Batgirl #24 & Detective Comics #881

Back to DC with two comics which are probably going to have the best chance at breaking my long drought of no perfect scores... Seriously, I haven't handed out a perfect score since July 15th, a streak of nearly a month! Considering I read in excess of 65 new comics every month, that's quite the drought for me... Fingers crossed that drought ends today!

Batgirl #24:

Summary: We get this party started with Batgirl(the FANTASTIC Stephanie Brown) confronting her thought to be dead father, the Cluemaster, in his prison cell, where he had been manipulating events to get Steph to the jail he was incarcerated at... In a bizarre, super-villainy way, that's brilliant. Steph is none too pleased that Cluemaster had put as many people in danger as he had simply to see her, and she prepares to leave him in his cell while she deals with the riot raging outside. However, Cluemaster acts cryptically crazy and starts telling Steph that he had taken up a secondary hobby, gardening... With her interest piqued by the crazy words of her father, she walks over to his little gardening area and discovers he was cultivating Black Mercy plants(!). Steph tells her father how dangerous/illegal those things were, as Cluemaster grinds one of the plants up into dust. Totally confused by her father's antics, Steph approaches, and Cluemaster blows the dust into Steph's face, forcing her to live her fantasy life. Before succumbing to the Mercy though, Steph managed to throw a gooperang at the wall, which snares Cluemaster, preventing him from escaping his cell. After several days of hallucinations, Steph wakes up at the hospital, where her mother is watching over her... Steph is relieved that she still had her mask on, but soon finds out that Steph's mother knew Steph had been doing the Batgirl thing and was proud of her. After being released, Steph meets up with Barbara Gordon, AKA that usurping bitch, and the two talk about Steph's run as Batgirl, and the ups and downs that came along with it. With that, Steph swings off of the rooftop as Batgirl for the final time, ending this issue.

Thoughts: This was a very good (and sappy!) comic that was carried by Bryan Q. Miller's incredibly strong dialogue, and Pere Perez's sweet artwork. A lot of the comic consisted of full page splashes of Steph's various hallucinations, and were all REALLY well done(I'll be posting my favorite one at the end of this review). Miller's dialogue was fantastic as usual, and I think I'd safely put him in the same category as Dan Slott and Peter David as one of the best comic book dialogue writers in the business today. My only real problem with this issue was the story, which was kind of weak. There really wasn't a battle, per se, although you could look at the verbal sparring between Steph and her father as a battle of sorts. On top of that, I have NO idea how Cluemaster was able to get Black Mercy plants into his cell... I mean those things are alien plants, and would HAVE to be considered some serious contraband! I get why Miller added the Mercy to the story, to show us all of the great times Steph could/should/would have had if this series continued, but Cluemaster having an alien plant in his jail cell was bizarre to say the least! Other than that though, this was a great comic and a strong, if VERY bittersweet, ending to one of my favorite monthly DC titles... Good-bye Steph. And good luck with the reboot...

Score: 9 out of 10.You KNOW that's my new desktop background!!


Detective Comics #881:

Summary: This issue gets started with Batman(Dick Grayson) promising Commissioner Gordon that he would find Barbara Gordon, who had been kidnapped by Gordon's psychotic son, James Jr. Upon waking up, Babs finds herself James Jr's captive, at which point James begins to reveal that yes, he was indeed stark-raving mad. To hammer home how crazy he was, James Jr tells Babs that he was given an experimental drug that gave him a degree of empathy, which led him to believe that people with empathy were weak, and that people like him(psychopaths), were going to be the true inheritors of the Earth. Babs and James have a conversation about how Babs always knew James was a psychopath, even from the first time they met as children, and how that relieved James, since it meant that he wasn't the only one who thought there was something wrong with him. The two then discuss some of the evil, vindictive things James had done to people over the course of his life, before James shows Babs that he had jammed two knives into the femoral arteries in both of her legs. In other words, if one of those knives were pulled out, Babs would bleed out in a matter of minutes. After tiring of his talk with Babs, he tears one of the knives out and picks up one of Babs secure communication devices, signaling Bats. Bats, who had been canvasing Gotham hoping to find a trace of James and Babs, is surprised that a) James had called him, and that b) James was calling him Dick, meaning that James knew Dick and Bats were one and the same. James explains that it was actually Dick who lured James back to Gotham, as he felt that Dick was his polar opposite. Whereas James had NO feelings towards others, Dick, in James' mind, felt TOO strongly towards others. To deal with that, James tells Dick that he was going to kill Babs, and then Commissioner Gordon, before vanishing again, figuring that losing two people he cared so strongly about would leave Dick a broken man. Naturally Dick tells James that he'd find him and bring him to justice, before telling James that he had foiled James' plot to introduce a drug into a factory that created baby formula, a drug that would create children as psychotic as James was. James simply tells Dick that maybe he did halt James' plans, or maybe James had already introduced the drug into the formula months ago, and allowed Dick to learn about his plans so that Dick would never know if he prevented the poisonings or not... With that, James tells Dick he was done talking and was ready to finish off Babs, at which point he turns around and finds that Babs had wheeled herself away from James while he was chatting with Dick. James goes after Babs, and following the trail of blood she was leaving behind, jumps around the corner where Babs was hiding, at which point Babs pulls the other knife out of her leg and stabs James in the eye(!!!!)! James collapses to the floor as Babs falls out of her wheelchair and begins to crawl across the room to get help. Babs happens to look back and sees James, with the knife STILL jammed in his eye socket, getting up and telling Babs that she shouldn't have done that(!!!). James begins to stalk Babs as she tries to crawl away from him, losing more and more blood as she went. Before James could stab Babs, Bats arrives on the scene and punches James in the stomach, knocking him over. Bats then rushes over to Babs and tells her that he would cauterize the wounds in her legs to prevent her from losing anymore blood. Unfortunately, this act allows James Jr. the opportunity to escape from the apartment he was holding Babs in. James strolls across a bridge in Gotham(with a knife STILL jutting out of his eye!!), gloating that he was free when he is shot in the leg. James turns around and sees his father standing there, gun in hand, telling James that it was over. James goes to stand up when Gordon shoots his deranged son in the other leg, this time sending James over the side of the bridge. Before James can plummet to his death, Gordon rushes over and grabs James' arm, finally having caught his son. A few days later, Dick is clearing out the lab Wayne Enterprises lent to the Gotham PD since the Gotham PD had never really used it. Gordon approaches Dick and thanks him for everything he's done for him, on all fronts, before the two discuss the one piece of unfinished business from James' madness, the potential poisoning at the baby formula factory... Dick tells Gordon that after several tests, there was no way to tell if James was telling the truth about whether he'd gone ahead and poisoned the formula several weeks ago, because the drug would have dissipated by now. This issue then ends with Dick and Gordon looking out the window watching a baby in a stroller, wondering what the future would bring.

Thoughts: I've got to say, Scott Snyder has earned himself a devoted fan in me after this storyline. I guess I could go back even further and say not just this storyline, but his entire Detective run... Snyder's work is SUCH a breath of fresh air from Grant Morrison's occasionally too insane to understand Bat-books and Tony Daniel's just plain bad Bat-books. He absolutely NAILED presenting us with an eerie feel throughout this entire comic book. He took a little known character and did such an amazing job with him that he nearly puts the Joker to shame! I mean goddamn, James Jr. is probably one of the most frightening Bat-villains I've read about in years! He's not dressed in some garish costume, he's not running around trying to kill hundreds of Gothamites, he's not broadcasting his next move to the world at large, he's just an unassuming, utterly psychotic man torturing, tormenting and killing people simply because he can. And really, that's probably scarier than all of the Mr. Freezes and Riddlers in the world put together. I'd be remiss not to applaud the job Jock and Francesco Francavilla did here with the art, because their artwork PERFECTLY matched the tone Snyder set forth with the story. The art was dark and shadowy, with lots of blacks and reds used to create the nightmarish scene that James Jr was living in. Seriously, this storyline was a psychological masterpiece that you rarely find in a comic book. Does it break my non-perfect score streak? What do YOU think?!

Score: 10 out of 10.Don't think James Jr is as creepy as the Joker? Then you must not have read this comic.

