Titans Annual #1 & Secret Six #35

Okay, so the two DC comics I reviewed yesterday turned out to be slightly better than I expected. Granted, I had low expectations going in, but still. Today I'll be looking at two series that routinely score around a 4 or a 5, in other words, I usually don't like them... So once again, the bar is set pretty low...

Titans Annual 2011 #1:

Summary: This issue begins with Osiris obliterating the army of Qurac, which had been waging war on Kahndaq. With the forces of Qurac dealt with, Osiris declares that he was now the sole ruler of Kahndaq, much to Isis's dismay. Meanwhile, Deathstroke manages to scare the Worst Justice League Ever away from his jet by revealing that he had a nuclear device hidden inside it. Not only that, but he also had a lead box on the plane, which causes the League concern since whatever was in the box had to be worse than the nuke. Having gotten a few hours before the League would confront him again, Deathstroke takes the Titans to Kahndaq to speak with former Titan, Osiris. From there we head to Deathstroke's base, where the Tattooed Man meets Dr. Impossible and... Ugh... Dr. Sivana. Impossible tells TM that Deathstroke knew he'd return, before handing TM a teleportation device that would bring him to Deathstroke. Upon arriving in Kahndaq, Deathstroke is attacked by Osiris, who was angry that Deathstroke hadn't been able to resurrect Black Adam as promised. Deathstroke manages to convince Osiris that he was still working on bringing Black Adam back, telling Osiris that he was only one step away, but that he needed Osiris's assistance in holding off the League when they inevitably attacked again. Osiris agrees to help Deathstroke against the League, provided Deathstroke agreed to head Kahndaq's armed forces. After Deathstroke agrees to those terms, the two shake hands just as the League descends on Kahndaq. The League wants to arrest Deathstroke, Osiris won't allow it, so the two factions tear into each other. The battle is leaning towards the League until the Tattooed Man teleports to Deathstroke, who immediately tells Tattooed Man to deal with the League's heaviest hitter, Supergirl. Since Tattooed Man's powers are based in magic, he manages to weaken Supergirl, at which time Deathstroke opens the lead box from earlier, pulling out a Kryptonite covered sword. Deathstroke attacks Supergirl from behind with the sword, slashing her a few times. Atom interrupts Deathstroke's fun, and the battle continues to rage on, destroying more and more of Kahndaq. Finally having had enough, Isis turns the weather and land against the League and the Titans, separating them and declaring the fight over. She dismisses the League from Kahndaq, telling them that if they returned it would be considered an act of war. Not keen on starting an international incident, the League collect their injured and head home. Isis then declares herself the leader of Kahndaq, telling Osiris that he was too reckless to lead the country. With that all taken care of, Deathstroke reveals that he got what he really wanted from the battle, Supergirl's blood. Deathstroke grabs a bloody piece of Supergirl's cape, and takes the team back to his base, where he hands the cape over to Sivana so he could finish whatever experiment Deathstroke had him working on. That Worthless Junkie questions why Deathstroke needed Supergirl's blood, and Deathstroke explains that it was needed to save the life of somebody near and dear to him, Jericho.

Thoughts: First things first, before I even begin talking about the story, dialogue, art or anything else here, there's something I feel the need to mention... During the League's battle with the Titans in Kahndaq, Jade ends up being drawn in the place of Cinder in one panel, making it look like Starman was battling Jade, his own teammate, while calling her Cinder... Now yes, that's a small thing, but still, it's pretty amateurish. I mean this isn't some little indy comic company, it's a DC comic! Doesn't anybody proofread the comics before they go to print? So yeah, in today's day and age, that's the kind of mistake you really don't expect to see in one of the Big Two's comic books. Looking past that at the story, I was left kind of flat here... This is another case of me just not really caring about the storyline since it's all going to be moot in two month's time. Will Black Adam come back? It doesn't matter. Will Deathstroke be able to save Jericho from whatever malady is affecting him? Once again, it doesn't matter... This wasn't a terrible comic or anything, it just dragged on too long, especially considering the fact that I could care less about the outcome.

Score: 6 out of 10.When in doubt, post a splash page!


Secret Six #35:

Summary: After having spent the past few issues in Hell(thanks to Ragdoll, who's been completely forgiven mind you), Bane decides that he's been living his life all wrong. Since he's destined to spend eternity in Hell anyway, even though he's lived what he'd consider a righteous life, Bane decides to do whatever he wants while on Earth, and I'll give ya three guesses as to what Bane wants... That's right, to destroy Batman's life. To this end, Bane decides to kill the people Batman cares the most about, since physically breaking Bats back in the day didn't stop him. Bane writes a list of four people Bats cared about, Red Robin, Batgirl, Robin and Huntress Commissioner Gordon(it was originally Huntress, but Catman balked at that idea), and tells the team that they'd break into pairs and kill/maim/break those four individuals while Bane kept Bats occupied. Since he needed one more person to round out his team, as well as information on the Bat-family, Bane and the Secret Six(actually Secret Eight, but who's counting?) attack the Penguin while he's aboard his private boat. After some coaxing, Bane manages to get Penguin to agree to join the Six(Nine) to take down Bats... Once and for all.

Thoughts: Well, I didn't hate this comic, which makes this issue way better than the past several. Yes Ragdoll is still hanging around, even though he should have been killed issues ago, and Knockout is back for some reason, but at least Bane's epiphany has given the team some direction. They're not sitting on the fence, half good and half bad, they're not being mercenaries, they're being villains, period. If Penguin hadn't been in this issue, I'd probably have scored it even higher. Penguin or not, this was probably the best issue of this series I've read in months, which makes perfect sense in light of the fact that it's being canned with the reboot...

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.Good to know!

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3 & Titans #36

I'm getting towards the bottom of my new comics pile, so the next few comics coming up are the ones I really wasn't looking forward to reading. That doesn't mean they won't be good or anything, I just don't expect anything from them...

X-Men: Prelude to Schism #3(of 4):

Summary: This issue is ALL about Lord Summers the First, otherwise known as Cyclops/Scott Summers. Lord Summers is contemplating what move he should make against whatever this massive force that's rapidly approaching Crazy Mutie Island(Utopia), with his two options being to evacuate or stand and fight. Before making his decision Lord Summers' mind goes back to the woman who had the greatest impact on his life, Jean Grey... I mean his mother... Huh, didn't see that one coming. Anyway, after a few flashback sequences, Lord Summers makes up his mind and heads out to address his most trusted teammates. And Shadowcat... I'm not sure how she managed to get into the inner circle... Anyway, this issue ends with Lord Summers declaring that he'd be staying to fight the dread menace of the mystery foe.

