Booster Gold #43 & Justice Society of America #49

Two reviews here, and they're both comics I won't be reading in the coming months. I've been really unimpressed by Marc Guggenheim's JSA run, and with this issue of JSA being the last one on my DC subscription, I just can't see myself adding it to my pull list. Maybe when a new writer takes over I'll come back to this series, but for now, I'm finished with the JSA. As for Booster Gold, the next issue starts Booster's Flashpoint tie-in, and as I've stated before, I absolutely refuse to support Flashpoint in any way, shape or form. So come this Wednesday, I'll be dropping Booster Gold from my pull list. Once Flashpoint is over though, if Booster hasn't been canceled, I'll start picking it up again.

Justice Society of America #49:

Summary: While Mr. America, Blue Devil, Mr. Terrific and Flash(Jay Garrick) are trying to contain Scythe, pretty much everybody else in the JSA and JSA All-Stars(except for Power Girl) are unable to stop Dr. Chaos... Sad. Alan Scott arrives on the scene to lend a hand to Jay, and is able to defeat Scythe with NO trouble whatsoever, even though Scythe broke Alan's neck a few issues back and pretty much fought the JSA to a standstill for several hours. Somehow Alan was able to tap into the Starheart to become more powerful than ever before, and seems prepared to murder Scythe. Before he can though, Jay manages to talk his old friend down... Barely. As for Chaos, Power Girl arrives on the scene and downs him with one punch, which makes me wonder why the rest of these chumps are even on the JSA? Why not just have a team consisting of Power Girl and Alan? Anyway, with the two villains defeated and taken into custody, the JSA(as well as a few other heroes) go about rebuilding the city of Monument Point. It takes them three weeks, but by that time, everything is back to normal and running smoothly in Monument Point again. Alan is still acting creepy and kind of aloof, and Mr. Terrific is still suffering from his brainpower having been diminished, but other than that, everything is back to normal. Jay gets called into the office of the mayor where he is told that after the death of the deputy mayor of Monument Point a few issues back, the city council called an emergency meeting and decided to elect Jay the mayor of the city.

Thoughts: Well, this issue was about 500 times better then the last several issues were, but it still wasn't enough to save this book from my own personal chopping block. I haven't enjoyed Marc Guggenheim's run on this series in the least, and although this issue was a step up, I just can't fathom wasting my money on a writer whom I have zero confidence in. So yes, after 100+ issues with the JSA, from the prior series started by James Robinson, to this one, to the JSA All-Stars, this is my last JSA issue for the foreseeable future. Adios.

Score: 7 out of 10.So now Alan Scott is literally wearing a lantern... Strange...


Booster Gold #43:

Summary: We start this comic with Rip Hunter telling Booster Gold that if he wants to find out how he escaped from the end of the universe with the Perforated Man, as well as how he was cured of his Chronal Leprosy, his best bet was to head to the 30th century. Booster does as he's told and appears right in the middle of a fight between the OLD Legion of Super-Heroes and some big goon named Validus... Once I see that, I start skipping pages and quickly realize that the OLD Legion is the focal point of this comic, at which point I stop reading.

Thoughts: Sorry, but I absolutely REFUSE to read about the OLD Legion. The Threeboot Legion(or even the reboot Legion) is the ONLY Legion I'll ever read about. I hate that my Legion was tossed by the wayside so the OLD Legion can, once again, be thrust into the spotlight. What IS it with DC replacing older characters with oftentimes far superior modernized characters, and THEN running back to the old characters again... It's just depressing. So in good conscious I can't read this comic, so for the FIRST time ever, I won't finish a comic I promised I'd read. Therefore, I have to borrow a page out of my good friend JT's book and give this issue an...

Score: N/A out of 10.This was actually the first and last page I read from this comic...

Quick Hits: 3/17/11

Finally, X has come back to his blog! I've finished up most of the really tough schoolwork that's been hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles, so all I have left is the little daily junk I have to take care of. But for now, my group projects and formal papers are out of the way. That means I can FINALLY devote some much needed time to my blog and provide some comic book reviews. I only have two reviews to post today, a DC and a Marvel, but they were both quite good. Now if all goes according to plan, I'm hoping to post a good 10 reviews for tomorrow... Yes, that's right, TEN! Now there's no way I'll be able to make those reviews as in depth as my normal reviews, so I'll just be hitting the main thing that occurred in each book, giving some thoughts on the comic, posting the score and a scan. I haven't decided what to name that post, but I'm sure I'll come up with something. Okay, enough from me, let's start things off with the insanely awesome Hawkeye: Blindspot #2!

Hawkeye: Blindspot #2(of 4):

Summary: We get started with Hawkeye still trying to run down any leads he can to figure out who killed his mentor, Trickshot. After mopping up some street trash and learning nothing worthwhile, Hawkeye is confronted by his longtime friend/mentor, Steve Rogers. Steve tells Hawkeye that he wasn't fit for active duty, with Hawkeye's impending blindness and all, but Hawkeye naturally doesn't want to hear it. Knowing the only way to get through to Hawkeye was with violence, Steve attacks, and the two longtime Avengers battle. Steve appears to get the upper-hand, after he damages the cowl Iron Man created to compensate for Hawkeye's blindness, but Hawkeye manages to use a tactic he learned from Steve himself way back in the day to put Steve down with an electric arrow... In a word, everything about that battle was AWESOME. From there Hawkeye takes off on his skycycle and gets in touch with Maria Hill to see if she had learned anything new about Trickshot's death. Hill tells Hawkeye that there were traces of Plexiglas and sand that was found around the NYC area on Trickshot, and Hawkeye thinks back to Trickshot's last words about never wanting to step foot in a carnival again, which leads to Hawkeye realizing that Trickshot had most likely been held at Coney Island. Hawkeye starts towards Coney Island when an explosive arrow attaches itself to Hawkeye's skycycle. Hawkeye sees it and leaps free, landing with a thud on top of a train right before the skycycle explodes. As he begins to get to his feet, the mystery archer from earlier approaches Hawkeye and Hawkeye realizes that the archer appeared to be his dead brother Barney(!!!).

Thoughts: Well, this was all sorts of awesome. It seems like this mini-series is a love letter from Jim McCann to all of us Hawkeye fans out there. The flashbacks were flat out awesome as they were last issue, and they took us from Hawkeye's first tentative steps as a hero, to joining the Avengers, to becoming Goliath, to the(apparent) death of his brother Barney. As for the scenes set in the present, anytime Hawkeye and Steve Rogers are together in the same issue I'm beyond happy. Their fight was awesome, with Steve simply looking out for Hawkeye's safety, while Hawkeye, in true Hawkeye fashion, doesn't want anyone's assistance or pity. Hawkeye beating Steve by using strategy he learned from Steve all those years ago was also a great touch. As for the mystery archer apparently being Barney, that caught me by surprise... I'm still not sold that the archer is Barney, I'd still prefer it if it was some unknown child of Barney. With Baron Zemo as the mastermind behind all of this, it is very possible that he took somebody and had them look and act as if they were Barney to play with Hawkeye's mind. So I'm NOT quite sold that this archer is actually Hawkeye's long thought to be dead brother... But who knows, maybe it is! God do I love this mini-series...

