Superman #8

Last official review of the week(more on that in my next post, scheduled to go up in a half an hour!), and it's a series that I don't normally purchase. The only two issues of Superman I've picked up since the reboot was the first issue(which was terrible, imo) and the prior issue, mainly because I like Helspont as a villain and wanted to see him make his DCU debut. It was underwhelming. Still, I figured I'd give this series another shot to see how the Supes/Helspont battle concludes. Hopefully that decision doesn't turn out to be a huge mistake.

Superman #8:

Summary: This issue opens with Superman being chased after by the army, who want to capture “it”. A confused Supes tries to avoid the soldiers but ends up getting blown out of the sky. He wakes up at his desk at the Daily Planet as Clark Kent, where he is met by... ugh... Jimmy Olsen. Jimmy tells Clark that he should stop writing articles that portray Superman in a good light, as it was pissing Perry White off and with the public hating Supes for being an alien, it wasn't good for business. Realizing something was drastically wrong, Supes concentrates really hard and finds himself back in Helspont's cavern, with some sort of mind controlling creature in his mouth. Supes spits the creature out and is naturally pissed by Helspont manipulating his mind, but Helspont tells Supes that he was only showing Supes the future, as humans have a LOOONG history of hating each other for differences in belief systems, pigmentation and lifestyle, so it was inevitable that they'd eventually turn on Supes for being an alien... Huh, Helspont makes a wonderful point there... In order to deal with the humans, Helspont offers to help Supes conquer the Earth, provided Supes helps Helspont take revenge on the Daemonites who betrayed him. Naturally, Supes turns that offer down, which leads to an all out fight between the two... A fight that is VERY evenly matched(!). Eventually the battle causes Helspont's mountain hideaway to explode, at which time Supes loses track of where Helspont went, figuring that Helspont teleported away before the mountain blew. With that, this issue ends with Supes, battered and beaten, returning to his apartment as Clark Kent and realizing that he had made the mistake of letting... ugh... Jimmy Olsen stay at his place.

Thoughts: Wow, this issue was GREAT! Helspont's logic was sound and he was portrayed VERY strongly. The battle scenes were AWESOME and the Clark Kent portions of the story were kept to a minimum. Seriously, I am shocked by how much I enjoyed reading this comic. I honestly thought I'd hate this comic, which is why it was so low in my comic pile. Instead, it turned out to be one of the high points of the entire week! I never expected that, so a HUGE kudos to Dan Jurgens and Keith Giffen for their work in this comic. Really, I'm kind of in a state of shock right now... This was easily one of the better Superman comics I've read since the WAY back during World of New Krypton and War of the Supermen... Color me impressed.

Score: 9 out of 10.

Helspont was a BEAST in this issue!

Superman #7

Well here's a series I didn't expect to be picking up anytime soon! A quick confession... I've never been much of a Superman fan... Sure, prior to the DC reboot I collected all of the Superman books, but it was mainly because he was the FIRST comic book superhero, and as a comic fan, I felt that I HAD to read Supes. Post reboot though? I don't feel that way anymore... DC doesn't seem to care that Supes was The First, so why should I? Plus I really didn't enjoy the first issues of Superman or Action Comics. So why did I pick up THIS issue? Mainly because it looks like it's gonna have ramifications on both Grifter and Stormwatch, which are comics that have characters that I do like. So for at least this month, it's back to Supes...

Superman #7:

Summary: Supes is attacked by some weird robot-like creature in Metropolis and manages to dispatch it, leaving it for STAR Labs to take in. Meanwhile, we learn the robot was sent by the uber-powerful Daemonite, Helspont, to test Supes. Seeing that Supes was as powerful as he had hoped, Helspont decides that he wants Supes to team with him so he could cull the Earth and get revenge on those who wronged him... Yeah, I don't see Supes going along with that... With that, the robot Supes defeated earlier tracks Supes(as Clark Kent) down at the Daily Planet, which leads to Clark having to pull a quick change in order to battle the robot as Supes again. This time though, the robot teleports Supes to Helspont's hidden lair, where Supes meets Helspont. Helspont blathers on for a while, questioning why the Daemonites hadn't conquered Earth, why Earth had so many super-beings and why there was no Kryptonian domination of the universe. Supes gets tired of listening to Helspont ramble(and really, who could blame him?!), and says as much, which leads to an infuriated Helspont blasting Supes into unconsciousness with ONE blast(!!). For all intents and purposes, that ends this issue.

Thoughts: I skipped a lot of the Clark Kent stuff that happened in this one because, in plain English, I could care less. Once the storyline with Helspont ends, I'll be dropping Superman again. The character just does nothing for me. As for this issue? It was a bit of a letdown. Supes fought a robot, the robot brought Supes to Helspont, Helspont rambled, Supes insulted Helspont, Helspont blasted Supes, comic over. Since Helspont will be showing up again next issue, I'll be getting that one, but once Helspont is out of this book? So am I.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Damn, even Helspont's dialogue bubbles look badass!!

Superman #1

Look up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's... a blue robot? No wait, it's Superman... I think. The metallic, collared Supes era begins in this comic. Will it be good? Will it be bad? Will I be able to resist the urge to crack bad jokes(No.)???

Superman #1:

What Happened: Morgan Edge has purchased the Daily Planet and relocated the newspaper to a brand-spanking new building. Clark Kent isn't overly pleased by all of this, but Lois Lane is willing to see how things turn out(especially since she has a fancy new promotion and is working in TV now). Supes beats up a mysterious fire monster, and Lois sleeps with some random man, leaving Clark crestfallen.