Red Robin #25 & Batgirl #23

It's finally DC time! The first two DC comics I'll be reviewing this week are one of my favorite DC titles(Batgirl), as well as one of my favorite DC characters(Red Robin). With DC rapidly moving towards the reboot, I doubt either of these books will have any sort of lasting impact, but hopefully they'll at least be good reads...

Red Robin #25:

Summary: This issue gets started with Black Bat(the former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain), swooping in to save Red Robin from being deflowered... What?! She did!! Anyway, Cass takes care of Ra's Al Ghul's wacky half-sister(who was trying to get it on with Saint Timmy) and Promise before freeing Tim. With the villains down and Tim safe, the two discuss what their next step should be with this whole assassination tournament, and while Tim is deep in thought and distracted, Cass stabs him with her katana, seemingly killing him! With Tim dead, Cass is declared the winner of the tourney, and a secret door opens up allowing her to enter to claim her prize. A disembodied voice tells her she'd be immortalized for her victory, and a laser blast comes at her, but she is saved by Tim?! It turns out Tim and Cass planned a way to fake his death in order to get Cass access to whoever was running the tourney. The voice tells Tim that it was impressed with his actions, and that it held the tournament to discover the most deadly assassins and then eliminate them for the good of mankind. Before Tim and Cass can glean anything more, the lair begins to self destruct, and it winds up exploding after the two get clear. With that taken care of, Tim heads to Hong Kong to try to help Cass defeat the Cricket, who kicks both of their asses and leaves Tim with a broken arm and some fractured ribs. We also learn that Lucius Fox was still alive, and that his death was faked by the Gotham Police department. Tam Fox is furious with Tim for not telling her that her dad was still alive, and she winds up breaking up with him. With ALL of that out of the way, this issue ends with Tim wondering how his life would change now that he was responsible for assassinating Capt. Boomerang(!?).

Thoughts: Again, and I've been saying this A LOT when it comes to the DC books lately, this issue was very rushed. The assassination tournament stuff was wrapped up, as was the longer running sister of Al Ghul thing. Tim finally broke up with Tam Fox, which doesn't bother me because I never really got their relationship. And in one quick page we get the Lucius Fox is alive announcement, as well as a quick one page blurb showing Cass and Tim getting owned by the Cricket. I mean, I did like the way everything ended, so I can't complain about any of that, it was all just so brisk... I'd have loved to have seen a longer battle between Cass/Tim and the Cricket. Or a longer scene showing exactly how Tim broke the news to Tam about her father. But alas, it was not to be. Still in all though, this issue was quite good, probably one of the better DC books I've read in some time, so I guess I can't complain too much...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.That's gonna leave a mark! Or will it???


Batgirl #23:

Summary: We get started with three of the Reapers armor-clad goons attacking a police station to steal back the armor that had been impounded by the police from two of their members. The armor-clad goons make short work of the cops, killing several of them before they manage to find the two sets of armor and leave. Meanwhile, Batgirl and Det. Gage come across the corpse of the Grey Ghost, Batgirl's unwanted sidekick. It turns out that Ghost had managed to infiltrate the Reapers base to feed Batgirl information to prove his worth, but the Reapers found out about his duplicity and killed him. All he left was a recording that goes off when Batgirl touches the device, telling her that the Reapers were trying to gain metahuman powers, but that the check from their mystery benefactor bounced. Before he could say anymore though, he is found out and the transmission abruptly ceases. Right after that, Gage hears about the robbery at the police station and both he and Batgirl realize that the Reapers next step would be to free their two captured members from Blackgate prison. Before long, Batgirl heads to Blackgate just as after the Reapers had broken in and caused a riot to cover their tracks. We learn that the Reapers mystery benefactor was actually at the prison, and the Reapers begin to march through the prison in search of him. Batgirl arrives on the scene and attacks all five of the Reapers, but quickly finds herself overpowered. Before the Reapers can kill her, she screams out, “Shazam!”(?!), which confuses the Reapers, but signals Supergirl, Stargirl, Miss Martian and Bombshell to come in to help. The five females make quick work of the five armor-clad Reapers, and while her four allies head through the prison to quell the riot, Batgirl decides to see if she could find whoever it was that pissed off the Reapers by giving them the bounced check. After walking through the prison, Batgirl finds one cell that was not open, and figures that whoever was inside was hiding from the Reapers, and opens it up to find... Her own father, the villain known as the Cluemaster!!!

Thoughts: Okay, that ending was all kinds of awesome! The rest of this comic? It was okay. I mean with only one more issue left of this magnificent series, I get that Bryan Q. Miller had to rush his story a bit, which is why we probably got a quick, one issue showdown between Batgirl(and friends) against the Reapers. With that said though, with how long the Reapers/Batgirl stuff had been building, I'd have hoped for a longer, more dramatic battle there... I mean this was a perfectly acceptable comic book, but that was about all it was...

Score: 7 out of 10.Why would the Gotham City prison system allow a costumed criminal to keep their costume in their cell???

Batgirl #22 & Teen Titans #96

Two DC comics here, both slated to be completely retooled during the DC Reboot of 2011. One of them doesn't need a reboot at all(BATGIRL!!!), while I can't say I'm upset to see the other one changed up. But that's September, let's deal with the present.

Batgirl #22:

Summary: For some undisclosed reason, Batman(Bruce Wayne... Huh, I guess I won't have to specify WHICH Batman I'm talking about soon...) tells Batgirl to head to Jolly Ole England and head to a hotel. Upon arriving in London, Steph is met by Squire(ugh), and the two head off towards the hotel. However, since this IS a comic book, the two can't simply arrive at the hotel with no problem, they end up running afoul some feeb named Orphan, who has managed to steal a sword that stops time(or something). Luckily for Steph and Squire, they aren't frozen like the rest of England due to them being in the room when Orphan stole the sword. They two girls track Orphan and stop him right before he was able to decapitate the frozen Knight. After a bit of a fight, Steph manages to steal the sword away from Orphan, which leads to him freezing. The girls unfreeze Knight, take care of a few bombs Orphan had hidden, and restore the sword to it's proper place, ending the threat. From there, Steph finally gets to the hotel, and is met by an unhappy Batman, who was wondering what took her so long.

Thoughts: Well, there were a few good laughs to be had in this issue, but for the most part, the story just didn't do it for me. Honestly, I think I'd have enjoyed this one WAY more if it was simply Steph doing the hero thing solo in London, because I don't like Knight or Squire... They bug me for some reason... Anyway, this was a good read, but for whatever reason, it just never clicked for me.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10."Oy!" Indeed...


Teen Titans #96:

Summary: Solstice and Beast Boy set off to free the rest of the Teen Titans(yes really, THOSE two), from Rankor, some evil Indian god(or something, I really don't care). Inexplicably, Beast Boy manages to succeed where all of the other Titans failed, and frees the rest of the Titans from the prisons Rankor had placed them in, which also happened to be his giant walking chair... Oh god is this awful... The Titans land and discuss things while Rankor and his army hangs out and watches, and Raven bitches about Solstice being the problem... No, this comic is the problem! From there, Solstice hurls threats at Rankor, and this issue mercifully ends.

Thoughts: Well, at least Nicola Scott did the art for this one, because that was the ONLY thing it had going for it! This story starred Solstice, who we hardly know, and Beast Boy, who I hate with a passion... If JT Krul was looking for a way to punish me, this comic was it. Ugh, the sooner we get this series rebooted, the better... And I say that as somebody who HATES the idea of the new Superboy!

Score: 2 out of 10.At least the bad guys are giving the Titans a break...

Batgirl #21 & Superman #711

This'll be the last batch of comics I post today. Tomorrow should see another 4-6 reviews posted, as I ever so slowly get up to date with my comic reading. If I can get these reviews taken care of, I'll be able to post something a little different, which would be a nice change of pace. Enjoy! Or don't...

