Friday, October 29, 2010

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, it's that time of the week again for the best weekly dose of comic content comics! This week we've got another the conclusion of Bruce Wayne's Road Home, we've also got Kick-Ass 2 and Carnage #1 making their JTCS debuts, so without anymore stalling let's get this show on the road.


Action Comics #894

On our last issue of Lex Luthor's Action Comics run, we ended things off with our chrome-domed psychotic friend being shot by Gorilla Grodd and coming face to face with Death herself. We start things off with Lex and Death standing over Lex's lifeless corpse. Lex doesn't believe that a teenage girl could be Death, so she proves it by touching his nose, and when it starts to decompose he changes his tune. Death tells Lex she can let Lex have a life review, but he doesn't want to see his life over again. She shows him anyway and we see some iconic scenes like him standing over Superman's casket, his recent fight with Superboy in front of his sister and niece, and Lex with the Legion of Doom. Lex gets upset but Death explains how often she has to deal with dying people and how she doesn't want to be treated as a villain for doing her job. I'm really starting to like this chick, she seems like a very interesting character. Lex then starts to barter with Death, asking her what he has to do to return back to life. Lex starts to go through the five stages of grief as Death watches on, unaffected after dealing with it so much. Lex and Death then talk about what Lex believes in, and Lex, a devout atheist, says there's no one to judge him and sentence him to hell of heaven if not Death herself. Lex then wonders if it is real will he get to make a case, and defend his actions. After some more discussions we find out that Death is just checking up on Lex, as she never stated he was dead, before placing him back in his body, now in on his plane with a neck brace on, wondering what the mystery is behind his meeting with death. Well this was a solid comic, very good read, and a great introduction to Death, who I've heard of but never read about from her appearances in Sandman. The only think I disliked was the last two or three pages which I omitted from the review as not to spoil the ending. This was a nice solid issue of a solid series since it's featured Lex. I'll give it a 7/10.

Lex: ...My life.
Death: Yup. There it is. With lots of people fighting. And lots of people being clever.


Justice League Generation Lost #12

We start this issue back with a view into the past of Tora Olafsooter, also known as Ice. We see that she loses the ability to control her power when she loses her temper apparently, which explains why she's always been a more quiet and timid character when compared to the outgoing and friendly Fire. We then fast forward and see an angry Tora, more in her Goddess state than her usual quiet self. Rocket Red tells Fire that the temperature is dropping rapidly, to 30 below Fahrenheit and how his suit won't function at below 60, so she tries to snap some sense into Tora by talking to her. Fire gets to close and gets decked by Ice. She tells Gavril to get himself and the Metal Men to safety and to leave her to try to handle Ice on her own. We then cut back to more of Tora's past and see her playing soccer with some kids while her father discusses stealing some money from an old folks home with his associate, who happens to be his father. When one of the kids playing with Tora falls and blames Tora, they get into a fight, and Tora unleashes her powers. No one see's them really, but Tora's father tells his wife to go pack up so they can leave town. We fast forward back to present day and see Fire and Ice have huge fight with the two friends taking each other to the limit. We see more of Ice's past and see they've moved to Germany. Tora's grandfather shows up and says he plans on taking her back with him to rule as the Goddess she is. Ice's father refuses and when she's taken by her Grandfather and his men, Tora's father tells her to make it colder than she ever has. She freezes everyone and everything around her, including her father, who's last words to her are be careful, be quiet, be calm. Remembering this snaps her out of her almost primal state, and returns her to the normal Tora. The issue ends soon after, but not before Booster, Beetle and Captain Atom get an unexpected and unwanted guest. I thought this was a great comic and showed us a ton about Ice, her past and a few new revelations. I really find Ice as an interesting character due to this comic, and it's continued to build the characters up so well that it's become a better series because of it. I'll give this issue a 9/10 for a great character establishing issue, although the background of Tora's mega powers could've been explained better.

Tora's Father: No! This isn't magic or destiny! It's genetics! It's in our bloodline! She's just a girl with a gift! I won't let you make her into a monster!


Carnage #01 of 5

First things first, this comic has some AMAZING art. I mean freaking amazing. The art looks so real, and on one page you can even see the lines on someones fingers, that's just amazing. The issue starts with Spidey heading over to see an expo he was invited to by Tony Stark. It's about a new type of prosthetic that works with thoughts instead of deciphering binary. There was even a fun part where the prosthetic flipped off Tony Stark as apart of the demonstration, which the crowd loved. Tony did not on the other hand, and has Pepper Potts pull public reports of any patents or companies owned by the demonstrator, Michael Hall, so he can see how Hall came up with this technology. We see Tony step outside and notices an armored truck trying to be run off the road by a smaller truck, and someone who looks like Spider-Man following it, only he has more arms and an insane laugh. We see Peter Parker at home eating cereal and watching TV when he gets a call from Tony asking him how many arms he currently has. When a confused Pete replies that he has two arms, Tony tells him about what he just saw and Spidey, with a bowl of cereal in his hand, heads out to meet up with Iron Man. The multi-armed maniac causes a crash between the armored truck and the car following it, causing Iron Man to try to stop him, but he's quickly rendered inactive while the thing tries to escape again. Spidey shows up ans from Iron Man's description he figures out the symbiote is Mayhem, to his dismay. Our heroes are then attacked by an angry mob, as a result of the anger given off by Mayhem. Meanwhile, our symbiotic psychopath catches up with the armored truck and rips the door off. Back with Spidey and Stark we see two new heroes, also in power suits by the names of Royal Blue and Firebrick as they subdue the mob and Spidey and Iron Man. They then attack Mayhem, and kill him with one blast through the back as well as a woman who tried to stop the blast from hitting him. The issue ends soon after with us finding out who was in the truck as well as our first view at Carnage. This comic was a great way to start off, it was solid, raised a lot of questions and had beautiful artwork. Probably the best Spider-Man and Iron Man I've ever seen drawn. The bad news is this comic will only drop ever two months, but it'll keep me waiting. I'll give this first issue an 8/10.

Spider-Man: The crowd's not thinking straight, Tony... push them back but be gentle.
Iron Man: Got it. Recalibrating repulsors for minimal trauma.
Spider-Man: Oh yeah, yeah... I'm recalibrating my web-shooters for, uh...minimal...

