Ratings and Rantings

Welcome everyone, to another edition of Jason Todd's weekly dose of comic content, Ratings and Rantings! I'm a little late this week due to not having internet access and work kicking my butt, but I'm back with a slew of reviews to brighten up your weekend. But before we do, I have a little news, courtesy of Judd Winick, "Yes, we're going to do more Jason Todd/Red Hood. And yes, I'll be writing it. I can't tell you in what manner. Or what we're doing exactly, but we'll be announcing it soon. There will be some Jason Todd stuff coming out." Man, I couldn't be happier about reading that! So, we've got nine issues to jump into (Batman Inc sold out) and four include Batman, so we're gonna get things started off with Brightest Day!

Brightest Day #14

Brightest Day # 14 starts off with Dove and Deadman on the rooftops of Gotham City, the ring whisks Deadman away and tells him "A Replacement has been chosen." Deadman jumps off of a building and uses his acrobatic skills to end up right in the middle of a crew of villains that must be working for Mr. Freeze. They attack Deadman, and Geoff Johns even has one utter the hilarious line (sarcasm), "You're Dead, Man." Deadman makes sure to note that the ring brought back the White Lantern's at the physical peak of their lives, I guess to shut up all of the Captain Boomerang questions. Deadman takes care of the henchmen, but when Freeze gets the drop on him it seems like Brightest Day will end early, until Batman makes the save. From there, Deadman and Batman catch up, and Dove arrives to the party as well. Deadman tries to give Batman the ring, but it stays on his finger, until he yells at it to go to Batman. From there the ring jumps onto Bruce's finger, turns his costume white and names all of the twelve resurrected heroes and villains. The ring takes over Bruce and makes him extremely out of character, and he starts talking about how life is connected and other hippie crap. The ring, through Batman, then tells Boston that wearing the ring should be an honor and Boston saw it as a chore. After he finishes his sentence, one of the Freeze thugs wakes up and shoots Boston Brand through the chest. Sucks to be you eh? Deadman then see's a point of his life when he was a child talking to his Grandpa who gives Boston great advice about growing old, but he brushes him off like a kid would to go watch TV. He then see's that he's been a jerk to other people as well and relives those moments, up until when he's shot and killed while performing at the circus. Boston then has a "What a wonderful life" moment and wishes he wasn't dead, so the Ring brings him back again. The ring flies off of Batman's hand, hits the shooting thug in the head, knocking him out, then flies onto Boston's finger. The issue ends soon after with a moment between Dove and Deadman and
with Batman wanting to talk to someone about Max Lord. This issue was kinda bleh, as usual. I like that it focused on one story and we knew Batman wasn't the White Lantern due to it being WAY too obvious. Also, who the hell killed Deadman, Claw from Inspector Gadget?! Anyway, the only thing this issue really did was make Bruce aware of Max Lord, which I've been calling for a while, so I'm happy that'll work out. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 3/10.

Batman: It's Batman. We need to talk about Maxwell Lord.