The Good: The Superman in this issue was WAY more like the regular Superman, unlike Super-Batman from Action Comics. I was okay with the battle between Supes and the fire monster/alien. I had visions of a sad Clark Kent staring through Lois's wall watching her get it on with that random guy and that made me laugh.

The Bad: My GOD does George Perez love words! You'd think a guy who was known for artwork would go light on the verbiage, but I guess not. This comic was like a 9 out of 10 on the Bendis scale of words! All of the unnecessary wordage made this comic rather boring. I'm not sold on Supes costume change. He looks like a giant action figure or something.

The Verdict: If you ignore the excess words here, this comic wasn't THAT bad. At it's core it was a simple story... Supes fights a mysterious entity, the Daily Planet was shaken up and Clark Kent is sad. It's weird that Perez felt the need to explain EVERYTHING in this comic... You'd think an artist as great as he is would realize that sometimes a story can be told with the art, not a plethora of words.

Score: 6 out of 10.Blah, blah, blah, blah...

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...

Teen Titans #97 & Superman #713

Today we take a break from all things Marvel and head back to the DCU for two comics I am NOT looking forward to reading... With that rousing introduction out of the way, let's take a quick look at the comics in question.

Teen Titans #97

Summary: The Teen Titans rally and thanks to Solstice(who's name I'm tempted to put in all caps since she's SO damn important apparently) beat up Rankor, the evil Indian god. Solstice then tells her parents that she was going with the Titans, which her parents happily give their approval for, ending this issue.

Thoughts: Yeah, that's right, that's as much of a review this rubbish is getting from me. I'm SURE there are more in depth reviews out there if you REALLY want to know the minute by minute craptitude that was this comic, but I'm definitely not wasting anymore of my time talking about this one... It's bad enough I wasted time reading it! I will say this about this issue though, it actually helped establish two things for me... The first is that Nicola Scott can make even the worst, most boring, terrible comic book look good. She's that good an artist. The second is that I definitely WON'T be picking up the rebooted Green Arrow series come September... I was on the fence as to whether or not I should pick it up, I already handed in my pull list for September, but was still contemplating adding GA before the reboot. But after reading this? Nope. JT Krul just isn't a good enough writer to get me to commit to a comic I was undecided on, and this issue solidified that fact. So check that out, this issue of Teen Titans was SO bad, it actually convinced me NOT to pick up GA in a two month's time! That's some epically bad storytelling!

Score: 2 out of 10.*gasp*!! Who saw THAT coming?!


Superman #713:

Summary: This issue gets started with Superman calling Superboy and Supergirl to him and then proceeding to get undressed in front of them... Okay, there was a bit more to it than THAT... Let me start over again... Supes calls Superboy and Supergirl to him and after they arrive, Supes begins to talk about how he didn't think it was a wise idea to be Supes anymore because, in Supes mind, Superman served as a target for villains and caused regular citizens to resent him... Uh-huh... With that, Supes changes to Clark Kent and declares that he was finished being Superman, but that he WOULD still help people, just anonymously. From there, Clark walks into a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon, and begins typing up an article asking if the world needed a Superman. From there Clark meets a man dressed in a Superman sweater, and the man is aghast to see Clark Kent writing something negative about Superman! Yes, aghast!! The man tells Clark that Clark doesn't understand Supes at all(HA!), and then tells him that they wouldn't be able to find a single person in Portland who'd speak ill of Supes. Clark decides to go with the man, and needless to say, everybody they speak to in the streets only have positive things to say about Supes, no matter how Clark tries to paint Supes as a potential menace. After the sixth person, Clark begins to rethink his stance since it seemed so many people saw Supes as a symbol of all that was good and right in the world. While the two are strolling around town, Clark and the Supes fan hear a news report from Seattle stating that a crazy super powered woman had taken Lois Lane hostage. Needless to say, by the time the fan turns around, Clark is long gone, undoubtedly on his way to Seattle.

Thoughts: Huh. I'm actually having a bit of trouble thinking of what to say about this issue... I mean it was REALLY slow, but that's not to say it was awful... In a way I think this issue kind of epitomizes my problem with this entire storyline. It took too long to get where it was going... Did we really need four separate examples(told by six people) of why the world needed Superman over the course of an entire issue? Wouldn't two or three people over two or three pages have been able to suffice? In that same vein, couldn't this story have been told over 4 to 6 issues instead of a mind-numbing 12? I guess that's the thing. This storyline wasn't horrible or anything, it just took too long to get where it was going. Same thing with this issue.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Yeah, that's kind of creepy, Supes...

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 & Superman #712

Two more DC books to get through today, one of which shocked the hell out of me and received a COMPLETELY unexpected perfect score! Which comic received the highest honor I can bestow? Read on and find out!

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2(of 5):

