was stolen and the ship suffered an explosion that led people scurrying to lifeboats Dibney reached for his wife but a second explosion took her away from him. The team unloads at the docks, allegedly where Mockingbird hides out, only to find Sue Dibny alive and to be ambushed by The Riddler and his gang. It appears the Dibneys ARE in cohoots with Mockingbird after all.
Like a giddy child, I have to admit that THIS is the first title I grab out of my stack on the week it comes out. While some are calling Gail Simone’s work on SWORDS OF SORROW some of her worst, this run may feature some of her best! The characterizations are killer, filled with enough old school references to make long time readers smile. Dale Eaglesham and Tom Derenick are a true Dynamic Duo, turning out some amazing looking art that just draws you into the book. Heck, they opening splash page of Wells/Dibney’s distorted face screaming “RED HOT WIENERS FOR EVERYBODY!” is an image I want to own as a poster, since I could never afford the original artwork. You’ve got the true return of the Elongated Man and his wife who, when last we knew, were still dead after the events in IDENTITY CRISIS. And, best of all, we have The Riddler as The Mockingbird and still don’t know what the full ramifications of that are. In other words: BUY THIS BOOK!
SINESTRO #14: Sinestro recruits Nax of the Naidroth Collective as a new Yellow Lantern, along with the former Manhunters that have already been inducted into the ranks. He takes Nax to Soranik for further indoctrination and Nax performs psychic vivisection so they can try to figure out how The Paling is affecting the Lanterns. In the end, we see that Sinestro’s recruitment drive is all a part of him preparing for war.
Cullen Bunn gives us an above average issue with a lot of exposition and a who ton of dialogue, which actually did a great job of fleshing out these characters more than he has in the first 13 issues. But the real beauty of this book remains in Robson Rocha’s art. This book has wavered between being really awful and being really good, with this being one of the better issues. Sinestro’s true colors are being revealed which means our boy has a plan that is going to cause all sorts of problems for the DC Universe!
STARFIRE #3: We start with a cruise ship picking up a shipwrecked man named Soren Hook who goes on to use his mind powers to kill the crew. Off on Smather’s Beach, a clawed creature comes up from beneath the sane and causes some havoc. Meanwhile, is helping Stella and Sol put their house back together, including pulling the world’s largest supply of lawn gnomes out of their pool. Stella has agreed to let Kori stay here in the guest house until she can find a new home to replaced her destroyed trailer. She eats some baking soda and realizes this is not a good thing, so she ends up at the local market where she gets treated like royalty, even though she can’t figure out how to eat watermelon. Eventually, she ends up involved with the cruise ship murders, the sand creature (that comes in and busts up a bar) and a waitress named Atlee who has super powers and claims she is responsible for the creature. The book ends with Kori and Atlee giving chase.
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti continue to write Starfire life she is Chrissy from THREE’S COMPANY. When did this stranger in a strange land become a bimbo in a strange land? If they’re trying to play it for laughs, it isn’t working. If they are truly trying to make her an innocent alien, THAT ain’t working either. The only thing that is great I this book is the art of Emanuela Lupacchino. Without that, this book would be totally unreadable and, to be honest, it’s pretty darned close to that now!
SUPERMAN #43: Clark wakes up in Lois’ apartment: naked and powered down after the incident involving the Hordr. Saying he is the person that she almost fell in love with, she promises not to reveal his secret to the world. Meanwhile, Jimmy gets sick and vomits out a robot that activates Clark's phone, revealing Hordr_Root on the screen. Clark is given coordinates to where is to meet Hordr_Root and Lois goes along for the ride. Once inside, Lois discovers a dead body and Clark is strapped into a chair so Hordr_Root can make him fire off his solar flares so his creatures can suck up his energy. To save him and those people that are being held hostage, Lois reveals his identity to the world, so that Hordr_Root no longer has anything on him. He breaks out and immediately proceeds to chastise Lois for revealing his identity, especially once General Lane shows up with a helicopter filled with Kryptonite filled armaments.
Gene Luen Yang continues to contribute to the shaking up of the status quo of the Big Blue Boy Scout. Along with John Romita Jr., and inks by the legendary Klaus Janson and Scott Hanna, this title continues to go off in a strange direction. The book has energy once again and, even though I am not a fan of the concept of stripping away everything that we have known and loved and doing the “Peter Parker reveal”, I love what the creative team is trying to do with it: making it as popular as BATMAN is.
