Quick Hits: Superboy #11, Zatanna #16, Batman #713 & Justice League of America #60

It's time for the second part of this weekend's Quick Hits-athon. This time around we're switching over to DC and taking a look at 4 final issues as DC moves closer and closer to what will either be their rebirth or their downfall. I've flip-flopped all summer long about what I thought about the whole DC reboot thing(I've gone from furious to okay about it), and I'm currently of the mindset that it's a slap in the face of long-time DC fans. I figure DC will pick up a few new readers in September, but that they might lose a few regular fans, and that most of the new readers won't stick around past that first issue, since that's the collector's piece. But I'm not going to get that into my final thoughts about the reboot since I still have about 10 days to change my mind 50 more times before The End. All I will say before I head to the reviews is this; remember Marvel's whole Heroes Reborn fiasco? Methinks Johns and Didio don't.

Superboy #11:

What Happened: Superboy manages to slip a magical trinket to the Phantom Stranger, allowing him to free himself from the magic of Tannarak. While the Stranger deals with Tannarak, SB and Krypto take care of Tannarak's goons, the Tooks, and break the computers Tannarak was using to control the Hollow Men, as well as the life support for the SB clones. Tannarak manages to escape, while Psion and the Stranger manage to reunite the citizens of Smallville with their souls/essences/minds. The Stranger heads off to see if he could pick up Tannarak's trail, while SB, Psion, Simon Valentine: Boy Genius(god am I gonna miss typing that...) and Lori Luthor head off, where everybody lives happily ever after... Well, everybody except for Jeff Lemire, who seemed to have LOTS more stories to tell.

Thoughts: Eh. This was what it was. A rushed final issue to a series that was obviously plotted to go a lot further than 11 issues. I actually feel bad for writers like Lemire(and James Robinson... Wait until I review JLA #60 later!) who seem to have all of these storylines that they'll never be able to finish up(the Psion/Simon Valentine: Boy Genius stuff, the reaction of the people from Psion's futuristic home, the ultimate fate of Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, etc). But hey, we've got to try to make Barry Allen hip and new for all the kids, so who cares about anything else?

Score: 6 out of 10.Good-bye, Superboy. And good luck on the other side... It looks like you're gonna need it...


Zatanna #16:

What Happened: After a few shows and a long flight home, Zatanna wants nothing more then to catch some sleep at her family home in Gotham. Unfortunately, the doorbell rings and she opens it to find Uriah from Limbo Town asking to be her apprentice(think Klarion, but evil). Z, wanting her sleep and being a bit wary of Uriah, says no, but by this point Uriah has gotten loose in her house. Not really thinking clearly due to the lack of sleep, Z chases him, but Uriah manages to break into her library and snatches a book on dimensional teleportation. Uriah begins trotting through dimensions, with Z following after him, trying to figure out a way to separate him from the book. Z finally manages to teleport the two of them to the dimension of Gargantuans, which distracts Uriah long enough for Z to get her book back and teleport the little troublemaker back to Limbo Town. With that, Z heads back to her bedroom and finally gets some sleep.

Thoughts: This was a good little one and done issue that gave Adam Beechen the opportunity to bring Uriah back one last time(Uriah first popped up in Robin, back when Beechen was the writer... I don't know why that stuck in my head...). The story made sense in that normally Z would have wiped the floor with a threat like Uriah, but since she was so sleep-deprived, she wasn't really thinking straight. I'll definitely miss reading this series, as it was usually a pretty good read(well, except for the puppet issues...). Oh well, here's hoping Z stays awesome in the upcoming Justice League Dark series.

Score: 8 out of 10.Zatanna lives one strange life...


Batman #713:

What Happened: It's time for one final Batman origin story!! Or at least the final origin story of this particular version of Batman. For the record, this issue is told by Robin(Damian Wayne) to some kids at a Wayne Foundation building. And don't worry, Damian isn't giving up names or identities or anything. We follow the first Batman(Bruce Wayne) and Robin(Dick Grayson) from back in the day until the present, where we now have Dick Grayson as Batman, and Damian as Robin. The story culminates with Bats(Dick) teaching Robin(Damian) a lesson about how their most important job ISN'T beating up villains, but is taking care of victims. After Damian gives his little life lesson to the kids, Dick meets up with him and the two head off to do the whole superhero thing.

Thoughts: This was another one and done final issue that I enjoyed reading. It's sad that we're losing the Dick and Damian Batman and Robin team, because it's probably the best thing to come out of Grant Morrison's Batman run. They really play off of each other well, and it's nice to see that deep down Damian does respect Dick, regardless of the things he occasionally says and does. Unless DC fundamentally changes Damian's character, I don't see how Bruce and Damian can ever come close to approaching the Dick/Damian pairing. Anyway, back to this issue. Like I said, I enjoyed it for what it was, a final look at Bruce and Dick and Dick and Damian's relationship. Here's hoping this isn't the final time we see this version of Damian, because if we wind up with a happy-go-lucky Damian to counter Bruce's darker demeanor, I'll be extremely upset.

Score: 8 out of 10.Dick: "You never take me seriously, blah, blah, blah..."
Bruce: "Hello, is somebody there? I don't HEAR anybody!"
That's got to be one of the best Batman reactions I've ever seen...


Justice League of America #60:

What Happened: We kick things off with the final meeting of this version of the Justice League. It seems that they all have personal dealings to attend to, and thus can't really make the whole team thing work anymore. The JLAers sit around the meeting table, discussing adventures that they had(adventures that we'll never see now) and the stuff that they did, before heading their own ways. This series ends with Batman(Dick Grayson) and Donna Troy having a great conversation before turning off the lights and leaving the Watchtower for the last time.

Thoughts: I've always groused about this version of the League. I hated the damned talking monkey... I wanted the OTHER Starman... I'd have preferred Superman to Supergirl... And so on. But man did James Robinson finally deliver in this, his last JLA comic. Reading through this issue, you couldn't help but get the sense that Robinson wasn't exactly overjoyed by the reboot. Honestly, if he was letdown/pissed, how could you blame him? If I spent a whole mess of years writing stories for DC and two guys decided to erase everything I wrote, I know I'd probably be a bit miffed. Maybe that's just me though and I'm looking too deeply into the dialogue here. In the end though, Robinson wrote a really good final story that left me a bit sad to see this version of the League go... Yes, even that damned talking monkey!