Batgirl #21:

Summary: Having received a tip from her unwanted sidekick, the Grey Ghost, Batgirl comes face-to-face with the newest Order of the Scythe member, Harmony. It seems that Harmony has broken into an abandoned convent and was up to no good(as I'd figure anybody who broke into an abandoned convent would be). Batgirl tries to attack Harmony, but quickly discovers that Harmony was surrounded by a wave of sound that protected her from harm, while damaging anything that got in her way(like a certain Batgirl). After a bit of a battle, Batgirl simply decides to bury Harmony under some rubble while trying to figure out a strategy. While thinking, Batgirl runs into Grey Ghost, and tells him in no uncertain terms to leave her the hell alone, or else. Apparently Batgirl's harsh words FINALLY get through to Ghost, and he leaves. From there, Batgirl realizes that Harmony had gotten out of the rubble and was taking the DNA from a long dead nun... Creepy! Batgirl is stymied by Harmony again, but realizes that a loud enough sound would probably overload Harmony's equipment and make the villain vulnerable. To that end, Batgirl drops a huge bell in the room she was battling Harmony in, and makes quick work of the novice villain. While all of that was going on, Proxy decides to head to Nanda Parbat at the urging of the ghost/hallucination of her dead brother, Marvin, with the hope that the trip would help fix her paralysis. Finally, the Grey Ghost, still stinging from Batgirl's reprimand, heads to the hooded leader of the Order of the Scythe and offers his assistance in keeping Batgirl off the Order's back.

Thoughts: Well, a lot of stuff certainly happened here, no? Proxy has decided to head to Nanda Parbat, leaving Batgirl without an advisor since Barbara Gordon/Oracle has been busy with the Birds of Prey and her other Batman Inc. related duties. The Grey Ghost revealed his true colors by handing the leader of the Order of the Scythe the DNA collector that Harmony lost during her battle with Batgirl, and Batgirl is still trying to get to the bottom of just who's behind the Order, as well as what their plans are. I have to say, most of DC Comics may have gone to hell in a hand basket, but at least the majority of the Bat-books are still delivering top-notch stories.

Score: 8 out of 10.
I can't think of a caption for this page... Sorry, you'll have to come up with your own.

Superman #711:

Summary: After getting a key to the city of Provo, Utah, Superman hears an alarm being sent by... *sigh* Jimmy Olsen... It seems that Livewire is acting completely insane and has taken a mess of hostages in Las Vegas(where Jimmy was working a story), demanding all of the money in the city. Supes tries to reason with Livewire, since the last time he saw her she had seemingly turned over a new leaf, but Livewire is too angry/crazy to listen and attacks Supes with more power then she had demonstrated before. While Supes tries to deal with Livewire, Jimmy calls STAR Labs and discovers that Livewire was always drawing electricity into her body, which in turn was messing up the chemistry in her brain. The scientist tells Jimmy that Livewire needed to be placed in a containment suit, and Supes, who was eavesdropping on the phone call has just the thing. Supes flies to the Fortress of Solitude and grabs his old blue energy suit(the one from back in the 90's when Supes had electricity powers for some unbelievably bizarre reason), handing it over to the scientist at STAR Labs, who immediately begins working on it. From there, Supes races back to Las Vegas and wraps Livewire in the costume, curing her of her insanity. After explaining to Jimmy(the idiot) that America was all about offering people second chances, even people like Livewire, Supes continues on his journey.

Thoughts: Meh. With the exception of Jimmy Olsen(who you may realize I hate), there was nothing actively wrong with this comic. It was pretty much your basic Superman vs Livewire issue, with Supes coming up with a way to peacefully halt Livewire's rampage. It was an okay comic. Now if Jimmy Olsen would have been fried by Livewire, this would have been a GREAT comic!

Score: 7 out of 10.Wait, now Superman loves America again?! Make up your mind, big guy!

Batgirl #20 & Batman and Robin #22

Two more DC books to go, both from the Bat-family of titles. One of them actually scores quite a high score, and you may be surprised to learn which one...

Batgirl #20:

Summary: This issue starts off informing us that Slipstream, the speedster working for those Order of the Scythe guys, was actually a student at Steph's college... Yes, that plays into things later on... Anyway, Steph and Proxy know Slipstream is planning on stealing money from a bank, but they aren't exactly sure when he's going to strike. You see, Slipstream sprayed the money at the bank with a tracking spray, so there's no doubt he's going to make his move, it's just a matter of when. Proxy does learn that the bank was planning on moving a large quantity of money, which would make that the ideal time to try to steal the dough. With nothing to do, Steph heads to class, where she is bothered by a student sitting next to her, staring at a map of Gotham, repeating directions to himself. Eventually the bank loads up the money and begins to move it, at which time the student next to Steph takes off. Right after that, Proxy calls Steph and tells her that the money was on the road, at which time Steph realizes that she had Slipstream sitting right next to her, but let him... well, slip away. Steph cuts the trucks off in a tunnel, figuring that would be the most likely spot for Slipstream to make his move, and sure enough, he shows up, knocking out all of the guards, before setting his sights on Steph. Slipstream takes a run at her, but Steph is prepared, waving her cape at him as a distraction before peppering Slipstream with a bunch of electro-magnetic-gooperangs. The electro-magnetism kills Slipstream's suit, while the gooperangs glue the villain to the ground, leaving him helpless. Steph waits for the police to show up, and is a bit disconcerted with how eager Slipstream seemed to be heading to Blackgate Prison. With that, the Order of the Scythe chumps prepare their next challenge for Batgirl, some woman named Harmony.

Thoughts: Meh. I don't know what it was about this issue, but it just didn't do much for me. I mean technically it was fine, we learned about the villains, Steph set up the electro-magnetic-gooperangs earlier in the issue, the story moved smoothly, and the end saw the villain arrested, with the next threat already being prepped. However, I'm just not all that fond of these Order of the Scythe guys... They just don't really impress me much. Maybe when their secretive leader is revealed I'll change my tune, but for now? I wish they'd just go away.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Gooperangs? Okay...


Batman and Robin #22:

Summary: The White Knight tries to have dozens of family members of Arkham's inmates jump to their deaths at once, but Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue) manages to interrupt the signal White Knight was using to control the people he was forcing to jump. Bats and Robin manage to save most of the jumpers, but some still end up as street pizza. Later on, the Knight enters Arkham itself, blinding or knocking out the police and guards who were there to protect the inmates. The Knight floods all of the cells, and we learn that his father was a guard at Arkham who was killed by Dr. Phosphorous. Phosphorous killed the Knight's dad by burning him in the back, leaving him with what looked to be wings, which is why the Knight had been dressing all of his victims like angels. The Knight enters Phosphorus's cell to kill him personally, but is halted by the timely arrival of Bats and Robin. While Bats deals with the Knight, Robin has to wrangle Zsasz, who escaped his flooded cell when the Dynamic Duo entered the Asylum. The Knight and Bats head up to the roof, and after downing Zsasz, Robin reluctantly drains the cells, saving the inmates... Man do I wish he'd have let them drown! Knight stabs Bats and tries to make a getaway, but Bats hits him with a batarang, right in the harness controlling his wings, causing the harness to violently malfunction, and ending Knight's threat. In the end the White Knight is sent to Arkham to live amongst the filth he hated most. However, the doctors can't seem to figure out how he managed to get his skin to glow, nor could they disconnect him from the harness, leaving him a literal White Angel.

Thoughts: Hey, when not shackled by Chairman Johns, Peter Tomasi can STILL write a good story! I mean, I'd always enjoyed Tomasi's work before Brightest Day, but after that absolute piece of sucktitude, I had figured that he'd lost it and was in the same sinking boat Chairman Johns was aboard. But no, as this three part story has proven, Tomasi, unlike Johns, CAN still write something other then self-indulgent crap. I'll be the first to admit that I was a bit dubious when I read the first part of this storyline, since I thought it was going to be a loose tie-in to Brightest Day, but instead, it was a strong story that introduced a new villain with a great look, a well thought out backstory, and huge potential, unlike Grant Morrison's creation, The Hat... So yeah, all in all, great work here, and I'm hoping we'll see more of the White Knight/White Angel in the near future.

Score: 9 out of 10.Yes, Damian is indeed awesome.

