Teen Titans #95 & Outsiders #39

Two DC comics that have been under performing big-time lately have been Teen Titans and Outsiders. Luckily the Outsiders is being canceled, while Teen Titans is still safe... For now. This is the penultimate issue of the Outsiders before it's gone, while I'm hoping this is the penultimate issue of the current Teen Titans storyline...

Teen Titans #95:

Summary: Kid Flash manages to find his captured teammates and instead of returning to the rest of the team with the news of their whereabouts, he decides to try to spring them himself. That's a bad move, as Rankor, the bad guy/god of this storyline manages to capture Bart as well. From there, Fake-Ravager turns on Superboy and attacks him along with another demon. Beast Boy, Solstice and Raven try to assist, but are all defeated. The two demons leave with Raven and Superboy, leaving Solstice and Beast Boy free, to ultimately foil Rankor's plans in some future issue... *sigh* The demons take SB and Raven to Rankor, and he puts them in his chair, and then makes his chair into a giant... um, stone chair of DEATH, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Please let this storyline end... Please let this storyline end... Please let this storyline end... Ugh. Hopefully my pleas will be heard and this storyline will END!!! It's now getting alarmingly bad. After reading this one, I want Solstice(and this storyline!) to go far, far away, never to bother me again.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Bart vs a horde of flying bugs?


Outsiders #39:

Summary: While Geo-Force deals with the invaders who attacked Markovia, his Outsiders battle Black Lighting's Outsiders to a standstill. Some guy named the Herald(who is after Looker for some reason) appears on the scene and starts to blow a horn, but Metamorpho breaks the horn... Okay. From there we see Batman(which one, I have NO idea) flying towards Markovia. Amanda Waller contacts Bats via his radio and tells him NOT to enter Markovia, but Bats disregards her and continues on his way. Some big guy named Veritas appears before Geo-Force and tells him he caused all of the destruction to Markovia, and THEN asks Geo-Force to join his Old World Order... Geo-Force obviously turns this nimrod down, and is attacked by his one time wife, Geode. Geo-Force then proceeds to become a giant rock monster(yes really) and takes care of Geode, after which time he creates an earthquake that causes large crevices to form at Markovia's borders, effectively keeping everybody out... But wait! That's what Veritas wanted! Oh, and this issue ends with Waller deciding to nuke the whole damned country of Markovia to end this crap.

Thoughts: Why couldn't THIS be the last issue of this series... I can now say with confidence that you can add, “Writing a comic book story.” to the list of MANY things Dan Didio can't do. In plain English, this sucked. And no, I'm not looking forward to the next(and final) issue of this series. Here's hoping Waller DOES nuke Markovia and puts everybody in this one out of their misery... The “Old World Order...” Ugh.

Score: 3 out of 10.So Geo-Force is a giant rock monster now... Okay... I guess...

Outsiders #38 & Weird Worlds #4

Two DC comics to sludge through here. Seeing as that these two comics are among DC's lower selling titles, the reviews are a bit on the brief side, because let's face it, nobody cares about them anyway!

Outsiders #38:

Summary: Markovia is under siege by several of its neighboring countries as well as a few scattered super-powered mercenaries. Oh yeah, a group of Outsiders led by Black Lightning are there as well thanks to Amanda Waller, with orders to kill Geo-Force(I think...). While the streets of the country are full of chaos, Geo-Force simply watches from his castle while the Olympian practically begs Geo-Force to get out there and defend his people. However, Geo-Force is having a Hamlet moment, and instead stands there all broody and melancholy. Eventually the Black Lightning Outsides breech Geo-Force's castle and are met by Katana and the Olympian. As for Geo-Force, he manages to get out of his funk and heads out into the streets to put down the invaders. In the end, some weird guys who I don't know stand around and talk about how the old world order is nearly upon them... Oooookay then...

Thoughts: I was thoroughly enjoying this one right up until that bizarre ending. I mean there really wasn't much of a story here, Waller's Outsiders were fighting mercs, and the Outsiders who were still loyal to Geo-Force, while Geo-Force literally watched his country burn. Simple. And for some titles, simple is good. This series doesn't have much longer to go before cancellation(maybe one more issue?), but it's good to see that it's going to go out with a bang instead of a whimper.

Score: 7 out of 10.Geo-Force am sad!


Weird Worlds #4(of 6):

Summary: Ugh, do I HAVE to do this... *sigh* I might as well get this over with as quickly as possible... Three stories here, with Lobo starring in the first. After escaping from some planet last issue, Lobo decides to go back to collect his bounty, even though he killed the guy who originally hired him... That's some strange logic there... Lobo and his former bounty/current driver, S'Glayne try to hitch a ride underneath a larger spacecraft to sneak back on to the planet. However, Lobo's ship is attacked by organic parasites whose job it is to keep intruders off the larger ship. Lobo heads out to attack, but is overwhelmed, and we find out that S'Glayne was apparently a pumped up version of the parasites. The Garbageman story featured Garbageman fighting and defeating a werewolf, while the Tanga story has her drunkenly defeating a giant monster and earning the gratitude of an entire planet...