Thoughts: Sarcasm aside, I enjoyed this issue for the most part. It was a real good issue for people relatively unfamiliar to Cyclops, as it gave a bunch of flashbacks detailing a few important moments from his formative years. Granted, the fact that he was thinking about his mother kind of took me by surprise(nobody EVER talks about poor Katherine Summers!), since I REALLY thought it would be revealed he was thinking about Jean, but whatever. I am a bit bothered that we still don't know what this massive, deadly, horrendous threat to the X-Men is, but hopefully we'll find out next issue. Other than that, this was a perfectly acceptable comic.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.You'd think Namor would at least get a little dressed up for this meeting...


Titans #36:

Summary: Deathstroke manages to escape the catacombs of Drago's lair thanks to the vision in his torn out left eye returning. After getting past Drago's minions, Slade meets up with Cinder and the two continue onward to find and kill Drago. As for Drago, he's currently in the process of being betrayed by Cheshire and That Junkie. Drago's goons enter the room to assist their master, as do Slade and Cinder. Slade immediately squares off against Drago, while everybody else heads into the background for their fight. Slade manages to figure out a way to counter Drago's telepathy, and is about to decapitate Drago, until Drago makes a promise that he'd leave Slade alone(or something, I really don't care that much...). With that, Slade tells the Titans they were leaving, and the team reluctantly does. Slade tells Cheshire and That Junkie that they were all even now(after That Junkie and Cheshire betrayed Slade to Drago), and this issue ends with the Justice League of Losers confronting Slade and the Titans for the murder of Ryan Choi.

Thoughts: Meh. This is one of those DC comics that I usually can't stand, but with the whole Reboot coming up, I can't really get myself to care enough about this series to get angry or anything... I just kind of read through this one totally disconnected from the story and the characters in it, since it all doesn't matter. That's probably why the score is higher than usual, I really don't care one way or the other.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That normally doesn't end well...

Titans #35 & Weird Worlds #6

Two more DC books to get through before I switch back to Marvel later on today. And since I'll be posting again later on, that's as much of an introduction as I plan on doing for now!

Titans #35:

Summary: We kick this one off with Drago going through Cheshire's mind and learning her real reason for joining the Titans... She was hoping Deathstroke would kill her, which would punish her for “allowing” her daughter to die. Drago feeds Cheshire all sorts of things she'd want to hear, and leaves her conflicted as to whether she wanted to stay with him or not. The Tattooed Man returns to his neighborhood and learns that the goons he left in charge were using his name to keep the neighborhood in check by terrorizing everybody. Before the Tattooed Man can figure out how he felt about that fact, Vixen confronts him, which naturally leads to a fight. Meanwhile, Osiris wants to declare war on a country next to Kahndaq against the wishes of his recently returned sister, Isis. Back at Drago's headquarters, That Junkie Roy manages to free Cinder from her jail cell, so she in turn frees him, and they decide to split up to find Cheshire and Deathstroke. As for Deathstroke, Drago sends him into the caverns beneath his base to be eaten by crazed cannibals.

Thoughts: Meh. This comic was okay, but like pretty much every comic coming out of DC today, it's speeding towards the conclusions to the various storylines going on inside it. Honestly, this is a series that really NEEDS a reboot, as it took three of my favorite characters(Deathstroke, Arsenal and Cheshire) and made me not care about them... And I don't even fully blame Eric Wallace for that, he was just dealt a bad hand when he was given this comic. If you're given a bunch of destroyed tools, you can't really build anything good. All I'm gonna say is this: the DC reboot gives DC the chance to fix the hideous decision to kill off Lian Harper. Here's hoping they do the right thing and bring Lian back, even if it's as a baby or something.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Slade talks a good game... For a blind man!


Weird Worlds #6(of 6):

Summary: Lobo manages to remove an evil alien from power on some planet and helps instill the rightful ruler, Garbage Man meets another swamp monster not unlike himself, but gets shot by some hick, and Tanga battles monsters. Am I forgetting anything? ......... Nope, that's about it.

Thoughts: Eh. The Lobo story bugged me since it had Lobo assisting somebody he was paid to capture. I mean Lobo is THE bounty hunter in the DCU, since when does he let his conscience dictate his actions? For that matter, since when does Lobo even HAVE a conscience?! The Garbage Man story, which had been my favorite tale for most of this mini-series, dealt more with some little abused kid and his friend, a random swamp monster, while Garbage Man was treated like, well, garbage. Bizarrely, the Tanga tale, which has been my least favorite story for pretty much this entire mini-series, was the best of the bunch this issue. It was finally amusing, unlike the prior 5 parts of Tanga's tale, where she was just unbearably annoying. Most of these characters will be returning in a few months in another mini-series, but I can guarantee you right now that I won't be picking that mini up. This mini just didn't give me enough incentive to plunk down $4 for another round of mediocre stories.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.Tanga wasn't that bad this issue... Go figure.

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!

Really Quick Hits! 3/19/11 edition

Over the course of the past two days I have managed to... instead of review, let's say summarize 14 comic books. After looking back at the books I wrote about, I'm pretty disappointed... The highest score any of these books got from me was a 7 1/2, which is a score I give to a comic that was only SLIGHTLY above average. As a matter of fact, many, if not most, of these books were below a 6, which means they were below average reads. That's really pretty bad... Interestingly, 9 out of the 14 books were DC titles, which I guess explains why the scores were so lackluster... On a positive note, this is my 100th post of the year! That's about the only good thing about this post...

Wonder Woman #608:

What Happened: Cheetah, Artemis and Giganta(who are Amazons now) beat Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon down for a while because they want to kill her as revenge for Wonder Woman abandoning them, or maybe they wanted to capture her for the mysterious Morrigan... I really don't know, or quite frankly care. The Morrigan themselves seem like they now suddenly DON'T want WW to join their ranks, and we end this one with Dr. Psycho saving WW from the trio of phony Amazons.

Thoughts: What can I say here that I haven't hit on before? I just can't get into this story at all. I think we're 8 or 9 issues into J. Michael Staczynski's WW story, and I honestly have NO idea what's going on. I mean after nearly TEN issues of this story, shouldn't we have SOME idea of what the hell is going on, why WW is now a Teenage Amazon, and who/what the Morrigan are all about? Every issue it's just more and more confusion... I don't get it.

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Look out, Wonder Woman: The Teenage Amazon! It's Cheetah: The Sudden Amazon!!!


