Zatanna #11 & Batman: Streets of Gotham #21

We're going the DC route for this post, with the FINAL issue of Batman: Streets of Gotham, as well as the latest issue of Zatanna, both written by Paul Dini... Huh, I JUST realized that Dini wrote both of these... Creepy...

Batman: Streets of Gotham #21:

Summary: We kick this issue off with Hush finishing up his betrayal of Dr. Death before shooting that mobster he'd been working with, Judson Pierce. From there Hush locks the two men in a room and prepares to flood Wayne Tower with a deadly array of gases, at least until he realizes that all of his henchmen were unconscious. Before he can figure out who did the deed, he gets conked over the head by the Wayne Tower employee he kidnapped, an employee who turns out to be Jane Doe in disguise. The near dead Pierce manages to wake Dr. Death up, and Death manages to mix some chemicals that blow the door to their room open. Unfortunately for Pierce, the chemicals begin to eat away at his skin while Death makes his escape. Hush wakes up tied to a chair with Jane Doe cutting his face off in order to masquerade as Bruce Wayne(remember, Hush had given himself plastic surgery to look like Bruce). Jane affixes Hush's face to her head and prepares to kill him when Batman(Bruce Wayne for this issue) drops in and knocks Jane out. From there we learn that Dr. Death's chemicals had somehow enhanced Pierce's strength, while deforming him greatly in the process. Needless to say, Pierce still wants to kill Bruce. Finally, we find Hush with his face covered in bandages, trying to convince doctors at Arkham Asylum that Bruce Wayne and Batman were the same man.

Thoughts: Meh. As a huge fan of Hush, I can't say I liked this storyline at all... What happened to the master villain who could fight both Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to a standstill all while concocting all sorts of deathtraps? I mean poor Hush... His credibility as a villain has just been going downhill since his first couple of appearances in that awesome Hush storyline by Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee... Now he's locked in Arkham, AS Dr. Tomas Elliot, where nobody believes a word he says. At least most of the other times he's lost he managed to evade capture. This time he gets squashed by Jane Freaking Doe, gets his face cut off and gets locked in Arkham... Maybe he and Jason Todd can talk about the good old days when they were both meaningful Batman villains...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Life really sucks for Hush.


Zatanna #11:

Summary: We get this one started with Oscar Hampel preparing to seal Zatanna(who's a puppet now) in a puppet case in a magic museum. Yeah, that's a pretty sucky fate if I do say so myself. Before he does though, he decides to take a break in his dressing room since he had a TV performance that night. He gets a knock at the door and find a scantily clad make-up woman, who wants to get him ready for his performance. Oscar happily lets her in and she smothers him with some chloroform. It turns out the make-up woman was one of Zatanna's assistants, and had been tracking Oscar since she figured out he had turned Z into a puppet... Ooookay. Z's assistant then TELLS Zatanna EXACTLY how she figured out what had happened, in detail(!), giving Oscar enough time to wake up and attack. Oscar tries to turn the assistant into a puppet too, but unfortunately for him, the assistant came prepared and was under a spell that would reverse any spells sent her way. Needless to say, Oscar turns back into a puppet, Zatanna turns back to normal, and this one ends with Zatanna locking Oscar the puppet in a giant milk can.

Thoughts: Wow, this... really wasn't all that good... On the bright side we learn that Brother Night had woken up and was back up to his old tricks again, but everything else about this issue was pretty bad. I mean why would Z's assistant spend FOUR pages telling her how she found her?! Shouldn't she have been more interested in trying to, oh I don't know, turn Zatanna back to normal before anything else?! It just seemed to odd(and incredibly dumb!) for Z(as a puppet) and her assistant to stand around shooting the breeze while the bad guy slowly recuperated. If I was ever turned into a puppet, my first thought would be turning back to normal, not finding out how my assistant located me, but I guess that's why I'm not Zatanna...

Score: 6 out of 10.Sure, just ignore the bad guy in the corner...

Really Quick Hits! 3/19/11 edition

Over the course of the past two days I have managed to... instead of review, let's say summarize 14 comic books. After looking back at the books I wrote about, I'm pretty disappointed... The highest score any of these books got from me was a 7 1/2, which is a score I give to a comic that was only SLIGHTLY above average. As a matter of fact, many, if not most, of these books were below a 6, which means they were below average reads. That's really pretty bad... Interestingly, 9 out of the 14 books were DC titles, which I guess explains why the scores were so lackluster... On a positive note, this is my 100th post of the year! That's about the only good thing about this post...

Wonder Woman #608:

What Happened: Cheetah, Artemis and Giganta(who are Amazons now) beat Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon down for a while because they want to kill her as revenge for Wonder Woman abandoning them, or maybe they wanted to capture her for the mysterious Morrigan... I really don't know, or quite frankly care. The Morrigan themselves seem like they now suddenly DON'T want WW to join their ranks, and we end this one with Dr. Psycho saving WW from the trio of phony Amazons.

Thoughts: What can I say here that I haven't hit on before? I just can't get into this story at all. I think we're 8 or 9 issues into J. Michael Staczynski's WW story, and I honestly have NO idea what's going on. I mean after nearly TEN issues of this story, shouldn't we have SOME idea of what the hell is going on, why WW is now a Teenage Amazon, and who/what the Morrigan are all about? Every issue it's just more and more confusion... I don't get it.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Look out, Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon! It's Cheetah: The Sudden Amazon!!!


Titans #33:

What Happened: Deathstroke, Cinder, Cheshire and That Worthless Junkie, sneak onto an island to kill some guy named Drago. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Drago knew Deathstroke was coming. How'd he know? Because That Worthless Junkie and Cheshire have finally turned on Deathstroke. After an extended fight scene, Cinder is knocked out and Deathstroke is captured and brought before Drago, who pulls out Deathstroke's eye... With his bare hand... Really.........

Thoughts: I... I don't even know what to say anymore. I mean after that last page, what more is there TO say?! What's the purpose of having some feeb LITERALLY pull Deathstroke's eye out? What's the endgame here? Is Slade gonna go all Daredevil and do his thing blind? Is he going to simply... I don't know, stick his eye back in his head and carry on like nothing happened? I thought this series was on the upswing, I recall enjoying the past few issues, but that sure came to a screeching halt with this issue. Ah DC... You find new ways to depress me every single month...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Yoink!


Superboy #5:

What Happened: This is the second ever, or as DC is calling it, The FIRST EVER Race Between Kid Flash and Superboy!!!!!!! issue. The two agree to race with the proceeds going to benefit Smallville. So the two teenage heroes run around the globe, inexplicably staying neck and neck the entire time, and then Krypto wins the race.........