Thoughts: GAH! What happened here?! I mean usually at least one of these stories would be at least decent(usually the Garbageman story), but this month? No deal. All of the stories just didn't LEAD to anything. I mean last issue Lobo left the planet, this issue he inexplicably decides to head back to collect a bounty from a dead man, Garbageman fights a werewolf(for what reason I have NO idea), and Tanga was still drunk... Nothing really exciting happened in any of the three stories, so I can't really give this comic a score any higher than a...

Score: 4 out of 10.I also hoped it wouldn't come to this...

Quick Hits: 3/7/11

Hey X-Maniacs, I really don't have much to say, as I've just been outside shoveling snow all morning. We got about 21 inches of the white stuff and I was out there in it for a good 3 hours, so yeah, I am wiped out! On the plus side, my county is under a state of emergency, meaning now school today! So if I'm kind of slow getting back to any comments you guys know why. Good thing I typed these reviews up yesterday!

Outsiders #36:

Summary: Black Lightning brings his renegade Outsiders team to visit his daughter, Thunder, since he wanted to check in with her after being absent for so long. While talking to Thunder and her girlfriend, Grace, Black Lightning's other daughter, Lightning(get it? Thunder &Lightning! How clever.......) brings several of her JSA teammates over to arrest her fugitive father. While that battle is raging on, Geo-Force thinks he is seeing the spirit(ghost? dream?) of his sister, who tells him to stop trusting everybody and to kill his enemies. Back to the battle, Black Lightning ends up surrendering to the JSA, since he didn't want to see either of his daughters harmed. Amanda Waller shows up and offers Black Lightning a way to avoid being sent to prison for betraying the US when he sided with Geo-Force and Markovia, head into Markovia and take down Geo-Force and his army. Black Lightning happily(??) agrees.

Thoughts: Meh. There wasn't really anything wrong with this comic(for a change) but with that said, especially in light of the fact that this series is being canceled soon, I just couldn't work up any interest in it... I mean it was perfectly acceptable and all, but sadly for this series, it may just be too little too late for me. I'll stick it out until the end, but my interest here is really, really low.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That is one suck-tacular team...


Secret Avengers #10:

Summary: Shang-Chi's evil father is just about ready to possess Shang, when Steve Rogers and his Secret Avengers crash the party. The Shadow Council(who were hoping that assisting Shang's father would help them move their evil empire into China) immediately jump into the fray, hoping that they could distract the Secret Avengers long enough for Shang's father to complete the ceremony. However, Steve came prepared and enlisted the help of the Prince of Orphans, who takes Shang's father and the Council completely by surprise. Unable to complete the magical ritual, Shang's father disintegrates, and the Shadow Council attempts to escape. While the Secret Avengers manage to capture Shadow Council agent(and Steve's former WWII ally) John Steele, Max Fury and the Shadow Council's enigmatic leader manage to escape. This issue ends a few days later with Steve heading down to visit Steele to try to figure out what turned him bad.

Thoughts: First off, I have to admit that I'm quite pleased to see this story come to an end. To say that I could care less about Shang-Chi and his evil father is an understatement. I enjoyed this issue more than the last four parts of this storyline, maybe because I knew this was the final part, or maybe because this was pretty much an all action issue. Either way, this was a pretty good comic, and I'll be looking forward to learning more about the mystery of John Steele.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Women... Always stabbing people...


Secret Six #31:

Summary: Scandal Savage's current girlfriend is kidnapped by her ex-boyfriend, just as Scandal is having a nightmare about her former(and dead) girlfriend, Knockout. Scandal wakes up and remembers that she had acquired a “Get out of Hell free” card WAY back around the beginning of this series(sheesh, what a thing to forget about!) and decides she'd use it to free Knockout from Hell. However, upon looking in her floor safe, she sees that the card had been stolen, and realizes that the only person on the Six with the skill to have broken into her floor safe was Ragdoll. Scandal attacks Ragdoll in his bedroom, and the two battle while the rest of the Six watch dumbfounded. Eventually Scandal impales Ragdoll with her wrist blades, which leads to Ragdoll using the “Get out of Hell free” card himself and vanishing. Scandal is incensed and decides that she was going to go to Hell to retrieve the card before Ragdoll could use it. Black Alice tells the team where a porthole to Hell was located and the team head down to the underworld, being met by Ragdoll and a small army of demons.

Thoughts: Eh. There are two major problems with this series for me... Ragdoll and Black Alice. I despise the both of them, and I'm REALLY hopeful that Ragdoll stays in Hell at the conclusion of this storyline. I mean he's just not funny anymore. The gag got old 20 issues ago. As for Black Alice, I really don't care to read about a bitchy goth girl. I don't see how she fits on a team of mercenaries, and as such I don't get why she'd even be on the team. And the stuff with Scandal's girlfriend being kidnapped by her ex? I don't even know what the hell that's all about. A lot of things have to happen for me to start enjoying this comic again, hopefully this issue is going to lead to one of those things.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Good!!!!!