The Road Home - Oracle

And here we are, on our second to last stop on Bruce Wayne's road home. We start off with more of Bruce's casebook and he mentions there are some people he didn't worry about while he was away, because he knew they could push past the grief and adversity and keep fighting the good fight, and Barbara Gordon is one of those people. We see Oracle finding out that the Seven Men of Death, Ra's Al Ghul's personal hit squad, are in town so she figures Ra's has the hit on Vicki Vale. Man, Vale is bigger in this series than Bruce it seems. Babs gives this information to The Insider by hacking his frequency that he claims no one should have been able to hack. He lets Oracle know that he's currently with Vale, and he then has to yell at Vale for her to realize how much trouble she's caused due to her trying to find out everyone's secrets. When Oracle asks if Insider is alright, he replies that's he needs a little help, then asks which of her Birds of Prey are near. She tells him a few and asks if he has any requests, and he replies that he trusts her. Oracle looks over her files to see who to send, and she remarks that she thinks The Insider is Bruce but she can't prove it. We see a great flashback scene with Bruce first coming to see Babs in the hospital after she lost the use of her legs. We see how much it pushed her to not just give up and to keep going, prompting her to become Oracle. We then see in present day that Oracle's called in Hawk, Dove and Batgirl. I was definitely glad to see Batgirl get some love, she's quickly become one of my favorite comic characters. Oracle does some hacking to lead the Seven men to her traps, where shre springs teams of three on them consisting of Ragman (he has a phone?!), Manbat and Manhunter, and Batgirl, Hawk and Dove. Meanwhile, Vicki narrowly escapes an explosion thanks to The Insider, but when he can't get up after the blast he tells her to run. Bruce eventually finds out Ra's plan, and Oracle tells Bruce she knows it's him due to his mannerisms and being around him long enough. Oracle wonders is Batman and Robin know but Bruce says he needs to finish what he's doing first and find Vicki. This was another great issue, that set up the final issue with Ra's. I'm wondering what will happen from here and how Vale will be handled but I loved seeing how Bruce helped fuel Babs to become Oracle. I'll give this great issue a 9/10, another great issue in this Road Home series.

Babs: You can't fix this, Bruce. You can't give me my legs back.


The Road Home - Ra's Al Ghul

We start the final Road Home issue with Bruce summing everything up in his casebook, saying how Ra's wants Vicki out of the way because he wants to be the only one to ruin everything Bruce has built. We then see Ra's Al Ghul, ashe talks about how he's forgotten the detective's name, I guess that's the first sign of old age, eh Ra's? Back with Vicki, we see her about to be killed by one of Ra's men, but The Insider shows up at just the right time thanks to the JLA transporter in his suit. Vicki runs away and finds the police while The Insider fights off her attacker, but they pull their guns on her, obviously working for Ra's. They fire shots but miss because their apparently near-sighted (really?!) and Vicki escapes. When The Insider catches up with the rogue cops he uses his Wonder Woman like lasso to find out that there's an open hit on Vicki, to which he of course realizes is courtesy of Ra's. The cat and mouse game continues with Vicki trying to run but continually being led in one direction like Ra's has planned with the Insider trying to catch up in time to save her. When Vicki decides she's tired of running she goes back to her apartment to trash her findings so her secrets die with her, but Ra's is already there waiting. The Insider finally finds out where Vicki is and heads there but his suit is on zero reserve battery power. The Insider finally arrives between Vale and Al Ghul, as Ra's welcomes him back. He comments in his casebook that seeing her work laid out it makes his secrets seem obvious, and he regrets that he's had such a fear of living life all this time, before unmasking in front of Vicki. The issue ends soon after with Vale making a major choice, and we finally end the Road Home series. This was a fine issue, the ending with Ra's was pretty anti-climactic though, but other than that this was another fine issue in a series of issues, I'll give it a 7.5/10.

Bruce Wayne: She doesn't deserve to die, Ra's, just because she did her job... and my job prevented me from being honest with her.


Kick-Ass 2 #1

We start off this first issue in the second chapter of Kick-Ass with our heroes, Hit-Girl and Kick-Ass training in a boxing ring, which seems more like Kick-Ass getting his ass kicked by the young heroine. Kick-Ass wants to call it a day but after a little confidence boost in the form of verbal abuse from Hit-Girl, he guts it out. We then cut over to Mindy McCready's (Hit-Girl) new home, and when asked about school she spouts off a bunch of believable stuff, until her new guardian, Marcus, tells he he knows that she's been with Kick-Ass training and trying to assemble a new team of heroes. She denies but when they go up to her room and she sees all the weapons of hers that Marcus has found, she admits that he's right. He asks her to give up the weapons and masks and she promises. We then see a flashback from when Mindy went home and how her being Hit-Girl is a secret between her and Marcus, since her mother wouldn't be able to handle it. We then see that Kick-Ass' house was blown up and his father is brain-damaged all due to his secret identity being discovered, but that's yet to happen yet, so we fast forward back. Dave (Kick-Ass)'s dad had just broken up with the woman from the last book, so he and Dave were back to eating Chili seven-days a week since that's all Dave's dad knows how to cook. Dave was also still very lonely and crushing on his own personal Lois Lane, Katie Deauxma. Later on we see Kick-Ass hit the streets with a new ally by the name of Doctor Gravity, who gave me a hilarious laugh at the expense of Kick-Ass. Doc Gravity tells Kick-Ass that a few guys on his facebook are talking about making a Justice League of sorts, and Kick-Ass jumps at the opportunity. He and Doc Gravity are then with with a sneak attack by two angry thugs, but Kick-Ass handled both thugs, proving he's learned a lot since he started out. When he goes to meet with his Super Friends, he texts Hit-Girl about joining him but she declines, due to the promise she made Marcus. The issue ends soon after with Kick-Ass coming face to face with his future team of allies? This was a great comic, the ending was great, and I really enjoyed it. I'm wondering how Hit-Girl will get back in the game and all the questions about what's going to happen with Kick-Ass, Red Mist and this new team. I'm also glad they added Marcus to the comic since in the movie he became Hit-Girl's legal guardian. This was a great way to continue a great story, I'll give Kick-Ass 2 a 10/10.

Hit-Girl: My dad would have had you doing a hundred push-ups for all this whining.
Kick-Ass: Not if he'd cracked my goddamn ribs, man. I feel like Rihanna after a quiet night in.

Well that's all for me this week gang, as always I thank you for reading my ratings and rantings, and feel free to comment with questions, disagreements or just tell me how awesome I am. The answer is very by the way, so until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off.


Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Brightest Day #13, Red Hood: Lost Days #6, Batman & Robin #16, and Amazing Spider-Man #647.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Top Five 5

Hey everyone, once again welcome to the Top Five 5's! My favorite, and only bi-weekly feature here at JTCS. So, of course we're gonna do things just like always, I'm going to list each category along with each person's picks. So let's get into it. And just to remind everyone, here's the color guideline:

Jason Todd
Marc 
Kello
Paul C.
X-Man
Falisha


Top Five Funniest Characters

Booster Gold
Batgirl (Steph Brown)
Dick Grayson
The Joker (duh)
Deadpool

Deadpool
Spider-Man
Dick Grayson
Kyle Rayner
Human Torch

Skeets
Rocket Red
Harley Quinn
Plastic Man
Empowered

Spider-Man
Alfred Pennyworth (some great affecionate put downs towards Bruce over the years)
J. Jonah Jameson
Howard the Duck
Stone Boy (I love telling people who aren't into comics about this guy)
Can I give an honorable mention to Bizarro Arsenal who appears in the background of one panel in last week's Supergirl? Funny stuff!
(I'll allow it Paul!)

Plastic Man
Joker
The Thing
The new Rocket Red
J.Jonah Jameson

Spider-Man
Howard the Duck
Spider-Ham
Squirrel Girl
Deadpool

Top Five Memorable Deaths

Ted Kord
Lian Harper (Because it was Terrible)
Jason Todd
Superman
Max Lord

Captain Marvel: Mar-Vell(I LITERALLY cried after reading that graphic novel! Like a baby!)
Magneto and Jean Grey in New X-Men #150(two for the price of 1!)
Superman(yeah it didn't last, but it was pretty cool)
Harry Osborn(he went out like a hero in the end)
Illyana Rasputin(that was another real tear-jerker!)

