Best of the Rest! May 8th edition.

It's Monday, which means it's time for a brand spanking new Best of the Rest post.  As usual, I'll bust out a few reviews, followed by JT, who will bust out a few reviews of his own, but in blue text.  Considering the relatively small comic haul for both JT and myself, this post shouldn't be as long as the past couple of been.  Okay, let's see which comic is up first for me...

Walking Dead #110: Rick takes a group of people to the Kingdom to meet Ezekiel and his group.  Meanwhile, Jesus prevents Kal from betraying everybody to Negan and the Saviors.  Michonne is initially pissed by Ezekiel's king act, but the two have a nice little heart-to-heart and seem to get along very well.  Once we got past the Jesus stuff, this issue slowed way down.  It does turn out that I like Ezekiel now!  Kirkman did a great job of filling out his character, which means one of two things...  Either a) he's going to die next issue, or b) he's going to betray Rick and company to the Saviors.  Hopefully neither thing happens, but after reading as much of this series as I have?  I would not be surprised.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #4: AIM sends the stolen Iron Patriot armor loose, at which time it begins attacking individuals who had been targeted by America.  To avoid a diplomatic incident, SHIELD sends Hulk to destroy the renegade armor.  On top of that, SHIELD sends Nick Fury Jr, Mockingbird, Black Widow and Hawkeye to AIM Island to assassinate the Scientist Supreme.  Meh, meh, and double meh.  I swear, the name Secret Avengers is cursed for me...  Regardless of who the writer is, or how much I enjoy their work, without fail, I can never get into this series...  This one is getting dangerously close to the chopping block...  Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

Superboy #20: Dr. Psycho enlists Superboy's help in dealing with HIVE, which had sent agents after Psycho, who has gone rogue from them.  Yeah, and that's it.  Nothing much to say about this one, actually... It seems as if SB randomly bounces from one clandestine organization to another.  Plus we all know Psycho is going to betray SB!  There's one of the failings of the New 52, introducing a brand new character would work way better than slotting Psycho here, who will undoubtedly turn of SB.  Score: 6 out of 10.

Ultimates #24: Cap learns that the leader of California was planning on blowing Sacramento up and heads there.  Meanwhile, Iron Man escapes from the Californian leader and meets Cap in Sacramento   Finally, Thor and Invisible Woman join the two and the four(okay, mainly Thor, Sue and Iron Man) manage to prevent the Stark Space Station from obliterating the city.  This one ends with Cap deciding he didn't want to be president anymore since he was a soldier, not a politician.  I enjoyed this one.  We still have a threat in California and the West Coast Ultimates, and Cap has stepped down, which was pretty much a given.  Good stuff here!  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Avengers Assemble #15AU: This takes place in Jolly Ol' London, where the only heroes left are Capt. Marvel, Capt. Britain, some woman named Excalibur, who is a healer, a guy named Computer Graham, who can enter computers, and a girl who has magic soccer(or I guess in this case, football) powers...  Yep, really...  Poor, poor London...  Anyway, I've already wasted enough time on this rubbish(hey, when in Rome...).  Basically Ultron kills everybody who tries to fight him.  The end.  Yeah, I picked this comic up on a whim and am now cursing myself for wasting the money...  This comic was all sorts of terrible...  A girl with magic soccer powers...  Yeah, that's all for me...  Score: 2 out of 10.

Avenging Spider-Man #20: I can't believe this series is at issue twenty already! Anyway, let's do this. This issue features Superior Spider-Man visiting the SHIELD Helicarrier after he stops a bunch of A.I.M. soldiers/scientists/nerds. It just so happens he's done so while Black Widow and Hawkeye are there for Secret Avenger stuff, while Dr. Bruce Banner is on board, and while the Russians have sent people to kill Chameleon so he doesn't leak government secrets. Spider-Man is there to free Chameleon because he's collecting real life Sinister Six trading cards, and sends his Spider-Bots to find him and cut the power. Before he can get to him, the Helicarrier is invaded by two dudes with skulls for faces that can burn you with their touch. Spidey heads to find Chameleon and finds bodies in his wake, and blames himself for their death's since he freed him, but quickly backtracks, saying if those guys hadn't invaded, he'd have had time to get there and stop Chameleon. We see Chameleon running to his freedom, wearing the face of his Doctor as Spider-Man heads off to find him and is confronted by none other than The Hulk! This was an interesting issue for me because I never really got into it. It just happened and here we are, I have no feelings either way which is kinda... bad if you think about it. Once again, this comic wasn't bad but I doubt I'll remember it this time next week. Score: 6/10

I know! I'm shocked too!!! I know you guys expected more reviews from me but hey, I'm a busy dude! Plus X took all the good books! :P Either way, expect a Throwback review from me tomorrow, and until then, this is JT, and my buddy X, signing off!

Best of the Rest! April 10th edition.

Hey all, X here to herald in a brand new BotR post.  Not only that, but this is the 3,000th post here at the blog!  That's A LOT of posts!  Speaking of a lot, I picked up a slew of comics on Wednesday, so it should go without saying there are gonna be A LOT of comics covered in this post.  As always, I'll get things started and JT will pitch in towards the end of the review.  JT's text will be in blue.  With so many comics to dig into, let's end the intro and get to the main event.

Alpha: Big Time #3: In this issue, Alpha DOESN'T screw up!  Huzzah for the greatest hero ever!!  He saves that girl he likes in school from a fire(and she naturally knows who he is, because she's not a moron), and talks to Doc Parker about his powers, which seem to be growing.  However, the main villain of Pittsburgh takes umbrage at a hero being and town, and since everybody knows who Alpha is, decides to pay his family a visit.  So yeah, this comic?  You know I loved it!  I read it from cover to cover with a smile on my face.  I just can't help but to love this character, and this series.  Alpha is honestly what all teenage heroes SHOULD be.  Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.

Ultron #1AU: With all of the other Runaways dead, Victor has been saving whatever kids he could find in destroyed Los Angeles.  Luckily for him, the various Ultron patrols can't seem to figure out what he is, and as such haven't killed him.  Oh yeah, and Victor has been hiding his powers from the kids he was rescuing, while subtly using them to hide from Ultron.  At least until one of the kids sees him doing robot-y stuff, and the Ultrons attack.  It's then that Victor decides to stop slinking around in the shadows, afraid of Ultron and finally fights back.  This was another really good comic.  Man, with the exception of AoU #5, I have been having some GREAT luck with my comic reading this week.  I liked the art, and the writing nailed Victor perfectly.  This is a character that needs a much bigger place in the Marvel U.  Score: 9 out of 10.

