Origins and Omens flashback, part 1.

Hey again all, X here with what I think should be a fun little post. You see, last night I posted that I had been reordering my comic books to take a break from my various school related responsibilities. As I was going through my DC books, I came across a bunch of those “Origins and Omens” stories from early 2009 that ran right before Blackest Night began. What was “Origins and Omens” you ask? Basically it was Scar(of Blackest Night fame)looking into the future via the Book of Black. So I figured, why not post the O&O pages from the books I have and see just how accurate those “predictions” were... It turns out that I have 17 scans, so I'll post 9 today and 8 tomorrow. I'll be doing this in alphabetical order, so we'll have A-J today. Alright, let's get this show on the road.


First up would be Action Comic #874...-Guardian did run into that group of Legionaries
-He did team up with Nightwing and Flamebird
-And the Science Police building did explode.
-I don't recall his “daughter” dying
-Nor do I remember him flying on the wing of a plane, although I don't think anybody could blame me for forgetting about that...


Next is Adventure Comics #0-Well that's an easy one... Superboy did indeed come back to life!


Birds of Prey #127-That really bloody scene was from the abysmal Oracle/Battle for the Cowl mini
-Babs did break away from the Birds/Black Canary temporarily
-I don't recall Babs having one final battle with that awesome possessed Calculator
-And the Batgirl costume thing... Maybe that alludes to Steph becoming Batgirl?


Booster Gold #17-Booster did battle with/against the Teen Titans from the past
-But to my knowledge, Booster still hasn't learned the identity of the Black Beetle...


Green Arrow & Black Canary #17-Hey hey, I think every single thing from those scenes happened! Although to be honest, most of the stories were awful, so yeah...


Green Lantern #38-John Stewart had to deal with his dead ex during Blackest Night
-Hal and Sinestro DID have to team-up together(pretty much every other issue it seems)
-Black Hand also swore fealty to the Black Lanterns/Scar.
-I don't recall Alan Scott being called in front of the Guardians, which is pretty funny since Geoff Johns WROTE this issue, meaning you'd think it definitely would have happened!


Green Lantern Corps #33-Jade did indeed come back to life
-Sodam Yat did battle Mongul on Daxam
-I thought those children who attacked the GLC were Black Lanterns, not Sinestro Corps members, although I suspect I'm forgetting a storyline... Possibly with Kryb...
-I also don't recall the scene with Kilowog and Ganthet, although it easily could have happened somewhere along the line


Justice League of America #30-That Starbreaker guy did attack
-And Icon did help them during the Starbreaker battle.
-As for the half naked guy... No idea!


Justice Society of America #24-Obsidian did turn into a shadow egg
-Magog did leave the team
-The team did split in half
-And Mr. Terrific was stabbed by Kid Karnevil
-I don't recall Alan fighting the guy with the roots
-Nor do I recall the other battle with that giant thing with the sword


So there we go, that takes care of the first 9 scans. Tomorrow I'll post the rest, which include Nightwing, Robin and Superman. Until then, X out.

Adventure Comics #11

Just this one review on tap for tonight. I was going to review Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #1 tonight, but that comic was SO bad that I'm actually going to attempt to read it AGAIN later on tonight to see if I can possibly glean anything positive from it... But let's not go there just yet(there'll be plenty of Return of Bruce Wayne bashing on Thursday I figure), tonight I'll be looking at Adventure Comics #11, which contains two stories, one being an epilogue to Brainiac's attack on New Krypton, while the other is the conclusion to the long-running Mon-El storyline that had been taking place in the Superman title for the past year or so. Why am I talking about that here in the intro though? Let's get to the review!

Adventure Comics #11: Writers: James Robinson and Sterling Gates. Pencils: Travis Moore and Bernard Chang.
Last Issue: 9 out of 10.

Review: Our first story is the Brainiac one, so that's where I'll start. After being defeated by General Zod on New Krypton, Brainiac was abducted by Brainiac 5(of the OLD Legion of Super-Heroes), just prior to Zod blowing Brainiac's head off. Instead of allowing Brainiac to be killed by Zod, Brainiac 5 intends to turn Brainiac over to the authorities on Brainiac's homeworld of Colu. Before Brainiac 5 can get to Colu though, Brainiac manages to break free from his shackles and attacks Brainiac 5. The two Brainiacs fight, and Brainiac manages to get the upper-hand on his descendant, and is about to tear the secrets of time-travel from Brainiac 5's mind when Vril Dox(or Brainiac 2 since we seem to be on a Brainiac kick right now)arrives on the scene and takes Brainiac down with a well placed taser blast. It seems that Brainiac 5 had contacted Dox earlier and was intending to hand the elder Brainiac over to Dox all along so he wouldn't have to head to Colu and explain to the authorities who he was. With Brainiac now destined to be returned to Colu, Brainiac 5 returns to the future where he receives a hero's welcome, ending the first story. Next up is the Mon-El story, which also spins out of the Last Stand storyline. Mon has been taking all of the bottled cities he rescued from Brainiac's ship(with some help from the OLD Legion Espionage Squad)and placing them on planets where they would be able to grow(literally!)and thrive. Mon eventually completes his task, but returns to Earth greatly diminished thanks to the return of his fatal lead sickness. Mon says his good-byes to Jimmy Olsen, finds and defeats the talking monkey that had experimented on him, and in doing so rescues a young Daxamite female who the monkey was also experimenting on. Mon then takes the woman to the Fortress of Solitude where Superboy and a spacecraft was waiting. Mon escorts the woman onto the spacecraft so she can get off of Earth before she also begins to suffer from the deadly lead poisoning that Mon was suffering from. Once the woman is safely headed off of Earth, Mon begins to collapse. Chameleon Boy(from the aforementioned Legion Espionage Squad)teleports over to Superboy and the stricken Mon and offers him a chance to live by returning to the newly fixed Phantom Zone. Mon decides he'd rather die then spend forever drifting as a phantom, but Chameleon Boy guilts Mon, telling him that he still has more to do one day down the road. Mon agrees to go back to the Phantom Zone and drifts aimlessly for untold years, until Superman and the Legion pull him out of the Phantom Zone in the future, where the apparent cycle of Mon-El's life begins all over again, ending this issue.

What I Thought: I actually liked both stories. The first story had Vril Dox in it, and as far as I'm concerned, a Dox appearance can make ANY comic better! The second story felt somewhat rushed, but was a satisfying end to Mon-El's story. I will say that I'm sad that Mon's story(in the present day DCU at least)has ended, I always felt he had some great potential. I did like the way James Robinson pretty much completed the apparent circle that is Mon-El's life, with him returning to the Phantom Zone where he would eventually be rescued thanks to a young, time traveling Clark Kent in the future, so that his life story could begin anew. As I said in the intro, I did find it strange that Mon's story was completed here in Adventure Comics as opposed to Superman(where Mon has been starring for over a year now), but I've given up trying to figure out the way the DC brain-trust thinks... I'll just shrug my shoulders and say, whatever, and move on to the next comic.

