Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Justice League of America #59 & Superman/Batman #86

I've finally hit the bottom of my new comic pile, just in time for tomorrow's new comic day! Huzzah! The last two books from last week are two DC titles that I'm not really looking forward to reading in the least. As a matter of fact, I expect them to be lackluster to bad... Here's hoping I'm wrong!

Justice League of America #59:

Summary: This comic is actually SUPER easy to review, which is a nice change of pace. This issue begins with Eclipso recounting how he killed the Justice League and conquered the earth, before setting off into space, defeating every other race and killing everything in the universe... Great job, Eclipso!! Or is it... In actuality we learn that the Atom and Blue Starman managed to free the Shade from Eclipso's mental domination, which led to all of the shadow-connected beings under Eclipso's command becoming free. From there, Saint Walker used his hokey hope powers to allow Eclipso to see what he truly desired, the scene I described earlier. With Eclipso's army gone, and Eclipso himself happily living in a fantasy land, all of the heroes rally and attack him, beating on him until he reverted back to his human half, Bruce Gordon.. From there all of the heroes use their various powers to put the moon BACK together(and don't ask me how they did that, 'cause I have NO idea!), before they happily leave. However, that happiness doesn't last long as this issue ends 5 weeks later with Batman(Dick Grayson) announcing to the Worst Justice League Ever that they were being disbanded(probably because of their repeated acts of sucktitude).

Thoughts: I actually enjoyed this comic way more than I probably should have... There were a few plot holes here and there(like how the hell the heroes managed to put the moon, which had been split in HALF back together again), but this comic was very fast-paced and action packed. Honestly, I have no real complaints, so let's move on before I think of any...

Score: 7 out of 10.Hell, this issue was worth it simply to see a giant squid kill that damned monkey!


Superman/Batman #86:

Summary: While Batman digs into who killed the reporter who had managed to connect that Bruce Wayne and Batman were one and the same, Superman(in his civilian guise of Clark Kent: Ace Reporter) wanders around Gotham, interviewing people while trying to figure out if he should run the dead reporter's story on Bats/Bruce. Eventually Bats(as Matches Malone) heads into a bar the dead reporter frequented and learns that anybody who had any substantial information on Batman was supposed to put it into “The Box”, which was actually a empty mail box... Back with Clark, after speaking with the editor of the Gotham Gazette, he's still conflicted as to whether he should run the dead reporter's story or not, eventually deciding to return to Metropolis to try to come to a decision. Going back to Bats, he heads to The Box, reaches a hand in and is bitten by a pair of super sharp gag teeth, a sure sign the Joker was the man behind The Box, and consequently, the reporter's murder. Bats finds a note attached to the teeth and realizes that the editor at the Gazette had informed Joker that Clark had the information the dead reporter had discovered. This issue ends with Clark sitting in front of his computer, trying to decide what to do, with the Joker standing behind him in the shadows, preparing to swing a massive mallet at the back of his head!

Thoughts: What can I say? I enjoyed this issue a lot! I must be in an unusually good mood tonight or something... The split story of Bats trying to figure out who was trying to preserve his secret identity by killing the reporter, while Supes went around interviewing folks in Gotham before having to decide whether to run the dead reporter's story or not worked well. Now if this story turns out the way it looks like it's gonna, I'm going to be pretty pleased. It looks like the Joker killed the reporter in order to keep Batman's identity safe... Now I'm sure some of you are wondering, “Why the hell would Joker do THAT?!” Joker's vendetta has always been with Batman, NOT Bruce Wayne. You could probably make a strong case that Joker is well aware of Batman's secret identity, but just doesn't care. In a weird way, Batman being outed as Bruce Wayne may take some of the “fun” out of Joker's relationship with Bats. I may be in the minority, but I like the idea that Joker KNOWS that Bats and Bruce are one in the same and doesn't want anything to get in the way of their little nocturnal escapades. As for the ending, I kind of had a problem with the idea of Joker(with a big-ass mallet) sneaking up on Clark Kent, a man with super-hearing. That just seems wrong to me. Now let's say Joker DOES get the drop on Clark(somehow...), there's no way Joker can hurt Clark with that mallet, but if Joker was to connect, he'd rapidly realize that there was more to Clark Kent than meets the eye, endangering Clark's secret identity. So while the ending may seem kind of dumb at first glance, it's actually pretty interesting, since it could destroy Supes life...

Score: 8 out of 10.I NEED a pair of those teeth!!

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