Outsiders #35

Review: This issue gets started with Freight Train taunting Owlman and Metamorpho about betraying them to Simon Stagg. Even though Stagg had betrayed Freight Train and tried to kill him in a laboratory explosion a few issues prior, it appears Train was willing to forget about that little act of attempted murder for the right price. From there we head to Markovia where Looker is complaining about being forced to remain in Geo-Force's castle. Katana tells her that whatever Geo-Force wants, Geo-Force gets. Katana then makes vague remarks about Geo-Force's state of mind, which Geo-Force overhears. Okay then... From there, Stagg takes Freight Train into his secret laboratory and reveals that he was using the Black Lantern residue in Black Lightning to bring his dead daughter Sapphire back to life. Train decides that he doesn't like that, so he turns on Stagg(why not? What's one more betrayal?), who has his henchman Java transform into the Shaggy Man to deal with Train. Train and Shaggy fight, and Train takes this time to tell Shaggy his origin... Um, okay... After Train's origin tale, and some more random fighting, Owlman and Metamorpho enter the room and reveal that Train had loosened their chains while he was taunting them earlier. The two heroes help Train take down Shaggy, and during the fight, Black Lightning's container is ruptured, freeing him. With all the fighting over, Sapphire actually does come back to life momentarily, tells Metamorpho that she loves him(he was her husband)and asks her father why he did what he did, before she dramatically dies again, ending this issue.

Thoughts: WHY am I still buying this series?! Good God was this issue bad! Methinks I'll be dropping this series come Wednesday... Where do I even begin?! Personality-wise, Freight Train reminds me of Random from the X-comics back in the 90's... And let me tell you, that is NOT a good thing! The stuff with Geo-Force, Katana and Looker I have NO idea about... It seems like Looker may be mind controlling Geo-Force, but who can really tell? Freight Train giving his FULL origin story, in the MIDDLE of a battle was just asinine, I mean who does that?! And the dialogue... It was WORSE than the worst of Brian Michael Bendis' dialogue! And for me to say THAT, you KNOW it was horrible! I don't know what Dan Didio was thinking here... A disjointed story, along with cringe-worthy dialogue makes for a VERY bad reading experience.

Score: 1 1/2 out of 10.Um, I don't think that's a power...

The Best of the Rest! November 27th edition.

Hey all, hopefully you're enjoying some sort of Thanksgiving break. I know I am! Since I am officially on Thanksgiving break, I can devote some more time to posting to this here blog. And as such, here's yet another Best of the Rest! This week's BotR is a bit of a mixed bag, with a few Marvel and DC books, some good and some horrible. So let's get this party started!!!

Help me, I'm drowning!
So during my last BotR post I mentioned how much I was enjoying the Aquaman series I had started reading a week ago. What a difference a week makes! These past couple of issues have been bad. I'd almost go so far as to say REALLY bad! See, when I think Aquaman I think underwater. Makes sense, no? And yet for some reason the storyline I'm currently moving through involves an alien invasion. In an Aquaman comic book. Yuh-huh... The series still has Peter David's at times laugh out loud moments, but I can't wait for this storyline to end!

Okay, with the preliminary blabbing out of the way, we head to the main event, the comic books! First up is Osborn #1. We detail the case of the incarcerated Norman Osborn, who has yet to be formally charged for his meltdown during the Siege of Asgard. A few Senators are debating whether he should be charged in a regular court, or whether he should be handed over to the military. However the Senators are afraid that Osborn will get off on an insanity plea, so they decide to lock him away in some sort of ultra-top secret prison. However, it appears that one of the Senators is a fan/disciple of Osborn, and that the priest who is working at the top secret prison is also an Osborn groupie. Well, after reading this comic I can gladly state that I won't be picking up the rest of this series. I didn't really know what to expect going in, but this wasn't it. It wasn't a terrible story, but it just didn't interest me in the least. I just can't rationalize paying $4 for a comic that didn't hook me. Score: 5 out of 10.

Let's switch gears a bit and head over to DC to check out Batman: Streets of Gotham #17. This issue begins with Harley Quinn wandering around in a daze committing crimes. After she's finished, she returns to her base and is accosted by Catwoman. The two women begin to fight, and Batman shows up and knocks Harley out cold. At first Catwoman believes Batman is Dick Grayson, but Bats reveals that he was actually Bruce Wayne, and the two share a kiss. From there Bruce tells CW that there have been other cases like this, where a person would be bitten by weird little bugs, which would then mind control the person. From there we head to Hush, who was kidnapped by an old mobster last issue who had a score to settle with Bruce Wayne. Before the mobster can kill Hush, he beats up the old mobster's goons and swipes the gun from the mobster, revealing that he isn't Bruce Wayne, and that he wanted to work with the mobster in getting at Bruce. This was a weird one. I don't know what the HELL was going on in that first half of this comic with the bugs and Harley... That was pretty weird. It did lead to a kiss between Selina and Bruce, so that was nice and all, but still, what was up with the bugs?! As for the Hush stuff, it had Hush in it, so naturally I loved it! Score: 8 out of 10.

