Quick Hits: 2/24/11

You know, I can feel a major rant coming on soon... I mean I just posted 9 Marvel reviews in a row, and to be perfectly honest with all of you, I enjoyed nearly every single one of them. I even gave two of those 9 books perfect scores. Now today I head back to DC, and unfortunately all three of the comics I read wound up getting very lackluster scores from me. It's so damn sad how much DC has fallen in my eyes. I mean last year at this time I was really down on Marvel, while the DC books are what I looked forward to reading every month. Now DC has been decimated by that damned Chairman Johns, one of their best books is being canceled, and I have very little interest in anything happening in the DCU with the exception of the Bat-books. So I'm now going to ask all of you DC fans a favor. Which books are your favorites? Hopefully you'll give me some DC book that I'm not already reading to show me that all of DC hasn't gone to hell yet. Or better yet, give me a few comics from third party publishers for me to sink my teeth into. With me dropping more and more DC titles weekly, I'd appreciate a few suggestions. Thanks, and here are the reviews.

Supergirl #61:

Summary: First off, right off the bat this comic confused me as it had James Peaty down as the writer even though I was positive Nick Spencer had taken over the writing duties here just last issue... Weird. Ah, after a quick check I see that Spencer only co-scripted Supergirl #60... Yeah, there is NO way anybody can convince me DC isn't run by a bunch of monkeys in front of typewriters... This issue begins with Supergirl defeating Parasite, Silver Banshee, Kryptonite Man and Metallo, who promptly teleport away after being defeated. It seems that there is a new phone app that has people taking pictures with their phones of heroes they see, which leads to the man who created the app sending villains to the location of those heroes. Lois Lane gives SG her phone so she could keep an eye on this app, and soon after getting the phone SG sees that Robin was being attacked by Clayface and Mr. Freeze in Gotham. She flies over to help, and the two heroes make short work of the villains, much to the rage of the man behind the phone app. The mystery man decides to send Gorilla Grodd and Eclipso to Texas to attack Fake Beetle, which causes SG to prepare to fly out to help him. However, before she can go, Clayface and Mr. Freeze give off sparks and transform into strange robots that were only imitating Clayface and Freeze, leaving SG to wonder just what the hell was going on here.

Thoughts: Meh. So far, two issues in, this storyline just isn't doing anything for me. The mystery villain behind everything is just a bit TOO mysterious for my tastes, he's already exhibited several super-powers, including telepathy and the ability to create and interface with computers and robots. Plus he really hasn't given much of a reason for his actions other then the simplistic, “I hate super-heroes” stuff. The Damian appearance seemed totally random, although I'm not going to complain about anytime Damian shows up in a comic seeing as that I'm a fan of his now. However, Fake Beetle showing up next issue already brings the score for that comic down at least one full point, and it hasn't even been released yet! I think this story has some potential, but the villain of the piece really needs to be established a lot more.

Score: 6 out of 10.The evil alien trick works every single time!


Wonder Woman #607:

Summary: We kick things off with Wonder Woman grinding some skeletons into dust, because she's angry or something. From there WW and two Amazons head into the sewers to see if they could find a boy who was kidnapped by a minotaur. While that's going on, Cheetah, Giganta and Artemis attack WW's Amazon apartment hideout and kill every Amazon there, with the exception of the talking cat... Dammit! I SO wanted to see that cat get killed. Anyway, WW and the Amazons come across the kid and the minotaur, and learn that the Morrigan had told the minotaur to kill the kid to anger WW so she would become more like the Morrigan. The minotaur explains that it couldn't go through with killing a child, and then commits suicide. And that's pretty much all I have to say.

Thoughts: This comic makes my brain actually hurt. Why can't we just wrap this storyline up and get classic Wonder Woman back? I don't know about anybody else, but I'm tired of the whole Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon story. This issue didn't do anything for me, and I found my mind wandering throughout most of it. I'm really ready to move on now...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10."Amazons Assemble!" Really? Please let this comic stop torturing me...


Superman/Batman #81:

Summary: We get things started with the Shadowpact heading to Metropolis and discovering a horde of demons attacking a single man in armor. The Shadowpact members jump in to assist the man, but it's for naught, and the man ends up being skewered by the demons. With the man in armor dead, the demons head back into the portal they had arrived from. Blue Devil walks over to the dead man and is shocked to see that the man in the armor was Superman. From there we head elsewhere and find a strangely garbed Batman complaining to some woman about armored Superman making a big mistake by heading through the portal. Back in Metropolis, the Phantom Stranger brings the real Superman to see dead, armored Superman. While Supes is trying to figure out what it all meant, the strangely garbed Batman and his gal pal emerge from a portal and kidnap Supes. Having lost Superman, the Shadowpact send... seriously?! *sigh* Detective Chimp to Gotham City to find the real Batman. We end this one with Superman waking up and being told by the strangely garbed Batman that he was from Superman's future and that the future was a demon infested hellhole.

Thoughts: Eh. I didn't really care about this comic one way or the other. I mean it wasn't horrible, but it also didn't thrill me. It just sort of was. I'm willing to give the story some leeway, especially considering this was only the first part, but here's hoping things pick up come next issue.

Score: 6 out of 10.Ah DC... Where would you be without your talking monkeys?