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.This is probably one of the better comic pages I've read in some time... So what do you think, is that James Robinson's voice coming out of Batman's mouth, or is it just me?

Justice League of America #59 & Superman/Batman #86

I've finally hit the bottom of my new comic pile, just in time for tomorrow's new comic day! Huzzah! The last two books from last week are two DC titles that I'm not really looking forward to reading in the least. As a matter of fact, I expect them to be lackluster to bad... Here's hoping I'm wrong!

Justice League of America #59:

Summary: This comic is actually SUPER easy to review, which is a nice change of pace. This issue begins with Eclipso recounting how he killed the Justice League and conquered the earth, before setting off into space, defeating every other race and killing everything in the universe... Great job, Eclipso!! Or is it... In actuality we learn that the Atom and Blue Starman managed to free the Shade from Eclipso's mental domination, which led to all of the shadow-connected beings under Eclipso's command becoming free. From there, Saint Walker used his hokey hope powers to allow Eclipso to see what he truly desired, the scene I described earlier. With Eclipso's army gone, and Eclipso himself happily living in a fantasy land, all of the heroes rally and attack him, beating on him until he reverted back to his human half, Bruce Gordon.. From there all of the heroes use their various powers to put the moon BACK together(and don't ask me how they did that, 'cause I have NO idea!), before they happily leave. However, that happiness doesn't last long as this issue ends 5 weeks later with Batman(Dick Grayson) announcing to the Worst Justice League Ever that they were being disbanded(probably because of their repeated acts of sucktitude).

Thoughts: I actually enjoyed this comic way more than I probably should have... There were a few plot holes here and there(like how the hell the heroes managed to put the moon, which had been split in HALF back together again), but this comic was very fast-paced and action packed. Honestly, I have no real complaints, so let's move on before I think of any...

Score: 7 out of 10.Hell, this issue was worth it simply to see a giant squid kill that damned monkey!


Superman/Batman #86:

Summary: While Batman digs into who killed the reporter who had managed to connect that Bruce Wayne and Batman were one and the same, Superman(in his civilian guise of Clark Kent: Ace Reporter) wanders around Gotham, interviewing people while trying to figure out if he should run the dead reporter's story on Bats/Bruce. Eventually Bats(as Matches Malone) heads into a bar the dead reporter frequented and learns that anybody who had any substantial information on Batman was supposed to put it into “The Box”, which was actually a empty mail box... Back with Clark, after speaking with the editor of the Gotham Gazette, he's still conflicted as to whether he should run the dead reporter's story or not, eventually deciding to return to Metropolis to try to come to a decision. Going back to Bats, he heads to The Box, reaches a hand in and is bitten by a pair of super sharp gag teeth, a sure sign the Joker was the man behind The Box, and consequently, the reporter's murder. Bats finds a note attached to the teeth and realizes that the editor at the Gazette had informed Joker that Clark had the information the dead reporter had discovered. This issue ends with Clark sitting in front of his computer, trying to decide what to do, with the Joker standing behind him in the shadows, preparing to swing a massive mallet at the back of his head!

Thoughts: What can I say? I enjoyed this issue a lot! I must be in an unusually good mood tonight or something... The split story of Bats trying to figure out who was trying to preserve his secret identity by killing the reporter, while Supes went around interviewing folks in Gotham before having to decide whether to run the dead reporter's story or not worked well. Now if this story turns out the way it looks like it's gonna, I'm going to be pretty pleased. It looks like the Joker killed the reporter in order to keep Batman's identity safe... Now I'm sure some of you are wondering, “Why the hell would Joker do THAT?!” Joker's vendetta has always been with Batman, NOT Bruce Wayne. You could probably make a strong case that Joker is well aware of Batman's secret identity, but just doesn't care. In a weird way, Batman being outed as Bruce Wayne may take some of the “fun” out of Joker's relationship with Bats. I may be in the minority, but I like the idea that Joker KNOWS that Bats and Bruce are one in the same and doesn't want anything to get in the way of their little nocturnal escapades. As for the ending, I kind of had a problem with the idea of Joker(with a big-ass mallet) sneaking up on Clark Kent, a man with super-hearing. That just seems wrong to me. Now let's say Joker DOES get the drop on Clark(somehow...), there's no way Joker can hurt Clark with that mallet, but if Joker was to connect, he'd rapidly realize that there was more to Clark Kent than meets the eye, endangering Clark's secret identity. So while the ending may seem kind of dumb at first glance, it's actually pretty interesting, since it could destroy Supes life...

Score: 8 out of 10.I NEED a pair of those teeth!!

Justice League of America #58 & Batman and the Outsiders #40

Two more DC books to take a look at, one of the last issues of JLA I plan on picking up(sorry, as long as Chairman Johns is writing that series, I'm not reading it!) before the DC reboot. The other comic is the last issue of the Outsiders, or as the cover claims, “Batman and the Outsiders” even though this series dropped the “Batman” portion of the name from the title months ago... *sigh* Let's just get on with it...

Justice League of America #58:

Summary: Eclipso has managed to split the moon in two, creating widespread chaos on the Earth. In order to fix this, the JLA has to do two things, free the Shade from Eclipso's grasp, and then defeat Eclipso himself. To that end, Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue) decides to fire a bullet containing the Atom and Blue Starman into the Shade's head with the hope being the Atom can figure out a way to free the Shade from Eclipso's mental thrall. While the Atom and Blue Starman are splashing around in the Shade's gray matter, Saint Walker(who I hate...) tells the JLA that Donna Troy has the best shot at defeating Eclipso because her life really sucks or something. I didn't really get it because I hate Saint Walker and my mind starts wandering when he starts talking. But that seems to be the gist of it. So the JLA attack Eclipso's forces, pretending their mission was to free Zauriel, when in actuality it was to get Donna close enough to fight Eclipso. Donna engages Eclipso in battle, and as luck would have it, this issue ends with Eclipso apparently killing Donna... Again...

Thoughts: Eh. With the exception of Saint Walker's inclusion here, I had no real complaints. The JLA very clearly outlined their plan and enacted it, while Eclipso's forces fought to defend their master. It was all pretty straightforward. No problems here, so we'll simply move on.