Sue Dibny ( I cry every time)
Jason Todd
Wonder Woman
Bruce Wayne
Max Lord (Lol, classic)


Vibe (choked to death by an android, alone in an alley, undignified and horrifying, but great.)
Ted Kord (Really horrible way to go, but despite being on his knees and in chains, Ted met his demise like a true hero.)
Hal Jordan (Reigniting the sun while reciting the Green Lantern Oath.  That is a damn cool way to go! Glad he's back though.)
Jor-El, Lara and the people of Krypton (Most iconic death ever!)
Jason Todd (glad he's back, loved Under the Hood, but Death in The Family is one of my favourite Batman stories)

3/4 of the cast of Kingdom Come (KC #4)
Captain America (Cap #25. I’ll count it as a death)
Gwen Stacy (ASM #121)
Stilt Man (Punisher War Journal #1)
Barry Allen (Crisis #8)

Kraven the Hunter
Xorn/Magneto
Gwen Stacy
Colossus
Aunt May (in ASM 400)

Top Five Hottest Characters

Huntress
Power Girl
Black Canary
Harley Quinn
Black Cat

Fire
Firestar
Human Torch
Pyro
Phoenix
Heh Heh see what I did there? :P (Why yes I do Naga....I mean X.)

Power Girl (Oh yeah!)
Wonder Woman
Bruce Wayne
Spider Woman
Dick Grayson

 
She-Hulk
Power Girl
Big Barda
Wonder Woman
Tigra (is that weird?) (Not at all, haha.)


Donna Troy
Jade
Black Widow
Red Sonja
Oracle

Mary Jane Watson
Kitty Pryde (post-teenage years, obviously!)
Black Cat
Spider-Woman
Red Sonja
Top Five Animal Inspired Characters

Spider-Man
Black Canary
Batman
Wolverine
Robin

Batman
Spider-Man
Black Widow
Black Canary
Killer Croc

Black Cat
Spiderman
Black Widow
Robin (Dick Grayson)
Catwoman


(I've not included birds, fish and insects here, otherwise Penguin, Aquaman, Spidey and Blue Beetle would be making an appearance)
Animal Man
B'wana Beast (does he count? I love that guy!) (I also like B'wana Beast, we need more of him!)
Batman
Timber Wolf
Wildcat


Spider-Man
Animal Man…too obvious?
Falcon (who I never realized is a lot like the old SNL character the Falconer!)
Tigra
Gorilla Grodd

Spider-Man
Batman
Dr. Octopus
Black Panther
Animal Man
Top Five characters that would make the most dysfunctional team ever

Deadpool
Deathstroke
Lex Luthor
Sinestro
Magneto

Batman
Deadpool
Daken
Mad Mod
Killer Frost

As of late, the reviews for a certain comic sums up my top five characters who would make the most dysfunctional team ever, Teen Titans. Just these characters though. Lol.
Beast Boy
Wonder Girl
Cyborg
Raven
Starfire
 
Aquaman
Namor
Brainiac 5
Hawkman
Orion
(They could call the team 'THE ARROGANT B*STARDS!')

Punisher
Saint Walker
Bullseye
Loki (team leader)
Connor Hawke

Batman
Carnage
Deadpool
Apocalypse
Stilt-Man

Category Winners

Funniest Character: Spider-Man & Deadpool
Most Memorable Death: Jason Todd
Hottest Character: Power Girl
Top Animal Inspired Character: Spider-Man
Most Dysfunctional Teammate: Deadpool

We've got some pretty interesting results this week everyone, I can't say I'm shocked that Spidey and Deadpool tied for funniest character considering their fun characters, especially when they team up. Jason's death did surprise me though as being one of the most memorable, I expected Superman to run with that for some reason. Power Girl and her trust boob-window thanks everyone for her votes and vows to be more busty and kick-ass in the future. Spider-Man won another category as the most animal inspired hero, I personally thought Batman would win. And lastly, Deadpool is the most dysfunctional teammate, which I think would be a compliment to the Crimson Comedian. Once again I wanna thank everyone for sending in picks and making this another great Top Five 5. Don't forget to vote on the new weekly poll as well, and until next time, I'm JT, signing off.
 
Last week's poll question asked "Which of these fight's would you like to see the most?"
Third Place with 10% - Deadpool vs. Captain America, which we saw this week actually.
Second Place with 20% - Tie between Batman vs. Deathstroke and Ironman vs. Lex Luthor
Winner with 50% - Daken vs. Deadpool, get on it Marvel!!!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, it's that time of the week again for the best weekly dose of comic content comics! This week we've got another big haul of comics, a little horror with the DCU Halloween Special and more Bruce Wayne - The Road Home issues. The bad news is I didn't pick up Kick-Ass 2 #1 and Carnage #1 because.... well... I forgot, Lol. But I'll add them to next week's R&R so we can have them accounted for. Also, I wanna announce the line of the week. I already have the line of the issue in light blue below each comic, but now each week I'll have the best line of the week in blue. Besides that we're all ready to go, so we're gonna jump right into this weeks Ratings and Rantings!


Brightest Day #12

This issue of the bi-weekly Russian roulette of comics known as Brightest Day kicks things off with Martian Manhunter on his home planet of Mars. He confronts the other Green Martian that's been killing people, and she's waiting on J'onn with a candlelit dinner, wine and some oreos. Are you kidding me? Two pages in and this is what I'm typing?! Anyway, They talk about boring crap like how J'onn hates her but loves her cause she's Martian or something then they fight. She basically says she's been on earth all these years but got so used to being a human that she pretty much forgot she was Martian until J'onn came back or something that sounded just as dumb as it does when i describe it. So they continue to fight and the female Martian keeps trying to merge with J'onn but he fights her off, then the JLA show up (Superman, Batman, Classic Wonder Woman, Guy Gardner for some reason...) They beat him up and imprison him in a Green Lantern made tomb, and of course it's clearly not the real heroes. Anyway, we jump over to the returned Black Lanterns, and Firestorm flying after them. Jason sings Ronnie's praises while trying to hype him up as they charge after the Black Lanterns. Suddenly a voice similar to the White Lantern voice tells Deathstorm and the rest of the Black Lanterns to bring him the White Lantern, then they just teleport away. Yeah, because that's one of the MANY powers Black Lanterns have, even though it was never mentioned for the NINE months we read about them. They're so stupid they can't even SEE you if you hide your emotions, yet they possess the amazing ability to all teleport at will, twelve at a time. We get a quick jump over to Dove, and she's helping Deadman a.k.a. Boston Brand figure out who the new Champion of Earth will be as asked by the White Lantern. Back with J'onn he figures out that the JLA isn't real, because he has a brain. He then gets mad and starts "Donkey Kong'ing" the female villain. (By the way, to Donkey Kong means to repeatedly hit on the top of the head, and/or bash into the ground.) He then says "Live!" three times like Beetlejuice and it causes all the plants and Martians on the entire planet to come back to life.... Okay, What the ****? REALLY?! Anyway, the comic throws us a quick curveball and the issue ends soon after. If not for that curveball I'd give this comic a zero outta the sheer stupidity of it, but I'll be nice and give it the amazing 1/10 it deserves. Keep up the "good" work DC!