Titans #33:

What Happened: Deathstroke, Cinder, Cheshire and That Worthless Junkie, sneak onto an island to kill some guy named Drago. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Drago knew Deathstroke was coming. How'd he know? Because That Worthless Junkie and Cheshire have finally turned on Deathstroke. After an extended fight scene, Cinder is knocked out and Deathstroke is captured and brought before Drago, who pulls out Deathstroke's eye... With his bare hand... Really.........

Thoughts: I... I don't even know what to say anymore. I mean after that last page, what more is there TO say?! What's the purpose of having some feeb LITERALLY pull Deathstroke's eye out? What's the endgame here? Is Slade gonna go all Daredevil and do his thing blind? Is he going to simply... I don't know, stick his eye back in his head and carry on like nothing happened? I thought this series was on the upswing, I recall enjoying the past few issues, but that sure came to a screeching halt with this issue. Ah DC... You find new ways to depress me every single month...

Score: 4 1/2 out of 10.Yoink!


Superboy #5:

What Happened: This is the second ever, or as DC is calling it, The FIRST EVER Race Between Kid Flash and Superboy!!!!!!! issue. The two agree to race with the proceeds going to benefit Smallville. So the two teenage heroes run around the globe, inexplicably staying neck and neck the entire time, and then Krypto wins the race.........

Thoughts: What the hell did I do to deserve this?!?!?! Is it because I said Dan Didio sucks?! Is it the way I've been insulting Chairman Johns lately?!? I mean seriously, why is this happening to me?!?! *sigh* Okay X, take a deep breath and calm down... This is one of the few times I finished a comic book and literally cursed aloud after reading it. It was that incredibly bad. Not only that, it was insulting. I literally felt insulted after reading this comic. First off, Bart Allen has already proven that he is light years faster than Superboy. Don't believe me? Then CLICK HERE. But as I was reading this I was thinking, “Maybe Bart doesn't want to embarrass SB too badly in his hometown.” Sure, it SEEMED like Bart was giving the race his all, but like I said, maybe he was holding back. So as the issue rolled along, I figured we'd get a tie or something. And then Krypto, who wasn't even a part of the race won... I don't even want to talk about this anymore. Needless to say, this series just lost a reader.

Score: 0 out of 10.Go to hell, Krypto.


Batman and Robin #21:

What Happened: Some new villain named the White Knight is running around killing off the families of anybody who has ever been incarcerated in Arkham Asylum. By the end of this issue he's managed to kill Victor Zsasz's brother and the Mad Hatter's family, stymie the Gotham Police Department(big shock there!) as well as leave Batman(Dick Grayson) and Robin in his dust.

Thoughts: Hey, somebody sound the alarms, this was actually a GOOD comic book! After the past three DC comics I read/posted about, I REALLY needed something like this. The story is really strong, with Dick and Damian managing to figure out what the White Knight's game was(killing off the family members of Arkham's infamous), but not knowing who the Knight was going to strike against next, since it could be almost anyone. The fight scenes were good, the story was good, the art was good, the dialogue was good, and Commissioner Gordon didn't rough Damian up this issue. I have no complaints here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.My current Windows background!


Captain America: The Korvac Saga #4(of 4):

What Happened: Captain America(Steve Rogers) manages to convince future Galactus to give him the Ultimate Nullifier to put an end to the threat of Korvac. Cap confronts Korvac with the Nullifier but is unable to convince himself that nullifying Korvac was the right thing to do. Korvac takes advantage of Cap's hesitation and snatches the Nullifier, but since his mind wasn't properly focuses, it nullifies Korvac, ending his threat. With that, Galactus sends Cap back to the 21st century and we can call this mini-series a wrap.

Thoughts: Eh, no complaints here. I mean I doubt I'll remember this mini-series a week from now, but as it was, it was an okay way to spend a few minutes. This issue, like most of this mini-series was good. And hey, good is better than bad!

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.That Galactus is such a class act!


Batman Incorporated #3:

What Happened: Batman(Bruce Wayne) heads to Argentina to dance the Tango of Death and try to convince Gaucho to join his Batman Inc. initiative. Gaucho turns Bats down, even after Bats assists Gaucho defeat a few of his Argentinian enemies. In the end, Bats and Gaucho are trapped by the thought-to-be-dead villain, El Sombrero, which literally translates to “The Hat”...

Thoughts: I literally have no earthly idea what I just read here. None. There were blue scorpions, a hot air balloon, Batman pretending to be Bruce Wayne in order to dance, and a villain whose name is literally The Hat. The Hat! If ever you need proof that Grant Morrison is insane, then read this comic book.

Score: 3 out of 10.Yup, Batman returned in order to dance.


Batman: Streets of Gotham #20:

What Happened: Dr. Death thinks back to his origin while he's working on some drugs for his new boss, Hush. However, Hush figures out that Dr. Death was going to double-cross him, so he knocks Death out and steals Death's drugs.

Thoughts: I honestly had no problem with this comic. I can imagine that some people would, since this storyline was supposed to be about Hush, and he only appeared on maybe three or four pages, but I actually enjoyed Dr. Death's origin enough to overlook the lack of Hush. I think there are only two more issues left before this series is being canceled, so I'd have to hope that Hush(finally!) takes center stage next issue and reveals exactly what he's up to here.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Man are they OLD!!!

Quick Hits: 2/17/11

Never let it be said I don't keep my promises(well most of the time anyway...). I promised to post an all DC Quick Hits edition for Thursday, and BAM, here it is. I actually enjoyed all three of these comics, which is a nice change of pace, especially when it comes to DC lately. Oh, and that announcement I promised in my New Comic Day post on Wednesday? I'll fill you guys in on it tomorrow night(Friday), when I put up a post explaining just what all of the hubbub is about. Don't worry, it's nothing earth-shattering or anything like that. The only other thing I have to mention is that I'm hosting my scans through Photobucket now, so if they look a bit different, that's why. If they look unbearably different, let me know in the comments section. Okay, that's what's coming tomorrow, but today I have some reviews to get to, so here they come.

