Quick Hits: Superman/Batman #87, Captain America Corps #3, X-Factor #224 & Thunderbolts #162

As I'm short for time, but really want to get these reviews done before tomorrow, I'm going to pull out yet another old chestnut from the past... Reviews in three sentences or less! So here we go, 4 comics, 12 sentences to review all four of them. Get ready, get set, go!

Superman/Batman #87:

What Happened: Joker tries to attack Clark Kent, but Kent is able to avoid Mistah J's attacks until Batman shows up to help. Ultimately Joker hops out the window with Clark, but Clark gets saved by Bats before making the quick switch to Superman and capturing Joker in Joker's parachute. This one ends with Clark complaining to the crooked Gotham newspaper editor before firing him on behalf of Bruce Wayne(which is kind of bizarre...).

Thoughts: Meh. This was an okay story, nothing special or great or anything. It was kind of fun seeing Clark try to save his secret identity from Joker, since all it would have taken was one good hit from Joker for Clark's identity to have been blown. This is one of those perfectly mediocre comic books I mention from time to time. It wasn't horrible or anything, but I sure won't remember it in a week's time.

Score: 7 out of 10.Um, shouldn't Clark have moved his head out of the way of that bullet?


Captain America Corps #3(of 5):

What Happened: The Cap Corps decide to figure out why the Avengers never came to be in this new timeline by talking to Wasp, checking on Pym in the crazyhouse(HA!) and checking out Tony Stark's corpse. We learn that Wasp is working with the fascist Captain America wannabes, Pym gets kidnapped from the nuthouse by Bucky and 1940's Steve Rogers, and US Agent learns that Stark's brain had been removed from his body. This one ends with us learning that old Cap villain Superia seems to be behind the fascist regime, and that she was keeping Tony's talking brain in a tube while she tried to control the Cosmic Cube.

Thoughts: Again, meh. Pym in the crazyhouse made me laugh, because it seems whatever dimension you go to, poor Pym is nuts, Wasp being a traitor didn't surprise me, because I can't stand her, and the Superia reveal didn't do anything for me since I'm pretty sure we'll learn that Red Skull is actually the mastermind behind all of the Cap troubles. I mean really, who else would try to erase Steve Rogers from history and turn America into a police state ruled by people wearing variations of Cap's costume?

Score: 6 out of 10.Poor Pym... Crazy in any dimension...


X-Factor #224:

What Happened: Rahne gives birth to a little were-creature by vomiting it up. The were-baby attacks Agamemnon(who captured Rahne last issue) and mauls him, which freaks Rahne out when she wakes up, leading her to scaring the poor were-baby away. X-Factor run across the were-baby and accidentally blast it away, at which time Hela tries to take it as her own. Hela is attacked by several demons and gods that also want the were-baby as their own, leading to a massive explosion. In the end, Jack Russell finds the were-baby and decides to raise it in the wilderness, while Rahne acts crazy and swears that having a were-baby was God's punishment for the whole murderous X-Force thing.

Thoughts: Yeah, yeah, yeah, so I actually broke my own rule and used 5 sentences instead of 3 to review this comic. What can I say, since I make the rules, I can break 'em! Seriously though, I REALLY enjoyed this issue, thus explaining why I needed the extra sentences to review it. Peter David was on the ball here, as the dialogue was great, the story was pretty good, and I had no complaints about the art. Hell, this was one of the funnier comic books I've read in a while. As a matter of fact, Rahne's were-baby was downright adorable, and I don't use that word a lot! Now that the whole saga of Rahne's baby is over, I'm expecting X-Factor to get back to normal as we SHOULD get away from the magic stuff and head back to the more down to earth stuff that made this comic so great... At least until Rahne's were-baby shows up again, almost undoubtedly raised at an accelerated rate.

Score: 9 out of 10.Rahne's baby is probably the cutest were-baby I've EVER seen!


Thunderbolts #162(Fear Itself tie-in):

What Happened: While the T-Bolts are trying to defend Chicago from a horde of little demon-looking creatures, Fixer and the Beta-Bolts are betraying the T-Bolts. Man-Thing winds up ending the threat of the little demon-creatures by absorbing them and growing to an enormous size, at which point Satana removes a “bulb” from Man-Thing, which will grow into his next, um, incarnation. Without his bulb, giant Man-Thing bursts into flames, threatening all of Chicago, while Fixer manages to convince/coerce Moonstone and Satana to join himself and the Betas, leaving the rest of the T-Bolts to deal with a giant, flaming Man-Thing.

Thoughts: Eh, no real complaints here. Fixer betraying the T-Bolts and helping the treacherous Betas doesn't really shock me since Fixer has been secretly working with the suddenly evil Baron Zemo. What does surprise me is Fixer taking Moonstone with him, since we ALL know Moonstone will stab Fixer and the Betas in the back the first chance she gets... I mean really, Fixer has been working with Moonstone for YEARS now, doesn't he know how she operates yet? As for Satana, I'm hoping that she regains her senses and returns to the T-Bolts, because she's too good a character to throw in with the loser Betas. I'm not exactly sure why this comic got a “Fear Itself” banner on it, but it does... Good old Marvel...

Score: 7 out of 10.Man-Thing is SUCH a playa!!

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

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

Justice League of America #59:

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

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

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


Superman/Batman #86:

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

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

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

Power Girl #25 & Superman/Batman #85

Two soon to be canned DC books on the agenda. Yep, that's all the introduction I can think up...

Power Girl #25:

Summary: It appears Power Girl and Batman(Bruce Wayne) are trying to capture an escaped terrorist by the name of Rayhan Mazin. Rayhan has the ability to control the weather, and upon learning that his father was dying, decided to escape to say his good-byes to his dad. Rayhan claims he was innocent of the charges he was convicted of, but until that's proven, PG and Bats are obligated to recapture the fugitive. Since Rayhan couldn't get the two heroes to listen, he unleashes a hurricane and heads inside the hospital. PG tries to... fight the weather, I guess, while Bats chases after Rayhan. Rayhan floods a hallway to escape Bats, and makes it to his father's bedside just in times to say his good-byes before his old man passes. From there, Rayhan peacefully surrenders, and while PG is talking to Rayhan, Bats gets word that Rayhan really WAS innocent of the crimes against him. PG tells Bats that she was going to place Rayhan with the JSA to help him develop as a super-hero, which Bats is fine with. From there, Bats and PG say their good-byes(perhaps for the final time?), and this issue ends.

Thoughts: This was kind of like walking into a movie halfway through... I believe this was the second of a two part story, so it was a bit difficult to get into this one. However, once I had the characters/situation down, I did find myself enjoying this issue. I'm sure glad I started reading this series, since I've always been a fan of PG, and love Judd Winick's writing... What do you mean this was Winick's last issue on this book and this series wasn't surviving the DC Reboot?!?

Score: 8 out of 10.Hmm, read between the lines here and see what you can pick up about PG and the Reboot...