Me: Why am I still reading this crap?


Power Girl #17

This issue of Power Girl features a team-up between our Busty Blonde Bombshell and The Caped Crusader himself. We start off with Peej and Batman raiding a warehouse full of goons that look like low-rent Storm Troopers. We also get to see how Power Girl thinks of Dick Grayson as Batman, and how she loves Bruce but Grayson made the transition so smoothly and looks like he's having fun as Batman, even while hiding it with a scowl on his face. A funny moment happens where PG asks a guard for info and he pretty much curses her out and blasts her in the face, but since Power Girl is almost invulnerable she just thumps his helmet off and stares him in the face waiting for an answer. When Power Girl and Batman find the head honcho in charge, they make quick work of him and get the info they need. Before Power Girl can head to Antarctica where the tip led her, Batman advises her to be careful. When PG asks when she's not careful, Batman whispers asking her if she wants a list, which she of course overhears. I like that Judd threw that in because it's a nice way of letting Dick Grayson shine through the way we know him, even when he is Batman. From there we see Power Girl searching around Antarctica with her X-Ray vision trying to find the place that her lead from earlier mentioned. She's suddenly knocked out of the sky but something very fast and very strong. Power Girl tries to take on the guy while she has Nicco scan him for weaknesses but he's too evenly matched with her. With some information from Nicco, PG soon discovers that the mysterious attacker isn't human, and can make himself bigger at will. As the fight goes on we get caught up with the glimpses of this fight we saw in issue #16. Nicco finally gets some interesting information to Power Girl by noting the villain has Kryptonian cells. The issue ends with a hell of a cliffhanger that left me wanting to see how it goes from here. This was a nice solid issue, it flew by really quick and that's how I know I enjoyed it. Nothing amazing or mind-blowing happened (besides the reveal) but everything else was well-written and enjoyable. I'd give this issue an 8.5/10.

Power Girl: Dude. Get a grip. I just tore open the four-ton door to your safe room with my hands. And Batman is standing next to me. Of course you're scared.


Batman Beyond #5

Before I start this review I just wanna congratulate the writer Adam Beechen and his talented art staff as well since it was recently announced that Batman Beyond would become an ongoing series starting in January. Great work guys and gals. Anyway, the issue starts with the Cadmus Labs employee trying to reach Commissioner Barbara Gordon with information on the new Hush, but she's interrupted by a Cadmus Security Agent who tries to return her back to Amanda Waller. We see Batman laid out and almost dead as the recently revealed Hush walks away. Catwoman shows up soon after, and when Bruce links himself with her costume through an override program. He convinces her to help Batman, and when she unmasks we find out she's related to Danton Black a.k.a Multiplex, which explains her being able to multiply herself. As Bruce helps talk Catwoman through helping Batman he's attacked by his big Batman Robots. Back with the Cadmus employee, she's finally caught by the security guards but is saved by a shadowed figure, who we soon find out to be Dick Grayson. When she see's Dick Grayson she passes out as he catches her. Back in the Batcave one of the Bat-Robots pins Bruce down, until Hush re-routes them and has the Robots fly to him. Back on the streets Batman regains consciousness and thanks Catwoman for helping him, but it doesn't take long for Bruce to chime in and tells Terry to return to the Batcave. Batman warns Catwoman to stay in for the next few nights and be safe because this isn't her fight. We jump over to Commissioner Gordon and the Cadmus Lab employee, and we find out her name is Nora Elliot Reid and she's the granddaughter of Thomas "Hush" Elliot. We find out that the current Hush is not Dick Grayson but actually a clone made of Grayson's memories by Amanda Waller under her quest to make sure Gotham always has a Batman. I thought this twist was genius by the way, and it made sense in the context of the story. Next we jump back to the Batcave and see Terry arrive just in time for Bruce to patch him up and save his life. But the issue ends after a shocking message from Hush that he may try to replicate the events of No Man's Land. I thought this was another great issue, I loved the explanation of the Dick Grayson stuff because when we saw his alibi it made sense, so this was a great way to explain everything. I can't wait to see how the six and final issue of this mini ends things. I'll give this issue a solid 8/10.

Babs: Dick... Are you okay?
Dick: I haven't been okay since I was about eight years old, Babs, you know that.


The Road Home - Catwoman

The Catwoman-centric issue of Road Home kicks things off with a look inside of Bruce's White Casebook. He says that Selina has been his beacon of getting home through time, and the person he's wanted to come back to the most. Now he has to see if she has changed in his absence and how she'll fit into the new plans he has for his crime-fighting agenda. Next we see Selina Kyle and Pamela Isley at a fancy party at Club V (for Villain) to keep an eye on Vicki Vale. Just for the record, Peter Nguyen did a great job in showcasing both women, they look amazing in terms of drawn women. While following Vicki Vale, Selina and Pamela stumble onto a criminal auction, and one of the items for bid is a rare Pink Mynx, which prompts a flashback for Catwoman. We see her crash a fancy event and steal the Mynx, but too bad for her, Bruce Wayne was there. He quickly follows after her as Batman and demands she returns the Pink Mynx. Batman and Catwoman fight on top of a blimp, and the fight causes her bag to rip and the Mynx to fall into the water below. When Batman helps her up and tries to comfort her while cuffing Catwoman, she sucker punches him and runs off yelling "Next time I'll steal your heart!" Selina's memory is cut short when an uninvited Harley Quinn, full in costume, storms into the club. Harley's upset because her Hyena's are up for sale, so she pulls a sword out and starts "Slashing prices" and freeing all the animals. When Harley is about to be overwhelmed she gets a little help from Ivy, meanwhile Selina notices that Vale has left the room with all of the commotion going on. Selina contemplates stealing the Pink Mynx since no one would notice, but sticks to her priorities and follows after Vicki Vale. We then jump over to Vicki who says her informant never showed up, but she's not giving up on the case. She then gets a call from the informant who tells her to met them at a diner in twenty minutes, she says she'll be there in ten. When she leaves her apartment Catwoman enters in it soon after. Selina takes pictures of the "Batman Family Tree" that Vicki has on the wall, and moves back a big curtain next to it and finds that Vicki has an even bigger wall of secrets with pictures of Hush, Joker, the Sirens and more Batman villains. Vicki soon returns but Catwoman is gone by the time she arrives. Catwoman is then sitting on the roof when she says "Stealth means invisible. Apparently it doesn't always mean silent." The Mystery Man a.k.a. The Insider appears and Selina looks him over before giving him the information she acquired. They talk about how Vicki is dangerously close to getting in trouble herself by finding out who all these villains are, and when Bruce says a certain thing Catwoman realizes that The Insider may be Bruce. The issue ends soon after, and the Road Home continues to be full of nice solid stories. This one was just as good as some of the others, not as good as Batgirl, but a perfectly acceptable comic that showed us another side to the enigma that is Selina Kyle. I'll give this issue a 8.5/10.