Summary: This issue gets started with one of Gotham City's major architects from the 1800's talking about how the city grew into what it is today. We learn that the Waynes, Elliots and Cobblepots had a major hand in the funding of much of 1800's Gotham, and were assisted by two architect brothers. Back in the present, Batman(Dick Grayson) and Red Robin learn that some mystery man had kidnapped Hush from his cell in Arkham, which coincides with last issues attacks on the three bridges that carry the Wayne, Elliot and Cobblepot family names. With Hush(Tommy Elliot) already kidnapped, the police try unsuccessfully to convince Penguin(Oswald Cobblepot) to allow them to take him into protective custody. Penguin refuses, instead deciding to remain in his Iceberg Lounge club. With Bruce Wayne out of the country, and therefore safe from any potential attacks, the police begin checking Wayne Tower for any potential hazards. Since Penguin refused to cooperate, Bats sends Robin and Black Bat(Cassandra Cain) to keep an eye on the Iceberg. Inside the club, Penguin discovers a bomb in his office, which causes people to begin to spill out of the club, leading to Robin entering. Upon discovering the bomb, Robin goes to work on disarming it. While that is going on, the sensors in Wayne Tower go off, indicating the presence of a powerful explosive, which leads to Bats arriving at the scene. After a quick search, Bats discovers Hush, tied in a straitjacket with a bomb strapped to his chest. Hush tells Bats that if he disconnected the bomb from Hush, it's countdown would speed up, meaning Bats had to either save Hush or Wayne Tower. Not wanting to be responsible for Hush's death, Bats cuts the bomb off of him and carries Hush to safety. Back at the Iceberg, Robin is still working on disarming the bomb, but is rapidly running out of time. Not wanting to risk Robin failing to disarm the bomb, Black Bat grabs him and rushes out of the club, just as the bombs at Wayne Tower and the Iceberg Lounge explode. Bats is a bit confused by how blowing up Wayne Tower and the Iceberg Lounge had anything to do with the Gates of Gotham(meaning the destroyed bridges), when Hush tells him the Gates of Gotham wasn't referring to a what(the bridges), but a who, the two architect brothers who built Gotham up.

Thoughts: I enjoyed reading this one. We got a mess of Bat family characters here, with nobody seeming out of place or forced into the story. We also learn(from Hush of all people) that the Gates of Gotham weren't a what, but a who, giving us our villain(s) of the story. So either the Gates of Gotham are REALLY old, or whoever is trying to blow up all Wayne/Elliot/Cobblepot named things in Gotham are the disgruntled offspring of the original Gates, who are probably pissed that their names didn't carry on the same legacy as the other three families. Whoever the villain of this piece is, I'll be interested in learning moire next issue.

Score: 8 out of 10.Heh heh, Damian is such an ass!


Superman #712:

Summary: Well this is a strange one... This comic is not only a break from the terrible, “Superman's wild cross country adventure!!!” storyline, it's set in the past, more specifically, RIGHT after Infinite Crisis. And stars Krypto, a character I normal loathe. This issue kicks off pre-Crisis with Superboy flying through the air playing frisbee with Krypto. Unfortunately for the frisbee, it's no match for Krypto's choppers, so SB decides to take a manhole cover to play frisbee with instead. From there we head post-Crisis, where we find a downcast Krypto waiting for Superboy to return on the front porch of the Kent family farm. After laying there for a while, Krypto notices an airplane, and recalls the Teen Titans plane that SB rode in with his teammates. Krypto sniffs the air and manages to catch Superboy's scent and begins to fly cross country, flying past the various places Superboy visited during Infinite Crisis. Krypto goes from Metropolis, to Titans Tower, back to the Kent family farm, out to the ocean before finally finding the location of Superboy's final battle with Superboy Prime. Krypto finds some of SB's blood in the snow, and after searching around and not finding Superboy unleashes a pained howl that is heard miles around. Unable to find SB, Krypto next tries to locate Superman himself, but is unable to find him either. With that, Krypto flies back to the Kent farm, takes the manhole cover frisbee from earlier and flies into space, landing on an asteroid and waiting for his master to return.

Thoughts: Well... First off, let me just put this out there. I hate the idea of Krypto. I mean really, a super-powered dog from outer space? Yeah, no. So once I opened this comic and realized it was all about Krypto, I had VERY low expectations for it. Seriously, I didn't expect to enjoy this comic at all. And then a funny thing happened... I was completely pulled in to Krypto's journey... Kurt Busiek, who wrote this inventory tale, absolutely sucked me in here! When Krypto arrived at the site of the final battle between Superboy and Prime and realized that Superboy was gone, my eyes literally teared up! Trust me, that doesn't happen often! This was an unbelievably good comic... It was so good, I had to ask myself, does it deserve a perfect score? I mean it's a tale from a few years ago, that has no bearing on anything, and has hardly any dialogue, just a few flashbacks. I actually debated this overnight, and left the score portion of this review blank, which is something I never do. After much thought, I have to say that yes, I'd consider this comic perfect, and as such, I'll give it a score of...

Score: 10 out of 10.Poor Krypto...

Batgirl #21 & Superman #711

This'll be the last batch of comics I post today. Tomorrow should see another 4-6 reviews posted, as I ever so slowly get up to date with my comic reading. If I can get these reviews taken care of, I'll be able to post something a little different, which would be a nice change of pace. Enjoy! Or don't...

Batgirl #21:

Summary: Having received a tip from her unwanted sidekick, the Grey Ghost, Batgirl comes face-to-face with the newest Order of the Scythe member, Harmony. It seems that Harmony has broken into an abandoned convent and was up to no good(as I'd figure anybody who broke into an abandoned convent would be). Batgirl tries to attack Harmony, but quickly discovers that Harmony was surrounded by a wave of sound that protected her from harm, while damaging anything that got in her way(like a certain Batgirl). After a bit of a battle, Batgirl simply decides to bury Harmony under some rubble while trying to figure out a strategy. While thinking, Batgirl runs into Grey Ghost, and tells him in no uncertain terms to leave her the hell alone, or else. Apparently Batgirl's harsh words FINALLY get through to Ghost, and he leaves. From there, Batgirl realizes that Harmony had gotten out of the rubble and was taking the DNA from a long dead nun... Creepy! Batgirl is stymied by Harmony again, but realizes that a loud enough sound would probably overload Harmony's equipment and make the villain vulnerable. To that end, Batgirl drops a huge bell in the room she was battling Harmony in, and makes quick work of the novice villain. While all of that was going on, Proxy decides to head to Nanda Parbat at the urging of the ghost/hallucination of her dead brother, Marvin, with the hope that the trip would help fix her paralysis. Finally, the Grey Ghost, still stinging from Batgirl's reprimand, heads to the hooded leader of the Order of the Scythe and offers his assistance in keeping Batgirl off the Order's back.