Walking Dead #109: This issue dealt with Jesus and Rick putting their plan to attack Negan in motion.  Rick informs certain people from his group(Andrea, Carl, Michonne), while Jesus tells a select number of folks at the Hilltop.  However, by the end of this one, Jesus seems to realize that one of the guys he told was in Negan's pocket.  This was an okay issue.  I mean, nothing really happened, I wasn't blown away by it, but it was a fine way to kill a few minutes.  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Hawkeye #9: This issue gives us a look at the four most important women in Hawkeye's life(Mockingbird, Black Widow, Kate and Spider-Woman).  Plus it advances the story with the mob having it out for Clint by having an assassin kill Clint's neighbor, Grills.  So we had action, comedy, and Kate calling Clint a bitch.  Yup, this one checked all the boxes for me.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #7: Current Thor and Future Thor get together and prepare an attack on Gorr's planet.  Meanwhile, Gorr captures Young Thor and forces Young Thor to work on Gorr's master plan...  A gigantic bomb.  No complaints with this one.  Gorr is still a great villain, and I enjoyed seeing the two Thors interact.  The reveal at the end wasn't something I was all excited over(so Gorr has a big bomb...  Even though he's killed most every god without a giant bomb...), but I'm sure Jason Aaron has a reason Gorr is concocting that bomb.  So yeah, again, good stuff here.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #3: AIM's scientist supreme and a few henchmen drop in on a weapon's expo, claiming they had every right to be there since they were members of a UN recognized country.  Needless to say, that leads to Nick Fury(jr) and Daisy Johnson fighting AIM.  A US senator ends up getting killed during the ruckus, and AIM escapes with the Iron Patriot armor, which they seemed interested in using Mentallo to pilot.  Also, Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird find a half destroyed Jocasta at a wrecked AIM base.  Hey, I liked this comic too!  What's going on this week?!  I'm still not 100% sold on AIM as the main antagonists here(they seem too faceless without somebody like MODOK leading them), but I'm slowly starting to get into this story.  Plus, anytime you throw Hawkeye, Black Widow and Mockingbird into a comic I'm gonna be a happy camper.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #6: Reed decides to take the kids to the Big Bang.  For SCIENCE!!  While there, they find a body floating around in the void and rescue it.  It turns out the body is an older version of Blastaar, and he attacks.  Franklin uses his powers to send Blastaar back outside before the ship is critically damaged.  Ah, there we go...  I knew my comic reading luck was too good prior to this issue.  So yeah, I didn't like this issue at all.  The F4 are too cardboard for my tastes here, and the two kids are incredibly irritating.  Like to the point where I've stopped reading their dialogue because they piss me off so much.  Besides that, there's nothing interesting happening here...  Oh no, something mysterious is wrong with Ben!  Oh no, Reed has a mysterious disease!  Oh no, Sue is pouting!  This series just isn't for me, so I'll be dropping it come Wednesday.  Score: 2 out of 10.

Superboy #19: This issue actually gives us SB's full origin(um, shouldn't that have happened in the zero issue?), as well as Harvest's.  Harvest is from a future where humanity is at war with the meta-humans, who have taken to abusing their powers.  As for SB, he is a clone of Lois Lane and Superman's son, Jon.  Jon was taken in by Harvest after his parents thought he had died.  Why?  Because Harvest intended on using Jon to kill every meta-human, since Jon was the most powerful of the metas.  However, Jon was messed up due to his hybrid Kryptonian/human DNA and wound up in a coma, so Harvest created a clone to try to help Jon(who he came to love like a son).  So yeah, SB is the clone of the son of Lois and Supes, and that?  That is SOOOOO much better than SB as the clone of Supes and Lex, or Supes and a random scientist.  I have to say, this issue was really good.  Like, surprisingly so!  I'm usually blasting Scott Lobdell's work, but he brought his A-game here.  Harvest became a deeper character, while SB has an origin that I like.  I still don't understand why we didn't get this in issue #0, but hey, at least we got it here.  Score: 8 out of 10.

Ultimates #23: The leader of California sends Tigra and Quake from the West Coast Ultimates to attack Cap at the White House.  Meanwhile, WCU member Vision has stolen Tony Stark's nuclear satellite and has sent it hurdling towards Sacramento   The leader of California figures that will be seen as an attack on California and will lead to the west coast states banding together against Cap and the rest of the country.  This issue was kind of a snoozer for me.  I just never got into it.  So yeah, that's all I have to say about this issue, actually...  Score: 5 out of 10.

Batman and Red Robin #19: In this issue we're introduced to Carrie Kelley, a college student that had apparently been tutoring Damian for thousands of dollars, as well as her blonde roommate that wears purple. (Hint, hint?) Anyway, She goes looking for Damian at his home but no one answers. Bruce starts looking into her life and when he tells her that her services are no longer needed, she asks where Damian is, causing Bruce to leave without answering. Also, Batman heads off to find Frankenstein with the intent of having him help resurrect Damian. Frankenstein is not on board with this, and neither is Red Robin, who finally pops up when Alfred asks him to go check out Bruce's location. Tim tries to stop Bruce but ends up getting punched in the face for his troubles. Sensing that Batman will do whatever he has to, Frankenstein blows up his lab/lair, leaving Batman at square one, now very pissed at Tim for interfering on his quest to resurrect Damain. This was a weird issue, considering Red Robin was barely in it and his name's in the title, but it was far from bad, plus Bruce dealt with Denial on his first of the five steps of grief. Next is Anger, and Red Hood is involved! Score: 6/10

Wolverine #2: In this issue, Logan is pursuing a child that seems to be mind controlled by some kind of alien-like being, as we see it's mind controlling other people as well. Logan wants to stop the being without hurting the kid, but he has a laser gun that basically disintegrates people on impact. Logan tries to talk the mind controller down and distracts it long enough to disarm the kid, who then leaps off of the building while still being controlled. Logan leaps after him and catches the kid, then lands with his body taking the impact. Logan and the kid survive, but someone else now has the laser gun, but they're dealt with by Nick Fury, who shows up to help Logan investigate the mind controllers. The issue ends with The Watcher showing up, meaning this is a big problem. I enjoyed this issue, It's weird how a story with Wolverine facing a kid could be this entertaining but it was, also Cornell has a penchant for mind control, doesn't he? Score: 7/10

Saga #12: This issue starts with us seeing some of Prince Robot's time on the front lines during the war, where he's saved by a medic that promptly dies afterwards. From there we see him take a call that basically motivates him to find Alanna and Marko and get home to his family. Prince Robot heads off to meet the author of the book Alanna read when she fell in love with Marko, and the author basically says he wrote it for a check and doesn't believe in what he wrote. He and Prince Robot share some words before the author reveals his son, a former war hero, hanged himself in the bathroom upon returning home from war. Prince Robot calls his son a coward and the author pulls a weapon on him, but Prince Robot shoots him in the leg first. Prince Robot decides to wait at the house for Marko and Alanna, knowing they'd seek out the sympathizer, but doesn't realize they're already there, hiding upstairs and aware of the Prince's presence. I enjoyed this issue, I like that everyone is humanized so no one really feels like a bad guy, everyone has motivation so it seems real. Prince Robot, The Will, Marko and Alanna, even Gwendolyn to a degree. Score: 7.5/10

And that my friends, is the Best of the Rest. I'll be here tomorrow with the final review of the comic week, Uncanny X-Men #4. And I probably will have short reviews for the week after while I play Injustice until my eyes bleed. Lol, anyway, til next time, this is JT, signing off!

Best of the Rest! Week of 3/13/13.

Hey there X-Maniacs, X here with some explaining to do...  So I've become horribly obsessed with Civilization 5, and have been spending entirely too much time playing that game.  At the expense of the blog. Yeah, I know, bad X...  Truth be told though, it's not completely my fault, as the past two weeks have seen me bring home a ton of mediocre books...  I've been giving out 7 out of 10's like there's no tomorrow!  To rectify things(and to make sure I post more than JT!), I'm gonna dust off that old tried and true blog post, The Best of the Rest!  Basically, I'll take a quick look at everything I've read(and haven't reviewed), and throw some thoughts out there.  Don't expect in depth reviews(or competent work, but if you're reading this, you probably don't expect anything competent to begin with!), just some thoughts, and a score.  Okay, we set?  Great.  Let's get this polished off.

