New Comic Day! June 8th edition.

Hello from a SWELTERING upstate New York, X-Maniacs! It IS Wednesday, which means it's time for the yet another installment of New Comic Day here at the blog! I'm planning on blowing through this post, as I picked up InFamous 2 yesterday, and plan on playing that as soon as this post is up and posted, so hold on tight, we're gonna be FLYING! Before I talk about last week's comics, I just wanted to mention how utterly bizarre it is that DC has already stated that they were rebooting their entire company... Think about it, it's only the beginning of June, and the reboot isn't until September. As a comic fan, it makes NO sense to read any DC comics between now and September, since in the long run, nothing happening in any DC comic right now matters. If nothing matters, what's the incentive to buy new DC books? To read about something that will have ZERO bearing on things in a few months? You've got to think DC's sales numbers are going to take a pretty drastic nosedive throughout the summer...

Last week I chose Fear Itself #3 as my Pick of the Litter, and although the ending pissed me off like CRAZY(especially since it appears that a certain character I LOVE really did die there...), I still gave it an above average score of 9 out of 10. Of course if that certain character really is dead, that issue of Fear Itself will probably go down as one of my least favorite single issues of the year... Last week's Runt of the Litter was Secret Six #34, which received a respectable 6 1/2 out of 10. That score is a MASSIVE improvement for that series, so I'll have to say that last week's Runt far surpassed my low expectations.

As for this week, here are the comics I snagged from the comic shop earlier... Ghost Rider #0.1, Red Robin #24, Birds of Prey #13, Journey Into Mystery #624, Fear Itself: Fearsome Four #1, Fear Itself: Deadpool #1, Deadpool #38, Annihilators #4, Batman and Robin #24 & The Iron Age Alpha #1. My shop still hasn't gotten in Irredeemable #26 from last week, and my copy of Morning Glories #10 didn't arrive in this week's shipment... So that means, only 10 comics for me this week... Seriously, for me, THAT'S a slow week! With such a small pull this week, this week's Pick of the Litter is pretty easy... I'm going to go with Batman and Robin #24. Why? Four words; Red Hood Jason Todd. It doesn't get any simpler than that. This week's Runt is kind of hard to pick, because there really aren't any comics I'm particularly dreading... I guess I'll go with Birds of Prey #13. The last issue was horrible, so it stands to reason that this issue will suck the big one too. And that's pretty much that. See, when I want to do a quick post, I can! I'll leave you guys with this week's random scan, and say, as always, X out!

The Random Scan of the Week!This right here is one of the most horrifying Joker pictures I've EVER had the misfortune of seeing... What the HELL is the matter with his mouth?!?!?

Batman, Jason Todd and the Joker

Jeez, I'm kind of intrigued by Batman's "mind-boggling forms of torture."... Yeah, I already know there's something wrong with me, but seriously, mind-boggling??? Wow.

My favorite part of these scans would easily have to be Joker's lines. If not for his genocidal tendencies, Joker seems like he'd be alot of fun at parties

Nightwing vs The Joker

If I wasn't a fan of Nightwing before, I certainly would be after this. Hell, Batman should have beaten the Joker to death years ago!

The Joker and Jason Todd

I just think Joker's line is kind of funny. Maybe it's just me though...

Joker's Last Laugh TPB

This trade collected "Joker's Last Laugh" #1-6

Overall- This is one of those comic books/trade paper backs where I knew the outcome of the story(or so I thought)before I picked it up, but I wanted to actually read it myself. Trust me, that will make a lot more sense before I'm finished with this review(maybe). I read this EARLY this morning, so I may be missing specifics to the story(me brain work no good in morning).

Basically, one of the Joker's prison doctors tells Joker that he has an incurable brain tumor, and that in short order, he'll be dead. Since he only has so much time left on Earth, Joker decides he wants to go out in a bang, and he "Jokerizes" every criminal locked in the prison with him. By "Jokerize", I mean that he sprays them with his Joker gas(that sounds disgusting!), which turns them as insane, and apparently pale as Joker himself. From there, Joker breaks out, and sends his horde of super-powered Jokers out into the world to cause as much destruction as they possibly can.

Next, Joker decides he wants to leave an heir behind, so he sends some of his minions after Harley Quinn. Thankfully, Joker's hordes don't manage to capture Quinn, who isn't interested in having a kid with Joker out of wedlock(OOOOK...). Joker decides to step up his plans by creating a huge amount of his Joker gas and sending it into the atmosphere, where it begins to rain down onto the U.S.

After Joker does this, we find out the doctor who told Joker he was going to die was lying to him, and only said it to get back at the Joker for all of his evil pranks/jokes. Armed with this information, Batman decides to track down Joker and tell him he wasn't dying. Batman figured Joker would stop the mass destruction if he knew he would live to kill again another day.

Before Batman can reach Joker, who has holed himself up at a cathedral in Gotham, Nightwing discovers that thanks to Joker, Killer Croc killed and ate Robin. Nightwing decides enough is enough, and approaches the cathedral to face down Joker. Joker instructs his lackeys to allow Nightwing inside, because Joker's master plan is to have someone in the Bat-family kill him, thereby corrupting them, since Joker figured he was a dead man already. Nightwing attacks Joker, and the 2 battle for a while, with neither gaining the advantage, that is until Joker begins to push Nightwing's buttons, by proudly taking credit for killing not one but 2 Robins.

Joker begins to reference Jason Todd by name, and Nightwing snaps and begins to beat the Joker to death with his bare hands. Robin, who obviously wasn't eaten by Killer Croc, rushes over to Nightwing and tells him to stop beating on Joker. Nightwing stops, but apparently, he managed to fulfill Joker's wishes, because Joker is stone cold dead. Batman, Huntress and Spoiler arrive, and Batman(or Huntress)manages to resuscitate Joker, thereby preventing Nightwing from becoming a killer.

In the end, S.T.A.R. Labs manages to create an antidote to Joker's toxins, and everybody is cured of their "Jokerization"(wow, what a word!). Joker is locked back up, but this time he is locked away from all of the other inmates and placed in 24 hour solitary confinement, which is probably the worst possible punishment for a sociopath like the Joker.

This TPB was OK, but I really felt that I was missing ALOT of the story here. I guess that makes sense, since this storyline crossed over into practically every DC comic book at the time. Still, there were some important scenes that were left out of this TPB, including whatever happened between Killer Croc and Robin. Robin's "death" was instrumental in pushing Nightwing over the edge and really should have been shown in this TPB.

Like I said, I really felt like there were large, gaping holes in this story, which I guess were filled in in the various DC comic books that took part in this crossover. So, although I thoroughly enjoyed watching Nightwing beat Joker to death(come on, we all know he deserves a lot worse than that!), I can't really score this TPB much higher than a 6 out of 10. Reading this was kind of like only watching the second half of a movie. By the end, I knew what had happened, but I was never really sure how we got there...

Hmmm... They both make very good points...

Why The Joker likes Gorilla Grodd.

You know, I actually agree with Joker's reasoning here... That worries me...

Lex Luthor and the Joker, NOT best friends.

I'm sorry, the sight of the Joker backhanding Lex Luthor brings a smile to my face everytime. DC should really give these two a buddy comic book, I would buy it in a heartbeat! Oh, these scans are from "Salvation Run", which was a great mini-series that I would totally recommend!

Joker, crazy as usual...

There are a lot of great things happening in this picture, starting with the fact that the Joker is just driving down the freeway in California, WITHOUT tinted windows! On top of that, I loved the way he was so nonchalant about possibly hallucinating. I guess it says a lot about you when you just aren't bothered by some pesky hallucinations anymore!