Score: 7 out of 10.Donna's dead? Is it that time of year already?!


Batman and the Outsiders #40:

Summary: This issue gets started with Batman(Bruce Wayne here) thinking back to the MANY versions of the Outsiders as he heads to Markovia to deal with the mess the Outsiders have become. Upon arriving in Geo-Force's throne room, Bats finds the fourteen members of the Outsiders arguing about... whatever the hell has been going on here these past few issues. Bats tells them enough was enough and that they were officially done fighting. Bats puts out the olive branch and tries to get Geo-Force to rejoin the team, but he refuses Batman's advances and flies away from the castle. With that, Bats loads the other Outsiders on to his plane and flies back to the States, while Geo-Force watches over his war-ravaged country, realizing that he was an outsider amongst Outsiders.

Thoughts: You know, this must be the most confused comic series in the history of comic books... I mean the title switches back and forth from “Batman and the Outsiders” to “The Outsiders” so much it's crazy! But enough about all that, let's get to this comic. This comic wasn't bad, probably because the majority of it was Bats thinking back on the various Outsiders teams in big splash pages. Even somebody as talentless as Dan Didio couldn't mess THAT up. Sure there's some terrible dialogue here and there(basically anytime Freight Train opens his mouth), but like I said, it was written by Didio, so that's no surprise. The bottom line here is that I'm not sad that this is the final issue of this series. It had practically no direction from the start(they should have just left Judd Winick's version of the team alone), and once Didio decided he'd name himself the writer, you knew things weren't going to end well... So long, Outsiders, better luck on the other side of the DC reboot.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Blah, blah, blah.

Justice League of America #57 & Superman/Batman #84

Justice League of America #57:

Summary: This issue begins with Obsidian revealing that he WASN'T really in cahoots with Eclipso(as it seemed at the end of the last issue) and instead spirits the JLA to safety... Or at least this incredibly lame version of the JLA. While the JLA plot against Eclipso, Eclipso goes into a LOOOOONG spiel about what his master plan was. Basically, he wants to kill God. Not a god, lower-case “g”, but God, upper-case “g”. It seems Eclipso was a fallen angel or something and has been holding a grudge against God for a long time now. He uses the captured Zauriel to call out to the Spectre, who arrives on the moon and immediately throws down with Eclipso. However, for some reason the Spectre's powers wane when he's away from the Earth(because God loves the Earth more than anything else or some such nonsense), giving Eclipso the opportunity to kill Spectre and steal his powers. Now powered by the Starheart AND the Spectre, Eclipso stabs the moon, breaking it in half.

Thoughts: Um, okay. There was a whole lot of Eclipso talking in this one, about stuff that for the most part, I could care less about. So he was a fallen angel, or he used to have the Spectre's job, or SOMETHING, but he was cast out by God, and has had a mad-on for God ever since... Except for the fact that he's never actually bothered to say any of this until this storyline... I mean I'm not Mr. Eclipso-Knowledge or anything, but you'd think I'd have recalled reading that Eclipso was mad at God SOMEWHERE else... That doesn't really seem like the type of thing you'd keep to yourself. Meh. On the plus side, we finally know what Eclipso's plan is, he wants to destroy the Earth, since God apparently doesn't love all of his creations equally, he only loves his Earthly creations and all of the various alien races can go screw themselves. Sorry Supes, but according to James Robinson, God hates you. As for the JLA, they didn't really do much more then appear on like 5 pages, and since that damned ape is still on the team, I have to say, I was happy that I didn't have to see much more of them...

Score: 6 out of 10.Did that damned monkey say, "Tally ho!"?! Why am I still reading this series...


Superman/Batman #84:

Summary: Superman and the magical JLA from the future make their final run at the Sorcerer Kings, who turned the Earth into a hellish, demon filled mess. Needless to say, we get a big, old magical battle, which ends when Superman plunges his magical sword into the demon the Kings had summoned several years back to assist them. With the demon injured/dying, Supes flies through the portal the Kings were going to use to send the demon back in time with to assist their past selves(man is this confusing to type!) defeat Batman and the Shadowpact. Supes arrives back in the present, and uses the last of the magic he absorbed in the future to defeat the villains, ending their threat. The end.

Thoughts: This was one of those reviews I was dreading because I had NO idea how to do a summary of this comic... Superman is in the future with the future League, battling against the future versions of the Sorcerer Kings, while Bats is dealing with the soon-to-be, but not quite yet, Sorcerer Kings in the present, until Supes returns from the past to lend a hand... Argh! Confusing! Even though this comic was like taking a two-by-four to the head, I did enjoy this story overall... Go figure...

Score: 5 out of 10.Superman plus a sword equals overkill!

A Few Thoughts on... Some random comics!

Okay, here's the deal guys and gals... I still have a few comics from last week to get through, and I just picked up about 15 comics or so(plus a trade) from the comic book shop yesterday, meaning that once again, I am falling behind in my comic reading. Add the impending end of the school year, and yeah, I'm pretty busy. So in order to try to blitz through a few of last week's books, I'm going to try something new here... I'll be doing this post like a 10 Thoughts post, just with WAY less than 10 Thoughts per comic. Let's give it a shot and see how it goes!

Generation Hope #6.

Synopsis: The Gen Hope kids head to Germany after a new mutant pops up on Cerebro(or is it still Cerebra?). Upon getting there, everybody in the hospital is either unconscious or acting crazy, and we discover that the new mutant registered was still in its mother's womb.

-So now instead of Rogue serving as Hope's liaison, Lord Summers the First has decreed that Shadowcat would be the new liaison between himself and Hope... God, that's like trading an old shoe for sack of dead rats...

-This comic is SO much worse than any other teen-oriented series I'm currently reading from the big two right now(Teen Titans, Avengers Academy, Children's Crusade) it's not even funny...

-I can't believe that we're FIVE issues into this series now and the kids STILL don't have codenames! They finally have costumes, but if you want people to be able to talk about these kids and know who they are, you NEED codenames!It's Hope! And random mutants #1-5...

-Sticking with that train of thought, I'm not sure if I've ever read something from Kieron Gillen that I've truly enjoyed...

-So basically I'll probably give this series until the Summer, and if it doesn't pick up substantially, I'll be dropping it.

Score: 5 out of 10.