Thoughts: What the hell did I do to deserve this?!?!?! Is it because I said Dan Didio sucks?! Is it the way I've been insulting Chairman Johns lately?!? I mean seriously, why is this happening to me?!?! *sigh* Okay X, take a deep breath and calm down... This is one of the few times I finished a comic book and literally cursed aloud after reading it. It was that incredibly bad. Not only that, it was insulting. I literally felt insulted after reading this comic. First off, Bart Allen has already proven that he is light years faster than Superboy. Don't believe me? Then CLICK HERE. But as I was reading this I was thinking, “Maybe Bart doesn't want to embarrass SB too badly in his hometown.” Sure, it SEEMED like Bart was giving the race his all, but like I said, maybe he was holding back. So as the issue rolled along, I figured we'd get a tie or something. And then Krypto, who wasn't even a part of the race won... I don't even want to talk about this anymore. Needless to say, this series just lost a reader.

Score: 0 out of 10.Go to hell, Krypto.


Batman and Robin #21:

What Happened: Some new villain named the White Knight is running around killing off the families of anybody who has ever been incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. By the end of this issue he's managed to kill Victor Zsasz's brother and the Mad Hatter's family, stymie the Gotham Police Department(big shock there!) as well as leave Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin in his dust.

Thoughts: Hey, somebody sound the alarms, this was actually a GOOD comic book! After the past three DC comics I read/posted about, I REALLY needed something like this. The story is really strong, with Dick and Damian managing to figure out what the White Knight's game was(killing off the family members of Arkham's infamous), but not knowing who the Knight was going to strike against next, since it could be almost anyone. The fight scenes were good, the story was good, the art was good, the dialogue was good, and Commissioner Gordon didn't rough Damian up this issue. I have no complaints here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.My current Windows background!


Captain America: The Korvac Saga #4(of 4):

What Happened: Captain America(Steve Rogers) manages to convince future Galactus to give him the Ultimate Nullifier to put an end to the threat of Korvac. Cap confronts Korvac with the Nullifier but is unable to convince himself that nullifying Korvac was the right thing to do. Korvac takes advantage of Cap's hesitation and snatches the Nullifier, but since his mind wasn't properly focuses, it nullifies Korvac, ending his threat. With that, Galactus sends Cap back to the 21st century and we can call this mini-series a wrap.

Thoughts: Eh, no complaints here. I mean I doubt I'll remember this mini-series a week from now, but as it was, it was an okay way to spend a few minutes. This issue, like most of this mini-series was good. And hey, good is better than bad!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That Galactus is such a class act!


Batman Incorporated #3:

What Happened: Batman(Bruce Wayne) heads to Argentina to dance the Tango of Death and try to convince Gaucho to join his Batman Inc. initiative. Gaucho turns Bats down, even after Bats assists Gaucho defeat a few of his Argentinian enemies. In the end, Bats and Gaucho are trapped by the thought-to-be-dead villain, El Sombrero, which literally translates to “The Hat”...

Thoughts: I literally have no earthly idea what I just read here. None. There were blue scorpions, a hot air balloon, Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne in order to dance, and a villain whose name is literally The Hat. The Hat! If ever you need proof that Grant Morrison is insane, then read this comic book.

Score: 3 out of 10.Yup, Batman returned in order to dance.


Batman: Streets of Gotham #20:

What Happened: Dr. Death thinks back to his origin while he's working on some drugs for his new boss, Hush. However, Hush figures out that Dr. Death was going to double-cross him, so he knocks Death out and steals Death's drugs.

Thoughts: I honestly had no problem with this comic. I can imagine that some people would, since this storyline was supposed to be about Hush, and he only appeared on maybe three or four pages, but I actually enjoyed Dr. Death's origin enough to overlook the lack of Hush. I think there are only two more issues left before this series is being canceled, so I'd have to hope that Hush(finally!) takes center stage next issue and reveals exactly what he's up to here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Man are they OLD!!!

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?!

Quick Hits: 1/24/11

It's time for my newest infrequently done feature here at the blog, Quick Hits! I'm entering the second week of the Spring semester, and the schoolwork is slowly starting to creep up on me, so I figured this would be the perfect time for a post that wouldn't take me all that much time to complete. Okay, enough intro, let's get this show on the road.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #18:

Summary: Batman manages to defeat the Bedbug, but proves unable to capture the odd villain. Meanwhile, Hush and his mafia associates find the lair of Dr. Death and are confronted by the doctor himself.

Thoughts: Believe it or not, THAT was the entire story! The Hush story took up only TEN(!!!)pages, while the brunt of this comic served as a Ragman story, which needless to say, I didn't bother reading. I don't know what the deal is with Paul Dini, but so far there have been 3 parts to this Hush story, and they all could have fit in pretty much ONE comic book! That's really frustrating.

Score: 3 out of 10.


Supergirl #60:

Summary: This is the first post Sterling Gates issue of Supergirl, as James Peaty and Nick Spencer take up the writing reins. Some Harvard student named Alex sets up a new app that allows its users to upload pictures of super-heroes and their locations. It seems Alex is doing this to try to help villains find the locations of said heroes, which leads to Supergirl being attacked by Silver Banshee, Metallo, Kryptonite Man and Parasite(or so they seem to be). Plus Lois Lane learns from a snitch at Project Cadmus that they were experimenting with Kryptonian DNA. That leads to the snitch's child being murdered.

Thoughts: Well, this was definitely a step down from Gates' usually sterling work... Sorry, I couldn't resist! But seriously, there was TOO much going on here, with three separate stories playing out, sometimes all on the same page. As well as new characters being introduced on top of that. Definitely not the best issue of Supergirl I've ever read.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.


Superman/Batman #80:

Summary: Epoch manages to trap Batman(Bruce Wayne), Superman and Robin(Dick Grayson)in an impenetrable Omega Barrier. Which is basically like a black hole(or something). It turns out that the Omega Barrier wasn't so impenetrable after all, and Supes manages to break free, using some Reed Richards worthy science mumbo-jumbo to explain how he did it. From there, Supes breaks Epoch's hourglass, and Epoch travels forward in time, being defeated by several future versions of Bats and Supes until he returns to the 853rd century, where he is locked back up in prison by that era's Supes and Bats.

Thoughts: WAAAAAY too much wacky science talk here for my tastes. I don't think you should need a basic understanding of Quantum Physics to understand a comic book but maybe that's just me. So while this comic started off well enough, it was just overly complex, which really hurt my enjoyment of it.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.


Titans #31:

Summary: Deathstroke has captured Slipknot and has left him bound and waiting for whatever punishment Ink decides to dish out. Ink leaves to confront the man who killed his son, but discovers Deathstroke had freed Slipknot since he figured Ink wouldn't kill a bound man. The two fight, and after some taunting, Ink decapitates Slipknot while the rest of the Titans watch from the security room. Meanwhile, Osiris kills a mess of bank robbers and is confronted by Capt. Marvel.

Thoughts: This was probably my favorite issue of this series since the Deathstroke reboot. My biggest gripe here was some of the dialogue, which seemed to come straight out of a bad Summer blockbuster movie. When Osiris told one of the bank robbers he “doesn't sweat the small stuff” I cringed. But bad dialogue or not, the story wasn't bad, so that's definitely an improvement.