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.Awesome. Just plain awesome.


Booster Gold #42:

Summary: This issue begins with Booster returning to the present after spending 5 years trapped in a jail in the future. From there Booster regales his sister and Rip(as well as us) with a tale of how things went while he was incarcerated. After having the cell to himself for a while, Booster ends up getting a new cellmate, the Perforated Man. Booster tries to make nice with PM, but PM is a certifiable nutjob and just wants to rant, rave and occasionally attack Booster. Booster finally has enough and takes a swipe at PM and is stunned to see that the two of them were no longer in their cell, but were way back in the prehistoric past. Booster spends a few days running from PM and the dinosaurs before he has enough of that and attacks PM, which sends them back to their cell. The guards come in and break up the fight, and Booster wants to know why the guards didn't realize that Booster and PM were gone for so long. The guards tell Booster they had no clue what he was going on about, and Booster realizes that although he had been gone for days, only a second or two passed at the jail. Booster and PM fight on and off and jump back and forth through time until PM has a moment of lucidity and explains to Booster that he was crazy because he a disease known as chronal leprosy, which caused him(or just various parts of his body) to jump back and forth through time uncontrollably. PM tells the shocked Booster that Booster himself also had the early stages of chronal leprosy. Booster wants to know how PM could possibly know this, before he realizes that PM was actually a future version of himself. PM tells Booster that he was doomed to have a hellish final few years, and this issue ends with Booster accompanying PM to the end of time where they could both die in peace.

Thoughts: Well we know Booster didn't take the old dirt nap at the end of this issue since he's narrating the story, no? I also guessed the identity of the Perforated Man pretty early on since Booster was dropping some pretty massive hints about it throughout. Besides those two things, I actually enjoyed this issue a lot. The story was fast paced and interesting. Plus it wasn't dripping with unfunny comedy, which is always a good thing!

Score: 8 out of 10.Pfft, my hand is always vanishing. I don't freak out about it.

Quick Hits: 2/25/11

Hello from a very snowy upstate New York, X-Maniacs! My school closed down for the day so I figured I might as well get this Quick Hits post taken care of before heading out to do some more shoveling. This time I've shaken things up a bit and tossed two DC and two Marvel books together, as opposed to a fully Marvel or fully DC post. Before I even read these four books I was expecting the two Marvel books to be WAY better than the DC ones, mainly because I've been enjoying the Marvel comics I've been reading way more than the DC ones lately. But believe it or not, it was one of the DC books that pulled down the high score for the post! Could this be the beginning of a DC resurgence?! No, I seriously doubt it, but I can wish, can't I?

Booster Gold #41:

Summary: We get started with Booster and Michelle arguing with Rip Hunter about Rip's decision to send Booster back to the 25th century to stand trial for stealing from that museum he used to work for. Before anything can be decided, Rip's laboratory hideout is attacked by Dr. Nishtikeit, a Nazi Booster ran afoul of during WWII. It seems Nishtikeit was sent hurtling through time thanks to Booster and has been plotting his revenge for years. Nishtikeit(damn is that name a pain to type!)and his Nazis manage to bypass a very surprised Rip's defenses and bang Rip up pretty good. Booster attacks Nishtikeit and with some help from Michelle(back in her Goldstar attire), Booster manages to push the Nazi attack back and send Nishtikeit on his way. After the battle, Michelle figures that since Booster had saved Rip's skin again, he'd drop the whole, “Go and turn yourself in, Booster” thing, but alas, Rip is still adamant that the right thing to do was for Booster to make amends for his original crime. After some thought Booster realizes that turning himself in was the right move, and Rip tells him that he'll probably only get a slap on the wrist, considering all the good he did with the stuff he stole. A quick 25th century trial later and Booster is sentenced to 5 years in prison for his theft. This issue ends with Booster sitting in his cell and being introduced to his new cell mate.

Thoughts: I had absolutely no problem with this comic. I enjoyed the battle between Booster and Nishtikeit, I liked seeing Michelle don her Goldstar gear once again, and I thought Booster agreeing to turn himself in was the right move. I mean he DID steal all of his crime-fighting stuff! Shouldn't he have to face up to what he had done? I still don't get why that little girl, Rani, is in this series, and her parts didn't add anything to the story for me, but besides that little gripe(and having to type out “Nishtikeit” over and over again!) I have nothing really bad to say about this one.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.D'oh!

Wolverine #6:

Summary: We kick this issue off a few weeks back with Lord Summers the First going over a computer scenario of how to kill Wolverine if it became necessary to do so. Basically the plan would be for Magneto to tear the adamantium from Wolvie's skeleton, Namor to pull Wolvie's head off and then Lord Summers the First would finish the job by blasting Wolvie's body into ashes. Back to the present, Lord Summers the First, Emma Frost, Magneto and Namor(hmm, why ever would that group of characters be there?) confront the recently returned from Hell Wolverine on the steps of a church. It seems that Daimon Hellstrom was able to get Wolvie's soul back into its rightful body, but he isn't able to expel the evil spirits that had taken possession of Wolvie... Um Hellstrom, isn't that kind of your whole shtick?! Anyway, Hellstrom tells Lord Summers the First that Wolvie has to fight off the evil spirits himself, and after taking a quick peek in Wolvie's mind, Emma realizes that Wolvie was losing the mental battle against the spirits... Badly. From there Wolvie becomes Possessed Wolvie again(YES!) and runs about attacking Hellstrom and his Ghost Riders. Realizing that he couldn't allow Wolvie to run amok in the streets of San Fransisco, Lord Summers the First gives the order to Magneto and Namor to take Wolvie down... Permanently.

Thoughts: Well there was some good and some bad here... The bad would be the fact that Lord Summers the First was in this issue. Man do I hate that guy now! I also didn't like the fact that Hellstrom couldn't exercise the spirits from Wolvie's body, especially considering that's kind of his thing... That would be like if you asked Storm to make it rain and she was like, “Well right now I just can't do that.” Hellstrom SHOULD have been able to send the spirits back to Hell from whence they came. At least that's the way I saw it. Oh, and I was also REALLY annoyed that everybody kept calling Wolvie “The most dangerous mutant alive.”... Really?! In a world where you have Magneto, who can control the magnetic poles of the entire planet, Franklin Richards, whose abilities even alarm Galactus, and Nate Grey, who can read, manipulate, and control minds(as well as numerous other powers), WOLVERINE is “the most dangerous mutant alive”?! Sorry, I don't think so. But in all honesty, those are just little gripes. The majority of this comic wasn't that bad. You had Wolvie trying, and failing, to expel the spirits from his head, the return of Possessed Wolvie, and Possessed Wolvie running wild. All in all, this was a good, but not great comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Finish Him!!!


Justice League of America #54:

Summary: Most of the beginning part of this comic is an explanation as to who Eclipso and Bruce Gordon are, and what their relationship is. The short form is that Bruce is the guy the Eclipso entity possessed. After the whole magic craziness with the Starheart a few issues back, it seems that Eclipso has managed to possess Bruce, even though there hadn't been an eclipse. Now in control, Eclipso decides he is going to collect characters with a connection to the shadow realms, starting with the always awesome Shade. With the Shade under his thrall, Eclipso heads around the globe and does exactly as he said he would, possessing several shadow-based characters. After collecting a veritable army, Eclipso heads to the moon to collect the last piece of his puzzle, JLA member Jade.