Red Robin #20:

Summary: We get things started with Tim(as Red Robin) chasing after Catman, who had just left Lonnie Machin's hospital room with a flashdrive that would return control of the Unternet to Viktor Mikalek. Tim manages to catch up to Catman and the two do some sparring, but Catman is simply interesting in leaving town, so he shows Tim that he had stolen Tam Fox's cell phone and calls the Unternet with her phone, tipping the Calculator(who ran the Unternet for a time)that someone was trying to use the Unternet without his permission. With no choice, Tim has to let Catman go and rushes to Tam's dorm, just in time to see it blown up by a man who looks surprisingly like Calculator himself. Tim searches the rubble and is relieved to discover Tam wasn't there at the time, but that search allows Calculator to escape. Tim heads back to his base with a piece of the rocket used to destroy Tam's dorm and finds some footage of Calculator purchasing it... Except his facial recognition program can only match the Calculator in the footage to the 94th percentile. After some thought and sleuthing, Tim realizes that the Calculator he saw was actually a robot, and that 147 other Calculator robots went on-line with the one he saw. Realizing that he'd need some assistance, and not wanting to be spoken down to while on the mission, Tim turns to the Teen Titans. Tim and the TT trace the signal which activated the Calculator robots to a nightclub in Istanbul, and Robin(Damian)spots a Calculator robot, attacking and beheading it. Unfortunately this action reveals that the robot had a built in bomb, and that Tim and the TT were surrounded by several innocent civilians and a few Calculator robots, which were now primed to blow.

Thoughts: Hmm, let's see. I like, and have always liked Tim Drake, from his early Robin days to his current Red Robin identity. I like the current line-up of the Teen Titans, and have actually morphed into quite the Damian fan. I've liked Fabian Nicieza's writing since the 90's, and I've enjoyed JT Krul's current run on the Teen Titans. So putting all of that information together and mixing it up I can tell you quite definitively that I really liked this comic! Yeah, there were some things that bugged me, Catman's bizarre and totally uncalled for appearance being one of those things, but just about everything else was done really well. Tim turning to the Titans for help, especially since it was their mutual enemy(Calculator)he was squaring off against, made perfect sense, and all of the characters acted exactly as I would have expected them to act. I'm definitely looking forward to the next part of this x-over in the Teen Titans comic.

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Can you believe that Damian has become one of my favorite DC characters?! If that's not a sure sign of the impending apocalypse I don't know what is!


Titans #32:

Summary: Captain Marvel(or Shazam, I'm not sure what the hell DC is calling him nowadays)and Osiris have a good, old fashioned super-hero throwdown after CM discovered that Osiris had been killing people with the hope of returning his sister, Isis, to life. While those two brawl in the streets of Philadelphia, Ink quits the Titans, figuring that now that he had avenged the death of his son he was done. Deathstroke tries to convince Ink to stay and keep assisting the Titans, but Ink turns them down and walks. Meanwhile, CM manages to reach Osiris by telling him that although they have the powers of gods, they can't walk around killing people indiscriminately. Osiris listens to CM go on for a while before he begins to wonder if killing CM would bring Isis back. Deciding to give it a shot, Osiris grabs CM and steals his powers, turning CM back into regular, old Freddy Freeman. Freddy tries to regain his powers by saying Shazam a few times, but they don't come back to him. Meanwhile, the Titans base rumbles violently from Osiris's room, and the villains head down to investigate. That Damn White Lantern Ring(yeah, that's its official name now) tells Osiris that he had accomplished his task, and he rushes back to the Titans base, finding Isis alive, but furious with him.

Thoughts: I didn't like the way Eric Wallace's run on this series started at all. I mean I disliked it so much I was seriously debating on whether I'd keep reading when my subscription was up. However, it seems with each passing issue I'm enjoying this series more and more. I liked this issue. It didn't blow my mind or anything, but it was a good, solid read. I like all of the little stories that it seems everybody on this team have going, from Cheshire and Roy to Ink to Osiris to even Deathstroke himself. This series is becoming pretty well rounded, and is shockingly becoming one of my favorite non-Bat family DC books(although that isn't really saying all THAT much with my recent displeasure with the DCU in general). Now I'm sure some of my longtime readers are probably kind of surprised by the fact that I haven't exploded at the fact that Freddy Freeman was robbed of his CM powers. Yeah, I am a big fan of Freddy, and feel he's about 17 and a half times more interesting than former CM Billy Batson. But let's face it, with DC's whole, “Everything old is new again” editorial dictum I knew Freddy's days as CM were numbered and as such had long braced myself. I have NO doubt that in the end Billy Batson will be the one to regain the CM powers, and as such have made peace with that. Does it suck? Yeah, it sucks HARD, but that's DC.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.It's not working because you aren't saying, "Shazam!" with the exclamation point!


Birds of Prey #9:

Summary: This one's pretty simple. Black Canary is being tortured mentally after having been touched by Mortis last issue. Huntress, Lady Blackhawk and Dove have been taken hostage by Calculator who thinks(but isn't sure)that Dove is Oracle. Black Canary manages to fight off the influence of Mortis back at the Birds base(which is where Batman took her), while Oracle heads to Calculator's headquarters in an attack helicopter. Oracle tells Calculator to release her minions or face the consequences, so Calculator has one of his goons(Current)blow up the helicopter, presumably killing Oracle in the process.

Thoughts: See that? Simple, just like I said. I've been really down on the Birds of Prey series since it restarted, mainly because of the way Hawk and Dove were unnecessarily foisted on the team. This was probably the first issue since the relaunch that I really enjoyed reading. It focused on the REAL Birds(Black Canary, Huntress, Oracle), the story finally came together, and everything made sense. Sure Dove got to do the whole Superman act which annoyed me, but the story itself was really solid. I enjoyed the Black Canary parts, with Dinah trying to fight off the effects of Mortis's touch(and ultimately succeeding)and I liked Oracle's “death”. Yeah, we ALL know that Oracle isn't dead, I mean the entire purpose of this storyline was for Oracle to fake her death to throw the various villains who had discovered she existed off her trail, but even with the ending being uber-obvious, I still enjoyed this one. The next issue is the finale to this storyline(it said so right on the last page!), and I'll be interested to see how Oracle decides to operate now that she'll be completely off the grid again.

Score: 8 out of 10.Now THAT shotgun would kill a whole horde of zombies!

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.

