Taking a breather...

After some thought, I've decided not to review the rest of the comics I picked up last week, mainly due to a) being tired as hell from work, and b) the comics not being particularly good... So, for the record, the comics I won't be reviewing are Journey Into Mystery #638(which I'd give a 5 to), Voodoo #9(which was probably a 5 or so), Mighty Thor #14(which was around a 3), Secret Avengers #27(which I'd go with a 0 for), Teen Titans #9(which was about a 5 1/2) and Batman Inc #1(which I'd give about a 6 to)... So yeah, not exactly anything to write home about there... With the scores for those books being as lackluster as they were, I just couldn't get myself to spend the time punching out reviews for them. On top of all that, the blog has been feeling more like work and less like fun as of late, which is always a sign that it's time to take a step back and reconsider things... Anyway, I'll be back (after a very short break) on Wednesday with a fresh New Comic Day post, but until then? Vampire X out.

Batman Incorporated #8

Before I even get to this comic, a warning... I didn't like this comic at all. To clarify that, I HATED this comic book. Here's the review, but good luck deciphering it, my Morrison-to-English dictionary failed me miserably here...

Batman Incorporated #8:

Summary: Bruce Wayne has brought some investors into his newest creation, Internet 3.0 to show it off. Naturally, techno-terrorists attack Bruce's little meet and greet, shouting slogans such as “The city of numbers is on fire!” and “Kneel to the Worm Captain!”... Oh man. It's gonna be one of THOSE comics... To combat these wacky terrorists, Bruce takes control of a Batman avatar in Internet 3.0, and gets an assist from Oracle(who's here for some reason). After a whole mess of stuff I just don't want to get into because it makes my brain hurt, Bats and Oracle figure out that one of the investors, Mr. Tanaka, had smugged malware into Internet 3.0 on behalf of the Leviathan... Probably. Oracle puts Tanaka under quarantine(?) which ends his threat, and frees the other investors... I guess... I have NO idea what became of Tanaka though. After all of that, Bats meets up with Oracle and tells her that Jezebel Jet had returned from the dead... How the... What?!?

Thoughts: I'm at a complete loss here. If you understood this comic, and realized that Jezebel was somehow behind this, then I tip my hat to you, you're a much smarter person than I am. This comic book read like Grant Morrison slammed his head into his keyboard a bunch of times and sent the results of that to DC... It was... I... I honestly don't even have words for it. I mean it didn't offend me or anything, it just made NO sense! Why the hell was a dog saying, and I quote, “5H898EH23346!”!!! I'm not going to spend any more time on this comic. Like I said, if you enjoyed this issue, more power to you. Me? I just want to forget I ever made the mistake of reading this mess.

Score: 0 out of 10.Grant Morrison must have been taking the REALLY good stuff before he wrote THIS page!

Batman Incorporated #7 & Detective Comics #878

It looks like I'll be taking care of my DC comics this weekend, starting with Batman Inc and Detective Comics. Batman Inc will probably be uber-confusing, as is most of Grant Morrison's work, but hopefully it'll be uber-confusing in a good way! If that makes any sense... As for Detective, I've been really enjoying Scott Snyder's run, and with only a few more Dick Grayson-as-Batman comics left before he gets the shaft in September, I might as well enjoy Dick's remaining time in the spotlight while I can.

Batman Incorporated #7:

Summary: This issue basically focuses on the Native American Batman, Man-of-Bats and his sidekick/son, Little Raven. Basically Raven is sick and tired of serving as his old man's sidekick, thinking Man-of-Bats was delusional, while Man-of-Bats was sure the gangs on his reservation were becoming more organized. After watching his dad beat up some chump who was kicking a dog, Raven quits, and heads back to his place to pack up and leave. As for Man-of-Bats, he takes a ride with the cops to bring the idiot criminal to the police station. Before Raven can leave, he's met by Batman(Bruce Wayne), who tells him that the Leviathan had set it's sights on anybody wearing a Bat costume, which included Man-of-Bats... Now realizing his father wasn't a crazy crackpot, Raven and Bats hop on some horses(yes, really), and go racing after Man-of-Bats. As for Man-of-Bats, he learns that one of the cops who picked him up worked for the Leviathan, and was taking him out to the desert to kill him with the help of some other Leviathan followers. Man-of-Bats fights off most of the attackers, but winds up getting stabbed in the gut. Before the gang can finish him off, Raven and Bats come riding to the rescue like something out of an old western movie... Okay then... Once the gang members are dealt with and Man-of-Bats is taken to the hospital, Bats offers the financial support of the Batman Inc. organization to Raven before heading off to the next problem.

Thoughts: Meh. For a change, I understood practically every page of this one, but the story never really caught on for me. I mean it was okay, but I don't know, I expect better than okay from Grant Morrison. I expect epic... And by epic, I mean epically good, OR epically bad! This was just meh. Oh well. Maybe next month's offering will be better, although with a title like “Nightmares in Numberland”, I'm not holding my breath...

Score: 6 out of 10.Hi-ho Batman! Away!!!


Detective Comics #878:

Summary: Batman(Dick Grayson) has been captured by a bunch of pirates, led by the enigmatic Tiger Shark, and brought to the pirate's yacht. The pirates taunt Bats for a while, so Bats head-butts Tiger Shark(HA!), which leads to the pirates throwing Bats into a tank with a giant killer whale. Bats manages to break out of the tank with one of his bat-gadgets, and goes chasing after Tiger Shark, but is unable to stop Tiger Shark from getting away via a mini-submarine. Tiger Shark blows up the yacht hoping to kill Batman, but needless to say, it takes more than an exploding yacht to kill Batman off. From there, Dick Grayson goes to speak with James Gordon(Commissioner Gordon's son), since Commissioner Gordon was hoping Dick would get a good feel for how James was holding up mentally. While the two are talking, Dick has an epiphany about the killer whale case, and leaves James, heading to the penthouse of Tony Zucco's daughter(whose name escapes me right now... now if DC had an introduction page, that wouldn't happen!). Bats reveals that Zucco's daughter had been playing both Batman and the cops to deal with her enemies, Roadrunner and Tiger Shark. Zucco's daughter naturally denies any wrongdoing, so Bats leaves her, but let's her know she was now on his radar. This issue ends with James Gordon mutilating a man who bullied him as a child.

Thoughts: Eh. No problems here. This was the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book, nothing more, nothing less. We had a fight scene, the real villain of the piece was revealed and managed to outsmarted the hero, and we set up the next storyline, the culmination of the James Gordon stuff. So while this issue didn't blow me away or anything, it was alright, and that's all I really ask for...

Score: 7 out of 10.What can I say? Watching people get randomly head-butted makes me smile...

Batman Incorporated #6 & Red Robin #23

Here's the first of what I'm hoping will be a wave of new posts today! Unless I get too busy that is...

Batman Incorporated #6:

Summary: This issue gets started with a caucus between several smalltime mobsters from Pennsylvania meeting in Gotham to take their best shot at Batman. They hire a man named Nero Nykto who has oodles of information on Batman and his ever growing Batman Inc organization. From there we get several flashbacks of Bruce Wayne introducing his army of Batman robots, donning the Batman cowl and heading around the world to meet with and induct new Batman Inc members, plot against Leviathan, hook Red Robin up with the Outsiders(Red Robin and the Outsiders? I like it!), and make shadowy plans with mysterious figures. We learn that Leviathan(as well as his associate, Dr. Dedalus)were operating from a space station high above the Earth... Sort of like a James Bond villain, but I digress. This issue ends with Nero Nykto revealing that he was actually Batman, and beating the dumb mobsters into submission while reminding them that the Batman was everywhere.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed this issue... What's up with that? I mean I've really been enjoying(and more importantly, understanding!) Grant Morrison's Batman Inc work lately... Does that mean he's getting saner or am I getting crazier? Anyway, this issue basically showed us what was going on with Bruce Wayne, and how he was preparing himself and his allies for the impending showdown with Leviathan. So yeah, that's all good and all, but for me, nothing else about this comic mattered with the exception of one page, and one simple panel. We see Batman talking to somebody and offering them a slot in his Batman Inc organization as the Wingman... Now there were a few hints thrown out by Morrison here, including the fact that Wingman had a bad reputation and that Wingman knew Bruce was Batman... That's a VERY short list, a list that would be headlined(in my mind at least) by Jason Todd... If Wingman does happen to be Jason, I will be one VERY happy Batman fan! Once again, Grant Morrison is proving to be the Anti-Chairman Johns, giving us interesting, new stories, instead of recycling the same tired crap.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Please be Jason Todd... Please be Jason Todd...


