The best of the rest.

Wow, this has been a real lackluster week here at the blog... I've basically only posted one new post every night, and most of them had nothing to do with comic reviews. While I could go and blame the post office for losing my damn package of comics in the mail, I'll instead shoulder the blame myself. I've had a lot of homework this week, the comics that have come in the mail haven't really been what I'd consider "must reads", and on top of all that, I've just been feeling lazy and lethargic. Hopefully I'll perk up a bit this coming week, and I'll be pumping out two to three new reviews every night like I used to. Daylight savings coming up helps out a lot as well, you don't know how badly I can use that extra hour of sleep! OK, enough about me, here's the back issues I've spent the past week reading thorough.

Detective Comics #618-621: This storyline featured a pre-Robin Tim Drake. Tim's parents are abducted by a strange voodoo cult in Haiti and are being held for ransom. Batman promises Tim he'll do whatever he can to track down Tim's folks, and he begins a quest that takes him from the streets of Gotham City to the ghettos of Haiti. Besides that, Tim attempts to track down a computer hacker who was stealing money from rich companies and redistributing it to the poor. This storyline was alright, nothing more, nothing less. I enjoyed it, but I doubt I'll really remember what happened in it in a months time. Score: 7 out of 10.

Batman #455-457: This was another pre-Robin appearance for Tim Drake. People in Gotham are suddenly going insane around Christmas, donning skull masks and are randomly murdering their fellow Gothamites. The crazy Gothamites have no toxins in their blood, and are not showing any type of mind control, leaving Batman at a loss as to who/what is behind the rash of killings. Tim wants desperately to take up the Robin mantle and help Batman out, but Bats is 100% against Tim following in his footsteps, telling Tim that if he goes out and fights crime against Batman's wishes Tim would NEVER become Robin. Batman wanders around Gotham trying to figure out which of his rogues is responsible for the holiday madness, while Tim manages to discover which of Batman's foes is responsible. However, before Tim can relay this information to Batman, he winds up getting captured, leaving Tim to decide if he should disobey Batman and help or if he should sit back and hope for the best. This was another pretty good Batman storyline. Once again, it wasn't amazing of anything, but it was a good solid comic with an acceptable story. It also heralds in the Tim Drake Robin era, so that's also a plus. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Detective Comics #604-607: The original Clayface brings together all of the other clay related villains in the DCU(and there's a surprising abundance of them!)for a concentrated attack on Batman. The Clayface's begin to cause chaos in Gotham, all while framing Batman and his old Outsiders teammate Looker for the crimes. What's a Batman to do? Now this was a story that I ended up enjoying a lot more then I thought I would. The antics of the original Clayface really made me laugh a few times while reading this story(especially when he was dealing with the dead Clayface #2), and the bizarre romance story between Clayface #3, Looker, Clayface #4 and a mannequin was at times laugh out loud funny. Score: 8 out of 10.

Hellstorm: Son of Satan #1-5(2006): Daimon Hellstrom goes down to New Orleans due to some troubling dreams, and winds up in the middle of a battle between his father(Satan, duh!)and the Egyptian goddess, Isis. It seems Isis is intent on trying to resurrect her dead lover, Osiris, while Satan seems to be attempting to do the same thing. It's up to Daimon to decide if he should help Isis, his father, or possibly do something neither party would expect. Before I go any further, let me tell you a little secret, I've always been a HUGE fan of Daimon Hellstrom. Yep, it's weird but true. After I read the first issue of this series, I have to admit, I was pleased. There were a few cosmetic things that bugged me about the series(where is Daimon's birthmark!?!?!?!?), but all in all the first issue was good. And then, everything went to hell(HA!!!). This was one of those cases where a writer took an established character and attempted to put his own spin on said character, but in doing so made the character almost unrecognisable. Plus I didn't really like the story. The art was great, but everything else was lacking. Maybe if you know nothing at all about Daimon you'd like this series, but I definitely did not. Score: 5 out of 10.

That's going to be it for this week. Long Live The Legion!