Let's take a look at Superman #705 since that's what's next on my hit list. So this is written by J. Michael Straczynski and has Superman STILL wandering the country aimlessly. This time Supes is strolling through Mt. Prospect, Illinois. Supes is distressed by the fact that the people seem afraid to see him due to the fight he had with the Hulk Hogan-impostor two issues back. Later on, Supes heads to a hotel with Lois and has a nightmare where one of the women from earlier is scolding him and he's being beaten up by a giant creature. When Supes wakes up, he discovers that all of the wounds from the dream hadn't gone away. From there the story branches out to a boy who was being abused by his father preparing to see Supes walk by his home. The kids father smacks him around and tosses him into the basement, where the kid calls to Superman to help him. Supes hears the kid and rescues him and his mother from the abusive father, taking them to the police and then cutting a promo(right at the “camera”)about always reporting instances of abuse. Wow, that was pretty weird... I hated the beginning of this comic, I mean really, how ungrateful ARE the people in the DCU? How many times has Supes saved their collective bacon? If the man wants to walk through your town, grin and bear it! I thought the story with the abused kid was pretty well done though. Supes walking by the kid's house and then saving him was a nice touch, and the pacing for that scene was nicely done. However, the end kind of made me laugh, which I'm SURE wasn't JMS's intention... Or at least I hope it wasn't... I mean what was up with Supes literally looking RIGHT at the “camera” and doing a public service announcement?! That as just bizarre... Overall though, I did enjoy this one, and as such, I'll give it a: Score: 8 out of 10.

It's time to head back to Marvel as we check out the latest issue of Marvel's favorite Atlantian, Namorita! Oh wait, it's actually Namor #4... Bleh. While Namor is fighting his grandfather(who happens to be a vampire)in a secret temple underneath Vampire City, Namor's forces are being trounced by the vampires above the temple. Loa(one of the younger X-Men)and an Atlantian magician arrive at Vampire City and the magician casts a spell that weakens the vampires. Oh, and for some reason, Loa can breath underwater now. *shrugs* Meanwhile, Namor defeats his grandfather and casts a spell on the old vampire(there's a lot of spellcasting going on here...)which kills most of the vampires in Vampire City. Wanting this storyline over with(and who could blame him)Namor emerges from the temple and tells the surviving vampires that he's making their city a part of Atlantis, and as such he doesn't want any trouble from them. That's pretty much the end of this one. Yeah, I didn't really enjoy this one. I don't care for Loa(Marvel has killed off countless young mutants, and yet SHE survives?!), I could see the outcome of the battle between Namor and his grandfather coming since LAST issue and the resolution of the vampire trouble kind of bothered me... I mean really, Namor tells the vampires to knock it off and then leaves? Um, they're vampires! How do you just leave them alone! They make notoriously bad subjects! Oh well, hopefully things pick up next issue. Score: 3 out of 10.

Wheee, now we hop back to DC with Outsiders #34. Man, it's been awhile since I read the last issue of this series... I have NO idea what's going on! Apparently Achilles has marched into Markovia and razed a village in order to gain the attention of Markovia's king, Geo-Force. Geo-Force and his lackey Eradicator confront Achilles, which leads to Achilles punching Eradicator right out of this comic! Seriously, he never showed up again! Achilles and Geo-Force then fight for the better part of this comic, with Achilles revealing that he was attacking Markovia because he thought Geo-Force was a conquest hungry dictator. Geo-Force refutes that claim, stating that Markovia was always being invaded, not the other way around. Geo-Force then proceeds to drop a building on Achilles. Achilles climbs out from under the building and decides he doesn't want to fight anymore since the building falling on him cleared his head and convinced him that Geo-Force was telling the truth(huh?!). To make up for destroying a village and killing loads of Markovians, Achilles pledges himself and his forces to a very confused Geo-Force. There was also a back story involving Metamorpho and his father-in-law, but since I don't like Metamorpho, I'm going to ignore all of that, as is my prerogative. What's there to really say about this one? The fight between Geo-Force and Achilles was fun, but the ending was a huge cop-out. Achilles quits the battle because... well, I'm not really sure why he quit fighting. Because a house falling on his head brought him to his senses or something... Meh, that didn't really work for me. Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

One more and I can wrap this post up and send it to bed. Our final review of the post? Invincible Iron Man #32. Last issue the Hammer girls sent the Detroit Steel drones to attack Tony Stark's grand unveiling of his new repulsor powered car. Tony hops into his Iron Man armor, while Rescue and War Machine also arrive on the scene to come to Tony's aid. The Hammer's up the stakes by sending Detroit Steel himself to attack Tony, while Tony's support staff work to figure out a way to block the satellites that were controlling the Steel drones. Tony eventually realizes that the drones were keyed in on his repulsor technology, so War Machine and Rescue power down their armor, which leads to all of the drones, as well as Steel going after Tony, while Tony's staff works to kill the signal controlling the drones before the overwhelming odds kill their boss. This was the EIGHTH part of this storyline, with the next issue closing the storyline out. I think I started reading this series at around part three of the storyline, so there were a few story elements that I just didn't get. So while I've enjoyed this story for the most part, I'll be happy when it ends, so I can follow the next storyline right from the start. Score: 7 out of 10.

The Random Scan of the Week!Man, you know you're in trouble when your villain knows about your caption boxes!