Score: 7 out of 10.


Superman #707:

Summary: Superman is STILL walking across the country, talking to Lois Lane on his cell phone. He comes across a fire at a chemical plant and puts it out. He discovers that Lois is there, and she reveals that the plant had been disregarding EPA standards for years and were polluting the groundwater. The people who work at the plant tell Supes they need the work, and that if he shut them down, they'd be out of work. Supes sides with the workers and tells Lois that she had better not publish anything negative about the plant before leaving. Oh, and then Supes meets a bunch of lame-o's calling themselves the Superman Squad(even though two of them are female, negating the “man” part of the Squad...)

Thoughts: I've got to admit, this story was boring... It was painfully boring at times. I don't really get what Superman's bad attitude towards Lois was all about, but it seems he may have been mind controlled by some evil woman into acting rashly. As for the Superman Squad? There's nothing positive I can say about them at first glance, so let's just move on.

Score: 6 out of 10.


Secret Avengers #8:

Summary: In an effort to capture Shang-Chi, Max Fury and John Steele of the Shadow Council decide to set up a false attack on Hong Kong to draw out th Secret Avengers. The Secret Avengers take the bait and while they are battling what they believe to be Shang-Chi's evil, semi-resurrected father and his ninjas, Fury and Steele break onto Steve Rogers helicarrier and kidnap Sharon Carter. Cap realizes that the battle was a ruse, and returns to the ship where he gets a message from Steele stating that Steve either hands over Shang, or he'd kill Sharon.

Thoughts: Normally I LOVE Ed Brubaker's work, but I STILL haven't gotten into his Secret Avengers run... Having a storyline revolve around Shang-Chi doesn't help, as I could care LESS about Shang. He's about as boring a character I've ever read about in the Marvel U. The last two parts of this story can't arrive soon enough...

Score: 5 out of 10.

The Best of the Rest! November 27th edition.

Hey all, hopefully you're enjoying some sort of Thanksgiving break. I know I am! Since I am officially on Thanksgiving break, I can devote some more time to posting to this here blog. And as such, here's yet another Best of the Rest! This week's BotR is a bit of a mixed bag, with a few Marvel and DC books, some good and some horrible. So let's get this party started!!!

Help me, I'm drowning!
So during my last BotR post I mentioned how much I was enjoying the Aquaman series I had started reading a week ago. What a difference a week makes! These past couple of issues have been bad. I'd almost go so far as to say REALLY bad! See, when I think Aquaman I think underwater. Makes sense, no? And yet for some reason the storyline I'm currently moving through involves an alien invasion. In an Aquaman comic book. Yuh-huh... The series still has Peter David's at times laugh out loud moments, but I can't wait for this storyline to end!

Okay, with the preliminary blabbing out of the way, we head to the main event, the comic books! First up is Osborn #1. We detail the case of the incarcerated Norman Osborn, who has yet to be formally charged for his meltdown during the Siege of Asgard. A few Senators are debating whether he should be charged in a regular court, or whether he should be handed over to the military. However the Senators are afraid that Osborn will get off on an insanity plea, so they decide to lock him away in some sort of ultra-top secret prison. However, it appears that one of the Senators is a fan/disciple of Osborn, and that the priest who is working at the top secret prison is also an Osborn groupie. Well, after reading this comic I can gladly state that I won't be picking up the rest of this series. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but this wasn't it. It wasn't a terrible story, but it just didn't interest me in the least. I just can't rationalize paying $4 for a comic that didn't hook me. Score: 5 out of 10.

Let's switch gears a bit and head over to DC to check out Batman: Streets of Gotham #17. This issue begins with Harley Quinn wandering around in a daze committing crimes. After she's finished, she returns to her base and is accosted by Catwoman. The two women begin to fight, and Batman shows up and knocks Harley out cold. At first Catwoman believes Batman is Dick Grayson, but Bats reveals that he was actually Bruce Wayne, and the two share a kiss. From there Bruce tells CW that there have been other cases like this, where a person would be bitten by weird little bugs, which would then mind control the person. From there we head to Hush, who was kidnapped by an old mobster last issue who had a score to settle with Bruce Wayne. Before the mobster can kill Hush, he beats up the old mobster's goons and swipes the gun from the mobster, revealing that he isn't Bruce Wayne, and that he wanted to work with the mobster in getting at Bruce. This was a weird one. I don't know what the HELL was going on in that first half of this comic with the bugs and Harley... That was pretty weird. It did lead to a kiss between Selina and Bruce, so that was nice and all, but still, what was up with the bugs?! As for the Hush stuff, it had Hush in it, so naturally I loved it! Score: 8 out of 10.

Let's take a look at Superman #705 since that's what's next on my hit list. So this is written by J. Michael Straczynski and has Superman STILL wandering the country aimlessly. This time Supes is strolling through Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Supes is distressed by the fact that the people seem afraid to see him due to the fight he had with the Hulk Hogan-impostor two issues back. Later on, Supes heads to a hotel with Lois and has a nightmare where one of the women from earlier is scolding him and he's being beaten up by a giant creature. When Supes wakes up, he discovers that all of the wounds from the dream hadn't gone away. From there the story branches out to a boy who was being abused by his father preparing to see Supes walk by his home. The kids father smacks him around and tosses him into the basement, where the kid calls to Superman to help him. Supes hears the kid and rescues him and his mother from the abusive father, taking them to the police and then cutting a promo(right at the “camera”)about always reporting instances of abuse. Wow, that was pretty weird... I hated the beginning of this comic, I mean really, how ungrateful ARE the people in the DCU? How many times has Supes saved their collective bacon? If the man wants to walk through your town, grin and bear it! I thought the story with the abused kid was pretty well done though. Supes walking by the kid's house and then saving him was a nice touch, and the pacing for that scene was nicely done. However, the end kind of made me laugh, which I'm SURE wasn't JMS's intention... Or at least I hope it wasn't... I mean what was up with Supes literally looking RIGHT at the “camera” and doing a public service announcement?! That as just bizarre... Overall though, I did enjoy this one, and as such, I'll give it a: Score: 8 out of 10.

It's time to head back to Marvel as we check out the latest issue of Marvel's favorite Atlantian, Namorita! Oh wait, it's actually Namor #4... Bleh. While Namor is fighting his grandfather(who happens to be a vampire)in a secret temple underneath Vampire City, Namor's forces are being trounced by the vampires above the temple. Loa(one of the younger X-Men)and an Atlantian magician arrive at Vampire City and the magician casts a spell that weakens the vampires. Oh, and for some reason, Loa can breath underwater now. *shrugs* Meanwhile, Namor defeats his grandfather and casts a spell on the old vampire(there's a lot of spellcasting going on here...)which kills most of the vampires in Vampire City. Wanting this storyline over with(and who could blame him)Namor emerges from the temple and tells the surviving vampires that he's making their city a part of Atlantis, and as such he doesn't want any trouble from them. That's pretty much the end of this one. Yeah, I didn't really enjoy this one. I don't care for Loa(Marvel has killed off countless young mutants, and yet SHE survives?!), I could see the outcome of the battle between Namor and his grandfather coming since LAST issue and the resolution of the vampire trouble kind of bothered me... I mean really, Namor tells the vampires to knock it off and then leaves? Um, they're vampires! How do you just leave them alone! They make notoriously bad subjects! Oh well, hopefully things pick up next issue. Score: 3 out of 10.

