Ratings and Rantings

Come one, come all, step right up and enjoy the show, I proudly present to you, this weeks edition of Ratings and Rantings, with your host, Jason Todd!!! *Crickets* Alright, enough of that, Welcome back again to my Red Hood, for another week of my Ratings and Rantings. Today I'll take a look at some of the DC Comics I picked up today, as well as Marvel's Deadpool #22 being one of the few Marvel comics that I do review. Before we get started I wanted to let those curious know that Batman: Under The Red Hood finally has a release date. It was announced that it'll be released July 27, 2010. So a mere three months from now (TORTURE!!!) those interested can check it out, by the way the box art looks pretty damn awesome. Those interested can see it after watching the teaser trailer posted below.



But enough of Jason Todd, well for right now any, time what you guys came here to see, what I think about the comics that were released this week, so we're gonna do just that.

Green Lantern Corps #47

This issue of Green Lantern Corps is a Blackest Night Epilogue. After fixing the GLC battery, Guy and Kyle talk about all the close calls the Corps have had as of late, including the Sinestro Corps Wars, Blackest Night and everything else. From there we see the Corps pay respect to their dead with a big ass tree that has one of the dead's face on each leaf, which is pretty awesome to be honest. The artwork in this issue is pretty good, especially seeing Kilowog up close, I think I'll have nightmares about that, Poozer's. Vath and um...the Thanagarian guy have really grown on me, especially since reading Recharge, and the interaction they had here was really strong and quickly changed the tone of the comic. Seeing The Guardians confronted also made this a great read and a great send off with Tomasi and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps creative crew. So, good comic for what it was but it could've been better, I'll give it a 7.5/10.

Guy Gardner: Helluva right hook you got there, Arisia. You do realize you're my new favorite Lantern?

Gotham City Sirens #11

This issue of Gotham City Sirens stars Harley Quinn's well-toned ass apparently... Or that's what I'd think from looking at the cover since it's there, center stage. Anyway, Selina's joke about her being a Cat...Woman was very lame and forced, I hate stuff like that. Poison Ivy comes across like a real bee-yatch, but her line about the Legion of Doom was pretty awesome, it almost made up for the corny line Catwoman said earlier. All in all, the B story with Selina and Harley seemed pretty useless, and for the second time we gotta see Ivy get saved. Seems like there's only been eleven issues and their already running out of stories! I mean think about it, when was the last time you read Sirens where they weren't trying to save Harley or Ivy, hell when they appeared in Blackest Night Catwoman they had to save HER! I just hate that three of Batman's most capable female villains can't even stay outta trouble without needing to rescue one another. It's getting really old, really fast. I'll give this a 6/10 and I hope Dini can make this interesting like he did Streets of Gotham, but after a year I won't hold my breath.

Poison Ivy: I'll have to thank him for the tip at the next Legion of Doom meeting, if we ever have one.

Teen Titans #82

I wouldn't have noticed if Nagash hadn't pointed it out but every Teen Titan is on this cover except for Aquagirl, and I have no idea why, and Beastboy is even taking up two spots... Anyway, We start off with three former Teen Titans and current saviors, because the entire team can't beat one dude up. Well at least our saviors have crappy banter because that's always a plus right? Gotta love that Sarcasm. Oh dear God the dialogue in this is bad. It's like one big horrible pun. "I like my superheroes crispy." ""Cancel that order!" Oh God the dialogue during the fight is SO bad. Anyway there was like 30 things that made no sense. What the hell did Beast Boy do for the save, I mean that made NO sense. Also..that was the worst cliffhanger ever. I'm seriously thinking about dropping Teen Titans. And since you feel the need to bring back people, why the hell not Ravager? Get rid of Beetle, get rid of Beast Boy and Raven because they bore me, and bring back Ravager ASAP. 3/10, Just for the returning Titans aka The Saviors. (X has Saint Barry, I have the Saviors.)

Holocaust: Barbecued Titans, Dakota's newest delicacy. Man, I love my job.

Deadpool #22

We pick up with our boy Deadpool continuing his journey to become a Hero. We've seen him kill Skrulls, try to join the X-Men, fight a Hit-Monkey and team up with New York's finest. Now we see him face to face with the Mighty Thor, telling him that he has girl hair, calling him a doofus and slitting his neck, then he woke up. A lot of people wonder why I like Deadpool. To be honest, he's so different it's hard not to, I'm a wiseguy/smart ass like him and I like to joke and laugh so reading his comics, I'm usually entertained. This was a very entertaining comic. I laughed, out loud, quit a lot and not a lot of comics can make me do that. Where else can you read the sentence "Ah gots t'git nekkid, unka Dale! It's mah only hope!" Ah, but I digress, This was a nice fun comic. Nothing got furthered storyline-wise but for what it was I was very happy with this issue of Deadpool and I'm eagerly awaiting the next. I'll give Deadpool #22 an 8/10.

Thor: I wieldeth Mjolnir! What art thou working with?! (Epic, just because Thor asked what someone's working with.)

Detective Comics #864

Oh Detective Comics, how I've longed for Greg Rucka to leave so I could read thee! This is the beginning of a two-part arc that will feature an explanation of Black Mask's secret identity and why. It's also going to further the Arkham Asylum three issue series that came out late last year. So, let's jump into the review. This story was...very hard to describe. While we didn't learn much we did learn that Arkham is schizophrenic. The cliffhanger was awesome and I hate I have to wait a month to find out what happened. The issue itself was very interesting, and kept my attention the whole time. It completely sold me on the transformation Arkham has made and shows there may be something good coming out of him being Black Mask. I really enjoyed this, and the questions it raised and I'm looking forward to the answers. I'll give this issue a 9/10. I hate co-features so I didn't care enough to review The Question's few pages.

Dr. Arkham: I WILL NOT BE MOCKED!!!! (FYI: Don't mock that man....ever.)