Outsiders #33

Overall: This issue begins with Geo-Force's crazy ex-wife running wild in Markovia, killing innocent Markovians. While that's going on, Geo-Force is proclaiming his love to a surprised Katana. Before poor confused Katana can respond, Eradicator enters the room and tells Geo-Force that they had found Geode. Geo-Force and Eradicator go after the deranged woman and she smacks them around for a bit since Geo-Force seems unable to go on the offensive against Geode. Finally, Eradicator has enough and blasts Geode unconscious. From there, some hooded figure blows a horn at Geo-Force, which... transports him and Eradicator somewhere... I guess. This issue ends with Achilles(from WW fame)and his hordes attacking Markovia for some reason.

Umm, what? There was so much going on here that I just didn't get. Why build up Geode as this huge threat only to have her lose in a matter of seconds? What's up with Halo being in a coma here, but helping the team in the Road Home: Outsiders one-shot? Geo-Force has the hots for Katana? Since when? Who was the guy with the horn? And why were Geo-Force and Eradicator struck down by said horn? And of course, what was up with Achilles suddenly attacking Markovia? I REALLY want to go off on a tear about Dan Didio(writer of this series), but for now I won't. But trust me, I can feel a rant coming on.

Score: 5 out of 10.It sure must be nice having Eradicator on you team...

Bruce Wayne: The Road Home: Outsiders #1

Overall: We get underway with the not so mysterious mystery man(who's going by the Insider now)heading to Markovia to see what had become of his Outsiders. Yes, the Insider is Bruce Wayne. Let me just put that out there right now. It seems that Markovia is full of dissidence due to Geo-Force allowing Kryptonians access to his country. Bruce plans on setting up a fake assassination attempt on Geo-Force to see how the Outsiders handle it. Unfortunately for Bruce, a real assassin takes a shot at Geo-Force right near the rooftop Bruce was waiting on. Bruce takes care of the assassin, but the Outsiders mistake him as the assassin as a result. Bruce manages to put down Looker, Halo and Katana down, but has some difficulty with an angered Geo-Force, although in time Bruce takes care of him as well. Later on, Bruce heads to Geo-Force's castle to see Katana, who tells Bruce that she knew it was him all the time due to his unique fighting style. The two chat, and the main thing that comes out of their talk is that Bruce doesn't want Katana to reveal to anybody that he is back yet, that Bruce feels the Outsiders have let him down, and that Katana is the glue that holds the Outsiders together. After their talk, Bruce sneaks away, heading to his next one-shot comic.

Much like the other Road Home one shots, I liked this one. It wasn't fantastic or anything like that, but it WAS a good comic. I will say that I was pleased that it showcased the classic Outsiders(Geo-Force, Looker, Katana)and not Black Lightning's group of losers. That team is really weak. I can't really think of anything else I can say here that I haven't said in the previous three Road Home comics. So I'll end this review here.

Score: 8 out of 10.That Insider guy sure is a good fighter!

The Best of the Rest!!! May 29th edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest!!! Are you tired of that introduction yet, 'cause I sure am! But alas, there's nothing that can be done about it, mainly because I'm just not creative enough to come up with anything new. Um, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, this Best of the Rest post thing... I have some pretty mediocre comics to get through tonight, so expect some mediocre psuedo-reviews. Hey, if the writers aren't gonna bring their A-game, why should I?

Outsiders #29: This is one of those comics that has been seemingly sitting on my nightstand forever. Well, not literally forever, but... why am I even explaining this... Anyway, this comic deals with former Outsider Looker(and what kind of a super-hero name is Looker anyway? I guess I'd be Amazing Man-Hunk or something...)being hunted by a vampire who hunts other vampires... Methinks DC is trying to cash in on the vampire-mania that has been running wild. After some hot vampire-on-vampire action, Looker winds up using her womanly wiles to trick and kill the vampire hunter. Since Looker seemed to think that other vampire hunters would come after her(um, why would they? She trounced this one!)she books a plane ticket for Markovia, a country where both Kryptonians AND Vampires are welcome. And they call America a melting pot! Score: 7 out of 10.Whenever the word "bitch" appears twice on a single page, you can be SURE that I'll be posting it!

Justice League of America #45: So Jade landed in Germany thanks to a big green meteorite, which has the Germans none too pleased. The Justice League of America(what, no Justice League of Germany?)arrives to calm the situation down, just as the Justice Society of America's airplane arrives. Just so ya know, the JSA was following their comatose teammate Green Lantern(that would be Alan Scott), who was being drawn to the green meteorite. Before the JSA can touch down, Power Girl attacks and destroys the plane to the shock of the JLAers, and the apathy of me. Power Girl then turns her busty attention to the JLA. Luckily for the JLA, Congorilla(who I guess knew Power Girl would eventually become possessed and turn on EVERYBODY)had contacted Supergirl earlier, and the Girl of Steel arrives to intercept the seemingly insane(but busty)Power Girl. After an extended fight scene, Batman tells Jade to blast Power Girl, since Jade's powers are magic based(really?)and all Kryptonians(even busty ones from alternate dimensions)are vulnerable to magic(or magicks if you prefer). With Power Girl down(but thankfully still busty), the Germans inexplicably decide to launch an attack on the JLA/JSA contingent, and are easily turned aside by Jade... Silly Germans... The two teams then totally ignore the poor inept Germans and decide to discuss Alan Scott's origin... Well that seems unnecessary... Jade then tells the team that the meteorite she arrived in was the Starheart, which I guess is important, since the Starheart gave Alan his GL powers. Alan then wakes up and proclaims that it's the end of the world, and that he feels fine... Well he didn't say the last part, but he should have. Score: 7 out of 10.Okay, no funny comments or anything here, that picture is AWESOME!