Wheee, now we hop back to DC with Outsiders #34. Man, it's been awhile since I read the last issue of this series... I have NO idea what's going on! Apparently Achilles has marched into Markovia and razed a village in order to gain the attention of Markovia's king, Geo-Force. Geo-Force and his lackey Eradicator confront Achilles, which leads to Achilles punching Eradicator right out of this comic! Seriously, he never showed up again! Achilles and Geo-Force then fight for the better part of this comic, with Achilles revealing that he was attacking Markovia because he thought Geo-Force was a conquest hungry dictator. Geo-Force refutes that claim, stating that Markovia was always being invaded, not the other way around. Geo-Force then proceeds to drop a building on Achilles. Achilles climbs out from under the building and decides he doesn't want to fight anymore since the building falling on him cleared his head and convinced him that Geo-Force was telling the truth(huh?!). To make up for destroying a village and killing loads of Markovians, Achilles pledges himself and his forces to a very confused Geo-Force. There was also a back story involving Metamorpho and his father-in-law, but since I don't like Metamorpho, I'm going to ignore all of that, as is my prerogative. What's there to really say about this one? The fight between Geo-Force and Achilles was fun, but the ending was a huge cop-out. Achilles quits the battle because... well, I'm not really sure why he quit fighting. Because a house falling on his head brought him to his senses or something... Meh, that didn't really work for me. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

One more and I can wrap this post up and send it to bed. Our final review of the post? Invincible Iron Man #32. Last issue the Hammer girls sent the Detroit Steel drones to attack Tony Stark's grand unveiling of his new repulsor powered car. Tony hops into his Iron Man armor, while Rescue and War Machine also arrive on the scene to come to Tony's aid. The Hammer's up the stakes by sending Detroit Steel himself to attack Tony, while Tony's support staff work to figure out a way to block the satellites that were controlling the Steel drones. Tony eventually realizes that the drones were keyed in on his repulsor technology, so War Machine and Rescue power down their armor, which leads to all of the drones, as well as Steel going after Tony, while Tony's staff works to kill the signal controlling the drones before the overwhelming odds kill their boss. This was the EIGHTH part of this storyline, with the next issue closing the storyline out. I think I started reading this series at around part three of the storyline, so there were a few story elements that I just didn't get. So while I've enjoyed this story for the most part, I'll be happy when it ends, so I can follow the next storyline right from the start. Score: 7 out of 10.

The Random Scan of the Week!Man, you know you're in trouble when your villain knows about your caption boxes!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #16

Overall: Well okay, we're back to the Hush storyline after we took a one issue break. Hush, still masquerading as Bruce Wayne, has been pestering Arkham Asylum to allow several inmates out, and while he's been successful with some lower level threats, he is turned down when he advocates for the release of Jane Doe. Realizing that his current strategy of trying to get as many threats back on Gotham's streets to mess with the Bat-family wasn't working all that well, Hush decides to come up with a new plan. While going to some media event(under the watchful eyes of Zatanna and Alfred)Hush learns that Jane Doe had escaped her cell and was running loose in Arkham. Hush is pleased, and Zatanna leaves to see what she could do to help. Alfred goes to take Hush home, but is run off the road by some old mobster who had a beef with the real Bruce Wayne's parents. Hush gets out of the car disoriented and is shot by the mobster, ending this issue.

I like Hush a lot. Always have. He's such a nice change of pace from Batman's normal rogues gallery. So I had no problems with the Hush parts, I liked his interactions with Zatanna, Katana and Alfred, and I enjoyed his attempts at freeing Jane Doe(I also enjoyed Jane's utter confusion at why billionaire Bruce Wayne was interested in her). What I didn't enjoy was this boring backstory with the old mobster... So some old mobster, who thinks he was wronged by Bruce's parents, spends 30-40 years in prison, gets out and decides to kill Bruce, who he had never met nor had any connection to. Umm, why? Bruce's parents are dead, what satisfaction would killing Bruce give to the old mobster? I just didn't get that. I want to see more Hush, more Jane and less mobsters as this storyline goes forward.

Oh, and the Second Feature with Two-Face was really good. Surprisingly good actually. I especially enjoyed the end with the revelation that it wasn't Two-Face's coin that made him do evil things, instead his coin gave him a 50% chance to NOT do evil acts. The only thing keeping Two-Face from truly running wild was his coin. Nice touch there.

Score: 7 out of 10.Heh-heh, Hush is such a jerk!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #14

Batman: Streets of Gotham #14: Writer: Paul Dini. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.

Review: This issue begins with an old-school mobster getting let out of prison and swearing that he'd kill Bruce Wayne. Meanwhile, the man who was pretending to be Bruce Wayne, Hush, continued to dream about killing all of the various super-heroes who were babysitting him. We also get a rather strange story from the past about Hush's mother, as well as Bruce Wayne's parents, Martha and Thomas Wayne, before they were married. The moral of the story seemed to be that Thomas was a raging drunk or something... Strange. Anyway, this story suddenly ends with Hush deciding he wanted to use his pull as Bruce Wayne to free Jane Doe from Arkham Asylum, no doubt for some nefarious reasons. There was also a second feature with Two-Face, but since I never review second features, I'm just going to skip it as usual.

What I Thought: Wow, there really wasn't much to this story... It was only like half the comic, and half of that was all about some weird flashback... As for Jane Doe, all I can think is that she'll be let out either to imitate Thomas Wayne(which I wish was the case, but I doubt it since Grant Morrison is currently doing the whole “evil Thomas Wayne” story), or more likely, imitate Bruce/Hush, which would free Hush up to run wild again. If this story was a bit longer I'd give it a higher score, but as it is I'll give it a...

Score: 7 out of 10.Ahh how I miss classic Hush...

The Best of the Rest!!! May 29th edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest!!! Are you tired of that introduction yet, 'cause I sure am! But alas, there's nothing that can be done about it, mainly because I'm just not creative enough to come up with anything new. Um, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, this Best of the Rest post thing... I have some pretty mediocre comics to get through tonight, so expect some mediocre psuedo-reviews. Hey, if the writers aren't gonna bring their A-game, why should I?