Walking Dead #108: Jesus takes Rick to see Ezekiel, who has a tiger...  Yeah, I'm not sure how a frigging tiger managed to live through the zombie apocalypse, or ended up with Ezekiel, but here we are.  Ezekiel wants to team up with Rick's group and attack Negan, however, Rick has some reservations when he sees that one of Negan's men had defected to Ezekiel's side.  I enjoyed this issue, as always.  Kirkman is always strong here.  Negan is still a wonderfully over-the-top asshole, and I can't wait to see him get his comeuppance from Rick, although I will be really sad to see him go.  He's a fantastic villain...  Score: 7 out of 10.

Secret Avengers #2: Dammit, I want to love this series...  I really do...  But so far I'm just not feeling it...  This issue brings Taskmaster into the fold, as SHIELD rescues him from Bagalia(that villain country that isn't at all a rip-off of DC's Zandia...).  But wait, it looks like Tasky is a double-agent.  I mean, I should like everything going on here...  Taskmaster, obscure villains like Crossfire and Mentallo, Nick Spencer writing it all, but it just hasn't clicked for me yet.  I'm still hopeful here, but that hope is slowly diminishing.  Score: 4 out of 10.

Thor: God of Thunder #6: This issue was the Gorr origin extravaganza!!  And it was pretty good, as expected.  We find out why Gorr hates gods(they failed his family repeatedly), and see where he gets his powers from(aliens).  Like I said, this was a good issue.  Would I have liked to see some Thor?  Yes, of course.  Even with no Thor at all, this was still one of the better books I read this week, so no complaints here.  Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Thunderbolts #6: And the storyline from hell continues...  It's been SIX issues now!  And the team is STILL doing their first mission!!  Madman died here, so that's a plus, but I just want the team to get the hell off that damn island and fight some real villains already!  Thankfully, the first part should be accomplished with the next issue, but really, where's Baron Zemo and some Masters of Evil to fight these T-Bolts?!  Instead we're getting a Punisher/Elektra/Deadpool love triangle...  Weird...  Score: 3 out of 10.

Superboy #18:  This series continues to be oddly readable.  Probably because there are three writers here, meaning we have Tom DeFalco and Tony Lee to filter Scott Lobdell's garbage.  Superboy spends this issue fighting Plasmus, while Dr. Psycho takes a peek into SB's mind.  Oh yeah, Lex Luthor is in SB's mind for some reason...  To be honest, this issue is kind of what Thunderbolts needs.  A protagonist(Superboy) battling an antagonist(Plasmus).  Simple.  Throw in Dr. Psycho and Lex(kind of) and you have a good comic!  From DC!  Go figure.  Score: 7 out of 10.

Fantastic Four #5: Have I mentioned that I hate Franklin and Valeria?  I have?  Good, because this issue did nothing to change that.  Those two are so annoying.  Throw in a story that sees Julius Caesar turn out to be a time-travelling alien shape-shifter(yup...), and you have a recipe for disaster.  On the plus side, we're moving forward with the main storyline, as Sue has learned of Reed's condition.  But on the negative side?  Everything else.  Score: 3 out of 10.

Ultimate X-Men #24: I am still so conflicted about this series...  It's really not bad...  If I overlook my blinding hatred of Kitty Pryde...  How is she the leader of mutantkind...  I mean Storm is RIGHT THERE!  But yeah, back to the story.  Mach Two and the evil mutants are up to no good, Utopia is flourishing and elements of the government aren't pleased to see that.  It's really not bad.  I like most of the characters here. Jimmy is awesome, I like seeing Warpath and Psylocke with the evil mutants, even Mach Two has potential as a mini-Magneto.  But Kitty...  Grrr...  Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Huzzah, I'm done!  Seven comics, one post.  I very well may try to do a post like this every week on Monday.  That way I can to three or four in depth reviews for Thursday and Saturday, while covering everything else on Monday.  But, as with everything I do, that's subject to change.  Anyway, hope ya enjoyed reading this(I actually enjoyed typing it up!), and until next time, X out.

Superboy #17

One more review from me and I'm done for the week!  Huzzah!!  Tonight we finish off the week with DC and Superboy.

Superboy #17: 

Summary: We're reaching the end of the H'El on Earth storyline, as we have Superman, Superboy and Wonder Woman facing off against H'El and Supergirl.  The three heroes realize that their main objective was to halt H'El's machine from destroying the Earth, but before they can make a move, they are attacked by H'El himself.  H'El destroys Superboy and sends him flying, so Supes tells WW to check on SB before taking on H'El himself.  SB pulls himself up and heads after H'El's machine, but is intercepted by Supergirl.  Supergirl batters SB for a while, but he is saved by WW, who decides to deal with Supergirl herself.  With nobody left in front of him, SB makes a dash for H'El's machine, ending this issue 

Thoughts: Damn has this week been mediocre thus far!  Much like most of the other comics I've read this week, I can sum this issue up in a word.  That word?  Meh.  Once again, this wasn't a bad comic book.  Tom DeFalco knows how to write a good comic book(unlike a certain writer who used to do SB...).  This WAS an okay comic.  It just wasn't really for me.  I'm not interested in the H'El on Earth storyline, and I'm not following it at all.  I haven't read an issue of Superman or Supergirl, I haven't spoken to anybody about what's been going down in those books, nor have I read any reviews on those books.  I'm just not interested.  I do think fans of Supes and this storyline would enjoy this comic.  For me though, it was just meh.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.

Should H'El really be calling anybody an abomination?

Superboy Annual #1

One more review for the night, and it's also the 2,900 post here at the blog...  That's a hell of a lot of posts!  Anyway, back to the comic at hand.  This issue is a part of the H'El on Earth storyline that I haven't been following in the least.  Let's take care of this.

Superboy Annual #1

Summary: The set-up here is that Superman and Superboy have been transported to some alien prison world thanks to H'El.  The two do a lot of bickering with each other before Superboy realizes that the prison world was sentient.  Then Supes and SB then run into two aliens who had been locked on the prison world for a very long time, and we naturally get a battle.  In the end, Superboy outsmarts the two aliens and convinces the prison world to let him and Supes back to Earth.  That about wraps this one up.

Thoughts: Well, that was pretty succinct, no?  Really, there was no reason for a more in depth review, because that's the gist of what happened here.  This comic was more or less Superman and SB getting to know each other.  I will say one thing before ending this post though...  Tom DeFalco writes the New 52 Superboy SO MUCH like the pre-reboot Superboy.  And that?  That's a good thing to me.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Supes does tend to be an annoying know-it-all at times, doesn't he?

Superboy #16

First review(of three!) for this Monday evening is Superboy.  On the bright side, this series has gotten WAY better since Scott Lobdell stopped writing it.  On the negative side, this series is locked into that H'El on Earth storyline that I have zero interest in and haven't been following in Superman or Supergirl, so yeah, this should be a rough review...