Score: 8 out of 10.If Vril Dox appeared in every DC comic, I'd have nothing to complain about!

Adventure Comics #10

Adventure Comics #10: Writers: Sterling Gates, James Robinson and Eric Trautmann. Pencils: A whole slew of guys!
Last Issue: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Two stories in this book, so I think I'll start off by reviewing the first. That seems to make sense to me. We pick up from Last Stand of New Krypton #2 with Superman falling towards New Krypton after having his powers removed from him due to a blast of red sunlight, courtesy of Brainiac's ship. Before Supes goes splat, one of Brainiac's robot minions flies over and catches Supes, landing safely with the confused Man of Steel. The robot reveals that it is actually one of the Legion members who had infiltrated Brainiac's ship, and the two of them try to figure out a way to get back on Brainiac's ship. Meanwhile, on said ship, Superboy gets separated from his Legion allies and trapped in a large room. As he attempts to pound a hole into the wall of the prison room, Lex Luthor strolls in and begins to taunt SB. Ah Lex, what an awesome villain you are! SB goes to attack Lex, but gets blasted with a major dosage of green Kryptonite before Lex blasts him into unconsciousness. Upon waking up, SB discovers that he is now trapped within the bottle city of Kandor, along with all of the Kryptonians. Mon-El, who was apparently captured in Last Stand #2, is being forced to live through some of his worst memories thanks to some sort of apparatus Brainiac's robots had hooked him up to. Back in the bottled city of Kandor, Superboy manages to find Gen. Zod and inquires as to whether of not the General has any plans for escaping. Zod tells SB to get lost, and after some more words between the two, they end up fighting, which leads to Zod taking SB down with some funky Kryptonian martial arts. With SB out of his way, Zod reveals that he does indeed have a plan for escaping Brainiac's bottled city, and along with a select group of military personal, Zod exits the bottled city and prepares to attack Brainiac's ship from within, ending the first story. The second story deals with the Kryptonian who had infiltrated Gen. Lane's Project 7734. Lane sends for her and shows her the scene from New Krypton, with Brainiac attacking the planet. Lane gloats for a while before revealing that he had known all along that she was an infiltrator... D'oh! The infiltrator tries to fight through Lane's men, but Lane uses his anti-Kryptonian tech to slowly sap her powers, which causes her to race to the lowest levels of the Project to see what Zod had been hiding. Upon arriving, she finds two fellow Kryptonian infiltrators and she realizes that Lane had tortured them in order to find out about her. With her powers totally spent, she is captured by Lane's soldiers and after complimenting her inventiveness, Lane puts a bullet between her eyes, ending this issue.

Very good stuff here! The first story was pretty good, but the second story was great! The infiltrator story had been very strong from the first part, and it definitely ended on a high note. Once again, although Gen. Lane is obviously the bad guy here, it is very easy to understand his motivations, and to a certain degree, almost agree with them. It's that ambiguity that made the infiltrator story so good, because I could sympathize with both Lane and the Kryptonian. As for the first story, it furthered the Last Stand storyline, which is a nice change of pace, since the past two Last Stand stories in Adventure Comics had been more or less filler stuff with very little connection to the main LS story. We get SB defeated(twice!)and locked up in Kandor, Mon-El as a prisoner of Brainiac, Supes trapped on the outside trying to finds a way in and Gen. Zod ready to launch one final all-out assault on Brainiac in order to set his people free. Yeah, I know I said it before, but I'm still going to say it again; I can't wait to see how this x-over ends up!

Score: 9 out of 10.I'm a big fan of Superboy, but Gen. Zod thrashing him with that crazy Kryptonian martial arts was just beyond great!

Adventure Comics #9

Adventure Comics #9: Writers: James Robinson and Sterling Gates. Artists: More then I'm willing to list here!
Last Issue: 4 out of 10.

Much like the previous issue, this issue follows three different plot threads. The first one deals with Brainiac 5 from... I think the Old Legion of Super-Heroes, but I'm honestly not sure anymore... Anyway, Brainiac 5 is trying to figure out a way to the 21st century so he can prevent the death of Superman at the hands of his ancestor, the original Brainiac. Ultimately, Brainiac 5 manages to concoct a machine that allows him to travel back in time so he can assist the other time lost Legionaries in their attempts at halting Brainiac's assault on New Krypton. The second story deals with Superboy and Supergirl as they try to unite the Kryptonians against the forces of Brainiac. See, the Kryptonians are a fractured society of guilds, and the guilds, even under the threat of extinction, refuse to work with one another.. Idiots.... Finally SG and Tellus, one of the aforementioned time lost Legionaries, combine forces and Tellus is able to use his telepathy to convince a few of the Kryptonians to join forces to launch an attack on Brainiac's spacecraft. The final story deals with one of General Zod's Kryptonian infiltrators... Um, infiltrating General Lane's secret government program. In order to gain Lane's trust, she betrays one of her fellow infiltrators, and Lane and his K Squad kill the alien. In the end, the infiltrator rationalizes her actions by continuously telling herself that she was doing what was best for her homeworld, even if it costs a few Kryptonian lives.

I was pretty pleasantly surprised by this comic, especially in light of how much I disliked the last issue. Storywise, nothing really happened to advance the New Krypton/Brainiac storyline, but the little stories that were here were pretty good, especially the last one about the infiltrator. In the end, if you didn't read this comic, you wouldn't be missing much in the Last Stand x-over, but for those of us following the Last Stand x-over, this comic was a worthy addition.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Being a HUGE fan of the second Brainiac(Vril Dox), it was nice to see him and his son mentioned during the Brainiac family tree portion of this comic... Hmm, a Vril Dox week over at Uncanny Comic Book Scans doesn't sound half bad...

Adventure Comics #8, Deadpool #19 & 20.

Hey X-Maniacs, it's time for another post filled with comic books, complaints and bad grammar!!! Tonight I'll be checking out a DC comic and 2 Marvels. On the DC side of the equation, I'll be reading Adventure Comics, while the two Marvel books are Deadpool comics. For some reason(probably monetary)I stopped collecting Deadpool comics about 12 issues ago, but after doing a Deadpool week over at my other blog, my interest in DP was rekindled. That, along with the fact that Daniel Way is an excellent writer, led me to pick up the two most recent issues of DP... Unfortunately these comics both featured a monkey... *sigh*... I HATE monkeys in comic books!!! I hate the talking monkey's in the DCU, and I hated having to read about a monkey in these two Deadpool books!