X-Factor #218.

Synopsis: Guido's been shot, and the three female assassins who shot him have targeted Mayor Jameson next. Luckily for Jameson, he's being protected by the rest of X-Factor and the Black Cat. The assassins flee, but are being tracked by Black Cat, while X-Factor gets Guido to the hospital where he is pronounced dead, and then recovers(?!).

-I love me some Black Cat, so it was great seeing her in this issue. Yeah, I know she's not a mutie, but it sure would be awesome if she joined the team full-time.Black Cat showing up is a BIG plus!

-I can't say I know what's going on with those three metal female assassins, or why they targeted Jameson, but I trust Peter David's writing, so I'm sure this will all work out for the best... Probably...

-I have NO idea what was up with Guido dying, and then suddenly being healed... No idea whatsoever!

-This was definitely not one of my favorite issues of this series(nor is it one of my favorite storylines), but Peter David's writing(and the inclusion of Black Cat) at least make this one readable.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Supergirl #63.

Synopsis: Supergirl has been trapped at Harvard University by some crazed nerd. While SG is trying to figure a way out, Fake Beetle, Robin and Miss Martian are being mentally probed by the nerd. Eventually SG gets free and confronts the nerd, who reveals himself to be... Dubbilex?!

-The fact that Dubbilex could break through th mental defenses of both the Fake Beetle and Miss Martian, but NOT Damian made my day...

-...Until he DID break through Damian's mental defenses...Come on, Damian is stronger mentally than that!

-The stuff with SG figuring out how to break free from Dubbilex's robots did nothing for me.

-To be honest, pretty much everything about this storyline isn't doing anything for me!

-And speaking of Dubbilex, who thought THAT was a good, exciting reveal?! I mean I read the entire Superboy series from the 90's, so I know the character pretty well, but most other people? Maybe they should have foreshadowed that reveal a bit better...Um yeah, I doubt many people cared about this reveal...

-Much like Gen Hope, I can see myself dropping this title pretty soon...

Score: 4 out of 10.

Justice League of America #56.

Synopsis: Eclipso has taken over several shadow-based characters and has attacked Alan Scott's Emerald City, managing to put Alan's daughter, Jade, under his thrall. Some members of the JLA(and Saint Walker) try to take the battle to Eclipso, but his forces overwhelm them and they are captured by Eclipso's ally, Obsidian.

-Hey look, Obsidian is a bad guy again! Wow, what a SHOCK!!! In case you can't tell, I'm being VERY sarcastic...

-Man, I really hated a lot of the characters that were in this issue on the JLA... Saint Walker(one of Chairman Johns' idiotic creations)and Congorilla(a damned talking monkey) in particular.And there's the damned talking monkey...

-So this issue gives us a battle between Zauriel(or “Zaurel” as the comic spells the name... Idiots...) and Eclipso. Now Zauriel is an angel. A real angel, complete with holy powers. And yet he winds up defeated by Eclipso with relative ease. On the other hand, Saint Walker is more than able to hold his own against Eclipso... Thus proving that it's way past time for somebody to get James Robinson away from this series, because he obviously has NO idea what he's doing anymore...Eclipso takes Zauriel?! Really?!?

-You know, speaking of Robinson, I LOVED his Starman work, but other then that, I really can't say any of his other work has wowed me. He just can't seem to write mainstream characters at all...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Action Comics #899.

Synopsis: Lex Luthor assembles the rest of those black globes in space and learns that Brainiac had manipulated him into assembling the globes for him... But wait! Lex reveals that he knew what Brainiac was doing and defeats Brainiac in single combat. He then uses the globes to summon a god-like creature from the Phantom Zone, defeats it and bonds with it, turning into Lex Luthor: God.

-Why does everything have to be so complicated?! I mean, was I just really tired when I read this last night or something? We have Brainiac telling Lex he manipulated him, to which Lex reveals that he was aware of Brainiac's influence. Then they fight. Then Lex somehow defeats somebody who Supes himself had difficulty beating. Then Mr. Mind shows up and begins to try to explain what the deal with the black globes were. Then some god shows up. Then Lex fights the god. Then Lex BECOMES the god... Sheesh...

-I have no clue why Mr. Mind was here. Much like talking monkeys, I also hate talking bugs...Great, a talking bug...

-I'll admit, Lex snapping Brainiac's neck? Super cool... Although it probably shouldn't have been possible...Should it have happened? No. Was it cool? Hell yeah!

-Lex Luthor: God, actually has some real potential. You KNOW Supes is gonna be in for it now!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Red Robin #22 & Justice League of America: 80 Page Giant 2011 #1

Four DC reviews to go tonight(in two different posts), as I finish up last week's books in order to get to this week's comics. Once I get my new cord for my laptop, I should be busting out reviews like there's no tomorrow! But until then, it'll be in drips and drabs.

Red Robin #22:

Summary: This issue is a part of the Judgment of Gotham storyline. What's that you ask? Exactly... We get started with Tim Drake announcing that during Final Crisis he went to church to confess his sins in case it truly was the end of the world. However, little Timmy had nothing to confess... REALLY?! Wow... Anyway, it seems that Azrael has kidnapped the mayor of Gotham City and threatened to kill him unless Tim arrives at City Hall to be judged by Azrael's sword. Tim has an hour to reach City Hall before Azrael kills the mayor. Oh, and standing between Tim and City Hall? The Crusader, who has massive telekinetic and pyrokinetic powers. The Crusader continues to place obstacles in Tim's path(flying school buses, crashing blimps, etc) to see how Tim responds to these threats. Tim manages to save everybody and makes it to City Hall before Azrael's deadline had passed. Tim demands that Azrael lets the mayor go, so Azrael stabs Tim in the chest with his sin-sensing sword. Tim is unharmed by the sword, which means he was truly without sin... REALLY?!? Having finally found someone without sin, Azrael is ready to call off his attack on Gotham, but before he can, the Crusader enters the room and tells Azrael that Tim doesn't believe in God, and as such, wasn't worthy. Azrael asks Tim if this was true, and Tim replies affirmatively. With that, Azrael sadly announces that Tim had failed his test and he and the Crusader leave. This issue ends with the White Ghost telling Ra's Al Ghul that Tim had failed the test. Ra's is glad, since he knows that both Dick Grayson(Batman) and Selina Kyle(Catwoman) are sinners, meaning that once they failed their tests, Azrael and Crusader would raze Gotham.