Superman/Batman #85:

Summary: We're back in the past here, with a dead body washing up near Jimmy Olsen in Metropolis. Jimmy snaps a few pics before the cops come by to take care of things. Later on, Perry White calls Clark Kent into his office and tells him that the body was a reporter friend of his from Gotham City. Perry continues, telling Clark that it's believed that this reporter had somehow figured out the secret identity of the Batman, and was murdered as a result. Perry finishes by telling Clark that he wanted him to pick up the dead reporters trail and finish the story. Curious about the whole thing, Clark heads to Gotham, and meets up with Bats. Bats tells Supes to keep his nose out of Gotham City business and takes off on him. Ah that friendly Batman... From there Bats heads to the dead reporter's apartment and finds a whole mess of newspaper clippings and evidence that link Bruce Wayne to Batman. As Bats is looking over the work, two cops enter the room, leaving Bats no choice but to torch all the paperwork before leaving(oh, and don't worry, Bats put out the blaze too). Later on, Supes catches up with Bats and asks him what was going on. Bats shows Supes a few things he managed to swipe from the apartment before setting it on fire, and reveals that the dead reporter had managed to get a hold of a piece of one of Batman's discarded gadgets, complete with a patent number from Waynetech. Long story short, the reporter did some digging, and was able to figure out Bruce and Bats were one and the same(and Bruce had been taking things from Waynetech while it was still publicly traded, meaning he was stealing from the stockholders or something). Supes still wants to help Bats get to the bottom of this mystery, but Bats continued to refuse Supes help, telling him that he didn't want nor need any assistance.

Thoughts: So, the murderer is Ra's Al Ghul, right? Anyway, this was the textbook definition of a perfectly acceptable comic. I mean, it didn't set the world on fire or anything, it simply told a straightforward story. The ONLY complaint I have here is that since this is the last storyarc in this series before the DC Reboot, I was kind of hoping we'd get a final current Superman/Batman story before the DCU gets turned upside-down...

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Dun dun dun!!!

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

Justice League of America #57:

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

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

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


Superman/Batman #84:

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

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

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

Teen Titans #94 & Superman/Batman #83

I'm just about to run out the door for round two of my classes today, but I wanted to post these reviews just to get them out of the way. Two more DC books and I'm finally done with last week's books, meaning I can get to this week's stuff. Instead of talking about it, let's get to it!

Teen Titans #94:

Summary: So apparently some ancient Hindu legend has kidnapped Wonder Girl, her mother and the parents of Solstice. The Hindu legends beat up WG while Red Robin figures out a way to get to... Um, Hindu legend world. The Teen Titans arrive in Hindu legend world and can't find WG, but do find her lasso. They decide to go searching in a group instead of splitting up, and end up being attacked by a mess of weird creatures. Raven goes crazy because she can't stand being around Solstice(I agree!), and blasts everybody in the area, Titans and weird creatures alike. When the Titans get up, Red Robin is gone, and one of the weird creatures has shape-shifted into Ravager while the other creatures kidnap the real Ravager. With Red Robin gone, Beast Boy takes over the leadership role(I'd personally rather listen to a tree than him...) and sends Kid Flash out to scout the area. This one ends with Red Robin and Ravager being taken before some evil blue Hindu guy in a throne chair.

Thoughts: Zzzzzzz... Wait, I'm awake... Um, what's going on... Oh yeah, Teen Titans. This issue was pretty bad. On the plus side, Nicola Scott did the artwork, so even though the story blows, the art is good. But yeah, the story does indeed blow. I literally have NO clue as to what's going on, except that JT Krul is desperate to try to get Solstice over as a Hindu/Indian hero. That's all fine, good and dandy, but the whole weird Hindu world story? It's really boring, and the explanation was just confusing. I don't see why he couldn't just add Solstice to the team in a simpler way, and THEN get into her religion/heritage, but whatever I guess. This story just isn't doing it for me, and sadly, that's causing me to resent Solstice...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.What is it, Barty? Is Wonder Girl in trouble, boy?


Superman/Batman #83:

Summary: Superman is trapped in a magic-ruled, apocalyptic, future world, where he is trying to help future Batman prevent this future from existing. Supes meets up with a few JLA members(including Klarion... Bum.. Bum... Bum... The Warlock), and they tell him their plan... Bats and the future JLA want to stop the evil sorcerers in control of the world from sending an evil demon back in time to stop younger Batman and Klarion... Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy from halting the evil magician's original plan for world domination. In the present, Bats, Klarion... Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy, and the Shadowpact attack the evil sorcerers, but as the heroes are beginning to triumph, a portal from the future begins to open, which will send the demon that turns the battle and lead to the evil sorcerers winning. In the future, Supes decides to help future Bats and the JLA stop the evil sorcerers from completing the spell that would completely send that demon back to the past, knowing that doing so would right the timeline, and eliminate the horrible future.

Thoughts: You know, I actually liked this issue, and this storyline is really winning me over... Go figure! As I've stated repeatedly, I'm a sucker for alternate future/alternate reality stories, and this one is slowly pulling me in. Yes, there's a talking monkey here(Detective Chimp), but besides that, I'm enjoying this. I like the duel story with Supes trying to fix the future while Bats tries to hold down the fort in the past/present, I really liked just about everything here. I wasn't that fond of this story when it started, but what can I say, it grew on me!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Bum... Bum... Bum...

Superboy #6 & Superman/Batman Annual #5

Okay, back to DC with parts four and five(or is it five and six?) of the Reign of Doomsday storyline. Onward!

Superman/Batman Annual #5:

Summary: This was a strange one, and a bit hard to review, but I'll try my best... In JLA #55, Doomsday attacked Alpha Lantern Boodikka because Cyborg Superman was hiding inside of her. Now it's important to note that Doomsday showed no interest in Supergirl... Anyway, this issue gets started with Cyborg Superman reforming and using his mastery over machinery to take control of the JLA Watchtower. Cyborg Supes and the Watchtower attack Doomsday, while Batman(Dick Grayson for this issue)and Supergirl run for cover since SG's powers were failing her. Bats figures that the magical defenses inside the Watchtower were affecting SG, and as such they head into the medical lab, which was programmed to serve as a panic room of sorts. Sure enough, once SG enters the med lab she immediately feels better. Bats realizes that he has to get to the other side of the Tower to shut down the magical defenses. Easier said than done, as Cyborg Supes and Doomsday are tearing the Tower apart. While Cyborg Supes has a death wish, he doesn't want to die to Doomsday(um, beggars can't be choosers...), since killing Doomsday would make him better than Superman in his deranged mind. While Bats is dodging traps and shrapnel, SG gets scanned in the med lab and discovers that she's dying... But wait! After getting a second opinion from a holographic version of Kent Nelson, SG learns that she wasn't REALLY dying, only that she blamed herself for the destruction of New Krypton and wanted to die. While SG is dealing with that revelation, Bats makes it to the control panel he was looking for, but is interrupted by Doomsday and Cyborg Supes, who nearly splatter Bats all over the wall. While Bats in collecting himself, Cyborg Superman blasts Doomsday to pieces... But wait! Doomsday reanimated himself and becomes Cyborg Doomsday, stealing Cyborg Supes powers in the process. With Cyborg Supes pretty much powerless, Cyborg Doomsday mops the floor with him. By now, Bats has deactivated the magic field and SG rushes into the room, battering Cyborg Doomsday into near submission. Cyborg Supes doesn't want to see SG steal his thunder and defeat Doomsday, so he tries to blast her from behind, but is interrupted by Bats. The blast misses SG, but distracts her long enough to be taken out by Doomsday. Doomsday then KO's Cyborg Supes and teleports away with both of them, leaving Bats behind trying to figure out what happened, ending this one.