Superboy #16: 

Summary: Apparently H'El and Supergirl are in the Fortress of Solitude planning on destroying the sun in a bizarre attempt to bring Krypton back to life... Or something.  Anywho, Batman(sporting a snazzy woolen cape!) makes plans to break into the Fortress along with the rest of the Justice League and Superboy.  The objective is to get a shard of Kryptonite that Supes had locked up in his trophy room, because that Kryptonite was going to somehow defeat H'El...  Or something.  Cyborg, Superman, Batman and Superboy manage to make it into the Fortress, but find that H'El had already gotten his hands on the Kryptonite, thus ruining the Justice League's plans.  And then a giant alien prison attacks the heroes, resulting in Superman and Superboy being sucked into some alternate dimension.

Thoughts: Meh.  This issue really didn't do much for me...  It was okay and all, but since I'm not following, nor do I care about, the H'El storyline, this issue was neither here nor there   I mean it wasn't Lobdell levels of awful or anything, but it didn't do anything for me.  I'd guess that your enjoyment of this issue would be directly connected to the H'El storyline.  If you're enjoying that storyline?  Then I'd venture that you'd enjoy this issue.  If you're like me and could care less about the H'El story?  Then this was a totally missable issue.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Superboy #9

A CULLING(!!!) crossover issue! What more needs to be said!?

Superboy #9:

Story Points:
-Superboy, the Titans and the Legion Lost crew take on Harvest's Ravagers.
-The battle is actually really good and pretty even, with Warblade shining during his battle with SB.
-Eventually the good guys win, and this one ends with Harvest showing up to deal with those meddlesome kids himself.

Thoughts: Well I'll be damned, I liked this issue! This may be the first issue of SB since the reboot that I can actually say that I liked! And it was a part of The CULLING(!!!) too! Go figure. This issue was mainly a lot of mindless violence, and with the prospect of this long-running SB/NOWHERE/Harvest/Teen Titans story seemingly ending soon, that just makes this all the better!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.

Superboy #8

Tonight we head to DC for two books. The first of which I expect to be bad(Superboy). The second I expect better things out of(Batman and Robin). Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised and both comics will be good. Or maybe I'll be sorely disappointed and both will suck... Well, let's see which way we go.

Superboy #8:

Summary: This issue gets started with Grunge(!) beating up Superboy on behalf of Harvest. Grunge then spouts gibberish about preparing SB for the culling so he'd be a Ravager... Okay then... SB accidentally breaks Grunge's neck during the battle, but Grunge no-sells it, puts his head back the right way and then continues beating the hell out of SB... Because he's AWESOME. Meanwhile, Fairchild does stuff. From there, we see Rose Wilson acting crazy, at least until Solstice speaks to her. Back with SB, he finds a novel way to use his telekinesis and tears out the implants that were powering Grunge, finally defeating him. Unfortunately for SB, he's too beaten up to enjoy the fruits of his labor and passes out with Grunge. Harvest takes SB to his colony, calls him his greatest accomplishment as well as most disappointing failure(ooooookay...), but his informational soliloquy is sadly interrupted by Rose, who brings a supposedly unconscious Solstice to him. Harvest leaves with Rose and Solstice, and this issue ends with SB waking up to find Terra and Beast Boy(DAMMIT!) acting all crazy.

Thoughts: Well, this issue falls victim to the Beast Boy Rule... What is that exactly? Any issue Beast Boy appears in? It automatically loses a half point from it's final score. It's the reverse Hardball Rule. Besides the unwanted Beast Boy appearance, this issue was okay. It was basically SB getting beaten up by Grunge all issue long until SB pulled a last ditch move to defeat Grunge. That's this issue in a nutshell. Not much more I can say here...

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

You've got to respect a guy who will just snap his neck the right way and keep taunting.

Superboy #7

Moving along, we'll head back to the DCU(and I STILL refuse to call it the DCnU, because that just looks dumb) and Superboy. I've yet to fully warm up to the new Superboy, but maybe this will be the issue my opinion of him changes... I don't know, I need SOMETHING to say in these intros!

Superboy #7:

Summary: Picking up from last issue, Ravager tries to attack Superboy, who had returned to NOWHERE seeking answers to the questions he had about himself. SB pretty much disposes of Ravager with little trouble, but is soon attacked by some of NOWHERE's other goons. SB manages to take those goons down, but is a little worse for wear. Eventually Ravager attacks again, and shoots SB with a gun that apparently fires Kryptonite rays. This weakens SB enough for Ravager to drive a sword through SB's chest, ending his attack. From there, SB is taken to a holding area where his tactile telekinesis is locked down and he is watched over by Templar. This issue ends with Wonder Girl sneaking into NOWHERE's facility and knocking Ravager out, since WG still had a score to settle with SB.

Thoughts: Okay, basically this was a pretty good comic book, with a good fight scene and some interesting reveals(we learned that SB was the second thing NOWHERE had cloned and got a shadowy glimpse of what I'm guessing is NOWHERE's big boss), but with a horrible ending... Why the HELL would the Titans have any interest in SB after how he treated them?! I mean we all know what this is going to lead to, the Titans storm NOWHERE's base, rescue Superboy, who is so grateful he joins up with them. It's funny, I was talking to fellow blogger JW the other day about how DC was going to make SB a Titan, since we ALL know it was going to happen eventually due to the teaser images from before the DC reboot. We were trying to figure out a satisfying way for SB to join the Titans after their battle... Let me tell you, the Titans magically finding NOWHERE's base, and then inexplicably rescuing SB, a proven enemy, is NOT the satisfying way I was hoping for. Oh well, maybe when SB DOES finally join the Titans he'll quit being the jerk he currently is and will be more like the SB from before the reboot... If things shake out like that, I guess I can overlook the nonsensical way it appears SB will wind up becoming a Titan.

Score: 7 out of 10.

HA!! That'll teach him!

Superboy #6

Alright, we're in the homestretch, as I'm finally getting towards the bottom of this week's new comic pile! First up tonight is this week's Runt of the Litter, Superboy. Here's hoping this issue turns out better than I expect it to.

Superboy #6:

Summary: We pick up where Teen Titans #5 left off, with Superboy leaving the defeated Titans behind and setting off to find Templar. Feeling melancholy, since his whole life has been nothing but half-truths and lies, Superboy sits on a bridge to mope, when he is spotted by Supergirl. SG confronts SB and inquires as to why he was wearing the symbol of the House of El. SG ends up touching the confused SB, which somehow lets SB see SG's memories, as well as learn how to speak Kryptonian... Oooooookay then... SB mentions to SG that he was a clone(sure, why not put that out there right off the bat?), which leads to SG attacking SB since clones were bad news on Krypton apparently. SG calls SB Kon-El, and says on Krypton, Kon-El was a mindless killing machine. SB gets distracted by a nearby helicopter, which allows SG to give him the slip, since she wasn't sure that he was evil, since he seemed so lost and innocent. With SG gone, SB returns to NOWHERE's base where he is confronted by an angry Rose Wilson.

Thoughts: This was another in a long line of meh comic books. The only major thing to come out of this comic was Superboy somehow getting a look in SG's mind... I don't know if Scott Lobdell understands this or not, but Superboy has telekinesis, not telepathy... The two aren't interchangeable... Unless Lobdell is making the new SB some sort of a low-level telepath, which honestly wouldn't surprise me by this point. Why not? It makes about as much sense as anything else going on in the new DCU. Bottom line? This comic left zero impact on me.