Before I get on with the reviews, it's time to talk about my spur of the moment eBay purchase of the day! After my anti-Golden Age Legion of Super-Heroes rant yesterday, I decided to see if I could find a couple of the re-boot Legion books from the mid to late-90's. Unfortunately(or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I didn't find any full runs, BUT I did find a full run of the LEGION series from the early-90's... What was LEGION? I'm not 100% sure, but I do know that the lead character is Vril Dox, who is also the lead character in what has become my favorite DC comic, REBELS. Since Dox/Brainiac 2 has slowly grown into one of my favorite DC characters, I figured I'd give his first series a shot. All right, that's what I did today, now for the reviews!

Adventure Comics #8: Writers: Sterling Gates, James Robinson & Eric Trautmann... Well, I guess that answers the age-old question of how many writers does it take to write a really bad issue of Adventure Comics... Pencils: Travis Moore, Julian Lopez & Pier Gallo.

This comic actually follows three different storylines, so I'll take 'em one at a time. The first story follows the adventures of the Legion of Super-Heroes(or the Old Legion), who have discovered a bunch of temporal rifts opening up in the 31st century, where they are located. After some investigation, the Old Legion learns that Brainiac is responsible for the time rifts thanks to his actions in the present. The second story follows Superboy and Mon-El as they meet with the Old Legion espionage squad. The Old Legionaries explain that they have come back in time to save New Krypton from an attack by Brainiac. The final story deals with General Lane unknowingly taking the Kryptonian terrorist who blew up the Science Police building in Metropolis and putting her in his anti-New Krypton army... And that's pretty much it for this issue...

Needless to say this comic did absolutely NOTHING for me. Don't like the Old Legion, don't care about them or their problems, and I didn't appreciate that every story ended by telling me, “To be continued in Last Stand of New Krypton #1!”... Yeah yeah, I got that the first time! If you're a fan of the Golden Age Legion/the Old Legion, or are Geoff Johns, you'll probably enjoy this comic. If not, then I'd recommending avoiding this one.

Score: 4 out of 10.Nothing says Cosmic "Boy" more then a guy who looks like he's pushing 40...

Deadpool #19: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Carlo Barberi.

This comic begins with Deadpool arriving in NYC in order to find Spider-Man, so he could learn how to be a super-hero. He unwittingly passes Spidey(as Peter Parker)in the subway, which causes Spidey to realize that DP was lurking around NYC. Later on, Spidey goes to his corner grocery store and discovers the bodies of the owner of the store and a few other people gunned down in the storeroom. After calling the cops(and switching to his Peter Parker identity), Peter learns from the cops that the killings looked like they were done by a professional, which automatically causes Peter to figure Deadpool was behind the killings. Spidey finds Deadpool on the rooftop, and proceeds to beat him unconscious. Deadpool wakes up bound in webbing and is asked by Spidey why he killed the people in the store. Pool explains that he wasn't responsible, and after producing an alibi, Spidey cuts Pool loose. Pool then offers to assist Spidey in the investigation since he'd be able to offer Spidey some valuable insight into the killings. Spidey and Pool head to the store and after looking around the crime scene, Pool deduces that a monkey hitman named Hit-Monkey(yes, really...)was responsible for the killings and that he probably wasn't done killing yet. Pool tells Spidey that Hit-Monkey only kills other hitmen/assassins, which leads Spidey to realize that Hit-Monkey was probably gunning for Pool!

Yeah, after reading the intro, what did you think I was going to say about this issue? For what it was, it was an OK story, but my blinding hatred of monkeys in comic books prevented me from being able to enjoy it any more then I did. I'm sure people without a monkey-bias will have enjoyed this comic more then me, because it really wasn't horrible.

Score: 6 out of 10.And that ladies and gentlemen is a beat-down.

Deadpool #20: Writer: Daniel Way. Pencils: Carlo Barberi.

This issue begins with Hit-Monkey gunning down some crooked cops, which proves to Spidey that Deadpool didn't make up the story of Hit-Monkey, as he had suspected. While the two are discussing a way to lure Hit-Monkey out in the open, Hit-Monkey attacks Deadpool and Spidey. Sadly, the two of them are unable to overcome the unmitigated force known as monkey power, and this issue ends with Hit-Monkey riddling Deadpool's body with bullets.

If you really want to know what I thought about this comic, see what I said about issue #19. The exact same stuff applies here. Don't like monkeys, don't like reading about 'em. That pretty much sums up my feelings towards this storyline in a nutshell.

Score: 6 out of 10.Am I the only one who wondered how guys like Spidey and Deadpool could make their masks SO expressive?

Action Comics #886, Adventure Comics #7 & Green Arrow/Black Canary #29

Since I've gotten a lot of my Marvel comics out of the way lately, it's time to dig into the ever growing pile of DC's I have. Since I'm feeling particularly lazy tonight, I have no idea how many reviews I'll be doing before I call it a night. I guess I'll take it one comic at a time...

Action Comics #886: Writers: Greg Rucka & Eric Trautmann. Artist: Pere Pèrez.

We open things up with Nightwing(Chris Kent)acting like one of Marvel's mutants by decrying the fact that no matter what he does, the public still hates and fears him. Flamebird(Thara Ak-Var)tries to cheer him up, but they wind up arguing about her being possessed by the Kryptonian god, Flamebird, while Chris is possessed by nothing. Hey, I'd be more then happy if an ancient Kryptonian god WASN'T taking me over, but to each his own I guess. Thara decides to give Chris a Kryptonian crystal to explain why she is possessed, while he isn't. Annnnnd, que flashback sequence! Chris gets a LONG lesson in Kryptonian mythology, and since I like you so much, I'm going to spare you the excruciatingly boring details. All you need to know is that the Kryptonian gods Nightwing and Flamebird have an enemy god called Vohc-The-Breaker, and that Vohc was responsible for imprisoning Nightwing in the Phantom Zone, because he's EVIL! After learning this, Chris does what any reasonable twenty-something would do, he sleeps with Thara... Sure, why not? Afterwards, Flamebird takes possession of Thara while she was sleeping and speaks to Jax-Ur, who is demanding payment for assisting Flamebird and Chris a few issues back. Flamebird reluctantly agrees to betray Thara and Chris the following day by sending them into a trap Jax-Ur had set for them. That is exactly what happens, and this issue(mercifully!)ends with us learning that apparently Jax-Ur is the host for Vohc-The-Breaker.