Batgirl #18

Hey X-Maniacs, happy Valentine's Day! That is if you actually care about that sort of thing... As you can probably tell from that prior statement, I'm flying solo this Valentine's Day, so screw you card and candy companies and your pathetic corporate “holiday”! Of course my attitude towards Valentine's Day could very easily change depending on my romantic status come next year, but for this year? Screw Valentine's Day! :D With that rather pathetic diatribe out of the way, let's get to the review, a very special Valentine's Day issue of Batgirl... Sheesh, et tu, Batgirl...

Review: We get things started with Batgirl coming across the scene of a dead pimp with his face torn up and his heart torn out of his chest on Valentine's night. Batgirl follows the trail of blood to Klarion... Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy, who seems to be preforming some sort of magical ritual on the heart. Klarion tries to explain that things weren't the way they seemed, but Batgirl isn't buying, and moves in to apprehend Klarion. This proves to be a slight mistake in judgment by Batgirl, as Klarion shrinks Batgirl down and puts her into a snow globe. Klarion explains that he was trying to locate his cat, Teekl, who Klarion had prevented from “coupling” with another cat, leading to Teekl growing in size to a 6 foot tall sex-crazed were-cat. God do I love this series... Batgirl offers to help Klarion find his cat, so Klarion returns Batgirl to her normal size and the two follow some screams to the location of Teekl, who is attacking a happy couple. Batgirl implores Klarion to use his magic on Teekl to halt the angry were-cat's rampage, but Klarion is unable to use his magick on his familiar. With Klarion unable(and/or unwilling) to stop Teekl, Batgirl manages to put Teekl down with some electric batarangs. With Teekl incapacitated, Klarion traps his cat in a snow globe and mopes. Batgirl wonders why Klarion doesn't just reverse the spell and turn Teekl back into a normal cat, but Klarion explains that until Teekl completes his coupling ritual, he had to remain a were-cat. This is an obvious problem since there aren't a lot of mating choices for 6 foot tall were-cats... Klarion reveals to Batgirl that he doesn't want Teekl to find a mate, since he was afraid that would lead to him losing his best feline friend. Batgirl convinces Klarion that all Teekl needed was to get the whole mating thing out of his system, and that once he did Teekl would go back to being Klarion's best friend again. To find Teekl a mate, Klarion teleports with Batgirl back to his home dimension, Limbo Town. The two wander around for a bit until they spot a girl with a cat. Batgirl picks a fight with the girl, while Klarion rounds up the girl's cat and the two teleport back to Earth. Klarion puts the girl's cat in the snow globe and the two cats begin... well, coupling. While the cats are getting' busy, Batgirl changes to her civilian identity and takes Klarion to the Gotham University campus with her. Steph and Klarion happen across some of Steph's more unlikable classmates, and they begin to make fun of Steph and her “boyfriend” Klarion, calling Klarion weird. Klarion takes great offense at that and prepares to magic the girls into something not very good, at which time Steph lays a big old kiss on Klarion to distract him. The girls leave Steph and Klarion alone, at which time the two buy some Valentine's candies and wait for the coupling to be completed.

Thoughts: I literally laughed pretty damn hard four different times over the course of reading this comic book. Sure, the story was kind of weird, but anytime I laugh THAT many times over the course of a comic usually indicates the comic was VERY good. Bryan Q. Miller really is a hell of a writer, as this comic once again showed. It was just a good, dumb, fun, one and done comic. One of those comic books where you could turn off your brain, sit back and unwind with. I can guarantee this will be the best Valentine's tale about a Witch Boy and a were-cat you will EVER read!

Score: 9 out of 10.Yes, I cracked up at the "wandering pack of harlots" line.

Batgirl #17

Review: This issue gets started with Damian Wayne(Robin)being his regular, annoying, creepy little self to Alfred. Upon Alfred leaving him alone, Damian makes a journal entry to his red casebook(HA!)about Alfred's skills as a butler(HA!!). Meanwhile, Stephanie Brown(Batgirl)races out of her home to look into a case Batman had set up for her. A bit later, Damian(as Robin)accosts a school crossing guard for telling the children he was safeguarding to move faster. Damian finds that suspicious, and is annoyed when Batgirl swings over to question the crossing guard herself. It seems the mission Batman assigned Steph was to find out who was kidnapping children from Gotham's middle class. Damian knows nothing about Steph's mission, and chalks it up to all of the other missions he was given by Batman. Now aware of Steph's mission, Damian decides to tag along, and the two head over to the school and watch as a class of children are put on a bus for a field trip to a museum. The two follow and Steph has Damian dress as a child to do some undercover work. While Steph manages to make her way into the museum's security room, Damian(or “Bruce” as he tells one of the children his name is)has to suffer through acting like a normal 10 year old, something he is painfully unequipped to do. After surveying the cameras, Steph spots the school bus driver bound and gagged in the museum and alerts Damian to this. By this time, the kidnappers have taken the children back onto the bus and are ferrying them to their safehouse to be held for ransom. Damian quickly switches back to his Robin clothes and in a matter of minutes, him and Steph have caught up to the bus. The two heroes manage to gain access to the bus, and defeat the kidnappers in short order. With the kidnappers caught, and the children safe, Steph offers to help Damian learn a few things he was lacking in. To that extent, later on that night, Steph takes Damian to an amusement park and pulls him into a bounce house, actually getting a smile out of the little hellspawn and ending this issue.

Thoughts: Ahhhh, Bryan Q. Miller... Why do you do these things to me? You know, it couldn't have been more then a year ago when Damian Wayne would have easily, EASILY have been counted among my most despised characters. I mean he was just an unlikable, nasty, all around sucky character. However, after Damian had been written almost exclusively by Grant Morrison from his creation, last year saw many other writers use Damian, most notably Fabian Nicieza, Paul Dini, JT Krul and of course, Bryan Miller. These writers were able to do what Morrison either couldn't or wouldn't do, they began to fill out Damian's character. He ISN'T just the little ball of hate that Morrison had been writing him as, there actually was more to him. And let me tell you, nobody has done more to help with Damian's development then Miller has. I mean, I actually felt for Damian after reading this issue. Sure, he was still an obnoxious little punk here, but there were so many great little character development moments here as well... His annoyance that Batman had given Batgirl the kidnapping case over him, using the name “Bruce” when asked by the girl in the museum his name(which was AWESOME because it shows how much Damian WANTS to be his father), being unable to blend in and act like a normal 10 year old, and the ending with the bounce house. I mean god help me, but if there was a Robin series put out written by anybody BUT Grant Morrison, I'd be one of the first people in line to buy it. That's how drastically my feelings towards Damian have changed. Now onto the story of this comic. It was a pretty basic, one and done tale that told a simple story. Kidnappers try to abduct children, Damian and Steph(who aren't exactly best of friends)have to work together to foil the villains, and in the end Steph gains some measure of sympathy for the type of life Damian has lived. Was it technically perfect? No, not really, the stuff with the school crossing guard really didn't go anywhere, but did I enjoy it more than any other comic I've read so far this month? Without a doubt. And with that in mind, figuring out what to score this comic really wasn't that difficult...

Score: 10 out of 10. Yeah! The first perfect score of 2011!Yep, I'm a Damian fan now. Deal with it.

Batgirl #16

Overall: This issue kicks off with Batgirl being chased down by GCPD, since they believe she was responsible for the murder of a student at her university. BG manages to avoid the cops, but falls into a warehouse, where she bumps into Detective Gage, who tells her that he believed she was innocent, and as such he gives her the Batarang that was being used to incriminate her in the first place. After saying thanks, BG takes off and come the morning, meets up with Oracle to see what they could figure out. Proxy manages to find the terminal where the murdered student had been uploading info to his flash drive and sends what she can to Oracle, with the hope being that Oracle could see what the dead student was up to, and why it got him killed and Batgirl framed. While that is going on, Batgirl tracks down the Reapers, who she ran afoul last issue, and wipes the floor with them, while the police(who figured out she was innocent)back her up. The cops begin to handcuff the Reapers, but the Reapers are saved by the timely arrival of some speedster, who spirits them all to safety. This issue ends with the revelation that the dead student was working on a prototype speedster suit, and that the leader of the Reapers had managed to build said suit.

