Booster Gold #43 & Justice Society of America #49

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

Justice Society of America #49:

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

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

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


Booster Gold #43:

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

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

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

Quick Hits: 3/10/11

During my last Quick Hits post I was actually pretty pleased with everything I read. That was rare for me, since I usually have at least one bad comic per Quick Hits, so getting to read and enjoy 5 consecutive comic books was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, my lucky streak must have run out because I REALLY didn't enjoy ANY of the comics I reviewed for this here Quick Hits post... When you review 4 books and the best score you hand out is a 6, you know there's something wrong. So there, you've been warned, welcome to the land of misfit comic book reviews!!!

Justice Society of America #48:

Summary: We get started with Obsidian stupidly breaking into Scythe's cell to get retribution for Green Lantern(Alan Scott). Obsidian gets squashed(even though he has insane amounts of power, but whatever), and Scythe rushes outside to try to kill the JSA again. Flash(Jay Garrick) decides that with the JSA's ranks so thin, he'd have to deal with Scythe on his own. Even though Scythe has already proven he could take on the entire JSA for HOURS. With Jay out of the picture, Dr. Chaos attacks and beats up Wildcat and Dr. Midnite with absolute ease... Man, is Marc Guggenheim making the JSA look like a bunch of amateur losers or what? Oh, and on top of all this, Mr. Terrific has been getting progressively dumber, forgetting how to read by this issue... Yeah. Scythe winds up getting the upper hand on Jay(wow, who'd have guessed THAT would happen!?) while Dr. Chaos begins to blow up various things in Monument Point, and the JSA All-Stars FINALLY show up to lend the horrendously overmatched JSA a hand.

Thoughts: Thank god this storyline is ending next issue... I'm not really sure what Guggenheim's master plan for this series is, but if it was to make the JSA look like a bunch of worthless losers, well then, mission accomplished! I mean Wildcat and Dr. Midnite had their asses handed to them by some feeb named Dr. Chaos! A guy who hadn't exhibited any hand to hand fighting skills until this issue. And how did he beat them up? He handcuffed Wildcat and simply smashed Midnite... What a sad bunch of heroes... And the end didn't help matters either, since the All-Stars SHOULD have shown up like 5 issues ago when this storyline started! What the hell kept them away for so long?! Bad stuff here...

Score: 4 out of 10.*sigh* Is this storyline over yet?


Annihilators #1(of 4):

Summary: We get started with the Spaceknight, Ikon, beating down each individual member of the Annihilators as a way to prove to them that just because they had insane amounts of cosmic power they weren't necessarily a good team. She points out that if they would have cut loose with their powers they probably could have defeated her, but that they would have endangered or destroyed Knowhere(which is where they were based out of), which is why they needed a team member with a more limited power-set. After the Annihilator's cool off a bit, Cosmo tells them that before he had died, Star-Lord had been worried about a Dire Wraith invasion. Ikon gets annoyed to hear this, since her people, the Spaceknights, had taken care of the Dire Wraith menace by locking them in Limbo(or something like that) a while back. While this conversation is going on, the team is alerted that somebody was trying to tear a hole in reality to free the Wraiths. The Annihilators respond and run into a guy by the name of Dredd. Dredd is surrounded by an impenetrable force field, and before the Annihilators can figure out a way to stop him, he opens a hole for the Dire Wraiths to escape from.

Thoughts: You know, I REALLY wanted to like this mini-series... I mean, all things considered, I should LOVE this mini! It's written by two of my favorite writers(Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning), it has several characters I like(Gladiator, Silver Surfer, Ronan) and one character I love(Quasar). So yeah, this should have been a dream come true for me. Unfortunately, it was more akin to a nightmare! I hate the Spaceknights, and as such, I can't stand the Dire Wraiths. I wish they were still trapped in the 1980's, where they all belonged. I don't like Ikon at all, and the opening scenes of this comic, with Ikon beating up the Annihilators simply made no sense! Sure Gladiator or the Silver Surfer could destroy a planet if the mood so struck them, but are you seriously trying to tell me that they couldn't defeat Ikon because they were afraid to “cut loose”? Come on, I'm SURE they know their own strength, or they'd have killed EVERYBODY they ever battled! On the plus side, Quasar was written perfectly, as he showed all of the self-doubting that made him a favorite of mine. I'm definitely hoping for bigger and better things next issue, but with the story apparently revolving around the Spaceknights and the Dire Wraiths, I don't think I'll be getting my wish...

Score: 5 out of 10.Yeah sorry, but there's NO way a lone Spaceknight beats Gladiator. EVER!


Wolverine/Hercules: Myths, Monsters and Mutants #1(of 4):

Summary: We get started with Wolvie and Hercules sharing some war stories at a bar. Eventually Wolvie announces that he was done torturing Matsu'o Tsurayaba(the guy who fatally poisoned Wolvie's lady love, Mariko) and that he intended on killing Matsu'o that night. Oh, and Wolvie sent a letter to Matsu'o telling him such. Knowing the end was near, Matsu'o sends what few Hand ninjas he had left after Wolvie, and the ninjas are easily picked apart by Wolvie and Herc. While that's going on, some strange man with a box walks into Matsu'o's penthouse, killing Matsu'o's bodyguards as he went. Upon finally meeting Matsu'o, the strange man reveals that he was actually Achelous, an ancient enemy of Hercules. Achelous tells Matsu'o that people like Wolverine and the rest of the super-hero community had stolen the fame of the old myths, and as such he wanted Wolvie as dead as Matsu'o did. Matsu'o agrees to assist Achelous(really, what does he have to lose by this point?), and this issue ends with Achelous opening the box he was carrying to reveal a talking head... Okay then...

