Freedom Fighters #9 & JSA All-Stars #18

Two DC titles today, both of them the final issue of their respective series. Needless to say, Chairman Johns never wrote for either series, therefore they're both expendable. Yep, I'm in one of THOSE moods... BEEE-AWWWWW!!!

Freedom Fighters #9:

Summary: The Freedom Fighters are still grousing over the fact that they were being shut down by the government because they had become too expensive. The Human Bomb tells the team that he could care less, since he had become mistrustful of the government the past few issues. While that's going on, a Mr. Trumont is meeting with the president, trying to convince the president(who is rocking the 70's porn star mustache) that Human Bomb was a menace that needed to be locked up. The president disagrees, but does tell Trumont that if Bomb ever appears to be a menace, Trumont could take him into custody, which causes Trumont to break into one of those little villainous smirks. Later on, Ray, Black Condor and Human Bomb head out to halt some strange monsters from rampaging through the streets of Los Angeles. The trio of heroes seem to have things relatively well in hand until one of the monsters cuts into Bomb's containment suit, which causes his powers to begin to leak. While Ray finishes up the creatures, Condor flies Bomb high into the air where he explodes harmlessly. Condor lands with the unconscious Bomb, at which point a helicopter containing Trumont arrives. Trumont demands that Condor hands over Bomb by order of the president, and the heroes reluctantly do, ending this issue, and series.

Thoughts: Well that was an odd way to end a series... It didn't really wrap anything up... Sure, the Freedom Fighters themselves have been officially disbanded, but with Bomb being basically abducted by Trumont, this seemed more like a continuation of a story then a definitive ending. As it was, I really had no complaints with this issue, although like I said, the ending was a bit odd. I guess I'll be waiting until DC inevitably launches yet another Freedom Fighters series to see what happens next...

Score: 7 out of 10.Sorry, but that is one UGLY costume!


JSA All-Stars #18:

Summary: The All-Stars try to figure out how to stop the rampage of the ultra powerful Prince, all while he tries to figure out how to return to “his” world. The All-Stars are still dubious that Prince is from another dimension, and believe him to be crazy. Anyway, Prince heads to the All-Stars headquarters since his plan to return home has something to do with the All-Stars base, and is met by that annoying robot, Roxy, that annoying girl, Cyclone, and Judo-Master, who I have nothing bad to say about. Prince does something that tears up reality, but Roxy sacrifices her human body to prevent the tear from endangering the entire eastern portion of the US. In the end, Prince seems to make it back to his reality(I guess he wasn't crazy after all?), while the All-Stars carry on, just without a series to call their own.

Thoughts: Could you notice my complete apathy towards this issue? I figure if DC could care less about any comic that doesn't start with the word “Bat” or is written by Chairman Johns, why should I care? Seriously, every frigging advertisement in this comic had Chairman Johns' name attached to it... “Join the Corps! Read the GL saga! Written by Chairman Johns!” “The Flash Omnibus: Written by Chairman Johns!” I don't even GET the whole Flash omnibus thing, since Wally West was a figment of my imagination, and thus never happened... How is DC gonna do an omnibus consisting of like 14, 15 issues? But yeah, the bottom line here is that DC sucks, and will continue to suck as long as Chairman Johns is allowed to rape the company and force his singular vision onto everything DC does. As for this issue, like I said before, who cares?

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Sure, do the same thing you've always done... Just not in your own comic anymore!

Freedom Fighters #8, Green Arrow #10 & Gotham City Sirens #21

We have a trio of DC books to get through today as I SLOWLY make my way through my new comic pile. I don't know what the deal is this week, but I just can't make a dent in that damn pile for nothing! I blame Brightest Day #23 personally. From now on, whenever something doesn't go my way, that's what I'll be doing. Blaming BD #23. And you know what? In most cases, BD #23 IS to blame!

Freedom Fighters #8

Summary: This series is still going on?! Okay then... We get started with Uncle Sam(recently resurrected in the dead body of Firebrand) battling the deadly menace of the Jester!!! The Jester is carrying a few magical artifacts, making him THAT much deadlier! The fight goes on for a few pages before Sam literally stops selling the beating Jester was giving him, breaks Jester's magic sword, smashes his magic lantern and steals his magic... um, hat-thing. With the Jester's supply of magic accessories gone, Sam punches the villain out, ending his threat. The rest of the Fighters all wake up(yeah, now that the battle was over! Slackers!), rescue the Vice President and strike a pose with Sam. Three days later(it says so on the page!), the Fighters hold a funeral for Firebrand, presided over by Sam... Wait, he can do THAT too?! King Bullet and his motley crew of villains tunnel their way to the surface from their destroyed underground prison and swear revenge against the Fighters... Well they better get their revenge swiftly, because this series only has a few issues left to go! This issue ends with Sam and Miss America being told by the President that due to budget cuts their team would no longer be getting government funding.