The Rise and Fall of Arsenal #2

Rise and Fall of Arsenal 2 starts off with Roy and Lian enjoying a fun day on the town until things go crazy in Star City. This opening scene was very interesting and graphic, especially seeing Roy lose his arm. Once again I can't help but say how good the artwork is here compared to that dreadful art in Green Arrow's books, it's so bad it doesn't make sense. Also, why the hell is Ollie allowed to wear his Green Arrow costume in jail? What the hell kind of jail lets you wear your costume?! I also loved seeing Roy and Ollie's first confrontation, and seeing Roy go off on him. Man Ollie's having a bad year.  I hate the fact that I read an article in January on IGN.com where Robinson said Roy wouldn't get a robotic arm yet he just did. Either he's a blatant liar or someone's not talking to other people in the company. A surprise appearance by one of my favorite female characters definitely made this better, and if anyone could talk to Roy about both Lian and drug abuse it's her. As for Roy going off on his friends, DAYUM! Man...he snapped and I loved it. Especially what he said about Donna, that was epic. I'm waiting for X to say "Wooo Baby!" in his review. But really, that was epic. I hated the ending because we don't know if Roy got shot or what the hell happened, and I really hate to see his character move backwards with the drugs but after everything he's lost it made sense. I think this issue is much better than the first and I'm eager to see where it goes from here. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

Roy: You don't know jack, Donna. I was there for Lian, always. You ABANDONED your family. While they were dying in a car accident,you were whoring through space with Kyle Rayner! Robbie died because you were a bad mother, Lian died because I was stupid.

So that's all for this week's Ratings and Rantings. I think it was an okay week, some could have been better but for the most part I enjoyed this week's releases. I'll be back this weekend, probably Sunday with a review for Spider-man Noir: Eyes Without a Face since I was asked so graciously by Marc and X-Man75. I'll also have a new poll up, the current one ends tomorrow so get your votes in if ya haven't. And next week's Ratings and Rantings will feature, Batman & Robin #12, Brightest Day #1, Red Robin #12, Titans for Hire and I may pick up War of the Superman if someone wants to give me a synopsis that'll get me caught up by then. So thanks for reading guys, and until next time, You've just been Gobsmacked!

 

- Jason Todd

Spider-Man Noir Review

Hey everyone, welcome back to my Red Hood, this time for a review of Spider-Man Noir. I've been talking about reviewing this all week and I don't wanna prolong this review any longer so let's get to it. And for those who haven't please go check out Nagash's Spider-Man Noir interpretation over at his super sweet blog that you can get to by clicking this.

Spider-Man Noir takes place in 1933, during the Great Depression. Our story starts with the editor of the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson found murdered, standing over him holding a gun is... Spider-Man? And that's how we start off with the roller coaster of twists and turns. Long time Spidey fans will appreciate seeing the way their favorite characters were tweaked to fit into this era. Whether it's May Parker, the soapbox preaching Liberal, Felicia Hardy, the owner of The Black Cat lounge, or Norman "The Goblin" Osborn, a big time mob boss, a lot of classic Spider-Man characters find their niche in Spider-Man Noir.

The scene where Peter inevitably gets bit by the spider is amazing. No other word can describe it. I'm gonna post a scan of it at the bottom of the review (X-Man Style!) so you can see, because that was a truly awesome scene. I really loved the allure of mystery that was shown during this comic as well. Never knowing who you can and can't trust is always something that I love when I'm reading a comic and this was one of those comics, the second you let your guard down you get surprised by someone's actions, to me that's the mark of an exciting comic. Little things were important as well, as whenever Peter got his Spider Sense set off, instead of the little squiggly lines by his head, he had the outline of a red spider, which was a very awesome visual.

The explanation of Spider-Man's rogue gallery was well done as well. The Goblin, aka Norman Osborn has a bunch of guys working for him, namely Kraven, The Vulture and some more of Spidey's well known villains. The explanation is that they were mostly circus folk, which explains Kraven's abilities and strength, The Vulture's sharp teeth and predator like behavior. Just the fact they were able to make these guys work in a real setting is a commendable effort. The artwork is very gritty, I didn't like it when I first started but by the time I finished the first issue it'd grown on me and it truly does fit the Noir tone of the comic.

As for what I thought? I loved this comic, I can honestly say it was one of the best Spider-Man stories I've ever read, and I'd recommend it to anyone to check it out. It easily gets a 10/10 from me, and I'm definitely hoping they continue this some day and have more Spider-Man Noir stories. There's nothing else I can say about it so I'll leave you with the previously mentioned scan. (You should be able to click it and give it a read.)

Also, it's that time of the week so don't forget to vote on the new Weekly poll on the right. The weeks question is, which dead DC Character do you wish had been resurrected in Brightest Day? Your choices are the former Aqualad and Tempest, Garth, Bart Allen's arch-rival, Inertia, The Former Question, Vic Sage, The recently deceased Prometheus, and former Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Also, for those curious of last week's results to the question "Who would you like to see become the main character of their Legacy?"

4th Place with 0% - Connor Hawke/Queen, looks like you aren't eveyone's favorite Emerald Archer.
Tied for 2nd Place with 27.3% each - Kyle Rayner and Bart Allen, even the fastest man alive couldn't out run the former Ion.
And your winner with 45.5% of the vote - Dick Grayson. Looks like he does deserve the Cowl after all.

Well thanks for voting everyone, I look forward to seeing how this week's poll turns out. Until next time, Stay Classy, because You've just been Gobsmacked!

- Jason Todd

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, welcome back to my Red Hood. (Yeah, it's a regular thing now, get used to it.) So I'm back with more ratings, more rantings and more jokes littered between them. This week was a very low pull as I've mentioned, picking up only Blackest Night: Director's Cut, Green Lantern #53 and I was pleasantly surprised to see Streets Of Gotham #11 which I didn't even know came out this week. So I'll jump into these and tell you guys and gal(s) what I thought, so let's do it.