Thoughts: Well, a lot of stuff certainly happened here, no? Proxy has decided to head to Nanda Parbat, leaving Batgirl without an advisor since Barbara Gordon/Oracle has been busy with the Birds of Prey and her other Batman Inc. related duties. The Grey Ghost revealed his true colors by handing the leader of the Order of the Scythe the DNA collector that Harmony lost during her battle with Batgirl, and Batgirl is still trying to get to the bottom of just who's behind the Order, as well as what their plans are. I have to say, most of DC Comics may have gone to hell in a hand basket, but at least the majority of the Bat-books are still delivering top-notch stories.

Score: 8 out of 10.
I can't think of a caption for this page... Sorry, you'll have to come up with your own.

Superman #711:

Summary: After getting a key to the city of Provo, Utah, Superman hears an alarm being sent by... *sigh* Jimmy Olsen... It seems that Livewire is acting completely insane and has taken a mess of hostages in Las Vegas(where Jimmy was working a story), demanding all of the money in the city. Supes tries to reason with Livewire, since the last time he saw her she had seemingly turned over a new leaf, but Livewire is too angry/crazy to listen and attacks Supes with more power then she had demonstrated before. While Supes tries to deal with Livewire, Jimmy calls STAR Labs and discovers that Livewire was always drawing electricity into her body, which in turn was messing up the chemistry in her brain. The scientist tells Jimmy that Livewire needed to be placed in a containment suit, and Supes, who was eavesdropping on the phone call has just the thing. Supes flies to the Fortress of Solitude and grabs his old blue energy suit(the one from back in the 90's when Supes had electricity powers for some unbelievably bizarre reason), handing it over to the scientist at STAR Labs, who immediately begins working on it. From there, Supes races back to Las Vegas and wraps Livewire in the costume, curing her of her insanity. After explaining to Jimmy(the idiot) that America was all about offering people second chances, even people like Livewire, Supes continues on his journey.

Thoughts: Meh. With the exception of Jimmy Olsen(who you may realize I hate), there was nothing actively wrong with this comic. It was pretty much your basic Superman vs Livewire issue, with Supes coming up with a way to peacefully halt Livewire's rampage. It was an okay comic. Now if Jimmy Olsen would have been fried by Livewire, this would have been a GREAT comic!

Score: 7 out of 10.Wait, now Superman loves America again?! Make up your mind, big guy!

Titans #34 & Superman #710

Titans #34:

Summary: Drago predictably betrays Junkie Roy and Cheshire once this issue gets started. Drago has Junkie sent to his mad scientists so that the Junkie's eyes could be plucked out... Sure, why not. As for Cheshire, he wants to boink her so she'd provide him with an heir. While that “great” scene is playing out, Osiris is trying to deal with Isis, who was intent on destroying Philadelphia. When asked why she had gone loco, Isis complains that since Osiris brought her back to life using evil acts, she was tainted, and thus insane. Oookay then. During a moment of lucidity, Isis tells Osiris to kill her, since that would be the only way to halt her rampage. Osiris refuses, so Isis decides to commit suicide... Wait, if she was going to kill herself anyway, why ask Osiris to do it in the first place?! *sigh* Isis flies into the sky, says a prayer and is about to be struck by lightning when Osiris flies into her, getting them both struck by lightning. They land and Isis is suddenly sane, proclaiming that her gods had cured her... However, she is worried that Osiris is still evil.

Thoughts: Wow, this was horrible! Like shockingly bad. The stuff with the Junkie, Cheshire and Drago was bad, but the Osiris/Isis stuff was just mind blowing! I mean first she tells Osiris to kill her, he won't, so she prays, and then tries to kill herself. Osiris stops her, which SOMEHOW leads to her becoming sane! What?! Really?!? Why the HELL did the White Lantern ring want Osiris to bring Isis back if it was going to lead to her going crazy and trying to destroy the planet? God, the more time I spend thinking about this comic the worse it seems!

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.I didn't even bother to mention this scene in my review... You know why? Because I DON'T CARE!!!!!


Superman #710:

Summary: Superman meets up with the second Batman on his tour of America, this time Bruce Wayne. The two reminisce about an early mission they shared from before they were Supes and Bats. Basically the mission involved the duo saving some town from Vandal Savage and the Chinese army. After the flashback is over, Bats tells Supes that he can see that Supes was still hurting over the death of Pa Kent as well as the loss of New Krypton. Bats tells Supes that while the pain of the loss won't get better, he needs to learn how to function with loss better. With that, the two shake hands and part ways.

Thoughts: This was actually one of the better, and possibly my favorite issue of Superman during this Grounded storyline. Now granted, that's not exactly saying much, but hey, by this point I'm frantically searching for ANY reason to like this storyline! I think the reason I enjoyed this issue was because the brunt of it was a flashback from before Supes began to aimlessly wander the country... If only ALL of the issues of Superman would step away from this horrible storyline, I'd be a happy camper!

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Check Bats out striking a pose!

Quick Hits: 2/9/11

I used up all of my witty banter(and I use the word “witty” in as loose a fashion as possible!)during the NCD post earlier today, so this is as far as the introductory paragraph is going to go. Three more comics to look at tonight, two DC books and a Marvel. Let's get to it.