Thoughts: This review may have been rushed and a tad sarcastic(just a tad), but don't let that fool you, I actually enjoyed this issue! Not only was the physical battle between Sam and Jester enjoyable, the war of words they were having made the fight that much better. It's weird, the first 5 or 6 issues of this series didn't impress me in the least(and had the Ray not been a part of the team, I probably would have dropped the series early on), but these last 2 or 3 issues have been really good! The pacing has been brisk the past two issues(I guess due to the impending cancellation), but for this series, a quick pace really seems to work. Although the speed at which the Jester lost was a bit annoying...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Everybody strike a pose!


Green Arrow #10:

Summary: This issue spotlights Galahad! Smell the excitement! Basically Galahad was pulled under Starwood Forest last issue, which leads to him remembering his true origin, which is basically that he was a professor of literature, his daughter died of a rare disease and he went plumb loco and checked out of reality, instead creating the fantasy that he was the Galahad of legend, and was the protector of Starwood. While Galahad is remembering all of this, the forest opens up temporarily allowing Mr. Terrific and Dr. Midnite in to assist Green Arrow and Jason Blood against the Demon. By this point, Galahad cuts his way OUT of the ground(or perhaps out of a tree, I don't really know) and rejoins the battle... So why exactly was he dragged under the Forest anyway? The heroes press the attack, but Etrigan is able to stand through it and this issue ends with Etrigan summoning a mess of evil vegetative versions of the heroes to defend him.

Thoughts: Who does Etrigan think he is? Swamp Thing?!? I really wanted to hate this comic, especially when I realized that Galahad was going to get a brunt of the page-time, but about halfway through I found myself actually getting into the story, so kudos to JT Krul for that one. Granted, it's not like I care about Galahad now, but the story was more palatable then I would have expected. There were a few things that bugged me, like how does a person go from literature professor to a master swordsman, but whatever I guess. After the reveal in Brightest Day #23, I'm not exactly sure what ANY of the stuff happening in this series means, but if you can ignore the weird continuity issues, this comic was okay.

Score: 7 out of 10.Galahad, Knight of the Forest/Professor of Literature. Same thing I guess.


Gotham City Sirens #21

Summary: Harley Quinn's march to the Joker's cell at Arkham Asylum continues as she manages to get past the last thing standing between her and revenge, Arkham guard Aaron Cash. Cash has a gun and a hook hand, making him a duel threat, but Harley manages to disarm him(of the gun, not the hook hand) by informing Cash that the Joker had poisoned and killed Cash's infant son. Cash had always believed that his son died of tetanus, but it turns out the Joker had been responsible for the kid's death during one of his MANY vacations from Arkham. Completely devastated by this news, Cash opens the doorway to Joker's wing at Arkham(he has his own WING now?!) and hands Harley his gun. Harley enters the cell and comes face-to-face with Mistah J, pointing the gun at him. Before she can fire though, Joker takes her by surprise, telling her that he had missed her... With that, Harley begins to think back to all of the horrible things Joker had done to her, but eventually begins to remember the good as well... Or at least as “good” as Joker gets. After some thought, Harley throws down the gun and hugs Joker, showing that no matter what, he'd always hold sway over her. As for the other two Sirens, they were planning to break into Arkham to prevent Harley from doing something stupid(killing Joker, saving Joker, etc). However, Catwoman becomes distracted by some cop cars driving away from Arkham, heading towards Devil's Square. Catwoman can't help but believe that whatever was happening in Devil's Square required her attention more than Harley, which infuriates Poison Ivy. Ivy tells Catwoman that if she goes to Devil's Square and doesn't try to help Harley, not only would Ivy never forgive her, they'd be SWORN enemies until the day Ivy died! Damn! Ultimately though, curiosity gets the better of Catwoman(well, I guess that's not overwhelmingly surprising since she is CATwoman!), and she leaves an infuriated Ivy on a rooftop near Arkham.

Thoughts: Wooo, now THIS was a good comic! As a matter of fact, the past few issues of this series have been surprisingly good. Like, “one of the best things I've read from DC” good! I have to be honest, I never really took to Harley Quinn at all. Out of the three leads in this series, she was always my least favorite by far. But these past few issues have shown that she's more than some annoying lackey obsessed with Joker, she's actually a capable, manipulative and calculating villain in her own right. This issue also showed how smart the Joker is, as he immediately realized that Harley wasn't there to break him out of Arkham this time, and managed to change her mind with a few simple words. I'm not sure what the future holds for this series, especially with the falling out between Ivy and Catwoman, but as long as this series remains THIS strong, I know I'll be reading it.