Thoughts: The stuff with Wolvie I was totally fine with. I know all about his hatred for Matsu'o and what happened with Mariko. It was the Hercules stuff that left me a bit confused. I'm sure I SHOULD recall Achelous and the head in the box from somewhere, but sadly, I'm drawing a blank. I keep thinking they appeared in a Hercules mini-series from a few years back, but like I said, nothing about those two is coming to mind... Oh well, I'm sure we'll discover more about them next issue. As for the comic itself, it was what you'd expect it to be. A wacky, fight-filled book with minimal story involved. Wolvie wants to kill Matsu'o. Matsu'o is going to hook up with some of Hercules' enemies. Hercules will then team up with Wolvie to deal with the villains. Simple. If I would have remembered more about Herc's two villains I probably would have enjoyed this one a bit more, but as it is I'll give it a score of...

Score: 6 out of 10.Hercules vs Ninjas. Advantage? Hercules!


Action Comics #898:

Summary: Larfleeze attacks Lex Luthor since he wanted to get his hands on the black/white spheres that Lex had been collecting. The two battle, and when Lex tires of the battle, he simply tosses Larfleeze into one of the white spheres, figuring that would rid him of that muppet-looking pest. It actually works, as Larfleeze winds up falling out of the sphere several miles away and declares that after being in the sphere, he didn't want it anymore. As for Lex, he heads off into space in search of the final few spheres and we discover that Lex's Lois-bot was actually a double agent for Brainiac.

Thoughts: This comic was all sorts of bad! First off, Larfleeze was in it. So right off the bat, there's a huge negative. The story itself just never grabbed me, nor could I make sense of it... Did Lex want the Orange Lantern power? How did Larfleeze find Lex? How did Larfleeze reemerge from the sphere? There may have been answers to these questions in this comic, but to be honest, I really didn't care. The only things that made this comic worth reading was the fact that no matter what, Paul Cornell writes a great Lex Luthor, and the fact that Brainiac had been manipulating the events around Lex through the Lois-bot. Other than that though? This was one comic I easily could have done without.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.If Larfleeze would have died here this comic would have gotten a perfect score...

Quick Hits: 2/2/11

Hey X-Maniacs, as promised, here's a bonus Quick Hits post. Be warned though, I go over 6 comics here, 4 DC books and 2 Marvel books, and the best score out of the bunch was a VERY mediocre 6 1/2. So yeah, not exactly the best bunch of books... But hey, good or bad, let's get on with it!

Action Comics #897:

Summary: Lex, Robot Lois and one of Lex's scientists head to Arkham since he's been getting readings that one of those black spheres was in the cell of none other then the Joker. Lex meets the Joker, who naturally plays mind games first, before revealing that he did indeed have one of those spheres. Joker tells Lex that he'd allow Lex to experiment on the sphere, provided Lex expanded its size so Joker could enter it. Lex does this and Joker nearly goes in, but is taken aback by the sphere, telling Lex that if he kept abusing the sphere there could be terrible consequences. By this point the sphere has turned white and Lex storms out, deciding he'd have that room locked down. With Lex gone, the Lois Robot throws the scientist into the sphere, where he appears to die. Lex rushes back in, and Robot Lois blames Joker, who doesn't deny it. We end with Larfleeze deciding he needed to hunt down Lex.

Thoughts: Well, I did enjoy Joker's interactions with Lex, as I expected. My problem with this comic was the fact that I just didn't understand what Joker and Lex were talking about... I mean it was fun, but I'd have enjoyed it SO much more had I understood what was going on. Oh, plus I deducted 1/2 from my final score because of the Larfleeze appearance. I REALLY hate that thing.

Score: 6 out of 10.You're a weird one, Joker...


Wonder Woman #606:

Summary: That centaur thing from last issue moves in for the kill on Wonder Woman, but WW is saved by an Amazon. The centaur kills the Amazon, which puts WW into a rage, leading to her killing the centaur. From there, WW heads to the house of her friend and discovers that her friend's son was abducted by a man-bull creature. A sign for the Morrigan was also left at the scene, telling WW and her Amazons who was responsible for the abduction. WW and crew head to a rundown temple where they are attacked by an army of reanimated corpses.

Thoughts: I just can't get into this story... I just can't. I've tried and tried, but I just don't like it. Sorry, I'm sure there are some people who are enjoying JMS's WW work, but I am definitely not one of them. The story is plodding, and I just want to know why WW has turned into what she is now. Nothing else about this story really matters.

Score: 5 out of 10.Wonder Woman: Teenage Amazon sure does have a temper!


Justice Society of America #47:

Summary: Green Lantern(Alan Scott)leaves his hospital room and heads to the emerald city on the moon, hoping to heal his broken neck. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to work. Dr. Fate has captured Thunder's soul, preventing it from passing on to the afterlife, with the hope that Dr. Midnite could fix her body so she could return to it. The rest of the team mill about trying to figure out who had killed the town's mayor and Thunder, and the man responsible, Dr. Chaos, calls Mr. Terrific and tells him that he'd help Terrific reverse the disease that was stealing Terrific's intelligence, provided Terrific freed Scythe, who was responsible for all of the devastation early on in this storyline. This issue ends with Flash(Jay Garrick), Dr. Midnite and Wildcat confronting Dr. Chaos, but learning that somebody had freed Scythe.

Thoughts: Kind of like the Wonder Woman comic, I've grown real tired of this storyline. The sooner it's over, the better. I don't like Scythe, or the whole, “super-terrorist” storyline, and I don't know WHERE Dr. Chaos even came from! So far Marc Guggenheim's JSA run has REALLY disappointed me.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.My "To do" list is nearly identical, except I have "Blackmail JT" at the bottom.