Um yeah, for the first time in a long time, this series just kind of fell flat for me. I mean normally I do loves me some Batgirl, but this story just isn't doing it for me... I mean it's okay and all, but my expectations for this series are higher than just “okay”. Usually I'm raving about the latest issue of Batgirl for days on end, but this one was definitely nothing to rave about. Oh well, hopefully things get back to normal come the next issue.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.D'oh!

Batgirl #15

Overall: This issue gets started in earnest with Steph(as Batgirl)noticing some weirdos in robes chasing a student around her college campus. Steph steps in and attacks the robed figures, handling them with relative ease... At least until some goof named the Grey Ghost shows up on the scene to “help”. All he really does is create confusion, which allows the robed figures to regroup. Oracle manages to identify the Grey Ghost by matching his voice to a voice print she had on file and learns that the Ghost was actually some nobody criminal from a few issues back who was beaten within a few pages by Batgirl. Oracle sends this info to Batgirl, who tells the Ghost that she knew who he was, which in turn leads to the Ghost vanishing in a flash of lights. The lights disorient Steph, and allow the robed figures the chance to escape. With Steph no longer on their trail, the robed figures track down the student from earlier, steal his flashdrive and toss him off a rooftop. The next day, the cops investigate the scene, and find a bloody batarang near the dead students body. One assumption leads to another, and by the time this issue ends, Steph(as Batgirl)finds herself surrounded by Gotham's Finest.

You know, I REALLY needed to read this comic after reading that abysmal Brightest Day #13. This comic and that one were like complete opposites to each other. Where as BD #13 sucked the big one, this comic was great! It was nice to have Oracle back in the fold again after a few issues absence, Steph's explanation of the Bat-Family to Proxy was awesomely done and the story was fast moving and fun. What's there for me to complain about here?

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Best Batman history ever!

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Batgirl #1

Overall: This issue begins with Batgirl happening across a break-in at a Waynetech research facility where some man dressed in black was in the process of stealing an experimental gun that was capable of shooting bullets through walls. Steph tries to wrangle the mystery man, but he uses super-speed, Green Lantern power blasts and invisibility to escape Steph with the gun. After Steph leaves, the mystery man unmasks and reveals Bruce Wayne(!!!!!!!)!!! Ahem... So Steph reports back to Oracle who tells Steph that she was going to send the Birds of Prey after the mystery man since he's proven too dangerous for Steph to take on alone. Naturally Steph disobeys Oracle's decree to not continue the search, and with the help of Proxy, Steph discovers the mystery man's secret base and manages to dispatch his hired goons. After some thought, Steph realizes that the mystery man had to be targeting somebody at the nearby Crime Alley Reclamation Press Conference, and upon getting there she spots old boyfriend and current Red Robin, Tim Drake on stage. After some more quick thinking, Steph manages to track the mystery man down to a parking garage seven blocks away. Steph confronts him and demands to know who he was, since with all of the powers he was exhibiting there was no reason he needed that gun to commit a murder. Upon hearing that, Bruce unmasks and tells Steph that the whole situation was a test. Before he can tell Steph she did a good job, Steph slaps Bruce in the face(!)and runs off. Bruce catches up with Steph a bit later and Steph apologizes for the slap, but explains she was afraid Bruce's return would herald the end of her time as Batgirl. Bruce pretty much gives Steph his okay to continue being Batgirl, and this issue ends with Bruce telling Alfred that it looks as if Steph had really grown into the Batgirl role.

Well, this issue surprised the flying (insert favorite expletive here) out of me! I was absolutely STUNNED to see that Bruce was back in this issue, especially with the Return of Bruce Wayne mini-series still going on. So yeah, this was probably the most surprised I've been while reading a comic since... well, since I can remember. Besides the shock value of seeing Bruce back and interacting with Steph and Alfred, the story itself was DAMN good. It would have been REALLY easy for Bryan Q. Miller(writer)to just rest on his laurels and let the shock of seeing Bruce carry this issue, but no, he also told a fantastic story. The way he interweaved the work he's been doing in the Batgirl series with Steph's prior storylines was really impressive. We got some good flashbacks, fantastic dialogue, great art, a great story and a hell of a surprise. The only question that was really in my head after I finished this comic was, does this issue deserve a perfect score?

Score: 10 out of 10. Yes, yes it does deserve a perfect score.Who IS that masked man?!?

Some Quick Thoughts on: Batgirl #14

Batgirl #14: Writer: Bryan Q Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

Quick Thoughts: Batgirl and Supergirl decide to get together in their alter-egos and have a nice, quiet night. Needless to say, that doesn't happen, as due to a science experiment gone awry, 24 Draculas spawn from an old movie and run around tormenting the students at Batgirl's college. After some difficulty, the girls manage to defeat and destroy each one of the Draculas. Their Dracula experience also leads to them becoming closer friends.

This was an okay one-off sort of story, but with how awesome this series always seems to be, “okay” is actually a letdown. This series seems to be in some sort of a strange holding pattern lately. Maybe it's the Bruce Wayne Return thing, or maybe that's just the way Bryan is planning it out, but the last two issues have been quite forgettable.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10."BLAH-HAHAHAHA"... Classic...

Batgirl #13

Batgirl #13: Writer: Bryan Q Miller. Artist: Pere Perez.

Review: This issue gets underway with Steph taking sometime away from being Batgirl to school a fellow college student in the fine art of ping pong. While Steph is enjoying herself, her bat-cell phone rings, and Proxy tells her that she was needed at the financial district where the police had surrounded a gun happy man suspected of killing his wife. Steph(as Batgirl)heads to the sight just in time to see the man toss a gas can at the riot police and then shoot it, setting the cops ablaze. The man flees the scene, and is pursued by Steph(and Oracle's)potential love interest, Detective Gage. Gage corners the man on a rooftop, and the man suddenly blasts Gage with mud, knocking him from the roof, where he is saved by Batgirl. Upon learning that she was dealing with Clayface, Steph heads up to the roof, only to discover that Clayface was gone, apparently slipping into the air vents of a local bank. Steph sneaks inside and hits the lockdown button behind the teller's desk, and begins to look for Clayface with some fancy Bat-glasses. Unfortunately Batgirl learns that Clayface was nowhere to be found. She does learn that the woman who was killed by Clayface was seen downstairs heading towards the vault, and as such, Steph heads downstairs to confront the woman. Naturally the woman is Clayface in disguise, and the two fight, with Clayface sending Batgirl through the basement roof before following her, this time disguised as Batgirl. Det. Gage arrives on the scene in time to see the two Batgirls fighting and is unsure as to what to do until one of the Batgirls tells him to shoot her since she'd bleed, where as Clayface wouldn't. After hearing that, Gage shoots the other Batgirl, drawing clay and turning Clayface back to himself. Gage unloads his gun at Clayface, which doesn't really do anything but anger Clayface. Finally Batgirl throws an ice-batarang at Clayface, freezing him in place and ending his threat. With Clayface immobile, the cops come by and take him away, and Gage reveals to Steph that Clayface was trying to get into the bank vault to get an old security deposit box which held a picture of Clayface(prior to his transformation)and his long dead wife. This issue ends with Gage thanking Batgirl for her help, but getting kind of melancholy when the subject of Clayface's dead wife is brought up.

What I Thought: It was a Batgirl comic, of course I enjoyed it! This was a really good little one off story, that gave us some insight into Det. Gage, who has become a regular in this series. What more can I say? It was what it was, a really good self-contained story. No complaints here whatsoever.

Score: 9 out of 10.Sheesh, Clayface is one UGLY dude!

Batgirl #12

Batgirl #12: Writer: Bryan Q Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett & Pere Perez.

