Power Girl #25 & Superman/Batman #85

Two soon to be canned DC books on the agenda. Yep, that's all the introduction I can think up...

Power Girl #25:

Summary: It appears Power Girl and Batman(Bruce Wayne) are trying to capture an escaped terrorist by the name of Rayhan Mazin. Rayhan has the ability to control the weather, and upon learning that his father was dying, decided to escape to say his good-byes to his dad. Rayhan claims he was innocent of the charges he was convicted of, but until that's proven, PG and Bats are obligated to recapture the fugitive. Since Rayhan couldn't get the two heroes to listen, he unleashes a hurricane and heads inside the hospital. PG tries to... fight the weather, I guess, while Bats chases after Rayhan. Rayhan floods a hallway to escape Bats, and makes it to his father's bedside just in times to say his good-byes before his old man passes. From there, Rayhan peacefully surrenders, and while PG is talking to Rayhan, Bats gets word that Rayhan really WAS innocent of the crimes against him. PG tells Bats that she was going to place Rayhan with the JSA to help him develop as a super-hero, which Bats is fine with. From there, Bats and PG say their good-byes(perhaps for the final time?), and this issue ends.

Thoughts: This was kind of like walking into a movie halfway through... I believe this was the second of a two part story, so it was a bit difficult to get into this one. However, once I had the characters/situation down, I did find myself enjoying this issue. I'm sure glad I started reading this series, since I've always been a fan of PG, and love Judd Winick's writing... What do you mean this was Winick's last issue on this book and this series wasn't surviving the DC Reboot?!?

Score: 8 out of 10.Hmm, read between the lines here and see what you can pick up about PG and the Reboot...


Superman/Batman #85:

Summary: We're back in the past here, with a dead body washing up near Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis. Jimmy snaps a few pics before the cops come by to take care of things. Later on, Perry White calls Clark Kent into his office and tells him that the body was a reporter friend of his from Gotham City. Perry continues, telling Clark that it's believed that this reporter had somehow figured out the secret identity of the Batman, and was murdered as a result. Perry finishes by telling Clark that he wanted him to pick up the dead reporters trail and finish the story. Curious about the whole thing, Clark heads to Gotham, and meets up with Bats. Bats tells Supes to keep his nose out of Gotham City business and takes off on him. Ah that friendly Batman... From there Bats heads to the dead reporter's apartment and finds a whole mess of newspaper clippings and evidence that link Bruce Wayne to Batman. As Bats is looking over the work, two cops enter the room, leaving Bats no choice but to torch all the paperwork before leaving(oh, and don't worry, Bats put out the blaze too). Later on, Supes catches up with Bats and asks him what was going on. Bats shows Supes a few things he managed to swipe from the apartment before setting it on fire, and reveals that the dead reporter had managed to get a hold of a piece of one of Batman's discarded gadgets, complete with a patent number from Waynetech. Long story short, the reporter did some digging, and was able to figure out Bruce and Bats were one and the same(and Bruce had been taking things from Waynetech while it was still publicly traded, meaning he was stealing from the stockholders or something). Supes still wants to help Bats get to the bottom of this mystery, but Bats continued to refuse Supes help, telling him that he didn't want nor need any assistance.

Thoughts: So, the murderer is Ra's Al Ghul, right? Anyway, this was the textbook definition of a perfectly acceptable comic. I mean, it didn't set the world on fire or anything, it simply told a straightforward story. The ONLY complaint I have here is that since this is the last storyarc in this series before the DC Reboot, I was kind of hoping we'd get a final current Superman/Batman story before the DCU gets turned upside-down...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Dun dun dun!!!