Thoughts: Hey, I REALLY enjoyed this story! First things first, Congorilla didn't show up, which is always a good way to get me to like a JLA comic. Besides the lack of Congorilla, the story made sense and unlike the last storyline, actually gave some background info on the villain of the piece, Eclipso. I mean that last storyline just kept adding obscure villains I'd barely(or never!) heard of and expecting me to know what their connection to each other was, as well as their connection to the JLA. This issue plainly spelled out WHO Eclipso was and WHAT he was doing. It's always good to know what is motivating the villain of a story. Eclipso wants to collect characters with shadow powers. Now he doesn't come out and say why, but that's fine, because that can be revealed as the story moves forward. I mean to me it makes sense that he'd want to make those characters use their combined powers to put the Earth into a state of perpetual night, but maybe he has something else up his sleeves. The Jade thing was a bit of a surprise, since it seemed that Eclipso would have wanted Jade's brother Obsidian, who DOES have a connection to the shadow realms. Eclipso helpfully explains why he was going after Jade, stating he wanted a character who was touched by both darkness and the White Lantern's powers. Where the HELL has the James Robinson who wrote this comic been hiding, because for the first time since he started writing this series I'm looking forward to the next issue. Oh, and the Shade was in this comic, and being a HUGE fan of the Shade, that made me pretty happy.

Score: 8 out of 10.Adding the Shade to any comic automatically makes it better!


Fantastic Four #588: The Final Issue!

Summary: This issue begins with the Avengers arriving at the Baxter Building seconds too late to save the Human Torch from the Annihilus's Negative Zone army. Sue arrives soon thereafter and goes into a deep depression, pulling away from everybody, including her husband. Filled with rage over what Annihilus had done, Reed walks into a top secret room in the Baxter Building and retrieves the Ultimate Nullifier(!!!) and opens the Negative Zone portal, apparently so he could wipe out the Negative Zone altogether(!). Standing right near the entryway to the portal is a small creature resembling Annihilus himself. Reed shows the creature the Nullifier and seems ready to do the deed until the creature reaches behind it and shows Reed a tattered piece of the Torch's FF costume. Now conflicted, Reed decides to simply close the portal and walks away. From there the FF have a wake for the Torch, and several super-heroes show up to mourn. Meanwhile, Kristoff Vernard(the kid who believed himself to be Dr. Doom a few years back)is being coroneted as the new ruler of Latveria while Dr. Doom himself watches quietly from the shadows. A few days later the FF buries Johnny's(empty?) coffin and Doom himself arrives at the funeral, but at a distance, to pay his respects. Spidey takes Franklin out and tries to help him cope with losing his uncle, something that Spidey himself knows all about. With Johnny buried and gone, Valeria and those genius kids living at the Baxter Building begin to brainstorm as to who should take Johnny's spot on the FF, when suddenly Valeria changes her mind and decides that the only thing the kids would be looking into was killing Annihilus, once and for all. Thing takes out his frustrations on Hulk and Thor, while Reed decides to reform the council of otherworldly Reed Richards'. We end things with Reed's father(looking WAY younger than I remember him looking)arriving at Reed's lab.

Thoughts: Hmm......... I SHOULD have liked this issue. A lot. But unfortunately this was one of those rare comics where there was no dialogue. The main story consisted of 6 spoken words. That's it. 6. The Spidey/Franklin story was a normal(and good) comic story, WITH dialogue, but that was basically a back-up story type of tale. I totally get what Jonathan Hickman was going for with a “silent” comic. The silence was supposed to make everything seem more powerful. I've read other “silent” comics before, and I've never liked them... I need dialogue in the comics I read. For me there are three important factors needed in every great comic book; a great story, great dialogue and great art, in that order. Yes, to me, good dialogue is more important to a comic than the art is! So removing the dialogue REALLY, REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this one. Sure, some scenes did actually come across well without words, the scene where Reed tries to comfort the despondent Sue, and when Reed decides to Nullify the Negative Zone immediately come to mind, but those scenes were the exceptions. I would have liked to have seen what Bruce Banner and Donald Blake had to say to the Thing, what the heroes at the funeral had to say, or what the reaction was from the kids when Valeria decided that Annihilus had to die. But alas, I'll never know. Oh well. This was a good comic, but I can't help but think that it could have been a great comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.This scene was both awesome AND creepy! The total package!

Quick Hits: 1/16/11

Well, I've decided to do a new type of post with an old name... Over two years ago, when I was still trying to find my grove for on this blog, I did ONE Quick Hits post where I basically babbled about a whole mess of things... It was a bad post with little to no redeeming qualities. I mean I literally spent a paragraph talking about the weather. On a COMIC BOOK blog! It was a mess, and I never did it again... But the Quick Hits name itself actually fits something I want to do with this post, so I'm going to resurrect it. Don't worry though, I won't go off and start talking about the weather. You have my word on that.

So what IS this post all about then? Last night, I realized that my new comics pile was really starting to build up. Between the books I buy at the comic book store, and the subscription books that come in the mail, I had a pile of new comics that was currently at about 25 issues and climbing. So what to do... Well, I could have just read those comics and skipped putting reviews up, but I'd hate to do that. Posting reviews on this blog has gone from an annoying nightly practice to what could probably be described as an obsession. So since I feel I HAVE to post reviews/scores, I needed to find a way to post reviews quickly... Thus this post. Instead of doing long-winded posts that hit on everything, or Best of the Rest style reviews that hit on ALMOST everything, for this post I'm simply going to throw out a summery, some quick thoughts and my score. And of course a scan from the comic, because I know how you guys love your pictures! So last night I read 9(!)new books that I didn't expect much from(unsurprisingly they were all DC books)and will see how this format works. That's about the gist of it, let's see how it works in practice. As always, any recommendations or comments on how to improve this particular post since it's brand spanking new will be appreciated. Now let's get into it.

JSA All-Stars #14:

Summary: Arthur Pemberton has decided to work with some evil magic beings in order to heal his comatose daughter. Naturally this brings him into conflict with the JSA All-Stars, but Pemberton manages to zap them away with a magic wand to parts unknown.

Thoughts: This issue was much better than I would have expected it to be. The Pemberton story seems to finally be moving to the forefront, while other characters like Citizen Steel are getting more face time. No complaints here.

Score: 7 out of 10.


Batman Annual #28:

Summary: Three stories here. The first one dealt with the two Batmen(Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson)taking care of the terrorist attacks plaguing Paris and getting the Batman Inc. organization okayed in France. Bruce decides to make Nightrunner the Batman of France, which is a bit weird considering he is an Algerian living in France, but C'est la vie I guess. The second story was the best of the bunch, and dealt with Leslie Thompkins, while the last one was a spotlight on Nightrunner.

Thoughts: Didn't like the first or third story, but I did enjoy the middle one, so this issue was a mixed bag. I can kind of get what Bruce was doing by making an Algerian the Parisian Batman, but to then hide the guy's face under a full mask didn't make any sense. If you're trying to promote racial harmony, why not let Nightrunner wear a regular Batman mask that reveals some of his facial features?