Green Arrow #8:

Summary: All sorts of people have headed to Starwood Forest to investigate it. From STAR Labs, to the JSA, to Lexcorp, to Poison Ivy. Each group of people want to see exactly what the forest is, and how it does the things it does. Meanwhile, in the forest, Green Arrow and Galahad run into Jason Blood, who reveals that he had managed to separate himself from Etrigan. Etrigan attacks the trio, but ends up getting bound by the trees in the forest. With Etrigan captured, Galahad hears some disturbance nearby and head off, finding a bunch of STAR Labs scientists studying the forest. Galahad attacks, but is confronted by Dr. Midnite and Mr. Terrific. They manage to drag Galahad out of the forest and he goes crazy, collapsing. By this time, GA arrives on the scene, scolds the JSA members and drags Galahad back into the forest. Blood decides that it wasn't right for him to separate from Etrigan, since Etrigan would have nobody keeping an eye on him and decides to try to re-bond with Etrigan. Etrigan doesn't like the idea of being stuck with Blood again, and this issue ends with the Phantom Stranger appearing before the two enemies.

Thoughts: Meh. I don't care about Galahad, GA, OR Starwood Forest. The best thing about this comic was the battle between Blood and Etrigan(who I've always been quite a fan of). Phantom Stranger? Once again, meh. This was yet another comic I just didn't seem able to get into.

Score: 5 out of 10.Um, isn't Etrigan supposed to rhyme?


Secret Avengers #9:

Summary: In order to rescue his lady love, Sharon Carter, Steve Rogers decides to meet with the man who kidnapped her, John Steele. Steele wants to exchange Carter for Shang-Chi, and Steve agrees, but naturally with a plan. Steve and Shang meet with Steele and a bunch of his Shadow Council goons, and the two sides trade, with Steve sending Shang over while Steel allows Sharon to head to Steve. With Sharon safe, the Secret Avengers burst out of a building and head towards the Council goons, while Steve attacks the much stronger Steele. Steele realizes that his numbers would eventually be overrun by the Avengers, so he reveals that he had rigged the entire building they were on top of to explode. With no choice, the Secret Avengers are forced to allow Steele to take Shang and escape. Shang winds up locked in a prison, where his father announces that he'd be absorbing Shang's lifeforce to extend his own unnatural life. This issue ends with one of the Shadow Council cannon fodder revealing that they were actually Moon Knight, who had snuck into the Council's base, giving Steve and the Secret Avengers an in.

Thoughts: This issue was okay, but I just don't like Shang-Chi... I've NEVER liked him, and I don't care about him OR his crazy father. I seem to be saying this a lot during post, but again, the sooner this storyline is over, the better!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.You know I'm going to post the Steve Rogers fight scene in this series every time!


Namor #6:

Summary: While studying the mystical amulet worn by Loa, some demons spring out and drag Namor away. Namor wakes up in a desert and is confronted by several horrible sights, including several scorpions with skull heads, and the decapitated heads of the soldiers he led on failed attacks on the surface world. After some wandering, Namor realizes that he had been dragged into Hell by those demons, who reveal that they were the spirits of several dead Atlantian kings. Back in Atlantis, Namor's subjects, as well as Emma Frost and Dr. Nemesis are trying to figure out what happened to Namor. This issue ends with Dr. Doom strolling in, announcing that he wanted to help his old ally Namor escape from the dark realm he had been sucked into.

Thoughts: I actually liked this comic a lot. The Namor in Hell portions were much better than the parts with that annoying Emma Frost and the equally annoying Dr. Nemesis. As for Loa, I don't care about her one way or the other. My biggest gripe with this issue was the ultra vain Dr. Doom walking into Namor's throne room with the top of his head exposed... Doom ALWAYS has his head covered... ALWAYS! I've read LOADS of Fantastic Four comics(as well as other series)with Doom, and he NEVER shows his deformed head/face. Only his robots can see that, never another living being. I get that Doom didn't want to wear his cape and cowl under water, but why wasn't he wearing a full metal mask? That one little thing made me deduct a 1/2 from the final score here, because it just seemed so wrong.

Score: 6 out of 10.Why is the top of Doom's head showing?!?!?

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.

Best of the Rest! January 15th edition.

It's time for the second Best of the Rest this week! You KNOW what that means... It means I'm getting tired of doing my normal long-winded reviews and want to take a slight break. It also means that these five comics I reviewed really didn't impress me enough to want to do full reviews for them. As a matter of fact, I'd go so far as to say that most of these books depressed me! For the record, all of these comics are from DC, so that might have a lot to do with my displeasure. Anyway, let's move forward.

Superman says: Gimme Money!
This Tuesday DC Universe Online was released on all of the major video game systems, and although I have yet to see any reviews for the game pop up yet, the owner of the comic book shop I frequent was playing it, and not only did it look good, but he was raving over it, and he's more of a Marvel guy than a DC fan. So I figured I'd look into the game and see what the pricing system looks like, since I know there is a monthly service fee associated with the game. First off, the main game itself. Since I have a PS3 and never really play anything on my computer, I'd be paying $60 right off the bat for the game itself. From there, there's a monthly service fee of $15(!), meaning if you were to buy the game new, and then pay for a year's worth of monthly fees, that comes to $240 for the year!!! That's enough for an entire video game system, or 4 new games! Now I'm a huge video game player, I spend plenty of time a day relaxing in front of my TV playing something, but I'm sorry DC, I will NEVER pay $240 for a game! A $5 service fee a month would be doable, because that would basically amount to another game over the course of the year, but for a company that loves to scream at every turn that they're keeping comics affordable for us, they sure don't feel the same way about video games! That's for sure.