Thoughts: Did you ever wonder why this series wasn't called Batman/Superman? I have. I mean, you'd think they'd have the title in alphabetical order... Or hell, I'd think that with 29 different monthly titles, Batman is the more popular hero, and thus he'd get top billing... Weird... Oh wait, I'm supposed to be talking about THIS issue, aren't I? I REALLY liked the parts of this story that dealt with the Cyborg Superman/Doomsday battle. At first I was a bit annoyed that Cyborg Supes didn't want Doomsday to kill him(wanting to die is Cyborg Supes whole shtick!), but James Robinson fixed that by stating that Cyborg Supes didn't care if he died or not fighting Doomsday, but that he wanted to prove that he was better than his arch-nemesis Superman by defeating the one creature to actually “kill” Supes, thus explaining why he didn't simply lay down for Doomsday. The scenes with Batman weren't bad, as he had to race through the possessed Watchtower, battling against all sorts of holographic JLA enemies, but the scenes with Supergirl REALLY hurt my enjoyment of this issue... A lot. The sub-story with SG wanting to die/craving forgiveness for what happened on New Krypton seemed like the sort of thing that should have been explored in the JLA comic(or Supergirl's own title for that matter). It added NOTHING to this story, and if anything, was a distraction from the main event, Cyborg Supes vs Doomsday. On top of that, Doomsday had NO interest in SG in JLA #55, but kidnapped her in this issue... She wasn't a part of the Reign of Superman storyline, so I have NO idea why she was here, or why she was kidnapped for that matter... Ignoring the SG stuff, this was an excellent comic. Unfortunately, I can't ignore it, so instead, this was simply a very good comic...

Score: 8 out of 10.How did he grow his cape from metal?


Superboy #6:

Summary: SB and his BFF/true love(come on, you KNOW it's true!), Red Robin have a heart to heart on the roof of Titans Tower where SB vents about Wonder Girl, Smallville and being on the Teen Titans. Red Robin hears SB out, and offers him some advice, but SB still feels that Smallville may not be the right place for him. With that he flies off and heads to Detroit, since the Motor City didn't seem to have it's own costumed protector. As SB is sightseeing, he's blindsided by Doomsday. Needless to say this shocks SB(I guess he wasn't reading the other Reign of Doomsday issues), who tries to take the fight away from populated areas. Unfortunately, for every strategy SB comes up with, Doomsday counters, eventually using SB's tactile telekinesis against him. From there, Doomsday basically beats the ever-loving hell out of SB for several pages until SB is finally rendered unconscious. With SB defeated, Doomsday slings SB over his shoulder and teleports to a mysterious spacecraft far away. Some stuff also happened with Simon Valentine: Boy Genius and The Atom Who SHOULD Have Died, Ray Palmer, but since I hate both characters, I choose to ignore all that!

Thoughts: Well why the hell couldn't SB #5 have been more like this?! This was a thousand times better then the travesty that last issue was. You got some character advancement when SB talked to Red Robin, you got some back story advancement with Simon Valentine: Boy Genius(although as I stated, I hate him...) and then you got a whole mess of pages featuring Doomsday murderizing Superboy! I really didn't have any complaints here at all. And after last issue, that's a REALLY good thing!

Score: 9 out of 10.Kiss him... Kiss him...

Quick Hits: 3/30/11

Four more reviews up for tonight, as I've managed to read nearly ALL of the comics in my new comic pile! Of course I'll be picking up a whole mess of new comics tomorrow, so my new comic pile will be replenished, but it was nice to almost see my nightstand again... Besides that, I just got the Avengers: The Korvac Saga hardcover from Amazon earlier today, and plan on beginning it later on tonight. That's all from me, let's get to those reviews.

X-Men #9:

Summary: The Whore, Wolverine, Storm, Gambit and Spidey are still searching the sewers of New York hoping to locate the Lizard, who they believe is transforming disgruntled teenage outcasts into lizard creatures like himself. However, we learn early on in this one that Lizard had been captured and his work was being corrupted by Dark Beast(I was right!!!). Being a mad scientist, Dark Beast was intrigued by Dr. Connors work, and as such wanted to perfect it even more. While the X-Men(and Spidey) are making their way through the sewers, Dark Beast is sending lizard teenagers out to stop them. Eventually the X-Men and Spidey make their way into Dark Beast's inner sanctum, where he pushes his lizard button and transforms all of the heroes, except for The Whore(who was safe in her diamond form) into bloodthirsty lizard creatures.

Thoughts: Dark Beast was in this comic, so it was automatically a good read in my book! Whenever one of the Age of Apocalypse characters shows up in a comic, I am one happy camper, especially since Dark Beast, besides Nate Grey of course, is my favorite AOA refuge. Besides my Dark Beast lust, the story here was actually quite good. It makes perfect sense that a mind as depraved as Dark Beast's would be enamored by Curt Connors work, and would want to perfect it. Dark Beast using a bunch of kids who were outcasted by society also made perfect sense, since they would be the most likely types of kids who would run away from home, thus raising no alarms in most people's heads. I also liked the ending, with Dark Beast turning the X-Men(and Spidey) into Lizard creatures. The only bad thing about that is that it means The Whore is going to wind up saving the day, and that is going to piss me of royally... But until that happens, this comic was all good.

Score: 8 out of 10.Awesomeness, thy name is Dark Beast!


Wolverine and Jubilee #3(of 4):

Summary: We begin this issue with Wolverine trying to catch the vampire woman who had Jubilee under her spell. Unfortunately for Wolvie, the vampire is too fast for him, and can easily avoid his attack. Eventually the vampire does something to Jubilee that makes Jubilee suddenly vanish. The vampire tells Wolvie that if he ever wanted to see Jubes again he'd assist her on some sort of errand. With no real choice, Wolvie agrees to go. Wolvie heads to Chernobyl, while Jubes awakens in some strange empty world. Rockslide's hands also begin to glow, which he believes is from when he crushed some sort of mystical amulet a few issues back. To figure out what was up, Rockslide heads to the place where he found the amulet and is attacked by a dragon. Back with Wolvie, he heads under Chernobyl and discovers a strange, handless man, who tells Wolvie that he won't part with whatever the vampire woman wanted. Rapidly tiring of the weird man, Wolvie kills him and tears open the box the man was trying to protect, finding a mess of magical amulets, one of which seemed to be holding Jubilee.

Thoughts: First things first, the Rockslide scene's were ABSOLUTELY pointless. I don't get why Rockslide is still alive while so many better young mutants are dead(Wallflower, Icarus, Wolf Cub, Tag, etc.)... No, we get Rockslide, Armor and Dust... Anyway, the story here was okay, as it has slowly gotten better as this mini-series has moved forward. Sure, it's nothing great, but it is an okay way to spend a few minutes.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Usage #265 for Wolverine's claws, opening stubborn packages.


Uncanny X-Force #6:

Summary: Fantomex is dealing with those blasted Deathlok cyborgs who have killed his mother and managed to steal the World. While that is going on, the members of X-Force are actually undecided as to whether they should bother helping Fantomex or not, since some members(Psylocke and Deadpool) are still miffed about Fantomex murdering Kid Apocalypse. Fantomex gets an assist from the main Deathlok(you know, the one from the 90's), and manages to get the World away from Captain America-Deathlok. By this point X-Force finally does arrive on the scene and help Fantomex and Deathlok get away, as well as capturing Captain America-Deathlok. The team forces Cap-Deathlok to interface with EVA and we learn that these Deathlok's are from a future where most of the super-heroes had been turned into Deathloks, which ushers in a utopia for mankind. However, the Deathlok's are sent back in time because Apocalypse has begun to bring their Utopian society crashing down. Archangel can't understand why the Deathloks were trying to kill Fantomex, since he was the one who killed Kid Apocalypse. Before the team can get any more answers from Cap-Deathlok, he kills himself after realizing all the evil he had done. Realizing that they had to halt the Father, who was controlling the Deathloks, Fantomex decides that the team had to enter the World to find and kill the Father.