Review: We kick things off with Batgirl arriving at the secret base of Calculator where Oracle was being held captive. While Oracle battles Calculator in his mind, Batgirl(being assisted by the Calculator's daughter, Wendy)breaks into the base and begins to sneak around. During her travels Batgirl runs into the corpse of Marvin, Calculator's dead son and Wendy's twin brother. Batgirl tells Wendy about what she found, and Wendy gets into a jet and begins to head towards Calculator's base. Oracle and Calculator continue to battle through Calculator's memories while Batgirl manages to shut down the machine that was allowing Calculator to control most of the citizens of Gotham City. Before she can pat herself on the back though, a giant security robot attacks Batgirl. The robot tries to make mincemeat out of Batgirl, but Wendy flies the jet through the wall of Calculator's base and destroys the robot. From there Wendy and Batgirl head to Calculator's lab where Calculator and Babs were linked up mentally. Wendy manages to shut down her father's machines, freeing Babs and Calculator. Calculator tries to tell Wendy that he had changed after being forced to live through his memories, but after seeing her dead brother's corpse propped up in the corner, Wendy traps Calculator's mind in an endless loop where he would be forced to relive his painful childhood. With that, Calculator(now insane)gets sent to Arkham, while Wendy decides to train with Babs in order to assist Batgirl during her missions, which ends this issue.

What I Thought: No complaints here. The story ended kind of predictably, but what other way could it have ended? Calculator HAD to lose, and on top of that he HAD to forget that Babs and Oracle were one and the same. So mission accomplished on that front. I like the idea of Calculator's daughter Wendy deciding to assist Babs and Oracle under the codename of Proxy, since that frees Babs up to be more in the Birds of Prey and less in this comic. Besides that, what can I say? This was another in a long line of great Batgirl comics.

Score: 9 out of 10.Well I'm glad SOMEBODY remembered poor Kid Eternity!

Batgirl #11

Batgirl #11: Writer: Bryan Q Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.
Last Issue: 10 out of 10.

Review: Since this issue follows two distinct storylines, I'm going to tackle them one at a time to keep this review somewhat coherent. First up will be the Batgirl portion of the story. While trying to find Oracle, Batgirl ends up running afoul a Calculator possessed Catwoman(who she narrowly defeats), a Calculator possessed Huntress(who she runs from), and a Calculator possessed Man-Bat(who she hitches a ride on). While Steph is in these various life or death situations, she is being assisted by the Calculator's daughter(and former Teen Titan), Wendy, who manages to trace where Calculator was sending out the signals that were turning large portions of Gotham into his mindless slaves. Meanwhile, the Calculator hooks his brain up to Oracle(in an effort to discover all of her secrets), but discovers that Oracle's mental blocks are too strong for him, and as such, he is unable to learn much of anything(besides the fact that Oracle and Barbara Gordon are one and the same). Since Calculator had revealed to Babs that they were connected, she fights back, and forces her way into Calculator's mind. This issue ends with Batgirl parachuting down to Slaughter Swamp, which is where Calculator's secret base was located.

What I Thought: No complaints here. This was yet ANOTHER very good issue of Batgirl(although not quite as good as the last issue was), that I'd have no problem recommending to anybody. The dual story is strong, Calculator has been turned into a major force, and the final showdown next issue should be epic.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.What's worse then having to face Huntress? Having to face a possessed Huntress!

The Brave and the Bold #33

Brave and the Bold #33: Writer: J. Michael Straczynski. Artist: Cliff Chiang.

Review: First off, this was a flashback issue, so keep that in mind. This issue starts with Zatanna waking up with a start, and realizing that she had places to be. Z heads to WW and tells her that she wanted to have a girl's night out, which seems to surprise WW. Next the two women head to Gotham City, where they find Batgirl(this was back when Barbara Gordon wore the cape and cowl)and after some arm twisting, they convince her to come along with them. The women get dressed up and head out to a few clubs, where the dance the night away. Everything seems to be going well until Babs walks into the ladies restroom and discovers Z and WW in an embrace, which leaves her somewhat confused. WW and Z emerge from the restroom with Z seemingly wiping away a tear... Hmm... From there the three women head to several other clubs and sing and dance for several more hours before heading to a quiet little diner. WW begins to cryptically talk to Babs about the Oracles of the ancient Greeks, and how an Oracle of information was a high honor amongst her people. After talking some more, the women decide to call it a night, and WW and Z see Babs into a cab, where Babs tells them that this was one of the best nights of her life before pulling away. After Babs is gone, WW and Z look sadly at each other with Z breaking down. We then go back in the past and learn why Z decided to have this night, as she tells WW that she had a vision of Babs being paralyzed by the Joker sometime in the near future. Z's vision doesn't tell her when the awful event was going to happen, and Z knows from past experience that if she tries to step in and help it could make matters worse, so that's why she decided to take Babs out for one final night of fun and revelry. From there we head to the home of Commissioner Gordon and Babs, and after a knock at the door, Babs opens it to find the Joker standing there with a gun and a camera... This issue concludes in the present with Babs waking up and dragging herself out of her bed and into her wheelchair to start her day as Oracle. After getting on her computer, Babs tells the person on the other end that she was having her favorite dream, the one where she was dancing.

What I Thought: Woo, what a powerful story this was! I figured out what was going on about halfway through this issue, when Babs discovered the other women in the restroom, but even knowing what was going to happen didn't lessen the emotional impact of those final few scenes. The pacing of the Joker scene was just so perfectly done, as was most of this issue. What more can I say? When a comic leaves me feeling misty eyed, I know the story was something special.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Still chilling after all these years...

Batgirl #10

Hey there X-Maniacs, which is better then Red Readers just so you know :P, I only have one review for tonight, but it's a GOOD one! Well, the comic, not really the review itself... Since I do feel kind of bad about only posting one review, I'm also going to post a bonus Random Scan! I'm fully expecting things to be back to normal around here going forward, so expect two or three reviews up tomorrow, followed by Comic Gazing for Wednesday, as I slowly get back into the swing of things. Well that's all I have to say I think... On to the review!

Batgirl #10: Writer: Bryan Q Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett & Pere Perez.
Last Issue: 9 1/2 out of 10.

Review: This issue opens up with the Calculator explaining to his dead son that he was planning on capturing Oracle as revenge for Oracle taking his daughter from him. Meanwhile, Oracle tells Batgirl that since Calculator had managed to get his hands on one of Darkseid's “Obey Darkseid, drink Sprite!” helmets, she was shutting down all of her computers and dropping all communitarian with Batgirl, since she didn't want Calculator going after Batgirl when he came after Oracle. Needless to say, Batgirl finds these measures extreme, but Oracle's mind is made up and she shuts down all communication with Batgirl. The following day, Detective Gage(who's maybe/kind of/sort of dating Barbara Gordon)drops by Babs office at Gotham University, only to find that Babs wasn't there. Being a detective, Gage begins to poke around the office while waiting and discovers some clippings from a recent Batgirl case. Stephanie Brown walks in and tries to flirt with Gage like she does when she's Batgirl, however it doesn't exactly go smoothly, and Gage decides to leave, asking Steph to tell Babs that he stopped by... HA! Next up, Oracle sends Calculator's daughter, Wendy, to a safe-house, and Calculator fires up the satellite that was connected to the Darkseid helmet. Calculator's helmet transforms anybody in Gotham who was either looking at any sort of technology or at an image of Oracle into a brainwashed zombie slave of his. With his plan now fully in motion, Calculator orders all of his computer zombies to hunt down and capture Oracle, and to kill anybody who got in the way. With that, Oracle, who was teaching class at the time is attacked by several students, but she manages to beat them away and escapes the classroom, where she is met by Batgirl, who had seen one of her fellow students transform into a computer zombie, and figured that Babs would need some help. The two women manage to escape the building, only to run into a SWARM of hundreds of computer zombies(including Commissioner Gordon), who immediately try to get at Babs. Babs and Batgirl try valiantly to fight off the overwhelming odds, but they are quickly overrun, which leads Babs to tell Batgirl to save herself. After pinning Babs to the ground, the computer zombies vomit some sort of nanites onto Babs which encases her in a solid mass of... zombie vomit? Okay then... Batgirl sees what was happening to Babs and tries to assist her mentor, but is halted by Manbat, Catwoman and Huntress, all of whom were computer zombies.

What I Thought: What can I say here besides this comic was great? It really was. The creepy stuff with Calculator and the corpse of his son, the relationship between Babs and Steph, the funny dialogue between Steph and Detective Gage, the cliffhanger ending, everything was just SO well done! Nothing I say can do it any justice, so why even try? You should definitely give this series a shot, it's really that good!