Blackest Night: Director's Cut

Okay, so I picked this up, for a grand total of six bucks and I feel like I over paid by five, I was pretty disappointed because I expected some new info, and some hints for Brightest Day and you know, special stuff. Instead we get running commentary from Geoff, Ivan and a few other people. And maybe four of five tidbits worth mentioning. If you don't want to know what they are, I'd suggest moving on to the next topic in the review. If you do want to know so you can save your money or put it towards something else, please continue to read on. I was disappointed because the ONLY thing we learned from this was the following. Kilowog was going to be one of the Black Lanterns who had died before, ala Superman and Green Arrow, so I guess he would have subsequently become a White Lantern with the rest. Another tidbit is they didn't know who would be the honorary Green Lantern until someone suggested Ganthet, I still think it should have been Dick Grayson because he has a lot of Will plus it would've been epic to finally see Batman use a Green Lantern ring. They also almost gave a ring to The Joker but decided to give Scarecrow the spotlight instead. Also before they were killed by Sue and Ralph Dibny, Hawkman and Hawkgirl were originally going to be killed by their past bodies as Black Lanterns which would've been pretty cool to see. Also the only time in the entire series that Flash isn't moving so fast he's blurry is in issue one when he finds out how many people have died and he sits down to take it all in. That's it. Also we see some art work, covers, Blackest Night action figures or statues or whatever, and bios on everyone included during Blackest Night. All cool stuff to see but nothing inspiring to drop five bucks on. So, instead of rating I'll just say, "Save your Money."

Streets of Gotham #11

Streets of Gotham snuck up on me, and I'd been eagerly waiting to check this issue out and see what would happen with Damian and Abuse. This issue was pretty damn good in my opinion. I loved the way this guy has been used so far and he's quickly becoming one of my favorite new characters. His sense of right and wrong and child like innocence is one of his greatest assets in my opinion and I hope to see more of him in the future. While I'm not a big Damian Wayne fan even he was likable this time around. I love how Zsasz was reinvented and I'd love to see more of Zsasz, I don't know in what capacity but the ending was great too. I could even see him and Damian becoming enemies, much like Dick and Two-Face. Here's hoping Abuse is featured even more, and gets the Batman and Robin team up he's been hoping for. Even thought Batman didn't do anything, the kids took over in this issue and made a huge impact and stole the show. Solid 10/10, I hope the next arc continues the trend.

Zsasz (on Abuse): The best kill of my career. Five hatch marks for him alone.

Green Lantern #53

Our post Blackest Night, um.. I guess current Brightest Day story starts with Hector Hammond having an intergalactic brain conversation with a mystery man that claims to have invented the Green Lantern Corps oath and much more, and from the look of things, plans to capture every entity of every Corp, and has already done so with Parallax. Anyway, Sinestro made me laugh extremely hard when he showed up, and that's always awesome, it's great to see him get some good lines and have more dimensions to him than just hating the Guardians and spreading fear. I loved the interactions with Lex and Larfleeze, as well as Lex continuing to want things, most notably a BL ring. And lastly, this was more of a filler between storylines but it really jump-started things, I mean it pushed me into wanting three issues with just one page so that's gotta be a new record. While not much happened and not alot was answered, for what it was I really liked this comic and I'm still very eager to see what comes of Brightest Day. I'll give this issue a 8.5/10.


Guy Gardner: You know as well as I do Ganthet, If we go through with this-- Jordan and I are done bein' friends. For Good.


So, three reviews, that was fast. Nice pull, maybe if I get less issues that's less disappointment. Well, that's all for this review, but I'll have Spider-Man Noir up this weekend, along with a new poll. What that is, I have no idea what it'll be on though, so if anyone has one please let me know. Next week's Ratings and Rantings will feature my thoughts on Detective Comics #864, Gotham City Sirens #11, Green Lantern Corps #47, Rise and Fall of Arsenal #2, and Teen Titans #82. Lastly I wanna ask everyone to check out Falisha's newest post at her blog, it's a review on Wonder Woman: God's of Gotham #1 of 4. You can check that out by clicking this ---> Wonder Woman: Gods of Gotham #1.
Thanks for that, until next time, You've been Gobsmacked!

- Jason Todd

Green Lantern Corps: Recharge Review

Hey everyone, Jason Todd back again, you guys are gonna get sick of me aren't ya? Well welcome back to my Red Hood. As I told you last time due to a low pull this week (only two comics, one of them being a rehash or Blackest Night.) I decided I'd catch up on some comics I hadn't reviewed yet. So following yesterday's What I Learned From: Cry for Justice, I decided today I'd review something else. A few weeks back I read Green Lantern: Rebirth, and planned on reviewing it. After being beat to the punch by Marc and his excellent review over at Marc's Awesome Blog I decided I'd move on and do the next best thing. The aftermath of Rebirth, So i present to you, my review of Green Lantern Corps: Recharge.

Recharge takes a different angle and spotlights Kyle Rayner and Guy Gardner over our "Main" Green Lantern, Hal Jordan. Right at the beginning we get a sense of things between Guy who often jokes around and Kyle, the more reserved of the two. Kyle even says to Guy he was hoping Hal would be his partner in the upcoming adventure. I don't blame him, because this was right after Guy moons Batman. Yes, you read that right, Guy Gardner mooned Batman. No wonder he knocked him out, Mike Tyson style. This is also where we see Soranik Natu, daughter of Sinestro as we'd later find out, join the Green Lantern Corps. Guy finds out he and Kyle are pegged to train the new Lanterns with Kilowog and flips out, because he could so be running his destroyed bar, "Warriors" or whatever it's called.

Sometimes the art looks really good, other times, an example being when Kyle find's Soranik's ring, it looks very juvenile and there's not much definition, which definitely takes away from the comic. This comic also deals with Spiders, which along with Centipedes, creep me the hell out.  Anyway, aside from that, this was an interesting comic. I liked our introduction to Soranik, seeing the Rann and Thanagerian team up, and having the spotlight on Kyle, Guy and Kilowog. But the story itself was subpar, and very boring at times. I had to force myself to finish it for the sake of the review and that's not a good thing. While I may be overreacting, some may enjoy it, but in my opinion this was more filler than anything. It did portray the rookies in a good light while showing the vets as Lanterns that had been around the block and were just as competent as Hal Jordan which was a big plus. I think it could have been better but it wasn't awful in the least bit. I'll give it a solid 6/10. If you're a big fan of the Green Lantern Corps, it wouldn't hurt to check it out, If not, I'd say you can do without it.