Titans #30

Review: This issue kicks off in earnest with Deathstroke telling the girl he was tasked with rescuing from Arkham WHY he was rescuing her. Bottom line, her father was a c-list villain named Wavelength, had to give her up, and wants her back. While Deathstroke and the girl are running around the Asylum, Batman(in this instance, Dick Grayson)separates Killer Croc and Osiris, which leads to Osiris leaving the Asylum and apparently the Titans. The Atom talks to a few members of the JLA about the disappearance of Ryan Choi, but really, who cares? Certainly not anybody at DC... Meanwhile, the Titans and the inmates at the Asylum battle for a while, which gives an excuse for us to get Arsenal and Dick together. Dick still believes in Arsenal, but Arsenal is nothing but a worthless junkie(and this is coming from a HUGE fan of his), and basically tells Dick as much. By this point, the Arkham guards arrive on the scene, as does Deathstroke. Deathstroke tells the inmates that him and his team were leaving, and that the inmates could do whatever they wanted to Bats and the guards once he was gone. Dick makes one last attempt to appeal to Arsenal, but Arsenal leaves with Deathstroke and the Titans. From there, Deathstroke takes the girl to Wavelength, and the girl kills him. She then asks to be on the Titans, but Deathstroke slaps a power-dampening collar on her and tells her no. This issue ends with Deathstroke presenting Ink with the man who murdered his son, Slipknot.

Thoughts: Wow, this series is really bad... I mean just when I think it's hit rock bottom, it goes a step lower. Where do I start? The girl Deathstroke rescued was as annoying a character as I've read about all year, I'm SICK of Roy Harper: Useless Junkie, the Asylum story was simply abandoned midway through(first the Titans are fighting the inmates, then they aren't, and then the Titans leave and we never find out what happened...), and Congorilla made an appearance... Seriously, this series is bad... Really bad. I keep holding out hope that it's going to turn around(I mean it has Arsenal, Deathstroke AND Cheshire in it!!!), but with each passing issue, I doubt it more and more.

Score: 3 1/2 out of 10.My GOD is Congorilla ugly!

500 for 2010!

Yep, this is indeed my 500th post of 2010. And since I've never been one to ignore a milestone, no matter how insignificant, I figured I'd do something to commemorate the occasion. After some thought(okay, after not much thought at all...)I decided I'd put a few scans up. Why not, right?

First up is something JT requested... I'm not really sure why he requested this page, but hey, who am I to say no to The Man himself?


Next up is some fun with Batman and Etrigan. Don't ask me why, but I found this kind of funny... Plus it's my own personal crusade to post any page where Etrigan is kissing somebody. Once again, don't ask me why...


And finally a scene from Aquaman... To get the full impact from these pages, let me give a brief explanation. All of the royal ghosts of Atlantis had returned to haunt the city thanks to some villain. This leads to Aquaman being occasionally confronted by the ghost of his infant son, Arthur Jr, who would ask Aquaman, “Why?” Needless to say, Aquaman didn't know what his son wanted until the end of the story, right before the ghosts all returned to the afterlife. Yep, I'm man enough to admit that that last scan left me a bit misty-eyed...


Alright, that'll do it for me guys. I'll have a few new reviews up and posted tomorrow, as we begin to make our way closer to 2011 and the year end awards! Until next time, X out.

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! December 1st edition.

Well the weather outside is starting to get frightful, but rest assured, my reviews are still delightful... Man, was that corny as hell or what? Anyway, it's time for another installment of the most popular blog feature in the great country of Japan, the Best of the Rest! And who am I you ask? Men call me X! Trust me, that'll make way more sense by the end of this post... Probably. I'll be knocking off 5 reviews in this post, three DCs and two Marvels. On top of that, the last “review” is probably the most outrageously offensive thing I have ever written... So on that dubious note, let's get this show on the road.

Aquaman is... I've run out of fish jokes...
I am rapidly racing towards the end of the 1990's Aquaman series(I have about 20 issues to go)and I've got to say, once Peter David jumped ship(hey, there's a water reference!)this comic went down like the Titanic(I did it again!!). Nothing against Erik Larsen, but he is NO Peter David. Sure, PAD did some weird things during his nearly 50 issue Aquaman run(like the bizarre alien invasion storyline), but I could always find a character or two that I'd connect with, be it Tempest, Dolphin, Vulko, or Aquaman's awesome son, Koryak. Once PAD left, we lose Koryak, gain Mera(yawn)and Aquaman decides to wear a fake hand and go with his retro, 1960's look. Ugh. I'm definitely looking forward to being done with this series, hopefully as soon as next week.

Titans Together or something like that...
So with the impending end of the Aquaman series, I've decided that the next full run of comics that I'll tackle will be the Titans series from the late 90's. I've been warned to stay away from this series from some of my fellow bloggers, but my sister told me to give the series a shot, since it was a quick read. So once I'm done with Aquaman, I'll be working my way through the Titans. For better or worse...

Okay, enough gibber-jabber, let's get this show on the road! The first review on tap for tonight is Black Widow #8. Last issue Widow and the reporter she was trying to rescue were confronted on a train by the Crimson Dynamo and Fantasma. Widow outsmarts and electrocutes the Dynamo, but has a tougher time with Fantasma. Luckily for Widow, her foe from the first issue of this storyline, Fatale, steps in and knocks out Fantasma. Widow, Fatale and the reporter head to a hotel and Fatale explains that she had been betrayed by the people who hired her to take out Widow, so Widow decides to team-up with her. The reporter finally gives up the location of his source, who was the person trying to frame/kill Widow, and Widow and Fatale hunt the source down, discovering an empty room, which promptly explodes. The reporter figures Widow had died, but she later texts him and lets him know she survived, before she sends some of her spy friends to take the reporter back home. Annnd that pretty much closes that. I really didn't like the way this story ended at all. Basically nothing happened, except that the reporter no longer believed Widow had killed his father. Three issues and several continents for that?? Score: 4 out of 10.

Let's get to the DC books with a quick peek at Titans #29. Last issue Deathstroke decided to piss me off by freeing the Mad Hatter from Arkham, and is in the process of freeing a second inmate, Allegra Garcia. Unfortunately for Deathstroke, Batman is standing in between him and his escape. Naturally that leads to an extended fight between the two long time foes. Meanwhile, Deathstroke's team is battling a who's who of Gotham City nutjobs who escaped from their cells during Deathstroke's initial raid on Arkham. For some reason, all of the Arkham inmates seem to be packing their weapons(um, how?)making lots of trouble for the Titans. Deathstroke manages to get away from Bats by jeopardizing the lives of two Arkham guards who wandered into the fight, and with Bats distracted trying to save the guards, Deathstroke and Allegra make a break for it. This issue ends with Allegra tiring of Deathstroke and attacking him with some form of powers. This was actually a pretty good comic, with my only real complaint being the fact that all of the Arkham escapees had their weapons of choice with them. I mean, how the hell does THAT happen?! Scarecrow had a sack on his head and was blowing fear gas in people's faces, Zsasz had a knife, and Mr. Freeze had his frigging freeze gun! Now why would THAT be in Arkham with him?! Weird. Other than that, no real complaints here. The Batman/Deathstroke fight was well done, and as per my own sanity keeping exercise, I simply ignored everything Arsenal said and did. Score: 7 out of 10.