Streets of Gotham #17

Streets of Gotham starts off with Harley Quinn, with a little blood trickling from her head, driving home, repeating "It's only a dream..." over and over. She grabs a bazooka or something, and when Selina tries to stop her she knocks her out. From there, She gets ready to blast a door or something but Batman swoops in and catches her. Selina tries to tell Dick she doesn't know why Harley is acting like a Zombie, and Bruce tells her it's him and they kiss. Really? She can't tell the difference between the man she supposedly loves and his "son" when they have completely different costumes as well? Really? From there we find out that Harley was being controlled due to bug bites from bugs sent by a villain named Bedbug. REALLY?! Like...really? Did Dini write this or did Grant Morrison?! Bruce explains the way Harley was controlled and Selina asks how long he's been back as himself and not The Insider. Bruce replies by saying a few of days, they then talk about what he's done since being back and their relationship. Bruce also tells Selina that Hush has escaped, and that he'll do his best to find him. Meanwhile, Hush awakens with blood dripping down his face from the bullet grazing him in the last issue. When his shooter, Judson Pierce, enters the room, Hush decides to play dumb and see what Pierce wants with Bruce Wayne. We soon find out that Pierce swindled Bruce's mother, Martha Kane, and her family out of the Kane family fortune. Pierce continues and even manages to insult Hush's mom too, which was inadvertently funny. We then see an interesting scene with a young Thomas Wayne, Martha Kane, Leslie Thompson and Alfred (hook those two up!) all at Leslie's clinic. Meanwhile, Pierce sent in his goons to kill them all and ruin Leslie's clinic, but Alfred saves the day and defeats his thugs. Hush continues to try to stall, and when they get ready to kill the faux-billionaire, Hush uses that opportunity to fight back. Hush kicks ass in a manner that shows he should definitely be higher on the villain totem pole, I wouldn't mind Hush becoming the new Prometheus. Hush holds Pierce at gunpoint and pulls him close, telling him to note the stitch marks on his face, and his green eyes, making Pierce realize that he isn't Bruce Wayne. The issue ends soon after with Hush making some demands of his own. This was a fine issue but the art is always annoying me. Harley, Selina and other people really don't look like themselves and that annoys me. The fact that Selina didn't recognize her man also annoyed the hell out of me, and of course the ultimate annoyance, why the hell did this issue start with nothing from the last issue being handled?! I thought I skipped an issue by mistake, also, Bedbug is a horrible villain. Anyway, moving on, besides those, this was an alright issue. I'll give it a 6/10.

Pierce: I figured your ma could just spread her legs for some wealthy sap and be in the green again. That worked out for her pal, Marla What's-her-name. (Elliot, Marla Elliot.)

Power Girl #18

Cover of the year for four reasons.... okay, I'm joking. So this issue of PG starts off with Maxwell Lord and the evil Dr. Sivana meeting up at a secret location. After some talking and a failed mind control attempt due to Sivana having planned for it, Max tells the good doctor that he wants to replicate a Kryptoinian, leading us to Divine, a black haired, leather clad, Power Girl clone. Divine tries to hit Power Girl with her heat vision, but instead of a beam, it's the size of one of Cyclops' optic blasts. When Nicco asks what's going on because he has two readings of PG on his monitors, he asks if she has any weaknesses they can use against her, but PG won't say since Divine can hear the conversation due to super hearing. The busty hero and busty villain fly at one another at mach speed and cause a huge sonic boom when they collide. Peej realizes she can't have a straight up fight with herself so she grabs Divine around the waist and flies into the air, hoping Divine doesn't know how to use her powers too well. Sadly, Divine copes with them just fine and knocks PG deep underground, but luckily right into the lair she was searching for. Peej is shocked when she looks around and see's more clones of her in tanks, but this is cut short when Divine prolongs her attack. The two Kryptonians slug it out before the fight is stopped by Max Lord using a "high-intensity red solar energy blast." Divine is pulled out of it by our big Purple Hulk wanna-be from a few issues ago, Crash, as Max Lord explains why having Divine will help them replicate the powers of more metahumans. Power Girl see's Max's face but can't remember who he is or why his name is so important. Max decides to leave Power Girl there, and when Crash asks why they are leaving the equipment behind, Max says they don't need it. Power Girl looks over at the equipment and reads "Kord Industries" and immediately remembers Ted Kord, thinking he shot himself in the head, but when Max teleports away with Divine and Crash, she remembers that Max Lord killed Ted, but as she stands up she notices that the room is powering up, and it soon explodes. The issue ends on the page after that with Power Girl remembering who Max Lord is. I loved this issue, it was great, we continue to see Power Girl get her on Rogues Gallery, now adding Crash and Divine to the mix. We also got to see another hero remember Max, now with Bruce, possibly Dick, and the rest of the Gen Lost crew, we can add Power Girl to the group as well. I found nothing wrong with this issue at all, and really enjoy Judd's writing on it so far, I'll give this issue a solid 9/10.

Power Girl: His name is Max Lord. And I remember.