Red Robin #23:

Summary: Basically, Red Robin(Timmy the Saint) learns of a plot to assassinate Lucius Fox. He tells Commissioner Gordon and Batman(Dick Grayson) of the plot, but apparently not Lucius. Timmy the Saint and Bats stake out the restaurant Lucius was dining at and are surprised when he is shot from a guy in flying armor, armor reminiscent of the Scarab. Bats gives chase but winds up losing Scarab. Oh, and according to reports, Lucius died, although Timmy the Saint was indicating that Lucius's “death” was all a part of a larger plan. Anyway, Timmy the Saint convinces Bats to get Gordon to release the first Scarab into his custody so he could use her to draw out the current Scarab. Timmy the Saint takes Scarab #1 to Egypt, where he is jumped by a mess of other people in Scarab costumes, whose sole duty was to kill Red Robin.

Thoughts: Meh. I didn't really like or hate this one. Which you could probably tell from the review. It was what it was, a perfectly acceptable, if somewhat confusing, comic.

Score: 7 out of 10.That's not Superboy! What's Tim doing?!?

Batman Incorporated #5 & Wonder Woman #610

Two DC books on tap for today. Usually I dread reading both titles, but shockingly, I enjoyed them both! I must have been in a GREAT mood when I read these comics or something... Anyway, here they are!

Batman Incorporated #5:

Summary: Batman(Bruce Wayne in this series) and his Argentinian amigo, El Gaucho, finish beating up El Sombrero(or, if you prefer, The Hat) and head off to the scenic Falkland Islands. It seems that Dr. Dedalus(AKA Agent-Zero, AKA Daddy 8-Legs, AKA Sleipnir, AKA The Spinner, AKA The Master Spy... Does anybody really need THAT many nicknames?!) has hidden the Oroboro somewhere on the island, and several parties are interested in getting a hold of whatever the Oroboro is. Batwoman and a British secret agent by the name of the Hood are already on the island and soon find themselves under attack by Scorpiana's scorpion bombs. Luckily for Hood and Batwoman, Bats and Gaucho arrive on the scene and fry the little critters before they detonate on anyone. Since her ambush failed, Scorpiana tries the direct approach and attacks the four heroes on her own... Well she's got nerve, that's for sure! Bats tells the other three heroes to deal with Scorpiana while he hunted for Dedalus. While the trio take care of Scorpiana, Bats follows Dedalus's henchman into a lighthouse where he shows Bats a “meta-bomb”(which I'm sure is WAY worse than a regular bomb!) that Dedalus was planning on detonating to start an international incident between Argentina and England. Bats safely defuses the bomb, while the trio on the ground locate Dedalus... Or so they think... Bats arrives, listens to a recording “Dedalus” had on him and deduces(correctly) that the real Dr. Dedalus was far away from the Falklands. This one ends with Dedalus and the mysterious Leviathan watching Bats and his crew from afar, undoubtedly plotting all sorts of evil actions.