Superman #708:

Summary: Yes ladies and gentlemen, Superman is STILL walking across the country. He bumps into the Superman Squad(a bunch of futuristic do-gooders)and the Squad take him to the future. The Squad show Supes around, and tell him that they understand that he was depressed over the loss of New Krypton, but that there were other forces at work eroding his confidence in himself. After the pep talk, the Squad send Supes back to the present where he notices a town being flooded. Oh, and off in the distance there's a tornado. Supes has to decide to either save the drowning townspeople or stop the tornado. Luckily for Supes, Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon is also in town, and she feels drawn to Supes. Not knowing who WW was, but seeing that she had powers, Supes tells her to save the townspeople while he halts the twister. WW sets out to do as told, but runs into the still unnamed female villain behind Supes recent troubles. The evil woman complains about WW sticking her nose where it didn't belong, but WW is unable to apprehend the evil woman since she had a town to save. By the time Supes returns to the town, WW has saved the people, and warns a very confused Supes to watch out for the evil woman before leaving.

Thoughts: This was one of those weird comic books where a whole lot of nothing happened. I mean between the covers we had Supes meeting the Superman Squad, heading to the future, saving some townspeople, meeting Wonder Woman, halting a twister, WW battling the unnamed evil woman, the evil woman getting away and WW warning Supes that somebody was out to get him. But in the end, after all of that stuff took place, we're still basically in the same place we were the past few issues. Supes is still depressed and unsure if he should bother being a hero, while a mysterious woman enhances his feelings of despair behind the scenes. The meeting between Supes and WW: The Teenage Amazon was pretty nondescript, as Supes confirmed what we've known from the WW series, that being the fact that nobody remembers WW. So while this comic was readable and non-offensive, it also didn't lead to much of anything.

Score: 6 out of 10.Of course there would be a monkey... There's ALWAYS a monkey...


Daken: Dark Wolverine #5:

Summary: We start off learning some background information about Madripoor. Basically Tyger Tiger has taken control of most of the crime in Madripoor, but is working with the police to weed out the seedier criminal activities(the slave trade and drugs). However, she has thus far been unable to quash the powerful criminal bankers of the country, since they had control of the money and were good at covering their footsteps. That's where Daken comes in. He approaches Tyger and reveals his identity, explaining that he wanted to make amends for the things he had done in the past, and that he knew where the bankers were holding their annual meeting. To reduce any paper trail, the bankers were notorious for keeping no files of their illicit activities, with the exception of the ledgers they kept with them at all times. In other words, if Tyger could get access to this meeting, she'd have all the proof she needed to get rid of the bankers. Not exactly trusting Daken, but also not wanting to allow such a possibility to pass her by, Tyger gets in touch with her contacts in the Madripoor police force, as well as her underlings and heads towards the bankers hideaway. This issue ends with Daken standing beside Tyger, knowing that the information the bankers held could easily place him in control of all the crime in Madripoor.

Thoughts: Well, I hate to say it about this of all comic books, but here it comes... Meh. I honestly don't care about Madripoor, and to be honest, I've always felt some of the worst Wolverine stories have emanated from that country. Really, the only saving grace for me with this comic was Daken's impending betrayal of Tyger and her associates. For most of this comic I was wondering what Daken's game was, and I was happy to see that he intends on stabbing Tyger in the back(probably literally!)after she's done all the dirty work and dealt with the bankers. The thing that bothered me most about this comic was actually the fact that Daken revealed his identity to Tyger to gain her trust... Since Daken faked his death he's already told the Fantastic Four AND now Tyger that he was still alive... All over the course of TWO issues! I mean really, if you go through all of the trouble of faking your death to operate from the shadows, shouldn't you, oh, I don't know, NOT tell everybody you meet that you're still alive?!? Yes I know Daken can, and more than likely will kill Tyger at the end of this arc, but still... In the end, this was one of those RARE instances where I wasn't blown away after reading an issue of this series. However, I still expect the next issue to bring the awesome that this issue was lacking.

Score: 7 out of 10.Sure, why not just tell EVERYBODY you faked your death, Daken!


Freedom Fighters #6:

Summary: The Fighters manage to break the power-dampening collars they had been fitted with after Black Condor revealed that the collars were only making the Fighters believe they had been de-powered. Now re-powered, the team confronts King Bullet and his goons and manage to get the powerful sword Bullet was after before teleporting away, leaving Bullet and his criminals behind to die. Phantom Lady yells at Miss America for leaving the villains behind, and Miss America explains that she could care less, which causes Phantom Lady and Black Condor to leave. Now short two team members, Miss America heads to the home of the retired Doll Man and tries to coax him into rejoining the Fighters. After being turned down, Miss America brings in several SHADE agents and basically tells Doll Man that he had no choice in the matter.

Thoughts: Not bad... I liked this issue WAY more than the past few issues, as things made a bit more sense to me. I'm still a bit confused by certain aspects of the story(such as why that sword was so important and why the Jester kidnapped the Vice President), but at least this issue added some character development to the team. Miss America was shown as a no nonsense leader who refuses to take no for an answer, while Phantom Lady and Black Condor left the team(for now)and wound up sleeping together. So while the story still isn't gelling for me yet, at least I'm becoming somewhat connected to a few of the characters. Hey, that's better than nothing!

Score: 7 out of 10.At least King Bullet didn't sit down and start crying when he lost his hand...

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.

The Best of the Rest! Jan. 11th edition.

Hey all, I think it's way past time for a new installment of the Best of the Rest! Since I've been on vacation I've had the time to do full reviews, meaning I really haven't had the need to do the abbreviated, BotR-type reviews. Well, after reading a bunch of comics last night, and realizing that I really didn't want to do full reviews for them for various reasons, I figured now was as good a time as any to do the first BotR post of 2011. There's some bad(well, mainly bad)as well as some mediocre reviews here, so yeah, I wouldn't blame you for skipping this post entirely! Anyway, before we get to the reviews, let's see what other random comic related things I can think of...