New Avengers Finale #1: God help me, this is the comic I've been avoiding... Remember how much I enjoyed BENDIS's work on Siege? No, well go check out my Siege reviews and then come right back...... Done? Good. So you see that I REALLY liked Siege. I guess BENDIS must have sensed that and decided to punish me by putting this piece of garbage out... Basically all you need to know about this one is that the heroes end up capturing the Hood, Madame Masque and Count Nefaria, after an extended(and BORING!!!)battle. Then BENDIS decides to kill 19 pages with a recap of pretty much his entire New Avengers series... Yes, that's right, a NINETEEN page recap!!! I mean is a NINETEEN page recap EVER really necessary!?! So between BENDIS's HORRIBLE dialogue, and what was pretty much a retelling of a series that I didn't like in the first place, this comic was like some sort of terrible comic book torture. When I envision Hell, I see myself strapped to a really uncomfortable chair(maybe one of those little pink children's ones)while demons force me to read this comic for all of eternity!!! Score: 1 out of 10. I'd have gone with a zero if not for the artwork, which was really good. See that, a silver lining!Spider-Man and Luke Cage talking for no reason at all... A SURE sign this was a BENDIS written comic!

Batman #699: So the Riddler was drugged with Joker venom(or Joker gas, although Joker venom sounds a bit classier)last issue, but Bats managed to get him to a hospital in time to administer the antidote. Bats then decides to go after the man responsible, Sebastian Blackspell, but Bats is unable to track down the bad news magician. Oh, and while Bats is chasing leads and doing that whole detective thing Ra's Al Ghul loves so much, the Riddler sneaks out of the hospital(in his hospital gown!)and is able to track down Blackspell(STILL in his gown!)... You know, more then anything else, I'm most impressed that Riddler was able to sneak around Gotham and find Blackspell, all while wearing a hospital gown! I mean really, THAT'S impressive! Bats finds Blackspell's hideout and discovers him kicking Riddler around(and yes, Riddler is STILL in the gown), and steps in to halt the assault. Blackspell falls into a barrel of... magic goo I guess, and Batman accuses Riddler of being responsible for... I don't really know, but something evil. Riddler denies he's turned back to the dark side, and Blackspell turns into a giant pissed-off tree thanks to his exposure to the magic goo... Huh, I didn't see THAT coming... Riddler runs away(bare-foot and STILL in his hospital gown)and Bats winds up tying up Blackspell in some chains. Blackspell becomes human when it starts to rain, and Riddler high-tails it out of Gotham, probably still wearing that hospital gown... What a weird comic this was.... Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.You know, if I was to ever turn into a tree I think I'd do better then simply saying, "I'm... turning into a damn tree!"

Flash #2: Yay, it's Barry Allen time... And just so you know, that's me being BITTERLY sarcastic. On the plus side, my Flash subscription ends at issue #6, and I PROMISE all of you that I WILL NOT pick up another Flash comic so long as Barry Allen is starring in it! But enough venom, let's get this review over with so I can spew some more venom! Barry runs away from the Renegades(who are police officers from the future), and eventually causes the Renegades to return to the future after he messes with their time equipment. Thanks to Barry's negligence, an old apartment building blows up... That Barry Allen is a real jerk. Barry then returns to his police station and finds out that his blood was found on the deceased Mirror Monarch(one of the Renegades), which leads to everybody stupidly looking at him... Yeah, that's right, that's as much of a review for this comic as I'm willing to do! Sue me! I hates me some Barry Allen, plain and simple. If you want to read a Flash comic, do yourself a favor and read some older Mark Waid, Mark Millar, or even that jerk Geoff Johns issues of the Wally West Flash. Boycott Barry Allen!!! Score: 6 out of 10.For as long as YOU'RE alive Barry, I'm definitely NOT okay...

Batman: Streets of Gotham #12: This was yet another really weird read for me... For some bizarre and inexplicable reason, Paul Dini(he's the guy who wrote this comic)decided to make the Carpenter(that woman who's gimmick is that she builds headquarters for villains)the central feature of this book... Yeah, that's right, the Carpenter STARRED in this issue... What, was the Molder unavailable? Jeez... Anywho, she gets hired to build a deathtrap for some loser named the Director(where the HELL is Paul getting these villain names from?!?), who planned on tricking Batman into running through it, so he could film Batman's death... Well, I guess that explains his nom de guerre... 's right, I'm throwing French words out there now! Gawk in awe at my awesomeness!!! Carpenter is nearly finished with her masterpiece when she stumbles upon some of the Director's storyboards which reveal that he intended on killing her to test the traps. Some of the Director's goons then notice that Carpenter saw the storyboards and go to kill her... The most horrifying thing here is the fact that this is a multi-part story! About the Carpenter! And a guy named the Director!! In other Streets of Gotham news, Damian Wayne continues to make nice with that Abuse kid, buying him a motorcycle and a warehouse to keep it. Don't worry, Hell hasn't frozen over or anything, Damian only did this to make sure he'd have the power of Abuse on his side if things ever went sour between him and Batman. Huh, so I didn't like the main story, but I enjoyed the Damian parts... That's a sure sign that I should stop blogging IMMEDIATELY! And possibly check in with a head doctor... Score: 6 out of 10.Damian being NICE!?! What in the blue HELL is going on here!?!?!