Thoughts: I liked this issue, although I'm not exactly sure what I think about this storyline yet... Are Azrael and this Crusader feeb really that unstoppable that NONE of the heroes of Gotham can stop them? I can't buy that. Plus I'm not exactly sure what Ra's game is here. Now, before I ended this review I'd be remiss to not mention the fact that Tim Drake is apparently WITHOUT sin! I mean hell, EVERYTHING is a sin! You're going to tell me he's never sinned once, ever, at all?! I mean he once tried to boink his dead best friend's girlfriend, shouldn't that be a sin? I guess I should strip the Saint moniker from Barry Allen and pass it on to Timmy!

Score: 8 out of 10.All Hail Saint Timmy!!!


Justice League of America: 80 Page Giant 2011 #1:

Summary: This issue was literally 80 pages, so if you're expecting an in-depth review, you're out of luck! Basically 18 members of the JLA(yes 18!), find themselves stuck in one of the 9 areas of Hell, and have to face their fears and overcome the various ordeals that Hell offers. After a LONG trip through Hell, in which the team is split into 9 groups of 2, they all manage to retrieve a piece of a mask that was hidden in each ring of Hell. Once that is accomplished, the team is sent to purgatory, where they discover Lord Satanus trapped in a cage by his sister Blaze, the current ruler of Hell... Huh, and here I thought Chairman Johns was the current ruler of Hell... Anyway, Satanus reveals that the team had assembled the Hell Mask for him, which gives him the power to control any being, including God himself or the devil. Since Batman was suspicious of this whole situation, he had Plastic Man hide himself in one of the pieces of the mask, allowing Plastic Man the opportunity to get the Mask away from Satanus. However, Plastic Man puts the Mask on, since he wanted to try to undo things that went wrong in his life. The Mask turns out to be too powerful for a mere mortal to use, leading to Plastic Man going on a mini-rampage. Eventually Plastic Man regains his sanity long enough to force the team to kill him lest he kills them. So Plastic Man is dead... Or is he? Zauriel arrives on the scene with Plastic Man and tells the JLA that since it wasn't Plastic Man's time to die yet, he was bringing him back. With that, the JLA and Zauriel leave, with Blaze trying to figure out a way to further punish her brother.

Thoughts: My god was this comic LOOOOONG!!! Usually that's a good thing, especially for a comic that was $6, but after like the 6th tale of JLA member in Hell, I was definitely ready for this issue to end... And then it KEPT on going! Was the story horrible? No, but it just wasn't for me. One question I have was, when exactly does this story take place?!? We have Wonder Woman dressed in her Teenage Amazon attire but acting like regular Wonder Woman, Batman was Bruce Wayne dressed in his new Bat attire, so yeah, that really left me puzzled...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.But... But why does Teenage Amazon Wonder Woman have classic Wonder Woman's memories?!?!?

Quick Hits: 3/26/11

Justice League of America #55:

Summary: This comic was actually telling two stories, the regular storyline that had been going on with Eclipso, and the Reign of Doomsday stuff. First let's cover the Eclipso portions. Eclipso and his army of possessed shadow characters attack the Emerald City on the Moon in an effort to possess Jade. The JLA's forces are split(we'll get to that later with the Doomsday stuff), which basically leaves Donna Troy and Jade alone against Eclipso's forces, since Jesse Quick was forced to rush the paralyzed Alan Scott to safety. Eclipso's forces are too much, and in the end he manages to possess Jade, just as he planned. The other half of this story starts in the remains of New Krypton. Supergirl had asked Batman(Dick Grayson) to remove the shattered planet from the Earth's orbit so she could try to forget about her loss, when Green Lantern Boodikka arrives to survey the damage for the Guardians. Doomsday chooses this moment to attack, tearing into Boodikka and destroying Batman's spaceship. Luckily for Bats, he's still safe in his spacesuit, but is pretty much helpless. Supergirl moves in to attack Doomsday, but Doomsday seems WAY more interested in Boodikka than SG. Bats figures Doomsday was going to kill Boodikka and then SG, so he tells Starman to get to the location to spirit the two women away. Instead, like an idiot, Starman decides to attack Doomsday, which does little more than slightly distract Doomsday. Doomsday knocks Starman away, and Bats takes that opportunity to teleport SG and Boodikka to the JLA Watchtower. Doomsday quickly follows, and this issue concludes with Cyborg Superman rising from Boodikka, which is apparently where he chose to hide after his most recent defeat.

Thoughts: Hey, this was yet another good issue of this series! I mean two months ago I was primed and ready to cut my ties with this series and drop it, but last issue helped change my mind, and this issue proved that I made the right choice. The Doomsday stuff was very well done, and it leads in to the Superman/Batman annual where Doomsday will be facing Cyborg Supes. The Eclipso stuff was also very good, even though the Doomsday story took center stage. Since I enjoyed both stories, there's really not much to complain about... Well except for the fact that Saint Walker showed up in this issue for absolutely NO reason... Let's PLEASE keep Chairman Johns' garbage in Chairman Johns' comics.

Score: 8 out of 10.Yeah, my money's on Doomsday in a battle between the Big D and Starman.


FF #1:

Summary: We get started with Reed listening to a video recording from the now deceased Human Torch. In the video, Johnny tells Reed to keep fighting the good fight, and to have Spidey replace him on the team. Spidey arrives at the Baxter Building and is greeted by Sue, who takes him around, showing him the sights. Spidey meets some of the freaky kids Reed has there, and bumps into the Thing, who completely blows Spidey off. Sue presents Spidey with his FF uniform, and the foursome are immediately called to go to the PAVLOV facility, which was under attack by AIM agents. The FF arrive on the scene and attack the AIM agents, but AIM has managed to free the Wizard from captivity, teleporting away with him while he spewed threats at Reed... Oh, and as a total aside that has NOTHING to do with the story, I had to laugh at the fact that the Wizard was nude in his prison cell when the AIM agents broke him out, and all they gave him was that dumb-ass helmet he wears, which Wizard went and put on his head! You'd think he'd have placed the helmet in a more... strategic area, but no, he stood there with his helmet on his head, wearing nothing else while he yelled at Reed... Back to the story, Reed heads back to the Baxter Building and is met by his daughter Valeria and his father, Nathaniel. Valeria tells Reed that she made a deal with Dr. Doom which infuriates Reed, but Reed's father, being the resident time traveler, tells Reed that Valeria did exactly what she was supposed to do. This issue ends with Reed, Valeria and Nathaniel meeting up with Doom in the bowels of the Baxter Building to welcome him into the Future Foundation.