Catwoman: A bit too... Robotic for my taste. The people who meet me on rooftops generally wear capes.


The Road Home - Commissioner Gordon

Like the other Road Home issues, we start off with an excerpt from Bruce's White Casebook. He talks about how he worried about Jim Gordon in his absence, and he can't be Batman the way he is without Jim Gordon by his side. From there we see Jim Gordon, a fellow officer and Vicki Vale are in some type of dangerous situation. Gordon commands the team and tells the Officer and Vale to head for the stairs while they cover him. Gordon continues to lead the officer and Vicki away from the people that are shooting after them. We then go back a few hours and see Oracle as The Insider shows up next to her, she doesn't ask him questions, and he tells her to find out who leaked the information that Vale has (as we saw in Road Home - Catwoman) and to let him know where Vale is when she finds out. Oracle agrees as The Insider leaves, but we see from his remarks in the casebook that he thinks just from that meeting that Oracle knows he's Bruce Wayne. Next we see a very gritty looking Penguin, thanks to the grimy and dark artwork he actually looks intimidating, as he decides to give to would-be villains, Charger and Roundhouse a shot at going after Vicki Vale. As Gordon arrives at a protective custody place, to help watch Vicki Vale, she plans to try to extract information about Batman from Commissioner Gordon. Gordon quickly shuts her down by saying that a hundred dangerous villains are looking for Vale all because of her digging into Batman's secrets. Vale tries to punk out Gordon by reciting stats and saying that Batman does all his work, but Jim Gordon disputes them all with ease like the professional he is. Gordon talks about how the GCPD choose to work with Batman instead of make life hard for him because the millions of lives he's saved outweighs his vigilantism. The lights soon go out and Gordon discovers that a seventeen year veteran by the name of Korsch has betrayed them when he pulls a gun out on Gordon. Gordon stays calm and waits for a diversion before shooting him (?), it's hard to tell since the art is so dark and gritty. We then appear to be caught up with our open. We see The Insider get a tip about something fishy over at the Aames Hotel, where Vicki and Gordon are. He arrives there just in time to help his dear old friend Jim Gordon. Soon after we see Vicki Vale apologize to Jim Gordon for treating him like an old, worthless dinosaur. She thanks The Insider as well, and when Jim says something to him he turns around and notices he's gone, and I'm sure Jim picked up on that subtle hint. Oracle then tells The Insider that the news of Vale's findings was leaked by a representative of Ra's Al Ghul, setting up our next One-Shot. This was a fine story, nothing great but solid. It didn't capture me as much as the others and I feel like that dropped it's rating in my eyes, but it was a solid story, I'll give it a 6.5/10.

Vicki Vale: I didn't get your name.
The Insider: That's because you're a reporter and I know better.

Green Lantern Corps #53

With the scourge of Cyborg-Superman out of the way, what will the Green Lantern Corp have to deal with next? Let's find out, shall we? We see many years ago on the Planet Qward, the Weaponer making a small object out of fear while using his Blacksmith's tools. We soon find out that what he made was the first ever yellow power ring for Sinestro. We find out that Sinestro has a deal with the Qwardians, one we can only assume he hasn't repaid yet. We then fast forward to see Sinestro's daughter, Green Lantern Soranik Natu. Kyle is calling Soranik but she appears to have her hands full with some intergalactic poachers. Turns out Kyle was waiting for Soranik on her home planet of Korugar and he ended up having to save lives, because a heros (oh yeah!) work is never done. The crowd cheers as Kyle saves them, meanwhile the Sinestro Corps members just watch, since the truce with Sinestro means they can't attack Green Lanterns but they don't have to help them either. Soranik tells Kyle she'll be there soon and that he shouldn't start a fight until she gets there. Kyle can't help himself and provokes one of the Yellow-clad ring bearers, he makes one angry enough to fight but the other two members leave because Sinestro would skin alive anyone who breaks his truce. Kyle scares the hell out of the remaining guy by listing his accomplishments (see below), but suddenly the Sinestro Corps Member is smashed by a huge hammer and instantly killed. The wielder is the Qwardian from before, he attacks Kyle, asking where the real Green Lantern, but Kyle fights back and makes an awesome suit out of his ring that would make Lex Luthor cry like a child. As they fight, the Qwardian says he derailed the train kyle saved to lure out the Lantern of Korugar. When Kyle asks how he plans to use his hammer to fight a power ring, the Quardian uses his shield to scan and reconfigure his hammer into an amazing white weapon that I can't even describe. He uses the weapon and it shatters Kyle suit in an instant, then comments that he was forging power rings while Kyle was still in diapers. He comments that he can see every weakness and imperfection in something then configure his weapon into something that can destroy it. Well, that's just plain unfair is what that is. He introduces himself as The Weaponer (laaaame) and Soranik arrives to help Kyle. The Weaponer is glad to see her, and calls her the daughter of Sinestro, which surprises her since hardly anyone knows that. She tries to rush him but he causes a bunch of white insects to appear and one stings her and causes paralysis. The Weaponer takes down Kyle and says if he wants her back safely then to tell Sinestro he has his daughter, and he wants him to come to Qward and die on his knees for everything he's done to The Weaponer and and his world. We then see Sinestro standing over some kids on Halloween as he just watches them. Kyle quickly flies in and explains what happened to Sinestro. The issue ends soon after but not the way you'd expect. I know GLC is a solid story but I feel like I have to make myself read it, but I jumped into this issue and never looked back. The story was great, the mystery, the confrontation with Kyle and Sinestro and the always beautiful artwork, it's probably the best drawn comic today in my opinion. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating and recommend it to anyone that wants to jump into a great story.

Kyle Rayner: You're talking to a guy who went toe-to-toe with your Master... who beat Parallax... who mopped the floor with everyone from Mongul to Oblivion.