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.


Freedom Fighters #5:

Summary: The Freedom Fighters basically get trounced by the escaped prisoners of Enclave A, with Firebrand suffering what could be a broken spine. The prisoners toss the FFers into a pit where the more uncontrollable experiments at the prison were living. The prisoners, led by the Bullet King, try to force the warden to give them Sherman's Wraith, a mystical sword, but the warden commits suicide, which starts a countdown that will destroy the prison.

Thoughts: This was actually my favorite issue of Freedom Fighters to date! And the weird thing was that the FFer's didn't really have much of a role, while the escaped prisoners stole the show. The warden was a racist, sexist ass, while the prisoners seemed to be written pretty sympathetically, as they were subject to all sorts of evil experiments, so yeah, this was an odd one.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.


Booster Gold #40:

Summary: Some crazy old Nazi manages to hack into Rip Hunter's computer system and gets some insight into the character of early Booster Gold, although Rip's computers were able to fight off the computer attack before any of Booster's recent exploits were discovered. Booster returns to Rip's lab and finds out what happened and yells at Rip, who turns around and tells Booster he was under arrest for stealing all of those devices from the 25th century before he traveled back in time.

Thoughts: This was an interesting issue. It was a bit too heavy on Booster's history, which by this point I could probably recite forwards and backwards. The rest of the comic, which had Booster battling some lame villain and the swerve at the end was really good, and has me looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 7 out of 10.


Justice Society of America #46:

Summary: While the JSA is racing around Monument Point trying to rebuild the destroyed town, Dr. Chaos arrives and begins to create, well chaos. By the end of this issue, he manages to kill the mayor of the town(who was under JSA protection)as well as apparently killing Thunder.

Thoughts: This issue was WAY better than the last two, so that's good. I liked that crazy Obsidian arrived at the town to kill Scythe, who was responsible for paralyzing his father, Alan Scott. Jay Garrick seems to be getting really beaten down in this story so far, so I'm looking forward to watching him get built back up again.

Score: 6 out of 10.


Green Lantern #60:

Summary: Hal fights a Parallax possessed Barry Allen and I can honestly say I don't care. In the end, that weird little figure appears, takes back Parallax as well as a few other entities and reveals himself as Krona. Yawn.

Thoughts: You know, I can't stand this comic, or the way Chairman Johns has altered the history of the DCU anymore. Parallax ISN'T a giant bug, it's the name Hal Jordan took when he was driven insane at the loss of Coast City. Plain and simple. Hal went crazy. Not because of a fear entity, but because he lost everything he cared about. Saying anything else is bullshit. Once my subscription for this series is up, I'll be dropping this title, as well as any other comic Chairman Johns writes, because quite frankly, it's not worth getting pissed off about anymore.

Score: 3 out of 10.


Green Lantern #61:

Summary: This issue is all about Atrocitus and his search for the rage entity. Atrocitus manages to find the entity, and comes into conflict with the Spectre, who doesn't want the rage entity on Earth. As usual, the Spectre gets beaten up, this time by the rage entity, because he gets beat up by EVERYBODY. Atrocitus then captures the entity in his Red Lantern, lectures the Spectre(?!?!?)and leaves.

Thoughts: Good lord, I can't wait for my Green Lantern subscription to be up. I hate this series and every single character in it. Atrocitus lectured the Spectre... Just think about that for a while.

Score: 2 out of 10.


Gotham City Sirens #17:

Summary: Talia Al Ghul, Zatanna, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy manage to rescue Catwoman from Senpai(a crony of the Sensei), who had kidnapped Catwoman in order to discover the secret identity of Batman. Luckily the women chase Senpai away before he discovers the secret, but Talia convinces Zatanna that the only way Bruce's secret identity would be safe was if Zatanna wiped the knowledge from Catwoman's mind.

Thoughts: This was a VERY strong story, one I wish I would have read sooner. The ending was especially great, with Talia convincing Zatanna that Catwoman HAD to be mindwiped, due to how easy it was for villains to kidnap Catwoman. Great stuff, with even better stuff to come next issue.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.


Gotham City Sirens #18:

Summary: After much soul-searching, Zatanna decides to mindwipe Catwoman at the behest of Talia Al Ghul. Zatanna teleports Ivy and Harley Quinn away from Catwoman, enters her home and begins the process, while Talia does what she can to keep Ivy and Harley from returning to help CW. As Zatanna goes through CW's memories, she comes across one where Talia mentions to Catwoman that they both loved Bruce Wayne, which leads Zatanna to finally realize that Talia had been using her to eliminate any romantic competition for Bruce's heart. This issue ends with Zatanna confronting Talia over her deception.

Thoughts: Loved this issue. From Zatanna's hesitation to mindwipe CW, to her eventual reluctant decision to do it, to realizing that she had been duped by the ultra intelligent Talia. That's why I like Talia so much. Much like her father, you can never be sure just what her game is until it's too late.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Booster Gold #39

Overall: This issue begins with that annoying little girl Booster took in making a mess of Rip Hunter's lab. Instead of being on hand for whatever punishment Rip and Booster's sister Michelle decide to mete out, Booster instead leaves to do some good old fashion patrolling. Naturally Booster winds up in Highland Park, Illinois, the hometown of the deceased Ted Kord. While patrolling, Booster catches some dumb kid trying to steal some knock-off jewelry from a pawn shop. Booster confronts the kid, who tells Booster that he wants to be a hero akin to Robin Hood. Booster tells the kid his days as a masked avenger were over, which leads to the kid telling Booster that he couldn't tell him what to do, and that Booster and the other costumed heroes were a bunch of elitist snobs. With that Booster snaps, screaming and yelling about how tough the life of a hero is, before totally losing it and calling the kid “Ted” and cursing him for leaving Booster alone. Booster takes off and sits atop the city thinking about what had just happened, and decides to head to the gravestone of Ted Kord. After having a good cry, Booster asks Skeets to get some flowers for the grave before finally leaving Ted behind, which(for all intents and purposes)ends this issue.

Wow... I've been complaining about the way Giffen and DeMatteis had been writing this series for many an issue of Booster Gold now. They seemed obsessed with devolving Booster's character and simply writing stories from Booster's JLI days. This issue did a complete 180 from pretty much everything Giffen and DeMatteis had been doing. First off, the story itself was really powerful, with Booster(seemingly)finally coming to terms with Ted's death. Sure he can travel back to the past to see Ted, but that's obviously not the same thing, and it looks as if Booster finally figured that out. This issue also kept the comedy to a more tolerable level... I don't need 24 different jokes on each page, which is what I'd been getting in this series. This was the first time in a while Booster looked like that character I'd become a fan of again, and for that I'm extremely pleased. Here's hoping the next few issues keep up the great work.

Score: 9 out of 10.Yes, that's right, Booster is mourning the death of Ted Kord... Again!

Origins and Omens flashback, part 1.