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #20: Superman is in the Oval Office where he finds himself meeting with Steve Trevor and NOT the President. He explains that they reason he had a secret identity was both to protect his family and his friends, but also to lead the life of a regular person. We also learn that the government, while rebuilding the Kent farm and putting their remains back where they belong, have captured people in Clark’s life including Lois, Lana, Perry, Jimmy, John Henry Irons, Cat Grant, a resident of Smallville, and his grade school teacher. Wonder Woman finds that facility and busts them out. Meanwhile, the President arrives and he and Superman go for a walk, when they are attacked by the Parasite. Superman handles him as best he can until the Secret Service call the Parasite off, as it was their fault they released him as back-up. Trevor gives Superman the longitude and latitude of the captives and off he flies.
Peter J. Tomasi has taken the amazing writing he did on BATMAN AND ROBIN and turned those talents loose here. Throw in Doug Mahnke’s amazing art and you have a winner. And, the nice thing about this book now, especially since the beginning of the DARK TRUTH storyline, we have not concentrated on the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship…even though THAT is what the book is supposed to be about. This issue feels cool, the mystery of the abducted friends has yet to be addressed, and I’m sure that will be looked at next issue. But that alone is enough to make me come back for more.
TEEN TITANS #11: Manchester Black is taunting Red Robin and Raven, so Tim decides the only way of escape is to do a window dive, spread his wings and fly away. Black seems unfazed by it, as his plan is coming together. Two days later, the team meets and agree that they need to breaking into prison to clear Kon's name. Inside, Raven tells them that they need to see Despero, even as Gar delivers a computer worm that opens all of the prison cells. Eventually, after a huge battle with the escaped prisoners, Superboy arrives.
So I can’t beat up Scott Lobdell for writing the worst dialogue in comics as Will Pfeifer has managed to pretty much take the cake with this issue. It feels dumb and the whole plot is just out there: let’s break into a Super Max prison to clear Superboy’s name and visit with Despero while we’re at it. And we get a fill in artist in the form of someone named Ricken. This issue is just awful and the fact that Superboy arrives on the last page for what I assume will be a blow out involving Superboy and Despero really doesn’t help its’ cause. I can’t waited for the limited TITANS HUNT series coming in November. At least THAT’S a team I can get behind!
WE ARE ROBIN #3: The team is trying to get a cell phone signal so they can received instructions on how to disarm a bomb on the tracks. Above ground, hobos are attacking the citizens of Gotham and street Robins. Finally getting instructions, they team is forced to split up, as they learn of a second bomb in the electrical room. They manage to successfully disarm the second bomb, while the new batman arrives to contain the panic in the street. The Nest instructs the group to leave the bomb in the subway, but Troy insist and staying. As the train leaves the station, they see the bomb explode and it’s obvious we’re now a Robin down. We learn that Alfred is The Nest, he is troubled by Jason Todd’s costume, and decides The Nest needs to be brought to them.
I would love to see Lee Bermejo draw this book besides writing it, but I will settle for the quirky art of Jorge Corona. While finally learning that Alfred was The Nest was kind of a letdown, as I expected that right along, the loss of one of the characters this early on was a BIG SURPRISE. Twists and turns are nice, but there are way too many characters in this book, as obvious during the fight in Gotham and we have a boatload of Robins here too. It needs some work, but it is managing to hold my interest.
WONDER WOMAN #43: Donna Troy has managed an escape thanks to Strife, who shows up and taunt Wonder Woman about it. She goes off to see her brother Milan and asks him to use his sight beyond sight to find Donna. He catches some images but can’t find her. Meanwhile, Donna has made her way to London and tracked down the Three Fates, who explain that her destiny hasn’t been written as they have not sewn her destiny, as she was created from clay. As she leaves, someone enters. Diana arrives to discover the Fates have been murdered. Aegeus arrives and shoots her with an arrow, causing her eyes to bleed and then she collapses to the ground.
So, it didn’t take long for David Finch to exit, if only briefly, giving way to Ian Churchill, whose art is surprisingly fitting for this title. This is probably Meredith Finch’ best issue to date as we have a mystery on top of a murder on top of another mystery. And, like everyone else, I am not a fan of Wonder Woman’s new outfit, but…just be glad it’s not a white pant suit.