Thoughts: Oddly enough, and nearly inexplicably, I liked this issue. I think I've FINALLY figured out the secret of reading a Grant Morrison comic book... The secret is to read the comic REALLY slow... I mean exceptionally slow! Like literally study the frigging page, the language used, the pictures, EVERYTHING before turning the page. And then repeat the process. I did just that, and I'd say that I understood like 85% of this comic, which is better than the 25% I normally understand! So Leviathan seems to be a person, as opposed to an organization like I initially thought... Leviathan rescued Dedalus from his island prison so Dedalus would help Leviathan with the Oroboro. I'm still not 100% sure what the Oroboro is, nor what it's purpose is, but hey, I didn't expect to figure out everything that was going on here! I'm still not sold on El Gaucho, but I'll admit that I did like Hood, or what little we learn about him. It turns out that a secret British agency wanted Hood to infiltrate Batman Inc.(and who could really blame them?), which was the REAL reason he was on that island, with his hunt for Dedalus being a ruse. As for Batwoman? She was just sort of there... All in all though, good stuff. Who'd have thunk it?!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Behold! The dreaded META-Bomb!


Wonder Woman #610:

Summary: The Morrigan teleport Cheetah, Giganta and Artemis back to their base and tell Artemis to use her hunting skills to find Wonder Woman, as opposed to running amok in the hope of drawing WW to them... And that ladies and gents is why the Morrigan are the leaders of Artemis and company! Wonder Woman wakes up in her hospital bed(much to the surprise of the doctor and nurse), trying to figure out how she got there. Eventually WW realizes that she had to get moving, and the nurse(who happens to be named Diana Prince) gives WW her WW equipment as well as a blanket that an old woman knitted for her. The blanket seems familiar to WW(it's her old starred cape), so she asks to be brought to the old woman before she leaves. WW meets with the old woman, who reveals that she was one of the Fates. And the old woman actually has some information! It seems that the Goddess of Vengeance had scared most of the other gods away from the mortal coil, and was the force behind the Morrigan. WW was pretty much the only thing that could stop this crazed Goddess, but was destroyed when she stood against the Goddess the first time. The Fate managed to create a second life for WW, the life she is currently leading. However, the Goddess knows WW is out there still, thus creating and using the Morrigan to draw WW out and kill her once and for all. After she passes this information onto WW, the old woman dies and Cheetah enters the room to attack. WW tosses Cheetah out the window and follows her outside, where WW is immediately attacked by Artemis. WW manages to wrap Artemis up in her lasso and shows Artemis that she had no reason to be angry with WW and the Amazons, but that her anger should have been directed at the Morrigan, who were using her. Artemis sees clearly now, and WW repeats the process on Cheetah and Giganta, righting their minds as well. From there, WW and her newfound allies head to the Oracle, declaring that she was going to take the battle to the evil Goddess of Vengeance.

Thoughts: Hey, this issue was really good! That's the first time I've said that about an issue of WW in ages! FINALLY, after a good 10 issues, we're finally getting to the bottom of the whole, “WW: The Teenage Amazon” deal. The Fate(the old woman) reveals that the original WW was killed/destroyed by the Goddess of Vengeance, but that the Fate recreated WW since she was still humanity's best hope against the Goddess. You'd think being killed by this Goddess once would disqualify WW from being humanity's best hope, but there you have it. Things are coming to a head here, and if you ask me, not a moment too soon!

Score: 8 out of 10.What's this?! A Wonder Woman comic making sense?! I won't believe it!

Quick Hits: 3/25/11

Batman: The Dark Knight #2:

Summary: Still searching for missing socialite Dawn Golden, Batman's(Bruce Wayne this time around) search brings him to the Penguin's headquarters, where he finds an amulet that belonged to Dawn. Penguin sics his goons on Bats, but we all know how well that's going to work out. Needless to say, Bats easily dispatches of the goons and chases after Penguin, who decides to run away... Um yeah, I don't see Penguin winning THAT race... While that epic race is going on, Killer Croc breaks out of police custody and begins to make his way to the Penguin's base. Bats catches up to Penguin and demands to know what he did with Dawn, while Penguin claims he knows nothing. Not believing the fowl villain(heh heh), Bats breaks Penguin's arm and leg(!!), while Alfred listens in shock from the Batcave. By this point Croc arrives on the scene and knocks the feral Batman unconscious before he can do any more damage to Penguin. The two villains take Bats to a warehouse, tie him to a chair and wire him to some explosives, because villains can't resist a good deathtrap... Eventually Bats wakes up and sees a TV sitting in front of him, with Penguin on it(from the hospital). Penguin taunts Bats a bit before he switches the video feed to Dawn, who is being tortured elsewhere. Bats becomes infuriated and Penguin tells him that the explosives were wired to Batman's heart rate, meaning if he became too upset, he'd explode. Besides that, some girl steals the Batmobile, Ragman eats a hobo and it appears the reason Bats flipped out on Penguin was because he was under the influence of Dawn's amulet. Oh, and Etrigan was there too.

Thoughts: Man did a lot happen in this issue... First off, I was hard pressed to remember what the hell happened in the last issue since it came out MONTHS ago! Once I started reading though, I found myself enjoying the story, even though it did contain my second most hated villain of all time, Penguin. So Penguin did have Dawn all along, even though we have no idea why. We also don't know why Dawn's amulet drove Bats loco, although I'm guessing that's why Jason Blood summoned Etrigan... Either that or because Ragman was on a hobo-eating rampage... To be honest, after reading this comic, if I was forced to read only one Batman book a month, this would EASILY be the one I choose. It wasn't perfect, but it was quite engaging, something all of the other Batman books currently are not.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.If Bats would have broken Penguin's neck, I would have given this comic a perfect score!


Batman Incorporated #4:

Summary: A lot of this issue dealt in flashbacks to the early crimefighting days of Batman(Bruce Wayne). Basically, Kathy Kane was a bored woman with a lot of time and money on her hands, and she decided to become the first Batwoman. She eventually hooks up with Batman, which annoys Robin(Dick Grayson) to no end. The two get quite serious before Kathy breaks it off and leaves a heartbroken Bruce behind. We learn that Kathy was apparently the daughter of “an unrepentant Nazi master criminal”(according to Grant Morrison at least), and that her evil Nazi father wanted her to marry Bruce, and then reveal that she was the daughter of “an unrepentant Nazi master criminal”. Kathy didn't want Bruce to learn this bizarre fact, which is why she breaks it off with him. Back in the present, Batman and Gaucho are being forced to fight to the death or else El Sombrero(that's right, the dreaded Hat!!!) drowns a few orphans. Bats and Gaucho do indeed fight, until Bats is able to bypass Sombrero's machinery and shut down his deathtrap. Gaucho's assistant Scorpiana ditches Sombrero, leaving him to the tender mercies of Bats and Gaucho. The current version of Batwoman is also in this issue, battling a woman who was pretending to be Kathy Kane. Oh, and for some reason there's a guy with smoke for a cape hanging out around penguins...

Thoughts: Grant Morrison literally makes my head hurt sometimes... What the HELL was the deal with the guy with the smoky cape?!? It just made no sense!!! Anyway, I actually enjoyed the flashback stuff(probably because most of it didn't come from the mind of Crazy Grant), while the stuff set in the present was as insane and incomprehensible as you'd expect a comic written by Morrison to be...

Score: 5 out of 10.Too bad this entire issue didn't just stick with flashbacks...


Namor #8:

Summary: Namor, Dr. Doom, Loa and some Atlantian woman are trying to find a way out of Hell. Doom discovers the way out, and tells Namor that if he survives the coming battle, Namor would owe Doom. With that Doom leaves and a mess of dead Atlantian kings and misfits attack Namor and the two women. Namor tells Loa to watch the Atlantian woman(who was messed up last issue by some angry Atlantian kings), while he deals with the demons. The demons beat the hell out of Namor, while the Atlantian woman has a conversation with some Atlantian kings who weren't that angry with Namor... Man, how many Atlantian kings inhabit Hell?! The good(ish) Atlantian kings restore the Atlantian woman's mind, which leads to her blasting the evil Atlantian demons with magic, buying Namor the time to get the three of them out of Hell. Now free from Hell, Namor yells at Cyclops and then sleeps with the Atlantian woman... In a bed of leaves... Under the sea......... And yeah, that's about it...