Batgirl #6, Justice League: Cry for Justice #6 & Outsiders #26

Alright, I don't have much time to do these reviews, so hang on, this is going to be a brisk ride through comic book land. Before I get into the new stuff, I have to say, I've been reading the Brave and the Bold mini-series from 1999-2000, which was written by Mark Waid and starred Hal Jordan and Barry Allen, and so far, it's been some pretty good stuff. But like I said, I only have a limited amount of time to get these reviews done, so enough about that, let's start these reviews up! Oh, and I apologize in advance if these reviews are worse then usual, but like I said, I'm on a schedule tonight!

Batgirl #6: Writer: Bryan Q. Miller. Pencils: Lee Garbett.

Steph wakes up in the back of an ambulance after being shot by the thugs who kidnapped her classmate, Fernando Garcia. Luckily for Steph, the bullet only grazed the side of her head, so all she has to show for getting shot in the head is a bandage and a headache. Getting some assistance from Oracle, Steph breaks out of the ambulance, dons her Batgirl outfit and head to police headquarters, where she proceeds to spy on a conversation between Batman and Commish Gordon. The two discuss the events surrounding Fernando's abduction, and Steph is jumped by Damian, who is angered that she was spying on Bats. The two begin to fight, which leads to Batman angrily ending the fight, as well as banning the both of them from helping him solve the case of Fernando's disappearance due to their childish behavior. Needless to say, neither one listens, and they decide to work together, as Steph follows a hunch she has about Fernando's girlfriend knowing more then she was letting on. After a quick interrogation, the two discover that Fernando's father owes a load of gambling debts to Roulette, and that she intends on collecting by sending her minions after Batman, where her gamblers can place bets on which bad guy is going to kill Batman. This issue closes with an injured Bats crawling through the streets while being pursued by some of Roulette's goons.

Whew, one review down, two to go! This was a very good comic, from the story, to the artwork, to the dialogue. Not only that, but once again, I thoroughly enjoyed Damian in this comic! I don't know how Bryan does it, but he seems to be accomplishing the impossible, making Damian tolerable. You put Damian in any other comic, and I'm spitting blood like a Red Lantern, but whenever he's in Batgirl, I like him... Weird. Anyway, this was a very good comic that I'd be willing to recommend to anybody.

Score: 9 out of 10.I actually liked Damian in this issue... A lot. That's as sure a sign of the apocalypse as any.

Justice League: Cry for Justice #6(of 7): Writer: James Robinson. Artist: Scott Clark.

This issue opens with Supergirl revealing that she has figured out that Captain Marvel is actually Prometheus in disguise. With his charade over, Prometheus sheds his CM look, and launches into an attack on all of the members of the JL, taking out in quick order: Supergirl, Zatanna, Plastic Man, Red Tornado, Black Canary, Starman, Hawkgirl, Guardian, Hawkman, Dr. Light, Vixen, Donna Troy, Hal Jordan, Firestorm, Starfire, Green Arrow and the Atom(WOW...)before he makes his way towards his destination, the teleportation room in the JL Watchtower. Upon arriving at the massive teleporter, he encounters Jay Garrick and the Shade(!). He makes quick work of Jay, and after some slight difficulty, he manages to take down the Shade. With nobody standing between him and his prize, Prometheus walks towards the teleporter, but is attacked by an enraged Donna Troy, who proceeds to beat the HELL out of Prometheus in an Amazon rage. Before she crosses the line, the Shade snaps her back to her senses by telling her she'd best stop before she is branded a murderer by her friends. From there, the scene shifts to the heroes, now recovered, questioning Prometheus on what his master plan is/was. Prometheus happily explains that he was intending on teleporting all of the heroes various home cities into several other dimensions, where they would remain lost forever. This issue ends with Prometheus explaining to the heroes that in the event he was captured, he had a back-up plan which involved massive bombs hidden throughout several cities which would explode unless he was released, with the first bomb blowing up in Green Arrow's hometown of Star City!

After last issue, I was just about ready to write this mini-series off, but wow, this issue sure changed my mind about that! Prometheus was a beast, single-handedly taking out pretty much the ENTIRE JLA without really breaking a sweat... Now that's how you make a villain look strong! The story was much better, with Prometheus finally explaining his master plan, as well as his back-up plan, plus as a bonus, no archers were maimed during this issue, which is always a good thing! I've got to say, poor Ollie is sure taking it on the chin this mini... First his sidekick/"son", Roy Harper has his arm severed, then his hometown is blown up! Jeez, if that were to happen to Hal, he'd be running amok, destroying the universe! I honestly didn't expect to be saying this, but this was a very good comic. It was so good that it almost washed the bad taste of the last issue out of my mouth... Almost.

Score: 9 1/2 out of 10.See, it's like I've always said, NEVER piss off an Amazon!

Outsiders #26: Writer: Dan Didio. Pencils: Philip Tan.