What the HELL was that?!? You know, I've defended this title since Greg took over. I liked the Chris Kent character since the AMAZING Last Son storyline, so I was more then willing to put my neck out and try to find the good in this series... Sure, it's been getting tougher to actually find good in this series with each passing month, but I still tried... That is until I finished reading this comic. What a frigging mess! A lesson in Kryptonian mythology? REALLY!?! The Nightwing/Flamebird myth was hokey and boring AND it went on for PAGES! Then there's the "shocking" revelation the Jax-Ur is apparently some evil Kryptonian god who has never been mentioned or shown before this issue. Um, so what? It's not like Greg and Eric have been building towards the Vohc reveal, they just sort of threw it in there, and as such, I could care less about it. After reading this, all I want is for Geoff Johns to write one issue of this series returning Chris to a seven year old kid, while getting rid of everything that's happened here recently...

Score: 2 out of 10.If you're a fan of Kryptonian mythology, then this is the comic book you've been waiting for!!!

Adventure Comics #7: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Travis Moore.

This issue gets started with Black Lantern Superboy fighting Wonder Girl. Superboy tries to fight off the influence of the black ring, but is unable, and he is forced to watch helplessly as his body tries to kill his girlfriend. During the battle, WG manages to wrap BL SB up with her lasso and shock him, which allows SB to regain control of his body for a second. SB takes that time to whistle to Krypto, who rushes over to protect WG from BL SB. BL SB makes quick work of Krypto by freezing the dog, something SB was never able to do, before returning his attention to WG. SB manages to take control of his body AGAIN, and he writes the word "fortress" into some rocks near WG, which causes her to head north to the Fortress of Solitude, with BL SB and Krypto in hot pursuit. The three arrive at the Fortress, and BL SB immediately attacks WG, while Krypto notices something peculiar buried under the floor of the Fortress. Krypto winds up digging up SB's body, which was buried under the Fortress after the events of Infinite Crisis. BL SB's Black Lantern ring becomes confused by the presence of two Superboys and finally decides to abandon SB for his corpse. Before the ring can latch onto his dead body, SB uses his freeze breath to freeze the ring in its tracks, while WG throws it into space, where the two hope it will remain frozen forever. This issue ends with SB re-burying his corpse, before returning to the battle against Nekron with WG and Krypto by his side.

Hmm, I've seen a few reviews that gave very high praise to this comic, and after reading it for myself, I have to disagree!(sorry JT!) As a matter of fact, I didn't like this comic at all! It was bad enough that Wonder Woman was able to shake free of her black ring, but Superboy? No way! If SB can maintain some form of control over his body while he's a BL, then why can't Superman or Kid Flash? Sure Tony tried to sell that SB had extensive mental training to resist being mind controlled(which is doubtful, since SB quit the Titans after being mind controlled by Lex Luthor, and then "died" soon thereafter), but you can't expect me to believe that SB's mind is better conditioned to avoid telepathic assaults then Supes, who's been a hero forever, or a speedster like Kid Flash... I will say that I really liked that Tony used SB's dead body in this issue, because I was wondering what became of it, but even that part seemed somewhat off to me. I've seen Black Lantern rings free themselves from many different types of prisons, they've even been shown to be capable of puncturing Green Lantern constructs, but this issue ends when SB's black ring is unable to escape some ice? The damn things travel through the universe without freezing, but they can't escape frozen spit?!? And on top of that, why didn't a black ring attach itself to SB's corpse right from the start? If Nekron is the all-knowing embodiment of death, how come he didn't know a very powerful corpse was buried under the Fortress of Solitude? I don't know, maybe I was looking too far into things here, but some of the events in this comic just didn't add up for me.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.So because Superboy has had telepathic coaching from Raven, he's able to counter his black ring... Uh-huh...

Green Lantern/Black Canary #29: Writer: Andrew Kreisberg. Pencils: Mike Norton.

We kick this issue off with Green Arrow learning that his cop friend, Lt. Hilton, was stabbed in the back of the head by Cupid, but is inexplicably still alive, even with the knife handle jutting out of his head... Well, that's just weird. The doctor explains that Hilton is awake, and coherent, but that he may be slightly off-kilter and brain-damaged... Well, I would say so! GA tries to talk to Hilton, but unsurprisingly, Hilton doesn't feel like talking, so GA leaves the hospital and meets up with Black Canary and Speedy. The trio head down to police headquarters, and GA begins to look into any strange crimes that may be the handy work of Cupid, when he comes across reports of a stolen eighteen wheel truck. Speaking of Cupid, she has loaded the truck full of "love potion" chemicals, which she plans on dumping into the Star City drinking water. Oh, and Hilton(with the knife STILL planted firmly in his head)gets up and leaves the hospital... Cupid makes it to the waters where she plans on dumping her chemicals, but she is interrupted by her former army buddies. They try to kill her, but GA and company arrive on the scene and make the save. GA winds up in the army helicopter, while Cupid ends up battling BC(after Speedy was knocked into the waters below)in the GA copter. GA's copter explodes, while BC and Cupid's helicopter crashes into a nearby dam. GA emerges from the wreckage of the army helicopter just in time to see Cupid hanging onto the edge of the dam, with BC hanging on to her leg. Before Cupid and BC fall into the waters below, GA manages to shoot Cupid through the hand, pinning her to the wall, as well as curing her insanity... Umm, what? The now sane Cupid helps BC climb onto the dam, saving both women. A little later, GA and BC question Cupid, and learn that she is back in control, and with that, they leave her to the authorities. Lt. Hilton, who was quietly watching from a distance, shoots a man in the head and steals his car, driving away, all with a knife handle sticking out of the back of his head! This issue ends with GA and BC being summoned by Hal Jordan to meet him up at the JLA Watchtower, setting the stage for the Cry for Justice mini-series.

Well, that's it. This was the last issue of Andrew Kreisberg's GA run. Before I get into my thoughts on this issue, let's take a look back at Andrew's GA work. First he introduced us to Cupid. Then Cupid became obsessed with GA. From there, Cupid began killing GA's enemies. Cupid then gets arrested, breaks free, is revealed to be a member of a top secret black-ops project, does evil things, then is cured of her insanity... And that's pretty much Andrew's run in a nutshell! See the problem? If used properly, I think Cupid could have been a welcome addition to GA's rogues gallery, unfortunately, this series became more about Cupid then it was about GA and BC, which completely turned me off of the Cupid character. All right, with that out of the way, I can get back to the comic at hand. Surprisingly, this issue wasn't as bad as I expected it to be. Sure, there were a few REALLY bad parts, such as Cupid getting shot through the hand and regaining her sanity... I have NO idea how the hell THAT works out! However, this comic did something that I've been waiting MONTHS to see happen, it FINALLY gave us a conclusive ending to the whole Cupid storyline. Sure, I probably would have preferred to see her die, preferably at the hands of Lt. Hilton, but at least this comic ended with Cupid's tale over, because if this comic would have ended with Cupid once again sneaking away or outsmarting everyone, I think I would have thrown this comic book across the room! As for the next issue... I'm not sure what to expect. I guess it will pick up after the events of Cry for Justice, but I'm not positive. All I know is if Cupid shows up next issue, I'll riot!