Thoughts: This was NOT what I was expecting here... I mean, I don't really know what I was expecting, but this most certainly wasn't it. Everything in this comic seemed slightly off... Spidey joining the team was done with absolutely NO fanfare, Thing's mood swings were just all over the place(one minute he's moping in his room, the next he's eating dinner with everybody else), the stuff with Wizard made me laugh, and Doom joining the FF? Um yeah, like that doesn't have dumb idea written ALL over it! I honestly expected this issue to take the FF in a drastically new direction, and all it did was change their costumes. I can honestly say this issue left me pretty disappointed.

Score: 6 out of 10.It's mopin' time!!!


Deadpool #34:

Summary: Deadpool is still on a mission to kill the rogue moon, Id. You see, Ol' Pool was hired by some aliens to kill Id since Id snorted their homeworld... Hey, what do you want, it's a Deadpool comic! The angry aliens want to sacrifice a small farming world to distract Id, but Pool nixes that idea. Instead, Pool rescues the aliens on the farming world, taunts Id, and leads Id on a chase through the galaxy while promising the wary aliens that he had a great plan. This issue ends with Pool landing on a third alien planet to begin enacting his undoubtedly ingenious plan.

Thoughts: Yes, I know that was a very brief summary, but I have like a bazillion other comic books to get through this weekend, so a few are going to get the short end of the stick, this comic being one of them. I actually liked this comic a lot, it had that trademark Deadpool humor that all of us Poolaholics love. The only problem I had with it was Deadpool's “plan”... I haven't the foggiest notion WHAT DP was up to for most of this issue, but then again, it was Deadpool coming up with the plan, so maybe it was for the best that I had no clue what he was planning. Anyway, good, fun stuff here, so no real complaints!

Score: 8 out of 10.It's always a good idea to go with the plan from your brain.

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: 2/1/11

Before I get into the Quick Hits, I just wanted to say that there's a chance my normal New Comic Day post won't be up on Wednesday, since there looks to be a pretty good size winter storm heading into my neck of the woods. If my school happens to close, there's NO way I'll be heading to the comic book store. If I'm stuck going to school anyway, then I'll probably head to the comic book store, depending on the roads naturally. But rest easy X-Maniacs, I'll make sure to post a few reviews and should have the NCD post up for Thursday if worst comes to worst. But of course this is all dependent on the weather, and really, who knows what the weather will do between now and Wednesday. Okay, that wraps up the weather report, let's get to the meat of this post.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #19:

Summary: Hush and his mafia buddies “persuade” Dr. Death to help them in their bid for revenge against Bruce Wayne and Batman. Most of this comic centered around one of the members of Hush's mafia telling a story from his youth about the first time he met the Joker. Oh, and Bedbug was spying on Batman and Catwoman while they made out.

Thoughts: This comic was pretty much an extended Joker story, which I was okay with. Sure, I would have liked to have seen Hush take center stage(since this IS his storyline!), and possibly move his plan forward, but the Joker flashback story was good, old Joker-ific fun. As for the Bedbug scene... I've got nothin'.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Hey, it could have been worse, that could have been a crowbar.


Justice League of America #52:

Summary: Still trapped in a green forcefield and not doing very well against the awesome powers of the Omega Man, the JLA and the Crime Syndicate of America decide to put their differences aside and team-up to beat their mutual foe. However, the Omega Man kills Power Ring(the Crime Syndicate's version of Green Lantern)and basically mops the floor with the two teams. Ultraman(the CSA's version of Superman)decides to join with Omega, as does Supergirl, who is still acting kind of evil, leaving Batman(Dick Grayson)no choice but to quit the battle and bow before Omega Man.

Thoughts: First off, no Congorilla here!!! That's a great start! The story was good, although the ending was kind of a letdown... I mean really, like Bats would surrender THAT easily?! We all KNOW he must have something planned. Other then that, this was a pretty good action oriented story, probably my favorite issue of this series in quite some time.

Score: 7 out of 10.Get back to the Marvel Universe, Onslaught!!!


Justice League of America #53:

Summary: Unsurprisingly, the Crime Syndicate of America betrays the JLA to Omega Man, who never really trusted the JLA to begin with. Supergirl then double-crosses the Omega Man and the CSA, revealing she wasn't really evil. And then the JLA turn on the Omega Man and the CSA by revealing that the machine that was supposed to free the Omega Man from the forcefield surrounding Washington DC was actually going to send them to another dimension. With the Omega Man and CSA gone, *sigh* Congorilla and some other damn, dirty ape manage to break the forcefield, freeing the JLA.

Thoughts: Well this issue took a big step backwards! It was simply a bunch of characters predictably betraying each other, and then that damn, dirty ape saving the day. Hell, thy name is this comic book.

Score: 5 out of 10.Hey, it's Congorilla! That means an automatic deduction of 1/2 from the final score...


Batman and Robin #19:

Summary: Absence reveals that she didn't really cut up Bruce Wayne's former girlfriends and wasn't planning on harming Vicki Vale as Batman(Dick Grayson)and Robin confront her. However, they wind up getting gassed by Absence,who then put them in a hokey, 1970's style deathtrap. After toying with the heroes for a while, Absence tells the Dynamic Duo that she was never planning on harming them, and that her plan had been to simply distract them so some goons she had hired could kill the men who shot her, giving her that big hole in her head. With the men who ruined her life dead, she shoots herself in the head and falls out a window. However, upon arriving outside, the Dynamic Duo find no body, meaning Absence tricked them yet again.

Thoughts: I have to admit, I enjoyed this story way more than I expected to. Absence grew on me, and the swerve at the end, when she revealed that she only wanted to distract Bats and Robin was sheer genius. I honestly didn't see that coming. I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more of Absence in the future.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Nothing says Batman like a crazy deathtrap!