Score: 9 out of 10.Sworn enemies for LIFE! Now THAT'S hatred!

Quick Hits: 3/8/11

I had an hour to kill between classes last Friday, and decided to read the five comic books here in this post. I don't know what it was, but I actually enjoyed all 5 of them! Maybe I should read more comics at school...

Freedom Fighters #7:

Summary: After having his home surrounded by SHADE troops, and having his arm twisted by Miss America, Dollman agrees to head back to the Freedom Fighters and to lead them. While the team is getting reacquainted with their old teammate, alarms go off in their secret government headquarters and they rush to the sound of the alarms, discovering a bunch of dead scientists, and a message from the Jester. The Jester brags that he had just stolen the two artifacts the Freedom Fighters had managed to acquire these past few issues, and he tells them he'd be willing to exchange the vice-president as soon as the Freedom Fighters had found the third and final artifact and turned it over to him. With no real choice, the Fighters head to the Grand Canyon and find a secret cave. They search around inside and discover that the Jester had already been there, had gotten his hands on the last artifact, and that the whole thing was a trap. The Jester is surprised, and VERY disappointed to learn that Uncle Sam wasn't there since he had “died”(or gone into hibernation, or whatever he does), since Uncle Sam was the final piece to whatever evil plan the Jester was hatching. The Fighters attack Jester, but with his three artifacts of power, he manhandles the team, and manages to slay Firebrand. While the Jester is gloating about his victory, Uncle Sam brings himself back to life in the body of Firebrand and prepares to end the threat of the Jester, once and for all.

Thoughts: You know, this is one of the most inconsistent comic books I read on a monthly basis. Sometimes I'll barely understand WHAT was going on, while other times(like this issue) I'll enjoy the entire thing. I don't know if the whole Jester storyline was moved up due to the impending cancellation of this series, or if this was always the way Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti had intended the story to go, but unlike some of the earlier issues of this series, this one made perfect sense. It was nice to see the Fighters know exactly where they were going, why they were going there and who they were battling against. That's something that this series had been lacking. Ah well. I'll try to enjoy these final issues of this book while I can I guess.

Score: 7 out of 10.I'm sorry, but that is NOT a very intimidating looking villain right there...


Avengers Academy #10:

Summary: The Academy kids wake up and head into a danger simulation where they have to figure out which person to save first during a flood. Somehow this scenario leads to Veil accidentally mentioning the Stanford incident to Speedball. Speedball takes the surprise pretty well and uses it as an opportunity to tell the students that the reason they were being trained was so that they wouldn't make the same mistakes he made growing up, before leaving. Needless to say Veil is horrified by what she said, and asks her various classmates if she should apologize to Speedball or if she should just leave it be. Finesse convinces Veil to spy on Speedball to see what kind of a mood he was in before making up her mind as to what to do. Veil manages to sneak into Speedball's room where she spots him gashing one of his arms with his old Penance helmet. Veil is shocked by that scene and is unsure of whether she should alert one of the other instructors or not. Ultimately she decides to keep what she saw to herself since she was already on probation due to the Hood incident. A bit later on, Justice and Speedball take the kids out to Stanford where a memorial was set up for the victims of Nitro. While Speedball is explaining the results of untrained/unsupervised/careless super-heroing, a group of feebs dressed in knock-off Cobalt Man armor arrive to attack Speedball. Justice tries to get the kids into defensive positions, but before that can happen Speedball takes all of the armored goons out with his Penance powers. With the villains down and out, the cops arrive on the scene and one of the cops tells Speedball that although the cop had lost friends during Nitro's explosion, he can respect that Speedball was trying to make amends, which seems to mean quite a lot to Speedball. Later on, Veil tells the rest of the faculty what she saw Speedball doing, which he explains away by stating that he needed to feel pain to activate his Penance abilities, and that whenever he went out he'd charge himself up. Pym tells Speedball that he would work on a better way to activate his Penance abilities, and the issue ends with Veil deciding that the best way for her to make up for her various screw-ups was to try to resurrect the Wasp(NO! Please don't!!).

