Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here welcoming you, as usual to my Red Hood. This weeks Ratings and Rantings should be a good one, as I'll be reviewing the always good Batgirl, as well as Titans, Booster Gold, JL Generation Lost and the monumental 700th issue of Batman. So, I'm not gonna waste time with Small talk about how you should recommend my blog to everyone, and how awesome I am for my reviews and stuff like that, and how I'm all cool and the life of the party. Because who want's to hear that?! :-) Lol anyway, really, let's get to the reviews!

Titans #24

Titans started by following Dick Grayson (Batman), Roy Harper (Armless), Wally West (Demoted), Starfire (REBELS), Donna Troy (JLA), and Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy (Teen Titans AGAIN). Now it's following what may be one of the best put together teams DC Teams of all time, Lead by Deathstroke and featuring Cheshire, Cinder, Tatooted Man (referred to as Ink by me from now on), and Osiris. This issue starts with Osiris talking with Cassie who wants him to turn himself in for killing Persuader back during 52. HA! I wish I WOULD, He killed someone, he died, we're even as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, he refuses like anyone with a brain would. From then on we see Osiris has joined Deathstroke, for reasons we can only speculate as bringing back Black Adam and his sister. We eventually see the Titans attack Lex Luthor as apart of Deathstroke's plan, and even see something weird happen with Osiris that surprises both him and Slade. The explosion and Osiris standing there made for an awesome visual, showing us that while being small, he is powerful and possibly the most dangerous person on the team. The ending surprised me, and while it wasn't a huge surprise it was enough to keep me waiting for the next issue. Titans is starting off to a good start so far, and the 7/10 rating should reflect that. I'd love to see more into the minds of the team though.

Cinder: Say hello to the Devil, Lex. You can tell him I sent you.

Batman #700

Grant Morrison AND Tony Daniel... why did I buy this book? Turns out his gonna chronicle the Three Batman, Bruce, Dick and *shudders* Damien... Damn couldn't it have been Terry McGinnis or something?! Well the first story I hated.... It was just all around, everyone was talking about nothing. It's just stupid... there are FIVE villains in the room and Batman's tied up and their standing around him... why the hell would you have a conversation after he tells you he's gonna break out. It just seemed like the most pointless thing to me. The second story continues to the first, I'm guessing ten or so years into the future, maybe fifteen as Grayson is now Batman.The second story was much better, and I gotta admit, I marked out to see Grayson using the Escrima sticks, there's the Nightwing I know and love. (Sorry Chris Kent!) Also seeing Batman and Robin in a restaurant eating Pizza and drinking coffee shows that Dick isn't the same Batman that Bruce was. I'm sure the place was closed, because if there was people there that'd be... weird but seeing them take a break from kicking ass and relax with some Pizza is a very Dick Grayson thing to do, and helps us remember that Grayson is his own Batman. If I were rating this story by story the first would get a 1 and the second would've gotten an 8, so now unto the sad future where Damien is Batman. This story follows a grim future with Damien as Batman, who's stupid enough to bring Brother-Eye back after how it backfired the first time. Nice job dumbass, also Babs is the Commish, I didn't know they handed that job to Ex-Librarians and Teachers but ah well. And the villain is a poor-man's Two-Face.... man If this is the future no wonder Geoff Johns is bringing back the past. the swerve at the end of the Damien story definitely saved it and left me pleasantly surprised. If I was rating his story I'd give it a 6, I'll give the overall comic a 5.5/10 rating. The art gallery was great though, beatifully done work, a lot would make excellnt background for the laptop. Anyway this may not have been my favorite, but I'm glad to be around for the 700th issue of Batman, and like they say in the comic, here's to 700 more.... with more Jason. ;-)

Dick Grayson to Damien: You'd be the worst Batman ever. (You tell him Dick... you tell him. Lol)

Justice League: Generation Lost #3

Gen Lost, which may be my favorite new title under the Brightest Day banner besides Birds of Prey has been wonderful lately. Starring one of my favorites, Booster Gold, along with Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and now Jamie "Hai-Me" Reyes, the not so true Blue Beetle joining the cast, I'm a tad disappointed but if anyone can make me enjoy him I'll put my faith in Judd and Keith. The line about Ice not knowing who the OMAC's were was well written and I'm glad it was addressed instead of her magically knowing of them. Her saying she was dead like it was a common cold came off pretty funny though. Seeing Jamie Reyes get FACESLAMMED into the ground automatically bumped this comic up to at least a 7. Anyway he does something awesome that makes me dislike him a little less. Meanwhile, Fire is dealing with her own personal problems much like Cap last month and it ends in the same way. Meanwhile, Cap, Ice and Blue and Gold Version 2.0 have their own troubles to deal with which I won't ruin. This issue was great, action packed and kept me interested every inch of the way. Even Jamie came off somewhat good. For the second time in a row 10/10, and it's yet to get lower than an 8, let's hope it keeps up the awesome story.