Well that's all for me today, hopefully I'm not spoiling you guys with too many posts, later this week you can expect some Ratings and Rantings on Green Lantern 53 and Blackest Night: Dorector's cut, Also I plan on reviewing Spider-Man: Noir and possibly a DC animated film this weekend, so yeah, it's a big week here at JTCS, but until next time, You've just been Gobsmacked.

- Jason Todd

What I Learned From: Cry For Justice

Hey everyone, welcome back to my Red Hood. Oh yeah, I said it. Jason Todd here with another edition of my crowd pleasing, award winning, bone chilling, life changing, over exaggerating column, "What I Learned From..." Last time I tackled the Blackest Night with a bunch of things I learned from that DC Universe changing event, this time I'm going to tell you guys what I learned from Cry for Justice, an event that apparently took place prior to Blackest Night. But first, I just wanna say,

~The following are the views of the Jason Todd Comic Spot, they are in no way, shape or form considered to be coherent in any language or to any race or creed of people. Without any more stalling, I present to you What I learned from Cry For Justice.~

Gorilla Grodd, Sinestro, Lex Luthor, Poison Ivy, Bizarro, Captain Cold and The Joker all appear on the first issue covers yet make no appearance in any of the books at all. Talk about marketing...

Hal Jordan was pissed and wanted to get "Justice" on Libra, Oliver sided with him. Later, Oliver gets Justice on  Prometheus, and Hal decides to hunt down Ollie and try to turn him in. What a friend.

Killer Moth is bald even though he's usually a red headed dude...

Going in someone's nose as a microscopic man then coming out fully grown, apparently you won't have any snot or anything like that on you some how.

Congorilla is the worst name ever. I mean ever. I mean damn couldn't they at least have used B'wana Beast instead of Congorilla?

The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #1 a total of 11 times not including the title.

Hal Jordan apparently had a little alone time with The Huntress and Lady Blackhawk, no wonder they call him Highball Hal.

Big Talking Gorilla's and Blue guys with red hair often try to kill each other before becoming bestest friends.


The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #2 a total of 5 times not including the title, 6 if you count two people saying it with one word bubble.

Supergirl cries from being asked if she's a good guy or a bad guy, because Kryptonian's have skin like steel but their feelings are easily ripped through like warm butter. Well we had the Justice, so there's the crying.

Insulting Prometheus and telling him he's lower than a B-List villain is really gonna come back and bite you in your ass, eh Green Arrow?

Jumping out of an airplane, when you're an 8-foot tall, 900-pound Gorilla, may not be the smartest idea ever.


The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #3 a total of 4 times not including the title. Someone was holding back.

The Atom asking everyone if they've had sinus headache's get's old, VERY quickly. Just shut up and jump in their head already. You don't need a catchphrase. There's not gonna be any "Have you ever had a sinus headache" shirts and headbands popping up anytime soon.


The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #4 a total of 1 time not including the title. Maybe we're done with it, hopefully we are.

They allude to Roy losing his arm by showing him touch Green Arrow and gesturing with that hand. Also, him losing it, definitely sucked, but the fact that he said "I can't feel my fingers." was unintentionally or intentionally hilarious.

The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #5 a total of 6 times not including the title. They tricked me, the bastards, I let my guard down and they went JUSTICE CRAZY!!!!

Prometheus using Sinus headache on Palmer made my day, I wish he wasn't dead just for that reason.

Prometheus may just be the Batman or the villains the way he owned everyone, hell, even Deathstroke didn't do that.

Green Arrow alludes to killing Prometheus two issues before he does it, so the moral of the story, if someone says "You're lucky I'm not/didn't" then they are going to do it.

Donna Troy, should be in the UFC because she beat the holy hell out of Prometheus. I mean really, Brock Lesnar better watch out for Donna Troy.


The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #6 a total of  0 times not including the title. WHAT?! I'm shocked, there was alot of action though so there was no time for Justice.

Ollie killed Prometheus and said Justice. Because that's what I'd say if my granddaughter was killed and my son was maimed. Come on Ollie, at least spruce it up. "Justice Bee-yatch!"  Or something along those lines.


The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice #7 a total of 1 time not including the title. And Prometheus feels that it was one too many.

So, seven issue's later, Roy's maimed, Lian's dead, Ollie's a criminal, Hal is gonna hunt his good buddy, the only person who sided with him, Prometheus is dead, and oh, there was Justice apparently. I also think Mikail and Congorilla are dating or something. Oh and for those wondering,

The word Justice appears in Cry For Justice a total of 22 times not including the title, which is sad considering 11 were in the first issue.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have 7 comics to go burn. :-) Anyway I hope you guys enjoyed this edition of What I Learned From: Cry for Justice. Like I said in Ratings and Rantings, this week is a small pull so expect some other reviews popping up and as always comments are appreciated. Until then, you've just been Gobsmacked!

- Jason Todd

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd is back again with another edition of Ratings ad Rantings, as well as a new weekly poll that's sure to cause a lot of drama in the DC Universe. But more to that later, as for now I've got six comics to get through so lets jump right into it. Also, I can almost guarantee I'll be doing a what I learned from Cry for Justice pretty soon, I actually got all seven issues just for the sake of that article. Yeah, see I care about you guys, I bought something even X admits was bad even though it's by one of his favorite writers (James Robinson) just to give you an article. Ya gotta love me. Anyway let's start things off with The Flash.

The Flash #01

This is the first Flash series I've ever read besides the one chronicling Bart Allen so I've been looking forward for this. In this issue we see the life of Saint Barry, (shout out to X-Man75 lol) as well as his return to work. I loved seeing him chase after Trickster who looked like a teenager for once instead of an eight year old with really baggy clothes. Francis Manapul's artwork definitely helped this comic stand out in my eyes. I'm preferential to Bart and Wally but I could see myself enjoying Barry's run (heh) with this Flash comic. I was kinda bored with the Barry Allen parts as opposed to him donning the suit and being The Flash but for the beginning of a comic series this was a good start. It still confuses me about how long Barry's been gone. I mean in our world he's been gone like 25 years yet in the comic world have they really explained how long it's been? Other than that I like the mystique surrounding this storyline and I'm looking forward to it, as well as the mystery surrounding the "Flashpoint" solicit in the end of the comic. All in all this was a nice solid start that raised questions, I'll give it a 8/10 rating.