Thoughts: As usual, I really, really liked this comic. It's SO well done. I know I say it like every month, but Christos Gage has done a phenomenal job building these characters, this team and this book up. I mean he took a bunch of second-string Avengers and New Warriors, some new characters and has shaped it into a fantastic read. THIS is what I wish Generation Hope would turn into. Sure if the Wasp gets brought back to life, Gage will lose some of my good will(sorry, but I hate her!), but even if she was to become a part of this team, I'd still enjoy reading this comic. That's when you know you're really enjoying something, when somebody you can't stand is added and you can overlook that.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.You tell 'em, Robbie!


Uncanny X-Men #533:

Summary: First up is the Emma Frost/Sebastian Shaw portion of this story. Shaw is really angry with Emma, as I'm sure anybody would be after being secretly locked up. He manages to shrug off Shadowcat and Fantomex(who accompanied Emma), and is preparing to finish Emma off when she runs away... Yep, she ran away. Anyway, the main story concerned the X-Men sending the few non-quarantined mutants after Lobe and the Sublime corporation to force Lobe into handing over the cure to the plague that was ravaging Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia). Unfortunately, Lobe hands out a bunch of mutant powers in a bottle to some potential investors and Lobe and his now mutant-powered investors wind up over-powering the few X-Men present. This issue concludes with Lord Summers deciding to assist the besieged X-Men at the Sublime corporation, even though he was sick and powerless.

Thoughts: As usual, I hated every part of this story involving Lord Summers and Emma Frost(who I REALLY need to find a nickname for...), but everything else was actually pretty enjoyable. I mean I liked seeing Sebastian Shaw on his little rampage, and the stuff with Lobe and his Sublime Corporation was pretty interesting. While I did enjoy this issue, I think everybody can see the end coming from a mile away, with Lord Summers and his band of sickly mutants arriving at the scene of the battle to infect all of the now-powered mutants and Lobe, forcing Lobe to hand over the cure or risk the deaths of all of his potential investors. The Shaw story is more fluid, and I'm not really sure where Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen are going with that storyline. I wish Shaw would simply tear off Emma's head, but alas, I somehow doubt that's going to happen...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.How utterly heroic of you, Emma.


Gotham City Sirens #20:

Summary: So Harley Quinn has realized that Joker has been using her all these years and as such has decided to head into Arkham Asylum to kill Mistah J. Now although it seems really easy to break out of Arkham(come on, you know it is!), it's more difficult to sneak in. Using her former training as a psychologist at Arkham, Quinn manages to distract a guard with some marbles(he had an obsession with them dating back to his childhood), gaining access to the underbelly of the Asylum. From there she heads to Director Skinner's office through the ventilation system and drops a flower on her desk, the exact type of flower she received before her boyfriend and family(who were members of a cult) committed mass suicide. Skinner is dazed by that and when she picks up the flower it gives her a blast of Joker gas, knocking her out. Quinn manages to get the controls to the inmate debilitation system from Skinner and shuts them down, repowering the inmates as a result. From there she heads to Clayface's cell and breaks into his cell with a crowbar, which represents the failure of Clayface's acting career and throws him into a rage, distracting most of the guards. Harley makes her way towards Joker's cell, but runs into Aaron Cash, the head guard at the Asylum. Cash tells Harley he knew she was there for the Joker, and this issue ends with Harley being confident that she'll be able to get into Cash's head as she did so many other people in Arkham.

Thoughts: Wow, this was a great issue of this series! It was SO nice to see Harley shown as something other than an annoying, idiotic, rambling pest. She used all of her knowledge of Arkham, as well as it's doctors and guards, to take them down in a wonderfully cerebral way. This was such a nice change from the Harley who hangs out with jackals, annoying her fellow Siren teammates and just being... well kind of useless. This one issue went a LONG way in giving me a newfound respect for Harley. Now I figure her Siren teammates will pop up next issue to talk her down from killing Joker, but I'll always remember this as the issue Harley Quinn showed us all she wasn't a joke anymore.

Score: 9 out of 10.There's nothing more annoying than several Joker's bugging you!


Thunderbolts #154:

