Batman & Robin #16

Overall: This issue begins by showing us how Dr. Hurt originally gained his immortality. Basically we learn that Hurt was possessed by Darkseid back in the past(or something reasonably close to that), but after the events of Final Crisis. In the present, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Damian Wayne are attacked by an army of Hurt's goons in Wayne Manor, while Hurt makes a break for the Batcave. The three heroes take care of Hurt's goons, and Bruce tells Damian to make sure Dick gets some medical attention since Dick was shot in the back of the head by Hurt last issue. Dick and Damian leave, and Bruce heads down into the Cave to take care of Hurt once and for all. Upon arriving in the Cave, Bruce hears a two-way radio in which Alfred is telling Bruce that he was trapped someplace that was rapidly filling with water. Hidden from view, Hurt taunts Bruce, asking Bruce if he was going to save Alfred or try to apprehend him. Bruce wanders around the Cave trying to find Alfred, but ends up getting locked in an interrogation room by Hurt. Elsewhere, Dick and Damian defeat Prof. Pyg, who was inciting a riot in Gotham. Dick nearly collapses, but before he does, he tells Damian to disarm the bomb Joker had placed on a train under Gotham. Back in the Cave, Bruce has managed to escape from the interrogation room and has located Hurt. The two fight a bit, and Hurt jumps into the waters below the Cave, showing Bruce that Alfred was trapped in a capsule under the water, a capsule that was rapidly filling with water. Bruce chooses to save Alfred, which allows Hurt the opportunity to escape the Cave. Upon getting outside, Hurt runs into the Joker, who was waiting for him. Joker knocks Hurt unconscious and locks him in a big casket. From there, Joker goes to leave the grounds of Wayne Manor but is halted by Bruce and a right cross. A few days later, Bruce Wayne holds a press conference, where he tells the gathered media that he had to leave Gotham due to a big conspiracy against him(I guess that's how they're going to explain away the Thomas Wayne/Hush as Bruce Wayne things), and that he's been secretly funding Batman's operation with his fortune all these years. This issue ends with Bruce telling the media that Batman would be taking his battle against crime global, and that Wayne Enterprises would be backing and funding Batman Incorporated.

Grant Morrison is one hard to figure individual. I read Return of Bruce Wayne #6 right before I read this comic, and I HATED that comic with a passion. I then read this comic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it... Go figure. It was nice that Grant decided to explain who/what Hurt was in plain English for a change, but it was even better that he FINALLY ended the whole Bruce/Hurt storyline that seems like it's been going on forever now. So that was the good. It's the events at the end of this comic that I was kind of conflicted about... Bruce Wayne saying that he has always funded Batman is interesting to say the least. On one hand I really like the idea. It's a lot like how Tony Stark and Iron Man have always been associated over in Marvel. However, it's the Tony Stark/Iron Man thing which leaves me conflicted though. Now that Bruce has come out and connected himself to Batman, a lot of doors open up. Some villains are bound to go after Bruce Wayne to get at Batman, and some of the smarter villains/citizens of Gotham might be able to connect Bruce and Batman. So while it should make things in the Bat-books more interesting, it hurts some of the long established Bat-mythos. But I'm more than willing to see how this current direction plays out. As I said earlier, if nothing else, it should at the very least make things interesting...

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Batman just punched the Joker's head off!!!

Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6(of 6)