The Flash #6

Flash gets things off to a start with Barry Allen in future court with the Renegades, with Barry on trial for murdering the Mirror Monarch. Flash tells the Renegades that he was fooled by The Top, and that they need to catch him before it leads to bad things, especially for Flash's wife, Iris. We then see Top trying to take the box of evidence from Iris, so he can keep his reputation as a police officer in the future. Alrighty then. Back in the court, the Renegades realize that Flash may be right, and the information they got from Top could in fact be fabricated. Flash gets tired of waiting some he breaks out of the cuffs and tries to escape, which he succeeds in doing, and stops Top before he can suck the air out of Iris' lungs with his spinning top powers or whatever. Top flees but Flash follows after him, asking why he killed the Mirror Monarch, and Top tells him he's only dead for now, and that everything will reset and history will change when he's done. We find out that Top did this because if your ancestors were arrested then you can't be a police officer in the 25th century, so he doesn't want Flash to reopen that case because it would convict a family ancestor. Really? When Flash tells Top he's a criminal and had blood on his hands, Top snaps and tries to take down Barry, but fails when Barry uses his speed to go inside of Top and reverse the spinning and stop his speed....um....okay. After Top is knocked down and defeated, the Renegades show up to arrest him and then they leave. Cool, I guess. From there Barry gets the real criminal arrested, free's the kid who was mistakenly arrested, and we see the Rogues say that whatever happened with the Mirror they broke instill doubt in The Flash. Back with the Renegades, they note the multiple paradoxes with the 21's century, including Wonder Woman's classic and new look, Deadman and his White Ring, Batman back in time, and Luthor talking to Death. The issue soon ends after with someone on a motorcycle saying they hope Barry finds Flashpoint soon. So, with this issue I constantly found myself wondering what the hell was going on. I'm, thinking this may be my last issue of Flash, I'll see how I feel next month, but don't be surprised if this get's dropped relatively soon. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 4.5/10.

Renegade guy: Something's wrong with history. (Well when ya fix it, give Wondy her old costume, Roy his arm back, and make Wally West important again.)

Superman/Batman #78

Okay, so a Joe Kelly issue of Superman/Batman, with everyone from Mongul to the Scarecrow on the cover plus the promise of a Power Girl/Huntress team up? Excellent. The issue starts with Batman and Superman having a brutal fight as Batman thrusts a Kryptonite sword into Superman's chest, immediately making me think this is a game or something between two kids or nerds. So the nerds make rules about how they can't use Kryptonite, No killing, and a reason for Superman and Batman to fight. Yep, it's kids. They also add the rules of no Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk, and no magic. They then try to decide what Superman and Batman would fight about, ruling out girls (Wonder Woman), a dead Robin (lmao), and membership in the league. They skip a reason and have Batman and Superman argue, leading into a big fight, and Superman punches Baman and takes his utility belt. Batman utters the code, Damocles, causing the belt to explode, blasting Superman away. The explosion temporarily blinds Superman so Batman can escape, but Superman listens to his heartbeat and tracks down the Dark Knight. The two then fight everywhere, even in space, with Batman and Superman constantly one-upping one another and leading to some great comedic moments, especially when Batman attacks Superman with the big Superman/Batman composite robot. Superman destroys the robot but it releases a giant Bat Shadow that blocks out the sun causing Superman to lose his powers as he and Batman fall to the earth, inevitably going to die because neither of them would give up. The two kids realize how the game is stupid because they'd never fight one another because their friends, and we see that Batman and Superman were above them, listening in. Superman enjoyed it but Batman feels like he wasted five minutes of his time, before telling Superman he could beat him, even without Kryptonite. The story ends with Batman telling Supes that the kid was right about a lot of Bruce's techniques, and when Supeman asks which ones, Batman stays silent and Superman wonders confused. I loved this, I mean LOVED it. It was a bunch of fun, a great story, and the humor that only Kelly can bring. If this was in the 75th issue of Superman/Batman I would've rated it MUCH higher, because this story was one of my favorites. The Huntress/Power Girl story was just okay, but the main story definitely picked up the slack. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves comics, humor, and is a big fan of Batman and Superman. I'll give this issue a 10/10. Also, this issue was so good it has TWO lines of the issue.