Score: 6 out of 10.

So wait, he's a telepath now too?!

Superboy #5

We'll stick with DC and take a look at the post-reboot version of Superboy. Let's see how many evil things he does here.

Superboy #5:

What Happened: Templar reveals to the doctor currently in charge of the Superboy project that he has some weird powers, and that he expects some results from the SB project... Oookay then... As for SB, he acts nasty to Rose Wilson before sneaking out of his room undetected to break Red free from the truck Project NOWHERE was transporting her around in. After freeing Red, SB hands her over to a mystery character who he seems to trust. SB manages to return to his room before Templar and some guards come barging in, which annoys Templar, since he was hoping this would be the reason he needed to finally ask his supervisors(wait, I thought Templar WAS the boss?!) to terminate SB. With that, SB smugly returns to sleep and some other random weird stuff happens.

Thoughts: Ugh. I really don't like this series. And apparently I'm not alone, as I just checked the sales numbers and since the first issue, SB has lost approximately 14,000 readers between issues #1 and #4. I just don't get what Scott Lobdell is going for here... Is he trying to make SB into the moody loner? The arrogant anti-hero? The unlikable scumbag? All of the above? None of the above? I just don't get it. Besides that, the story just totally lost me here(I seriously thought Templar was the guy in charge of NOWHERE!). Yeah, I was a huge fan of the pre-reboot Superboy, which is why I decided to give this series a chance, but I don't know how much longer I can keep reading this... I keep hoping we get the slightest glimmer of the pre-reboot Superboy here, but thus far, we've had nothing but the current, completely unlikable SB. I don't want to become on of those 14,000 people who dropped this title, but my patience is really wearing thin...

Score: 3 out of 10.Yes, Superboy is still vaguely evil.

Superboy #4

Next up is Superboy. You can almost guarantee that the sucky comic reading streak is going to hit 6 here, as I really haven't enjoyed any of the first three issues of this series. Please surprise me here, Scott Lobdell!

Superboy #4:

What Happened: Before Red can pulp Superboy for breaking into her room, a bunch of NOWHERE goons led by a guy named Centerhall come in, knock Red out and take her away. Centerhall tells SB that Red was a terrorist who was undermining NOWHERE from the inside, before telling SB that he wanted to work with him. To that end he tells SB everything he knows about his creation(not a whole lot), gives him a card that would allow SB to contact him, and allows SB to leave the NOWHERE facility to live on his own. SB wanders around acting all pissed off at people and setting the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree alight, before noticing two teenage criminals tossing some guy out of a window. SB saves the guy which angers the two criminals, who attack SB. SB manages to defeat them with little trouble, and feels good afterwards. Liking this new feeling, and realizing that NOWHERE was correct in saying that teenagers with powers needed to be controlled, SB gets in touch with Centerhall and tells him that he'd go after Wonder Girl and the Teen Titans like NOWHERE wanted.

The Good: Superboy, while still mainly unlikable, gave off a bit of an early X-Man-ish sort of vibe in this issue, which is something I really responded to. I liked that NOWHERE decided to offer Superboy the carrot(Centerhall) as opposed to the stick(Templar), because it was obvious he was never going to blindly follow Templar, so the change in strategy was a smart move. Red mentioning that she had thirteen allies is an obvious nod to Gen13, which I'll be looking forward to seeing pop up down the road.

The Bad: While I liked SB a bit more in this issue, he was still by and large unlikable. Yeah, he saved people, but he also set the Rockefeller Center tree on fire. I don't think the teenage villains were ever mentioned by name here, which was kind of weird... The fight scene went by too quickly, although that's a really mild complaint.

The Verdict: Huh, who'd have believed that THIS comic would be the one to finally pull me out of the comic book doldrums?! Seriously, there was way more that Lobdell did right than he did wrong here, so I honestly have no major complaints. Believe me, I'm as shocked as anyone!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Truth be told, I'd have done the same thing. Damn carolers...

Superboy #3

Okay, here's a slight change of plans... I was planning on reading this comic last this week on account of hating the first two issues as well as my overall disdain for this new Superboy. We annihilated pre-reboot Superboy for THIS crap!? However, two of my regulars(JT and Movieartman) have told me that I should give this issue a read because the last page is a shocker. So here we go, a day early, this week's Runt of the Litter!

Superboy #3:

What Happened: Superboy manages to free himself from under the surface of the Earth and heads away towards freedom. He ends up bumping into some kids trying to have sex and after scaring them, offers the girl a ride home. SB flies too fast and scares the girl anew, at which point another one of NOWHERE's escaped aliens attacks SB, telling him that he was part Kryptonian, part human as well as something else. The two kind of fight and the alien... melts(?) at which time SB flies away to get some answers. He sneaks into NOWHERE and confronts Red, but is shocked when she hulks up and angrily raises SB in the air, pissed that he'd confront her after all she'd done for him.

The Good: We seem to have a future threat for Superboy(besides NOWHERE) with the two characters from the beginning of this issue. The ending WAS a surprise. I am interested to see what happens next issue. The idea that SB is more than simply Kryptonian and Earthling is kind of interesting...

The Bad: Most of this issue was just Superboy wandering around aimlessly. SB popping out of the ground near the two teenagers who just so happened to be around his age was a bit much... Seriously, out of ALL the places he could have emerged, THAT'S where he popped up!? I still don't really care about NOWHERE one way or the other... So they're yet ANOTHER clandestine organization in the new DCU. *yawn* Join the club.

The Verdict: You know what my mistake has been with this series? And yes, I'm a big enough man to admit that I did indeed make a mistake. I kept comparing this obviously lesser Superboy to the prior Superboy, the one who I was a huge fan of... About halfway through this issue I realized that this was a different character, that it could never touch how awesome “my” Superboy was and you know what? I found myself FINALLY enjoying this series. That must be the trick. Just pretend all of those past DC comic books, all of the time and money I spent reading and collecting them never happened. Pretend that the past 70+ years of DC never existed. Yes, it's tough, because as I said, I spent a lot of time learning about and enjoying the DC Universe, but unfortunately, that's gone now, and all that's left are these weird, bastardized, lesser versions of the characters that used to be. Now that I've come to terms with that, I think I'll be able to enjoy these new DC comic books more. Sure, I'll probably continue dropping titles weekly, but at least now I finally understand. As for this comic? It was good. I liked it and I'm interested in picking up the next issue. There's not much more to say.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Quick question... How the hell does Superboy put that outfit on?!?

Superboy #12 (Feb. 1995)

The last of the DC Retro-Reviews for tonight is none other than an issue of Superboy. And not just any issue of Superboy, but an early issue of Superboy back when he was in full 90's cliché mode! That's right, fade hairstyle, earring, leather jacket, sunglasses, the works! This should be a disaster!

Superboy #12:

What Happened: Superboy buys himself a rundown compound in Hawaii for himself and his freeloading “agent” and his agent's daughter to live in. Unfortunately, the money SB used to buy the compound was money his agent was planning on sending to a crime family to pay off the debt he owed them. Since he couldn't pay his debt, the crime family sends Copperhead in to teach the agent a lesson. Copperhead decides to kill the agent's daughter, but is stopped by SB, who electrocutes Copperhead with some exposed wire.