Coffee Barrista: How many of those (espresso's) have you had today?

Isis:  Today as in since midnight or since the sun came up?

Coffee Barrista: Forget I asked.

Brightest Day #0

Okay, did ANYBODY expect this issue to be like fifty pages?! Super pleasant surprise. Anyway, this follows the events of Blackest Night, and we're lead around by Deadman. I gotta say Brightest Day already has me hooked. Just following Deadman around, the mystery of the white light. Wondering why these people were brought back, what's Maxwell's plan, who can I trust and who can't I? I love comics like that. Also the stuff with The Firestorm's was very emotional and drew me in. It's amazing how much I liked this comic and how many storyline's it furthered. I'm trying not to ruin it, and I saw the end coming, but it was still awesome. I love wondering what the deal is with Deadman being the only one still wearing his White Lantern ring. Also the mystery surrounding his powers and abilities. The page with him seeing visions on what may or may not be the future had me staring at it, deciphering future storyline's the best way I could and I gotta say I'm more anxious for the next issue of Brightest Day than I was for some of the Blackest Night issues, here's hoping it stays that way. 10/10 for Brightest Day #0.

Martian Manhunter: Very thoughtful. I hope you brought some cold milk to wash them down.

Guy Gardner: Damn straight I brought milk, Mama Gardner didn't raise no fool.

Batman #698

Man, this started off very interesting, especially with a view inside the mind of Dick Grayson. Plus an appearance by my namesake (even in a dream) is always gonna cheer me up. Um... but anyone else wonder what the hell is up with Gordon. He's leaving messages?! So does he just know Dick is Batman? I mean he's gotta if he's leaving Alfred messages, and that doesn't surprise me after all that no-secret-identity-talk in Blackest Night but still. I guess their just fine with that but it seemed lazy to me that they just have him leaving messages. "Oh hey Dic...um.. Batman, when you're not too busy can you swing by Crime Alley, I think Zsasz is at it again!" Also I hated that this Riddler seemed like he was channeling Jim Carrey in Batman Forever... just seemed out of character for Riddler, he seemed like such a tool. I hated the ending, I don't understand why they changed Riddler's character when he was SO interesting as a good guy. I'll never understand why they do some of these things. Anyway, once again we see Dick Grayson afraid of being Batman, and of course we know he won't be for long so that makes it even more annoying to read every month about how he's not ready. It's been a YEAR. BFTC ended in like May or June, he should be ready by now. Anyway, ranting side, I loved the artwork but the story left alot to be desired, I'll give Batman 698 a 6/10, not the best rating with issue 700 coming up.

Jason Todd: You're trying to be him aren't you kid? Trying to be tougher than you really are. Trying to prove you're as good, or maybe better? Look what it did to me. (I'm allowed to show favoritism at least once right?)

Booster Gold #31

This is an epilogue to the recent Booster Gold storyline's. Here we see the classic Booster tries to do right, makes a mistake and comes off looking like a jerk that we've seen before. While we've seen it before it still works, comes off strong and definitely makes Booster look sincere about his mistakes. Him saying he envy's guys like Superman who don't mess up makes him easy to relate to. Because if anyone of us, if we were to become heroes and make mistake's I think it's safe to say they would eat away and us and I'm glad Booster comes off like a regular guy. As always Rip's chalkboard is a pleasant sight to see, I love trying to decipher things on it and the hints we get. I loved Booster namedropping Superman and Green Lantern, especially since we know Time Masters is approaching and they'll all team up to look for Bruce Wayne. As for the ending, what better way to end Jurgen's run and build suspense for an upcoming storyline? I can't wait, and although I'm curious about what else Rip is hiding up his sleeve, only time will tell. As for this issue, I'll give it another solid 10/10. 

Young Girl: Wow, is that Buster Gold?

Her Father: Booster. I think his name is Booster, honey.

 Green Arrow #32

WHY IS THE ART SO BAD?! The art is subpar yet the cover is amazingly good.Who in the hell woke up and decided, ya know what? I'm going to ruin Green Arrow. I mean there was NOTHING wrong with Ollie a year ago. Up until Cupid came Green Arrow and Black Canary was one of my favorite comics. I liked Ollie, he was one of my favorite heroes. As was Canary, and I'm as a big a fan or Roy as you can ever meet. And someone said, let's take Roy's arm, Make Dinah no threat at all, and while we're at it let's just ruin Green Arrow's secret Identity so EVERYONE KNOWS WHO HE IS!! I......I just don't know what to say. Also Dinah and Ollie... I guess it's about time. All this comic did was upset me, I hated almost everything about it. There was ONE thing I liked and that was the pic with everyone dressed as their civilian clothes with an outline of their suits, that was cool. So that earned it a 1/10. Hated it, man, what have they done to ya Ollie?

Black Canary: Congratulations Ollie. You won.

Batgirl #09

So this is the beginning of the Batgirl arc, "The Flood" and not part four of the Red Robin crossover as I initially believed. Looks like the Crossover was Red Robin 9, Batigirl 8, Red Robin 10 and the upcoming Red Robin 11 which is all fine and dandy. Anyway, Seeing Babs and Steph team up to take down bad guys is one of my favorite things because she's passing the mantle to Steph. I know Cassandra was good but she never really embodied the fun loving Batgirl spirit that Barbara had, Steph does and it's refreshing to see. Plus her chat with Gordon where he alluded to her being like someone (likely his daughter, the former Batgirl) was nice to see and give Steph some added credibility. Speaking of that, anyone else waiting for Steph's inevitable run in with The Joker? I mean it's gotta happen, especially with what he did to Babs, it's just a matter of time. Meanwhile this comic was pretty damn good. It referenced that dreadful BTFC tie in, The Cure, but I like where the story's going. Seems kinda odd that their kinda like Zombie-ish right after Blackest Night but oh well, I like the idea of the story and it started off strong. As of late Batgirl's been one of the strongest comics to read and this issue continues the trend, I'll give it a 9/10.

Nick Gage: Hey You.

Batgirl. Hey You?