Redheads have more fun?
It seems the return of Saint Barry Allen has been affecting the DCU in more bizarre ways than I could have ever imagined... First things first, in case you're new around here, I HATE Saint Barry Allen. I mean I hate him as much as a(somewhat)sane human being can hate a fictional character. Trust me, if I simply didn't like Saint Barry, I'd say “I don't like him.” Instead, I'm using the word HATE here. I hate the character, I hate the way his return was explained(he wasn't really dead, just running for years), I hate what his return did the the newer members of the Flash comics(Capt. Boomerang II, dead. Inertia/Kid Zoom, dead. Zoom, de-powered.), and most of all, I hate the way Wally West(the former and rightful Flash)has been treated. So there, we've established that I hate Saint Barry, and why. But it seems that the Saint Barry affect isn't going to stop there... No, the return of Saint Barry also seems to be having a rather bizarre and unexpected influence on one of(if not my favorite)DC character, Bart Allen/Kid Flash/Impulse. It seems that in an attempt to show us that Wally West NEVER HAPPENED, Bart is slowly BECOMING Wally! It's sort of like something out of a bad science-fiction movie... First things first, here's a pic of Bart as Impulse:Next, here's one of Bart as Kid Flash before he died:Next up, here's a shot of Bart after he was aged and took over the Flash mantle:Finally, here's Bart as he's been looking lately in the most recent issue of Superboy:What is up with Bart's suddenly red hair?! I mean seriously? And it's not like this was a snafu only taking place in Superboy... No, since his return to life, Bart's hair really HAS turned red! Which other speedster and former Kid Flash also has red hair? WALLY WEST!!! Yep, my guess is that DC is slowly turning Bart INTO a younger version of Wally, so that they can simply strike Wally from the DCU altogether, thus cementing the evil Saint Barry Allen as the one and only Flash... Well besides Jay Garrick, but really, who counts him? Madness you say? Ha. We'll see... Remember you read this two years from now when Wally West is nothing more than a faded memory, Saint Barry is still fighting the same old rogues, and Bart is acting EXACTLY like Wally circa 1965...

DC: Deception Comics?
Hey, since I'm already in attack mode, I might as well keep attacking, no? A few months back, DC came out and said that they were going to lower the price of all of their standard comic books back to $2.99 from $3.99. They did state that over-sized comics and a few mini-series would still be placed at $3.99, but for the most part, DC fans rejoiced. Right after the announcement was made, DC began putting the $2.99 price in the upper left-hand corner of each comic(in larger font then before), instead of hiding the price down by the bar code, which is a tactic that both DC and Marvel had been using(and Marvel still uses with all of their books to this day). When you buy as many comics as I do, you tend to notice these little things. Anyway, this past Wednesday I picked up the first issue of the Weird Worlds mini-series and immediately noticed that the price wasn't in the upper left-hand corner like it was all of my other DC books. After a closer look, I realized that this was one of DC's $3.99 priced comics, and that low and behold, the price was hidden back by the bar code. Now this might not seem like much, but it really annoyed me... I mean, DC received a lot of positive press(and deservedly so)for reducing the price of many of their comics, and DC themselves made sure to put the $2.99 price tag RIGHT at the top of the book so there was no missing it. But to basically hide the price of the $3.99 comics, while proudly displaying the $2.99 price just seems like an underhanded move to me... Either put ALL of your prices in the top left hand corner, or put them ALL hidden at the bottom. Going both ways, in my opinion at least, makes it seem as if DC is trying to trick consumers into buying the more expensive comics, figuring(incorrectly)that ALL of DC's comics are priced at $2.99 now. So while DC should be lauded for putting an overwhelming majority of their comic books at $2.99, they also deserve to be scolded for trying to pull a fast one by playing “Hide the Price” with their $3.99 books.

Enough ranting, let's get this party started! First up is Widowmaker #2, which stars Black Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, meaning I SHOULD love it... This issue opens with the Supreme Soviets(think the Russian Avengers)fighting Widow, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, since they believe that Hawkeye is the leader of a Japanese crime organization. Why would they believe that? Because the leader of the evil Japanese society is named Ronin, a name Hawkeye used up until recently. Eventually the heroes defeat the Russians, but get separated in the process. Mockingbird winds up with Dominick Fortune(who came by to help Mock out), while Widow and Hawkeye get away together. Widow manages to save a Russian diplomat from the evil Japanese crime organization after a phone call to Steve Rogers, and this issue ends with the real Ronin looking at pictures of Black Widow and Mockingbird, who he had marked for death. Ugh. I didn't like this comic much at all. Actually, the only thing it really had going for it was the three main characters. I don't get the story, other then the whole, “Evil Ronin is killing spies.” thing, which might just be all you need to know about this mini. I'd kind of like a bit more to the story than that, but maybe that'll come next issue. I mean it has to come soon, there are only two issues left! Score-wise, I'll go with a 5 out of 10.

Next up is Vampire Superman #706... Oh wait, that's actually Superman #706, but seriously, what is up with Superman on this cover?!Weird. Anyway, the story in this comic is ALLLLL about Perry White, editor extraordinaire of the Daily Planet. Basically some political blog has been eating into the Planet's readership, and the blog is promising to reveal a photo of Superman getting busy with Lois Lane. Upon learning this, Perry sends a young Planet photographer(thankfully not Jimmy Olsen)to infiltrate the blog while he tries to verify the photo. He calls Lois, who denies that she's ever been anything less than professional with Supes(HA!), and Supes himself takes time off from his stroll across America to fly over to the Daily Planet building to tell Perry that he would NEVER have relations with that woman. In the end, the photographer brings back evidence that the photo the blog had was simply a Photoshop job, and Perry offers the head of the blog the chance to work for the Planet... Zuh-huh?! What was this all about?! I mean yeah, I've been very vocal in my displeasure with the whole, “Supes walks around the country for some reason” story, but I'd rather read about that then the adventures of Perry White! If you're a fan of Perry White then this was the issue of Superman for you. Then again, if you're a fan of Perry White, you probably already brought and read this comic already. Oh well, for those of us who aren't obsessed with Perry this was a very skippable issue of Supes, one which I'll score 5 1/2 out of 10.