Thoughts: I was finally getting into this story towards the end. The last issue left me a bit confused(okay, A LOT confused!), but Cap-Deathlok did a great job of filling in a lot of the blanks for me this issue. I did find it interesting that the Deathloks seemed interested in preventing Apocalypse from messing up their future society and have decided to go after Fantomex... Could that mean that the big A was somehow able to hop from Kid Apocalypse to Fantomex before the fateful shot was fired? I also liked that some members of X-Force(notably Psylocke) were still holding a grudge against Fantomex for his murdering of Kid Apocalypse. That's the type of wound that's not going to heal anytime soon, so I'm glad that Rick Remender keeps referencing back to that moment. I'm still not enjoying this story as much as the prior one, but we're definitely getting better.

Score: 7 out of 10.Well there's a conversation stopper for you!


Superman/Batman #82:

Summary: With some help from Dr. Occult and *sigh* Detective Chimp, Batman breaks into some wannabe magical villains base in an effort to figure out who they were working for. The punks don't know much, only that their mysterious benefactors were trying to preform the Final Spell on the Witch's Highway. Bats takes this info back to Occult and Chimp, which leads to Occult realizing that they were going to need the assistance of a witch. Meanwhile, Superman learns that he was pulled into the future by an older Batman. Old Bats tells Supes that the magicians DID manage to preform the Final Spell, which sacrificed the sun to some dark gods. All of the good sorcerers on Earth then banded together and recreated the sun, but it was a magical sun, and the Earth was now overrun with demons. Needless to say, Supes wants to know why Old Bats simply didn't go back in time to warn the Justice League or somebody as to what the evil magicians were planning on doing. Before he can get an answer though, they are attacked by the Creeper and an army of Solomon Grundys. After a bit of a battle, Old Bats tells Supes that since he was under a magic sun he had different powers, and Supes manages to banish the villains away. Back in the present, Bats, Chimp and Occult manage to track down a witch, more specifically, Klarion Bum... Bum... Bum... The Witch Boy!

Thoughts: This story is starting to grow on me... I guess that's no surprise, seeing as that I AM a sucker for futuristic, dystopian society stories... There's still lots that needs to be explained(why Old Bats needed Supes, what the Witch's Highway was, why Old Bats didn't warn anybody in the present as to what was going to happen, etc), but so far I'm enjoying this one. Plus, and I'm a bit embarrasses to admit this, I am a bit of a fan of Klarion as well...

Score: 7 out of 10.Bum... Bum... Bum...

Quick Hits: 2/24/11

You know, I can feel a major rant coming on soon... I mean I just posted 9 Marvel reviews in a row, and to be perfectly honest with all of you, I enjoyed nearly every single one of them. I even gave two of those 9 books perfect scores. Now today I head back to DC, and unfortunately all three of the comics I read wound up getting very lackluster scores from me. It's so damn sad how much DC has fallen in my eyes. I mean last year at this time I was really down on Marvel, while the DC books are what I looked forward to reading every month. Now DC has been decimated by that damned Chairman Johns, one of their best books is being canceled, and I have very little interest in anything happening in the DCU with the exception of the Bat-books. So I'm now going to ask all of you DC fans a favor. Which books are your favorites? Hopefully you'll give me some DC book that I'm not already reading to show me that all of DC hasn't gone to hell yet. Or better yet, give me a few comics from third party publishers for me to sink my teeth into. With me dropping more and more DC titles weekly, I'd appreciate a few suggestions. Thanks, and here are the reviews.

Supergirl #61:

Summary: First off, right off the bat this comic confused me as it had James Peaty down as the writer even though I was positive Nick Spencer had taken over the writing duties here just last issue... Weird. Ah, after a quick check I see that Spencer only co-scripted Supergirl #60... Yeah, there is NO way anybody can convince me DC isn't run by a bunch of monkeys in front of typewriters... This issue begins with Supergirl defeating Parasite, Silver Banshee, Kryptonite Man and Metallo, who promptly teleport away after being defeated. It seems that there is a new phone app that has people taking pictures with their phones of heroes they see, which leads to the man who created the app sending villains to the location of those heroes. Lois Lane gives SG her phone so she could keep an eye on this app, and soon after getting the phone SG sees that Robin was being attacked by Clayface and Mr. Freeze in Gotham. She flies over to help, and the two heroes make short work of the villains, much to the rage of the man behind the phone app. The mystery man decides to send Gorilla Grodd and Eclipso to Texas to attack Fake Beetle, which causes SG to prepare to fly out to help him. However, before she can go, Clayface and Mr. Freeze give off sparks and transform into strange robots that were only imitating Clayface and Freeze, leaving SG to wonder just what the hell was going on here.

Thoughts: Meh. So far, two issues in, this storyline just isn't doing anything for me. The mystery villain behind everything is just a bit TOO mysterious for my tastes, he's already exhibited several super-powers, including telepathy and the ability to create and interface with computers and robots. Plus he really hasn't given much of a reason for his actions other then the simplistic, “I hate super-heroes” stuff. The Damian appearance seemed totally random, although I'm not going to complain about anytime Damian shows up in a comic seeing as that I'm a fan of his now. However, Fake Beetle showing up next issue already brings the score for that comic down at least one full point, and it hasn't even been released yet! I think this story has some potential, but the villain of the piece really needs to be established a lot more.

Score: 6 out of 10.The evil alien trick works every single time!


Wonder Woman #607:

Summary: We kick things off with Wonder Woman grinding some skeletons into dust, because she's angry or something. From there WW and two Amazons head into the sewers to see if they could find a boy who was kidnapped by a minotaur. While that's going on, Cheetah, Giganta and Artemis attack WW's Amazon apartment hideout and kill every Amazon there, with the exception of the talking cat... Dammit! I SO wanted to see that cat get killed. Anyway, WW and the Amazons come across the kid and the minotaur, and learn that the Morrigan had told the minotaur to kill the kid to anger WW so she would become more like the Morrigan. The minotaur explains that it couldn't go through with killing a child, and then commits suicide. And that's pretty much all I have to say.

Thoughts: This comic makes my brain actually hurt. Why can't we just wrap this storyline up and get classic Wonder Woman back? I don't know about anybody else, but I'm tired of the whole Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon story. This issue didn't do anything for me, and I found my mind wandering throughout most of it. I'm really ready to move on now...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10."Amazons Assemble!" Really? Please let this comic stop torturing me...


Superman/Batman #81:

Summary: We get things started with the Shadowpact heading to Metropolis and discovering a horde of demons attacking a single man in armor. The Shadowpact members jump in to assist the man, but it's for naught, and the man ends up being skewered by the demons. With the man in armor dead, the demons head back into the portal they had arrived from. Blue Devil walks over to the dead man and is shocked to see that the man in the armor was Superman. From there we head elsewhere and find a strangely garbed Batman complaining to some woman about armored Superman making a big mistake by heading through the portal. Back in Metropolis, the Phantom Stranger brings the real Superman to see dead, armored Superman. While Supes is trying to figure out what it all meant, the strangely garbed Batman and his gal pal emerge from a portal and kidnap Supes. Having lost Superman, the Shadowpact send... seriously?! *sigh* Detective Chimp to Gotham City to find the real Batman. We end this one with Superman waking up and being told by the strangely garbed Batman that he was from Superman's future and that the future was a demon infested hellhole.

Thoughts: Eh. I didn't really care about this comic one way or the other. I mean it wasn't horrible, but it also didn't thrill me. It just sort of was. I'm willing to give the story some leeway, especially considering this was only the first part, but here's hoping things pick up come next issue.

Score: 6 out of 10.Ah DC... Where would you be without your talking monkeys?