Narrator: Of Course! I mean... they wouldn't fight over a chick-- 

*Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman are shown*

Batman: So long as there is crime in the streets, I have no time for nooky. 

Batman: I work better alone... If you don't count Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Azrael, The other Robins, Nightwing, Oracle, and The Outsiders.

Batman: The Return - One-Shot

We start off with a lesson on Bats, and see the travel of a wounded bat, the same bat that would make his way into Bruce Wayne's study, and inspire Bruce Wayne to become Batman. From there we see Bruce Wayne, in his new Batman costume, as he saves a kid, thwarts a criminal, and tells another criminal that he's next, after returning his son. From there we see an awesome page with the Batcave, as Bruce has assembled Batman, Robin, Oracle, Batgirl and Red Robin. Bruce tells his team that due to his recent experiences he has big plans and they start with them, and has given them envelopes with special assignments. Bruce tells Babs that next spring Waynetech will start Internet 3.0, and he wants her to be his ghost in the machine, giving her access to cheat codes, vehicles and weapons no one else has. Is this a video game or something? He also wants Steph to enroll in finishing school in England for some reason. That should be easy to explain to Mrs. Brown, right? hen Damian asks what about Batman and Robin, referring to himself and Dick, but we don't get an answer. From there we see Bruce, with Damian and Lucius Fox go on a spending spree of equipment for Batman, including some Jet suits that increase strength, endurance and have short-range flight. Bruce tells Lucius to fix two and make them look like Batman and Robin. From there, he and Damian go on a mission that's so absurd I can't even try to explain it, basically a bunch of mutated things that failed are there, and Batman is attacked by some freaky looking big baddie. He keeps calling for Robin who doesn't come for some reason, and Robin stumbles onto some mysterious guy that flies away.... yeah. I read that part four times and I'm still confused. Bruce finally finds Robin and yells at him, and back at the Batcave, Damian tells Bruce to find himself a new Robin, and quits. Bruce tells Damian that the chances of them working together as Batman and Robin are zero. When Dick tries to talk to Bruce about how he didn't follow orders much as Robin, he tells them that Damian will be Robin, just the Robin to Dick's Batman. We then see Bruce and Alfred talking, and Bruce tells Alfred they need more Batcave's across the world, to which Alfred tells him not to worry. They bond, and afterwards, Bruce calls Selina and asks her to steal him a weapon from a criminal mastermind.... um...okay. The issue ends soon after with some more confusing Grant Morrison stuff that makes me wanna not read Batman Inc., I'll give this a 2/10.

Batman: Selina! I just got back from the dead and thought of you.