The Good: The story was solid, and made sense. SB's agent owed the mob, he couldn't pay, so they sent an assassin after him. Simple. SB was at his early 90's best(worst?) in this one. Even though his dialogue was awful, I couldn't help but like SB here.

The Bad: Like I said, SB's dialogue was AWFUL! SB vs Copperhead probably shouldn't have lasted as long as it did... You'd think that would be a first round knockout, but the fight went on way longer than it probably should have. I hate SB's agent, and I'm not that fond of his daughter... As a matter of fact, I hate pretty much all of the supporting characters in this comic from around this time, from SB's agent, to the agent's daughter, to that cradle-robbing girlfriend of SB's.

The Verdict: Yep, this was sure a Superboy comic from the mid-90's alright... Luckily, I tend to like comics from that era, so I can overlook some of the more annoying aspects and still manage to enjoy the story. Somebody without my love of bad 90's comics might have found this comic way less enjoyable than I did... Of course, I'd MUCH rather have THIS Superboy around today as opposed to the current, robotic SB. At least this Superboy had a personality, unlike Robo-Superboy. So once again, thanks for destroying yet another character, Geoff Johns. You're a class act...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.There you go, Superboy in all his 90's “glory”!

Superboy #2

I am a big Superboy fan. I have been since the moment I first started reading DC comic books(my introduction to DC was Peter David's Young Justice). With that said I was disappointed by the rebooted Superboy series last month. It's like DC decided to take everything that made Superboy Superboy and erase it. Here's hoping in this issue SB gets himself a personality transplant or something.

Superboy #2:

What Happened: The guy running NOWHERE decides to send Superboy out on his first mission, defeating a trio of aliens who managed to escape from a NOWHERE lab facility. SB is joined by his handler Rose Wilson, and the two enter the lab and face the aliens. Rose manages to kill one of the aliens, but SB is overwhelmed and knocked out by the other two, which causes his powers to spike exponentially, destroying the entire facility.

The Good: The battle scenes were vibrant and fun. It was good to see that Rose was still an ass-kicker extraordinaire... That's all I've got.

The Bad: I HATE this version of Superboy... There's absolutely nothing likable about him. He's like a bizarre Lex Luthor robot. That's probably my only real gripe with this issue, but that's a pretty major gripe.

The Verdict: You know, maybe I should rethink my whole, “I won't drop the new Superboy series for any reason!” statement... I mean this character? The Superboy in this comic? It ISN'T Superboy. This is NOTHING like the character I became a huge fan of upon my introduction to DC comic books. It's just a pissy robot. Scott Lobdell REALLY needs to turn Superboy from a detached, apathetic robot into SOMETHING likable, or I'll be forced to do the unthinkable, drop a series with the name Superboy on the cover...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Release me... I am... BZZT a robot...

Superboy #1

And here's my first look at the “new” Superboy as written by Scott Lobdell. Lobdell is probably best known in comic book circles as the writer of Uncanny X-Men for an extended amount of time, a run on X-Men and the first 30 or so issues of Generation X. The problem here is that all of that work took place in the mid-1990's. Since that time Lobdell really hasn't done anything of note in the mainstream comic industry, at least to my knowledge. If that's incorrect, I'm sure somebody will set me straight. Now Lobdell is writing three of DC's rebooted series, even though he hasn't been in the mainstream in a good 15 years. The moral of this story? It's nice to have friends in high places...

Superboy #1:

What Happened: A group called NOWHERE has managed to create a human/Kryptonian hybrid that they have named Superboy after the source of the Kryptonian DNA they used to create SB. We aren't told where the human DNA comes from, but since DC is under the impression that Geoff Johns shits gold, it's pretty obvious. Anyway, the doctor in charge of the SB project thinks he's failed since SB hasn't responded to anything(which is due to the fact that SB doesn't use his brain to think, but his entire body...) and decides to terminate SB, while one of the doctors, Red, strongly disagrees. Red is apparently a telepath and yells in SB's head to fight back before he dies, which he does, killing all of the doctors, except for Red, who had been outside the room when SB broke out. Fast forward a month and now Red is in charge of the experiment and is running SB through a virtual reality program to get him used to being around people. SB knows he's in a VR program and acts aloof and unsympathetic to the plight of others, which annoys Red since she couldn't understand why he wasn't more like Superman. Before Red can “fix” Superboy, her boss, some guy named Templar arrives at the base and wants SB released and put on the Teen Titans to presumably kill them all. SB seems fine with that idea since it means he'd finally have some freedom.

The Good: Rose Wilson was in this comic as a member of NOWHERE, as well as SB's friend in the VR program. SB himself is shown to be quite strong(well, his TK is), which is nice, since the pre-reboot SB was never quite as strong as you'd have expected. Templar seemed interesting.

The Bad: Pretty much everything else... SB was more Lex Luthor than Superman, and had none of the personality here that made him one of my favorite characters pre-reboot. We learn nothing about NOWHERE, except that they have a really big base, are into genetic experimentation and seem to listen to this Templar guy, who hates the Teen Titans for some reason... Which is a bit confusing since DC hasn't even released Teen Titans #1 yet! Shouldn't Teen Titans #1 have come out first, and then this series? And of course there's the whole, “Superboy doesn't need to think with his brain, he can think through his entire body!” thing. I can't even begin to explain how a being that's half human does THAT.

The Verdict: Well, Scott Lobdell is writing five of my favorite DC characters in the new DCU(Superboy, Red Robin, Kid Flash, Arsenal and Jason Todd), and I'd say his first shot with one of them as a swing and a miss. There just wasn't anything here that made me like or even care about Superboy. He just didn't come across as likable and he had zero personality. I guess he was a little bit flirty with Rose, but that was the extent of SB's personality. If this was almost any of other the rebooted DCU comic books, I'd definitely be dropping it after reading this. But since this IS Superboy(in a way...), I'll be sticking around, crossing my fingers and hoping things get better...

Score: 4 out of 10.It wouldn't be a Superboy comic if SB wasn't floating in a tube in his black briefs.

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

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

Superboy #11:

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

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

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


Zatanna #16:

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

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

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


Batman #713:

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

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

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


Justice League of America #60:

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

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

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

Superboy #10 & Superman #714

Let's switch gears and bravely take a trek to the DC side of things... I have two comics with the name, “Super” on the cover, so I guess I might as well give them a read/review together. And don't worry Marvel fans, after this brief trip to DC land it's back to the world of Marvel for me.

Superboy #10:

Summary: Well here's an easy comic to review... This issue tells the story of Tannarak, the wizard responsible for the Hollow Men, as well as the multitude of Superboy clones hidden deep beneath Smallville. The bottom line is that Tannarak is an uber-powerful mage who has butted heads with the Phantom Stranger for tens of thousands of years. He's always tried to create duplicates of people to send throughout the world to conquer and/or destroy it. After biding his time for several hundred years, he resurfaced in 1880's Smallville, offering to give Smallville's town doctor, the immoral Eben Took, the children his wife lost in childbirth. The two plotted for over a hundred years until they managed to acquire Superboy's DNA, at which point the cloning shenanigans began. From there we head back to the present where Tannarak tells Superboy that once SB was defeated he'd harvest the souls of the people of Smallville to power his army of Superboy clones... And that's about it.

