Green Arrow/Black Canary #28, Titans #21 & X-Factor: Nation X #1

I've got three reviews to type out tonight, two DC's and a Marvel. Going in, I expect next to nothing from the two DC books, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the Marvel. In case you somehow missed the title of this post(which would be REALLY strange...)I'll be checking out Green Arrow/Black Canary #28, Titans #21 and the X-Factor Nation X one shot.

Green Arrow/Black Canary #28: Writer: Andrew Kreisberg. Art: Mike Norton, Bill Sienkiewicz, Renato Guedes and Josè Wilson Magalhaes.

We begin this issue with the Star City police department heading to the scene of the Green Arrow, Black Canary, Cupid, strange military guys fight. One cop comments that it sounds like World War 3, but in the DCU, shouldn't he have said World War 4? Anyway, back on the rooftop, GA and Dark Arrow(Everyman)battle, while Speedy takes on Cupid and BC takes on the army guys. The fight continues for a while until Cupid manages to activate a Quantum arrow from Speedy's quiver, which cause a large explosion and sends everybody tumbling from the rooftop, where the battle had been raging, into the building. BC and GA climb out of the rubble and Speedy gets to play damsel in distress, with Cupid holding a knife to Speedy's throat. Cupid demands BC dig Everyman out of the rubble, which she does, quietly stealing one of Everyman's arrows in the process. Everyman goes to Cupid's side, and while GA distracts Cupid, BC draws back GA's bowstring and sends an arrow at Cupid. Dark Arrow steps in the way of the arrow and takes it in the shoulder, and Speedy gets away from Cupid. One of the army guys revives and throws a grenade at Cupid and Everyman, but she uses the explosion to get herself and Everyman away. Cupid and Everyman get outside and attack the cops who were there, including GA's buddy, Lt. Hilton. Back inside, we get a Cupid origin story, where we learn that she received an experimental drug while she was a black ops army officer which made her obsessive, enhanced her strength and speed, and made her forget her past. The army guy who told GA and company the story conveniently dies after he relays the story to them, and this issue ends with Team Arrow walking outside to find the dead cops, as well as Lt. Hilton laying face down with Cupid's knife jutting out of his back.

What can I really say? I guess I can respect the fact that Andrew is at least trying to explain Cupid's actions, fighting ability, etc, but it's like every issue we discover yet another far-fetched thing about Cupid's past. Last issue we find out she was a black ops soldier. This issue she's a crazed super-soldier. What's next, we discover she's the long lost love child of an alternate version of Superman and Wonder Woman? Eh, that's going to have to do it for my anti-Cupid rant this month, I still have a few other comics to get through.

Score: 5 out of 10.Hey look, it's Cupid!!!

Titans #21: Writer: J. T. Krul. Pencils: Angel Unzueta and Chris Batista.

This issue focuses on what pretty much amounts to the Titans nowadays, Cyborg, Donna Troy and Starfire. Cyborg is trying to find people who can fill the depleted ranks of the Titans, but after the Titans East fiasco, he doesn't want any rookies. Donna is taking Red Arrow's injuries at the hands of Prometheus in Justice League: Cry for Justice #5 harder then anybody else, and has been spending time by the side of the fallen archer. Starfire has been trying to figure out why she turned down Vixen's offer to join the Justice League. To that end, she heads to Gotham City to talk with the man who knows her best, the former Nightwing, and current Batman, Dick Grayson. The two talk and it seems that Starfire is afraid to leave the Titans and move on to bigger and better things, because the Titans are where she feels the most secure. After talking to Dick, Starfire heads back to the Titans headquarters, where Cyborg is still sitting in front of a computer screen. Cyborg tries to convince Starfire to join the JLA, but Starfire continues to find reasons not to join. While the two are talking, Cyborg believes his old Titans East team members are in trouble, and he rushes out of the room to help them, leaving Starfire completely perplexed. This issue ends with Phobia sneaking up behind Starfire and forcing her to face her greatest fear, being left alone.

I liked this comic. It didn't blow me away or anything, but it was pretty solid, and all of the characters acted properly, which always makes me happy. With it being common knowledge that Donna, Cyborg and Starfire will be joining the JLA whenever Cry for Justice ends(DC has already printed the teaser art!), I'm really perplexed as to who will be left to take part in this series... I've heard everybody from one-armed Roy to Deathstroke, but after reading this issue, we seem to be no closer to having a new Titans team then before. After reading J. T.'s recent Teen Titans issues, I'm definitely hoping the new team features Deathstroke, Jericho and Ravager. If that is the case, it should be pretty interesting to see how the team goes from Cyborg to Deathstroke...

Score: 7 out of 10.See, it's like I've always said, NEVER piss off an Amazon!

X-Factor: Nation X #1: Writer: Peter David. Pencils: Valentine De Landro.

This issue begins with an elderly woman writing about the events occurring in Warsaw, Poland in 1943. A Nazi soldier walks over to the woman and demands that she gets onboard a train that was ferrying people out of town. The woman refuses to follow the soldier, so the soldier goes to grab the woman's book, which causes her to stab the soldier in the neck with her pen, killing him and draining his blood into her pen. The woman then vanishes. OOOOOK then... In the present, Cyclops welcomes Jamie Madrox and X-Factor onto the island home of the X-Men, the absurdly named Utopia. Cyclops tells X-Factor to make themselves at home(heh-heh)while he tries to convince Jamie and Layla Miller why X-Factor should permanently move to Utopia. While the various members of X-Factor are meeting up with former friends and teammates(which leads to several awesome scenes the old school X-Men fan in me absolutely loved!), Jamie and Cyclops debate the merits of having pretty much every single remaining mutant living in the same place. While Jamie, Cyclops and Layla talk, Prof. X and Darwin run into the elderly woman from 1943 Warsaw. It seems she is still writing in her book about the way humanity is always segregating somebody, in this case, mutants. Darwin figures the woman is there plotting against the mutants, so he grabs her book to discover her plans, which leads to the woman growing to a massive size and demanding the return of her book. The various mutants on the island spot the giant woman and begin to head over. Prof. X tells Darwin to return the book to the woman, in the hopes that doing that would end the problem, but Northstar arrives on the scene and whisks Darwin away, accidentally dropping him, and the woman's book into the ocean. The mutants attack, but are unable to do any real damage to the woman(Crone of the Others as she calls herself). Ultimately, Namor retrieves Darwin and the woman's book from the drink, and tosses the book to the woman, who proceeds to shrink back to her regular size. After informing Cyclops that Utopia would never work, she vanishes, as mysteriously as she appeared. In the end, all of the members of X-Factor decide to leave Cyclops and his Utopia behind, with Jamie wishing for the best but expecting the worst.

You know, when you read a comic written by Peter David, you know you'll always get at least something enjoyable out of it. While I didn't really care for the main story with Crone, I did enjoy the way Peter had the members of X-Factor interacting with their old friends and teammates. The nods to the old(and vastly superior to the current)X-Force, as well as the parts with Darwin and the Professor left a smile on my face, which is all I really ask for from a comic. While this issue wasn't anywhere near as awesome as the regular X-Factor series has been, it was a perfectly acceptable comic book.

Score: 7 out of 10.I gave this comic an extra 1/2 on its score due to Jamie calling Utopia, "floating evil island".