Outsiders #29: This is one of those comics that has been seemingly sitting on my nightstand forever. Well, not literally forever, but... why am I even explaining this... Anyway, this comic deals with former Outsider Looker(and what kind of a super-hero name is Looker anyway? I guess I'd be Amazing Man-Hunk or something...)being hunted by a vampire who hunts other vampires... Methinks DC is trying to cash in on the vampire-mania that has been running wild. After some hot vampire-on-vampire action, Looker winds up using her womanly wiles to trick and kill the vampire hunter. Since Looker seemed to think that other vampire hunters would come after her(um, why would they? She trounced this one!)she books a plane ticket for Markovia, a country where both Kryptonians AND Vampires are welcome. And they call America a melting pot! Score: 7 out of 10.Whenever the word "bitch" appears twice on a single page, you can be SURE that I'll be posting it!

Justice League of America #45: So Jade landed in Germany thanks to a big green meteorite, which has the Germans none too pleased. The Justice League of America(what, no Justice League of Germany?)arrives to calm the situation down, just as the Justice Society of America's airplane arrives. Just so ya know, the JSA was following their comatose teammate Green Lantern(that would be Alan Scott), who was being drawn to the green meteorite. Before the JSA can touch down, Power Girl attacks and destroys the plane to the shock of the JLAers, and the apathy of me. Power Girl then turns her busty attention to the JLA. Luckily for the JLA, Congorilla(who I guess knew Power Girl would eventually become possessed and turn on EVERYBODY)had contacted Supergirl earlier, and the Girl of Steel arrives to intercept the seemingly insane(but busty)Power Girl. After an extended fight scene, Batman tells Jade to blast Power Girl, since Jade's powers are magic based(really?)and all Kryptonians(even busty ones from alternate dimensions)are vulnerable to magic(or magicks if you prefer). With Power Girl down(but thankfully still busty), the Germans inexplicably decide to launch an attack on the JLA/JSA contingent, and are easily turned aside by Jade... Silly Germans... The two teams then totally ignore the poor inept Germans and decide to discuss Alan Scott's origin... Well that seems unnecessary... Jade then tells the team that the meteorite she arrived in was the Starheart, which I guess is important, since the Starheart gave Alan his GL powers. Alan then wakes up and proclaims that it's the end of the world, and that he feels fine... Well he didn't say the last part, but he should have. Score: 7 out of 10.Okay, no funny comments or anything here, that picture is AWESOME!

New Avengers Finale #1: God help me, this is the comic I've been avoiding... Remember how much I enjoyed BENDIS's work on Siege? No, well go check out my Siege reviews and then come right back...... Done? Good. So you see that I REALLY liked Siege. I guess BENDIS must have sensed that and decided to punish me by putting this piece of garbage out... Basically all you need to know about this one is that the heroes end up capturing the Hood, Madame Masque and Count Nefaria, after an extended(and BORING!!!)battle. Then BENDIS decides to kill 19 pages with a recap of pretty much his entire New Avengers series... Yes, that's right, a NINETEEN page recap!!! I mean is a NINETEEN page recap EVER really necessary!?! So between BENDIS's HORRIBLE dialogue, and what was pretty much a retelling of a series that I didn't like in the first place, this comic was like some sort of terrible comic book torture. When I envision Hell, I see myself strapped to a really uncomfortable chair(maybe one of those little pink children's ones)while demons force me to read this comic for all of eternity!!! Score: 1 out of 10. I'd have gone with a zero if not for the artwork, which was really good. See that, a silver lining!Spider-Man and Luke Cage talking for no reason at all... A SURE sign this was a BENDIS written comic!

Batman #699: So the Riddler was drugged with Joker venom(or Joker gas, although Joker venom sounds a bit classier)last issue, but Bats managed to get him to a hospital in time to administer the antidote. Bats then decides to go after the man responsible, Sebastian Blackspell, but Bats is unable to track down the bad news magician. Oh, and while Bats is chasing leads and doing that whole detective thing Ra's Al Ghul loves so much, the Riddler sneaks out of the hospital(in his hospital gown!)and is able to track down Blackspell(STILL in his gown!)... You know, more then anything else, I'm most impressed that Riddler was able to sneak around Gotham and find Blackspell, all while wearing a hospital gown! I mean really, THAT'S impressive! Bats finds Blackspell's hideout and discovers him kicking Riddler around(and yes, Riddler is STILL in the gown), and steps in to halt the assault. Blackspell falls into a barrel of... magic goo I guess, and Batman accuses Riddler of being responsible for... I don't really know, but something evil. Riddler denies he's turned back to the dark side, and Blackspell turns into a giant pissed-off tree thanks to his exposure to the magic goo... Huh, I didn't see THAT coming... Riddler runs away(bare-foot and STILL in his hospital gown)and Bats winds up tying up Blackspell in some chains. Blackspell becomes human when it starts to rain, and Riddler high-tails it out of Gotham, probably still wearing that hospital gown... What a weird comic this was.... Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.You know, if I was to ever turn into a tree I think I'd do better then simply saying, "I'm... turning into a damn tree!"

Flash #2: Yay, it's Barry Allen time... And just so you know, that's me being BITTERLY sarcastic. On the plus side, my Flash subscription ends at issue #6, and I PROMISE all of you that I WILL NOT pick up another Flash comic so long as Barry Allen is starring in it! But enough venom, let's get this review over with so I can spew some more venom! Barry runs away from the Renegades(who are police officers from the future), and eventually causes the Renegades to return to the future after he messes with their time equipment. Thanks to Barry's negligence, an old apartment building blows up... That Barry Allen is a real jerk. Barry then returns to his police station and finds out that his blood was found on the deceased Mirror Monarch(one of the Renegades), which leads to everybody stupidly looking at him... Yeah, that's right, that's as much of a review for this comic as I'm willing to do! Sue me! I hates me some Barry Allen, plain and simple. If you want to read a Flash comic, do yourself a favor and read some older Mark Waid, Mark Millar, or even that jerk Geoff Johns issues of the Wally West Flash. Boycott Barry Allen!!! Score: 6 out of 10.For as long as YOU'RE alive Barry, I'm definitely NOT okay...

Batman: Streets of Gotham #12: This was yet another really weird read for me... For some bizarre and inexplicable reason, Paul Dini(he's the guy who wrote this comic)decided to make the Carpenter(that woman who's gimmick is that she builds headquarters for villains)the central feature of this book... Yeah, that's right, the Carpenter STARRED in this issue... What, was the Molder unavailable? Jeez... Anywho, she gets hired to build a deathtrap for some loser named the Director(where the HELL is Paul getting these villain names from?!?), who planned on tricking Batman into running through it, so he could film Batman's death... Well, I guess that explains his nom de guerre... 's right, I'm throwing French words out there now! Gawk in awe at my awesomeness!!! Carpenter is nearly finished with her masterpiece when she stumbles upon some of the Director's storyboards which reveal that he intended on killing her to test the traps. Some of the Director's goons then notice that Carpenter saw the storyboards and go to kill her... The most horrifying thing here is the fact that this is a multi-part story! About the Carpenter! And a guy named the Director!! In other Streets of Gotham news, Damian Wayne continues to make nice with that Abuse kid, buying him a motorcycle and a warehouse to keep it. Don't worry, Hell hasn't frozen over or anything, Damian only did this to make sure he'd have the power of Abuse on his side if things ever went sour between him and Batman. Huh, so I didn't like the main story, but I enjoyed the Damian parts... That's a sure sign that I should stop blogging IMMEDIATELY! And possibly check in with a head doctor... Score: 6 out of 10.Damian being NICE!?! What in the blue HELL is going on here!?!?!