Quick Hits: 1/24/11

It's time for my newest infrequently done feature here at the blog, Quick Hits! I'm entering the second week of the Spring semester, and the schoolwork is slowly starting to creep up on me, so I figured this would be the perfect time for a post that wouldn't take me all that much time to complete. Okay, enough intro, let's get this show on the road.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #18:

Summary: Batman manages to defeat the Bedbug, but proves unable to capture the odd villain. Meanwhile, Hush and his mafia associates find the lair of Dr. Death and are confronted by the doctor himself.

Thoughts: Believe it or not, THAT was the entire story! The Hush story took up only TEN(!!!)pages, while the brunt of this comic served as a Ragman story, which needless to say, I didn't bother reading. I don't know what the deal is with Paul Dini, but so far there have been 3 parts to this Hush story, and they all could have fit in pretty much ONE comic book! That's really frustrating.

Score: 3 out of 10.


Supergirl #60:

Summary: This is the first post Sterling Gates issue of Supergirl, as James Peaty and Nick Spencer take up the writing reins. Some Harvard student named Alex sets up a new app that allows its users to upload pictures of super-heroes and their locations. It seems Alex is doing this to try to help villains find the locations of said heroes, which leads to Supergirl being attacked by Silver Banshee, Metallo, Kryptonite Man and Parasite(or so they seem to be). Plus Lois Lane learns from a snitch at Project Cadmus that they were experimenting with Kryptonian DNA. That leads to the snitch's child being murdered.

Thoughts: Well, this was definitely a step down from Gates' usually sterling work... Sorry, I couldn't resist! But seriously, there was TOO much going on here, with three separate stories playing out, sometimes all on the same page. As well as new characters being introduced on top of that. Definitely not the best issue of Supergirl I've ever read.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.


Superman/Batman #80:

Summary: Epoch manages to trap Batman(Bruce Wayne), Superman and Robin(Dick Grayson)in an impenetrable Omega Barrier. Which is basically like a black hole(or something). It turns out that the Omega Barrier wasn't so impenetrable after all, and Supes manages to break free, using some Reed Richards worthy science mumbo-jumbo to explain how he did it. From there, Supes breaks Epoch's hourglass, and Epoch travels forward in time, being defeated by several future versions of Bats and Supes until he returns to the 853rd century, where he is locked back up in prison by that era's Supes and Bats.

Thoughts: WAAAAAY too much wacky science talk here for my tastes. I don't think you should need a basic understanding of Quantum Physics to understand a comic book but maybe that's just me. So while this comic started off well enough, it was just overly complex, which really hurt my enjoyment of it.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.


Titans #31:

Summary: Deathstroke has captured Slipknot and has left him bound and waiting for whatever punishment Ink decides to dish out. Ink leaves to confront the man who killed his son, but discovers Deathstroke had freed Slipknot since he figured Ink wouldn't kill a bound man. The two fight, and after some taunting, Ink decapitates Slipknot while the rest of the Titans watch from the security room. Meanwhile, Osiris kills a mess of bank robbers and is confronted by Capt. Marvel.

Thoughts: This was probably my favorite issue of this series since the Deathstroke reboot. My biggest gripe here was some of the dialogue, which seemed to come straight out of a bad Summer blockbuster movie. When Osiris told one of the bank robbers he “doesn't sweat the small stuff” I cringed. But bad dialogue or not, the story wasn't bad, so that's definitely an improvement.

Score: 7 out of 10.


Superman #707:

Summary: Superman is STILL walking across the country, talking to Lois Lane on his cell phone. He comes across a fire at a chemical plant and puts it out. He discovers that Lois is there, and she reveals that the plant had been disregarding EPA standards for years and were polluting the groundwater. The people who work at the plant tell Supes they need the work, and that if he shut them down, they'd be out of work. Supes sides with the workers and tells Lois that she had better not publish anything negative about the plant before leaving. Oh, and then Supes meets a bunch of lame-o's calling themselves the Superman Squad(even though two of them are female, negating the “man” part of the Squad...)

Thoughts: I've got to admit, this story was boring... It was painfully boring at times. I don't really get what Superman's bad attitude towards Lois was all about, but it seems he may have been mind controlled by some evil woman into acting rashly. As for the Superman Squad? There's nothing positive I can say about them at first glance, so let's just move on.

Score: 6 out of 10.


Secret Avengers #8:

Summary: In an effort to capture Shang-Chi, Max Fury and John Steele of the Shadow Council decide to set up a false attack on Hong Kong to draw out th Secret Avengers. The Secret Avengers take the bait and while they are battling what they believe to be Shang-Chi's evil, semi-resurrected father and his ninjas, Fury and Steele break onto Steve Rogers helicarrier and kidnap Sharon Carter. Cap realizes that the battle was a ruse, and returns to the ship where he gets a message from Steele stating that Steve either hands over Shang, or he'd kill Sharon.

Thoughts: Normally I LOVE Ed Brubaker's work, but I STILL haven't gotten into his Secret Avengers run... Having a storyline revolve around Shang-Chi doesn't help, as I could care LESS about Shang. He's about as boring a character I've ever read about in the Marvel U. The last two parts of this story can't arrive soon enough...

Score: 5 out of 10.

Superman/Batman #79

Review: This issue gets started in the 853rd century(you all remember DC One Million, don't you? No? Huh...)with the villain Epoch being captured by that century's version of Batman and Superman. Epoch is taken to Pluto, the prison planet(hey wait, I thought Pluto wasn't considered a planet anymore!)where he is read his rights by Robin, the Toy Wonder(yes, the TOY Wonder). Epoch manages to incapacitate Robin and sneaks through the prison, ultimately reaching the Batcave. Once in the Batcave, Epoch dons some special body armor, and is prepared to leave, before he is met by Future Bats again. The two fight, and Epoch manages to open a boom tube and escape to the Justice League headquarters near Jupiter(which IS still a planet!). Future Bats catches up and the two battle again, with Epoch once again getting the upper hand when Brainiac's ship(one of the future JL's trophies)falls on Future Bats. With Future Bats down for the count, Epoch snags an hourglass that can freeze or rewind the effects of time, and heads to the Fortress of Solitude. Upon gaining entrance to the Fortress, Epoch prepares to steal a time-traveling Time Cube, but is approached by both Future Bats(man, he is REALLY persistent!)and Future Supes. Instead of fighting the two heroes, Epoch simply freezes them with the hourglass gets in the Time Cube and heads back in time to a period when he figures he should have no problem conquering the Earth. Epoch's Time Cube pops up in what appears to be early 1980's New York, where he proclaims himself the new ruler of the planet to the surprised populace. This issue ends with Superman, along with Batman and Robin(complete with green speedo)arriving to challenge Epoch's claims.

Thoughts: You know, I kind of liked this issue... It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but it also didn't leave me angry, confused or any number of other negative emotions. It was what you'd call a perfectly acceptable comic book. The story was straight-forward(or as straight-forward as a story about time travel COULD be), the villain was built up to look strong, and the cliffhanger left me interested in checking out the next issue. What more can I really ask for?

Score: 7 out of 10.Nice legs Robin...

Superman/Batman #78

Overall: This comic is all about a pair of comic fanboys fighting over who would win a fair fight between Batman and Superman. The rules are no Kryptonite and no killing. From there each fan argues over why their chosen hero would emerge victorious. And they argue their points for the ENTIRE ISSUE! In the end, they come to the conclusion that neither hero would win, and that they'd probably wind up destroying each other. At the end of the tale we learn that Superman and Batman were eavesdropping on the conversation(because Superman is weird or something)and that's about it. There was also a back-up story featuring Huntress and Power Girl that involved an alien child that ended up stranded on Earth. The child is confused and causing destruction, which leads to Huntress wanting to put the kid down hard(because she's AWESOME!), while PG feels a kinship to the stranded alien. In the end the women agree to set aside whatever differences they had to help the kid out.

