Freedom Fighters #8
Summary: This series is still going on?! Okay then... We get started with Uncle Sam(recently resurrected in the dead body of Firebrand) battling the deadly menace of the Jester!!! The Jester is carrying a few magical artifacts, making him THAT much deadlier! The fight goes on for a few pages before Sam literally stops selling the beating Jester was giving him, breaks Jester's magic sword, smashes his magic lantern and steals his magic... um, hat-thing. With the Jester's supply of magic accessories gone, Sam punches the villain out, ending his threat. The rest of the Fighters all wake up(yeah, now that the battle was over! Slackers!), rescue the Vice President and strike a pose with Sam. Three days later(it says so on the page!), the Fighters hold a funeral for Firebrand, presided over by Sam... Wait, he can do THAT too?! King Bullet and his motley crew of villains tunnel their way to the surface from their destroyed underground prison and swear revenge against the Fighters... Well they better get their revenge swiftly, because this series only has a few issues left to go! This issue ends with Sam and Miss America being told by the President that due to budget cuts their team would no longer be getting government funding.
Thoughts: This review may have been rushed and a tad sarcastic(just a tad), but don't let that fool you, I actually enjoyed this issue! Not only was the physical battle between Sam and Jester enjoyable, the war of words they were having made the fight that much better. It's weird, the first 5 or 6 issues of this series didn't impress me in the least(and had the Ray not been a part of the team, I probably would have dropped the series early on), but these last 2 or 3 issues have been really good! The pacing has been brisk the past two issues(I guess due to the impending cancellation), but for this series, a quick pace really seems to work. Although the speed at which the Jester lost was a bit annoying...
Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.
Everybody strike a pose!Green Arrow #10:
Summary: This issue spotlights Galahad! Smell the excitement! Basically Galahad was pulled under Starwood Forest last issue, which leads to him remembering his true origin, which is basically that he was a professor of literature, his daughter died of a rare disease and he went plumb loco and checked out of reality, instead creating the fantasy that he was the Galahad of legend, and was the protector of Starwood. While Galahad is remembering all of this, the forest opens up temporarily allowing Mr. Terrific and Dr. Midnite in to assist Green Arrow and Jason Blood against the Demon. By this point, Galahad cuts his way OUT of the ground(or perhaps out of a tree, I don't really know) and rejoins the battle... So why exactly was he dragged under the Forest anyway? The heroes press the attack, but Etrigan is able to stand through it and this issue ends with Etrigan summoning a mess of evil vegetative versions of the heroes to defend him.
Thoughts: Who does Etrigan think he is? Swamp Thing?!? I really wanted to hate this comic, especially when I realized that Galahad was going to get a brunt of the page-time, but about halfway through I found myself actually getting into the story, so kudos to JT Krul for that one. Granted, it's not like I care about Galahad now, but the story was more palatable then I would have expected. There were a few things that bugged me, like how does a person go from literature professor to a master swordsman, but whatever I guess. After the reveal in Brightest Day #23, I'm not exactly sure what ANY of the stuff happening in this series means, but if you can ignore the weird continuity issues, this comic was okay.
Score: 7 out of 10.
Galahad, Knight of the Forest/Professor of Literature. Same thing I guess.Gotham City Sirens #21
Summary: Harley Quinn's march to the Joker's cell at Arkham Asylum continues as she manages to get past the last thing standing between her and revenge, Arkham guard Aaron Cash. Cash has a gun and a hook hand, making him a duel threat, but Harley manages to disarm him(of the gun, not the hook hand) by informing Cash that the Joker had poisoned and killed Cash's infant son. Cash had always believed that his son died of tetanus, but it turns out the Joker had been responsible for the kid's death during one of his MANY vacations from Arkham. Completely devastated by this news, Cash opens the doorway to Joker's wing at Arkham(he has his own WING now?!) and hands Harley his gun. Harley enters the cell and comes face-to-face with Mistah J, pointing the gun at him. Before she can fire though, Joker takes her by surprise, telling her that he had missed her... With that, Harley begins to think back to all of the horrible things Joker had done to her, but eventually begins to remember the good as well... Or at least as “good” as Joker gets. After some thought, Harley throws down the gun and hugs Joker, showing that no matter what, he'd always hold sway over her. As for the other two Sirens, they were planning to break into Arkham to prevent Harley from doing something stupid(killing Joker, saving Joker, etc). However, Catwoman becomes distracted by some cop cars driving away from Arkham, heading towards Devil's Square. Catwoman can't help but believe that whatever was happening in Devil's Square required her attention more than Harley, which infuriates Poison Ivy. Ivy tells Catwoman that if she goes to Devil's Square and doesn't try to help Harley, not only would Ivy never forgive her, they'd be SWORN enemies until the day Ivy died! Damn! Ultimately though, curiosity gets the better of Catwoman(well, I guess that's not overwhelmingly surprising since she is CATwoman!), and she leaves an infuriated Ivy on a rooftop near Arkham.
Thoughts: Wooo, now THIS was a good comic! As a matter of fact, the past few issues of this series have been surprisingly good. Like, “one of the best things I've read from DC” good! I have to be honest, I never really took to Harley Quinn at all. Out of the three leads in this series, she was always my least favorite by far. But these past few issues have shown that she's more than some annoying lackey obsessed with Joker, she's actually a capable, manipulative and calculating villain in her own right. This issue also showed how smart the Joker is, as he immediately realized that Harley wasn't there to break him out of Arkham this time, and managed to change her mind with a few simple words. I'm not sure what the future holds for this series, especially with the falling out between Ivy and Catwoman, but as long as this series remains THIS strong, I know I'll be reading it.
Score: 9 out of 10.
Sworn enemies for LIFE! Now THAT'S hatred!
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