Score: 7 out of 10.Wait, Green Arrow doesn't kill? He must have forgotten his series from the 1980's, because all he seems to do in those comics is kill people!

Adventure Comics #452(Aug. 1977)

Well, it seems that my package of new comic books didn't arrive today as I had been anticipating... That sucks because it leaves me with nothing new to review. I could crack open a recent issue of Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: Legacy or Moon Knight, but I'm REALLY down on the x-books right now, so a review of either one of those x-books would basically consist of me bitching for a few paragraphs, so I figure I'll spare everybody that. Unless you guys want to read a post full of complaints and lame jokes... Yeah, I didn't think so! As for Moon Knight... I'm just not really in a Moon Knight sort of mood, whatever that means. I have Captain America #602 and the Captain America: Who Will Wield The Shield one-shot laying around as well, but I refuse to read either of those books until I've read Cap: Reborn #6. Besides those comics, I have nothing new to read, and as such, I have nothing new to review, so I'm going to go RETRO and review an issue of Adventure Comics from the 70's! That's right everybody, it's the return of the dreaded RETRO Review!!! Since this is a RETRO Review, expect plenty of sarcasm! So without further ado, here's a look back into the past, back when Aquaman was alive, Tempest was still called Aqualad and Batman and Robin used to fight crime with the aid of Hostess Cup Cakes! Don't ask...

Adventure Comics #452: Writer: David Michelinie. Artist: Jim Aparo.

This issue opens with Aquaman fighting off some damnable surface-dwellers who were hassling him, which was preventing him from finding his missing son, Aquababy. Sadly, Aquaman is unable to defeat the three goons in wetsuits so he summons a few sea critters to do the job for him... That was pretty lame of Aquaman actually... With the menace of the guys in the wetsuits dealt with(Huzzah!), Aquaman meets up with a few members of a pacifist sect of Atlantians who inform him that a)their city was taken over by a surface-dweller, b)that same surface-dweller had managed to kidnap Aqualad as well. Damn surface-dwellers... Aquaman and the pacifists head to the city and he is met by more guys wearing wet suits. Aquaman decides to simply call a shark to deal with those bozos, but much to Aquaman's surprise, the shark attacks him and knocks him out instead! Holy double-cross, Aquaman! Aquaman wakes up tied to a wall in a room with Aqualad and a fellow Atlantian named Mcaan. Since the three men are trapped there, Mcaan decides to regale Aquaman with his origin story... Why not I guess... Basically Mcaan and his son lived in Atlantis and the kid heard the pacifists preaching one day. The kid decided that was the life for him, so he ran away to join up with them. Mcaan came across a photo of Aqualad in some Atlantian newspaper(which I would assume isn't actually made of paper...) and since both his son and Aqualad had purple eyes, Mcaan figured his son had become Aqualad... Yeah, OK... Eventually Mcaan finds Aqualad and discovers that Aqualad isn't his son, and the two decide to hunt down the pacifist's city so Mcaan could reunite with his son. Upon arriving at the city, the duo were promptly captured by those rotten surface-dwellers. After Mcaan finishes his story, as if on cue, the leader of the evil surface-dwellers, Black Manta, arrives in the room to gloat. Manta knocks Aquaman around for a while, because Aquaman's hands are loosely tied by a simple rope, and that is apparently Aquaman's kryptonite. Eventually Aquaman tricks Manta into thinking he was dead and proceeds to escape from the room, leaving Aqualad and Mcaan to fend for themselves... Gee, thanks a lot Aquaman! Upon getting outside, Aquaman tries to summon some fish to help him, but once again, the fish try to attack Aquaman. Aquaman makes a run for it and is chased down by Black Manta riding a dolphin... Yes, a dolphin. Aquaman heads into a laboratory where the pacifists were being forced to put gills on Black Manta's men so they'd be able to breath underwater. Aquaman decides to use the medical laser on Manta, but Manta reveals that he has Aquaman's son prisoner, and that if Aquaman did any thing rash, his son would pay the price. Aquaman surrenders himself to Manta, and Manta proceeds to toss Aquaman and Aqualad into an arena where they were to fight to the death for Manta's amusement... You know, if I were Black Manta, I'd probably just kill the both of them and be done with it. I guess I just don't have Manta's flare for the dramatic... Manta shows Aquaman a remote control and explains to him that the remote was allowing him to erect a large force field around the arena which would prevent Aquaman and Aqualad from escaping... Now why would Manta tell them that? In order to raise the stakes higher, Manta places Aquababy in a plastic globe that was slowly filling with air, meaning Aquababy would suffocate unless Aquaman found a way to save his son within 5 minutes. Manta then tosses two tridents into the arena and demands the two heroes do battle. Aquaman, fearing for his son, immediately attacks Aqualad, drawing first blood and hurting Aqualad's feelings... Really! Anyway, the two battle for a while and Aquaman realizes that the reason he was unable to control the various sea creatures surrounding Manta was because they were all robots. Aquaman makes contact with Topo, Aquababy's pet octopus, and Topo attacks Manta, destroying his force field device, which allows Aquaman to shatter the globe Aquababy was being held in. Realizing the jig was up, Manta makes a run for it, but not before attempting to collapse a wall on a few of the pacifist Atlantians. Aquaman saves the pacifists, but that slight distraction allows Manta to make good his escape. After saving the pacifists, Aquaman heads back to the arena where he discovers that Aquababy wound up suffocating in the plastic globe while he and Aqualad battled... Wow, that's a pretty horrible way to die... Aquaman gives his son's dead body to Topo and tells the octopus to return home... Umm, shouldn't Aquaman be the one to deliver the awful news to his wife and Aquababy's mother, Mera, not some freaking octopus!?! Instead of returning home, Aquaman wants to chase after Manta and asks Aqualad to assist him. Aqualad flatly turns Aquaman down, stating that he was hurt that Aquaman had tried to kill him in the arena earlier, even though refusing to fight probably would have led to Manta killing Aquababy sooner. Aquaman gets pissed(and rightfully so!)and tells Aqualad that he'll hunt down Manta on his own, ending this issue.