Moving back to Marvel it's time to check out Invincible Iron Man #33, or as the folks at Marvel call it, “The issue before Iron Man #500!” Only at Marvel do they count 31, 32, 33, 500... Anyway, I'm going to really fly through this review, but for a very good reason... Tony Stark(with some help from Maria Hill)manages to shut down the Detroit Steel drones that were trying to kill him. This angers the Hammer girls, who want Detroit Steel to kill Stark anyway. General Babbage, who is an ally of the Hammer girls, tells them to call off the attack, since he didn't want Steel to be seen murdering Stark, which the women reluctantly agree to do. However, they do get Babbage to release Ezekiel Stane from US custody, after which time they send Stane to their other ally, the Mandarin. See, this was a 9(!)part storyline that I began reading at about part 4 or 5... So there was A LOT about this story that I didn't fully grasp. But that's really no fault of Matt Fraction, who seems to have a definite idea of where he wants this series to go. So while this story left me REALLY confused at times, the future looks good. Now I know the Hammer girls are in cahoots with a US general, as well as the Mandarin, and that the Mandarin has Stane working for him. So I'll be looking forward to the start of this next storyline, which I'll be reading from the start. As for a score, I'll go with a 6 1/2 out of 10, which is basically for the stuff that I did understand, as well as the promise for the future.

Sticking with the House of Ideas, here's Namor #5! Hey, check it out, this series actually made it 5 issues! With the way Marvel cancels books, that's almost cause for celebration! Now if Namor makes it to a seventh issue, I'll be gobsmacked! This issue took a look at Namor through the years. We start pre-WWII where Namor would occasionally attack the surface world because it seemed like the thing to do. I mean when you live under the sea and only have that one green speedo, what else do you have to do for amusement? Fast forward to the middle of WWII where Namor had become an American hero due to his opposition of the Axis forces. Besides being respected and not attacking the surface anymore, Namor has also started dating a surface woman named Betty. Moving past WWII, Betty has become upset with Namor's frequent absences, and confronts Namor about it. Namor basically blows her off, and gets a tongue-lashing from Betty's friend, Alice. From there we move all the way up to four years ago where young X-Man Loa and her father are being assaulted by some petty criminal who could control sharks. Loa's mutant powers manifest for the first time and she manages to kill a shark, but is nearly eaten by another one. Namor saves the girl and her father from the sharks and tosses the criminal back to the shore, where Namor spots an elderly Alice. Alice introduces Loa as her granddaughter, and reveals that she had lost contact with Betty years ago and that Betty had left a necklace that Namor had given Betty to Alice. Alice offers to return the necklace, but Namor insists that Alice keeps it before leaving. We then head back three weeks ago where Loa is at the funeral of Alice. Alice leaves the Namor-necklace to Loa and soon thereafter she realizes that the necklace allows her to breathe underwater. This issue ends with Loa swimming to New Atlantis where she is welcomed by Namor. Hey, I actually liked this issue. Due to my extensive Fantastic Four comic collection, I would count myself as a fan of Namor. I personally like crazy, surface-dweller bashing Namor to kinder, gentler King Namor, which is why I enjoyed this issue. You kind of got both sides of the Namor coin. There was crazy, jerky Namor and calmer, mature Namor. So however you like your Namor, you got a taste of it here! For a score, let's go with a 7 out of 10.

Let's finish this post up by looking at the What If Venom possessed Deadpool story that ran through this years What If? comics. Basically Marvel broke this story into four parts and put a part in the back of the four What If? comics, I'd guess with the hopes that fans would buy all of the What If? books in order to get the full Deadpool/Venom story. This story gets started back in the mid 1980's with Galactus hiring Deadpool to destroy the Beyonder with a gun that would wipe the Beyonder from continuity. DP goes to do the deed, but becomes enamored by the Beyonder and decides to hang out with him instead. Eventually, Spidey(back when he was the host for the Venom symbiote)tries to attack the Beyonder and DP, but loses and gets separated from the symbiote, which merges with DP, as dreadlocks... Time passes and the Beyonder gets tired of hanging out with DP and ditches him, which leads to DP wanting to shoot the Beyonder with the retcon gun. DP also ditches the symbiote dreadlocks(but seems to keep the symbiote itself somehow), and the dreadlocks become his mortal enemy, Carnage. The Beyonder and Carnage hook up and Carnage gets pregnant, which bums out DP. Moving forward, Galactus comes to Earth and announces that he had impregnated Carnage, which leads to the Beyonder and Galactus fighting and destroying the Earth. With the Earth gone, DP uses the retcon gun on both the Beyonder and Galactus, getting rid of them both, while returning the Earth. With his foe the Beyonder gone, DP becomes depressed and decides to use the retcon gun on the entire universe, ending this story... Now THIS was a train wreck! I mean, needless to say, this story was supposed to be funny, but MAN did Rick Remender miss the mark for me... I didn't find the story funny in the least, and with no humor there was just the story, which was, as you could probably tell from my write-up for it, REALLY bad. An unfunny comedy, coupled with a bad story gets a 1 out of 10 score from me. Comedy is a very subjective thing, so maybe you'd like this story. Me, I couldn't have liked it less.