Hmm, instead of reading this issue I could have just did a post about which hero would win in a fight and let you guys have at it... I mean, the story wasn't bad or anything, it all just seemed like a waste of time. You know, like the very definition of the words “pointless filler”. There's not really anything else I can add here... This was an okay, but altogether pointless comic.

Score: 6 out of 10.Um, if Superman got the first shot in on Bats, shouldn't that end the fight right there?!

Superman/Batman #77

Overall: This issue begins with Supergirl coming across a mass grave in the Suicide Slum section of Metropolis. SG is appalled by the site of so many bodies lined up on the pavement and decides she wants to help solve the case, but she's smart enough to realize that she's no detective... So what's a Supergirl to do? Head to Gotham and enlist the aid of the World's Greatest Detective, that's what! Unfortunately, Batman(Bruce Wayne)is still lost in time at this point, Batman II(Dick Grayson)is out with the JLA and Red Robin is missing, which leaves SG stuck with the pre-teen terror himself, Robin(Damian Wayne). SG reluctantly decides to take Damian with her and the two examine the bodies and learn two things, they were all a part of an internship program with Lexcorp, and they all died of heart attacks. The two cross Lex Luthor off the list of suspects after interrogating one of his cronies and decide to see if any other students in the internship program knew anything. As luck would have it, all of the students involved in the internship program are at a Halloween party... How convenient... Anyway, SG scans the crowd with her super-hearing and notices that all of the party-goers are terrified due to the deaths, except for one. SG charges after the lone unafraid man and gets a sprayed in the face with fear gas. The fear gas causes SG to believe Damian was Reactron, and she goes after him, trying to pound him into a fine paste. Damian dodges SG's attacks and shouts at her that she was under the spell of the fear toxin, which eventually gets through to SG, who manages to shake off the effects. With SG no longer trying to kill him, Damian easily takes care of the Scarecrow, who, as I'm sure you guessed, was the man responsible for spraying SG with the chemical. Scarecrow explains that his attacks on the students was a shot at Lex Luthor, who Scarecrow was still angry with thanks to Lex stealing Scarecrow's Sinestro Corps ring during Blackest Night. The heroes drop Scarecrow off at Arkham Asylum and SG takes Damian back home, where he gets teased by Dick, who figures Damian had a crush on SG.

This was a fun little Halloween story. I definitely enjoyed it. That's not to say it was perfect, because it was REALLY predictable at times(once the cause of deaths was determined to be heart attacks, who DIDN'T predict Scarecrow was responsible?), but it I'm not going to complain. It's rare for me to read a comic with Damian in it and come away smiling, so I can honestly say that Josh Williamson(writer)did a fine job here. Before I go I should also point out that Scarecrow's motivation for his actions here was a wonderful touch that made TONS of sense. It's nice to read a comic that harks back to an earlier comic and expands on an overlooked story point. Very good stuff here.

Score: 8 out of 10.Sometimes Damian's jackassery is SO over the top I can't help but laugh about it... "Now scan, alien." Awesome...

Booster Gold #30, Supergirl #51 & Superman/Batman #70.

Only three more days of school to go before vacation, and I've managed to take care of most of my studying and papers due this week. I'll still probably squeeze in some more studying before tomorrow's big Accounting exam, but for the most part, I'm well ahead of my school based responsibilities. What that means is that I can spend more time reading and blogging about comics. As such, I have a trio of DC books lined up for tonight, and after tomorrow's Comic Gazing, I'll be tackling the Siege storyline that is running through Marvel at the moment, starting with Siege #3 and then moving along the various Siege tie-ins. Alright, let's get this show on the road.

Booster Gold #30:Writer: Dan Jurgens. Art: Dan Jurgens & Norm Rapmund.
Last Issue: 8 1/2 out of 10.

This issue opens with the grim scene of Mongul and Cyborg Superman bombarding Coast City with the bombs that would soon go off to eradicate the City. Booster is still torn as to whether he should follow his prime directive and do nothing, since Coast City has to be destroyed to protect the integrity of the time stream or whether he should do everything in his power to thwart Mongul and Cyborg Superman's plot. After coming across a small girl, who would undoubtedly die if nothing was done, as well as some more coercing from fellow time traveler Sondra Crain, Booster decides to attempt to halt the destruction of Coast City, time stream be damned. Skeets tries to change Booster's mind on the matter, but Booster is determined, and as such, he sends Skeets to get the little girl and Sondra out of harms way. Booster then launches an attack on Mongul's ship, but is confronted by Cyborg Superman, who makes quick work of Booster, knocking him out and letting him fall thousands of feet. Before Booster goes splat, he is blasted by a mysterious character, and the force of the blast brings Booster back to his senses, allowing him to land safely. Meanwhile, after shunting Sondra and the girl back to the future, Skeets realizes there were two other unidentified time displaced individuals in Coast City, and he goes off in search of them, finding Booster's sister Michelle, as well as her boyfriend, Drew. Soon thereafter, Booster arrives on the scene and is reunited with Michelle, who asks Booster if he is going to try to prevent the upcoming catastrophe, to which Booster says yes. Skeets alerts Booster that it was too late, and that Mongul had dropped all of his bombs, and that in ninety seconds, Coast City would be nothing more then a large hole in the ground. Booster tells Skeets to take Michelle and her boyfriend to safety, but Skeets informs Booster that Michelle's boyfriend is supposed to die in the ensuing explosion. Booster ignores Skeets, and activates his time platform with the intention of taking his sister and her boyfriend to safety, while he continues to try to halt the imminent destruction of Coast City. Before Michelle and Drew manage to get to the time platform, the mystery man from earlier blasts Booster in the back, knocking him onto the platform, while simultaneously knocking Drew off. Michelle, Booster and Skeets return to the future, while Coast City and Drew meet their predetermined fate. Upon arriving back at Rip Hunter's time lab, Michelle mourns her dead boyfriend, and Booster flies off, needing some time to clear his head. This issue concludes with the mystery man from Coast City arriving in the time lab to inform Rip that everything turned out the way it had to. The mystery man takes off his hat and reveals... Booster Gold!?! Or at least an older version of Booster. The two discuss events in time, and ultimately old Booster decides to head back into the time stream where he can continue to work on whatever he was working on.

This was an awesome comic! What a brilliant job Dan did capturing the terrible decision Booster was left to deal with here. Allow 7 million people to die, as was supposed to happen, or do the heroic thing and try to change the way things in Coast City turned out. I was glad to see Booster try to do the heroic thing, even though we all knew he was doomed to fail. The part where Sondra pulls the young girl out of her destroyed car and confronts Booster with her, asking him if he could honestly live with himself if he allowed her to die was priceless. The reveal at the end with old Booster was interesting, only in that it shows that no matter what Booster may be feeling now, in the long run he'll still be working with Rip well into his old age. I was debating whether or not to give this comic a perfect score, but after thinking about it, and recalling the great dialogue and story, the decision became pretty easy.

Score: 10 out of 10.Man was this a powerful scene!

Supergirl #51: Writer: Sterling Gates. Pencils: Jamal Igle.
Last Issue: 8 out of 10.