Well, that sure wasn't a cheery comic book! Having a limited knowledge of Aqua-history, I knew Black Manta was responsible for the death of Aquaman's son, but I didn't know how it actually occurred until I read this issue. Jeez, how can you suffocate a little kid... What a piece of work Black Manta is... I actually wouldn't mind buying and reading whatever issue it is where Aquaman finally meets up with Black Manta again, because I can't figure out why Aquaman didn't rip Manta limb from limb upon finding him. I know I would have. Besides the Black Manta stuff, the way this issue ended with Aquaman and Aqualad really bothered me. Aquaman discovers that his only son is dead, and he decides to go after the party responsible for the heinous crime. He asks his longtime sidekick to help him out, and Aqualad say no?!? Really!?! What the HELL was that! Manta told the two to fight to the death, while Aquababy was his pawn. What the hell did Aqualad expect Aquaman to do, play patty-cake with him?! How Aqualad could turn his back on Aquaman after he lost his son is absolutely perplexing to me. And I thought Roy Harper was a lousy sidekick! At least Roy could blame the heroin for his actions, what the hell was Aqualad's excuse? Well, I hope you've enjoyed reading this this blast from the past as much as I enjoyed writing it. Since this is a RETRO Review, I feel I should close this post with a retro saying... Ah I know, Up, Up, and Away!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, I know this has absolutely NOTHING to do with the story I just reviewed, but come on, how couldn't I post this masterpiece!?!

Adventure Comics #6 & Gotham City Sirens #7

I should probably be doing my Accounting homework instead of posting comic reviews, but what can I say? I may physically be back at school, but mentally, I'm not quite there yet... Speaking of not being there mentally, I went and brought a bunch of comic books today for pretty much no apparent reason. I was checking out eBay earlier because I've been wanting to pick up the full run of the Aquaman series from the 90's. Unfortunately for me though, the full runs I found were a little bit too expensive for my taste. From eBay, I went to the Comic Collector Live website to see if one of their participating shops had some cheaper Aquaman books. I wound up finding the comic where Black Manta kills Aquaman's son, which is something I'd been interested in reading for a while now, so I decided to pick that up, and that's where the trouble began. The comic shop I was ordering from had one of those, "Spend $25 and your order ships for free!" deals going, so I figured, "Eh, I can spend $25 here." By the time it was said and done, I'd picked up the full run of the Simon Dark series, a Question mini-series, a Son of Vulcan mini-series and the entire Manhunter series. Now, those of you who read my post from last night may be wondering why I decided to buy the Manhunter series after my remarks. I may not have liked the first 5 issues, but the next couple of issues were pretty good, and since I was splurging anyway, I figured, "What the heck?" Anyway, enough about my day, here are my thoughts on Adventure Comics #6 and Gotham City Sirens #7.

Adventure Comics #6: Writer: Geoff Johns. Artist: Francis Manapul.

Lex Luthor arrives at the home of his brain-addled and physically handicapped sister's house and lays Superboy out with some Kryptonite. Lex's niece pleads with him not to kill SB, and SB winds up playing to Lex's ego by telling him that he's full of it when he claims that if it wasn't for Superman he could right every wrong and cure every disease in the world. Lex assures SB that he can, and SB challenges Lex to prove it by fixing Lex's sister. Lex agrees to the challenge, and holds his niece at gunpoint while he sends SB out to gather the various ingredients he'd need to heal the sick woman. SB gets the items, and Lex gets to work, coming up with a concoction that not only heals his sister's mind, but that heals her body as well. SB is shocked that Lex was actually able to do it, and then Lex proceeds to stick his sister with another needle, undoing all of the work he did, leaving the woman a wreck again. When SB asks why Lex did what he did, Lex explains that he only wanted to prove that he COULD do it, and that once Superman was dead, he'd cure his sister again. SB decides to beat Lex up, but Lex winds up getting saved by his buddy, Brainiac. The two villains teleport back to Brainiac's ship, and Lex explains that as far as he's concerned, SB isn't his son, he's simply a failed experiment. Lex then indicates that he was creating another "child", this time with Brainiac... Wow, that sentence just sounds wrong... Anyway, SB meets up with his old Young Justice/Teen Titans teammates(Red Robin, Kid Flash and Wonder Girl)and tells them that after witnessing what Lex had done, he knows he could never turn out like Lex, and he ends up throwing his Lex Luthor/Superman journal into the campfire ending this issue, as well as Francis and Geoff's run on this series.

I know this is going to raise the ire of many of my fellow fanboys, but I'm glad Geoff won't be writing SB's adventures anymore. Now before I begin to get death threats, allow me to explain. Geoff Johns is my current favorite writer. I even gave him my writer of the year award for 2009! However, I HATE the whole, "Superboy is half Superman, half Lex Luthor" thing. I've never liked that idea, it always seemed so unnecessary to me. SB had been an established DC character for 10 years or so before Geoff did the SB/Supes/Lex thing, and for me personally, it hurt SB's character more then it helped it. If anything, Geoff should have introduced a new character with the duel Superman/Lex Luthor DNA instead of forcing it on SB. That's probably why I haven't enjoyed this series as much as I figure I should have. I hated that stupid Lex/Supes journal SB was always writing in. I never really understood the purpose of it... He's Superboy, not Boy Luthor, or Conflicted-boy... Anyway, thanks for bringing SB back from the dead Geoff, but please, stay away from him now!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.I wish Lex would talk in the third person more often... That would make him even more awesome!

Gotham City Sirens #7: Writer: Paul Dini. Pencils: David Lopez.

This is a Christmas issue that shows what the Sirens are up to for the holidays. Catwoman spends some time with Dick Grayson and they reminisce about their missing friends and loved ones, Poison Ivy hangs out in a tropical rainforest and takes down some drug traffickers and Harley Quinn goes home to her loser family. After facing nothing but grief from her family, Harley returns home to the Siren's headquarters(which was recently rebuilt)and spends the rest of the holidays with Catwoman and Ivy.

Meh. For some reason this comic just never clicked for me. I really can't figure out why, but I just didn't like it. I've been enjoying the past few issues of Sirens, but this one just left me bored and annoyed. Like I said, I can't quite put my finger on it, but there was just something... Off(I guess)in this one for me. Oh well, hopefully I'll like the next issue.

Score: 5 out of 10.Damian: "Are you going to suit up or get drunk with the tramp?"
Dick: "*sigh*I'm going to get drunk with the tramp..."

Adventure Comics #5/508

Writer: The comic book GOD, Geoff Johns(can you guess who I'll be giving my writer of the year award to?)and Sterling Gates. Pencils: Bob Wiacek and Jerry Ordway.

What Happened: Superboy Prime dukes it out with the Black Lanterns who want to add his rage filled heart to their ever growing collection over the streets of Earth-Prime Manhattan. Prime brings the fight to the offices of DC Comics and threatens the various creators for screwing up his life. Before Prime can kill anybody from DC Comics(and deprive us fanboys of our favorite vice)Black Lantern Alexander Luthor arrives and teleports Prime and the Black Lanterns back to the basement of Prime's parents house. The BL's continue to torment Prime, and Prime finally gives up and grabs a BL ring and puts it on his finger, killing himself. However, for some reason, the BL ring causes Prime to transform into a member of several of the other Corps until he finally ends up becoming a Red Lantern(huh?). Prime manages to roast all of the BL's with his Red Lantern powers, which causes his Black Lantern ring to shatter, leaving him alone(and whining)on his basement floor. Prime's story ends with Laurie(Prime's long thought dead girlfriend)walking down the basement stairs to embrace Prime. Unbeknownst to Prime though, Laurie is a Black Lantern!