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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

Booster Gold #38

Overall: This issue begins with Booster simply stealing the Almost Book of Destiny and giving it back to the Blue Beetle of the past, thus ending a storyline that has lasted several issues in a SINGLE page... Hmmm... From there, Booster returns to Rip Hunter's headquarters and discovers that Rani(the little girl Booster took in for some reason)had stolen a Time Sphere and headed to WWII ravaged Italy. Upon hearing this, Booster follows her to 1943 and begins to track her down. While there however, he runs into General Glory, who seems to be a brain-addled version of Captain America. Booster keeps trying to ditch Glory, and eventually succeeds when Glory charges headlong into a den of Nazis. After locking onto Rani's location, Booster jumps forward 48 hours, walks over to her jail cell, goes back in time 48 hours and breaks her out. We learn that Rani had headed into the past to find Maxwell Lord's mother in order to tell her that her not-yet-born son was a bad boy... Yeah... Booster takes Rani back to Rip's lab and after some more really unfunny misadventures involving Booster, Glory, a crazy Nazi scientist and Rani's lost Time Sphere, this issue mercifully ends.

In a word, I hated this issue. The story was boring, General Glory was just insulting to read about, Rani's motivations for going into the past sucked, and the very fact that Rip was careless enough to allow a little girl to steal one of his Time Sphere's was just mind-boggling! Add to all of that the fact that in ONE page Booster was able to finish off several issues worth of storyline with the Book of Destiny and the Blue Beetle, and this was definitely an issue to forget. Even more than that though is the fact that so far the Giffen/DeMatteis run on this series has been abysmal. Maybe these guys could tell a good, funny story like 25 years ago, but whatever they might have had going for them back in the day seems to be LONG gone now. I'm going to give this series ONE more issue. If it doesn't drastically pick up, then I'll be cutting out until some new writer(s) take over.

Score: 4 out of 10.Does anybody really think General Glory is a good idea?

Booster Gold #37

Overall: We're still in the past where Booster and Blue Beetle(who is currently a chipmunk)have been locked up in an intergalactic prison. Booster winds up drawing the attention of a mad-woman who was breaking out of the prison. The woman, Estrogina, decides that after she breaks out she wanted to mate with Booster, so she grabs him and runs through the prison. Along the way she gets tired of hearing from Beetle, so she swallows him. Meanwhile, Skeets manages to find Booster's costume and gets it to him while Estrogina is distracted killing hapless guards. Now back in his costume, Booster figures if he can hit Estrogina hard enough in the gut she'll upchuck Beetle. This doesn't work out and Estrogina actually likes the fact that Booster is getting rough with her... Uh-huh... The two manage to get outside the prison and Booster decides to go with Estrogina since he was still trying to figure out a way to get Beetle out of Estrogina. On Estrogina's ship, Beetle begins to turn back into a human, which causes Estrogina to vomit him out. Needless to say, Estrogina is pretty angry by this turn of events, and decides to kill Booster and Beetle. Before she can complete the act though, Booster teleports Beetle back to the JLA headquarters where they started. This issue ends with Beetle convincing Booster to stick around to help him retrieve a book from the Darkstars.

I've got to say, I REALLY miss Dan Jurgens run on this series... I'm pretty tired of Keith Giffen and J.M. Dematteis(writers of this series)continuing to re-write the same types of stories they wrote like 20 years ago. Personally, I didn't even think their old JLA work was all that funny. So yeah, I'm really tired of the whole, “Booster hangs out in the 80's with his friend Blue Beetle to re-live his glory days!” story. All of the character development Geoff Johns and Dan Jurgens had done with Booster is falling by the wayside. The story wasn't great, and the comedy fell flat for me. I'm starting to get the feeling that I won't be collecting this series for that much longer...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Hilarious... *yawn*

Booster Gold #33... In three sentences or less!

Booster Gold #33: Booster is still trying to prove to the world that Max Lord is out there somewhere. He isn't successful. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Boppy?

The Best of the Rest!!! May 22nd edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest(copyright pending)!!! And yes, I am going to use that opening line EVERY single week, so get used to it! Five books to get through tonight, and much to my chagrin, I enjoyed them all! I know, what's a Best of the Rest post without a whole bunch of complaints!?! Oh well, hopefully I'll read a bunch of horrid comics for the upcoming week and next week's post will be full of venom and fun! Enough babbling X, get on with the post already! Umm, okay I will...

Brightest Day: Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1... Wow, that's a long title!: Before we get into this comic I need you all to do me a favor. Forget the Faces of Evil: Deathstroke comic, as well as the Teen Titans Blackest Night x-over stuff, because it seems as if Deathstroke sure forgot about those comics! Anywho, Deathstroke hires the Tattooed Man(who REALLY needs a better codename!), Cheshire, Osiris and some girl named Cinder to be his... well, villains for hire(as is obvious from the title here!). The 5 villains/pseudo-villains get a contract to kill the Atom(Ryan Choi, not Geoff John's beloved Ray Palmer), and after some difficulty, they do just that... That slight sobbing sound is probably Kello, just so you know. So the villains kill the Atom and Deathstroke refuses to tell his team why they are called the Titans, or what his masterplan is... Well okay then.... Score: 8 out of 10.You see, Osiris broke my number one rule, NEVER trust a one-eyed man dressed fully in spandex.

REBELS #16: This comic kicks off with Starfire attacking some of the REBELS(or are they LEGION again?)because of the good old, “super-heroes meet and have general misunderstanding” law. After Adam Strange explains that the fight was a simple misunderstanding, Starfire goes to meet Vril Dox(AKA my hero). Dox tells Starfire that since her homeworld Tamarian(Tamaria? Tamariananar?)had been blown up good, he was having the planet Rann teleported into its place. There's a very good reason for all of this, but you'll have to trust me on that, 'cause I don't feel like getting into it! In a few weeks time, Dox has managed to transform Rann from a barren wasteland to a thriving planet again. And why did he do that? Because he's awesome! Well, that plus he plans on restarting his LEGION police force, and with the people of Rann now beholden to him, he figures he can base LEGION from Rann. Starfire's insane sister Blackfire learns that another planet had appeared in Tamarian's orbit, so she decides to attack it, because she's insane and all. Oh, and somewhere along the way Starfire joins with the REBELS/LEGION team and starts to flirt with Captain Comet. Eventually Blackfire(who is insane)and her evil Tamarians attack Rann. What happens next? I'll tell you next month. Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.If I was a songwriter I'd write a song and dedicate it to Vril Dox... I really would too!

Booster Gold #32: Booster Gold was sent into the distant future by Rip Hunter(that has to be THE best porn star name EVER! Not that I know anything about porn star names... *ahem* moving on...)to retrieve the helmet of Dr. Fate so that it wouldn't fall into the hands of Darkseid. After some VERY hit or miss comedy(much like this post!), Booster winds up bringing the helmet, as well as a small girl back in time with him. It seems the small girl is there to make potty jokes, because in the DCU, nothing is funnier then toilet humor. This issue ends with Booster learning from Rip Hunter that Max Lord was alive again, which Booster is none to pleased to find out. You know, because he killed Booster's good buddy Ted Kord. Back during Infinite Crisis. In the Countdown to Infinite Crisis comic. With a gun. In a castle. There, I spelled it out for you! Score: 7 out of 10.My GOD are there a lot of words on this page!!!