Deadpool MAX #2

Deadpool MAX gets things started with the Crimson Comedian in therapy, with his psychiatrist, Inez. We know her as Outlaw, or if you have the guts to call her that, Crazy Inez. Deadpool keeps hearing things the way he wants to, and most of them involve Inez saying how much she wants to do certain things with DP. When she asks about Deadpool's childhood, we see his Dad beating him with a bat while his mother nonchalantly irons, and replies that his father was a big Baseball fan. The session is interrupted when Bob bursts into the room, and tells Deadpool that a white Supremacist named Zemo is in Wisconsin, vowing to kill almost every person of every race, except using a bunch of racial slurs. Deadpool tells Bob he can't go because he has to go away do to being schizotypal, paranoid, antisocial and more. She pulls Deadpool away as Bob grabs his gun to go after them and finds out that all Inez has been writing for the entire session is "Inez loves Deadpool!" Bob tries to chase after them but Deadpool trips him and he falls face first into a cactus. We see another Deadpool flashback after he leaves with Inez, this time with him trying to get an orange, but having his hand smacked away by his mother. She then tells him if he wants an orange he'll have to do something for her, but we then cut-away to see the nursing home where Inez has taken Wade. He takes off his mask and tells her he won't mind if she runs off screaming, but she tells him he's gorgeous, before having a quick flashback of her own and remembering being attacked by her dad, who apparently looks like/may be Cable. She then tackles Deadpool and plants a huge kiss on him, and we find out that this whole time she actually WAS saying the stuff that Deadpool thought he was imagining, which was pretty funny. And from the bra we see fly off in the panel, we can only imagine what happens next. We then see Bob trying to get to Wade but he can't get into the building unless he offers sex to the very old woman working the door at the building, which he thankfully refuses. Next we see another Deadpool Flashback, with his father calling his mother a whore, and implying that to get the orange she made Deadpool have sex with her... man, no wonder he's so screwed up. Deadpool's dad gets upset and takes a boiling teapot and either beats him with it or pours the scalding hot tea all over Wade's face. From there we find out Inez is actually a patient at the hospital, and that she's told in nurses that the Doctor in charge can have Deqadpool's organs after DP's scratched the itch Inez has. DP then finds out how infatuated Inez is with him and that Dr. Harry has been making her lure people back so they could sell their organs on the black market. From there we see another flashback, now in the hospital, and that Wade's Mom actually slept with a man named Jakub, and Wade covered for her, which led to him being beaten by his father. She thanks Wade and tells him she's leaving forever, and gives Wade a box of oranges before leaving. When Dr. Harry finds Inez and DP he pulls out a gun, but unlucky for him, due to Deadpool's revelations, he was no longer insane, he'd become sane due to remembering his past, and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of Dr. Harry before killing him. He then has the orderlies put Inez in a straight jacket, because he can't be with her insane ass now that he's sane. This was a great issue, I loved the flashbacks and how Inez was written. I was wondering what to think of this series after the first issue but after really enjoying this one I know I'll continue to read it. I liked how Inez was written and hope she returns soon, also I'm interested to see how Zemo is written since they've made Zemo into a woman in this universe. But this was a solid issue in a new series that cemented Deadpool as a real threat, I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Inex: Come, Mr. Wilson. I need to get you into bed and screw your brains out before my head explodes.

Green Lantern Corps #54

Beautiful cover, Sinestro vs. Rayner. Those two have so much history, sometimes it seems like they have more than Sinestro and Jordan. Anyway, the issue starts off with Sinestro's ring construct choking Kyle, asking him if he's trying to shatter the truce after punching Sinestro. Kyle says he just wanted Sinestro's attention, to which Sinestro replies "Mission accomplished, alley rat!" before slamming Kyle into the ground. Sinestro removes his ring, as to not violate the truce, and fights Kyle one on one. By the way, when he removed it, the ring said "Fisticuffs enabled" which made me laugh so damn hard. Kyle and Sinestro duke it out, and after knocking Kyle down three times, Sinestro invokes the Mercy rule. After the fight ends, Kyle asks Sinestro to help him save Soranik again, and Sinestro tells him to do it himself. Kyle tells him that if Sinestro doesn't go, The Weaponer will kill Soranik, and Sinestro tells him he'd better figure out a new plan then. We then see Soranik, she wakes up on a couch and see's the Weaponer who is working not far from her. She tries to arrest him but he's already confiscated her ring. He tells her that he doesn't want to hurt her, she is merely bait for Sinestro. We soon see that the people of Qward were once the seat of power to the Anti-Monitor, and he had people who fought for him, and the people who made their weapons, were called the weaponers. He then talks about how Sinestro came to him to make a replacement power ring after losing his Green Lantern ring, and how he expected a Hero's reward for helping Sinestro. But Sinestro just brought war to the anti-monitor and the people of Qward. Years later Sinestro returned to Qward and enslaved it's people to make him more Yellow Rings for the Sinestro Corps. Since someone had to bear the blame and the Weaponer made the first ever yellow ring, he was exiled from his people. He finally was able to bring the fight to Sinestro after finding a mysterious white Net, the same recently created by Deadman with his White lantern ring, the net allows him to conjure any weapon he can imagine. Back with Kyle, he goes to Oa to recruit help from fellow Lanterns to save Soranik. Back with Soranik she tells The Weaponer she doubts Sinestro will come but he's adamant that he will. When his machines announce someone is coming, Soranik tries to grab her ring from where it's being kept but takes a huge shock for her troubles, knocking her unconscious. The Weaponer runs out to fight expecting to see Sinestro but is greeted by Kyle, John Stewart. Ganthet, Boodikka and Hannu. The issue ends as The Weaponer gets ready to take on the five Green Lanterns. This was another solid issue, I'm sure Sinestro will show up but I'm wondering if it will lead to a team up with him and Kyle or what will happen. As always the story was cool and the art was beautiful, but not much happened between this issue and the last. I'll give this issue an 8/10.