Now, on to the reviews. First up is going to be Lex Luthor's Action Comics #896... I had to add the “Lex Luthor's” part of the title, because that is so awesome. We kick things off with a flashback of Lex meeting up with Scandal Savage of the Secret Six and somehow convincing her to aid him when he called her. As for what Lex had over Scandal, I don't think we ever find out. So when Scandal's father Vandal Savage attacks Lex, it should come as no surprise as to who he calls. The Secret Six attack Vandal and his goon squad and Catman manages to get his hands on the remote control that Vandal was threatening to blow Lex's building up with. With his remote gone, and his men attacking the Six, Vandal goes after Lex with an ax in an effort to just kill him. Lex begins to use the dreaded Silver Tongue of Flattery on Vandal, and in time, Vandal actually seems to be contemplating an alliance with Lex, however, this issue ends when Catman is shot in the arm and drops the remote on the ground, right on its button. As usual, I enjoyed reading this comic. It's a funny thing actually. Paul Cornell always seems to write a strong story, but that's all... I mean I've no real complaints here, except for the fact that in a few nights time, I doubt I'll even remember having read this comic. So like many issues of this series have been, this was a good, if forgettable comic. For a score, I'll go with a very solid 7 1/2 out of 10.

Next us we'll take a look at everyone's favorite comic book archer, Robin Hood in Green Arrow #7... Oh wait, I mean Oliver Queen... Imagine me mixing up Robin Hood and Oliver Queen! I mean it's not like they wear similar clothing, use the same weapons or BOTH live in a forest! Oh... Nevermind... Anyway, this issue gets underway with Ollie flashing back to the death of his parents during a loin attack when he was a child. Upon waking up, Ollie decides to take a stroll through Starwood Forest, which is NOTHING like Sherwood Forest... Nope, nothing at all... Anyway, Ollie runs into the ghost of his mother, and she tells him that he wasn't responsible for her death, since he was only a small boy when she died. Ollie still feels guilt over his inaction during her death, but manages to spring into action when a giant flaming lion approaches them. Ollie shoots some arrows at the fire lion, but alas, it wasn't really there. From there, Ollie's mother tells him to forgive himself, he seems ready to do so, and that about wraps this comic up. If ever there was a textbook definition for a “Perfectly Acceptable Comic Book,” it was this one. I mean it was a one issue story, there was some mild character development, and by the end, the main character was pretty much back where he started, physically none the worse for wear. Nothing special happened here, nothing blew me away, or anything like that, this was just a solid story. Nothing more, nothing less. And what kind of a score do we give a perfectly acceptable comic? Why a 7 out of 10, that's what!

And now we begin to head down into the doldrums... It's time to take a look at Justice Society of America #45, a comic I've been avoiding for about a month now. Back during WWII, Jay Garrick and Alan Scott came across some Nazi project where they were working on an infant to... I don't know, I'm no evil Nazi mad scientist. Do something really bad let's say. In a bizarre reversal of roles, Jay wants to kill the infant, while Alan disagrees. In the end the two men fight and Alan wins. Fast forward to the present and Jay is told by a US Senator that the being that attacked and devastated that town near Washington DC last issue was actually the infant from WWII, now calling himself Scythe. Feeling partially responsible for his inaction during WWII and for not killing Scythe in the womb(almost literally), Jay decides to leave the JSA to help the town rebuild. That was the main gist of this story, and to be quite honest with you, about as much time as I'm willing to spend on this issue. I don't like this storyline one bit, basically because I really don't like the fact that Scythe is being called a Super-Terrorist... When did super-villains become super-terrorists? If Scythe is a “super-terrorist” because he fought the JSA and wrecked some town, wouldn't the same be true of practically EVERY comic book super-villain? Besides that, I just can't seem to get into the storyline. The battle from last issue was just SO ridiculous that I've lost all interest in this storyline and can't wait for it to end. For a score, I'll go with a pretty lousy 3 out of 10.

So the last review gave a 3 out of 10, right? Well the only way to go from there is up, right? Let's see as we take a gander at Wonder Woman #605. Wonder Woman returns to her apartment and is greeted by her talking cat... *sigh* This is going to be one of THOSE issues, isn't it? The cat pesters WW, telling her she has flower arranging lessons with Anthea the following day(?!?), which WW whines about it, ultimately blasting some music until the cat leaves her alone. The talking cat and another Amazon who was living at WW's apartment discuss the finer points of football(I am NOT making this up!)while WW decides to sneak out to fly around town. WW heads to a pawn shop and tries to pawn an ancient Amazonian statue, but the pawn shop owner is only willing to give her $1,000. WW throws a tantrum and breaks things until he raises his price to $10,000... Wow... WW then takes the money to a woman and her son who escaped an abusive relationship and hands it over. The woman is thankful, and the woman's son shows WW a picture he drew of her, a picture which depicts classic Wonder Woman, not the current version. This sight makes WW feel faint, and she decides to leave. As she climbs onto the fire escape, she is met by an angry Amazon who tells her she can't just be wandering around town. As if to hammer that point home, WW is struck in the back by a spear and crashes to the ground in front of Cernunnos, a minion of the Morrigan, a group of women who don't like WW for some reason. Heh heh... And I thought JSA #45 was bad! This was... It was actually kind of hard to describe. I mean where do I start?! We had WW conversing with a talking cat, Amazons talking football, a random group of evil women, and WW basically forcing the owner of a pawn shop into giving her more money then he felt he should have to... For a comic book with 2 writers, 3 pencillers and 4 inkers you'd think things would have been better, but it sure as hell doesn't seem like it! I don't even want to say anything else about this comic. Let's just give the score, a 2 out of 10 and move on.