Overall: This issue was one of the most convoluted, confusing things I have EVER read, so if this review doesn't make sense, that's why. We begin with Bruce Wayne arriving at Vanishing Point and getting sealed in a weird suit after telling the robots there to wipe his memory. Rip Hunter, Booster Gold, Hal Jordan and Superman arrive at Vanishing Point, discover that Bruce was already gone, but that he left them a Time Sphere. Meanwhile, Bruce(now in a creepy wired costume)arrives at the JLA Watchtower and meets up with Red Robin. Due to the robots erasing his memory, Creepy Bruce doesn't seem to know he's Bruce Wayne, although Red Robin is pretty sure he is. The two chat for a while until Cyborg and the JLA walk into the room and Cyborg freaks out and tells the JLA to bring Creepy Bruce down. Creepy Bruce trounces the JLA, which confirms to Red Robin that Creepy Bruce HAD to be Bruce Wayne. Red Robin unmasks to Creepy Bruce and questions him as to where he was/what he had been doing. The two talk and Creepy Bruce only seems to understand roughly half of what Tim is saying. In the end, Tim first says, “We can't lose you again”, and then in the very next panel, he says, “We have to stop you, Bruce.”... Um, what? By this point, Wonder Woman walks into the room and explains to Tim that Bruce was emitting Omega radiation, before wrapping Bruce in her lasso. This gives Bruce his memories back(huh?), and he tells WW that now that he knew he was Bruce Wayne his weird costume was going to attack him, which it then does, because as WW exclaims, “The technology's possessed!”... Hmm... WW tells Tim to run away(which he doesn't)and the Time Sphere arrives. Superman helps WW tear the possessed costume off of Bruce, and Bruce tells them to throw it into the Time Sphere. It seems that Bruce had foreseen the fact that he would become possessed by his costume, so when he created the Time Sphere back at Vanishing Point, he built a self-destruct into the Sphere. With the Creepy, Possessed Costume safely locked in the Sphere, Bruce sends it back in time in an endless loop. Bruce himself picks this moment to collapse dramatically because he was still full of Omega radiation. Superman calmly explains that the radiation will only leave Bruce when he died, so WW and Supes(what the hell happened to all of the other heroes?)let Bruce die, but Supes freezes his body and WW absorbs the radiation away from Bruce. Tim then chimes in that Bruce will come back to life if they tell him Gotham was in trouble(?!), which seems to work. Okay then... This issue ends with Bruce donning the Batman costume to take care of Gotham City.

...... I really don't know what to say... This was an absolute mess. I mean, what did it all mean?! I honestly didn't understand anything about this comic. The dialogue was absolutely horrendous, the story was all over the place, and it seemed that Grant Morrison(writer)kept forgetting what heroes were there and which ones weren't. For example, once the Justice League was defeated by Creepy Bruce, they just sort of disappeared. Same with Green Lantern, Rip Hunter and Booster Gold. After they emerged from Time Sphere they sort of faded away. But for me, the dialogue was just unforgivably bad... Here are a few examples... When Batman was “dead”, he saw Metron, who says, “The Fifth World is my absolute experiment. All time is now. Can man confront evil's challenge? Turn it upside down and end it?” “Summon the all-over.” If ANYONE can translate that into English, I'd definitely appreciate it. Or how about this one? Bruce tells the heroes this, “Hyper-Adapter... Hunter-Killer... A living curse made to destroy Batman and the world... A Death-Idea that never tires, never stops...” Or how about Wonder Woman with this beauty, “Gods and New Gods like Darkseid are self-aware ideas. They use concept-weapons, anti-life equations, hunter-killer metaphors.” Wha?! I mean seriously, would it have been too much to ask for this comic to be written in something resembling sense, instead of nonsense? What an absolute mess. The ONLY thing I understood out of this train wreck was that Bruce Wayne did indeed return. How did he return? I sure as HELL don't know! Thankfully this mini-series is over, and I'll never have to read it again.

Score: 1 out of 10. I'd have given this issue a 0, but since I liked the artwork, I didn't want to give this comic the dreaded 0 score. But storywise? This comic deserves a -1!The best thing about this mini-series? Those two words in the lower corner of this page...

Young Allies #6

Overall: This issue kicks off with Emma Frost stopping by Firestar to speak with her. Firestar is less than interested in speaking to her old Headmistress, so Emma tells Firestar where to meet her and leaves. From there, Spider-Girl and Nomad discuss what to do about Toro, who is in the US illegally, and as such doesn't have a civilian identity. On top of that, Nomad speaks very little Spanish, while Toro speaks very little English, making things difficult for the both of them. Later on, Firestar meets up with Gravity to go out on patrol, and they run into a man and woman who were having some kind of dispute. They jump in and figure the man was the problem, but it turns out the woman had stolen some sort of power gauntlet and she attacks the two heroes. Gravity takes care of her with ease, while Emma Frost begins to chat with Firestar mentally. This really annoys Firestar, who ditches Gravity and heads to Emma's apartment. Before she gets there however, she bumps into Nomad, who asks Firestar if she wants to team-up with her, Spider-Girl and Toro. Firestar tears into Nomad, telling her that she doesn't want to be on any team, period. As Firestar leaves, she realizes that she was probably unnecessarily rough on Nomad, but instead of apologizing, she continues towards Emma's apartment. Emma tells Firestar that she's wasting her life, and that she should join the rest of the mutant population on Crazy Mutie Island, otherwise known as Utopia. Firestar explains to Emma that she doesn't want to lock herself away on an island, and that she wants to cut her own path in life. Emma seems to accept that answer, and Firestar leaves. This issue(and series!)ends with the five heroes heading to a memorial service for the people who died during the Bastards of Evil attack back in issue #1.