Deadpool #28

This cover explains all there is to the comedy of Deadpool, and my child-like sense of humor. Anywho, this issue starts with the New Avengers, Steve Rogers, Black Widow and Moon Knight on a stake out of a place that's suspected to be harboring a bomb. While they talk it over they realize Deadpool is missing, and suddenly a huge explosion takes place before walking up stating he "bombed their asses!" Moon Knight gets upset because they are supposed to confiscate the bombs, when DP asks why Steve responds by saying "For blowing up terrorists!" to which Deadpool replies that he just did that. One point for Deadpool, zero for America. Steve gets frustrated and walks away, calling someone and saying that he can't handle Deadpool. They talk him down and he goes over to Deadpool and tells him he doesn't like him. Deadpool jokes around more and Steve tells the team to move out, and tells Deadpool the next time he disobeys orders he'll be off the team. When Deadpool asks "What, the volleyball team?", he's promptly punched in the face and knocked out by Steve Rogers. When he awakens later he argues with himself about blowing his chance to be a hero like he's claimed he's wanted over the past few months. We then see that Deadpool is being watched over by the evil, meticulous fiend known as Doctor Bong! Dun Dun dunnn!!! We also find out that the "New Avengers" are just clones, as I assumed they weren't real. Next up we see Steve, Moon Knight and Black Widow (the real ones?) staking out a building and getting a game plan ready to go check it out. We then see Steve in a building walking around and Deadpool runs up to him to apologize but instead gets a swift beating from the former Captain America. In the midst of the beat-down an alarm goes off. We see the Doc Bong with the clones of Moon Knight and Black Widow watching Deadpoon and the real Steve Rogers through a security camera. We then see the clone Steve run up to the roof for some reason but he's picked off by Black Widow with a sniper. As Doc Bong and his clones realized their trapped he tells the clones that he was the psychiatrist of Deadpool, and if there's one thing Deadpool hates more than himself it's his friends. Meanwhile, the real Steve is beating the hell out of Deadpool, and he finally gets angry enough to fight back. Deadpool takes it to the Super Soldier while saying he believed Steve really wanted to be his friend but in the end he wants to use Deadpool like everyone else. Deadpool continues to work Steve over, saying how he would have let him use him because he thought they were friends, but Steve turned on him because Deadpool is so much better at crime-fighting than he is. That was a mistake because that lit a fire under Steve. The two brutally beat each other senseless until Moon Knight tries to join the fight, prompting Steve to stop the fight and try to talk to Deadpool, but the talking is soon cut short by the villainous Doctor Bong! I really enjoyed this issue, it was fun and we got to see Deadpool joke, but also his more sensitive side. The fact Deadpool can come off more human than Steve Rogers sometimes is interesting, because Deadpool is that guy that doesn't fit in and can't really find a friend he can trust, so I think we can resonate with him. Anyway, this was a really fun and interesting issue, I'll give it a 9/10.

Deadpool: I used to really look up to you, man. When you asked me to join your team... I couldn't believe it. Almost. Shoulda known you didn't really wanna be my pal.... you're just like the rest of 'em. Out to use me.


DCU Halloween Special 2010

Instead of going through every comic I'll just mention the story titles, what happened and how I felt about them. The first story is called "Trick for The Scarecrow", and it's a fun little story I enjoyed about a bunch of kids dressed as Batman who somehow capture Scarecrow and douse him with his own fear agent, making him think there are four Batmen! (including Brave and The Bold Batman and the Christian Bale Batman.) The next story is called "Robin the Vampire Slayer", which pretty much tackled the subject of Batman and Robin killing vampires to help Andrew Bennett. This story was okay, I didn't mind it but I didn't love it either. The next story features The Flash and Frankenstein and is called "Time of your life." Yes, it's as dumb as it sounds, basically Frankenstein is in love with Iris and wants her but Barry has to save her, it turns out he's her friend because she's some type of vampire....Anyway, moving on. The next story is a surprising pairing of Wonder Woman and Deadman (still dead) in "A Night to Remember." This story is about Felix Faust with the help of Cheetah trying to bring an powerful, Evil God into the world and Deadman teaming up with Wonder Woman to stop them. This was a pretty good story as well, and ended like you'd expect but it's nice to see Deadman in something other than a crap-shoot like Brightest Day. Our next story features Klarion, the Witchboy (Throwback!!!!) and the Teen Titans in "Medusa Non Grata." This story sadly wasn't all that great, the best part was Miss Martian changing costumes in every panel when this story starts off. The next story on our list features Superman and Etrigan and it's called "Fears of Steel", this was a great short story where we see Superman's fears, not unlike when he had Starro on him, except we see him being betrayed by Batman and accidentally crushing a very old Lois Lane but he's helped conquer those fears by Etrigan. That's it sadly, no big story to arc all the short stories together, just a bunch of short stories. This was fine but nothing amazing or worth going out of your way to get, I'd give it a 5.5/10.

Batman: Splendid detective work, Caped Crusaders. I'll take it from here.

Well that's all for me this time, but I'll be back this week with another edition of the Top Five 5! As always, send me your top five choices for each of the five categories at KevinKavalier@gmail.com and the Top Five 5 will be posted this Sunday, as well as a new weekly poll and the results from last week's since I forgot to update it. Also, a special shout out to Kello, as he submitted all five of this week's topics. The topics are below, and I'd recommend sending me your picks as soon as possible so you don't forget. Well that's all for me, until next time I'm your Friendly Neighborhood Blogger-Man Jason Todd, signing off.

Top Five Funniest Characters
Top Five Memorable Deaths
Top Five Hottest Characters
Top Five animal inspired characters (ex: Black panther)
Top Five characters that would make the most dysfunctional team ever

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #894, Bruce Wayne - The Road Home Oracle and Ra's Al Ghul, Green Arrow #5, Justice League: Generation Lost #12, Carnage #1, Kick Ass 2 #1 and Teen Titans #88 (Maybe, haven't decided yet.)

Friday, October 15, 2010

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, it's that time of the week again for the best weekly dose of comic content comics! We've still got a lot of comics but because my shop didn't have Daken or Booster Gold (what the hell guys?!) I swapped it out for Superman #703. But we've still got a huge week ahead of us, with a little more Shadowland, another taste of Generation Lost, and of course we see how Bruce Wayne deals with the changes during his absence in The Road Home one-shots. So with so much on our plate for today, I guess we should just jump right in and kick things off with Shadowland.


Shadowland #4

This issue of Shadowland starts off with Elektra attacking some of Daredevil's Hand minions after finding a secret passageway that only Daredevil and the minions know about. The art looks amazing by the way, I don't recall if I mentioned it but Elektra especially looks life-like and beautifully drawn. Our Lady in Red quickly disposes of the minions before opening the secret passageway letting in our heroes, including Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Punisher and Wolverine for some reason, who looks about three feet tall. Wolverine says he has business with The Hand and wants to put Matt out of his misery, but Luke and Danny are hesitant because Matt is still their friend somewhere in there. From there we have a quick check in with Lady Bullseye and Kingpin, whose talking very cryptically about the old and new, and how things are about to change. Back with our heroes, they work out a plan to strike, and Elektra tells them that Matt also has White Tiger, Typhoid Mary, and to their surprise he hopes to resurrect Bullseye. The heros, oops make that Heroes (Inside jokes, haha.) quickly come to the realization that they may have to kill Daredevil or else risk dying themselves. Next we see a beautifully drawn page where Bullseye is about to be resurrected, and we see Elektra's sai protrude through the front of his mask panel by panel. Daredevil instantly erupts with anger and sends his guard after Elektra, Cage and the rest of the heroes but quickly realizes their a distraction for Punisher who uses a stun grenade on Daredevil. While Daredevil wonders why they uses a stun grenade, he quickly finds out when he's impaled in the chest by all six of Wolverine's claws. Wolverine is shocked Dardevil pulls his claws out of him and throws the Canucklehead across the room into a giant pillar. Punisher tries to shoot at Daredevil but can't hit the Man Without Fear, and his gun is soon blown up by Typhoid Mary. She doesn't have time to celebrate though because Spider-Man webs her up and subdues her. From there Spidey and Daredevil clash, but thanks to his Spider Sense, Spidey is able to subdue Daredevil long enough for his fellow heroes to hold him down while Elektra tries to reason with him. The issue ends soon after, and continues to keep me reading and wondering what will happen next. This was the second to last issue of Shadowland and I'm still enjoying it. Shadowland has been great so far, and I can only imagine how the story will end. As for this issue, it was great but things feel a little rushed, It's like Elektra just turned sides so quickly, it seemed kinda pointless to have her join DD so late, at least if she joined in the first issue it'd seem like she tried to gain his loyalty. But for what it was, this issue was great, I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Elektra: If it was as simple as that, I would have cut his throat the moment he took me into his trust.