Detective Comics #873:

Summary: Having had his cover blown, Batman(Dick Grayson)barely manages to escape from the Dealer's demented auction house. After taking some time to recuperate, and with some top notch sleuthing from Oracle, Bats traces the Dealer down just as he is making his escape from a Gotham airfield. Bats catches the Dealer's plane and dumps most of the Dealer's macabre merchandise. The Dealer injects himself with a combination of the Man-Bat serum and some Venom and attacks Bats, but is beaten down. The Dealer does manage to toss a crate at Bats, which knocks him out of the plane just as the plane explodes. Later on, Bats searches the wreckage and naturally finds no bodies.

Thoughts: This was pretty much the embodiment of a perfectly acceptable comic book. It wasn't great, it wasn't awful, it just was. Will I remember this story a few days from now? Probably not, but it was an okay way to kill a few minutes.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.My thoughts exactly.


Deadpool #32:

Summary: Deadpool learns that he was being framed for killing a weapon expert and is attacked by an intergalactic bounty hunter named Macho Gomez. Pool manages to rid himself of Gomez and tracks down the weapon expert he was being accused of killing. The weapon expert gives Pool a sob story about why he framed him(something about the government and extraterrestrial technology)and begs him to kill Macho for the safety of his family. Pool agrees, and after some fighting manages to blow Macho up. From there, Deadpool steals Macho's flying car and heads into space to be a mercenary again.

Thoughts: While there were some funny moments here(I laughed when Deadpool thought to himself that this was only a one and done story), there really weren't enough funny parts here for me to really recommend this comic. It was okay, but where Daniel Way is involved, I tend to expect better than simply okay. I'm fine with Pool deciding to give up being a hero to become a merc again, and I'm also expecting good things as Pool travels through space.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.So are my reviews!


Avengers #9:

Summary: This issue shows us how the Hood escaped prison, as well as how he learned about the Infinity Gem Black Bolt had hid. The Illuminati also are forced to reveal their existence to the Avengers, which leaves Steve Rogers infuriated since he felt Iron Man had betrayed his trust(again). With the Hood already in possession of two Infinity gems, the heroes decide to try to gather the other four gems before the Hood could get them and become a god.

Thoughts: WAAAAAAY too much talking here, and not nearly enough doing. For some comics and writers that's fine, but when Brian Michael Bendis decides to do a story with no action and lots of dialogue, look out! Basically Steve Rogers and Iron Man argued while about 20 Avengers stood around talking at the same time... Here's hoping next issue gives us less random Avengers, LESS dialogue and more action!

Score: 6 out of 10.You can tell it's a Bendis comic by the fact that 76 different characters are talking on the same page at the same time!


Wolverine #5:

Summary: Still trapped in Hell, Wolverine meets up with his father, who tells Wolvie that he was proud of the way he had lived his life. This surprises Wolvie, but before he can really think about what his father was getting at, Sabretooth ends up with the sword which denoted him the new king of Hell. Wolvie attacks Tooth, beats him and them cuts him into pieces with the sword, becoming the king of Hell in the process. Wolvie's father tells Wolvie that they could rule Hell together, which causes Wolvie to throw the sword away, much to his father's rage. From there, Wolvie slashes his evil father in the face and along with Puck begins to make the long climb out of Hell. Back on Earth, Mystique, the two Ghost Riders and Daimon Hellstrom capture Possessed Wolverine and cast a spell on him, sending the demon that had possessed Wolvie's body back to Hell, while returning Wolvie's soul back to his body. Wolvie flips out a bit, and is confronted by the X-Men.

Thoughts: I was kind of disappointed by this one... I can't help but feel it could have/should have been better. I was really enjoying Possessed Wolvie's antics, so I'm sad to see him banished with so little fanfare. As for Wolvie's meeting with his father in Hell, it didn't really have much meaning to me because it's been like 5, 6 years since I've read Wolverine: Origin. So while I enjoyed most of Wolvie's time in Hell, his interactions with his father and Possessed Wolvie's defeat put a bit of a damper on this story for me.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.How many times has Wolvie decapitated Sabretooth now?!

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.

The Best of the Rest! December 1st edition.

Well the weather outside is starting to get frightful, but rest assured, my reviews are still delightful... Man, was that corny as hell or what? Anyway, it's time for another installment of the most popular blog feature in the great country of Japan, the Best of the Rest! And who am I you ask? Men call me X! Trust me, that'll make way more sense by the end of this post... Probably. I'll be knocking off 5 reviews in this post, three DCs and two Marvels. On top of that, the last “review” is probably the most outrageously offensive thing I have ever written... So on that dubious note, let's get this show on the road.

Aquaman is... I've run out of fish jokes...
I am rapidly racing towards the end of the 1990's Aquaman series(I have about 20 issues to go)and I've got to say, once Peter David jumped ship(hey, there's a water reference!)this comic went down like the Titanic(I did it again!!). Nothing against Erik Larsen, but he is NO Peter David. Sure, PAD did some weird things during his nearly 50 issue Aquaman run(like the bizarre alien invasion storyline), but I could always find a character or two that I'd connect with, be it Tempest, Dolphin, Vulko, or Aquaman's awesome son, Koryak. Once PAD left, we lose Koryak, gain Mera(yawn)and Aquaman decides to wear a fake hand and go with his retro, 1960's look. Ugh. I'm definitely looking forward to being done with this series, hopefully as soon as next week.

Titans Together or something like that...
So with the impending end of the Aquaman series, I've decided that the next full run of comics that I'll tackle will be the Titans series from the late 90's. I've been warned to stay away from this series from some of my fellow bloggers, but my sister told me to give the series a shot, since it was a quick read. So once I'm done with Aquaman, I'll be working my way through the Titans. For better or worse...

Okay, enough gibber-jabber, let's get this show on the road! The first review on tap for tonight is Black Widow #8. Last issue Widow and the reporter she was trying to rescue were confronted on a train by the Crimson Dynamo and Fantasma. Widow outsmarts and electrocutes the Dynamo, but has a tougher time with Fantasma. Luckily for Widow, her foe from the first issue of this storyline, Fatale, steps in and knocks out Fantasma. Widow, Fatale and the reporter head to a hotel and Fatale explains that she had been betrayed by the people who hired her to take out Widow, so Widow decides to team-up with her. The reporter finally gives up the location of his source, who was the person trying to frame/kill Widow, and Widow and Fatale hunt the source down, discovering an empty room, which promptly explodes. The reporter figures Widow had died, but she later texts him and lets him know she survived, before she sends some of her spy friends to take the reporter back home. Annnd that pretty much closes that. I really didn't like the way this story ended at all. Basically nothing happened, except that the reporter no longer believed Widow had killed his father. Three issues and several continents for that?? Score: 4 out of 10.