Wait, this was the last issue? For real? Well that sucks... I was enjoying this series, as I am a pretty big fan of Gravity and Firestar. I guess not a lot of other people were though... Before I talk about this issue, first a few words about Marvel seem appropriate here. Why did Marvel bother making this series an ongoing if they were going to have such a quick hook with it? Why not make it a 6 issue mini-series, see how many people would be willing to pick up this title, and then take it from there? I'm just dumbfounded that this series was canned after only 6 issues. Dumbfounded and a little angry... Anyway, this particular issue was good. Hell, I'd go so far as to say that it was really good. I'm a sucker for the old New Warriors characters, so the fact that this issue focused on Firestar was fine by me. Her conversation with Emma Frost was well done, and I was enjoying the little relationship that was beginning to form between her and Gravity. But I guess that's all moot now...

Score: 8 out of 10.So long, Gravity. It was nice seeing you again...

The Thanos Imperative #6(of 6)

Overall: And this would be the finale of the Thanos Imperative story. Last issue Thanos surrendered himself to Lord Mar-Vell of the Cancerverse, with Thanos telling Mar-Vell that he'd cease opposing him if Mar-Vell granted Thanos his heart's desire, the cold embrace of death. Mar-Vell is all too happy to oblige, since killing off Thanos, Death's chosen avatar, would bring Mar-Vell one step closer to killing Death herself, allowing the Cancerverse to spread into the mainstream Marvel Universe. Meanwhile, the Guardians of the Galaxy bemoan the fact that they trusted Thanos and he appears to have betrayed them. Before the Guardians are killed by Mar-Vell's chosen warriors, the Revengers, Nova arrives on the scene, frees them from their bonds, and Nova and the Guardians attack the Revengers. However, none of the heroes are able to reach Thanos and Mar-Vell as Mar-Vell completes the ritual killing of Thanos. Unfortunately for Mar-Vell, that was Thanos's plan all along, since Thanos's “death” allowed Death entrance to the Cancerverse where she is able to kill Mar-Vell, ending his threat. With Mar-Vell dead, the forces of the Cancerverse begin to die off one by one, and the entire Cancerverse begins to implode. Thanos expects Death to FINALLY take him into her arms, but once again she spurns Thanos, leaving him behind. This REALLY doesn't sit well with Thanos, who begins to rant and rave, telling Death that he would continue destroying entire universes until she finally accepted him as her mate. Realizing that Thanos was madder than ever and that he'd probably make good on his promise to destroy their own universe to gain Death's affections, Star-Lord teleports the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy back to their own universe and along with Nova, the two heroes make one final stand against Thanos, knowing that they couldn't allow him to return to the Marvel Universe. The two heroes manage to hold Thanos for enough time, and the Cancerverse implodes and seals itself off from the Marvel Universe. A few days later, the remaining heroes gather and mourn Nova and Star-Lord. While the gathered heroes realize that there is always the chance that the two heroes survived the collapse of the Cancerverse, they also know that there is no way to re-open a portal to the Cancerverse, and that even if there was, an angrier and crazier then ever before Thanos might be the one to emerge, meaning that Star-Lord and Nova were lost to them forever.