Gotham City Sirens #11: This comic follows two different storylines, Catwoman and Harley Quinn hunting for missing dogs and Poison Ivy starting her first day at her new STAR Labs job. First off, you'd think somebody named CATwoman would be glad that a bunch of dogs had gone missing, but apparently not... Go figure. CW and HQ(you can always tell I'm getting close to the end of a post by how many abbreviations/initials I start to use)wind up solving the case of the missing dogs when they discover that HQ's hyenas were eating all of the neighborhood pets. Oh the humanity! Or should I say oh the hilarity? Umm, I'll go with hilarity. Oh the hilarity! In the other story, Poison Ivy arrives on the job(but obviously NOT as Poison Ivy, because that would just be dumb), and fires a few people because she read(from Lex Luthor no less)that's the way to garner respect in the corporate world. Sure, if international super-criminal Lex Luthor says that's the way to go, them by gum, that's the way to go! Eventually one of the women Ivy fired returns and locks Ivy in some sort of evil plant oven thing because she was angry about being fired. I bet THAT never happened to Lex. And well, that's the end of this issue. Will Ivy be cooked? Will Catwoman rename herself Dogwoman?? Will I end this pseudo-review with a modicum of self-respect??? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding no! Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.See, just like I said, Ivy was trapped in an evil plant oven thing.

Dark Avengers #16: I'm gonna tell you right now, NOTHING in this comic matters except for the very last page. But don't you worry, I'll get to that soon enough... This is the final issue of Dark Avengers, because Dark Reign is over and Marvel must finally be over it's love of the word “dark”. Don't you worry though, I'm not over my love of the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”! This issue follows Siege #4, and shows all of the Dark Avengers(except for Daken, because he's too smart)being arrested by the heroes. The villains get locked away, Steve Rogers decides to hire Victoria Hand to be his right... umm, hand woman, and Norman Osborn gets to act crazy one more time, this time blaming all of his failings on his Green Goblin persona. So that's how Dark Avengers ended. On the very last page, series writer BENDIS writes his farewell address. And he signs it, “BENDIS!”!!! That's how I've been typing his name for over a year now! This can mean one of three things... Either BENDIS is so crazy that he actually DOES sign his name in block letters with an exclamation point(as I always suspected...), that he's is a frequent reader of my blog, or that I have been BENDIS all along, and have been bashing most of my... I mean BENDIS'S comics simply to see who would agree with me... him, and then have those cretins... I mean readers destroyed. All hail the Dread Lord BENDIS!!! Score: 8 out of 10.So he really DOES sign his name "BENDIS!"... I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

Booster Gold #31

A new shipment of comics arrived for me today, so that, coupled with the fact that I have less then two weeks before the end of the school year has me in a pretty good mood! The shipment of new books contained the last two weeks worth of non-subscription comics, as well as a hefty helping of back issues. After sorting through my new comics pile, I noticed that I have really been neglecting my Marvel books! So tonight I'm going to post two more DC reviews(because I had typed them up before I realized how far behind I'd gotten in my Marvel reading), followed by the Rise of Arsenal #2 comic(which I should get to by tomorrow). Then it's going to be a whole load of Marvel books, mainly Siege related comics. And that's the plan for the upcoming week. I only have one more paper to polish off, and two more finals(one on Wednesday and one next week), so I'm hoping to get quite a few reviews up and posted over the course of the next few days. OK, now that that's taken care of, on to the reviews!

Booster Gold #31: Writer & Artist: Dan Jurgens.
Last Issue: 10 out of 10.

Review: This issue kicks off with Booster blowing off some steam by beating up some goons sporting some advanced weaponry. Booster carelessly tears into the goons and during the fight, a stray beam hits a little girl's dog and kills it. Booster goes to apologize, but the girl is inconsolable and her father is furious. In the end, Booster leaves, heading to an isolated spot in Russia so he could think about the way his life was turning out. While Booster is reflecting, Rip Hunter shows up and gives Booster a pep talk, which lifts Booster's spirits a bit. Booster heads back to Rip's time lab and tries to console his sister, who is mourning the death of her boyfriend during the destruction of Coast City. Michelle tries to ignore Booster at first, but he ultimately gets through to her and the two hug it out before she leaves. This issue ends with Rip taking Booster a few minutes back in the past to save the little girl's dog before it gets hit with the stray blast, thus showing Booster that things aren't all bad.

What I Thought: This was Dan's final issue on this series and I've got to say, I'm really sad to see him go. He had some big shoes to fill when Geoff Johns pulled a Geoff Johns during the early part of this series(for those of you who don't know, “pulling a Geoff Johns” means to start a new series, stay for only a few issues, and then move on), but I thought Dan did a great job, especially during the last few issues. This comic was more or less a placeholder/fluff issue, but it was well done. Next issue brings a new creative team, so I guess we'll see what they have up their sleeves for old Booster.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Hey, check out Booster taking care of business!

Booster Gold #30, Supergirl #51 & Superman/Batman #70.

Only three more days of school to go before vacation, and I've managed to take care of most of my studying and papers due this week. I'll still probably squeeze in some more studying before tomorrow's big Accounting exam, but for the most part, I'm well ahead of my school based responsibilities. What that means is that I can spend more time reading and blogging about comics. As such, I have a trio of DC books lined up for tonight, and after tomorrow's Comic Gazing, I'll be tackling the Siege storyline that is running through Marvel at the moment, starting with Siege #3 and then moving along the various Siege tie-ins. Alright, let's get this show on the road.

Booster Gold #30:Writer: Dan Jurgens. Art: Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund.
Last Issue: 8 1/2 out of 10.

This issue opens with the grim scene of Mongul and Cyborg Superman bombarding Coast City with the bombs that would soon go off to eradicate the City. Booster is still torn as to whether he should follow his prime directive and do nothing, since Coast City has to be destroyed to protect the integrity of the time stream or whether he should do everything in his power to thwart Mongul and Cyborg Superman's plot. After coming across a small girl, who would undoubtedly die if nothing was done, as well as some more coercing from fellow time traveler Sondra Crain, Booster decides to attempt to halt the destruction of Coast City, time stream be damned. Skeets tries to change Booster's mind on the matter, but Booster is determined, and as such, he sends Skeets to get the little girl and Sondra out of harms way. Booster then launches an attack on Mongul's ship, but is confronted by Cyborg Superman, who makes quick work of Booster, knocking him out and letting him fall thousands of feet. Before Booster goes splat, he is blasted by a mysterious character, and the force of the blast brings Booster back to his senses, allowing him to land safely. Meanwhile, after shunting Sondra and the girl back to the future, Skeets realizes there were two other unidentified time displaced individuals in Coast City, and he goes off in search of them, finding Booster's sister Michelle, as well as her boyfriend, Drew. Soon thereafter, Booster arrives on the scene and is reunited with Michelle, who asks Booster if he is going to try to prevent the upcoming catastrophe, to which Booster says yes. Skeets alerts Booster that it was too late, and that Mongul had dropped all of his bombs, and that in ninety seconds, Coast City would be nothing more then a large hole in the ground. Booster tells Skeets to take Michelle and her boyfriend to safety, but Skeets informs Booster that Michelle's boyfriend is supposed to die in the ensuing explosion. Booster ignores Skeets, and activates his time platform with the intention of taking his sister and her boyfriend to safety, while he continues to try to halt the imminent destruction of Coast City. Before Michelle and Drew manage to get to the time platform, the mystery man from earlier blasts Booster in the back, knocking him onto the platform, while simultaneously knocking Drew off. Michelle, Booster and Skeets return to the future, while Coast City and Drew meet their predetermined fate. Upon arriving back at Rip Hunter's time lab, Michelle mourns her dead boyfriend, and Booster flies off, needing some time to clear his head. This issue concludes with the mystery man from Coast City arriving in the time lab to inform Rip that everything turned out the way it had to. The mystery man takes off his hat and reveals... Booster Gold!?! Or at least an older version of Booster. The two discuss events in time, and ultimately old Booster decides to head back into the time stream where he can continue to work on whatever he was working on.