Nick Gage: You know, It's what you said when... never mind.

So that's all the reviews this week, I loved most of them which is always a good thing. Now let's take a look at this last week's poll, which asked, Who do you think will make the biggest impact during Brightest Day?

Winner - Deadman with 38.5% of the votes. Big day for Boston Brand, and it looks like the majority thinks Brightest Day may be his biggest.
2nd Place - Max Lord with 30.5%. It was a very close race, but the one person Max couldn't mind control was whoever cast the deciding vote to give Deadman the win.
3rd Place - Aquaman with 23.1%. I'm still shocked Aquaman was able to swim ahead with some fan support out of nowhere.
Last Place - Martian Manhunter with 7.7%. Poor J'onn J'onzz came in last place with one vote, but at least he's back and can enjoy some Oreos or whatever.

So now lets move ahead with a new poll and a new week of reviews. This weeks poll is now up on the right hand side of your screen (where it ALWAYS IS.) To elaborate, what I'm asking is, if these people had to replace their namesake, who would you want to replace their former person, for good. So if you vote Kyle, that means no more Hal as Green Lantern. Vote Dick, no more Bruce as Batman, Vote Bart, no more Barry, Wally as Flash, and Connor, no more Oliver Queen as Green Arrow. This should be interesting. Also next week I'll be picking up and reviewing Blackest Night Director's Cut, and Green Lantern 53 and maybe JLA...not a big week so I may be back reviewing something else between then and now. Until then, You've just been Gobsmacked.

The Search for Bruce Wayne

Hey everyone, just dropping by with a few updates. Firstly I'll have my newest review this Saturday, that way I can put up a new poll as well, and this one is gonna be pretty interesting. As of this posting Deadman leads the way in our Brightest Day Poll but with two more days to vote anything can happen.

Also, I wanna say to anyone and everyone, that 2011 looks to be interesting with the solicits in the back of Flash #01 pointing to an upcoming storyline called Flashpoint. I may not be the biggest Barry Allen fan, (Bart > Wally > Barry > Jay in my book, no offense to Jay.) but  I'm hyped about this, even though it's a year from now. With Batman, Supes and WW getting long arc's and recently Green Lantern, it's about time Flash got one and it looks to include the Trinity in a big way. You can't tell alot about one page but I'll be on the look out for Flashpoint.

Lastly the big announcement over at the DCU Blogs today was there will be a comic called Time Masters: Vanishing Point. This will feature Rip Hunter gathering a team consisting of three of my favorites, Superman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and Booster Gold to travel through time and look for Bruce Wayne. The idea of this is genius. Why wouldn't they go looking for Bruce now that they know he's lost in time? Plus Booster standing side by side with the man who ended the Blackest Night and The Man of Steel does nothing but help him look better which is great. I'm extremely happy to hear about Rip's Trio searching for Bruce Wayne, and this apparently will go hand in hand with The Return of Bruce Wayne. Time Masters will also be a six issue mini-series. Also it will apparently have clues to the next big DCU event in it. So look for that in July, as I certainly will. And of course I gotta show you guys the awesome cover.

Tell me that's not awesome. Birds of Prey, Time Masters, Jason Todd's mini series, The Return of Bruce Wayne, End of Blackest Night, Brightest Day. Man the DC Universe is heating up in 2010. What else is coming? I'll be waiting on more announcements and I'll definitely update you guys, especially If I'm as giddy like I am now, haha.

- Jason Todd

What I Learned From: Blackest Night

Hey guys, this is a new edition to JTCS. It's called "What I learned From", and it'll feature numerous facts I learned from each topic. In this debut of What I learned from, I'll tell you guys the super amazing things I learned from Blackest Night. That's right, everything from A to Z, from Atrocitus to Zombies, so get ready for a bunch of small facts and thoughts of what I learned from, Blackest Night!

~The following are the views of the Jason Todd Comic Spot, they are in no way, shape or form considered to be coherent in any language or to any race or creed of people. Without any more stalling, I present to you What I learned from Blackest Night.~

What I learned from Blackest Night

That when people die, they come back as zombies to rip your heart out to power a huge battery so an obscure villain can come back to life.

When That obscure villain DOES infact come back to life, he will stand around for about four issues until finally it only takes one punch from Hal Jordan to defeat him.

When Sinestro is the only White Lantern he manages to die at least twice, when Hal Jordan is White Lantern he manages to recruit about 10 other people then defeat Nekron with the aformentioned one punch.

When the Anti-Monitor, scourge of the 1980's and the main reason Barry Allen died, by sacrificing his life to stop him comes back to life, no one cares at all. Not even Barry Allen.

When you come back first during the zombie invasion (Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Firestorm) prepare to sit around for a bunch of issues doing and saying nothing, although in the issues where you returned you were a force to be reckoned with.

When someone carries around someone else's skull, It's not them.

If Batman's skull is to ever be found somewhere, it will almost definitely have Bat-ears for some reason,

In a time of Crisis, Batman, Red Robin and Robin will call each other Dick Grayson, Tim Drake and Damian Wayne right in front of people who do not know their secret identities.

Dove didn't rise because apparently he was content being dead, as he now has all the time in the world to read every book known to man.

DC couldn't go one major event without including at least ONE talking monkey.

Apparently when you're Captain Boomerang, you can die fat and out of shape and come back slim and in the best condition of your life.

When you're an obscure character who's whole way of life is being Dead, DC will bring you back to life just to show they'll resurrect ANYONE but Ted Kord.

Lex Luthor wants to be Superman.

Larfleeze wants a Blue Lantern Ring.

Mera didn't want kids apparently.

J'onn Jones wants some goddamn oreos, asap!

Despite being "Batman", Dick Grayson did absolutely nothing during Blackest Night. The most important thing he did was freeze himself so the Black Lanterns would think he was dead...and then they left and that's it.

Osiris got revenge on Sobek, and was finally at peace....then for some reason they brought him BACK to life.

Max Lord apparently is strong enough to mind control Guy Gardner, someone who has more Will than almost everyone on the entire planet.

Stay away from Blackest Night: Wonder Woman or else...for the love of God just stay away!