Well that was a kind of bitter sweet ending, wasn't it? First the story. I liked it a lot. I enjoyed this mini-series, and I get the feeling that I'll enjoy it even more when I read all 6 issues again in a row someday. This seemed like the sort of story that reads even better in a sitting or two. So yeah, I did enjoy the story. There were a lot of little things I enjoyed, like Thanos and Death's interactions, Thanos going crazy as he was disregarded by his Mistress yet again, and evil Lord Mar-Vell getting his comeuppance. I can't say I'm very happy to see Nova and Star-Lord go, since that probably means that there won't be a Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy comic book returning to the stands at the conclusion of this mini-series. I was holding out hope that both Nova and the Guardians comics would return after this mini-series, but that doesn't seem very likely anymore. I mean it would be pretty hard to have a Nova series without Nova in it! But who knows, stranger things have happened, and here's hoping next month's epilogue issue to this mini-series gives us some information as to what will be happening to Marvel's space-faring titles.

Score: 9 out of 10.Now that's one lover's quarrel you don't want to get in the middle of!

Wolverine #3

Overall: We kick things off here with Wolverine and Sabretooth beating on each other in Hell for the Devil's amusement. Wolverine taunts Sabretooth, who seems to be little more than a mindless animal here, until the Devil has seen enough and tells the broken Sabretooth to sit at his side, which Tooth does. The Devil tells Wolvie that soon enough he'll be as broken as Tooth, but Wolvie tells the Devil that won't be happening. To continue tormenting Wolvie, the Devil brings the recently deceased Silver Samurai over and tears him to pieces. The Devil then produces a BIG sword and tells Wolvie that the sword was able to negate healing factors. The Devil taunts Wolvie, telling him that he'll either be broken, or will be cut into little pieces and spread all over Hell. Wolvie responds by spitting in the Devil's face, which leads to the Devil lopping off Wolvie's ear Van Gogh style, before nailing him to a giant wall. Wolvie hangs from the wall for a while before Puck shows up and tells Wolvie that each time he defies the Devil he creates chaos in Hell, and that with enough chaos Wolvie might be able to slip free. With that, Wolvie pulls himself off the wall and attacks a random demon, leading to cheers from the damned, and getting the Devil quite annoyed. Back on Earth, Mystique, Daimon Hellstrom, the two Ghost Riders and Wolverine's girlfriend are hunting for Wolverine's possessed body in order to exorcise the demon that had taken up residence within it. However, they don't have the slightest idea as to where Possessed Wolvie is... Um, maybe on Crazy Mutie Island(also known as Utopia)? Possessed Wolvie walks over to one of Wolverine's storage rooms and prepares to burn some of Wolverine's personal effects. Before Possessed Wolvie can do that, Shadowcat walks in and acts like her annoying self, which leads to Possessed Wolvie knocking her across the room. Before Possessed Wolvie can do anything worse, Colossus arrives and warns Possessed Wolvie to get control of himself.

First off, Possessed Wolvie has moved up several more places on my favorite villain of 2010 list by knocking the ever annoying Shadowcat on her rear. God do I detest her... Anyway, my hatred of Shadowcat notwithstanding, this was another good issue of this series. It was good to see Wolverine and Sabretooth fight again, as that's something I've sorely missed since Sabretooth's death. It was also pretty fun to watch Wolverine just be an all around pain in the Devil's ass. I don't know, if I was the Devil I think I'd just bury Wolvie under a big rock or something and be done with him! I am somewhat surprised by how obvious Jason Aaron(writer)seems to be laying the groundwork for Wolvie's escape from Hell here... Hellstrom is working on the mortal plane to get Wolvie back, while Puck is giving Wolvie pointers as to how to escape from Hell. It all just seems so simple. That makes me think that there's a major swerve coming soon... Either Mystique is going to betray Hellstrom and company or something is going to happen in Hell that'll lead to Wolvie either being unable to leave, or possibly making him want to remain... I guess we'll see as this storyline rolls forward.

Score: 8 out of 10.Yes, Wolverine really DID spit in the Devil's face...