Cullen Bunn and Frank Barbiere are making this book totally more interesting than before. It’s just a shame that this issue came out AFTER the LOBO ANNUAL where the Sinestro storyline was resolved. That notwithstanding, the issue was fun and I love Szymon Kudranski’s art. And this Lobo, while still not MY LOBO (yes, I am still bitching about that), is getting better.
MARTIAN MANHUNTER #3: The White Martians are in a bit of a panic as they try and figure out what to do now that their weapon has killed himself. Ma'alefa'ak arrives and betrays his Martian brothers by turning the four into one big monster he calls the Martian Man-Eater. Meanwhile, Agent Wessel is in the hospital with the murderous kid who claims he killed his mother because she was a Martian. The ghost of Martian Manhunter appears and tells Wessel that his fellow agents are actually White Martians who are coming to kill him. After finding out that the kid was telling the truth, Wessel kidnaps him and runs head on into the Martian Man-Eater. Luckily Mr. Biscuits arrives and fights off the creature, then reveals himself as Martian Manhunter.
WOW! Thank you Rob Williams and Edy Barrows for just tearing it up on this title. This is truly one of the bright spots of the new DC YOU regular titles. The story keeps you guessing, the art is mind blowing and this is just so, SO good! I can’t wait for the next issue and that’s going some because I NEVER thought I would see the day where a MARTIAN MANHUNTER book would go to the TOP of my reading pile! Can we get Williams to pull a Gerry Duggan and write MOST of the DC YOU books?
MIDNIGHTER #3: Midnighter visits a mother whose daughter has been kidnapped and that means Midnighter to the rescue, which takes us to where the last issue ended. Of course, he saves her in ultra violent fashion. Then he goes to spend time with his new boyfriend and we get a glimpse of how his relationship with Apollo ended. The issue ends with Midnighter paying a visit to his old friend Agent 37-Grayson.
Steve Orlando: what have you done? The first issue was great and the second was okay but this one was just awful! The dialogue was so clunky and even the break-up with Apollo felt…weird! Aco’s art continues to shiner and that is about the only thing making me keep this book in the pile. We know that the psycho has a softer side, but to turn a quarter of the book into his latest flame and past love just doesn’t work for me. And to be honest, it wouldn’t work if it was a straight relationship either. It’s Midnighter: let’s get some blood and guts and move on.
NEW SUICIDE SQUAD #11: The League, along with Deadshot and Manta, is off to take out the Lazaraus Pit factories. Of course, they are missing Boomerang, who betrayed the League and is probably going to pay for his treachery. Waller and Sage get the word that the factories are going to be attacked and, since a British company owns it, that’s a bad thing. Sage insists they pull out, but Waller knows that means blowing the mission. So that means Plan C: have Parasite, Harley and Reverse Flash get involved to stop the League. As the battle rages, Parasite gets frozen, Harley is taken out, Reverse Flash gets blown out of the fight and Manta seems to have gone to the other side as he eliminates the leader of the team defending the facility. In the end, the team has been torn apart and the facility has been left in flames.
We get another great, action filled issue from Sean Ryan and Philippe Briones. The story rocks, even if the makeup of this team is not my favorite. I see where the concept of story over continuity plays in as we have Reverse Flash being involved here while he is making The Flash’ life hell in his own title. Plus, we have the Parasite involved in this battle while he also appears in this month’s SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN. I love the action and you know that DC isn’t going to let this book sink with the movie due soon.
OMEGA MEN #3: The Princess Kalista of Euphorix is killing off natives of the planet as part of her daily sword practice. Tigorr shows up, kills her assistant Talim and attempts to kidnap her. But she uses her sword play to take him out fairly quickly, Scrapps arrives next and both players take each other out. Primus and Broot show up and they finally succeed in kidnapping the Princess, along with picking up the wounded. Back at the Omega Men’s home base, the Princess is put in a cell with Kyle Rayner, who is drawing a sketch of Carol Ferris. Apparently both of them have now had bombs installed within them and they are linked to each other. Soon, Tigorr comes and takes her to see Primus and that leads to them kissing. Kalista is the REAL leader of the Omega Men!