If everyone comes back from the dead magically, they will always, ALWAYS, strike a super cool pose. If you don't believe me, tell me why the hell Firestorm is making an energy orb in the picture below?

That's all I can think of right now but feel free to submit your own, what you learned from Blackest Night answers below, and as always feedback is appreciated. Don't forget to vote on the new poll as well that's Brightest Day related. As for Last week's which villain should get their own comic series.

Lex Luthor - 62.5%, Lex Luthor wins again, I bet you guys were the same that made him President :P
Jason Todd - 25.0%, 2nd place for the 2nd Robin.
Deathstroke - 12.5%, Third place for the World's Greatest Assassin
Sinestro - 0%, no votes for our favorite Fear monger.

Thanks again for reading and voting and until next time, you've just been gobsmacked!

- Jason Todd

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, the incomparable Jason Todd is here for this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings. Once again this week I'll be reviewing only DC Comics (which most of my readers read anyway) because there was no Deadpool to review so no Marvel comics this week. I could review the Deadpool Corps but sadly my comic shop didn't have it on my Wednesday run so I'll have to pick it up this weekend. But fear not, we have The Flash: Secret Files and Origins, Red Robin, Batman & Robin and the super spaced out Superman Secret Origins. So let's hop to it, with Batman & Robin.

Batman & Robin #11

Batman and Robin #10 left us with with Damian seemingly lashing out against his will at Dick Grayson. Also he's attacked by a group of "thugs" and saved at the last minute at the resurgence of Detective Oberon Sexton. That's a truly horrible name for the record. Reminds me of WWE Superstar Edge's old name, Sexton Hardcastle. Anyway, back to the comic. So in this issue Grayson continues in the catacombs of Wayne Manor and keeps finding clues that Bruce Wayne has been traveling through time, some even suggest that Bruce is already back. This is taken even further when Damian asks Oberon is he is in fact Bruce Wayne. Also in this issue we learn more about Damian Wayne's mother Talia's plan. Did Pink Flamingo shoot Damian in the spine on purpose? Odds are he did after reading this issue. Also a certain white haired person shows up near the end of this issue. Now in my honest opinion, I kinda liked this comic. I won't lie, A LOT of it seemed useless and I'll admit that. It wasn't the greatest comic but it did keep me entertained. The stuff with Talia seemed unnecessary as with her mystery man even though she dropped the biggest hints ever. Also, I could care less about Hurt, and I'm eagerly waiting to see who Oberon is, I'm gonna vote now that it's either Jason Todd (doubt it), Joker (doubt it) or Jason Bard (doubt it). Why one of these three? Because I'm hoping it's someone who makes sense  and isn't just someone they pulled out of nowhere. Jason would make the most although he's in jail and crazy, Joker just because he hasn't been seen sense Batman RIP and Jason Bard just because I can't think of anyone else. Anyway I'm really anxious for the next issue, but this one gets a 7/10.

Damian: Are you Bruce Wayne?

Red Robin #11

Red Robin reviewed for the second month in a row. Didn't think I'd say THAT while Chris Yost was writing this series. Well since he's on his way out I won't lie, the guy has been writing his ass off. Or maybe Bryan Q. Miller wrote the whole thing and just gave Yost credit as a Damon/Affleck thing. Anyway this is the third of the four issue crossover arc with Batgirl and Red Robin.Tim, Prudence and Steph are taking on the 7 deadly assassins sent by Ra's Al Ghul. We also learn the targets that are being attacked by Ra's assassins. Some are obvious like Dick, James Gordon and so, some are more surprising like Vicki Vale and a certain leather clad Cat burglar. It was cool seeing Batman and Robin make their entrance, as well as seeing the three of them stand next to each other (without Zombies all around them.) Also Damian's reaction to Pru was pretty entertaining. Once again Yost surprised me and made an issue I really enjoyed, and I can't wait to read the conclusion in Batgirl next week. I'll give this a 8/10. Also this cover is one of my favorite and my new background.

Red Robin: Even after everything I've been through in my life, after everything I've seen... this is still surreal.

The Flash: Secret Files and Origins

This is the issue 0 of the upcoming Flash series. There's not much to say here as this is more of a warm up for next weeks debut issue. So yeah, basically Barry can't sleep and has a discussion with the other Flash's. That's about it. I will say there was some awesome writing to show how fast The Flash is and that's pretty awesome. I also liked seeing the bio pages with everyone from Iris Allen to Max Mercury. It's hard to rate this as it's more of a preview than anything so any rating isn't really going to be all that accurate. But for what it was I liked it, would I say it's necessary? To a long term Flash fan no, but to someone who doesn't know alot about Iris, Max, Jay and anyone not named Bart or Wally like myself it'd be worth checking out, and that's All I've got to say about that. Rating: N/A

Superman: Secret Origins #5

Superman Secret Origins 5, where have you been all my life? You wanna know when I reviewed issue four? January 30th. That's right, a three month wait for issue 5. Now that's a long time for a comic, what is this, Captain America Reborn?! Yeah I took a shot at Marvel but I could've easily said Flash Rebirth :P Anywho, Secret Origins goes on to introduce John Corben as well as General Lane. I loved that Corben and Lois went out on one date years ago and he still thinks their Ex's. Man that dude is touched in the head. The whole way Lex discovers the Man of Steel's weakness was very dumb, just made no sense in my opinion but whatever. Long story short I really liked this comic, and I don't know what to expect from issue six but Geoff hasn't let me down this far with Secret Origins. Just for the record Issue 6 is listed as coming out next month so let's hope it does. But for issue five I'll give it a 9/10, great story, but left a little something to be desired.

Lex Luthor: Not only can I stop him, General Lane, I believe I can kill him if necessary.

So, not a bad haul this week for comics. I enjoyed pretty much all my comics and I wasn't let down. As always comments and thoughts are appreciated, next week's haul should be pretty huge, as I'll be picking up Batgirl #9, Batman #698, Booster Gold #31, Brightest Day #0, The Flash 1, and Green Arrow #32. So there's six comics for next week's review, until then just remember, There's Life, Love and JT and all of them are awesome. Until then, you've just been gobsmacked.