Origins and Omens flashback, part 2.

Hey gents and gentettes, as promised, here's the second and final part of my look back at DC's “Origins and Omens” stuff from 2009. If you have NO idea what I'm going on about, then click here to be whisked away back to the magical land of Yesterday, where all of your questions will be answered... Mostly. Okay, that takes care of the intro, let's jump right into the main event.


First up today is Nightwing #153.-The top picture could be Tim dressed as Batman telling Dick that he should be filling the mantle
-Obviously that would be Dick training Damian under the watchful eye of Talia in the Cave. I don't think that exact scene played out, but hey, they were close enough
-I could see the EVIL Jason Todd Batman holding a gun to Dick's head
-I don't recall Dick making out with somebody dressed in a Batgirl/Batwoman outfit... That's a real interesting picture, because that could very well mean that DC did indeed intend on healing Barbara Gordon. Either that or Dick is swapping spit with Stephanie Brown, which would be weird on like 6 different levels.


Robin #183-Okay, we have EVIL Jason Todd Batman menacing Tim
-Tim arguing with Dick during Battle for the Cowl
-Anarky HAS been a thorn in Tim's side
-And Tim also worked with Ra's Al Ghul.
-Hey, check it out, this one was totally right!


Secret Six #6-Wonder Woman did make a guest appearance in this series
-And I guess Bane did beat up some faceless goons...
-As for the Deadshot scene? I guess that could have happened... I can't recall it though


Superman #685-Mon-El did indeed fight Atlas
-He also teamed with Guardian(and I'm guessing Nightwing?)
-He also made sure to take some time for some good old fashion lovin'
-I can't say I remember a Green Lantern who looks surprisingly like Lex Luthor battling Mon-El... Lex as a Green Lantern would be ALL kinds of awesome though.


Teen Titans #68-Let's see, Kid/Red Devil did die
-Kid Flash(and his costume)did rejoin the team
-Static did show up, albeit briefly.
-THANKFULLY Wonder Girl and the Fake Blue Beetle never made out, because I would have vomited on the comic immediately!
-I don't think anybody got pregnant
-And I also don't remember Ravager trying to poke out Wonder Girl's eye.
-Huh, this was one of the rare instances where Scar was way off with her predictions... What gives, Scar?


Titans #10-Wally West did pretty much fade away because of the overwhelming powers of That Damed Saint, Barry Allen
-Roy Harper did wind up in a hospital bed(and eventually as a one-armed junkie who would go on to stroke a dead cat in an alley...)
-I can't say that I remember Brother Blood and Raven fighting recently, although it may have just blended into one of their other many, MANY battles
-I can't place the woman kissing Beast Boy, so I don't think that happened either
-And I don't recall the scene with Donna either... Is that supposed to be Indigo? Too bad that didn't happen!
-Wow, I guess the lesson here is that Scar can't accurately predict the future of any team with the word “Titans” in it...


Vigilante #3-Wow, I actually collected this series?!
-Vigilante did fight the Teen Titans
-As well as the Titans
-He also fired his guns, so kudos for that one
-And I vaguely recall some sort of bizarre cross-dressing killings storyline, so yeah, that happened as well


Wonder Woman #29-Wonder Woman did take a swim(really, she did!)
-A few Amazons did get pregnant
-Tom Tresser did leave WW
-And Warkiller/Achilles did spear a police car
-I don't recall WW with her hands covered in blood, although that very easily could have happened.


So that's it. Our brief trip to the 2009 version of the DCU is complete. I'd say that Scar's glimpses into the future were pretty accurate, except when the word “Titans” was involved... Then it was just a crap-shoot... Hopefully you enjoyed checking out these last two posts as much as I enjoyed crafting them. Anyway, feel free to comment, as well as to ask me what I was thinking by collecting that terrible Vigilante series... *shakes head* That's it, that's all, X out.

The Best of the Rest! November 27th edition.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Superman #704

Overall: This comic is an interlude of sorts to the whole, “I'm Superman and I'm going to walk across America!” storyline. Instead of focusing on the Man of Steel, this issue takes a look at Superman's better half, Lois Lane. Like dozens of other reporters, Lois is following Supes as he makes his way across the country, with his latest stop bringing her back to the town she attended college in, Rushmark, Indiana. While taking a walk around town, Lois runs into one of her old boyfriends. The two reminisce, and the man invites Lois back to his home later on so she can meet his wife and children. After bumping into some college students who basically only knew her as the woman who always interviewed Superman, Lois decides to take the man up on his offer. So Lois heads to the man's house, meets the wife and kids and enjoys a nice home cooked meal. The main thing the dinner does though is show Lois all of the things she COULD have had, had she not fallen for Supes. So while the dinner wasn't perfect, it did get Lois wondering if she had taken the right path in life. While walking to her hotel pondering her situation, Lois is swept off the ground by Supes, who tells her he missed her. Still feeling kind of melancholy, Lois asks Supes if he really needed her in his life, and Supes reassures Lois that she is the one thing that keeps him the most connected to Earth. After getting the reassurance that she was looking for, Lois's mood brightens, and this issue comes to a close.

Now THIS was more like it! Instead of watching Superman wander around aimlessly, we took a great look into the mind of Lois Lane. Lois is one of the better supporting characters out there, so it was nice to see her get a chance to shine here. The whole, “Road not taken” story with Lois was marvelously done, and made so much sense. Lois had returned to her college town, met up with her old college flame, saw the life that could have been hers, got depressed and was cheered up by her super-husband. Great stuff! So kudos to G. Willow Wilson for giving me a much needed(and appreciated) break from JMS's thus far boring Superman run.

Score: 9 out of 10.Wow, Supes has all the best romantic moves...