This was an awesome comic! What a brilliant job Dan did capturing the terrible decision Booster was left to deal with here. Allow 7 million people to die, as was supposed to happen, or do the heroic thing and try to change the way things in Coast City turned out. I was glad to see Booster try to do the heroic thing, even though we all knew he was doomed to fail. The part where Sondra pulls the young girl out of her destroyed car and confronts Booster with her, asking him if he could honestly live with himself if he allowed her to die was priceless. The reveal at the end with old Booster was interesting, only in that it shows that no matter what Booster may be feeling now, in the long run he'll still be working with Rip well into his old age. I was debating whether or not to give this comic a perfect score, but after thinking about it, and recalling the great dialogue and story, the decision became pretty easy.

Score: 10 out of 10.Man was this a powerful scene!

Supergirl #51: Writer: Sterling Gates. Pencils: Jamal Igle.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

This issue opens with Supergirl and Mon-El trying to destroy as many of Brainiac's evil robots as they can, before the robots manage to kill any more Kryptonians. While Mon and SG are fighting off hordes of robots, Superboy and the OLD Legion are trying to free themselves from Gen. Zod's military men, since Zod had branded them all terrorists. The OLD Legion's telepath, Tellus, informs Mon of what was happening, as well as alerting him to the fact that Superman had already fallen to Brainiac aboard Brainiac's spacecraft. Mon tells SG what he'd just learned, which confuses her, since she was under the impression that Zod was going to work with the OLD Legion. Mon then tells SG that he was going to try to rescue Supes from Brainiac's clutches, and that she needs to continue helping her people against the Brainiac robots, even though she wants to assist in the rescue of Supes. SG ultimately agrees to remain behind, and Mon flies up towards Brainiac's ship to see what he could do against the evil tyrant. Meanwhile, Superboy and Starman have managed to defeat the Kryptonian military officers they were confronted with(really?!?), but are soon attacked by a few more soldiers, as well as SG's mother, the acting head of New Krypton, Alura. Back in the streets of New Krypton, SG continues to battle until she hears her mother's voice demanding to be unhanded. SG flies to her mother's side, where she finds Superboy about to punch Alura in the face. Needless to say SG doesn't take kindly to that, and she nearly knocks SB into orbit. While SG tries to find out from her mother what the hell was going on, a small army of Brainiac's robots descend into the room and proceed to attack the two women. The robots hit them with a powerful blast of red sunlight, which de-powers them, before moving in for the kill. Before the robots can murder the two women, they are saved by SB, who uses his tactile telekinesis to dismantle the robots. SG helps her mother make nice with SB, and upon hearing from SB that the OLD Legion was only there to help the trapped bottle cities on Brainiac's ship, Alura decides to go against Zod's command and sends out a message that SB and the OLD Legion were not to be obstructed by any Kryptonian. Zod hears this and gets angry, but keeps his cool, declaring that he'd deal with Alura soon enough. This issue ends with SG, SB and the now free OLD Legion heading skyward to launch their own attack on Brainiac's ship.

I though this was a good enough comic. It furthered the Last Stand of New Krypton story, while planting some seeds of discontent between Alura, the head of New Krypton and Zod, the head of New Krypton's military. I'm starting to get the feeling that Zod is going to take Alura out in order to gain her job, and with it, complete control over New Krypton's political system. With Superman, Supergirl and all the rest of Supes allies about to board Brainiac's ship, Alura is ripe to be picked off by Zod, if that is his plan. Besides that, I liked SG and SB, I enjoyed Mon-El's parts, but I'm still annoyed by the fact that the OLD Legion is getting any page time here, but what can ya do. The next part is in Superman #698, and as soon as I get my hands on it, I'll be reading and reviewing it.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Ah Superboy... How do you get yourself in these situations...

Superman/Batman #70: Writer: Joe Casey. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.
Last Issue: 7 out of 10.

Once again, this story takes place just after the DC event, “Our Worlds at War” from a few years back. Batman and Superman decide to trick the Durlan who was hellbent on killing Superman by sending him a secret message that revealed the location of Supes Fortress of Solitude to him. The Durlan decides to send his henchman, NRG-X to the Fortress to kill Supes, and Supes meets him there, finally able to really tear into NRG-X since they were no longer fighting in a populated area. Meanwhile, the Duran discovers the location of a half destroyed Durlan ship hear the moon, and heads there to see what sorts of weapons he could use against the Man of Steel. However, unbeknownst to the Durlan, Batman was also aware of the ship, and this issue ends with Batman making his way towards the Durlan's crippled ship in his... Bat-spaceship I guess.

Eh, this was an OK issue, but it wasn't really anything I'll remember. Once again, I think my lack of knowledge on the, “Our World at War” storyline hurt my enjoyment of this comic, but it was readable, it had Supes and Bats in it, and it had a pretty decent battle between Supes and NRG-X, so what more can I say?

Score: 6 out of 10.Huh, who knew Supes was such a back fighter...

Booster Gold #29, JSA All-Stars #3 & Superman #697. Plus a bonus rant against Geoff Johns?!? Wha???

Now that I have all of my midterms and papers finished and out of the way(for now...), I can devote a little bit more time to my favorite pastime, comic books! Before I get into the reviews, a word to the wise... Although this post reviews three DC comics, I have a pretty large pile of Marvel comic books that I'll probably start getting into soon. I only say this because I know that most of my regulars are more DC oriented people, as is evident by the fact that I always get WAY more comments on my DC related posts then my Marvel related posts. So as to not annoy my DC X-Maniacs, I'll make sure to try to add at least one DC review to every couple of Marvel reviews I post, that way everybody is happy! Aren't I the greatest?

Booster Gold #29: Writer/Artist: Dan Jurgens.

We have a couple of converging storylines happening here, so I'll try to keep this review as linear as humanly possible... That's code for: if this review sucks, don't blame me! I'll start off with Booster Gold sister, Michelle, who has been living in the past since she split from her brother. After coming face to face with Cyborg Superman in Coast City during the Reign of the Supermen storyline from a few years ago, Michelle remembers that Cyborg Supes is responsible for the utter annihilation of Coast City, and as such she does what any sane human being would do in a similar situation, she gets the hell away from Cyborg Supes! Michelle heads back to her boyfriend and tries to warn him that Coast City is about to be vaporized, but he is hesitant to believe her, since she won't give him any reason other then the vague, “I know what will happen in the future”. While this is going on, the woman who tried to assassinate Cyborg Supes before he becomes a maniacal Cyborg from last issue arrives in pre-annihilated Coast City and begins to hunt down the nefarious Cyborg. Booster Gold is summoned by Rip Hunter, who warns Booster that he has to head to Coast City and prevent the woman from killing the Cyborg, even though it means 7 million people will die at the hands of the evil Cyborg. Booster reluctantly follows Rip's orders, and heads into the past to Coast City and finds the woman(whose name is Sondra Crain, by the way). Booster tries to reason with Sondra by telling her that as awful as it sounds, Cyborg Supes MUST destroy Coast City in order to protect the integrity of the timestream. Sondra eventually manages to convince Booster that it would be wrong to stand by and allow seven million people to die in Coast City, and just as it seems like Booster is about to take a stand and do the right thing, Cyborg Superman and Mongol's plan to destroy Coast City gets underway... D'oh!