- Jason Todd

Ratings and Rantings

Hey loyal readers, welcome back to my Red Hood. Jason Todd here with another edition of Ratings and Rantings. Picking up where we left off last week with the conclusion of Blackest Night. Also we're taking a look at Teen Titans #81, Gotham City Sirens #10, and JLA 43 which continues our DC's Rise and fall storyline. Also I'll be adding a new poll shortly after this post, as our winner this week looks to be Static, but more on that later. Let's start things of with our lovely ladies of Gotham City, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy and Catwoman, The Gotham City Sirens.

Gotham City Sirens #10

First things first, anyone notice that for some reason on the first page The Riddler looks JUST like Hal Jordan? It's more so the mask than anything but it just caught me by surprise, I had to do a double take. You'd think they'd make his mask less Green Lantern like. Anyway, it was dumb enough to bring Aesop back, I mean he's like a Z-List villain, but his motivation was quite possibly the dumbest I've ever heard. I mean of ALL the reasons to be upset, THAT one?! Also that whole stealing the other people's clothes routine is so old and played out I can't believe Dini even did it.  (Not complaining about Harley in a dress though...) What was the point of it? What if Riddler dies why their changing clothes?! Also how the hell does Aesop get all the way across the room in two seconds? One second he's opening a cell the next he's going all Barry Bonds on Selina's head. Anyway, the main villain proved to be as useless as ever. The only interesting thing was the ending with The Riddler. That builds a storyline I'm interested in seeing so that alone saved the comic, so I'll give it a 4/10 rating. Here's hoping Sirens is better from here on out, hell bring back Selina's sister, Joker or someone else.

Aesop: And what else would I call one who sells out his former brothers in crime to the police?

The Riddler: Forgive me, "Bro" but I don't recall the two of us ever spending any quality time in the Arkham rec room.

Justice League of America #43

James Robinson wrote this, and after Cry for Justice I can't say that excites me, so here's hoping no more little girls die for no reason at all.... better watch your kids Wally. Anyway, I couldn't agree with Dick more when the comic starts off, he read my mind. This JLA isn't a JLA, it's just a bunch of people on a team. There's no leader, no unity and no real team. Once again Barry being dead forever comes into play, with the fact that he doesn't know ANYONE on the team besides Dinah and Dick. And who the hell is this blue guy?! When did Mystique jump from Marvel to DC? Also, just so you know, Mon-El has yet to say a word halfway into this comic. And Dr. Light may have just said the most dumb thing I've ever read, it was so dumb it earned instant line of the issue status. Anyway then the issue jumps from Pre-Blackest Night to post Blackest Night and loses like half the cast for no reason at all. Everything about this just annoyed me to no end. The only good thing was the ending, and not even the main comic ending but the...very ending I guess? Anyway I hated this, 3.5/10. I'm really close to dropping JLA. Also just for the record, Mon-El never did speak a word for this entire issue, even though he's on the cover.

Doctor Light: Green Arrow was here! Look, His arrows!!!

(...YA THINK?! I mean you don't think it's obvious to EVERYONE when there's GREEN ARROWS ON THE FLOOR, that just MAYBE, they belong to GREEN ARROW?!)

Teen Titans #83

(No cover because it has spoilers on it)

Teen Titans picks up where we left off with some of our Titans captured by the villainous Holocaust. Meanwhile our other Teen Titans have apparently been asleep, because when your buddies consisting of three women and no guys at all go out to look for someone who's missing, the remaining shape-shifter, the martian, the guy with alien technology for a suit and the for lack of a better term, witch, all decide to stay at the hotel and catch some Z's. Meanwhile Cyborg is shown talking to some mysterious figures about retirement. Later we get some stupid conversation that's completely out of character for Bombshell, as well as a bunch of stupid jokes and Teen's laughing because everyone knows even when their in danger, teenagers laugh at stupidity. Also we see Holocaust kick everyone's ass on the team, because no matter how obscure, he can still completely own a team of 8 superheroes. Lastly the comic ends with an awesome return I won't spoil for you. As you can see from my lack of enthusiasm I hated this comic, if it weren't for the last page (a common trend tonight) I would've given this a 1. But because of it, I'll give this a 3/10. I wouldn't recommend this as it was very boring but It did lead to something I've wanted for a while, so that alone made it worth checking out I guess.

Blue Beetle: NGGH! Gearing up... so painful!
(Why? Because I hate Jaime "Hai-Me" Reyes and I love seeing him in pain. We want Kord, we want Kord!)

Blackest Night 8

And now, this is your MAIN EVENT, hailing from the talented mind of Geoff Johns, weighing in at an astonishing 36 pages not counting ads, from DC Comics, the undisputed heavyweight series, OF THE WORLD, Blackest Night 8!!! *Crowd cheers* Okay, enough of me. After months we finally get the end of Blackest Night, and it did not disappoint. While there are ALOT of unanswered questions, this comic definitely delivered. The action, the plot, the story lines being built and the HUGE HUGE revelation we got near the end was definitely worth the wait. Do I think they dropped the ball a little? Yes. Ted Kord anyone? But this did what it was supposed to, end Blackest Night and move us towards Brightest Day. I'm definitely looking forward to Brightest Day, more than I was for Blackest Night now. There's alot to be explained and I for one can't wait. Also the page with the White Lanterns definitely made this a classic. Gotta give it a 10/10, I loved it and can't wait for Brightest Day.

Larfleeze: Victory is mine baldy! And if you had any hair I'd take that too!

So a subpar week with a huge Blackest Night ending. Teen Titans didn't impress me, as for the poll Static wins with two votes. Bombshell, Miss Martian and Wonder Girl are all in second with one vote a piece. I knew adding a ton of people (all the Teen Titans) was a bad idea but eh, I didn't wanna show favoritism. So will Static be the breakout Teen Titan? Only time will tell, but be sure to check out the newest poll featuring four Villains and cast your vote. This upcoming week, I'll be picking up and reviewing Batman & Robin 11 (As you may recall, I liked the last issue), Flash Secret Origins, Red Robin 11 and Superman: Secret Origins 5. So until then you've just been gobsmacked.

- Jason Todd