Max Lord: Do I smell Barbecue? *Bursts into flames*

Booster Gold # 34

I love that this cover is a play on last month's cover, that's just awesome. So our story starts with the Greatest Hero you've never heard of fighting a huge Scottish monster of a man named Brigadoom! Booster is trying to get his morning coffee when he encounters what looks like a mix between "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Andre The Giant. The fun bonding, and occasional hint dropping between Booster's new house guest and Rip Hunter was pretty fun, as was the surprise appearance by Cyborg. I didn't expect them to get in a heated argument but they went at each other, one of the first times Cyborg came off as a jerk in my recent memory. But Booster ripping him a new exhaust hole was epic and I LOVED seeing the Golden Boy (Lol X) stand up for himself. I'm glad that Booster Gold also links up with Generation Lost somewhat, making the time lines between this, Generation Lost, Teen Titans and Power Girl all mesh together. Booster's idea on how to expose Mex is great, and seeing him execute it and also seeing appearances by J'onn, Guy, Ted, Younger Booster and some other people is a great treat, I can see myself really loving this storyline. Also, a BIG fan of Dinah's old costume, no wonder she made Ollie's arrow come outta the quiver... okay, I'm done making jokes, for now anyway. The rest of this comic was great, with Booster trying to one up max using the time stream and everything else that occurred. I'm never disappointed by this series, and it's definitely one of my top three ongoing series, even with Jurgens gone, Keith and J.M. have kept the stories going great. I'll give this a 10/10 and highly recommend it to everyone following Generation Lost.

Booster Gold: Look at him, Skeets-- sleeping like a seven-foot-five, six hundred and fifty pound homicidal baby.

Batgirl # 11

Damn this cover is awesome. Excellent work on Steph and Manbat. Anyway, we left off on the Techno-Zombies barfing on Oracle and seeing some of our favorite Gothamite's attacking Batgirl. We see into Babs' mind and what's happening to her as a Techno-Zombie. Seeing her walking put a smile on my face, I'll say that much. I know I say this all the time, but Bryan Q. Miller does a phenomenal job of balancing the seriousness, the comedy and the well-rounded aspects of Batgirl. She's written kind of like Spider-Man in the past, as a struggling person who tries her best, jokes around and lives for the moment. She's an excellent character, much better than her time as Spoiler. Seeing Steph take on Catwoman and Huntress is also a treat in this issue. Babs' "On no you didn't moment." was pretty good too, just well written and a perfect comedy moment. The rest of the issue features an interesting team up between Wendy and Batgirl, who have more in common than they thought. The possibility of these two along with Oracle seems like an interesting one, and it definitely left me wanting to read the final issue of The Flood. This third issue definitely set the tone and I can't wait for the finale, I'll give this issue of Batgirl a 10/10 rating. It was greatly written, the art was awesome and the story was interesting all throughout, which is why Batgirl is my favorite series today.

Batgirl: Some Jackass named Calculator just kidnapped Oracle and threw a Romero movie my way to stop me. Wait, Who's this?

Wendy: Wendy.

Batgirl: Harris?

Wendy: Yes.

Batgirl: That's what I was afraid of. Sorry I just called your dad a Jackass.

So, a mostly nice week, Batgirl and Gen Lost continue to lead the pack and always impress. Don't forget to vote if you haven't on the poll as it's a tight race, also this weekend I'll be back with the poll results, a new poll and a review on something. I don't know what yet, could be Wolverine, Captain America, Marvel Boy, Spyboy or something else but I'll have a review up, until then Todd Squad, You've just been Gobsmacked!

-Jason Todd

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Deadpool #24, Dark Wolverine #87, Batman Beyond #1, Birds of Prey #2, Brightest Day #4. Joker's Asylum: Mad Hatter and Joker's Asylum: Harley Quinn.