Gotham City Sirens #24:
Summary: We get started with Poison Ivy wrapping Joker up in some vines and demanding Harley Quinn ditch Mistah J and escape Arkham with Ivy. Harley distracts Ivy long enough for Joker to cut his way and then betrays Ivy, beating her up and tossing her back into the hole she came from. With Ivy out of the way, Joker and Harley continue tearing through the Asylum, killing guards and inmates alike. Batman(Bruce Wayne) and Catwoman enter the Asylum and begin to smash heads as they make their way towards Joker and Harley, who have blindfolded themselves, figuring Bats would come for them in the darkness. Joker guesses correctly, as Bats kills the power before confronting Joker and Harley. Since the demented duo were already blindfolded, the sudden darkness doesn't have the intended effect on them, and they're prepared for the arrival of Bats and Cats. Unfortunately for Joker and Harley, Bats anticipated Joker's actions, and has the lights suddenly brought back on, blinding Harley and Joker, ending their little rampage. From there, Bats and Cats have Harley and Joker locked back up at the Asylum. We end this issue with Poison Ivy waking up to Catwoman and Batman, with Catwoman telling Ivy she was also getting sent to Arkham with Harley, effectively putting an end to the Sirens.
Thoughts: Um, was this the last issue or something? Weird... I mean by the end of this issue, there was only one Siren left standing, Catwoman... I mean I like CW and all, but I liked the dynamic of Cats, Harley and Ivy together... Ah well. As usual, this was an above average read. My only complaint would be how swift the Joker/Harley-Batman/Catwoman showdown was. I mean we were building up to this big tag team main event, and it's all over over the course of a few short pages. I personally could have went for an entire issue of Bats and Cats battling the demented duo all throughout Arkham, but alas, it was not to be. If this was the last issue of this series, I'll definitely miss it, if not, then cool, I'll be reading issue #25 next month!
Score: 8 out of 10.
I was kind of hoping for more in the first Batman/Joker fight since RIP...Wonder Woman #612:
Summary: Before the final standing member of the Morrigan can suck the life out of Wonder Woman, a half dead Artemis manages to shoot an arrow through the Morrigan's neck, killing her, Artemis and blowing up the upper portion of the building the three women were in. For some inexplicable reason, WW's talking cat helps her out of the rubble and directs WW back towards the doorway from last issue. Before WW can open the door(which is adorned with WW's symbols), Zeus and his fellow gods approach WW and warn her that the force she'll be facing on the other side of the door is insanely powerful and draws it's strength from the world's despair(huh, sort of like me!). After her pep talk from the gods, WW opens the door and enters, finding herself surrounded by stone images of her dead fellow Amazons. The stone creations try to bury WW underneath them, but she manages to fight them off. Free of the stone creatures, WW turns around and is confronted by her corrupted doppleganger, Nemesis.
Thoughts: Yeah, I was one of those people who complained about the changes WW underwent 12 issues back. “Why change the costume? Why change the origin? Why change the villains? Why change Wonder Woman?” I didn't get it. Looking back, there are still a few things I don't get/like about this storyline(the talking cat is one of them...), but overall? I find myself really enjoying this storyline and eagerly anticipating the ending. Sure, J. Michael Straczynski's Superman run has been beyond abysmal, but his WW run has REALLY come together! The reveal that Nemesis was old school Wonder Woman really wasn't a surprise, it was pretty much spelled out over the last two issues, but actually seeing WW in all her former glory, preparing to take on the JMS version of the character? Awesome. Next issue should reveal to us why/how WW went crazy and caused the altered reality that's been going on these past 12 issues, as well as give us a WW vs WW fight... What more could I ask for?
Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.
It's about time!
Just how many books does Batman routinely appear in each month? Wow. And as for WW -- I never really get into her storylines. I don't know why. Maybe I didn't try hard enough to grasp the heroine that she is but I did enjoy her during her tenure on the JLA which has come and gone over the years of course. I guess I should try and catch up on Flashpoint, too. I admit: I am more of a Marvel fan than DC but I do enjoy a few Batman comics and past stories such as "Hush" and the Joker remains one of my favorite villains.
ReplyDelete"Just how many books does Batman routinely appear in each month?" That's a good question! Let's see, there are 5 books that star Bats(by my count...), and at least 4 other series that fall under the Batman banner of books, so yeah, he could be in up to 9(!) books a month! And that's not even counting a series like the Justice League! I guess DC realizes who their cash cow is...
ReplyDeleteI was thisclose to dropping WW a few issues back. I mean it was terrible. But then the current storyline pulled me back in. I think that's probably the trouble with Wonder Woman in general. For every really good issue you read, there are two bad issues to suffer through...
As for Flashpoint, if you want my advice, I'd say skip it and just wait until September when DC does their whole reboot. I mean since DC has basically come out and said, "Nothing we do right now matters since we're shaking everything up in a few months" I'm not sure it's worth wasting the $ on Flashpoint. But then again, I tend to boycott anything written by Geoff Johns, so there's that too!
And I'm definitely the same in regards to Marvel and DC. I grew up only reading Marvel, got angry with the direction Marvel took after House of M, started reading DC heavily for the next three or four years, got sick of the direction DC went after Blackest Night, and now am WAY more into Marvel's books again since the Heroic Age kicked off.
Now THIS is what I'm talking about. I'm loving these scores. I really need to get a start on catching up lol.
ReplyDeleteGreat reviews!!
what can I say I´m reading some of the flashpoint books,
ReplyDeleteBut i got my reason
Batman knight of veangance cuz it got Azzarello writining an Eduardo Risso is doing the art (he is argentinian)
An Frankeinstein because is one of the charecters that i enjoyed the most in the Morrison Seven Soldier
For the record X, Bats had Cash turn all the lights on, then once Joker realizes that they put on the blindfolds, then when Bats has cash turn the lights off, they aren't affected because they were wearing the blindfolds, and during the fight Bats throws a flash-bang which catches Joker and Harley off-guard and dilates their eyes. Which I mentioned in MY review that you never read :P
ReplyDeleteThat's cool, Alien. I'd never begrudge somebody for reading something I'm not. I just hate the idea of Flashpoint and as such don't care to read anything about it. Plus I'm spending much of my extra money on Fear Itself from Marvel.
ReplyDeleteYou see JT, I don't care! :P I'm not going to meticulously document EVERY little thing that happens in a comic. I used to do ultra long reviews that talked about EVERY aspect of each comic, but what did that get me?! Nice, quick, to the point, get the message out and done! I hit the gist of it, Bats had the lights killed, which Joker was expecting, and then Bats, figuring Joker was expecting the light trick, countered and blinded Joker with light. Simple!
So in other words, you aren't sure of the facts and you just paraphrase, so instead of saying, JT respects X but also thinks he's an ass, if you reviewed this the main bulletpoint would be, JT thinks X is an ass. Got it! :D
ReplyDeleteBut where's the part where I'm not sure of the facts? The main point here was that Joker KNEW what Bats would try to do with the lights since they know each other so well, and tried to counter it. Bats, knowing Joker would figure out what his plan was managed to counter Joker's counter, thus defeating him and Harley. It showed that Joker was smart, but Bats was smarter!
ReplyDeleteMeh. All I know is since switched up my review style, I've been getting WAY more pageviews, so I must be doing something right! :P
Well excuse me Mr. 1000 views a day, I'm just correcting one of your mistakes, and trust me, if I did more than one we could be here ALL day. :P
ReplyDeleteYou know JT, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones... Just sayin'... >:P
ReplyDeleteI hate you so much, lol.
ReplyDeleteNo you don't. :P
ReplyDelete