Quick Hits: 2/1/11

Before I get into the Quick Hits, I just wanted to say that there's a chance my normal New Comic Day post won't be up on Wednesday, since there looks to be a pretty good size winter storm heading into my neck of the woods. If my school happens to close, there's NO way I'll be heading to the comic book store. If I'm stuck going to school anyway, then I'll probably head to the comic book store, depending on the roads naturally. But rest easy X-Maniacs, I'll make sure to post a few reviews and should have the NCD post up for Thursday if worst comes to worst. But of course this is all dependent on the weather, and really, who knows what the weather will do between now and Wednesday. Okay, that wraps up the weather report, let's get to the meat of this post.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #19:

Summary: Hush and his mafia buddies “persuade” Dr. Death to help them in their bid for revenge against Bruce Wayne and Batman. Most of this comic centered around one of the members of Hush's mafia telling a story from his youth about the first time he met the Joker. Oh, and Bedbug was spying on Batman and Catwoman while they made out.

Thoughts: This comic was pretty much an extended Joker story, which I was okay with. Sure, I would have liked to have seen Hush take center stage(since this IS his storyline!), and possibly move his plan forward, but the Joker flashback story was good, old Joker-ific fun. As for the Bedbug scene... I've got nothin'.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Hey, it could have been worse, that could have been a crowbar.


Justice League of America #52:

Summary: Still trapped in a green forcefield and not doing very well against the awesome powers of the Omega Man, the JLA and the Crime Syndicate of America decide to put their differences aside and team-up to beat their mutual foe. However, the Omega Man kills Power Ring(the Crime Syndicate's version of Green Lantern)and basically mops the floor with the two teams. Ultraman(the CSA's version of Superman)decides to join with Omega, as does Supergirl, who is still acting kind of evil, leaving Batman(Dick Grayson)no choice but to quit the battle and bow before Omega Man.

Thoughts: First off, no Congorilla here!!! That's a great start! The story was good, although the ending was kind of a letdown... I mean really, like Bats would surrender THAT easily?! We all KNOW he must have something planned. Other then that, this was a pretty good action oriented story, probably my favorite issue of this series in quite some time.

Score: 7 out of 10.Get back to the Marvel Universe, Onslaught!!!


Justice League of America #53:

Summary: Unsurprisingly, the Crime Syndicate of America betrays the JLA to Omega Man, who never really trusted the JLA to begin with. Supergirl then double-crosses the Omega Man and the CSA, revealing she wasn't really evil. And then the JLA turn on the Omega Man and the CSA by revealing that the machine that was supposed to free the Omega Man from the forcefield surrounding Washington DC was actually going to send them to another dimension. With the Omega Man and CSA gone, *sigh* Congorilla and some other damn, dirty ape manage to break the forcefield, freeing the JLA.

Thoughts: Well this issue took a big step backwards! It was simply a bunch of characters predictably betraying each other, and then that damn, dirty ape saving the day. Hell, thy name is this comic book.

Score: 5 out of 10.Hey, it's Congorilla! That means an automatic deduction of 1/2 from the final score...


Batman and Robin #19:

Summary: Absence reveals that she didn't really cut up Bruce Wayne's former girlfriends and wasn't planning on harming Vicki Vale as Batman(Dick Grayson)and Robin confront her. However, they wind up getting gassed by Absence,who then put them in a hokey, 1970's style deathtrap. After toying with the heroes for a while, Absence tells the Dynamic Duo that she was never planning on harming them, and that her plan had been to simply distract them so some goons she had hired could kill the men who shot her, giving her that big hole in her head. With the men who ruined her life dead, she shoots herself in the head and falls out a window. However, upon arriving outside, the Dynamic Duo find no body, meaning Absence tricked them yet again.

Thoughts: I have to admit, I enjoyed this story way more than I expected to. Absence grew on me, and the swerve at the end, when she revealed that she only wanted to distract Bats and Robin was sheer genius. I honestly didn't see that coming. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more of Absence in the future.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Nothing says Batman like a crazy deathtrap!