Sticking with DC, let's take a look at what used to be DC's premier super-team, the Justice League in Justice League of America #51. Batman, Supergirl, Donna Troy, Jade and Jesse Quick are trapped in the Hall of Justice with the Crime Syndicate and the immensely powerful Omega Man, who is SO powerful he speaks with an echo!!! Oooo, scary! Apparently the Omega Man is the being that has destroyed two other Earths, and wants to add the DCU to his resume. The Crime Syndicate try to avoid the Omega Man, while the JLA battle him to no avail. In the end, the Omega Man tries to fire a massive death beam into the air, but Jade uses her powers to halt the blast, creating an impregnable dome around all of Washington DC. Supergirl tries to take on the Omega Man, but using his ability to speak in echoes, he transforms her into EVIL Supergirl. How do I know she's EVIL Supergirl? Because she no longer has eyeballs and was wearing a black and silver costume. Meh, meh, and double meh. Supergirl “dying” and being reborn as EVIL Supergirl lacked any real impact since we all know she's not going to be staying that way since, you know, she has her own series! Now if Donna would have become EVIL Donna, maybe the impact would have been greater. Other then that, this issue STILL confused the hell out of me, and the Omega Man looked suspiciously like Onslaught. Whatever though, another lousy issue of a lousy series. Score: 4 out of 10.

Let's head back to Marvel and Secret Avengers #7 before I get to the main event of this post. This issue is STILL dealing with Shang-Chi, meaning that I was bored of it before I even got started... Shang gets captured by his father's ninja goons, but that's exactly what Steve Rogers wanted, since he had Ant-Man hiding in Shang's hair... Huh. Ant-Man springs Shang, and they return to Steve's base. Meanwhile, Valkyrie and the Price of Orphans(what kind of a codename is “The Prince of Orphans”?!)manage to capture a member of the Shadow Council and bring him into Steve for some fruitless interrogation. This issue ends with the leader of the Shadow Council, Director Thorndrake and Max Fury promising Shang-Chi's half dead father that they'd still capture Shang in order to complete the ritual that would return Papa Shang to life. How can they be so sure? Because they have some guy named John Steele working with them. This is another issue that had me saying, “meh” when I was done with it. I'm just not into Shang-Chi. Don't care about him, don't care about his stories, don't care about his father, I just don't care. I think this storyline wraps up next issue, and to that I say, the sooner the better! Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.

And now it's time for Green Lantern #59... I'm going to brutally honest here, I hated this comic book passionately, and as such, this is going to be more of a rant than a review. Not only that, but this rant turned out to be uncharacteristically profane, so if you get easily offended, you should definitely skip this review. So there, you've been warned. If you read on and get pissed, don't complain to me about it. This issue starts with the Indigo Lanterns arriving on Earth and putting some guy on their team. From there, the two objects of every one of Geoff Johns' wet dreams, Hal Jordan and Barry Allan talk and talk and talk and talk and talk and talk some more. Barry is upset that Hal is working with Sinestro and Atrocitus instead of him, and then the two talk some more, because what this issue needed was more of two characters who were dead years ago talking. On Oa, the Guardians and Salaak talk about Hal Jordan(because we needed MORE talking!!!)and discuss how he doesn't follow orders. Really? What a shocker! Wow, that's NEVER been mentioned before!!! That Geoff Johns is a comic book GENIUS!!! Eventually the Indigo Lanterns arrive at Hal's location and Hal proceeds to talk to them too. Hey, why the hell not? Hal complains about Black Hand being on the Indigo Lanterns, which gives Black Hand the opportunity to, you guessed it, talk! That little robed figure arrives on the scene riding Parallax, which makes no sense, but who really cares about this shit making sense anymore? Parallax then possessed Barry Allen and this issue thankfully ends. After I finished reading this comic, I put it down and simply said three words, “Fuck this shit.” That pretty much sums up my feelings towards this series. I guess I'm happy for Geoff Johns, who can jerk off to his favorite characters to his heart's desire, but me? Count me out of the Johns wank-fest. I'm done with this series. And more importantly, I'm done with anything written by Geoff “1959” Johns. I'm tired of his incessant pandering to the fans of DC's Silver Age, I'm sick of seeing the dead Green Lantern and the dead Flash getting all of the play in the DCU, basically I'm tired of Geoff Johns. Let all of the little DC fanboys drool all over the garbage he's regurgitating from 50 years ago, I'm done with it all. Score: 0 out of 10.

The Random Scan of the Week!Best line EVER!!!!

Titans #28

Overall: This issue kicks off with with Ray “SILVER AGE” Palmer deciding to try to find out what happened to that other Atom, Ryan Choi. You know, the same Ryan Choi who had the misfortune of not being created back in the 1940's through the 1960's, and therefore was unnecessary in GEOFF Johns' DC Universe, and as such was killed off in a meaningless little one-shot. Hmm, let me hop back off of that soapbox... Anyway, Ray promises Ryan's girlfriend that he'd do what he could to find Ryan. Meanwhile, Deathstroke's Titans have been hired to break some girl out of Arkham Asylum for some reason. A corrupt guard lets the villains in(since Deathstroke promised the man money once he had what he came for), and Deathstroke tells Osiris to remain behind to cover the team's escape route. Once Deathstroke and company are walking through the halls of Arkham, Osiris decides to kill the guard since every death he creates supposedly brings his sister one step closer to returning to life. Unfortunately, killing the guard opens up the doors in the Asylum, and the Titans find themselves surrounded by some of Arkham's resident crazies. Realizing what he had done, Osiris rushes off to help his teammates and runs into Killer Croc, who he mistakes for his old enemy, Sobek(HA!). While Osiris is battering Croc, Deathstroke tells the Titans to hold the line, while he completes the mission. Deathstroke runs off and bumps into the Mad Hatter(who he seems to have some sort of secret alliance with)before he finds the girl he was looking for. Before he is able to collect the girl however, Batman drops through the window, telling Deathstroke that the only way he was taking the girl was if Deathstroke went through him. Needless to say, there's your cliffhanger ending.