Wow! I didn’t see that coming! Tom King and Barnaby Bagenda through a curveball with this one! This book continues to impress and amaze with the writing and the art and goes into some totally cool places! Again, I was a fan of the original series and had high hopes for this book. I am totally thrilled that it did not and continues to impress. Let’s hope that, despite wherever this falls regarding sales figures, that DC will stand behind this book.
PREZ #3: We begin with Beth's Grandma watching television and finding out that her granddaughter has been elected President. Over at Esposito Enterprises, Manny is packaging Sexy Frog statues before having to take a much needed bathroom break. Later, he gets to be part of a rah-rah meeting featuring the head of the Smiley Corporation. Even later, his boss fires him for taking too much time in the bathroom. An adventure capitalist arrives at Beth’ house and try to convince her to take out an expensive life insurance policy on herself. Her next order of business is selecting her cabinet, beginning with Franklin Holyfield as her science adviser, a Mr. Wycheck as her Secretary of State, leading her to fire her current ambassador. Two senators go on television to debate a law that protects pigs from sexual abuse. On Inauguration Day, there is an assassination attempt that gets prevented by a defense robot that has been hacked into by guys in Guy Fawkes masks. In the end, a Sexy Frog appears on Beth’s desk.
With all the craziness going on as election season gets into gear, this is the perfect book to read as a mental soundtrack to it all. Mark Russell and Ben Caldwell nail it on the head with this issue, as they have with every one so far. It’s all fun and games and mind-bending stuff that totally skewers the political arena. Own this book! It’s a hoot!
RED HOOD/ARSENAL #3: Although Jason and Roy have earned a bunch of money from their last job, Roy has spent it all on ads for their new business Rent-A-Bat. The leads to their being fired by Tara Battleworth. So now they need to rely on someone to call them at (555) R-E-D - A-R-S-E. They head to Detroit to meet with a client who makes them guess what super-villain he works for. Come to find out that villain is someone called Underbelly. Arriving at his hideout, it turns out that Underbelly is a horrible creature who kills his assistant in front of the boys. Jason shoots him up, but the creature puts himself back together, explaining that he can’t be killed. Roy seemingly finishes him off by detonating an exploding arrow in his ass, leading the boys to think that their new calling is to use their business to take on the scum of the earth. So the boys head back to Gotham and run right into the middle…of the NEW Batman.
RED ARSE? C’mon Scott Lobdell: can’t you do better than that? Denis Medri turns in some nice looking art, but this whole thing feels like and Abbott and Costello movie. Honestly: these two got silly and Starfire, in her own book, got stupid. Not exactly a nice way to treat these heroes. Heck, it’s enough to have Speedy go back on the smack!
ROBIN, SON OF BATMAN #3: Damian, Nobody and Goliath are trying to escape from Iceland without getting killed and the only way to do that is for Damian to drop their special gem. Being that they don’t like each other, Nobody and Damian mix it up and she knocks out one of his baby teeth. Realizing they need to work together, even if they don’t like each other, she shows off her stealth ship and explains that she plans on fulfilling her father's contracts. But, in the end, she decides to quite, which doesn’t make Deathstroke happy. Oh yeah: Talia’s back too!
Patrick Gleason does the near impossible and elevates this book to BATMAN AND ROBIN levels! The story is intriguing, the art is great and I just totally love the characterizations of Damian and Nobody. This is one book that I thought could go either way and I am thrilled to see that it went in the RIGHT direction! Keep up the GREAT WORK!
SECRET SIX #5: Big Shot hosts a cookout for all the team members, except for Alice, who seems to be in her room troubled by nightmares involving wizards and “this swamp guy”. Blake spies a photo of Big Shot’s widow and recognizes her as the woman who tried to kill him. Racing downstairs, he and Big Shot get into a brawl while the rest eat the wieners. Black Alice separates them and Big Shot explains his story. He confesses that Mockingbird is The Riddler who, at the moment, is dealing with the team that attacked the Six and failed. Big Shot confesses that he is not Damon Wells but really is a Detective named Ralph Dibny who, with his wife Susan, was working to retrieve the India Star, which was in the possession of The Riddler. Blake had been hired as security, as had Strix.In fact, all of them were there that night. Riddler unveiled the Star, proposed to Susan Dibney and then the lights went out, the star was stolen and the ship suffered an explosion that led people scurrying to lifeboats Dibney reached for his wife but a second explosion took her away from him. The team unloads at the docks, allegedly where Mockingbird hides out, only to find Sue Dibny alive and to be ambushed by The Riddler and his gang. It appears the Dibneys ARE in cohoots with Mockingbird after all.