Batman: Streets of Gotham #11

Batman: Streets of Gotham #11 Writer: Paul Dini. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

Review: This issue gets underway with Abuse breaking out of his cell and heading towards Zsasz's arena. Upon arriving, Abuse distracts Zsasz from slitting Damian's throat(damn it!), so Zsasz decides to attack Abuse instead, which turns out to be a big mistake, as Abuse bulks-up and easily trounces Zsasz. Upon seeing this, the scumbags watching Zsasz's fights begin to panic and run for the exits, so Abuse does what he can to stop them and make them pay for what they had been taking part in. Zsasz's hired goons go to attack Abuse, but he gets an assist from Damian, who had regained consciousness(and his sword as well). The two children pretty much trounce Zsasz's men, and wreck his underground fight club. By now, Batman arrives on the scene and after talking to some thugs who were fleeing from the carnage inside, he begins to make his way in to see if he could locate Damian. In the meantime, Zsasz wakes up, grabs his knife and makes a bee-line for Abuse, stabbing him in the side of the neck. Damian knocks Zsasz away, and decides that he's had enough of Zsasz's madness, so he goes to kill Zsasz. Abuse halts Damian and asks Damian to reconsider, since Batman(who happens to be Abuse's hero)wouldn't murder Zsasz, even after all of the horrific things he had done. While the two boys talk, Zsasz gets up again and stabs Abuse in the back! Jeez, you just can't keep this guy down! Zsasz, finally realizing that Damian had to be Robin, turns his attention to him, but proves unable to land a single hit on Damian, who had learned from his earlier encounter with Zsasz. After avoiding Zsasz best shots, Damian absolutely guts Zsasz with a swift sword stroke across the madman's stomach. Zsasz staggers around for a bit before falling into the trapdoor that was used to take the bodies of his victims out to sea. Abuse is stunned by Damian's actions, but Damian explains that he stopped short of killing Zsasz, instead leaving him with an egregious wound. By this time, Batman(FINALLY!)arrives on the scene and demands to know what happened to Zsasz. This issue ends with Abuse and Damian telling Bats that Zsasz had fallen into the trapdoor, and that they were simply defending themselves, nothing more.

What I Thought: Not bad at all. Whenever I can read a DC comic and grudgingly like Damian, I know that the writer a)is not Grant Morrison, and b)did a very good job. Paul definitely fit both criteria with this issue. I was happy with the way this comic ended(not overjoyed, just happy), mainly because it means that Zsasz can one day return to continue his utterly reprehensible actions. Paul really did a hell of a job turning Zsasz from a borderline joke to a really menacing character, so kudos for that. I can also accept that Damian was able to defeat Zsasz this time, seeing as that Zsasz had a broken hand and that Damian didn't go into the fight as overconfident this time as he did last time. While not perfect, there was still a lot to like here.

Score: 8 out of 10.You know, I don't like Damian and all, but this pic is now going to be my desktop picture!

Batman #697 & Batman: Streets of Gotham #10.

Hey there X-Maniacs, I've got two Batman related reviews on the agenda for tonight. Yeah I know, usually I do three reviews a post, but I've got a boatload of schoolwork to complete by Friday, and I'm trying to get everything out of the way before those deadlines start nipping at my heels(like they usually do!). Why such a busy week school wise? Well because next week I'm on Spring break(YAY!!!), and I guess my professors want to grade papers or something during their time off... As for me, what are my Spring break plans? Pretty much what my plans are whenever I have any down time, reading comic books and playing video games... Pretty exciting, no? Anyway, since most of you are reading this post to check out the worst comic book reviews on the Internet(I assume), why waste anymore time talking about myself? On to the shoddy reviews!

Batman #697: Writer & Pencils: Tony Daniel.
Last Issue: 6 out of 10.

This issue opens with a scene showing us that the guy wearing the Black Mask is trying to fight off the influence of the Mask, but proves unable to thanks to Fright. From there we head out to the battle for Devil's Square as Batman and his allies begin to carve their way through Mask's soldiers as they try to make their way to his layer. Batman breaks from the rest of his allies and begins to sneak towards Mask's shelter, while his posse keeps the attention of the bad guys. Upon entering Mask's base, Batman makes quick work of Professor Strange and Dr. Death, but is attacked by the Reaper. Batman hits Reaper with a slight antidote that shakes Reaper from his mental domination at the hands of Mask's cronies, and leaves him alone in the room with Dr. Death and Strange, warning Reaper not to kill the two mad scientists, since they may be able to fix up his decaying body. From there Bats narrowly avoids an explosion, and discovers a woman laying near the rubble of it. He goes to check on the woman, but it turns out to be Fright playing possum, and she spits some of her fear gas in his face, disorienting him. Black Mask sneaks up behind the prone Batman, but instead of simply shooting Bats in the back of the head, he has to taunt him first... You know, that's one of my favorite comic book pet peeves right there... Why taunt/alert the hero? Just shoot him in the back of the head and be done with it! No, instead we have to warn him so he can move... Man are villains dumb! OK, rant over. Mask shoots at Bats, but Bats manages to dodge the gunfire and Mask hits Fright instead... Whoops! Mask keeps shooting at Bats, and eventually hits something flammable, causing yet another explosion. Bats rushes Mask and knocks the Black Mask off of him, revealing... Dr. Jeremiah Arkham! So Nagash was right... From there we get a few epilogues, including Arkham now locked up in his own Asylum, several of Gotham's underworld bosses scrambling to grab some of the power left by Mask's defeat, and Catwoman seemingly preparing to train the infinitely annoying Kitrina Falcone as her own little sidekick, Catgirl. This issue ends with Bats taking the Black Mask's well, mask, and putting it in his own little trophy room.

Brace yourselves for what I'm about to type everybody... Are we all suitably braced? Yes? Alright then, here goes... I actually liked this comic! I picked it up having heard some terrible things about it(JT!), but surprisingly it wasn't NEARLY as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure, it wasn't an instant classic or anything like that, but it was a pretty good comic with a decent enough story. The reveal that Mask was Arkham was... OK I guess. I was pretty sure that Mask was going to turn out to be Hush, especially with the clues Tony laid out last issue(the dual guns, the Aristotle quote, etc)but I guess they were all red herrings. In the end though, I'm glad Hush didn't turn out to be Mask, because I think Hush works better as his own man, not pretending to be some other character. I can't say any of the epilogues had me really excited for the future(Catgirl? Meh. Penguin trying to control Gotham's underworld? Meh.)but who knows, maybe Tony can surprise me again next month.