Second Feature: Writer: Geoff Johns. Artist: Francis Manapul.
On his way home from Paris, Superboy spots Lori destroying a doctor's office in Smallville. Superboy tries to find out why Lori is vandalizing the doctor's office and winds up learning that the doctor wouldn't treat her sick mother(or something along those lines). SB brings Lori back to her house and tries to convince her that she should be trying to find constructive way of helping her mother. While the two are talking, someone knocks on Lori's door and as she opens it, SB keels over in pain. This issue ends with Lex Luthor(who was at the door holding some Kryptonite)announcing that he had been looking all over Smallville for SB, and that he was glad that he had finally found him(oh, and Lori is Lex's niece).

What I Thought: Umm, I really didn't like this comic. I thought the Prime feature was too cutesy, and the SB feature was too short. So yeah, this definitely won't go on my Geoff Johns highlight reel... The Prime feature really annoyed me, mainly because it was too "insider" for my tastes. I could have done without Prime's assault on the DC offices, it didn't really serve any purpose, and just seemed lame. I have NO idea why Prime putting on a Black Lantern ring resulted in him becoming a Red Lantern... That was completely mindboggling. And on top of all that, I thought the ending was pretty lousy as well! It was like the sort of thing you'd see in a really bad horror movie. Yep, Prime's feature was sincerely lacking. As for the Superboy feature, with the exception of Lex's appearance on the last page, nothing of note happened. It was just SB talking to this girl who turns out to be Lex's niece. Since I'm not emotionally invested in Lori at all, this reveal didn't impact me at all. To sum up this comic in a single word, "Meh".

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.This was the only good part of this comic, and it came on the very last page!

A Quick Look at Adventure Comics #4

Writers: The comic book GOD, Geoff Johns, along with Sterling Gates. Pencils: Jerry Ordway.

What Happened: Alexander Luthor of Earth-3(the one from Infinite Crisis)rises as a Black Lantern, collects a bunch of Black Lantern Rings, and uses his abilities to teleport to other dimensions to send himself after his one-time ally, Superboy Prime. On Earth-Prime, the ever annoying Superboy Prime reads his copy of this very comic and is aghast(aghast I say!)with the way it ends. Prime forces his terrified parents(who don't realize he is powerless)to drive him to the local comic book shop so he can get his copy of Adventure Comics #5 and discover what his fate is. Prime demands that the clerk give him a copy of Adventure #5, but the clerk explains to the panicked Idiot of Steel that Adventure #5 hasn't hit the newsstands yet. Prime decides to jump online to see if he can find spoilers for Adventure #5 so he can discover what fate awaits him. However, before he can read the spoilers, BL Alexander arrives and begins to torment Prime in an attempt to build rage up in Prime. Since Prime in his weakened state is unable to build the amount of rage BL Alexander was hoping for, BL Alexander re-powers Prime. Prime, now Super again, attacks BL Alexander, but is unable to inflict any real harm on his one time friend. This issue ends with several heroes who were killed by Prime(including the Threeboot versions of Element Lad and Sun Boy!)returning as Black Lanterns, all ready to force Prime to join their ranks.

What I Thought: Huh. I opened this comic with a lot of preconceived notions. Several people whose opinions I value highly were VERY down on this comic. And when I say VERY, I mean VERY! After reading this comic, I have to say that I respectfully disagree. I LOVED this comic! It was hilarious! In my opinion, this was the perfect way to write a Superboy Prime story. I've never hid the fact that I think SB Prime is a great character. He's probably the comic book character that I most love to hate. His actions, his dialogue, everything about him is just so annoying! In this issue, Geoff keyed right into what makes Prime great, his ability to annoy and BOY was he annoying here! Never before did I find myself rooting more for Black Lanterns then when Element Lad and Sun Boy showed up. And I think that's the fun of this comic, openly rooting AGAINST the starring character. I've got to say, I read the entire Superboy Prime story with a dopey grin on my face. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and read a good, fun comic, which was exactly what this was.

Score: 9 out of 10."A conduit of rage"? Hey, Alexander must be checking out my blog!

A Quick Look at Adventure Comics #3

Writer: The comic book GOD himself, Mr. Geoff Johns. Art: Francis Manapul.

What Happened: While at school in Smallville, Superboy realizes that Krypto has been defeating and collecting SB's old rogues gallery and depositing them nearby for SB. SB rushes outside and scolds Krypto for potentially giving away his secret identity and placing Ma in jeopardy, but upon realizing Krypto was only trying to help, he apologizes for scolding Krypto and takes his rogues to Blackgate prison. From there, SB takes Krypto to Lex Luthor's childhood home with the hope that Krypto could pick up Lex's scent and take him to where Lex was hiding. Unfortunately, Krypto is unable to latch onto Lex's scent, so SB has Krypto take him to the best detective he knows, his best friend, Red Robin. After helping RR apprehend a crook and get a hold of a Mother Box, RR and SB head to one of Lex's old labs underneath Paris. The two do some bonding, but unfortunately for SB, RR is unable to figure out where Lex is hiding. So where is Lex? This issue ends with Lex Luthor, still aboard Brainiac's ship, deciding to head down to Smallville to retake custody of "his" property, Superboy.

What I thought: I liked this issue. It wasn't amazing or anything, but it was a very good comic book. I like that Geoff is trying to reestablish Superboy in the DCU by having him meet up with all of his friends and allies again, but I'm ready for some action now! The first three issues of this series have consisted of little more then SB talking to his old teammates and friends. Although I'm hesitant to question the wisdom of the comic book GOD himself, I kind of think all of this meet and greet stuff could/should have been taken care of in the first issue, with the proceeding issues dealing with SB vs Lex Luthor or whoever SB decides to battle. But since I did like this issue, that's neither here nor there I guess. Next issue features the amazingly AWESOME Superboy Prime, the character I most love to hate, before issue #5 finally gives us the Superboy Lex Luthor showdown. I definitely can't wait for that! Oh yeah, there was a Legion of Super-Heroes Second Feature here as well, but since it didn't star my Legion(the Three-peat Legion)I really didn't feel like reading it, so I basically skimmed it.

Score: 8 out of 10.You know, I really wish Lex and Brainiac had their own mini-series. It could be like a new age odd couple.

Adventure Comics #2

Unfortunately this is going to be the only book I review tonight, I just finished typing up a paper on "The Epic of Gilgamesh", and needless to say I'm tired! Tomorrow I should have reviews up for Magog #1 and Booster Gold #24... Hopefully!