Detective Comics #873:

Summary: Having had his cover blown, Batman(Dick Grayson)barely manages to escape from the Dealer's demented auction house. After taking some time to recuperate, and with some top notch sleuthing from Oracle, Bats traces the Dealer down just as he is making his escape from a Gotham airfield. Bats catches the Dealer's plane and dumps most of the Dealer's macabre merchandise. The Dealer injects himself with a combination of the Man-Bat serum and some Venom and attacks Bats, but is beaten down. The Dealer does manage to toss a crate at Bats, which knocks him out of the plane just as the plane explodes. Later on, Bats searches the wreckage and naturally finds no bodies.

Thoughts: This was pretty much the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful, it just was. Will I remember this story a few days from now? Probably not, but it was an okay way to kill a few minutes.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.My thoughts exactly.


Deadpool #32:

Summary: Deadpool learns that he was being framed for killing a weapon expert and is attacked by an intergalactic bounty hunter named Macho Gomez. Pool manages to rid himself of Gomez and tracks down the weapon expert he was being accused of killing. The weapon expert gives Pool a sob story about why he framed him(something about the government and extraterrestrial technology)and begs him to kill Macho for the safety of his family. Pool agrees, and after some fighting manages to blow Macho up. From there, Deadpool steals Macho's flying car and heads into space to be a mercenary again.

Thoughts: While there were some funny moments here(I laughed when Deadpool thought to himself that this was only a one and done story), there really weren't enough funny parts here for me to really recommend this comic. It was okay, but where Daniel Way is involved, I tend to expect better than simply okay. I'm fine with Pool deciding to give up being a hero to become a merc again, and I'm also expecting good things as Pool travels through space.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.So are my reviews!


Avengers #9:

Summary: This issue shows us how the Hood escaped prison, as well as how he learned about the Infinity Gem Black Bolt had hid. The Illuminati also are forced to reveal their existence to the Avengers, which leaves Steve Rogers infuriated since he felt Iron Man had betrayed his trust(again). With the Hood already in possession of two Infinity gems, the heroes decide to try to gather the other four gems before the Hood could get them and become a god.

Thoughts: WAAAAAAY too much talking here, and not nearly enough doing. For some comics and writers that's fine, but when Brian Michael Bendis decides to do a story with no action and lots of dialogue, look out! Basically Steve Rogers and Iron Man argued while about 20 Avengers stood around talking at the same time... Here's hoping next issue gives us less random Avengers, LESS dialogue and more action!

Score: 6 out of 10.You can tell it's a Bendis comic by the fact that 76 different characters are talking on the same page at the same time!


Wolverine #5:

Summary: Still trapped in Hell, Wolverine meets up with his father, who tells Wolvie that he was proud of the way he had lived his life. This surprises Wolvie, but before he can really think about what his father was getting at, Sabretooth ends up with the sword which denoted him the new king of Hell. Wolvie attacks Tooth, beats him and them cuts him into pieces with the sword, becoming the king of Hell in the process. Wolvie's father tells Wolvie that they could rule Hell together, which causes Wolvie to throw the sword away, much to his father's rage. From there, Wolvie slashes his evil father in the face and along with Puck begins to make the long climb out of Hell. Back on Earth, Mystique, the two Ghost Riders and Daimon Hellstrom capture Possessed Wolverine and cast a spell on him, sending the demon that had possessed Wolvie's body back to Hell, while returning Wolvie's soul back to his body. Wolvie flips out a bit, and is confronted by the X-Men.

Thoughts: I was kind of disappointed by this one... I can't help but feel it could have/should have been better. I was really enjoying Possessed Wolvie's antics, so I'm sad to see him banished with so little fanfare. As for Wolvie's meeting with his father in Hell, it didn't really have much meaning to me because it's been like 5, 6 years since I've read Wolverine: Origin. So while I enjoyed most of Wolvie's time in Hell, his interactions with his father and Possessed Wolvie's defeat put a bit of a damper on this story for me.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.How many times has Wolvie decapitated Sabretooth now?!