Man, that last review was a tough one to get through... Let's see if things get better with Batman #705. What am I saying, of course things will get better! How could this comic possibly be worse than a 2 out of 10?! We get started with Batman(Dick Grayson)and his ally Peacock battling against the Sensei and his throng of ninja assassins. The story here is the the Sensei had kidnapped Peacock's brother... For some reason. The two heroes fight for a while before they decide to run after the limo the Sensei had his men steal with Peacock's brother in it. By the time Bats and Peacock find the limo, it has been destroyed, leaving no clues to follow. From there, I-Chang arrives on the scene and regales us all with a story so boring and long that I literally find myself skipping tons of dialogue. Basically there is a Mask of the Beholder which is important for some reason. Maybe because it's evil. Or powerful. Let's say powerful... That makes the story sound more dire. So this Mask of the Beholder is really powerful and the Sensei has learned of it, and as such wants it. To this end, he kidnaps Peacock's brother because he can see glimpses of the future... I think. Back with the Sensei, he is beating the child in an attempt to force the boy into having a vision that would tell him where the Mask was located. While beating the boy, the Sensei finds a business card from Lucius Fox, and sends his goons after poor Lucius. Bats decides to leave I-Chang and Peacock alone to check up on Commissioner Gordon for some reason, and learns that Lucius had received a phone call from a man who died last issue... What?! Bats decides to check up on Lucius and discovers some people kidnapping Lucius and his family. Before he can step in to help though, he is blown out of a window by some bombs and this issue ends with the Riddler and his daughter Enigma standing over the fallen hero... Me and my big mouth... And I thought things couldn't get any worse after the last review! HA!!! There was absolutely NOTHING in this comic I can point at and say, “Well at least this was good.” This comic made NO sense whatsoever. It was just a horrible read. The story just doesn't make sense!!! What the HELL is I-Chang?! And why should I care about him?! It would have been nice if Tony Daniel filled us in on that! Man, Daniel may be a really good artist, but his writing runs on the various Bat-books he's done have just been terrible. I shudder at the thought of the next issue of this series arriving in the mail... I'm going to give this comic a 1/2 out of 10. Why a 1/2 and not just a zero or a 1? Well, because the art wasn't bad, but the story was about as bad as anything I've read in quite some time. What a mess.

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!

Hey X-Maniacs, it's X here with a rehash of an old idea. What am I talking about? Allow me to explain myself. I've done a lot of reviews lately, and I think I'm ahead of my New Comic Day review prediction of 12 new reviews this week. Since I'm ahead of the game, I figured I'd just clump a bunch of comics together in one blog post like I used to do. Thus ends the explanation of why this is a Best of the Rest post. As a bonus, I'm going to look back at all of the Green Lantern comics I've read recently, so this looks to be a jammed pack post. And that's pretty much what we have here. A couple of reviews that just didn't warrant their own blog post and some Green Lantern thoughts. Well, let's get this over with... How's that for enthusiasm?

Hal Jordan, Life's Ultimate Evil.
Before we get into the meat of this post, I just finished reading the very end of the Hal Jordan Green Lantern years and all of the Kyle Rayner portion of the Green Lantern series, running from Green Lantern #48-181. Upon finishing up ALL of those comics I came to a rather simple conclusion. Hal Jordan(and by association, GEOFF Johns)is the ultimate evil in DC comic books. Now granted, my opinion is biased by all of these Kyle stories I just read, but what was so bad about Kyle that warranted a return to the 1950's and Hal Jordan? Kyle was a unique character who had cut out his own niche in the DCU. He was sort of like a cosmic version of Spider-Man, with his GL ring and quips. He had a strong supporting cast, which included John Stewart, Donna Troy, Jade, Alan Scott as well as several other bit characters. And besides that, there seemed to be plenty of unexplored Kyle-related stories that could have been told. But no, what GEOOFY wants, GEOFFY gets, and so we get a return to the stale Hal Jordan who's only been doing the Green Lantern thing since 1959... Thank god GEOFF and the DC braintrust don't control the world, because if they did we'd still be living in castles, riding horses and dealing with the occasional potato famine... So that's my take on the Rayner years/mini DC rant of the day. Now let's get to the reviews.

First up is Secret Avengers #6. Some ninjas attack Shang-Chi, leading him to figure his father had come back to life to torment him. It turns out that Shang is half right, as his father has been semi-resurrected(semi-resurrected?)by the Shadow Council. Since the return of Shang's father is a bad thing(apparently)Steve Rogers and the Secret Avengers get involved with halting the full return of Shang's daddy. For me there were a few problems here. The first was Shang-Chi. The second was Shang's father and the third was... you guessed it, Shang-Chi! To say that I don't care about Shang is an understatement. I'm not sure what he adds to a comic book, nor am I sure why Ed Brubaker wants to use him in this series. Here's hoping this storyline doesn't lead to Shang joining the Secret Avengers. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Staying with Marvel it's time to take a look at Daredevil #511, which I just found after cleaning off my coffee table. After reading it I kind of wish I'd have left it on my coffee table... The cops invade Hell's Kitchen, the citizens attack the cops and Foggy Nelson climbs up the Shadowland castle like Spider-Man to find and talk to Daredevil. Yeah, that's right, Foggy Nelson made like Spidey here. In the end Foggy got his wish and found Daredevil, but probably wishes he didn't, since Daredevil decided that Foggy had to die. Usually after I finish off a comic I can sum up what I read in one word. I'll take that one word and expand on it, which will give me my reviews. After reading this comic, the word that came to mind? Boring... This comic just seemed to take forever to get through. It focused on cops, Dakota North and Foggy Nelson, with Daredevil making a brief appearance only at the very end. Usually I enjoy reading about Foggy and Dakota, but this time? Not so much... Score: 6 out of 10.

Moving over to DC, here's Justice League of America #50. Wow, has it really been 50 issues since Brad Meltzer started this series? Things have sure gone downhill from there, haven't they? The antagonists here are the Crime Syndicate of Amerika, who are trying to conquer the mainstream DCU since their earth was being destroyed thanks to the machinations of Alexander Luthor. Who's Alexander Luthor? He's the Luthor from Crisis on Infinite Earths/Infinite Crisis and he's dead. In order to save their world, the Crime Syndicate need the body of Alexander and the help of some goof named Dr. Impossible. To this end the Syndicate attack the JLA and manage to acquire the body of Alexander, presenting it to Impossible, who proceeds to betray his Crime Syndicate partners and somehow grants himself massive powers. What do I have to say about this issue? What witty or urbane remarks do I have to say? What's my take on this issue? In a word, I'd call this issue confusing. The Crime Syndicate was vaguely familiar to me, as was Alexander Luthor, but I had NO idea who this Dr. Impossible was. An explanation as to who he is would have been nice. All that's really left to say is this: I miss Brad Meltzer... Score: 6 out of 10.