Like a giddy child, I have to admit that THIS is the first title I grab out of my stack on the week it comes out. While some are calling Gail Simone’s work on SWORDS OF SORROW some of her worst, this run may feature some of her best! The characterizations are killer, filled with enough old school references to make long time readers smile. Dale Eaglesham and Tom Derenick are a true Dynamic Duo, turning out some amazing looking art that just draws you into the book. Heck, they opening splash page of Wells/Dibney’s distorted face screaming “RED HOT WIENERS FOR EVERYBODY!” is an image I want to own as a poster, since I could never afford the original artwork. You’ve got the true return of the Elongated Man and his wife who, when last we knew, were still dead after the events in IDENTITY CRISIS. And, best of all, we have The Riddler as The Mockingbird and still don’t know what the full ramifications of that are. In other words: BUY THIS BOOK!
SINESTRO #14: Sinestro recruits Nax of the Naidroth Collective as a new Yellow Lantern, along with the former Manhunters that have already been inducted into the ranks. He takes Nax to Soranik for further indoctrination and Nax performs psychic vivisection so they can try to figure out how The Paling is affecting the Lanterns. In the end, we see that Sinestro’s recruitment drive is all a part of him preparing for war.
Cullen Bunn gives us an above average issue with a lot of exposition and a who ton of dialogue, which actually did a great job of fleshing out these characters more than he has in the first 13 issues. But the real beauty of this book remains in Robson Rocha’s art. This book has wavered between being really awful and being really good, with this being one of the better issues. Sinestro’s true colors are being revealed which means our boy has a plan that is going to cause all sorts of problems for the DC Universe!
STARFIRE #3: We start with a cruise ship picking up a shipwrecked man named Soren Hook who goes on to use his mind powers to kill the crew. Off on Smather’s Beach, a clawed creature comes up from beneath the sane and causes some havoc. Meanwhile, is helping Stella and Sol put their house back together, including pulling the world’s largest supply of lawn gnomes out of their pool. Stella has agreed to let Kori stay here in the guest house until she can find a new home to replaced her destroyed trailer. She eats some baking soda and realizes this is not a good thing, so she ends up at the local market where she gets treated like royalty, even though she can’t figure out how to eat watermelon. Eventually, she ends up involved with the cruise ship murders, the sand creature (that comes in and busts up a bar) and a waitress named Atlee who has super powers and claims she is responsible for the creature. The book ends with Kori and Atlee giving chase.
Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti continue to write Starfire life she is Chrissy from THREE’S COMPANY. When did this stranger in a strange land become a bimbo in a strange land? If they’re trying to play it for laughs, it isn’t working. If they are truly trying to make her an innocent alien, THAT ain’t working either. The only thing that is great I this book is the art of Emanuela Lupacchino. Without that, this book would be totally unreadable and, to be honest, it’s pretty darned close to that now!
SUPERMAN #43: Clark wakes up in Lois’ apartment: naked and powered down after the incident involving the Hordr. Saying he is the person that she almost fell in love with, she promises not to reveal his secret to the world. Meanwhile, Jimmy gets sick and vomits out a robot that activates Clark's phone, revealing Hordr_Root on the screen. Clark is given coordinates to where is to meet Hordr_Root and Lois goes along for the ride. Once inside, Lois discovers a dead body and Clark is strapped into a chair so Hordr_Root can make him fire off his solar flares so his creatures can suck up his energy. To save him and those people that are being held hostage, Lois reveals his identity to the world, so that Hordr_Root no longer has anything on him. He breaks out and immediately proceeds to chastise Lois for revealing his identity, especially once General Lane shows up with a helicopter filled with Kryptonite filled armaments.
Gene Luen Yang continues to contribute to the shaking up of the status quo of the Big Blue Boy Scout. Along with John Romita Jr., and inks by the legendary Klaus Janson and Scott Hanna, this title continues to go off in a strange direction. The book has energy once again and, even though I am not a fan of the concept of stripping away everything that we have known and loved and doing the “Peter Parker reveal”, I love what the creative team is trying to do with it: making it as popular as BATMAN is.