This issue opens with Supergirl and Mon-El trying to destroy as many of Brainiac's evil robots as they can, before the robots manage to kill any more Kryptonians. While Mon and SG are fighting off hordes of robots, Superboy and the OLD Legion are trying to free themselves from Gen. Zod's military men, since Zod had branded them all terrorists. The OLD Legion's telepath, Tellus, informs Mon of what was happening, as well as alerting him to the fact that Superman had already fallen to Brainiac aboard Brainiac's spacecraft. Mon tells SG what he'd just learned, which confuses her, since she was under the impression that Zod was going to work with the OLD Legion. Mon then tells SG that he was going to try to rescue Supes from Brainiac's clutches, and that she needs to continue helping her people against the Brainiac robots, even though she wants to assist in the rescue of Supes. SG ultimately agrees to remain behind, and Mon flies up towards Brainiac's ship to see what he could do against the evil tyrant. Meanwhile, Superboy and Starman have managed to defeat the Kryptonian military officers they were confronted with(really?!?), but are soon attacked by a few more soldiers, as well as SG's mother, the acting head of New Krypton, Alura. Back in the streets of New Krypton, SG continues to battle until she hears her mother's voice demanding to be unhanded. SG flies to her mother's side, where she finds Superboy about to punch Alura in the face. Needless to say SG doesn't take kindly to that, and she nearly knocks SB into orbit. While SG tries to find out from her mother what the hell was going on, a small army of Brainiac's robots descend into the room and proceed to attack the two women. The robots hit them with a powerful blast of red sunlight, which de-powers them, before moving in for the kill. Before the robots can murder the two women, they are saved by SB, who uses his tactile telekinesis to dismantle the robots. SG helps her mother make nice with SB, and upon hearing from SB that the OLD Legion was only there to help the trapped bottle cities on Brainiac's ship, Alura decides to go against Zod's command and sends out a message that SB and the OLD Legion were not to be obstructed by any Kryptonian. Zod hears this and gets angry, but keeps his cool, declaring that he'd deal with Alura soon enough. This issue ends with SG, SB and the now free OLD Legion heading skyward to launch their own attack on Brainiac's ship.

I though this was a good enough comic. It furthered the Last Stand of New Krypton story, while planting some seeds of discontent between Alura, the head of New Krypton and Zod, the head of New Krypton's military. I'm starting to get the feeling that Zod is going to take Alura out in order to gain her job, and with it, complete control over New Krypton's political system. With Superman, Supergirl and all the rest of Supes allies about to board Brainiac's ship, Alura is ripe to be picked off by Zod, if that is his plan. Besides that, I liked SG and SB, I enjoyed Mon-El's parts, but I'm still annoyed by the fact that the OLD Legion is getting any page time here, but what can ya do. The next part is in Superman #698, and as soon as I get my hands on it, I'll be reading and reviewing it.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Ah Superboy... How do you get yourself in these situations...

Superman/Batman #70: Writer: Joe Casey. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.
Last Issue: 7 out of 10.

Once again, this story takes place just after the DC event, “Our Worlds at War” from a few years back. Batman and Superman decide to trick the Durlan who was hellbent on killing Superman by sending him a secret message that revealed the location of Supes Fortress of Solitude to him. The Durlan decides to send his henchman, NRG-X to the Fortress to kill Supes, and Supes meets him there, finally able to really tear into NRG-X since they were no longer fighting in a populated area. Meanwhile, the Duran discovers the location of a half destroyed Durlan ship hear the moon, and heads there to see what sorts of weapons he could use against the Man of Steel. However, unbeknownst to the Durlan, Batman was also aware of the ship, and this issue ends with Batman making his way towards the Durlan's crippled ship in his... Bat-spaceship I guess.

Eh, this was an OK issue, but it wasn't really anything I'll remember. Once again, I think my lack of knowledge on the, “Our World at War” storyline hurt my enjoyment of this comic, but it was readable, it had Supes and Bats in it, and it had a pretty decent battle between Supes and NRG-X, so what more can I say?

Score: 6 out of 10.Huh, who knew Supes was such a back fighter...

Batman: Streets of Gotham #9, REBELS #13 & Superman/Batman #69.

I'm taking a break from my Accounting homework to toss out a quick post. I actually have either an exam or paper due from EVERY single one of my classes this week, so things are somewhat hectic to say the least. But enough of that unpleasantness, let's talk comics! I ordered a bunch of back issues last week, and they arrived today, so I figure I might as well let you guys know what I unnecessarily spent my money on this time. Tempest #1-4, Marville 1-7, Legends of the DCU 3D Gallery #1, Helmet of Fate: Zauriel #1, Green Lantern #28(the old series), Day of Vengeance #1-6, Infinite Crisis Special: Day of Vengeance #1, Brave and the Bold #5, Azrael #37, Aquaman #1,000,000, Aquaman #37-39(the new series). Now if you were to ask me why I brought any of these comics, I'd respond with a shrug... This more then anything shows my complete and utter lack of impulse control... All right, there's the intro, here's the reviews.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #9: Writer: Mike Benson. Pencils: Dustin Nguyen.

We open things up with Dick Grayson easily taking down a man who was attacking the prostitute he was fooling around with... Don't ask me to explain THAT one. Either check out Streets #8 or better yet, my review for Streets #8! All right, back to the story... Dick(now as Batman)takes the man and the woman down to police headquarters, where they are interviewed by Commissioner Gordon. We discover that the man and the woman were in cahoots, the woman would invite a john to her room, where her accomplice would pretend to be an angry ex-boyfriend, rough her up a bit and then rob the the john. Unfortunately, every man the duo would pull this scam on wound up dead, which led Bats and Gordon to believe that they were behind the murders. After interviewing them though, Bats and Gordon both seemed to believe that the duo were innocent of the charges being levied against them. With those two ruled out, Bats tells Gordon to let the woman go, the hope being that she would be confronted by whoever was behind the murders. Sure enough, the woman is confronted by an angry ex-boyfriend, but she is saved by the timely arrival of the burly doorman at her building and the eventual arrival of Gordon. Gordon takes ex-boyfriend into custody, and Bats and Gordon proceed to interview/rough up the man. After interviewing him, Gordon and Bats realize that he wasn't responsible for the murders either, so they cut him loose and Bats tells Gordon the best way to capture the murderer is for Gordon and the woman to work together and pretend that he was one of her johns. As such, Gordon pretends to pick the woman up at her club, and the two head back to her apartment under the watchful eye of Batman. After Gordon leaves the woman's apartment, he comes across the dead body of the ex-boyfriend from earlier. He is then immediately attacked by the doorman at the woman's building, who tries to stab Gordon. Fortunately for Gordon, Bats swoops in and takes the doorman out with relative ease. This issue ends with Gordon seeing the woman to a bus that takes her out of Gotham and possibly to a better life.

Hey, once this story got rolling, I actually began to enjoy it. I enjoy a good murder-mystery as much as the next guy, and this comic kept me guessing the identity of the murderer until the very end, so good job. While I can't wait for this series to get back to the Zsasz storyline, these last two issues served as a very nice little filler story.

Score: 8 out of 10.Umm, should Batman really be allowed to interview suspects with the Gotham Police?

REBELS #13: Writer: Tony Bedard. Pencils: Claude St. Aubin.

This issue begins with the Omega Men finally finding the plant venom they need to break the mental hold Starro the Conqueror has over his followers. From there we head to Dox, who along with the Psions is able to create a body for Despero. As a part of the deal for a new body, Despero agrees to provide his “Flame of Pytar” to power Dox's anti-Starro gun. The scene then shifts to Dox's son, Brainiac 3, who is helping Starro coordinate his forces in preparation for an attack on the Earth. After sending Starro to his destination, Brainiac 3 plots with Starro's top lieutenant, Smite, against the Conqueror. After his business with Despero is concluded, Dox meets up with his REBELS and learns that Starro was beginning his move against the Earth. Before Dox can lay out his course of action against Starro, he is abducted by his son. Dox tries to attack his offspring, but he is taken down and locked in an MMA style armbar. While holding his father in the armbar, Brainiac 3 explains that he is going to betray Starro and teleport him directly to his father. Dox doesn't believe Brainiac 3, and questions why he would betray Starro, and Brainiac 3 explains that Starro is irrational and bent on self-destruction, and as such, it's a waste of his vast intelligence to work for such a being. Brainiac 3 then proceeds to dislocate Dox's elbow(to make sure he doesn't risk himself by acting as the triggerman)and sends him back to his team. Dox warns his team of Starro's impending betrayal and arrival, and this issue ends with Starro teleporting directly to Dox's forces.