Summary: We kick things off in the Florida Everglades, where some aliens(riding a huge alien horse-creature) are running amok. While that is going on, Luke Cage is being grilled by the Thunderbolts Council(think the governmental regulatory body overlooking the T-Bolts) about the inclusion of Man-Thing on the team. Luke tries to explain that Man-Thing hasn't been any trouble at all, and has served the team exceedingly well. The T-Bolts Council want to go and see Man-Thing, and do, meeting the zoologist in charge of keeping an eye on Man-Thing. After the Council leaves Man-Thing's room, we learn that the zoologist was actually Jennifer Kale(!) in disguise and that she had infiltrated the T-Bolts facility to free Man-Thing and take him back where he belonged, the Everglades. Jennifer teleports over to the aliens from earlier, who were still running about, killing as many people and animals as they could, and sets Man-Thing loose on them. Man-Thing kills the alien's horse-creature, as well as one of the aliens when it tried to attack him, and Jennifer opens a portal back to the alien's homeworld, telling it to leave now or face the wraith of Man-Thing. Needless to say, the alien hops into the portal, leaving Earth behind. Having taken care of the aliens, Man-Thing teleports back to the Thunderbolts facility, much to the surprise of Jennifer, who figured Man-Thing would have wanted to be free. By this point, Luke and Songbird have arrived at Man-Thing's cell and ask what Jennifer was up to. She explains that Man-Thing was the Protector of the Nexus of Realities, and as such was supposed to be AT the Nexus of Realities, the Everglades. Songbird figures that the scientist Man-Thing was before his transformation enjoyed the T-Bolt's missions, which was why he returned to the T-Bolt's facility after doing away with the aliens. Jennifer is a bit disappointed that Man-Thing seems as if he wanted to remain with the T-Bolts, so Luke assures her she can pop in and visit Man-Thing whenever she felt the need. With that guarantee, Jennifer takes her leave, while Luke calls a meting of all the non-criminal T-Bolts. He tells the group that in light of Man-Thing's good behavior, the T-Bolts Council was okay with Man-Thing remaining on the team. However, the Council was disturbed by the T-Bolts vulnerability to magic, and as such had tasked Luke with finding a magical being to take a spot on the T-Bolts.

Thoughts: Every month this series seems to be getting better and better. Jeff Parker has really done a great job of spotlighting specific characters on this team every now and then. You'll have a few issues of a storyline, and then you'll wind up with a one-shot type story about a specific T-Bolt, in this case, Man-Thing. The story was quite good, and I was happy to see Jennifer Kale included here, as she's always had a relationship with the Everglades and Man-Thing, so it was nice to see Parker delve into what she thought about Man-Thing working for the T-Bolts. As for next issue's hunt for a magical T-Bolt, why exactly didn't Luke ask Jennifer while she was there? I mean she already has the relationship with Man-Thing, and she is a magical dynamo. It seemed kind of odd that Jennifer would leave the comic and THEN Luke would mention that the team was in need of magical assistance. Other then that very little point, there was really nothing else wrong with this comic.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Oh snap!

Quick Hits: 2/9/11

I used up all of my witty banter(and I use the word “witty” in as loose a fashion as possible!)during the NCD post earlier today, so this is as far as the introductory paragraph is going to go. Three more comics to look at tonight, two DC books and a Marvel. Let's get to it.

Superman #708:

Summary: Yes ladies and gentlemen, Superman is STILL walking across the country. He bumps into the Superman Squad(a bunch of futuristic do-gooders)and the Squad take him to the future. The Squad show Supes around, and tell him that they understand that he was depressed over the loss of New Krypton, but that there were other forces at work eroding his confidence in himself. After the pep talk, the Squad send Supes back to the present where he notices a town being flooded. Oh, and off in the distance there's a tornado. Supes has to decide to either save the drowning townspeople or stop the tornado. Luckily for Supes, Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon is also in town, and she feels drawn to Supes. Not knowing who WW was, but seeing that she had powers, Supes tells her to save the townspeople while he halts the twister. WW sets out to do as told, but runs into the still unnamed female villain behind Supes recent troubles. The evil woman complains about WW sticking her nose where it didn't belong, but WW is unable to apprehend the evil woman since she had a town to save. By the time Supes returns to the town, WW has saved the people, and warns a very confused Supes to watch out for the evil woman before leaving.

Thoughts: This was one of those weird comic books where a whole lot of nothing happened. I mean between the covers we had Supes meeting the Superman Squad, heading to the future, saving some townspeople, meeting Wonder Woman, halting a twister, WW battling the unnamed evil woman, the evil woman getting away and WW warning Supes that somebody was out to get him. But in the end, after all of that stuff took place, we're still basically in the same place we were the past few issues. Supes is still depressed and unsure if he should bother being a hero, while a mysterious woman enhances his feelings of despair behind the scenes. The meeting between Supes and WW: The Teenage Amazon was pretty nondescript, as Supes confirmed what we've known from the WW series, that being the fact that nobody remembers WW. So while this comic was readable and non-offensive, it also didn't lead to much of anything.

Score: 6 out of 10.Of course there would be a monkey... There's ALWAYS a monkey...