Green Lantern #58

This month's issue of the longest running current DC Series about a Green wearing Superhero kicks off at a Montana State Prison. We quickly find out a giant red bull apparently attacked the prison, as if it was looking for someone. The workers say that they cleared out the prisoners but can't put out the fire, but they soon find out from Atrocitus himself, accompanied with Sinestro, that it's not fire but it's actually Rage. Apparently the Red Lantern entity is scavenging around looking for a host. When Atrocitus senses the Rage surrounding the bus of prisoners, and the Rage towards them from the families of the people they've killed, Atrocitus takes it upon himself to breathe fire on them and incinerate the entire bus of prisoners. From there we see Hal Jordan and Star Sapphire Carol Ferris, as Carol prepares to become Queen of the Star Sapphires. Hal tries to talk her out of it, citing how Parallax destroyed his life, which he has back and is perfectly fine so that's kind of a bad example. Hal causes a construct to push back the entity from Carol, but she scolds him about it. When the entity takes a shine to Carol, he asks if she has a new boyfriend, before she replies that he has a girlfriend and makes a construct of Hal's girlfriend, Cowgirl. (For the record she looks oddly like Marvel's Outlaw.) Carol says she has to help the Star Sapphires, and when Hal asks when she's coming home she replies with the line he used to give her, "When my job is done." From there we go to Livonia, Michigan (Woooo Michigan!!!!), they even named a few streets so it seems more realistic. Kudos to you Geoff Johns, you are a hometown boy. Anyway, we see that a 14-year-old girl named Nicole Morrison is missing, and her book bag was found in a dumpster a week later. We see that she's been kidnapped, and her kidnapper tries to get her to eat, even mentioning he's taken girls before. Nicole tells the man she forgives her, because she was always taught to forgive those who do wrong, she then says she hopes he'll forgive her. She gets free and throws the soup he was trying to feed her in his face before running but he catches her. Before he can do anything, the Blue Lantern Entity tells her all will be well before jumping into her body. We then jump over to Larfleeze, he's sad because he doesn't have his Lantern and he can't make his constructs, as his ring is only at 74%, and he's used to it being much much higher. He's interrupted by Abraham Pointe, the guy who The Predator inhabited in the last issue, he's tied up and Larfleeze appears to be watching him until Hal returns. Abraham tells Larfleeze he saw inside of him when he was The Predator, and knows Larfleeze was taken from his family, and also that Larfleeze isn't his real name, and this of course ticks Larfleeze off. Larfleeze attacks the young man, telling him not to utter or even whisper his name. Hal Jordan soon appears and knocks Larfleeze off of Abraham. Hal and Larfleeze have a really nice short discussion that I can't do justice, but it was very interesting. The two are interrupted by a message from Saint Walker who announces Adara has chosen. Next we jump over to Salaak on Oa, he's curious as to why Hal Jordan hasn't logged any arrests or confrontations since after the Blackest Night ended, and he suspects Hal doesn't want the Guardians to know what he's been up to. From there we see Saint Walker, Larfleeze and Hal Jordan going to see Adara. Hal thinks that her taking the body of a kid is a bad thing, Saint Walker is ecstatic, and Larfleeze just wants his precious Lantern returned. When they confront Adara, she replies her name is Nicole, and that there is an empty feeling in Larfleeze. She fills him with hope by telling him his parents are still alive and they still miss him. Adara/Nicole wants to fill Hal with hope but he says he's all filled up, and he wants her to leave the young woman's body. She replies that she knows Hal is full of hope, but he's afraid to. Before we can find out why, she's interrupted and the issue ends. I won't say who interrupts her but I will say that a certain X-Man75 is NOT gonna like it. As for me, I thought this comic was perfect. We followed Larfleeze, Hal, Carol, Sinestro, Atrocitus and the Blue Lanterns, all in one issue and they all pretty much furthered storylines like a great comic should, I'll give this issue a solid 10/10.

Hal Jordan: Dammit, Larfleeze, You work with me, you don't cross the line.
Larfleeze: Cross the line, Green Lantern? You're working with Me. Sinestro. Atrocitus. And not your Green Lanterns. So who's crossing what line?

The Road Home: Red Robin

The Road Home for those that don't know is supposed to show us how everyone reacts to Bruce Wayne being back, also how Bruce reacts to the changes in his absence. This week I'll be reviewing three of these, and starting off with Tim Drake's, since as you all know he was the only one that believed Bruce was not truly dead. So how will Tim react to his return? How will Bruce react now that Tim is no longer Robin and is now Red Robin? Let's find out now shall we? During the Road Home issues we see words from a white casebook, which are pretty much Bruce's thoughts. He mentions how he has to observe how people have changed in his absence and if they'll work toward or against the new plans and outlook he has after his long return home. Meanwhile, we discover that Red Robin is currently in Amsterdam trying to protect a Mayor from an "assassination tournament." Tim seems to have a plan with an ally, but his plan is thrown for a loop when former member of the League of Assassins and new ally of Tim Drake, Pru a.k.a. Prudence shows up. We see courtesy of the case book that Red Robin was supposed to soften up the super-powered attackers and Bruce would intervene, and he does with a new costume which confuses me and proves I should've read The Road Home: Batman and Robin first. Bruce uses his new super suit that apparently can tap into the speed force and teleport (what?!) to capture the bad guys then disappear. Tim is seemingly confused at Bruce's actions and states he feels like a student again, before taking Prudence somewhere where he and her can talk alone. Pru and Red Robin talk about the assassinations and how more will happen, and she agrees to help him, but also sends a text message to someone telling them she's with Red Robin before leaving with Tim. Next we see Vicki Vale confront Alfred, asking to see Bruce Wayne, and claiming she knew someone was impersonating Bruce. She then laid out all her cards on the table, knowing Bruce is Batman, someone's impersonating Bruce, that Dick was Robin and is now Batman and that Dick placed a Bat-shaped tracer on her bag. She's shocked when Alfred admits she's right and tells her they feared Bruce was dead and couldn't let Batman's legacy die with him. Alfred explains everything, even that Bruce was lost in time, and manages to switch the tracker Vicki had with another one. Once he's done that Alfred says that Vale has no proof and he'll deny everything, she says she'll take the tracker to her tech guy and he tells her she should, meanwhile she's unaware he's switched them. We soon see that the plan was for Bruce to "save" the villains so they welcome him in, which they did, they then send him to try to kill Red Robin. When everyone is in position, Bruce attacks Tim. Bruce says they planned to put on a show but he instead intends to test Tim and himself, and attacks Tim full-on. From there we see how well Tim and Bruce know each other as their able to pretty much read each other's body language to determine what to do to make the fight come off real and not staged. After taking out everyone with the help of Prudence, she tells Red Robin she'll continue to help him and the mystery man. When the Mystery Man asks why she's helping, she replies "Because." before taking off. Back at a hotel room Tim mentions he'll be heading back to Gotham while Bruce will be going to check on the Outsiders. Bruce warns Tim about trusting Prudence but Tim tells him to relax and he trusts her. We then cut over to Pru and see she's still checking in with Ra's, and after describing the Mystery Man, Ra's figured out that it's Bruce, and the "Detective" has returned. This was a fine issue, I expected more stuff between Tim and Bruce talking and less action but this was a nice way for Bruce to check up on Tim, I just wish we had more substance and conversation between Bruce and the guy that believed he wasn't dead when no one else did. I'll give this issue a 7.5/10.