Let's get to the DC books with a quick peek at Titans #29. Last issue Deathstroke decided to piss me off by freeing the Mad Hatter from Arkham, and is in the process of freeing a second inmate, Allegra Garcia. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Batman is standing in between him and his escape. Naturally that leads to an extended fight between the two long time foes. Meanwhile, Deathstroke's team is battling a who's who of Gotham City nutjobs who escaped from their cells during Deathstroke's initial raid on Arkham. For some reason, all of the Arkham inmates seem to be packing their weapons(um, how?)making lots of trouble for the Titans. Deathstroke manages to get away from Bats by jeopardizing the lives of two Arkham guards who wandered into the fight, and with Bats distracted trying to save the guards, Deathstroke and Allegra make a break for it. This issue ends with Allegra tiring of Deathstroke and attacking him with some form of powers. This was actually a pretty good comic, with my only real complaint being the fact that all of the Arkham escapees had their weapons of choice with them. I mean, how the hell does THAT happen?! Scarecrow had a sack on his head and was blowing fear gas in people's faces, Zsasz had a knife, and Mr. Freeze had his frigging freeze gun! Now why would THAT be in Arkham with him?! Weird. Other than that, no real complaints here. The Batman/Deathstroke fight was well done, and as per my own sanity keeping exercise, I simply ignored everything Arsenal said and did. Score: 7 out of 10.

Sticking with DC, let's take a look at what used to be DC's premier super-team, the Justice League in Justice League of America #51. Batman, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Jade and Jesse Quick are trapped in the Hall of Justice with the Crime Syndicate and the immensely powerful Omega Man, who is SO powerful he speaks with an echo!!! Oooo, scary! Apparently the Omega Man is the being that has destroyed two other Earths, and wants to add the DCU to his resume. The Crime Syndicate try to avoid the Omega Man, while the JLA battle him to no avail. In the end, the Omega Man tries to fire a massive death beam into the air, but Jade uses her powers to halt the blast, creating an impregnable dome around all of Washington DC. Supergirl tries to take on the Omega Man, but using his ability to speak in echoes, he transforms her into EVIL Supergirl. How do I know she's EVIL Supergirl? Because she no longer has eyeballs and was wearing a black and silver costume. Meh, meh, and double meh. Supergirl “dying” and being reborn as EVIL Supergirl lacked any real impact since we all know she's not going to be staying that way since, you know, she has her own series! Now if Donna would have become EVIL Donna, maybe the impact would have been greater. Other then that, this issue STILL confused the hell out of me, and the Omega Man looked suspiciously like Onslaught. Whatever though, another lousy issue of a lousy series. Score: 4 out of 10.

Let's head back to Marvel and Secret Avengers #7 before I get to the main event of this post. This issue is STILL dealing with Shang-Chi, meaning that I was bored of it before I even got started... Shang gets captured by his father's ninja goons, but that's exactly what Steve Rogers wanted, since he had Ant-Man hiding in Shang's hair... Huh. Ant-Man springs Shang, and they return to Steve's base. Meanwhile, Valkyrie and the Price of Orphans(what kind of a codename is “The Prince of Orphans”?!)manage to capture a member of the Shadow Council and bring him into Steve for some fruitless interrogation. This issue ends with the leader of the Shadow Council, Director Thorndrake and Max Fury promising Shang-Chi's half dead father that they'd still capture Shang in order to complete the ritual that would return Papa Shang to life. How can they be so sure? Because they have some guy named John Steele working with them. This is another issue that had me saying, “meh” when I was done with it. I'm just not into Shang-Chi. Don't care about him, don't care about his stories, don't care about his father, I just don't care. I think this storyline wraps up next issue, and to that I say, the sooner the better! Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

And now it's time for Green Lantern #59... I'm going to brutally honest here, I hated this comic book passionately, and as such, this is going to be more of a rant than a review. Not only that, but this rant turned out to be uncharacteristically profane, so if you get easily offended, you should definitely skip this review. So there, you've been warned. If you read on and get pissed, don't complain to me about it. This issue starts with the Indigo Lanterns arriving on Earth and putting some guy on their team. From there, the two objects of every one of Geoff Johns' wet dreams, Hal Jordan and Barry Allan talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk some more. Barry is upset that Hal is working with Sinestro and Atrocitus instead of him, and then the two talk some more, because what this issue needed was more of two characters who were dead years ago talking. On Oa, the Guardians and Salaak talk about Hal Jordan(because we needed MORE talking!!!)and discuss how he doesn't follow orders. Really? What a shocker! Wow, that's NEVER been mentioned before!!! That Geoff Johns is a comic book GENIUS!!! Eventually the Indigo Lanterns arrive at Hal's location and Hal proceeds to talk to them too. Hey, why the hell not? Hal complains about Black Hand being on the Indigo Lanterns, which gives Black Hand the opportunity to, you guessed it, talk! That little robed figure arrives on the scene riding Parallax, which makes no sense, but who really cares about this shit making sense anymore? Parallax then possessed Barry Allen and this issue thankfully ends. After I finished reading this comic, I put it down and simply said three words, “Fuck this shit.” That pretty much sums up my feelings towards this series. I guess I'm happy for Geoff Johns, who can jerk off to his favorite characters to his heart's desire, but me? Count me out of the Johns wank-fest. I'm done with this series. And more importantly, I'm done with anything written by Geoff “1959” Johns. I'm tired of his incessant pandering to the fans of DC's Silver Age, I'm sick of seeing the dead Green Lantern and the dead Flash getting all of the play in the DCU, basically I'm tired of Geoff Johns. Let all of the little DC fanboys drool all over the garbage he's regurgitating from 50 years ago, I'm done with it all. Score: 0 out of 10.

The Random Scan of the Week!Best line EVER!!!!