Sticking with DC(and rapidly going downhill), let's take a peek at Justice Society of America #44. And when I say a peek I mean a quick peek, because I hated this issue. A super-powered terrorist breaks free of a CIA base in Afghanistan and attacks a city near Washington DC. The Justice Society decides to apprehend said terrorist, but are ill-prepared for the terrorists powers and Green Lantern(Alan Scott)winds up getting his neck broken. The remaining members of the JSA then battle the terrorist for seven and a half hours before Lightning(you know, the girl who never does anything)ends up defeating the terrorist... Yeah, this was bad. Really bad. There was SO much wrong with this storyline... First up is the terrorist, who was a prisoner of the CIA for 4 years and yet was able to walk through the JSA like they weren't even there. So the CIA could hold this guy, but the JSA was helpless before him? Then there was the battle itself... The battle waged on for an almost comical 7 1/2 hours and not ONE non-JSA DC hero bothered to head over to the battle to lend a hand?! REALLY?!?! What, was Superman(or the other hundred or so DC heroes)too busy to swing by to lend a hand? And then Lightning, whose JSA highlight reel would include her standing around doing nothing or standing around not saying anything, manages to defeat the villain by blasting him... Um, why didn't she just do that 7 1/2 hours earlier?! So this is the beginning of the Marc Guggenheim era of this series... Ugh. Score: 3 out of 10.

Now we move back to the Marvel U and check out Uncanny X-Men #526-529. Why 4 comics at once? Because I can't stand the main X-titles right now and just want to be done talking about them... Hey, at least I'm honest. The main story of these comics dealt with Hope collecting newly powered mutants for her new series(which coincidentally dropped last week). Hope(along with a few random X-Men)track down 4 new mutants in various parts of the world. None of the new mutants really left a mark on me, by and large they seemed like a bland bunch. Besides the stuff with Hope, these comics also revolved around Emma Frost and her decision to secretly keep the comatose Sebastian Shaw captive. Shadowcat(who's living in a tube...)learns that Shaw is being held after reading Emma's mind(yeah...)and that causes Emma to decide to take Shaw somewhere else. The ONLY good thing about these comics was the back-up story in Uncanny #526, which was written by Allan Heinberg and led into Avengers: Children's Crusade #1. It dealt with Magneto learning that Wiccan and Speed could possibly be his grandchildren, and his reaction to this news. For that back-up story alone I'll give these comics a combined score of a: 4 out of 10.

One more and we're done... The last comic I'll be checking out is the Superman: Earth One hardcover. This hardcover(comic? graphic novel?)re-imagines the origin of Clark Kent if it took place in modern times(and was written by J. Michael Straczynski). Some differences between this Supes story and the regular one include; Pa being dead very early on, Clark trying out for several high paying jobs upon arriving in Metropolis(including scientist and football player), and some crazed Kryptonian hunting alien attacking the Earth to eliminate Clark. It was that last point that kind of soured me on this story. We learn that Krypton was battling a nearby planet and the inhabitants of that other planet managed to destroy Krypton. They learned that the Kryptonians sent away a single craft(the one containing baby Supes)and send one of their own hunters out to eliminate the lone Kryptonian. So basically, this alien attacks the Earth, destroys tons of property and kills several people all because he's trying to find and kill Clark. This means that Clark only becomes Superman to save his own skin, not really save the lives of others... It made Clark's story and decision to become Superman seem somewhat less heroic. Sure he saved others when he defeated the alien, but the only reason the alien attacked was because of him. Other than that, I really enjoyed this story. The art was wonderful, and the non-alien portions of this story were really well done. If not for the fact that the alien basically forced Clark to become a hero, I'd have rated this comic much higher... Score: 7 out of 10.

Justice Society of America #43

Overall: This comic is an epilogue issue for the just completed “The Dark Things” JSA/JLA x-over. I kind of wish that was all I had to say about this one, but no, I'll try to give some sort of review here. For the most part, Green Lantern(Alan Scott)is hanging out in the green city of magic the Starheart created up on the moon. Obsidian is also there, complaining about the fact that he can't be around his sister(the recently resurrected Jade)due to the fact that they'd wind up combining into an evil “hybrid male/female creature”(Alan's words, not mine!). Naturally Obsidian attacks Alan briefly, but Alan manages to reason with Obsidian, explaining to him all of the various bad things that would happen if Obsidian and Jade combined. Vampires would take over the world, Lex Luthor would accidentally destroy the Earth, the Earth would explode, etc. In other words, it wouldn't be good. Alan then gives his son a pep talk and this issue abruptly ends.

You know, there was a time when I'd easily point to James Robinson(who wrote this)and say, “You KNOW you'll be getting a quality read when you pick up a comic with his name on it.” Now? I don't think that holds up anymore. He's not near the writer he was during his amazing Starman run. First there's the despicable Cry for Justice mini-series which culminated with the death of little Lian Harper, then there was his lackluster JLA run, and just recently there was the wholly forgettable Dark Things x-over. I'll be honest, he's pretty much lost all of the good will he's built up with me from that Starman run. I kept hoping that his recent work was the aberration, and that the real James Robinson would emerge, but maybe Starman was the aberration and this IS the real James Robinson...

Score: 6 out of 10.Hey look, Obsidian is acting crazy! Again...