I LOVE this comic! What more do I need to say? All of the storylines have converged perfectly and the next issue will finally give us the Starro/REBELS battle that has been 13 issues in the making. Seeing as that this storyline has gone on for 13 issues and one annual thus far, I'm both eagerly anticipating and dreading the next issue, which is the conclusion to the whole Starro storyline... Sure, I can't wait to see what happens between Starro and the REBELS, but I'll also be a bit sad to see the story end, because it's been very good to excellent throughout. With that said though, Tony has left enough story-threads dangling so that I'm looking forward to this series even after the war with Starro has concluded.

Score: 10 out of 10. Huh, after a long drought, that's two straight nights a DC comic I've read has attained a 10 out of 10... Not bad!Tap out Dox! Tap out Dox! Ouch... He should have tapped out...

Superman/Batman #69: Writer: Joe Casey. Pencils: Ardian Syaf.

This issue is a flashback to the events of the DC x-over from a couple of years ago, Our Worlds At War. It seems somebody has hired the assassin NRG-X to kill Clark Kent. Superman attacks the assassin after NRG-X attacks the Daily Planet building looking for Kent, but NRG-X manages to escape. From there we head to a meeting in Gotham where all of the local fatcats are discussing how and where they should spend their money after the War. Bruce Wayne runs into the formerly reclusive backer of STAR Labs, Anderson Gaines, and the two of them discuss ways they could have STAR Labs and WayneTech work together. While the two are talking, Gaines is called away by his associates, and Wayne is contacted by Alfred about what had happened at the Daily Planet building. Bruce gets in touch with Supes and the two agree to meet up and discuss who could have possibly have sent NRG-X after Superman's alter-ego. The two meet up at the Watchtower, and they conclude that it was a Durlan shapeshifter who was trying to eliminate the last Kryptonian in the galaxy(well, until the whole New Krypton thing happened...), since it appears Durlans and Kryptonians are mortal foes or something... From there, Bats figures out that Gaines was the Durlan shapeshifter by using the type of logic only Batman could use... This issue ends with Bats and Supes discussing how best to go after a public figure like Gaines without compromising Supes civilian identity or attacking Gaines in the open.

Eh, this comic was alright I guess. The whole World At War storyline is one DC event that I have very little knowledge of, so some of the stuff that was going on in this issue tended to go right over my head. Even though some of the stuff here escaped me, the stuff that I did get seemed to be pretty good. Sure, the way Batman concluded Gaines was the Durlan was kind of cheap, but everything else here was readable, and as such, I'll be happy to pick up the next issue to see where this storyline is going.

Score: 7 out of 10.What in the HELL is THAT?!?

Talking comics and football.

There were a few ways I could have gone with tonight's post. To be honest, I was close to just skipping tonight, and posting some reviews tomorrow. But if I start shirking my blogging "responsibility" again, it gets easier and easier to skip the next night, and the one after that. So, since I'm not really in the mood to do any proper reviews, I figure I'll post some thoughts on the comics I have read, as well as the NFL playoff games I've spent most of the day watching. If you don't care about my NFL musings, then I'd recommend skipping the following paragraph...

First off, are you ready for some football?!? Yeah, I went there! The Cowboys spanked the Eagles tonight, which was and wasn't a surprise. I mean, defensively, the Cowboys are WAY better then Philly, but I thought the Eagles had a better offense then the Cowboys. I figured this game would at least be close, but wow, the Cowboys just laid one on the Eagles... After watching tonight's game, I've got to say, the Cowboys are for real! I mean their defense is playing fierce right now, and as a life long Giants fan, I know about good defense(well, not this year, but usually...). If Dallas can keep up their strong defensive play, and Tony Romo can avoid falling apart, there's no reason Big D can't go all the way to the Super Bowl, and trust me, as a Giants fan, that's the last thing I want to see happen! On the AFC side, the Jets took care of business in Cincinnati this afternoon. That win was extra sweet for me because my little brother is a huge Bengals fan, and it's always fun when one of my favorite teams take care of his favorite. That means I have gloating rights until next season over him! Hey, if he'd have won, he'd be doing the same to me! Just like Dallas, the Jets won thanks to their impressive defense, although I'm just not sure the Jets have enough offense to go far in the playoffs... But then again, Baltimore won it all with a strong defense and a running game a few years ago, so I guess anything is possible. All I know is that I hope the Jets wind up facing Indianapolis next week, because I sure don't want to see them face off against San Diego... As for tomorrow's games, I think the Packers will be able to defeat Arizona in a high scoring affair, and I think Baltimore will pull the upset against New England. No Wes Welker for the Patriots is just going to be too much for the Pats to overcome. So there you have it, my picks for tomorrow's playoff games!

OK, this IS a comic book blog, so I should probably get to the comic books, right? Last night I read a couple of books, so here are a few quick thoughts on them. Superman/Batman #67 was a Blackest Night x-over and dealt with Bizarro and Man Bat facing off against Black Lantern Solomon Grundy. It was OK, but I definitely wouldn't give it a really high recommendation. It was readable. That's about all though. Speaking of Blackest Night, I also read Blackest Night Wonder Woman #1(hey, that was a pretty good segue!). This one left me with mixed feelings. While on one level I did enjoy the stuff with Maxwell Lord and Wonder Woman, I didn't like the whole idea of resurrecting the fallen soldiers in Arlington National Cemetery as Black Lanterns... That just rubbed me the wrong way. This issue actually felt like a one shot more then anything else, so I'll be interested to see where Greg Rucka goes with the next issue. Next up is Magog #3 & 4. I really like Magog, and I really WANT to like this series. With that said though, these two issues left me a little bit flat. Once again, they were all right, but they were just missing a little something to me. I understand that Keith Giffen is trying to create enemies for Magog, but to me that's a bit of a mistake. Instead of introducing new enemies for Magog to deal with, I'd rather see him dealing with a few established DC villains first. Since Magog himself is still a relatively new character, it's tough to get into a series where EVERYTHING is new, the title character, the villains, the supporting characters, etc. If it were up to me, I'd have Magog facing and soundly defeating guys like Dr. Polaris or Amazo, before introducing new villains. I'll be buying the next couple of issues, but mainly because I like Magog, not necessarily for the stories. Finally, I read the Aquaman: Tide and Time TPB. I have two things to say about this trade, #1, Peter David is, was and always will be awesome in my book, and #2, I really want to get my hands on the 90's Aquaman series! This trade collects the mini-series that came out right before Peter's 90's Aquaman series. It's pretty much an origin tale for Aquaman. We get a glimpse of Aquaman being raised by Dolphins(ala Tarzan), his first meeting with humans, his initial meeting with the Flash(Barry Allen), as well as documenting his first run in with Ocean Master, who turns out to be Aquaman's half-brother. I expected a lot from this trade going in, and I was not let down. Man, was there ever a time when Peter David didn't rule as a writer? Well, that's going to do it for tonight. Tomorrow I should be back to doing regular, conventional comic reviews, hopefully you enjoyed this mishmash post. As always, Long Live The Legion!