Score: 7 out of 10.I really don't have anything to say except that this is a cool image...

Batman: Streets of Gotham #10: Writer: Paul Dini. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

Finally we're back to the Zsasz storyline that was last visited in issue #7. This comic starts off with Victor Zsasz, who is running an underground fight club where he forces street children to fight to the death, learning from one of his underlings that it's getting tougher to find kids to put in the club. Zsasz warns the underling that he either finds some kids, or he'll be facing off against Zsasz in the ring. From there we learn the origin of the guy in the trench coat(Abuse), who had been brutalizing several Gotham City criminals. It seems Abuse is actually the kid from the Heart of Hush storyline who was injected by the Scarecrow with Venom. It turns out that the kid(Colin)for some reason still has remnants of the Venom in his system, and that he can control it, using it to alter his form from a child to a hulk. Wanting to use his abilities for good, like his hero Batman, Colin took up the Abuse moniker and began wailing on those who would prey on kids. As such, he's been investigating the deaths of the children from Zsasz fight club. However, he isn't the only kid trying to find out who was responsible for the deaths of the street children, Robin(against the wishes of Batman)is also trying to hunt down any leads and winds up running into Colin by the river where many of the dead children's bodies have been washing up. While the two are discussing what each knew, Zsasz underling comes across them, and along with a few henchmen, capture the two children at gunpoint. The goons bring the kids to Zsasz factory and go to lock them in cages, but this only serves to piss Robin off, so he breaks one goon's arm and knocks a few of the other henchmen around. Upon seeing this, Zsasz's underling reports what was occurring by the cages to Zsasz, while Robin knocks Colin out(so he wouldn't be hurt), grabs one of Zsasz's swords and runs around the factory in search of the sick villain. Eventually Robin makes it to the ring, where a large crowd had gathered to watch the fights. Zsasz enters the ring with a knife and challenges Robin, who is of course all too happy to oblige. The two fight, and Zsasz's unpredictable fighting style proves to counter Robin's fighting skills, which leads to this issue concluding with Zsasz preparing to slice the downed Robin's throat.

Not bad, not bad at all. Before I go any further, I will admit that seeing Zsasz own Damian left me pretty pleased... I'm sorry, but I hate the kid! Even though I did enjoy seeing somebody hand the ultra-arrogant Damian his ass for a change, I will say that I was kind of surprised that it was Zsasz who did the honors... It's not like Zsasz was ever known for his fighting prowess, so the fact that he was able to trounce Damian was kind of out of character. Paul did an admirable job of trying to explain that Zsasz's unpredictability was too much for the studied Damian to overcome, but still... Besides that, I will admit to being surprised/impressed by the origin of Abuse. I had completely forgotten about that kid, and when he was giving his origin, I went, “Oh yeah, I remember him!!!”. That's the second bit character Paul has brought back from his Heart of Hush storyline, but this one was WAY better then the lame Dr. Aesop. The next issue seems pretty obvious, with Abuse rushing in to save Damian from his grisly fate, but I'll still be looking forward to it. Plus I REALLY want to see Zsasz get his comeuppance... Man has he been a real bastard during this storyline!

Score: 8 out of 10.Yes I hate Damian, but even I have to admit that this part was pretty cool.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #9, REBELS #13 & Superman/Batman #69.

I'm taking a break from my Accounting homework to toss out a quick post. I actually have either an exam or paper due from EVERY single one of my classes this week, so things are somewhat hectic to say the least. But enough of that unpleasantness, let's talk comics! I ordered a bunch of back issues last week, and they arrived today, so I figure I might as well let you guys know what I unnecessarily spent my money on this time. Tempest #1-4, Marville 1-7, Legends of the DCU 3D Gallery #1, Helmet of Fate: Zauriel #1, Green Lantern #28(the old series), Day of Vengeance #1-6, Infinite Crisis Special: Day of Vengeance #1, Brave and the Bold #5, Azrael #37, Aquaman #1,000,000, Aquaman #37-39(the new series). Now if you were to ask me why I brought any of these comics, I'd respond with a shrug... This more then anything shows my complete and utter lack of impulse control... All right, there's the intro, here's the reviews.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #9: Writer: Mike Benson. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.

We open things up with Dick Grayson easily taking down a man who was attacking the prostitute he was fooling around with... Don't ask me to explain THAT one. Either check out Streets #8 or better yet, my review for Streets #8! All right, back to the story... Dick(now as Batman)takes the man and the woman down to police headquarters, where they are interviewed by Commissioner Gordon. We discover that the man and the woman were in cahoots, the woman would invite a john to her room, where her accomplice would pretend to be an angry ex-boyfriend, rough her up a bit and then rob the the john. Unfortunately, every man the duo would pull this scam on wound up dead, which led Bats and Gordon to believe that they were behind the murders. After interviewing them though, Bats and Gordon both seemed to believe that the duo were innocent of the charges being levied against them. With those two ruled out, Bats tells Gordon to let the woman go, the hope being that she would be confronted by whoever was behind the murders. Sure enough, the woman is confronted by an angry ex-boyfriend, but she is saved by the timely arrival of the burly doorman at her building and the eventual arrival of Gordon. Gordon takes ex-boyfriend into custody, and Bats and Gordon proceed to interview/rough up the man. After interviewing him, Gordon and Bats realize that he wasn't responsible for the murders either, so they cut him loose and Bats tells Gordon the best way to capture the murderer is for Gordon and the woman to work together and pretend that he was one of her johns. As such, Gordon pretends to pick the woman up at her club, and the two head back to her apartment under the watchful eye of Batman. After Gordon leaves the woman's apartment, he comes across the dead body of the ex-boyfriend from earlier. He is then immediately attacked by the doorman at the woman's building, who tries to stab Gordon. Fortunately for Gordon, Bats swoops in and takes the doorman out with relative ease. This issue ends with Gordon seeing the woman to a bus that takes her out of Gotham and possibly to a better life.

Hey, once this story got rolling, I actually began to enjoy it. I enjoy a good murder-mystery as much as the next guy, and this comic kept me guessing the identity of the murderer until the very end, so good job. While I can't wait for this series to get back to the Zsasz storyline, these last two issues served as a very nice little filler story.

Score: 8 out of 10.Umm, should Batman really be allowed to interview suspects with the Gotham Police?

REBELS #13: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Claude St. Aubin.