Daken: Dark Wolverine #5:

Summary: We start off learning some background information about Madripoor. Basically Tyger Tiger has taken control of most of the crime in Madripoor, but is working with the police to weed out the seedier criminal activities(the slave trade and drugs). However, she has thus far been unable to quash the powerful criminal bankers of the country, since they had control of the money and were good at covering their footsteps. That's where Daken comes in. He approaches Tyger and reveals his identity, explaining that he wanted to make amends for the things he had done in the past, and that he knew where the bankers were holding their annual meeting. To reduce any paper trail, the bankers were notorious for keeping no files of their illicit activities, with the exception of the ledgers they kept with them at all times. In other words, if Tyger could get access to this meeting, she'd have all the proof she needed to get rid of the bankers. Not exactly trusting Daken, but also not wanting to allow such a possibility to pass her by, Tyger gets in touch with her contacts in the Madripoor police force, as well as her underlings and heads towards the bankers hideaway. This issue ends with Daken standing beside Tyger, knowing that the information the bankers held could easily place him in control of all the crime in Madripoor.

Thoughts: Well, I hate to say it about this of all comic books, but here it comes... Meh. I honestly don't care about Madripoor, and to be honest, I've always felt some of the worst Wolverine stories have emanated from that country. Really, the only saving grace for me with this comic was Daken's impending betrayal of Tyger and her associates. For most of this comic I was wondering what Daken's game was, and I was happy to see that he intends on stabbing Tyger in the back(probably literally!)after she's done all the dirty work and dealt with the bankers. The thing that bothered me most about this comic was actually the fact that Daken revealed his identity to Tyger to gain her trust... Since Daken faked his death he's already told the Fantastic Four AND now Tyger that he was still alive... All over the course of TWO issues! I mean really, if you go through all of the trouble of faking your death to operate from the shadows, shouldn't you, oh, I don't know, NOT tell everybody you meet that you're still alive?!? Yes I know Daken can, and more than likely will kill Tyger at the end of this arc, but still... In the end, this was one of those RARE instances where I wasn't blown away after reading an issue of this series. However, I still expect the next issue to bring the awesome that this issue was lacking.

Score: 7 out of 10.Sure, why not just tell EVERYBODY you faked your death, Daken!


Freedom Fighters #6:

Summary: The Fighters manage to break the power-dampening collars they had been fitted with after Black Condor revealed that the collars were only making the Fighters believe they had been de-powered. Now re-powered, the team confronts King Bullet and his goons and manage to get the powerful sword Bullet was after before teleporting away, leaving Bullet and his criminals behind to die. Phantom Lady yells at Miss America for leaving the villains behind, and Miss America explains that she could care less, which causes Phantom Lady and Black Condor to leave. Now short two team members, Miss America heads to the home of the retired Doll Man and tries to coax him into rejoining the Fighters. After being turned down, Miss America brings in several SHADE agents and basically tells Doll Man that he had no choice in the matter.

Thoughts: Not bad... I liked this issue WAY more than the past few issues, as things made a bit more sense to me. I'm still a bit confused by certain aspects of the story(such as why that sword was so important and why the Jester kidnapped the Vice President), but at least this issue added some character development to the team. Miss America was shown as a no nonsense leader who refuses to take no for an answer, while Phantom Lady and Black Condor left the team(for now)and wound up sleeping together. So while the story still isn't gelling for me yet, at least I'm becoming somewhat connected to a few of the characters. Hey, that's better than nothing!

Score: 7 out of 10.At least King Bullet didn't sit down and start crying when he lost his hand...

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.

Bonus Best of the Rest! Dec. 11th edition.

Yes, you read this post's title correctly, this is a BONUS edition of the Best of the Rest! Since I'm mainly done with school(I am SO not sweating my Chem test on Monday)until the middle of January, I wanted to finish up most of last week's comics before I started reviewing the stuff I picked up this past Wednesday. So there you go, a quick and relatively painless(well unless you're a fan of Gen Hope...)Best of the Rest post. Onward!

I've got nothin'...
Usually before I start the reviews for one of these posts I'll post SOMETHING about me, comic books or a combination of both... Well since I just posted a BotR post yesterday, I don't have anything to add here. So why even add this? Force of habit I guess...