Thoughts: I have no real complaints here. We now know exactly who the villain of this storyline is, and what his major malfunction is. I don't know that we needed an ENTIRE issue spelling that out for us, but since Tannarak's story wasn't boring, I guess I can't complain... Much. I don't quite grasp spending this long on a villain's origin story, especially since there's only one more issue before DC blows Superboy to smithereens, but what can ya do?

Score: 7 out of 10.Since Superboy only appeared on two pages in this one, it was pretty easy picking out a page to scan!


Superman #714:

Summary: This issue begins with Supes rescuing Lois Lane from the crazy woman in Seattle that had kidnapped Lois last issue. With Lois out of harm's way, Supes returns to Seattle, and is surprised when the crazy woman begins to battle Supes with an array of Kryptonian powers. Realizing that a battle with another Kryptonian type individual could wreak untold damage in a major city, Supes calls to the Superman Squad from the future(UGH!!!), who open up a portal taking Supes and the crazy woman to the Still Zone, a place where only Supes and this woman existed. With that, the crazy woman, Lisa Jennings, gives her origin story... Basically she was a mild mannered teacher until she happened to touch a Kryptonian Sunstone at the very moment Supes was walking past her house. The Sunstone forced all of the negative emotions Superman was thinking at the time into Lisa's head, driving her crazy... As well as inexplicably giving her Supes' powers, but let's casually forget about THAT, since it makes no real sense... Now knowing why Lisa was crazy, Supes grabs the Sunstone that Lisa had conveniently brought along with her and thinks only happy thoughts into it, um, reversing the negative thoughts in Lisa's head and causing the Sunstone to explode. With that taken care of, Supes exits the Still Zone, takes Lisa to the hospital, makes out with Lois(for the last time I guess...) and sails off into the sunset, concluding this series until the reboot.

Thoughts: The biggest problem with this issue for me? The Superman Squad. I absolutely hate that idea, and in a universe that already has the Legion of Super-Heroes running around in the future, I don't see the need for this Superman Squad... Kind of like how I didn't see the need for this storyline in general. It added nothing worthwhile to the Superman mythos, and didn't tell a particularly interesting story. If you did happen to enjoy JMS' gazillion part storyline, more power to you. Me? I found it plodding, boring, and completely anti-climatic. Here's hoping post-reboot Superman is WAY better than this.

Score: 4 out of 10.The end of Superman... For now...

Batman and Robin #25 & Superboy #9

And we're back to DC today... I've got to admit, with the exception of Batman and Robin, none of the DC comics I picked up this week are really that interesting to me... Too bad I don't have some more Marvel/Fear Itself comics left to read. Eh, who knows, maybe DC will surprise me in a good way for once...

Batman and Robin #25:

Summary: We get started with the Red Hood(That would be the awesome Jason Todd to any noobs out there) ditching Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin so he could rescue Scarlet on his own. After contacting Scarlet's kidnappers, Jason heads to an abandoned middle school, where he finds the mystery woman who took Scarlet. The woman forces Jason to disrobe, and scans him to make sure he wasn't carrying any concealed weapons(must resist urge to make concealed weapon joke...). As soon as the scans come back clean, the mystery woman releases Scarlet, and Jason tells her to run away while she still can. Scarlet doesn't want to, and Batman and Robin arrive on the scene, having tracked Jason thanks to a GPS he swallowed before “ditching” the Dynamic Duo. With the mystery woman and her goons distracted by the new arrivals, Jason gets dressed, grabs his guns and prepares to get some good, old fashioned revenge. Jason begins shooting at the goons, but is quickly jumped by Bats, who gives the whole, “No killing!!!” speech. Jason angrily agrees to play by Dick's rules, until he spots an opportunity to escape with Scarlet. With Bats and Robin dealing with the goons, Jason grabs Scarlet and makes a break for it, getting to the roof of the school and discovering a helicopter. Jason and Scarlet get in and take off, but are soon pursued by Bats and Robin, who... um, I don't know, beat up and then tied up the bad guys, called the police, grab a cup of coffee, learn just what the mystery woman's problem with Jason was, and then were right on Jason's tail. Jason pushes a remote control which sets off a bomb on some train tracks, and radios Dick, telling him that he had 6 other bombs on those tracks, meaning Dick could either follow Jason, or disarm the bombs. With no real choice, Dick goes after the bombs, and Jason and Scarlet get away scot-free.

Thoughts: Oh well. When I first heard about this three part storyline a few months back, I was beyond psyched! I mean it was Jason Todd, probably one of my top 5 favorite DC characters, written by the man who writes him better than anybody else, Judd Winick! I was expecting three consecutive perfect scores! Instead I wound up reading three mediocre comics... After I finished this comic I took a moment to sit back and ruminate on this storyline... Yes, ruminate! “Why wasn't it as good as it should have been?!” I wondered... And then I figured it out. This wasn't Winick writing HIS Jason Todd, it was Winick writing Grant Morrison's Jason Todd! Yes, the dialogue was good-to-great, something Winick is a master at, but the story, and even the look of Jason was the Morrison version! And anybody who knows me knows I hate the red-headed, acne-riddled Morrison version of Jason Todd... Now if Winick would have written HIS version of Jason, I'm SURE this storyline would have been eight different shades of awesome. But he didn't, and so it wasn't.

Score: 7 out of 10.I guess those goons know what Jason's natural hair color is...


Superboy #9:

Summary: Okay, this one isn't going to be easy to review, so bear with me... The Phantom Stranger has brought Superboy, Krypto, Psionic Lad and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius to the bizarre city below Smallville named Hollowville... Oh, and it's named Hollowville because the Hollow Men live there. See, it makes sense now, right? Anyway, The Phantom Stranger tells Psionic Lad and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius to search for the captured Lori Luthor while he takes Superboy and Krypto to destroy the factory in the center of Hollowville. Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, being a genius and all, convinces Psionic Lad to change his name to Psion, so that's what I'll be calling him from this point forward. Simon Valentine: Boy Genius and Psion find Lori tied up in some barn, and while Simon Valentine: Boy Genius is untying Lori, Psion is contacted by his superiors in the future who tell him that he had to kill the future's huge threat now, since the situation in the future had reached a critical stage. The huge threat in question? Simon Valentine: Boy Genius! Yeah, I know, SHOCKING... Anyway, Psion doesn't want to kill Simon Valentine: Boy Genius since they were friends and Simon Valentine: Boy Genius gave him a new codename and all. Psion decides to ignore his superior and is blindsided and knocked out by Parasite, who works for the Hollow Men now. I guess... Maybe... As for Superboy, the Phantom Stranger leads him into the factory where Superboy finds himself surrounded by thousands of cloned bodies of himself. The Phantom Stranger reveals that the evil Took family was planning on powering the Superboy clones with the souls of every living being in Smallville. Upon hearing that, Superboy questions how the Phantom Stranger knew all of this information, and the Phantom Stranger reveals that he was the one who was going to put the souls in the cloned bodies(!!). At this time Eben Took(the head of the crazy Took family) shows up and Took and the Stranger thrash Superboy and Krypto. Superboy asks the Stranger to stop what he was doing, at which point the Stranger reveals that he was an impostor Phantom Stranger, and that he had captured the real Phantom Stranger(!).