Justice Society of America #39

Justice Society of America #39: Writer: Bill Willingham. Pencils: Jesus Merino.
Last Issue: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Review: We're still trapped in the future where the Forth Reich has taken over all of America and most of the world. Mr. Terrific and his band of old heroes decide that tonight is the night, and the launch a final, desperate gambit to reach the Darkness Engine, which is the machine that allows the Nazis to shut down the powers of all of the super-heroes they had collected in their concentration camps. The heroes launch their attack, and are pretty much crushed by the Nazis, although that was part of Mr. Terrific's plan. While the Nazis were distracted by what they believed was a simple jail break, Terrific and several other heroes begin to make their way towards the building housing the Darkness Engine. Eventually Mr. Terrific and his remaining crew members(Tim Drake and Stephanie Brown)make it to the Darkness Engine tower, and after an assist from Superman(who had stolen a powerful Nazi war machine), Mr. Terrific gets into the room housing the Darkness Engine. Terrific manages to send a message back in time to his younger self warning of what the Nazis would end up accomplishing, hoping his younger self would get the message and know what to do to stop the Nazi's ultimate victory. Unfortunately for Terrific, it appears that the moment his message reaches his younger self, he was dead after the attack of Kid Karnevil! Whoops!!!

What I Thought: What can I say, this storyline was been strong from the beginning and it continues to be strong. I enjoyed the assault on the Nazi forces and the way the odds seemed SO stacked against heroes, and yet they continued to battle forward. The swerve at the end was pretty good, and I'll be interested to see how Bill works around this latest problem the JSA is going to end up facing. We all know in the end the Nazi invasion will be repelled, but now the question is, how?

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.You've got Deathstroke killing Nazis with a makeshift sword... What's not to like?

The Best of the Rest!!! May 15th edition.

With the overwhelming success that is Flashback Friday(OK, “overwhelming” is probably a bit of a stretch, but it's my blog so humor me!), I've decided to bring back the feature that nobody has been clamoring for(well, except for JT)the Best of the Rest! Now I'm sure there are a few of you out there who are wondering, “Why gosh Jethro, what is this here Best of the Rest nonsense all about?” This “nonsense”, as you so astutely put it, is where I(and I'm quoting myself from several months back here), “give my uninformed and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators”. In layman's terms, I just do a bunch of hastily put together reviews, slap 'em into one post and call it a feature... It's my regular reviews, only worse! Expect lots of sarcasm. Horrible, horrible sarcasm... Well with an intro like that, who WOULDN'T want to start reading???

Green Lantern Corps #47: This issue pretty much wrapped up the Blackest Night portion of this series and put a pretty little bow on top. Basically, the GL's go about fixing up Oa, and we get to look in at a few of the characters who have been starring in this series. Since I have a very strong pro-Earth bias going tonight(don't ask... Trust me on that!), I'm only going to look into the two Earth-born Green Lanterns. Kyle Rayner manages to convince the Guardians of the Universe that they should repeal their ban on GL's having romantic relationships with each other, basically so he could get some of Sinestro's daughter in public. Hey, why not? Oh, and Guy Gardner's bar collapsed during the Black Lantern invasion, which proves definitively that zombies are real jackasses. And if that offends any zombies who may be reading this, TOUGH! And yeah, that's pretty much that. Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah that's right, I didn't even mention this scene in my "review", but I decided to post it anyway... Go figure.

Justice Society of America #38: FYI(that's “for your information”, for your information), this entire comic takes place in the suck-tacular future where the Nazis have managed to conquer the United States, which probably surprised even the Nazis themselves... And if that offends any Nazis, TOUGH! After recapping how the Nazis won(hmm, I guess that means this comic didn't actually take place solely in the future...), we discover that the Fuhrer(that's Nazi-speak for leader I guess)is going to be visiting the prison camp where all of the de-powered ex-superheroes were living. In order to impress the Fuhrer, the top brass at the camp decide to execute a high profile prisoner, so they choose Batman(as well as the Joker, who doesn't want to live in a world with out Bats). The Fuhrer arrives and we learn that he is the all grown up All-American Kid/Kid Karnevil/that evil blond kid from Salvation Run. Bats and Joker get executed firing squad style, and the grown up(and still ultra annoying)Jamie Reyes decides to attack Mr. Terrific, who was collaborating with the Nazis. Don't worry, this was all a plan to get the Nazis to trust Terrific even more then they already do, he wouldn't REALLY collaborate with Nazis! So the Nazis shoot Jamie in the head for his lack of restraint, and take Terrific to the infirmary to get patched up. And that's literally how this one ends. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Gute Nacht Mistah J!!!

Action Comics #888: The evil Kryptonian, Jax-Ur(who is the host for evil Kryptonian god Vohc the Breaker)has managed to trap Chris Kent in the Phantom Zone, while Vohc's creation(a giant-sized version of the Kryptonian god Rao)destroys large portions of Pakistan. Flamebird tries to defeat fake Rao, but can't, so the Justice Society of America(and I guess Pakistan)step up to the plate to give her an assist. Mr. Terrific wins the award for the most obvious observation, when he announces that it looks like Rao has been growing every time he is being struck... Gee, thanks Captain Obvious... Terrific then spouts off a bunch of sci-fi mumbo-jumbo, that basically means that if Rao continues to expand, he'll become a giant black hole and destroy the Earth(much like my blog). So to combat this dread news, the JSA continues to attack Rao, and they are soon joined by Wonder Woman(and an ax!). WW(and the ax!)smacks Rao a few times and Green Lantern(Alan Scott)puts a big force field around Rao's head, which causes Rao to collapse. Well THAT was easy! Almost too easy... Hmm... The heroes all celebrate and congratulate each other, which allows Rao the opportunity to get back up again and continue his parade through Pakistan. By this time, the governments of Pakistan and India have had enough of Rao and his crap, and decide to launch some nuclear weapons at the giant Kryptonian god, which seems a BIT drastic to me, but what do I know? Before I get back to that cheerful little scene, I should probably go back to Chris and the Phantom Zone. Chris wanders around the Phantom Zone and winds up finding Nightwing(no not Dick Grayson, although that would have blown my mind!), and the two decide to bond(or whatever it is you do when you meet an ancient Kryptonian god)in order to halt the horrifyingly deadly march of Rao the unstoppable!!! Nightwing hops out of the Phantom Zone(not literally I hope)and disarms all of the nukes, ending this issue. Score: 6 out of 10.Hey look, it's Wonder Woman... And an AX!!!