First up is Marvel's latest effort to a)push their younger mutants and b)shove Hope SO far down our collective throats she could probably see daylight, Generation Hope #2! The story here is that the newest young man to receive his mutant powers has gone quite mad, and not even Hope can sooth his madness... I KNOW, I'm shocked too!!! Cyclops, Rogue and Wolverine(along with those other new mutants)stand around outside wondering how Hope was doing against the new mutant. The answer? Not very well. The new mutant tosses her around for a bit before rampaging out of his apartment. Of course before going after the new mutant, who could be killing dozens of people, Chairman Summers demands that Hope is collected first. With Hope taken care of, the senor X-Men go after the new mutant, but he's too crazy and powerful to be stopped. This issue ends(comically to me)with the other new mutants standing over the fallen Hope telling her that they need her... Are you KIDDING me?! Seriously, are you kidding me?! What a joke this series has rapidly become. And only two issues in... Have you ever seen that episode of The Simpsons where Homer plays the voice of Poochie the dog? At one point Homer heads to the TV executives and gives them several ways Poochie could become a bigger star, including, “Whenever Poochie isn't onscreen, all of the other characters should be asking, 'Where's Poochie???'” THAT is exactly what this issue was like! It's bad enough that Marvel actually named the ENTIRE team after Hope, but all throughout this comic, whenever Hope wasn't around, everybody was wondering where she was, what she was up too and if she was alright! Talk about overkill... See, after having Hope presented as the end all, be all and do all for the X-Men, I now realize I hate her... It's like she can do no wrong, and everybody becomes blithering idiots whenever she's around. Yep, I think that I'll be cutting ties with this series once this first storyline concludes... Score: 3 out of 10.

Sticking with Marvel(but improving greatly)let's take a look at Captain America: Patriot #4(of 4). This issue starts with FBI agent Skinner pretty much accusing the Cap of the late 1940's, Jeff Mace, of treason. Prior to that point though, Skinner had been trying to to ruin Jeff's life, separating him from his long-time girlfriend, giving him lousy assignments(in one funny scene, Jeff, as Cap, has to tell a classroom full of students the proper way to “duck and cover”), and other go nowhere jobs. However, Jeff manages to learn that Skinner was working on a top secret government project behind the FBI's back, and threatens to reveal Skinner's duplicity to Skinner's bosses. As a compromise, Jeff resigns as Cap, and Skinner leaves Jeff and his girlfriend(FBI agent Betsy Ross)alone, promising to never pester them with his treason charges again. And that's pretty much that. Jeff and Betsy move to a small town where Jeff starts up a newspaper and the two(presumably)live happily ever after. I really liked this issue. Hell, I can go one further and say that I really liked this mini-series. Jeff Mace is one of those characters that nobody really knew much about, making him the perfect character to get a mini-series. THIS is actually what comic companies should be using a mini-series for. To give us the history of a barely known character. But going back to this issue, I enjoyed Jeff's interactions with Agent Skinner, I liked their compromise, and it was nice to see something end happily ever after for a change. Score: 8 out of 10.

Okay, that's it for Marvel this post, the next three reviews will be from the DC side of the fence, starting with Freedom Fighters #4. We start off with the Jester from the 1940's telling his grandson(the current Jester)to get revenge on the Arcadians for the death of his son/his grandson's father. The younger Jester promises to do just that before teleporting away. While that is going on, Mimic breaks Black Python loose from his restraints at the Enclave A prison facility on the orders of some guy named King Bullet(wow, what a lame name...). The two villains then cause a full on prison break, at which time the Freedom Fighters teleport blindly into the middle of the battle thanks to Phantom Lady's unpredictable powers. The prison guards attack both the prisoners and the Freedom Fighters since the prison was top secret and doing all sorts of despicable experiments on the prisoners, and as such didn't need any heroes nosing around. So after a whole mess of random fighting, this issue ends with the Freedom Fighters coming face to face with King Bullet and his group of villains, who had every intention of getting out of prison. Meh. This comic was better than the last few issues, but it still didn't do much for me. The part I enjoyed the most was with the Jester(s), and they only appeared briefly during the beginning. I WANT to like this series, but so far no good. I'm not ready to give up on this series just yet, but my patience can only last for so long... Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Next up is JSA All-Stars #13... I'm going to blitz through this one, because I hate the story going on here. While the All-Stars are off on some alien planet fighting an evil alien warlord, Cyclone(who is powerless)is trying to figure out why there are two clones of herself(with powers)hanging around. Oh, plus one of her classmates at school managed to give himself Cyclone's powers after doing some kind of test with her DNA. Cyclone and the other two Cyclones head back to the All-Stars headquarters to figure out what was going on when they discover... oh god... like 9 more Cyclones... And so it gets worse... That annoying robot at the All-Star's base explains that the nanites in Cyclone's DNA(huh??)created clones of her when they thought she was going to die to preserve themselves, which explains(I guess...)all of the other Cyclones. So um, the nanites in Cyclone's bloodstream hopped into the bodies of other women around Cyclone's age and made them all look identical... Whatever. Bottom line is that the Cyclones defeat Cyclone's classmate, which gives the original Cyclone her powers back(somehow). From there the robot fixes the clones(somehow...)and the rest of the All-Stars return from the alien world, blissfully unaware of this really bad story. Ugh. I hate Cyclone, so imagine my unmitigated horror at the sight of nearly one dozen of her! This was by FAR the worst storyline I've read since this series began. The best thing I can say about it? At least it's over. Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.