Adventure Comics #2: Writer- The comic book GOD himself, Geoff Johns. Artist- Francis Manapul.

What Happened: Lex Luthor and Brainiac make their escape from Project 7734. We learn that Brainiac intends on killing Superman for defeating him and re-bottling Kandor, while Lex Luthor will be given the Earth for his assistance in Brainiac's escape. Lex also has some kind of experiment on Brainiac's ship called Project: Alien Farm, which Lex calls very "personal" and "family". Wonder Girl and Superboy have a date, and SB reveals to Cassie that he still has feelings for her and that he'd like to pick up their relationship from where they left off, prior to his "death". Cassie reveals that while SB was "dead" her and Robin(Tim Drake/Wayne)wound up dating for a while. SB forgives her since everybody thought he was dead anyway and the two share a kiss. This issue ends with Lex Luthor catching up on the news while he was locked up by Project 7734. Lex seems genuinely pleased by most of the bad things he reads, however he is struck speechless when he gets to the article about his "son", Superboy, returning from the dead. This issue also had a Second Feature story starring Lightning Lad from the Legion of Super-Heroes and his evil brother. The story was pretty good, but I just can't fully enjoy these Legion stories... I want MY Legion, the Three-boot Legion!

What I thought: I definitely liked this issue more than the last one, the main story, as well as the Legion back-up were both way better than last month's installment of "Adventure". Lex Luthor stole the show as usual for me, but as most of you probably know, I'm a big fan of Lex, and Geoff writes Lex better than anybody else IMO. The SB story was nothing more than an extended date between SB and Cassie... Although I did enjoy the date and the dialogue was very well done, I was a little letdown that nothing really happened on the date. Sure, SB and Cassie got back together and kissed and all, but I was hoping for something more. Now, next issue has the potential of being VERY interesting... Red Robin(Tim Drake/Wayne)and SB are set to meet up for the first time since SB's return from the dead(well, besides FC: Legion of Three Worlds #5). I'll be interested to see how SB reacts to Tim concerning his new moniker/look, as well as the fact that Tim, SB's best friend, was all over Cassie after SB's death.

Score: 8 out of 10.You've got to love Lex's definition of "good" news.

A Quick Look at Adventure Comics #1(or #504 if you prefer)

The writer for both the main Superboy story and the Legion Second Feature is comic book GOD, Geoff Johns. Francis Manapul covers the art for the first story while Clayton Henry takes care of the second.

-We open by learning that Superboy has completely changed from the surly teen he was prior to his "death" to a kinder, gentler Teen of Steel. He does all the chores around the farm for Ma Kent and he loves living in Smallville now.

-Over the course of this comic, SB goes about doing the types of things Superman did back when he was SB's age. Lived with the Kents, check. Went to Smallville High School, check. Joined a team of super-heroes, check. Helped folks out, check.

-Eventually SB heads to the dilapidated house Lex Luthor grew up in, and stands there, looking around. Superman walks in and inquires what SB is doing there. SB explains that he just wanted to see what it was like, stating it wasn't what he expected to find. Supes tells SB to steer clear of Lex, and SB tells Supes that he has no intentions of running into Lex any time soon.

-This story ends with SB checking off his list of Superman related accomplishments. After checking off his good acts, Superboy writes in "What would Lex Luthor do?", and puts a check mark under "Lies to Superman".

-The Legion story follows Starman as he meets up with fellow Legionnaire Tellus. Tellus tries to fix Starman's mind, but only manages to right things momentarily. From there Starman screams about watching out for the Black Witch, and this story ends with a bunch of glimpses into the future of the Legion.

Wow. I didn't like this comic at all... I'm shocked! I didn't like/get the Superboy story one bit. Nice level-headed SB is about as far from the Superboy I followed through his own series, Young Justice and the Teen Titans. SB is impulsive, hot-headed and a bit of a jerk... Or at least he was. Now SB does all his chores, loves Smallville and is sugary sweet? Huh??? I also didn't really like the idea that Superboy HAS to be Supes(and Lex Luthor?). Why does he feel obligated to follow in Supes footsteps? SB was his own character for a good 10 years. Now I'm afraid Geoff is going to transform him into Superman Jr.

The Legion story was even worse than the main one! First off, I can't stand this version of Starman... Jack Knight this bozo is not! Secondly, I've already gone on record saying that the original version of the Legion has outlived their purpose. Give me the re-boot or three-boot versions of the Legion, not the weird old version. Oh, and the second Bouncing Boy shows up I drop this title! For a score, I'll give this comic a 6 out of 10. I almost can't believe Geoff Johns was responsible for this comic. I'm sure there are plenty of people who wholeheartedly disagree with me here, so I open the floor up to those dissenters.

Adventure Comics #0

Overall- To be perfectly honest here, I wasn't expecting to even bother reviewing this comic book, since the majority of it was a reprint of the first appearance of the Legion of Super-Heroes. However, after reading the "Origins & Omens" story in the back of this issue(written by the spectacular Geoff Johns)I felt I had to write something about this comic, mainly due to the possible repercussions.

Right off the bat, let me state that I'm only up to issue #10 of the Green Lantern series, so my understanding of all things Green Lantern is still somewhat rudimentary. This O&O story is told from the viewpoint of a Guardian of the Universe, who was burned by the Anti-Monitor(once again, let me state, since I haven't progressed very far in the GL series, I don't know what most of that means!). This Guardian, Scar, tells us the story of Lex Luthor and Brainiac. I really don't know when these events took place, but I suspect it was during the Teen Titans/Outsiders crossover from a few years back.

Anyway, Lex is imprisoned somewhere and he is walking along with Brainiac's apparently inert body. Some guards surround Lex and tell him to return to his cell, to which Lex refuses, before commanding Brainiac to kill the guards. After that is taken care of, Lex leads Brainiac to it's ship. Lex, of course figures he is the master here, but is shocked when Brainiac grabs Lex and explains that Lex will be working for Brainiac, not the other way around.

From this scene, we return to Scar, who says that Lex used to have control of another, but that person is currently dead, and that "We" control the dead now. Scar goes on to say that the dead will save Lex Luthor from Brainiac, Superman and finally, himself. After Scar says this, we see a big picture of the deceased Superboy.

So, this O&O story obviously is leading into Geoff's mega-event, "Blackest Night". I am, was, and always will be a HUGE fan of Superboy. The fact that Scar is even insinuating that SB is going to be a part of Blackest Night has me counting the days until Blackest Night gets underway. The deaths of Superboy and Bart Allen(Impulse/Kid Flash/Flash)have always bothered me, and if SB is involved with Blackest Night, I'll definitely be there! For a score, I'll give this mini-story a 7 1/2 out of 10. Please let this lead to the return of Superboy... Please!