Score: 10 out of 10. Hey, check it out, a perfect score! This is only the seventh perfect score of the year from me(out of over one hundred reviews), and the second Batgirl comic to achieve that honor.Who knew Calculator was such an awesome villain?

Batgirl #9

Ah, I'm so glad that the Red Robin x-over is finished so I can read one of my favorite DC comics again! I've been really looking forward to this one...

Batgirl#9: Writer: Bryan Q. Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

This issue kicks off with Batgirl defeating some psycho threatening to blow up a Gotham commuter train. Upon taking the loser down and seeing to his arrest, Steph is congratulated by Commissioner Gordon in an AWESOME scene. From there we head to Steph's mentor, Barbara Gordon(Oracle), who is still trying to help the Calculator's daughter Wendy come to terms with the loss of the usage of her legs. After a while, Steph arrives on the scene and Wendy takes off. With Wendy gone, Babs decides to take Steph to see the new base of operations she was putting together in the basement of her apartment building. While the women are working on Babs computer systems, Steph's cop friend, Det. Gage, is investigating a bizarre death in the Elysium Tech building in downtown Gotham. While the detective is investigating the death, the building goes into lockdown due to a security breach, which sends an alarm to Babs and Steph, causing Steph to switch to her Batgirl outfit to respond. Gage decides to investigate and runs into a seemingly possessed Elysium Tech security guard who had stolen a top secret suitcase and was only speaking in computer programming language. The possessed guard goes to shoot Gage, but Steph manages to disarm him with a well-placed batarang just in the nick of time. The guard runs out of the room, stashes the suitcase in a garbage can and leaps out of a window in the high rise building. Steph and Gage run after him and Steph manages to snag the plummeting man with a rope, momentarily halting his fall. Unfortunately for Steph though, the man slips out of the rope and falls to his death. While all that was going on, a possessed woman walks over to the suitcase and takes it before leaving the building. Back at the Batcave, Babs cracks into Elysium's computer systems and learns that they had been hording technology from Apokolips, which causes her to tell Steph to return to the Cave immediately. This issue ends with the possessed woman who took the suitcase from Elysium handing it over to the Calculator(!), who has seemingly been living with his very dead son!

How I've missed reading this series! If I were to rank my favorite DC comics, this series would probably be in the top 3. This issue did everything right. It built a good story, had great dialogue, introduced a strong villain, and gave his motivation. So we had a great story, great dialogue and extremely good art... What more could I ask for?

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.I REALLY enjoyed this scene.

Batgirl #7, Justice Society of America #36 & Wonder Woman #41

I'm going to skip a lengthy intro tonight and just get right into the reviews, because these three books were really good! So without further ado, let's get started.

Batgirl #7: Writer: Bryan Q. Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

This issue gets underway with Batgirl(Stephanie Brown) and Robin(Damian Wayne)attempting to reach Batman before he is killed by a bunch of Roulette's goons. Unfortunately for Bats, Dr. Phosphorous catches up with him and prepares to kill him in order to collect the bounty Roulette placed on the head of the Caped Crusader... You know, I loved Dr. Phosphorous from the old Starman series. Man was he some kind of evil piece of work, but I digress... Before Phosphorous can put an end to Bats, Damian arrives on the scene to save his partner. While Damian tangles with Phosphorous, Steph catches up with Roxy Rocket and causes Roxy to crash her rocket into Phosphorous... Trust me, that scene wasn't nearly as lame as I made it out to sound... By this time, Riot has appeared on the scene and along with his army of duplicates, attacks the stricken Dark Knight. Steph and Damian attack Riot, and Damian holds Riot and his dupes at bay long enough for Steph to get Bats out of harms way. She then rejoins Damian and quells the Riot(heh heh...). While all of this fun was going on, Barbara Gordon(Oracle)was hacking into Roulette's computer systems, and is eventually able to locate Roulette. Before Roulette is able to escape from her now compromised base, Batman, Batgirl and Robin arrive to take her into custody. This issue ends with Batman giving Babs and Steph permission to use that Batcave as their base of operation since he is now operating out of Wayne Tower.

This comic was flat-out, full-on awesome. Everything about it was perfectly done. The only thing I could possibly take any umbrage with was how weak Dick looked here, but since that helped the story along, I honestly can't complain... From Steph and Damian, to Babs and Dick, to the villains, to the reveal at the end with Francisco and Steph's comical reaction to it, this comic had me smiling from cover to cover, which is something that unfortunately hasn't really been happening all too much recently with many of the books I've been reading. Unfortunately the next issue begins the x-over with Red Robin, which sucks because I refuse to read anything written by Red Robin writer Chris Yost, so I'll only be able to read half of that x-over. However, as long as the next few issues are anywhere near as good as this one was, I sure won't be complaining!

Score: 10 out of 10... Wow, it's been a while since I've given out a 10 to a DC comic...God help me, I actually like Damian when he appears in this series...

Justice Society of America #36: Writer: Bill Willingham. Pencils: Jesus Merino.

This issue begins twenty years in the future, where we find an older version of Mr Terrific standing in a prison cell, telling a woman about the day the JSA died. He begins his story by telling the woman how Alan Scott met his demise. From there we travel back to the present where the JSA is still holding Kid Karnevil captive in one of Alan Scott's holding cells. Karnevil taunts the team by telling them that in a few minutes he's going to be sprung by his mystery teammates. Although the team doesn't exactly buy his story, they send the Flash(Jay Garrick)away to search the JSA headquarters. While this is happening, Alan Scott comes across a large wooden crate standing in the middle of a hallway, and he decides to clear it out of the way. Since his powers don't work on wood, Alan approaches the box and when he touches it, it explodes, sending pieces of wood into his body, killing him instantly. Jay comes across the body of his longtime friend and after realizing Alan was dead, he sends an emergency call out to the rest of the team. As the JSA prepares for battle, the Forth Reich(basically a whole mess of Nazi-wannabes)bursts into to the JSA base and begins their well planned assault. The battle rages back and forth, and we head back to the future, where the comic comes to an end.

Hmm, this was an interesting comic... The story was very interesting(although I don't buy that things are as they seem), and the next few issues should give us one hell of a battle between the JSA and the Forth Reich. Of course I don't believe that Alan is dead, or that the future we saw a glimpse of during Terrific's story(where the Reich had seemingly taken over the USA)is actually going to come to pass, this story was still good enough to have me quite intrigued as to seeing how things are going to turn out next issue.

Score: 8 out of 10.Damn Nazis...

Wonder Woman #41: Writer: Gail Simone. Pencils: Aaron Lopresti.

This issue opens up with Achilles being sent to some hotel to meet some guy for some reason... OOOOOOK... From there we head to the main event, the fight between Wonder Woman and Power Girl. PG is suffering under the mental domination of the children of Ares, and is under the mistaken assumption that WW is responsible for the recent unrest plaguing the city of Washington DC. The two women fight for a while, until WW saves a bus full of people from crashing. Seeing WW do something so heroic begins to cause PG to doubt that WW is the menace she thought she was. However, before PG can figure anything out, two of Ares kids arrive on the scene and cause PG to see WW as some kind of horrific demon. PG resumes her attack, and WW finally has enough, and uses her far superior hand to hand combat to lock PG in a full nelson. While holding PG, WW is able to get through to her and the two women get off the streets to try to figure out what was going on. WW figures out that PG's actions, as well as the riots in DC, were being caused by the children of Ares, so she has PG wrap her up with her own lasso(so the Ares spawn couldn't mind control her)before heading to find the little hell raisers. While WW goes to find the kids, PG lands in the middle of the rioting people and tries to convince them to halt their madness. WW finds the evil kids and gives them a spanking before sending them away to an Amazon island of reformation. With the children's influence gone, the riots quiet down, and this issue concludes with WW and PG making nice with each other.