Thoughts: Umm... How am I even supposed to respond to that?! All I'm going to say is that I'll be dropping this series right after the Namor annual. By this point I don't think there's ANYTHING that can change that. This series is simply a car wreck.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.I don't blame Doom for walking out of this comic...

Really Quick Hits! 3/19/11 edition

Over the course of the past two days I have managed to... instead of review, let's say summarize 14 comic books. After looking back at the books I wrote about, I'm pretty disappointed... The highest score any of these books got from me was a 7 1/2, which is a score I give to a comic that was only SLIGHTLY above average. As a matter of fact, many, if not most, of these books were below a 6, which means they were below average reads. That's really pretty bad... Interestingly, 9 out of the 14 books were DC titles, which I guess explains why the scores were so lackluster... On a positive note, this is my 100th post of the year! That's about the only good thing about this post...

Wonder Woman #608:

What Happened: Cheetah, Artemis and Giganta(who are Amazons now) beat Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon down for a while because they want to kill her as revenge for Wonder Woman abandoning them, or maybe they wanted to capture her for the mysterious Morrigan... I really don't know, or quite frankly care. The Morrigan themselves seem like they now suddenly DON'T want WW to join their ranks, and we end this one with Dr. Psycho saving WW from the trio of phony Amazons.

Thoughts: What can I say here that I haven't hit on before? I just can't get into this story at all. I think we're 8 or 9 issues into J. Michael Staczynski's WW story, and I honestly have NO idea what's going on. I mean after nearly TEN issues of this story, shouldn't we have SOME idea of what the hell is going on, why WW is now a Teenage Amazon, and who/what the Morrigan are all about? Every issue it's just more and more confusion... I don't get it.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Look out, Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon! It's Cheetah: The Sudden Amazon!!!


Titans #33:

What Happened: Deathstroke, Cinder, Cheshire and That Worthless Junkie, sneak onto an island to kill some guy named Drago. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Drago knew Deathstroke was coming. How'd he know? Because That Worthless Junkie and Cheshire have finally turned on Deathstroke. After an extended fight scene, Cinder is knocked out and Deathstroke is captured and brought before Drago, who pulls out Deathstroke's eye... With his bare hand... Really.........

Thoughts: I... I don't even know what to say anymore. I mean after that last page, what more is there TO say?! What's the purpose of having some feeb LITERALLY pull Deathstroke's eye out? What's the endgame here? Is Slade gonna go all Daredevil and do his thing blind? Is he going to simply... I don't know, stick his eye back in his head and carry on like nothing happened? I thought this series was on the upswing, I recall enjoying the past few issues, but that sure came to a screeching halt with this issue. Ah DC... You find new ways to depress me every single month...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Yoink!


Superboy #5:

What Happened: This is the second ever, or as DC is calling it, The FIRST EVER Race Between Kid Flash and Superboy!!!!!!! issue. The two agree to race with the proceeds going to benefit Smallville. So the two teenage heroes run around the globe, inexplicably staying neck and neck the entire time, and then Krypto wins the race.........

Thoughts: What the hell did I do to deserve this?!?!?! Is it because I said Dan Didio sucks?! Is it the way I've been insulting Chairman Johns lately?!? I mean seriously, why is this happening to me?!?! *sigh* Okay X, take a deep breath and calm down... This is one of the few times I finished a comic book and literally cursed aloud after reading it. It was that incredibly bad. Not only that, it was insulting. I literally felt insulted after reading this comic. First off, Bart Allen has already proven that he is light years faster than Superboy. Don't believe me? Then CLICK HERE. But as I was reading this I was thinking, “Maybe Bart doesn't want to embarrass SB too badly in his hometown.” Sure, it SEEMED like Bart was giving the race his all, but like I said, maybe he was holding back. So as the issue rolled along, I figured we'd get a tie or something. And then Krypto, who wasn't even a part of the race won... I don't even want to talk about this anymore. Needless to say, this series just lost a reader.