Thoughts: Looking back, that review was a bit more sarcastic then it needed to be. I actually enjoyed this issue quite a bit. We finally learn that Psion had been sent to the past to kill Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, which was, in all honesty, no surprise at all, so I'm glad Jeff Lemire just came out with it already. We also learn about how many of the events from earlier in this series were connected to Eben Took and his Hollow Men. Plus the reveal that the Phantom Stranger leading Superboy around was a fake TOTALLY took me by surprise. I definitely didn't see that one coming. Nor did I expect to see the real Stranger a helpless captive at the end of this issue. There are going to be two issues of this series released in August as Lemire has to wrap up his run before the reboot, and if they're as good as this one, I'll definitely be looking forward to them.

Score: 8 out of 10.But he was using the Phantom Stranger's dialogue box!!!

Superboy #8 & Uncanny X-Force #11

Here's an oddball pairing of comics for you guys, the latest issues of Superboy and Uncanny X-Force... There's absolutely nothing that I can think of that these two series have in common, other than their placement in my new comic pile... Oh well, since they're sitting here, I might as well read 'em!

Superboy #8:

Summary: We get started with the Phantom Stranger thinking about the mystery in Smallville and realizing that it would be concluding at last. With that, he transforms into a murder of crows(what, that's what a group of crows are called!) and flies away... Well that was... something... Psionic Lad senses a disturbance and sends his mind out to investigate, and is yelled at by the Stranger to get out of his head. Stunned by the force behind the Stranger, PL decides to follow the murder of crows. The crows head to Simon Valentine: Boy Genius(oh, you KNEW he'd be popping up eventually!) and steal a weather altering device he was working on, which leads to Simon Valentine: Boy Genius following the crows. From there Krypto lands near a man in Smallville and seems intrigued by him. Superboy, confused by Krypto's overly friendly behavior, lands to talk to the man. The man tells SB a tale from the mid-1850's, about Nathan Kent, who was the sheriff of Smallville and his deputy, that's right, you guessed it, Albert Valentine: Police Genius. The story is REALLY long, and dealt with some freaks named the Took's arriving in town, starting trouble and mutilating children. Needless to say, Nathan rounds up a posse and confronts the Took's, which leads to a big fight that ends with the Took's barn being burnt down. Nathan heads into the burning barn to search for survivors, but only sees the head of the Took clan doing some sort of wacky experiments on the mutilated kid before the fire pushes Nathan away. From there, SB realizes he was talking to the Phantom Stranger, and everybody in Smallville, with the exception of SB, Stranger, Simon Valentine: Boy Genius, and PL wind up falling asleep where they stood. Oh, and Lori Luthor ends up finding the Took's old barn and vanishing into it. The three boys head to the location of the old barn, and are joined by the Stranger, who reforms from the crows. With that, the four enter the barn and find a stairwell leading miles into the ground. Upon arriving at the bottom, they find a mess of zombie-fied Took's and a small settlement.

Thoughts: You know, this issue wasn't that bad. If you would have taken out some of the VERY long 1850's Smallville stuff, I'd have scored this issue even higher. Even Simon Valentine: Boy Genius didn't bug me here like he usually does... I guess the impending end of the DCU has me feeling more kindly towards the DC comic books I'm reading, since in a few months, I won't be reading any...

Score: 7 out of 10.If you look closely, you can see Simon Valentine: Boy Genius!


Uncanny X-Force #11:

Summary: This issue begins in one of Dark Beast's labs as he opens a portal to his home dimension, the Age of Apocalypse... You know, Dark Beast is all kinds of smart, but am I supposed to believe he's smart enough to have created an inter-dimensional portal?! That's like Reed Richards smart, not Hank McCoy smart! Anyway, Dark Beast, along with Wolvie, Fantomex, Deadpool and Psylocke enter the portal in order to reach one of Dark Beast's AOA labs so they could retrieve the life seed, which would purge Apocalypse's influence from Archangel. And I'll be damned... There it is, the greatest alternate dimension ever created by either Marvel or DC, the Age of Apocalypse... Awesome... Anyway, the four X-Forcers and Dark Beast enter Dark Beast's lab, but are unknowingly followed by Wildchild and Sabretooth, two members of the AOA X-Men. Dark Beast finds the life seed and is ready to hand it over to the X-Force members when AOA Nightcrawler(!) teleports in and swipes the seed, figuring Dark Beast was up to some evil plot before teleporting away with it. Psylocke scans for AOA Nightcrawler and tells Wolvie he was outside. Wolvie tells Psylocke to keep an eye on Dark Beast while he took Fantomex and Pool outside to retrieve the seed. Upon getting outside, Wolvie is immediately jumped by AOA Sabretooth(!) and AOA Wildchild, since Tooth and Child figured Wolvie was a Dark Beast created clone of AOA Wolvie. While that's going on, Nightcrawler teleports over to Deadpool and tries to kill him the same way he killed Pool's AOA counterpart, Dead Man Wade, by teleporting away with Pool's head... AWESOME!!! However, it seems Fantomex misdirected Nightcrawler into thinking he'd decapitated Pool, allowing Fantomex the opportunity to nail Nightcrawler with a stiff right hand, which causes Nightcrawler to drop the seed. Before Pool or Fantomex can get the seed, AOA Sunfire snatches the seed from the ground and incinerates it, figuring if Dark Beast wanted the seed so bad, it had to be no good. By this time Psylocke and Dark Beast have arrived on the street and the X-Forcers are horrified that Archangel's salvation was destroyed just like that. Psylocke recognizes AOA Tooth from her time on the Exiles(awesome job by Rick Remender for that one) and convinces Wolvie that this version of Tooth wasn't a bad guy, which ends their battle. Dark Beast ends up sneaking over to the portal back to the 616 Marvel Universe and walks in, leaving X-Force stranded in the AOA world(!). With Tooth having vouched for X-Force after hearing who they were and what they were doing from Psylocke, the AOA X-Men take X-Force to their secret headquarters were they come face to face with AOA Magneto and Jean Grey(!!!!).

Thoughts: This was a TOUGH issue for me to review... The AOA fanboy in me wanted to ignore the minor complaints I had and give this issue a perfect score based solely on the fact that it was X-Force in the AGE OF APOCALYPSE!!! I mean, you'll not find a bigger AOA fan out there than me! It was, is, and probably always will be, the epitome of what an event x-over should be. In short, the Age of Apocalypse is, to me, perfection. That's why I hated that terrible AOA mini-series that was released in the mid-2000's... It was like a terrible, deformed, bastard child of the original AOA... It had some of the characters, but none of the great writers/artists who made the original AOA what it was. Now this comic, much to it's credit, seemed to ignore the terrible 2000's AOA mini. Usually I'm a huge stickler for continuity, but in this case, I hope Rick Remender pretends that mini never happened. So with all that said, what of this issue? If you read and enjoyed the original AOA, I'm quite confident you'll enjoy this comic. If you're a fan of Uncanny X-Force, I'm pretty sure you'll like this comic. If you like alternate dimensional storylines, I figure you'll like this issue... Do you see what I'm getting at? This was a very good comic! Check it out!!

Score: 9 out of 10.How awesome it is to be back in the AOA...