SUPERMAN WONDER WOMAN #20: Superman is in the Oval Office where he finds himself meeting with Steve Trevor and NOT the President. He explains that they reason he had a secret identity was both to protect his family and his friends, but also to lead the life of a regular person. We also learn that the government, while rebuilding the Kent farm and putting their remains back where they belong, have captured people in Clark’s life including Lois, Lana, Perry, Jimmy, John Henry Irons, Cat Grant, a resident of Smallville, and his grade school teacher. Wonder Woman finds that facility and busts them out. Meanwhile, the President arrives and he and Superman go for a walk, when they are attacked by the Parasite. Superman handles him as best he can until the Secret Service call the Parasite off, as it was their fault they released him as back-up. Trevor gives Superman the longitude and latitude of the captives and off he flies.
Peter J. Tomasi has taken the amazing writing he did on BATMAN AND ROBIN and turned those talents loose here. Throw in Doug Mahnke’s amazing art and you have a winner. And, the nice thing about this book now, especially since the beginning of the DARK TRUTH storyline, we have not concentrated on the Superman/Wonder Woman relationship…even though THAT is what the book is supposed to be about. This issue feels cool, the mystery of the abducted friends has yet to be addressed, and I’m sure that will be looked at next issue. But that alone is enough to make me come back for more.
TEEN TITANS #11: Manchester Black is taunting Red Robin and Raven, so Tim decides the only way of escape is to do a window dive, spread his wings and fly away. Black seems unfazed by it, as his plan is coming together. Two days later, the team meets and agree that they need to breaking into prison to clear Kon's name. Inside, Raven tells them that they need to see Despero, even as Gar delivers a computer worm that opens all of the prison cells. Eventually, after a huge battle with the escaped prisoners, Superboy arrives.
So I can’t beat up Scott Lobdell for writing the worst dialogue in comics as Will Pfeifer has managed to pretty much take the cake with this issue. It feels dumb and the whole plot is just out there: let’s break into a Super Max prison to clear Superboy’s name and visit with Despero while we’re at it. And we get a fill in artist in the form of someone named Ricken. This issue is just awful and the fact that Superboy arrives on the last page for what I assume will be a blow out involving Superboy and Despero really doesn’t help its’ cause. I can’t waited for the limited TITANS HUNT series coming in November. At least THAT’S a team I can get behind!
WE ARE ROBIN #3: The team is trying to get a cell phone signal so they can received instructions on how to disarm a bomb on the tracks. Above ground, hobos are attacking the citizens of Gotham and street Robins. Finally getting instructions, they team is forced to split up, as they learn of a second bomb in the electrical room. They manage to successfully disarm the second bomb, while the new batman arrives to contain the panic in the street. The Nest instructs the group to leave the bomb in the subway, but Troy insist and staying. As the train leaves the station, they see the bomb explode and it’s obvious we’re now a Robin down. We learn that Alfred is The Nest, he is troubled by Jason Todd’s costume, and decides The Nest needs to be brought to them.
I would love to see Lee Bermejo draw this book besides writing it, but I will settle for the quirky art of Jorge Corona. While finally learning that Alfred was The Nest was kind of a letdown, as I expected that right along, the loss of one of the characters this early on was a BIG SURPRISE. Twists and turns are nice, but there are way too many characters in this book, as obvious during the fight in Gotham and we have a boatload of Robins here too. It needs some work, but it is managing to hold my interest.
WONDER WOMAN #43: Donna Troy has managed an escape thanks to Strife, who shows up and taunt Wonder Woman about it. She goes off to see her brother Milan and asks him to use his sight beyond sight to find Donna. He catches some images but can’t find her. Meanwhile, Donna has made her way to London and tracked down the Three Fates, who explain that her destiny hasn’t been written as they have not sewn her destiny, as she was created from clay. As she leaves, someone enters. Diana arrives to discover the Fates have been murdered. Aegeus arrives and shoots her with an arrow, causing her eyes to bleed and then she collapses to the ground.
So, it didn’t take long for David Finch to exit, if only briefly, giving way to Ian Churchill, whose art is surprisingly fitting for this title. This is probably Meredith Finch’ best issue to date as we have a mystery on top of a murder on top of another mystery. And, like everyone else, I am not a fan of Wonder Woman’s new outfit, but…just be glad it’s not a white pant suit.
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