Alright, this issue is going to get the real short form treatment... Geo-Force and the Outsiders are now operating out of GF's kingdom of Markovia, and GF and Katana are acting a bit on the unhinged side, thanks to their Blackest Night experiences last issue. Katana repeatedly tries to murder criminals during a mission she's on with Black Lightning, and GF basically acts aloof and snobbish to his teammates. Once all of the Outsiders are back in Markovia after completing their various missions, GF holds a press conference, where he announces that Markovia has entered into a non-aggression treaty with New Krypton, and this issue ends with GF introducing his "friend" Eradicator to the press and his shocked teammates.

Sorry about the brief review, but I really do have to finish this post up in the next 15 minutes or so... I actually liked this comic a lot more then I thought I was going to. I'd heard some... let's say less then flattering things about this comic, so I was expecting the worst, but thankfully, my fears were unfounded. I like GF as a royal jerk, Katana as a wildcard, and the rest of the team trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I for one will be looking forward to the next issue.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.So instead of getting Superman, we get his lame double/Kryptonian weapon/whatever the hell he is now, the Eradicator... Uh-huh...

A Quick Look at Outsiders #25

Writer: Peter Tomasi. Pencils: Fernando Pasarin and Derec Donovan.

What Happened: This issue gets underway with Black Lantern Terra showing her true colors by attacking her brother Geo-Force and his team of Outsiders. Meanwhile, Katana, Halo, Creeper and Owlman are stuck battling Katana's Black Lantern husband and children. After plunging her sword into her dead husband, Katana learns all about Nekron and his plans for the Black Lanterns. While that is going on, Halo uses her light powers to completely destroy Katana's dead children. Halo then destroys Katana's husband before heading back to base to help Geo-Force and the rest of the Outsiders. BL Terra basically has her way with Geo-Force and company and is about to tear out Geo-Force's heart when Halo arrives. Halo takes BL Terra's ring away and Geo-Force turns BL Terra to stone, ending her threat. Before the heroes can celebrate, Halo suddenly transforms into pure light and vanishes unexpectedly. This issue ends with a quick rundown of what the remaining members of the team did after the events of Blackest Night.

What I Thought: This was a fast, fun and enjoyable Blackest Night x-over issue. It was pretty much an all-action issue, with Peter wrapping up his writing run and giving incoming writer(and current DC Executive Editor)Dan Didio a clean slate to do what he wants with the team starting next issue. Besides that, there really isn't too much more to say. If you want to see the Outsiders throw down with Black Lanterns then this is the comic book for you!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Black Lantern Terra pulling the dual Black Lantern symbols out of the ground is one cool visual.

A Quick Look at Outsiders #24

Writer: Peter Tomasi. Pencils: Fernando Pasarin.

What Happened: Fresh off of her appearance against the Titans, Black Lantern Terra heads to the headquarters of the Outsiders in order to talk(yes talk!)to her brother Geo-Force. BL Terra explains that she doesn't want to do the evil things her Black lantern ring is telling her to do and that she just wants to die and be forgotten again. BL Terra even allows the team to cut off her BL ring, which of course just reattaches itself to her again. Meanwhile, Halo, Katana and Creeper are driving Killer Croc back to prison when Katana's dead husband and sons attack her truck. Katana obviously wants to hear the Black Lantern versions of her family out, but Creeper and Halo are dubious of the BL's intentions and as such attack the BL trio. After watching the battle for a little bit, Katana realizes that these aren't her dead loved ones and this issue ends with Katana attacking her BL husband with her sword.

What I Thought: I have to admit that I loved BL Terra's attempts at gaining the Outsiders trust before attacking them. I mean, we all do realize that she IS going to attack them in the end, right? The stuff with Katana and company I really couldn't care less about, I know next to nothing about Katana, Halo and Creeper, so their plight doesn't move me much at all. I was hoping for a bit more from this comic, but all in all, this was a good Blackest Night x-over issue, and I'll be eagerly awaiting the next issue.

Score: 7 out of 10.Damn tricky zombies!!!

What do you think?

I picked up a new scanner today, and decided to re-post a picture I've already put on this blog, along with the same picture, taken with the new scanner. If you click both pictures, it becomes pretty obvious which picture came from which scanner. The top picture is kind of blotchy and faded, while the the bottom pic is darker and smoother, and looks a lot closer to how it looked in the Outsiders comic book I pulled it from. I'm still fooling around and tweaking things when it comes to the new scanner, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with the initial results.

When you just have to post something...

Whew, I just finished typing a 7-page history paper on the year 1968(don't ask)and checked out the blogs I follow for any new content. Every night I always check out the blogs I follow before I even check my own blog out for any new comments. That's probably my favorite thing about this whole "blogging" experience, finding you few like-minded individuals who are willing to dedicate an inordinate amount of time talking about comic books! Anyway, it's getting pretty late and I've got to be up early tomorrow, so I figured I'd just take a random picture from my computer and post it with little to no explanation. For the record, I've scanned 851 pics to my computer so far. Using Random.org's random number generator, I'll be posting picture #359!
Hell, with Roy Harper, there was like a 50% chance I'd have gotten a picture of him making out with some woman! That dude must have swapped spit(among other things...)with like half the women in the DCU!