Oh yeah, I really enjoyed this story. As a matter of fact, the past couple of issues of this series(especially the last two issues)have been really strong. In particular, I'm loving this story and the moral choices it is forcing Booster to make... Does he stand by and allow the past to unfold as it was originally intended to, as Rip Hunter has been telling/ordering him to do, or does he take a stand and do what seems like the right thing to do, even though that would mean altering the timeline... Pretty deep, no? If I were Booster, knowing what I know, I don't see how he can't prevent Cyborg Superman from destroying Coast City... Not only would you be saving seven million innocent beings, but perhaps as importantly, saving Coast City would prevent Hal Jordan from going insane with grief, destroying the Green Lantern Corps and becoming Parallax... Then again, if Hal doesn't become Parallax, he would never gain enough power to defeat the Sun Eater and save the entire Earth... Huh... Damn it, Rip was right!!! Jeez, as awful as it may be, I guess Coast City has to die or there would never be a Parallax, and no Parallax means the Earth would die. What a downer... See, you know a comic book is really good when it makes you think THAT much after reading it!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Hmm, I wonder just how many times Booster has been smacked by a woman...

JSA All-Stars #3: Writer: Matthew Sturges. Artist: Freddie Williams II

Johnny Sorrow, still a bit miffed that his Injustice League lost Stargirl last issue, cuts out the heart of one of his underlings to present as a sacrifice to some evil god he is worshiping... Note to self: if you ever turn to crime, DO NOT work for Johnny Sorrow... Meanwhile, the All-Stars decide that although they don't know where Sorrow is, it would be in their best interests to train ultra hard in preparation for his eventual return. Oh, and they learn that Atom Smasher was missing as well. Unbeknownst to them, it appears Atom Smasher has been abducted by some kind of evil magician. From there we go to several pages of the All-Stars training their hand to hand fighting techniques, which leads to an all out brawl between Power Girl and Magog over what kind of tactics they should be using. Magog favors killing his enemies, while PG is obviously against that, so the two decide to release some of their frustrations by beating the hell out of each other. Unsurprisingly, PG gets the best of that, which leads to Magog storming away. Later on, the All-Stars learn that Magog was responsible for a jail break(which happened in the terrible Magog series), and they decide to go after him(which occurs in the JSA Annual). This issue ends with Sand being visited by his mentor the Sandman in a dream, and being warned that “The Cycle” was about to occur, and that he had best to alert the JSA.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Granted, this wasn't the best comic book I've ever read or anything, but it was perfectly acceptable. The story was coming together, and I like the tension that exists between Magog and... well, everybody else on the All-Stars. Unfortunately, it looks as if Magog leaves the team as a result of what happened in the JSA Annual, but I'm still interested enough in this series to stick around to see just what Johnny Sorrow's master plan is.

Score: 7 out of 10.Here's a quick and helpful tip for Mr. Magog... Unless your name is Wonder Woman, DON'T try to take Power Girl in a fist fight...

Superman #697: Writer: James Robinson. Pencils: Bernard Chang.

This issue opens with Mon-El, Guardian and the forces of General Lane discovering that Control at the Science Police was actually the shape-shifting Chameleon of the Legion of Super-Heroes. Needless to say, nobody is overly pleased to find out about this chicanery, and Lane sends his men to capture the sneaky Durlan. Before Lane's forces can take out Chameleon, a robot from the future appears and attacks Lane, Guardian and Mon-El, allowing Chameleon to make his escape. Mon-El and Guardian give chase, but Guardian is blasted out of the sky by the idiot Starman from the Legion/JSA and Mon is taken out by several of Chameleon's Legion teammates. After that, Mon goes around and whines to his girlfriend, Steel and Superboy about how hard it is trying to live up to Supes, the junk with the Legion, as well as a few other problems he's having. While he's in Smallville complaining to Superboy, Superboy manages to set up a meeting between Mon and the Legion which crosses over with Adventure Comics #8, which as luck would have it just arrived in the mail today!

Umm yeah, I really didn't like this issue at all... For the most part, NOTHING of note happened... And the stuff that did happen I didn't like at all... I've said it ad nauseam, but I'll say it again, I HATE the original Legion... They shouldn't be! Uh-oh, I feel a rant coming on... Once again, this is a case of Geoff Johns run amok! You all know I like Geoff and all, but jeez, the guy has a really unhealthy fixation with DC's Golden/Silver Age... Here's a quick crash course on the Legion. They're a bunch of teenagers from the 30th/31st century who have banded together to deal with the adult run government, as well as dealing with whatever threats came their way. The original Legion met Superman back when he was still Superboy and living in Smallville. They shared some adventures, and eventually Supes grew up. After Zero Hour, DC changed up the Legion's origin, so as to revert them back to their teenage years. After that, in the mid-2000's, DC re-re-booted the Legion again(the Threeboot Legion)and built the team up from scratch, once again reverting the team members to their teenage roots as well as redoing the team origin. While the Threeboot Legion was still around, Geoff Johns decided to bring back the original Legion, and reincorporate them into Superman's life... This(along with bad sales)led to the cancellation of the Threeboot Legion, which is something I'm still sore about to this day... But my immense displeasure at the original Legion goes farther then that... Common sense tells us that Superman is probably at the very least 30 years old... Although I'd be willing to bet that he's even older then that. That would mean that the original members of the Legion that teenage Superman use to hang out with are probably approximately the same age as Supes is. And yet they still go by codenames that end in boy, girl, lad and lass... What the hell is that all about?!? What thirty year olds still refers to themselves as Cosmic “Boy” or Saturn “Girl”??? Not only that, but the entire backstory of the Legion(that they're kids fighting against an unfair system)doesn't work anymore because they ARE adults now, and as such, ARE a part of the system... It was fine when Geoff brought the JSA from the Golden Era into the Modern one. I was fine with him rebooting Hal Jordan back to his Silver Age self. But returning the Silver Age Flash(Barry Allen)and the Golden Age Legion is just a bit too much for me to stomach! We get it, Geoff Johns LOVES DC's vast past. That's great, DC's long and illustrious past SHOULD be respected... Just not at the expense of everything that has happened during DC's Modern Age... Wow, I sure got offtrack there, didn't I? The bottom line to all this is the fact that I didn't enjoy this comic at all, and that I don't understand why I'm reading about a Legion that should have died several decades ago... LONG LIVE THE THREEBOOT LEGION!!!

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.You should be sorry... For doing this to this series!!!