Score: 0 out of 10.Go to hell, Krypto.


Batman and Robin #21:

What Happened: Some new villain named the White Knight is running around killing off the families of anybody who has ever been incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. By the end of this issue he's managed to kill Victor Zsasz's brother and the Mad Hatter's family, stymie the Gotham Police Department(big shock there!) as well as leave Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin in his dust.

Thoughts: Hey, somebody sound the alarms, this was actually a GOOD comic book! After the past three DC comics I read/posted about, I REALLY needed something like this. The story is really strong, with Dick and Damian managing to figure out what the White Knight's game was(killing off the family members of Arkham's infamous), but not knowing who the Knight was going to strike against next, since it could be almost anyone. The fight scenes were good, the story was good, the art was good, the dialogue was good, and Commissioner Gordon didn't rough Damian up this issue. I have no complaints here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.My current Windows background!


Captain America: The Korvac Saga #4(of 4):

What Happened: Captain America(Steve Rogers) manages to convince future Galactus to give him the Ultimate Nullifier to put an end to the threat of Korvac. Cap confronts Korvac with the Nullifier but is unable to convince himself that nullifying Korvac was the right thing to do. Korvac takes advantage of Cap's hesitation and snatches the Nullifier, but since his mind wasn't properly focuses, it nullifies Korvac, ending his threat. With that, Galactus sends Cap back to the 21st century and we can call this mini-series a wrap.

Thoughts: Eh, no complaints here. I mean I doubt I'll remember this mini-series a week from now, but as it was, it was an okay way to spend a few minutes. This issue, like most of this mini-series was good. And hey, good is better than bad!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That Galactus is such a class act!


Batman Incorporated #3:

What Happened: Batman(Bruce Wayne) heads to Argentina to dance the Tango of Death and try to convince Gaucho to join his Batman Inc. initiative. Gaucho turns Bats down, even after Bats assists Gaucho defeat a few of his Argentinian enemies. In the end, Bats and Gaucho are trapped by the thought-to-be-dead villain, El Sombrero, which literally translates to “The Hat”...

Thoughts: I literally have no earthly idea what I just read here. None. There were blue scorpions, a hot air balloon, Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne in order to dance, and a villain whose name is literally The Hat. The Hat! If ever you need proof that Grant Morrison is insane, then read this comic book.

Score: 3 out of 10.Yup, Batman returned in order to dance.


Batman: Streets of Gotham #20:

What Happened: Dr. Death thinks back to his origin while he's working on some drugs for his new boss, Hush. However, Hush figures out that Dr. Death was going to double-cross him, so he knocks Death out and steals Death's drugs.

Thoughts: I honestly had no problem with this comic. I can imagine that some people would, since this storyline was supposed to be about Hush, and he only appeared on maybe three or four pages, but I actually enjoyed Dr. Death's origin enough to overlook the lack of Hush. I think there are only two more issues left before this series is being canceled, so I'd have to hope that Hush(finally!) takes center stage next issue and reveals exactly what he's up to here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Man are they OLD!!!