This issue begins with the Omega Men finally finding the plant venom they need to break the mental hold Starro the Conqueror has over his followers. From there we head to Dox, who along with the Psions is able to create a body for Despero. As a part of the deal for a new body, Despero agrees to provide his “Flame of Pytar” to power Dox's anti-Starro gun. The scene then shifts to Dox's son, Brainiac 3, who is helping Starro coordinate his forces in preparation for an attack on the Earth. After sending Starro to his destination, Brainiac 3 plots with Starro's top lieutenant, Smite, against the Conqueror. After his business with Despero is concluded, Dox meets up with his REBELS and learns that Starro was beginning his move against the Earth. Before Dox can lay out his course of action against Starro, he is abducted by his son. Dox tries to attack his offspring, but he is taken down and locked in an MMA style armbar. While holding his father in the armbar, Brainiac 3 explains that he is going to betray Starro and teleport him directly to his father. Dox doesn't believe Brainiac 3, and questions why he would betray Starro, and Brainiac 3 explains that Starro is irrational and bent on self-destruction, and as such, it's a waste of his vast intelligence to work for such a being. Brainiac 3 then proceeds to dislocate Dox's elbow(to make sure he doesn't risk himself by acting as the triggerman)and sends him back to his team. Dox warns his team of Starro's impending betrayal and arrival, and this issue ends with Starro teleporting directly to Dox's forces.

I LOVE this comic! What more do I need to say? All of the storylines have converged perfectly and the next issue will finally give us the Starro/REBELS battle that has been 13 issues in the making. Seeing as that this storyline has gone on for 13 issues and one annual thus far, I'm both eagerly anticipating and dreading the next issue, which is the conclusion to the whole Starro storyline... Sure, I can't wait to see what happens between Starro and the REBELS, but I'll also be a bit sad to see the story end, because it's been very good to excellent throughout. With that said though, Tony has left enough story-threads dangling so that I'm looking forward to this series even after the war with Starro has concluded.

Score: 10 out of 10. Huh, after a long drought, that's two straight nights a DC comic I've read has attained a 10 out of 10... Not bad!Tap out Dox! Tap out Dox! Ouch... He should have tapped out...

Superman/Batman #69: Writer: Joe Casey. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.

This issue is a flashback to the events of the DC x-over from a couple of years ago, Our Worlds At War. It seems somebody has hired the assassin NRG-X to kill Clark Kent. Superman attacks the assassin after NRG-X attacks the Daily Planet building looking for Kent, but NRG-X manages to escape. From there we head to a meeting in Gotham where all of the local fatcats are discussing how and where they should spend their money after the War. Bruce Wayne runs into the formerly reclusive backer of STAR Labs, Anderson Gaines, and the two of them discuss ways they could have STAR Labs and WayneTech work together. While the two are talking, Gaines is called away by his associates, and Wayne is contacted by Alfred about what had happened at the Daily Planet building. Bruce gets in touch with Supes and the two agree to meet up and discuss who could have possibly have sent NRG-X after Superman's alter-ego. The two meet up at the Watchtower, and they conclude that it was a Durlan shapeshifter who was trying to eliminate the last Kryptonian in the galaxy(well, until the whole New Krypton thing happened...), since it appears Durlans and Kryptonians are mortal foes or something... From there, Bats figures out that Gaines was the Durlan shapeshifter by using the type of logic only Batman could use... This issue ends with Bats and Supes discussing how best to go after a public figure like Gaines without compromising Supes civilian identity or attacking Gaines in the open.

Eh, this comic was alright I guess. The whole World At War storyline is one DC event that I have very little knowledge of, so some of the stuff that was going on in this issue tended to go right over my head. Even though some of the stuff here escaped me, the stuff that I did get seemed to be pretty good. Sure, the way Batman concluded Gaines was the Durlan was kind of cheap, but everything else here was readable, and as such, I'll be happy to pick up the next issue to see where this storyline is going.

Score: 7 out of 10.What in the HELL is THAT?!?

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8 & Green Lantern Corps #44

Since I've got a few early classes tomorrow, I'm going to cut the small talk and get right into these two reviews. We'll start this post off with the most recent issue of Streets of Gotham, which is written by Mike Benson as opposed to regular series writer Paul Dini.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #8: Writer: Mike Benson. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.

The gist of this issue is that some unknown party is killing several low-lives in Gotham City, which leads to Commissioner Gordon turning to Batman to figure out who's responsible. After checking out two of the bodies, Bats realizes that both of the dead men frequented the same sleazy nightclub. Upon further investigation, he discovers a picture of one of the dead men with one of the women who worked at the club. Bats decides to go undercover into the club in order to find the woman from the picture to see what kind of information he can glean from her. Upon finding the woman and setting up a "date", the two leave the club and are accosted by the woman's former boyfriend, who tells Dick that the woman will only bring him pain and misery. This issue concludes with Dick arriving at the woman's apartment just as an armed man prepares to kick the door in.

Eh. I was enjoying the Zsasz storyline, so I've got to say I'm a tad bit disappointed that nothing occurred in this issue to further that story. This issue was OK, but it's obviously a stock, filler issue to be used when the regular writer of a series is unavailable. I'll be looking forward to issue #10 when we get back to the Zsasz storyline. As for this comic, it was perfectly acceptable, nothing more, nothing less.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.NEVER get in Dick Grayson's way when he's on a *ahem* "date".

Green Lantern Corps #44: Writer: Peter J. Tomasi. Pencils: Patrick Gleason.

We open this issue with the battle between the forces of the Green Lanterns and their allies trying desperately to hold off the Black Lantern horde... Oh yeah, plus Guy Gardner is still a Red Lantern and is pretty much attacking everything indiscriminately! The Black Lanterns continue to focus their attack on the Central Power Battery, and actually manage to topple the entire structure. After the dust from the fallen Power Battery settles, Kyle spots Guy still cutting through the Black Lantern forces, and since it was Kyle's death that transformed Guy into a Red Lantern to begin with, Kyle decides to convince Guy that he isn't dead, and that Guy needs to let his rage go. Kyle is able to momentarily reach Guy, but before long, the red ring takes back over and Guy becomes convinced that the real Kyle Rayner is still dead, and that the man speaking to him is a Black Lantern trick, which causes Guy to attack Kyle. While this is occurring, Mogo(who had arrived near Oa last issue)decides to purge Oa, and sucks every organic being, Black Lantern and Green Lantern alike off of Oa and onto Mogo. Upon reaching the surface of Mogo, it sucks the Black Lanterns under its surface and sends them down to its core, where they would burn for all eternity... Wow, remind me to never piss Mogo off... Anyway, this issue ends with Red Lantern Guy Gardner approaching the Green Lanterns on Mogo, presumably to kill them.

As I usual, I thoroughly enjoyed this issue of GLC. While I thought the defeat of the Black Lanterns at the hands of Mogo was a little bit too neat and tidy for my taste, everything before that was top-notch. Peter has done a great job in his Blackest Night x-overs in showing the futility of the Green Lanterns when it comes to facing down their Black Lantern counterparts. If not for Mogo and to a lesser extent Red Lantern Guy Gardner, the GLC really had no answer for the Black Lantern forces. Next issue we get Guy Gardner vs the Green Lantern Corps, which should be a blast and a half!

Score: 8 out of 10.You know what? I think Guy is a much better fit as a Red Lantern then a Green one.