Sinestro's Ring: Fisticuffs Engaged. (Why...is that even a setting?)

Green Lantern #59

Green Lantern, featuring The Flash. Somewhere in the world, X-Man75 just got heartburn. Anyway, GL starts off with with two injured men being tended two by two paramedics in the back of an ambulance, the ambulance crashes and as one paramedics tries to climb out of the wreckage, he's met by the Indigo Tribe and Black Hand, who speaks on their behalf. The paramedic, Shane Thompson, is then chosen by the Indigo Entity, Proselyte. Over in Livonia, Michigan, Hal tells Barry he has everything under control, and Barry disagrees since a young teenage girl has been possessed by an Alien entity. Barry complains that Hal has been running with Sinestro and not him, I guess he's jealous. When Hal plays the Parallax card and tells Barry he wasn't there to see him when Parallax took over and made him kill his fellow Lanterns and friends, and that this is his responsibility. Over on Oa, Salaak is snitching on Hal because he believes he's up to something, and he may be possessed by Parallax again. The Guardians tell him to send the Alpha-Lanterns to Earth to investigate what Hal Jordan has been up to. Salaak tells them that the Alpha-Lanterns are still recovering from their run-in with Cyborg-Superman in Green lantern Corps' last arc, so Salaak recommends sending someone from outside of the Corps to track Hal. Back on Earth, Barry keeps acting like Hal's wife and nagging him, until Hal brings up Green Arrow. Barry says that's the last person he should look for approval from since he's a murderer. From there he says he didn't like Ollie because he changed Hal, so yeah, in other words he was jealous. Flash then says he's not the only one that thinks Hal is making a mistake, he's just the first on there cause he's the fastest. Saint Walker tells Barry that he should wear the Blue Ring again so he can understand where their coming from. Soon after that, the Indigo Tribe shows up with their entity in their new host, and also have Black Hand, who they claim to have reformed by giving him compassion. Barry interrupts and tells Hal to stop teaming with Villains and team with him, Batman and Superman, and that they're on the way. Oh no, the heroes are on the way, you're in trouble now Hal! Hal ignores Barry and asks if the rings make them feel compassion, if they were all murderers before they put on the rings. The entity Adara looks inside and notices the Indigo rings make them feel emotions and they don't have their own. The Indigo Lanterns get upset and threaten to take all the entities themselves if they won't team up with them. Their interrupted by the mysterious figure and Parallax, who takes control of one of the bystanders, I won't say who, but the next issue should be interesting. This was an alright issue, I really only cared for the ending and that's about it. I'll give this issue a 6/10 rating, here's hoping the next issue goes all out and has a hell of a fight.

The Flash: Once again Hal, stop digging yourself into this hole. It's going to turn into a grave.

Well everyone one, that's it for me. Hopefully next week's Ratings and Rantings will be done before the weekend. I work this week from 7-3, including Thanksgiving so if it's late, that's my excuse haha. But I'll try my best, also an early Happy Thanksgiving from me to you guys. And lastly, don't forget to vote on the new weekly poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Time on Ratings and Ratings

Action Comics #893, Batman Beyond #6, Gotham City Sirens #17, Generation Lost #14, Amazing Spider-Man #649 and Deadpool #29.