Batman Incorportated #2

Review: We get started with Batman rescuing Catwoman and Mr. Unknown's assistant's girlfriend from a giant squid. Upon being rescued the woman breaks up with Jiro(Unknown's assistant), because she wasn't fond of nearly being eaten by a giant squid... And who can really blame her?! Bats begins to investigate the area and tells Catwoman all about Lord Death Man(the villain who set up last issue's deathtrap), explaining that basically LDM couldn't be killed and that he was crazy. Jiro walks over and tries to offer Bats assistance, but Bats doesn't seem receptive. Jiro then explains that he had been playing the role of Mr. Unknown, since the original had become too old, and that he was hoping to join up with the Batman Incorporated organization. Bats bluntly says no, since Jiro used a gun to shoot LDM, and that guns were a big no-no. With that, Bats and CW leave, and Jiro promises Bats that he hasn't seen the last of him. Meanwhile, LDM returns to life while he was being autopsied and kills the doctors around him. He then struts outside, and is given clothing, weapons and a car by his men, so that he could move on to the next part of his wacky plans. Bats and CW move to intercept LDM as he heads towards a museum(to kill some c-list Japanese super-hero), while Jiro dresses up like Mr. Unknown and also moves towards the museum. Bats lands on top of LDM's car and the two crash at the museum, just as Jiro arrives to protect the c-list hero. LDM emerges from the car and shoots Jiro a few times before Bats manages to beat him to a pulp, and toss him of the top of the museum, since Bats knew LDM couldn't be killed. From there, CW drives over in an armored car and Bats and CW lock LDM in a safe and eventually shoot him into space. This issue ends with Bats revealing that Jiro had faked his death, and that he'd be joining Batman Inc. as the Japanese Batman.

Thoughts: Eh. I liked Lord Death Man, but I didn't really like all that much else here... Strangely enough, it kind of bothered me that Bats tossed LDM off the museum roof to incapacitate the villain... That seemed like such a non-Batman thing to do. I can remember a certain second Robin tossing criminals off of rooftops and Bats having a hissy-fit over it... Anyway, it seems that the Japanese portion of this story has ended, and Bats will now be moving to Argentina to meet up with former Batmen of All Nations member El Gaucho. Since I hated the Batmen of All Nations storyline, I am NOT looking forward to it! But who knows, maybe Grant Morrison will surprise me...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.How can't you like a villain who staples his own neck closed?!

Batman Incorporated #1

Overall: And so we kick off the official beginning of Grant Morrison's latest big Batman story... We begin in Japan with a villain by the name of Lord Death Man(really?)killing a super-hero by the name of Mr. Unknown. An associate of Unknown happens across the scene and manages to escape Lord Death Man and his henchmen. From there the scene shifts to Batman and Catwoman, who are in the process of stealing a weapon from the pathetic Dr. Sivana. Bats and CW manage to acquire what they were after with little trouble and head out to Japan since Bats wants to offer Mr. Unknown a spot in his Batman Inc. organization. Bats and CW sneak into Unknown's base figuring that would impress him, but there's no impressing a dead man as Bats learns when he comes across Unknown's corpse. Bats and CW investigate the scene and are jumped by some of Lord Death Man's goons. The heroes make quick work of the goons and Bats scares one goon into giving up the location of Lord Death Man. It turns out that Lord Death Man has gone and captured the girlfriend of Mr. Unknown's associate from earlier and placed her in some sort of death trap. Lord Death Man decides to taunt Unknown's associate and gets shot in the face and knocked out a window for his troubles. Unknown's associate rushes into the room, but that sets off the death trap, and his girlfriend falls into a pool of water. By this point Bats and CW have arrived on the scene and while Bats helps Unknown's associate take on Lord Death Man's remaining goons, CW jumps into the water after the woman, discovering that a massive octopus was also in the water, and that it was preparing to crush the life out of the woman and CW.

Hey, you know what, I really enjoyed this issue! And that's not X the new disciple of Grant Morrison saying that, that's X the comic fan saying it. This comic surprised me with the rather sensible story, as well as the lack of confusion most of Morrison's work tends to contain. I really hope that this issue signifies that we'll be seeing CW making some regular appearances in this series, because out of Bruce's MANY girlfriends, she's definitely my favorite. So while the overwhelming majority of this comic was good, there were a few little quibbles I had... Such as this, why can't Morrison seem to come up with a good super-villain's name? Lord Death Man?! That's nearly as bad as the Pink Flamingo or El Sombrero... But hell, if the only thing I can complain about is the name of the characters in this comic, then in my eyes, that's a good thing!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.You know, you really do have to respect the henchmen in the DCU, because they always play out the gimmick they're given.