I don't really know what to say about this comic. I should have hated it. Actually, I should have hated it passionately given it had the Mad Hatter and Arsenal acting like a hopped up junkie. But in all honesty, I kind of liked this issue. To be honest, the Arsenal thing just kind of ran right off my back when I read it. Sadly, I just don't care anymore. DC took a character who'd I'd have easily placed in my top 10 favorites list up until 6 month ago and totally destroyed him. As much as it pains me to say it, I wish Roy would just die, because his character is THAT ruined. So when I read this comic I pretty much just ignore the Arsenal stuff. So ignoring that(and ignoring the Mad Hatter, since I hate that damn midget), this story wasn't that bad. All of the Titans had little moments of character development, and the cliffhanger leaves me intrigued to see what'll happen next. So yeah, no major complaints here.

Score: 7 out of 10.Roy Harper is a worthless, loser junkie. WE GET IT ALREADY, DC!!!

Titans #27

Overall: This issue starts off with Deathstroke coming back and defeating the drug baron who had kidnapped some kid Deathstroke had been hired to rescue. During the course of the battle Osiris kills one of the villains, which weighs on him even though every death he has a hand in seems to bring his sister one step closer to life. After the battle Arsenal returns to Deathstroke's base and discovers his stash of drugs had been stolen from him. Before he can discover who took them, Cheshire enters the room with Roy's drugs, offering herself in the place of the drugs. Roy accepts and this issue ends with Deathstroke watching Roy and Cheshire do the deed while holding a vile of drugs in his hand.

What the hell?! If you ignore like the last 5 pages or so of this issue, this comic really wasn't half bad. Unfortunately I COULDN'T ignore those last few pages... I've already gone on many extended rants about how much I hate junkie Roy, so I won't travel down that path again. But believe me, I HATE junkie Roy! This comic openly ignored Roy and Cheshire's previous tryst from the awful Rise of Arsenal mini-series, and then to make things even creepier, we have Deathstroke WATCHING the act! Ugh! I really don't know what the hell that was all about. If you close this comic five pages early, you get an okay story, but those last few pages... They were just painful.

Score: 5 1/2 out of 10.I only need one word to sum up this scene... CREEPY!!!

Quick Thoughts on: Titans #26

Titans #26: Writer: Eric Wallace. Pencils: Fabrizio Fiorentino.

Quick Thoughts: Sick and tired of Deathstroke's actions towards her, Cheshire guilts Arsenal into helping her take down Deathstroke... Permanently. Slade accepts Arsenal onto his team, figuring the death of his daughter Lian had pushed him over the edge. Osiris fights with his teammates and gets contacted by the White Lantern entity, which tells him to, “Help Isis break free”. Finally, Cheshire and Tattooed Man screw up a mission which leads to the entire Titans being called in to help, where they all get taken down except for Deathstroke.

I think I like the direction this series is moving. At least I think so... I like that Roy seems to have SOME sort of direction, and seeing him and Cheshire secretly work to take Slade apart from the inside could be fun. Osiris has his own story, Cinder seems to have some issues, and Tattooed Man seems like he(of all people)might become the voice of reason here. All in all, pretty decent stuff.

Score: 7 1/2 out of 10.Poor junkie Roy...

Titans #25

Titans #25: Writer: Eric Wallace. Artist: Fabrizio Fiorentino.

Review: I'm just going to hit on the main points of this issue, because some parts of this comic definitely left me confused... Deathstroke realizes that it was a shapeshifter that was trying to kill Lex Luthor, and he manages to save Lex by frying the shapeshifter's brain with an EMP pulse. Before that though, Deathstroke ends up angering Osiris, who now trusts Deathstroke even less, while shooting Cheshire(because the shapeshifter had taken her form). Back at his base, Deathstroke repeatedly insults the recovering Cheshire, hoping to snap her out of the funk she'd been in since the death of her daughter Lian, but his actions may have worked too well, as Cheshire now seemed intent on killing Deathstroke. As for Lex, he takes the shapeshifter back to Lexcorp and after studying it, he realizes that some of his own lab people had created it to kill him. Lex then calls a meeting and warns his scientists that if they ever try to use a Lexcorp made experiment against him again, they would become HIS experiments. This issue ends with Osiris returning to his room and seeing that the statue of his sister had changed slightly, giving him hope that maybe she was beginning to break free from the spell that turned her into a statue.

What I Thought: Meh. I guess this issue was okay, but some of the action scenes were really confusing. Sure, at one point the shapeshifter took Deathstroke's form, but then Deathstroke himself was also running around, and I was never quite clear on which Deathstroke was which... I know that was supposed to be the case with the two Cheshire's, but the action sequences with the Deathstroke's were all over the place. All in all, this issue wasn't horrible, but I'm hoping things pick up next issue.

Score: 6 1/2 out of 10.See, yet another reason why you shouldn't mess with Lex!

Talking Titans and changes.

Hey guys, X here with some splainin' to do. I wound up reading 4 issues of the Teen Titans last night(issues #80-83), as well as Titans #24, and I have to say, not one of those comics left me wanting to bother doing a review for them. Sorry, but I HATED all four issues of the Teen Titans, which surprised me, because I figured the return of Kid Flash and Superboy would have me doing back-flips, but alas, that was not to be. The Static story was painfully dull, and the current Search for Raven story makes me want to bash my head into the wall... How many times will we have a Search/Hunt/Quest/Wild-Goose Chase for Raven? First off, I don't even like the Raven character, and secondly, the writing in this series has just been barreling downhill since GEOFF left the series years ago. As for Titans #24, it didn't do anything for me. I mean, it was okay I guess, but it definitely wasn't anything special. I'd call it vaguely interesting, which is bizarre for a comic that had two of my favorite DC villains(Lex Luthor and Deathstroke)in it.

To be honest, when it comes to blogging, I go through some very distinct peaks and valleys. I can feel myself heading into one of those dreaded valleys... I'm just not feeling the whole blog thing right now. Maybe it's the lackluster comics I read last night, maybe it's the lackluster comics I have waiting for me on my nightstand(4 issues of Secret Six and an Outsiders?!), maybe it's the fact that I've posted almost 60 posts this month(which is a bit much), but I just don't feel that burning desire to review the comics I've been reading. So what to do... I think my best bet would be to try to just post reviews for comics I know my few readers would want to read about. I mean, why bother posting reviews for Nova, Daredevil, Superman, etc, if nobody is going to bother reading/commenting on them? That's just a waste of my time. So I think I'm going to change some things up a bit here, at least until I get out of this valley and hit a peak again. Instead of reviewing EVERYTHING I read, I'll probably just list what comics I've read during the week on... let's say Saturday, and if any readers are interested in discussing one of those comics, cool. If not, whatever. Besides that, I'll just review stuff I know you, my loyal X-Maniacs want to read about. Or better yet, since I'm always listing what I'm reading during my Comic Gazing posts, if you want me to review something, drop me a comment, and I'll do a review. I think that'll be it for now. So no new reviews tonight, and tomorrow will probably be the first time since last year that I won't bother posting anything new at all(unless something interesting comes in the mail that is!). Good-bye all.