For the most part, I liked this issue. The fight between WW and PG was perfectly done, and played out exactly as I would have expected it to, with WW using her vast fighting skills to defeat the ultra-powerful PG. So I thoroughly enjoyed the WW/PG stuff. I also liked the parts where those evil kids were running around DC driving the people(and PG)into fits of rage. I've got to say, I liked those crazy kids. So I liked the stuff with the kids as well. I didn't like how anti-climatically WW defeated the kids though... She catches up to them, spanks them and sends them to an Amazonian reform school? Wha?!? Here I was figuring that WW would have all kinds of trouble dealing with the children of Ares because of the fact that they were just that, only children. Instead, she spanks them and sends them on their way??? Ugh... So, the beginning, the fight scene, and the middle of this comic was top-notch. The resolution? Not so much...

Score: 8 out of 10.Yeah, you DO NOT want to get into a hand-to-hand altercation with Wonder Woman... EVER!

Batgirl #6, Justice League: Cry for Justice #6 & Outsiders #26

Alright, I don't have much time to do these reviews, so hang on, this is going to be a brisk ride through comic book land. Before I get into the new stuff, I have to say, I've been reading the Brave and the Bold mini-series from 1999-2000, which was written by Mark Waid and starred Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and so far, it's been some pretty good stuff. But like I said, I only have a limited amount of time to get these reviews done, so enough about that, let's start these reviews up! Oh, and I apologize in advance if these reviews are worse then usual, but like I said, I'm on a schedule tonight!

Batgirl #6: Writer: Bryan Q. Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

Steph wakes up in the back of an ambulance after being shot by the thugs who kidnapped her classmate, Fernando Garcia. Luckily for Steph, the bullet only grazed the side of her head, so all she has to show for getting shot in the head is a bandage and a headache. Getting some assistance from Oracle, Steph breaks out of the ambulance, dons her Batgirl outfit and head to police headquarters, where she proceeds to spy on a conversation between Batman and Commish Gordon. The two discuss the events surrounding Fernando's abduction, and Steph is jumped by Damian, who is angered that she was spying on Bats. The two begin to fight, which leads to Batman angrily ending the fight, as well as banning the both of them from helping him solve the case of Fernando's disappearance due to their childish behavior. Needless to say, neither one listens, and they decide to work together, as Steph follows a hunch she has about Fernando's girlfriend knowing more then she was letting on. After a quick interrogation, the two discover that Fernando's father owes a load of gambling debts to Roulette, and that she intends on collecting by sending her minions after Batman, where her gamblers can place bets on which bad guy is going to kill Batman. This issue closes with an injured Bats crawling through the streets while being pursued by some of Roulette's goons.

Whew, one review down, two to go! This was a very good comic, from the story, to the artwork, to the dialogue. Not only that, but once again, I thoroughly enjoyed Damian in this comic! I don't know how Bryan does it, but he seems to be accomplishing the impossible, making Damian tolerable. You put Damian in any other comic, and I'm spitting blood like a Red Lantern, but whenever he's in Batgirl, I like him... Weird. Anyway, this was a very good comic that I'd be willing to recommend to anybody.

Score: 9 out of 10.I actually liked Damian in this issue... A lot. That's as sure a sign of the apocalypse as any.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #6(of 7): Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Scott Clark.

This issue opens with Supergirl revealing that she has figured out that Captain Marvel is actually Prometheus in disguise. With his charade over, Prometheus sheds his CM look, and launches into an attack on all of the members of the JL, taking out in quick order: Supergirl, Zatanna, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Black Canary, Starman, Hawkgirl, Guardian, Hawkman, Dr. Light, Vixen, Donna Troy, Hal Jordan, Firestorm, Starfire, Green Arrow and the Atom(WOW...)before he makes his way towards his destination, the teleportation room in the JL Watchtower. Upon arriving at the massive teleporter, he encounters Jay Garrick and the Shade(!). He makes quick work of Jay, and after some slight difficulty, he manages to take down the Shade. With nobody standing between him and his prize, Prometheus walks towards the teleporter, but is attacked by an enraged Donna Troy, who proceeds to beat the HELL out of Prometheus in an Amazon rage. Before she crosses the line, the Shade snaps her back to her senses by telling her she'd best stop before she is branded a murderer by her friends. From there, the scene shifts to the heroes, now recovered, questioning Prometheus on what his master plan is/was. Prometheus happily explains that he was intending on teleporting all of the heroes various home cities into several other dimensions, where they would remain lost forever. This issue ends with Prometheus explaining to the heroes that in the event he was captured, he had a back-up plan which involved massive bombs hidden throughout several cities which would explode unless he was released, with the first bomb blowing up in Green Arrow's hometown of Star City!

After last issue, I was just about ready to write this mini-series off, but wow, this issue sure changed my mind about that! Prometheus was a beast, single-handedly taking out pretty much the ENTIRE JLA without really breaking a sweat... Now that's how you make a villain look strong! The story was much better, with Prometheus finally explaining his master plan, as well as his back-up plan, plus as a bonus, no archers were maimed during this issue, which is always a good thing! I've got to say, poor Ollie is sure taking it on the chin this mini... First his sidekick/"son", Roy Harper has his arm severed, then his hometown is blown up! Jeez, if that were to happen to Hal, he'd be running amok, destroying the universe! I honestly didn't expect to be saying this, but this was a very good comic. It was so good that it almost washed the bad taste of the last issue out of my mouth... Almost.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.See, it's like I've always said, NEVER piss off an Amazon!

Outsiders #26: Writer: Dan Didio. Pencils: Philip Tan.

Alright, this issue is going to get the real short form treatment... Geo-Force and the Outsiders are now operating out of GF's kingdom of Markovia, and GF and Katana are acting a bit on the unhinged side, thanks to their Blackest Night experiences last issue. Katana repeatedly tries to murder criminals during a mission she's on with Black Lightning, and GF basically acts aloof and snobbish to his teammates. Once all of the Outsiders are back in Markovia after completing their various missions, GF holds a press conference, where he announces that Markovia has entered into a non-aggression treaty with New Krypton, and this issue ends with GF introducing his "friend" Eradicator to the press and his shocked teammates.

Sorry about the brief review, but I really do have to finish this post up in the next 15 minutes or so... I actually liked this comic a lot more then I thought I was going to. I'd heard some... let's say less then flattering things about this comic, so I was expecting the worst, but thankfully, my fears were unfounded. I like GF as a royal jerk, Katana as a wildcard, and the rest of the team trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I for one will be looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.So instead of getting Superman, we get his lame double/Kryptonian weapon/whatever the hell he is now, the Eradicator... Uh-huh...

A Quick Look at Batgirl #5

Writer: Bryan Q. Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

What I Thought: We begin this issue with a housing development in Devil's Square burning to the ground. The owner of the housing development, a man by the name of Stefano Garcia, as well as his son Francisco(who just happens to attend Gotham University), are standing by watching the building burn down. Inside the burning building, Batgirl(Stephanie Brown) is battling a villain who goes by the name of Diesel. Apparently, instead of blood, Diesel has gasoline in his body, which he is using to make the blaze worse. Steph and Diesel fight to a standstill, and eventually Batman and Robin arrive on the scene. Robin(Damien Wayne) immediately attacks Diesel, without realizing that Diesel was leaking gasoline all over the flaming room. In order to save Damien, Steph winds up freezing both Diesel and Damien, which leads to a heated argument between Batman and Oracle later on in the Batcave. The next day at Gotham University, Steph ends up overhearing an argument between Francisco and his girlfriend, in which Francisco's girlfriend makes reference to Francisco's father being involved in shady business. Steph decides to investigate, and winds up making a date with Francisco. This issue ends with a bunch of goons interrupting the date between Francisco and Steph, which leads to Francisco being abducted and Steph being shot in the head.

What I Thought: Hey, you know what? I REALLY liked this issue! As a matter of fact, after I was done reading this comic, I actually went back and checked the cover to see how much money it was, because it seemed like it should have been more than just $2.99. This comic really packed a lot of stuff into a regular sized issue. The opening fight, the stuff with Babs and Dick, all the stuff at school with Steph, even the conversation between Steph and Damien, this comic was chock-full of action, and I for one really appreciated that. Steph is rapidly becoming one of my favorite female heroes, and every month if I find myself enjoying this comic book more and more. It should go without saying that I'm eagerly awaiting the next issue!

Score: 9 out of 10.Wow, miracle of miracles, I even liked Damien in this comic!