Batgirl #15

Overall: This issue gets started in earnest with Steph(as Batgirl)noticing some weirdos in robes chasing a student around her college campus. Steph steps in and attacks the robed figures, handling them with relative ease... At least until some goof named the Grey Ghost shows up on the scene to “help”. All he really does is create confusion, which allows the robed figures to regroup. Oracle manages to identify the Grey Ghost by matching his voice to a voice print she had on file and learns that the Ghost was actually some nobody criminal from a few issues back who was beaten within a few pages by Batgirl. Oracle sends this info to Batgirl, who tells the Ghost that she knew who he was, which in turn leads to the Ghost vanishing in a flash of lights. The lights disorient Steph, and allow the robed figures the chance to escape. With Steph no longer on their trail, the robed figures track down the student from earlier, steal his flashdrive and toss him off a rooftop. The next day, the cops investigate the scene, and find a bloody batarang near the dead students body. One assumption leads to another, and by the time this issue ends, Steph(as Batgirl)finds herself surrounded by Gotham's Finest.

You know, I REALLY needed to read this comic after reading that abysmal Brightest Day #13. This comic and that one were like complete opposites to each other. Where as BD #13 sucked the big one, this comic was great! It was nice to have Oracle back in the fold again after a few issues absence, Steph's explanation of the Bat-Family to Proxy was awesomely done and the story was fast moving and fun. What's there for me to complain about here?

Score: 8 1/2 out of 10.Best Batman history ever!

A Rant on Brightest Day #13

Overall: *sigh* I've been avoiding this comic all last week, but before I read my new books, I guess I should get this out of the way... The only real question I have before reading this is just how bad will things get this issue? So this issue dealt ENTIRELY with the Hawkman/Hawkgirl/Hawkworld story... Which is the story I care the least about(which is actually saying something!)in this series. Hawkman runs around attacking evil hawkmen until one of them tells him where Hawkgirl is. Hawkgirl is being tortured by her mother and Hath-Set. They put her on a big gateway of bones, and this draws out Hawkman. Hawkman tries and fails to defeat Hawkgirl's evil mother, but Hawkgirl manages to kill Hath(even though she was pinned to the gateway by her hands). Hawkgirl's mother sticks Hawkman onto the gateway with Hawkgirl, and this act somehow opens a portal from Hawkworld to the Star Sapphire's homeworld of Zamaron. Why there? Who cares? Oh, and Deadman and Dove spend the last two pages of this issue trying to figure out who the White Lantern ring has been looking for, with Deadman figuring that maybe it's Bruce Wayne. Why does he think this? Who cares?

Who cares? Not I obviously. This issue was bad, this mini-series is bad, and DC's current direction is bad. But before people begin to bitch and moan about what I just typed, remember, that's simply a matter of opinion. What's NOT a matter of opinion is the fact that Marvel's comics sell much better than DC's books. Don't believe me? Check out the monthly sales charts and see which company has more books in the top 25. And people actually have the nerve to wonder why DC is(and probably always will be)second fiddle to Marvel.

Score: 2 out of 10.Well, at least the artwork was good...

Avengers: The Children's Crusade #3 is STILL awesome!