The Best of the Rest!!! May 22nd edition.

It's Saturday, which means it it's time for me to give my uninformed, overly sarcastic and at times offensive opinion on comic books and their creators, that's right, it's time for a new installment of The Best of the Rest(copyright pending)!!! And yes, I am going to use that opening line EVERY single week, so get used to it! Five books to get through tonight, and much to my chagrin, I enjoyed them all! I know, what's a Best of the Rest post without a whole bunch of complaints!?! Oh well, hopefully I'll read a bunch of horrid comics for the upcoming week and next week's post will be full of venom and fun! Enough babbling X, get on with the post already! Umm, okay I will...

Brightest Day: Titans: Villains for Hire Special #1... Wow, that's a long title!: Before we get into this comic I need you all to do me a favor. Forget the Faces of Evil: Deathstroke comic, as well as the Teen Titans Blackest Night x-over stuff, because it seems as if Deathstroke sure forgot about those comics! Anywho, Deathstroke hires the Tattooed Man(who REALLY needs a better codename!), Cheshire, Osiris and some girl named Cinder to be his... well, villains for hire(as is obvious from the title here!). The 5 villains/pseudo-villains get a contract to kill the Atom(Ryan Choi, not Geoff John's beloved Ray Palmer), and after some difficulty, they do just that... That slight sobbing sound is probably Kello, just so you know. So the villains kill the Atom and Deathstroke refuses to tell his team why they are called the Titans, or what his masterplan is... Well okay then.... Score: 8 out of 10.You see, Osiris broke my number one rule, NEVER trust a one-eyed man dressed fully in spandex.

REBELS #16: This comic kicks off with Starfire attacking some of the REBELS(or are they LEGION again?)because of the good old, “super-heroes meet and have general misunderstanding” law. After Adam Strange explains that the fight was a simple misunderstanding, Starfire goes to meet Vril Dox(AKA my hero). Dox tells Starfire that since her homeworld Tamarian(Tamaria? Tamariananar?)had been blown up good, he was having the planet Rann teleported into its place. There's a very good reason for all of this, but you'll have to trust me on that, 'cause I don't feel like getting into it! In a few weeks time, Dox has managed to transform Rann from a barren wasteland to a thriving planet again. And why did he do that? Because he's awesome! Well, that plus he plans on restarting his LEGION police force, and with the people of Rann now beholden to him, he figures he can base LEGION from Rann. Starfire's insane sister Blackfire learns that another planet had appeared in Tamarian's orbit, so she decides to attack it, because she's insane and all. Oh, and somewhere along the way Starfire joins with the REBELS/LEGION team and starts to flirt with Captain Comet. Eventually Blackfire(who is insane)and her evil Tamarians attack Rann. What happens next? I'll tell you next month. Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.If I was a songwriter I'd write a song and dedicate it to Vril Dox... I really would too!

Booster Gold #32: Booster Gold was sent into the distant future by Rip Hunter(that has to be THE best porn star name EVER! Not that I know anything about porn star names... *ahem* moving on...)to retrieve the helmet of Dr. Fate so that it wouldn't fall into the hands of Darkseid. After some VERY hit or miss comedy(much like this post!), Booster winds up bringing the helmet, as well as a small girl back in time with him. It seems the small girl is there to make potty jokes, because in the DCU, nothing is funnier then toilet humor. This issue ends with Booster learning from Rip Hunter that Max Lord was alive again, which Booster is none to pleased to find out. You know, because he killed Booster's good buddy Ted Kord. Back during Infinite Crisis. In the Countdown to Infinite Crisis comic. With a gun. In a castle. There, I spelled it out for you! Score: 7 out of 10.My GOD are there a lot of words on this page!!!

Gotham City Sirens #11: This comic follows two different storylines, Catwoman and Harley Quinn hunting for missing dogs and Poison Ivy starting her first day at her new STAR Labs job. First off, you'd think somebody named CATwoman would be glad that a bunch of dogs had gone missing, but apparently not... Go figure. CW and HQ(you can always tell I'm getting close to the end of a post by how many abbreviations/initials I start to use)wind up solving the case of the missing dogs when they discover that HQ's hyenas were eating all of the neighborhood pets. Oh the humanity! Or should I say oh the hilarity? Umm, I'll go with hilarity. Oh the hilarity! In the other story, Poison Ivy arrives on the job(but obviously NOT as Poison Ivy, because that would just be dumb), and fires a few people because she read(from Lex Luthor no less)that's the way to garner respect in the corporate world. Sure, if international super-criminal Lex Luthor says that's the way to go, them by gum, that's the way to go! Eventually one of the women Ivy fired returns and locks Ivy in some sort of evil plant oven thing because she was angry about being fired. I bet THAT never happened to Lex. And well, that's the end of this issue. Will Ivy be cooked? Will Catwoman rename herself Dogwoman?? Will I end this pseudo-review with a modicum of self-respect??? The answer to all of those questions is a resounding no! Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.See, just like I said, Ivy was trapped in an evil plant oven thing.

Dark Avengers #16: I'm gonna tell you right now, NOTHING in this comic matters except for the very last page. But don't you worry, I'll get to that soon enough... This is the final issue of Dark Avengers, because Dark Reign is over and Marvel must finally be over it's love of the word “dark”. Don't you worry though, I'm not over my love of the word “supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”! This issue follows Siege #4, and shows all of the Dark Avengers(except for Daken, because he's too smart)being arrested by the heroes. The villains get locked away, Steve Rogers decides to hire Victoria Hand to be his right... umm, hand woman, and Norman Osborn gets to act crazy one more time, this time blaming all of his failings on his Green Goblin persona. So that's how Dark Avengers ended. On the very last page, series writer BENDIS writes his farewell address. And he signs it, “BENDIS!”!!! That's how I've been typing his name for over a year now! This can mean one of three things... Either BENDIS is so crazy that he actually DOES sign his name in block letters with an exclamation point(as I always suspected...), that he's is a frequent reader of my blog, or that I have been BENDIS all along, and have been bashing most of my... I mean BENDIS'S comics simply to see who would agree with me... him, and then have those cretins... I mean readers destroyed. All hail the Dread Lord BENDIS!!! Score: 8 out of 10.So he really DOES sign his name "BENDIS!"... I don't know whether to laugh or cry...