Daredevil #506: Wow, it seems like AGES since I last read a DD comic... That's not a part of the review or anything, just a random observation... DD(who is the leader of the Hand)helps one of the Hand's bigwigs fight off an assassination attempt. The bigwig(whose name is Bakuto by the way)figures that DD was behind the attack(because they butted heads last issue), and storms away. DD mopes about this turn of events to his friend White Tiger, who acts weird... Foreshadowing much? Later on, DD calls a Hand meeting and Bakuto accuses him of shenanigans, which DD flatly denies, which causes Bakuto to storm away again, because that's what he does, much like how I tend to over use commas(and parentheses!)... Wow, that was the best run-on sentence EVER! After the meeting, DD falls asleep and is visited by Elektra in a dream, who proceeds to cut something out of him. DD wakes up and realizes that he was bleeding... Exactly where Elektra cut him! Ooo, creepy!!! We conclude this lovely trip to Japan with White Tiger revealing that she was actually in cahoots with DD's rivals for the leadership of the Hand! How UN-surprising! . Score: 7 out of 10.Gah, that's one UGLY ninja!

Mighty Avengers #36: This is the very last issue of this series, so I think a moment of silence is in order......... OK, that's long enough. Pym(taking a page out of Mr. Terrific's playbook)explains in sci-fi mumbo-jumbo that he's been attempting to revive his ex-wife/punching bag the Wasp, and that he's been using Jocasta to help with that feat. Jocasta, now realizing why Pym had been so nice to her, smacks him and calls him a fleshbag, which is my FAVORITE(or FAVOURITE for my non-American friends)robot to human insult. While Jocasta vents at Pym, Ultron and his ten billion brides(that's right, TEN BILLION)storm into the room and start tearing up the joint, Ultron style! Pym and his associates(Jocasta, a guy in a black mask named Ace, and a chick with an eye-patch named One-Eyed Jacquie)run away from Ultron while Pym tries to formulate a plan to defeat his angry robotic offspring. Ultron says nuts to that and flies in front of Pym, telling his “father” that he knows what Pym was up to, and reconfigures the Wasp's brainwave patterns so that she only obeys Ultron. Ultron gloats, figuring he's finally defeated Pym, but Pym reveals that he still has the only device that can free Ultron from Infinite Avengers Mansion, the Dimensional Inducer, which is trapped inside of Jocasta. Pym then calls Ultron a coward(them's fightin' words!), which causes Ultron and his ten billion brides to attack Pym. Pym grows in size to deal with the attack, while drawing Ultron's attention away from his allies. Finally away from Ultron, Jocasta manages to free her ten billion clone bodies from Ultron's control, and Pym flies away from Ultron to meet up with Jocasta. Ultron arrives and tells Pym that even without his ten billion brides he can STILL whoop Pym, so Jocasta offers to marry Ultron to halt his attack... Really?!? Ultron agrees, and then Pym marries the two robots... Yes, really! Ultron goes through Jocasta's files and realizes that the Dimensional Inducer was back in Infinite Avengers Mansion, so Ultron decides that he'll be using that to run rampant through the cosmos. Pym says, nuh-uh, and teleports every single Avenger ever to his side to deal with Ultron once and for all. Ultron(realizing that those were PRETTY bad odds)backs down and agrees to leave with Jocasta, heading to a completely secluded planet that was totally devoid of life. After Ultron leaves, we discover that the Avengers were only holograms, and that Jocasta could still project her consciousness to the Mansion, which means that everything that had happened was all for nothing... Hmph... This issue ends with Pym joining his Mighty Avengers at Asgard for the final battle against the Sentry. Jeez, that reviews was WAY longer then I would have liked... I'll have to short-change the next one now! Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.And I must be mad for reading this!

Action Comics #889: Hey look, it's another issue of Action Comics! Giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao begins the long and arduous process of turning into a black hole(well, I think turning into a black hole WOULD be a long and arduous process!), while Nightwing walks around saving those losers from the JSA from being crushed by Rao. I kid, I like the JSA! There not losers... Most of the time... Dr. Fate shows up(gee, thanks for FINALLY showing up Doc...)and along with Nightwing, Flamebird and Wonder Woman(who has pretty much stood around and done nothing)attack Vohc the Breaker who was responsible for giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao's rampage(but then you all ready knew that from reading about AC #888 earlier, didn't you?), and Nightwing and Flamebird force Vohc into the mini black hole that was opening up inside of Rao. The other heroes don't follow the Kryptonians because... Well, I'm not entirely sure why not, but they don't, which leaves us with Nightwing and Flamebird against Vohc inside of giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao. Unsurprisingly, the two heroes vanquish Vohc, which is a classier way of saying they beat him like a rented mule. With Vohc done for, Nightwing banishes him to the destroyed Phantom Zone, allowing Vohc to build stuff in that secluded space... Aww, how nice of him! With Vohc gone, giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god Rao breaks into little pieces, which causes Wonder Woman to say, “Great Hera.”. I agree WW, “Great Hera” indeed! Nightwing and Flamebird emerge from the shadows and make out in front of everybody(umm, OK...)before flying off into the sunset together. Well, not literally, but I think you get my point. This issue ends with a bunch of scientists(led by that sneaky Lex Luthor)cleaning up the mess that was Rao, while Luthor almost definitely thinks of all sorts of nefarious uses for a broken giant, evil, fake Kryptonian god. Score: 7 out of 10.Sorry, I'm all out of quips. You'll have to come up with your own.

Annnd, that's it. I'm done and not a moment too soon I'd say. Feel free to leave your credit card numbers and/or false praise in the comment section of this post, and last but CERTAINLY not least, Long Live The Legion!!!