Overall: We kick things off with Magneto and Quicksilver arguing about whether or not the Scarlet Witch has been captured by Dr. Doom, while the Young Avengers stand around and observe. Magneto is of the mindset that Doom has kidnapped his daughter, since Doom is already one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, and holding Wanda, potentially THE most powerful being in the Marvel U would solidify Doom's position. On the other hand, Quicksilver doesn't believe that his sister is the captive of Doom, he still feels that Magneto is behind Wanda's disappearance, and that Magneto is running everybody around in circles. Magneto decides that the only logical course of action is for himself, Quicksilver and the Young Avengers to invade Doom's home country of Latveria and attempt to rescue Wanda. Quicksilver feels that that plan is insane and says as much. After listening patiently for a while, Patriot chimes in and announces that the Young Avengers were not stupid enough to storm Latveria and potentially begin a world war with Dr. Doom of all people. All of the Young Avengers seem to agree with that line of thought except for Wiccan, who wants to head to Latveria himself just to do some scouting. Nobody agrees with that idea, with Patriot not wanting to split the team up and Magneto feeling they could make more of a dent in Doom's defenses together. With no conclusion reached, and the day turning to night, Magneto takes the young heroes to one of his hidden bases near Wundagore Mountain to sleep so they can plan anew the following day. Before arriving, the motley group of characters realize that Wiccan was no longer traveling with them, and that Quicksilver had also vanished. It turns out that Wiccan stayed back and was trying to teleport himself to Latveria, and that Quicksilver had discovered him and was encouraging Wiccan to head to Doom's castle alongside Quicksilver. Before Wiccan is able to complete the spell, the rest of the Young Avengers arrive on the scene and Hulkling threatens Quicksilver to cease trying to manipulate his boyfriend, lest he wants to become a legless speedster. From there we head to New York, where the Avengers have assembled to discuss what to do about the Magneto/Scarlet Witch/Young Avengers situation. Iron Man figures that the Avengers have their best shot at finding Wanda with the help of Wonder Man, who was once resurrected by Wanda, and as such still has some of her magic within him. Wonder Man inquires what the heroes plan on doing with Wanda once they find her and Wolverine blurts out that they need to kill her, which leads to Wonder Man knocking the diminutive mutant through a wall before leaving, informing the Avengers that he'd find Wanda on his own. Wolverine also leaves the rest of the Avengers, informing them that he would find Wanda and kill her, and possibly kill Wiccan as well. Later on at Magneto's base, Wiccan waits until everybody else is asleep before leaving a letter for Hulkling, informing him that he was going to go ahead and teleport to Latveria simply to get a lay of the land. Upon arriving near Castle Doom, Wiccan is almost immediately discovered by some patrolling Doombots, but he manages to trick them by transforming himself into the Scarlet Witch, at which point he tells the robots to take him back to his room, since he had gotten lost. The robots comply, and bring Wiccan to a bedroom, where he comes face to face with Wanda(!!). Wanda acts as if she has no idea who Wiccan is, and mentioning Quicksilver and Magneto also has no effect on her, leading Wiccan to believe that she's either pretending that she doesn't know anybody in order to distance herself from her past life/actions, or that she is truly an amnesiac and really doesn't recall the events of her life. Regardless, Wiccan tells her it isn't safe to remain in Latveria, and that she has to escape. Wanda doesn't want to escape, informing Wiccan that her wedding was the following day, and when Wiccan asks Wanda who she was marrying, Dr. Doom enters the room and tells the shocked Wiccan, “Me.”

Um, do you even need to ask what I thought about this issue? Anybody who has ever come to this blog KNOWS that I LOVE the Young Avengers. More than that, I love the Young Avengers when they are written by their original creators(Allan Heinberg: writer & Jim Cheung: art), who seem to have a better feel for these characters then any other writer who has tried writing them. This issue was, in a word, perfect. The story is moving along at a brisk pace, the artwork is crisp and beautiful, and the dialogue is well done, with a perfect mixture of drama and humor. I guess if I had a complaint, it would be that some of the characters didn't have any speaking roles(Hawkeye, Stature & Vision), but even that is fine, because they really didn't need to speak. Everything that needed saying was said by one of the other characters. So gushing aside, what's next here? Well, we now know that Dr. Doom has indeed captured Wanda, and intends on marrying her. We don't know what frame of mind Wanda is in, and whether or not she remembers her past, or is just pretending that she doesn't. Wiccan now appears to be a prisoner of Doom, which will undoubtedly bring his teammates(as well as Quicksilver and Magneto)to Latveria, which should lead to quite the battle. Besides that, we also have the Avengers, Wonder Man and Wolverine all searching for Wanda separately and for differing reasons. The Avengers want to find Wanda, but have already admitted that they're unsure as to what to do once they find her, Wonder Man wants to help her in any way he can since he's always had a flame for her(as well as the fact that she did bring him back from the dead)and Wolverine wants to kill her before her powers get out of control and she creates another House of M type of situation again. Whew! So THIS issue was fantastic, there are storylines aplenty going on here, and it goes without saying that going forward things should only get better! Needless to say, THIS is my favorite mini-series of 2010, period, the end.

Score: 10 out of 10. That's the second straight perfect score for this mini-series, and quite frankly, I expect the perfect scores to continue rolling in! And since I love this mini so much, here are a few images from this comic.Score one for Magneto!

Magneto was SO awesome here it makes my teeth hurt from smiling so hard!

Okay, Magneto was on FIRE in this issue!

Magneto may have been on fire in this comic, but Quicksilver was also getting a few great lines in as well.

Ahhh... Where would Marvel be without that murderous little Canadian?

The next issue can't get here soon enough...