One more and I'm out of here... We'll end things with Secret Six #28. Much like the JSA All-Star review, this is the last part of a storyline I have ZERO interest in. As such, I'm going to go the cheap route and just hit on the main points here. The two different teams of Secret Six members(who were on opposite sides of a battle in the world of Skartaris)decide to work together to defeat the main bad guy starting all sorts of trouble in Skartaris. Eventually Black Alice(yet ANOTHER character I can't stand)swipes the powers of the bad guy and defeats him. From there the two Sixes leave Skartaris and head to Amanda Waller, who gives them all pardons and tells them she'd be interested in working with them again. The only good thing about this issue is the ending, which sees Giganta attacking and preparing to torture Dwarfstar for his role in the death of the Atom(Ryan Choi), who Giganta was interested in romantically. I know I've said it before, but I see I'll have to say it again, I am SO glad this storyline is over... Two separate teams of Secret Six members hanging out in the prehistoric-ish world of Skartaris is NOT my idea of fun. Plus whenever Black Alice ends up saving the collective bacon of the team, I always get pissed off. BUT, Giganta being told by Waller of Dwarfstar's role in Choi's death, and her subsequent reaction boosted this comic up a few points score wise. Score: 5 out of 10.

BONUS Random Scan Of The Week!???

Freedom Fighters #3

Overall: This issue starts off with Black Condor asking his spirit gods how to defeat the Elemental Demons that were rampaging around America. A spirit goddess tells Condor that he can't kill the Demons, but he can banish them to another dimension. Condor then returns to the Freedom Fighters(minus Uncle Sam who was killed last issue)and tells Phantom Lady that she's instrumental in the defeat of the Demons. The Freedom Fighters then head to the Demons and Phantom Lady teleports them away in pieces, ending their threat... Hmm... From there, Miss America arrives and tells the Fighters not to worry about Uncle Sam, since as long as there is an America, he'll be reborn. The Freedom Fighters, now led by Miss America(because she said so)continue searching for some artifact they need to locate in order to rescue the Vice President, who was captured by some guy in a powdered wig and 1770's style of dress... This issue then bizarrely ends with the Jester's grandson killing some guys in monk robes in order to “fix” America.

What in the blue hell was this all about?! I mean, really? The Elemental Demons, who were the focus of the first two issues of this series, and managed to squash the Freedom Fighters and kill Uncle Sam(the Fighters powerhouse)are defeated in ONE page?! That's all??? Because Phantom Lady was able to teleport them away in pieces? Hmm... From there, Firebrand(one of the Fighters), regaled us with several pages of conspiracy theories about the Arcadians, who supposedly manipulated events to direct American history. And then we have the Jester's grandson killing some weird old guys in monk robes... This was a wasted issue. Hopefully things get better next issue, because if not I don't think I'll be collecting this series for much longer.

Score: 4 out of 10.On the positive side, at least the Ray was in this issue...

Freedom Fighters #2

Overall: The story here is two fold, with one part focusing on the Freedom Fighters and their battle against ancient, evil, magical gods and the other half dealing with the Vice President of the United States, who has been kidnapped. The Freedom Fighters story is pretty simplistic, it's basically the evil gods battering the Fighters all over the place and killing the leader of the Fighters, Uncle Sam. The Vice President's story is a bit weirder, as she has been kidnapped and beaten by some guy who looks like he fell out of the 1700's.

I can't say I didn't like this story, but I really didn't enjoy it either. It was just sort of there. First off, I don't get what's up with DC and giant, evil, ancient gods lately... Didn't this very story JUST take place in JSA All Stars? Is it THAT hard to think up new menaces? Or have giant, evil, ancient gods replaced vampires and zombies as the new pop culture phenomenon? Will all of the girls be debating which ancient, evil god is hotter now? Will Marvel make dozens of mini-series about brain-eating ancient, evil gods?? I don't know, but I sure hope not... I just added this series to my pull list at my local comic book shop(mainly because Ray is in it and I'm a huge Ray fan), but come on, can I PLEASE see the team fighting some real super-villains?

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Huh, would you believe that I wore that EXACT outfit to school today?