Bruce: So my task with Tim is one I have to work hard for myself as well: never to forget you have allies in this war, that you need those allies and friends... and to try, just a little bit, to enjoy those ties a little more, because their so fragile.

Superman #703
Superman's "Grounded" storyline continues in this issue and I don't know what to think. I loved issue 701 but hated 702, so this will act as the rubber match so to speak. The issue kicks off with Big Blue holding a stalker up in the air and making him promise to never stalk the woman or go back to her job ever again. Superman holds the guy up in the air for over thirty minutes by his ankles until the lesson sinks in. Once he lets the guy down he tells him to keep saying he'll never go back for an hour and he'll know if he stops. That's a great use of your powers Superman, scaring the hell out of stalkers while someone, somewhere is probably drowning. Oh well, call Aquaman right? Anyway, Superman walks away and is confronted by Batman. Bats says something funny so we know it's Dick Grayson right off the bat, no pun intended. Superman says he's aware Batman has been following him due to all of the sonic signatures he's often surrounded by, and Batman says they need to talk so they go somewhere more quiet. Batman tells Superman that he thinks he's having a emotional Breakdown after losing Krypton twice and that he should stop before somebody gets hurt, which causes Superman to reply by saying he expected that after seeing how out of touch Dick and Bruce became over the years. Superman asks how often they talk to an average guy while their hiding in shadows or on rooftops, and Dick replies that their problems are bigger and more dangerous than an average guy. Superman replies that both Dick and Bruce's parents were killed by normal people, and if someone was looking out for the average guy then they could've had a life. Dick replies that it would've been better for them, but not all the people they've saved over the years, which is a great point. The conversation ends with Dick giving what may not just be a Line of The Week but maybe a "Line of the Year", which you can read below. From there, Superman finds out that debris from New Krypton has landed on earth, so he goes to investigate. We see a teacher looking at the artifact that her students brought her, but when she looks through it and looks at Superman she becomes possessed or something for some reason. While Superman looks for the debris, our Teacher hits on some guy at a bar and touches his hand with a glowing white light. The angry redneck bar dweller (best way to describe him.) walks up to Supes, punches him in the face and knocks him across the city. Supes flies back and grabs the man trying to take him into space to knock him unconscious (one of his go-to-moves) but the super-powered Jeff Foxworthy elbows him in the chest. When Superman see's the man flying, he decides not to hold back, and they have a big destructive fight that a man on a Reporter's salary can not afford to fix. Afterward when the invulnerability has worn off of the opponent and he calms down, someone reminds Superman that he just destroyed everything. Superman fixes everything but people who are interviewed are upset because they've lost family heirlooms and photographs and stuff like that. One of the main people upset at Superman is the teacher that somehow was possessed, and we see that Batman is watching the newscast. This issue was interesting, It wasn't perfect but the conversation between Batman and Superman was phenomenal. Definitely loved that, it was some of the best writing for those two I've seen in a while, not counting Winnick's in Superman/Batman #76. Anyway, this issue was fine, nothing amazing besides the Bats/Supes convo though, I'll give it a 7/10.

Batman: The world of suburban streets, and neighborhood diners, and front porches... That isn't our world Superman. Not anymore. We can't live there. Not just because it endangers us, but because it puts them at risk. All of them. The isolation we endure is the price we pay for what we do. We can't go home again. Because when we walk into our world... we walk out of theirs. Forever.


Green Lantern - Emerald Warrior #3

Emerald Warrior kicks off where it ended last month with Guy being all wrapped up by a Red Lantern, so he can't get the Red Lantern Rage purged from his body. When she doesn't back up willingly, Guy, Arisia and Kilowog blast her off of the Emerald Warrior. The three take on the Red Lantern while the elephant Blue Lantern dude just watches. He does note that for some reason the Green Lantern's rings aren't super-charging around him like they should, which I also noticed before he said it. When the three Green Lanterns are getting nowhere the Blue Lantern just grabs the Red Lantern by the throat. When Guy asks him to purge her he replies that it would kill her, but he can strengthen her vocal cords so she can talk since he's just been muttering "G-Guy Gardner B-Blue" and etc. She yells out that Guy shouldn't be cleansed because he'll need the power of Red and Green to fight back. When they ask what they will be fighting, they discover it will be powerful forces gathering in the unknown sector. Man, do these guys ever get to take a break? From there we cut over to the former Ion, Sodam Yat who awakes from his slumber ready to attack Mongul when he realizes he's surrounded by thousands of civilians that have apparently saved him. He soon finds out he's on his home planet of Daxam, and in a church dedicated to him. He discovers that when he fell out of the sun that the inhabitants of Daxam lost their powers, and that people are hunting him to throw him back into the sun so they can get their powers back, and the search is being led by Sodam's Father. From there we see the threat that the Red Lantern spoke of, and how he maintains his powers and some other stuff that bored me. It just came off very forced and mystical and for us to not know much about the characters or their goals It's hard to connect and care. Back with Guy he talks about how someone is trying to take the Corps down from the inside and they've been draining the battery, which explains why the batteries don't skyrocket near a Blue Lantern. After deliberation Guy decides to have the Red Lantern tag along, as well as keep his Red Lantern infection. The gang heads off to Daxam is search of Sodam Yat, and the issue ends soon after. Well this issue was okay but I found myself not caring much. The fight seemed kinda bland, I mean it was three on one. The villains don't really draw me in, and I was hoping Sodam's return would be a little more interesting. Long story short I don't think I can justify buying this comic every month when I buy so many other good comics. Looks like I'll be bidding Emerald Warrior adieu. I'll give this issue a 5/10.

Guy Gardner: If Sodam's not dead and he's the drain... then I'm going to have to kill him.


Justice League Generation Lost #11
This issue of Gen Lost starts with a group of young men ad women fighting some huge robotic centaurs. We soon find out that these are fake thoughts being shot into the Metal Men but Maxwell Lord and Professor Ivo. We then catch up to current times with the JLI being attacked by the Metla Men, obviously as a result of Max Lord. We see that from the Metal Men's perspective that Fire, Ice and Rocket Red look like the bad guys and to each other the Metal Men look like normal humans. When the Metal Men attack the JLI members fight back to defend themselves, and when they try to retreat, our heroes are met with resistance by Ivo. Ivo causes the Metal Men to all unite into one giant robot. On the other end of the world, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Captain Atom and Skeets are trying to check in with Fire, Ice and Red but can't get an answer. When our gang stumbles on a bunch of OMAC parts, which Booster points out is weird because OMAC's take over humans, they don't start as spare pieces. When Booster has Skeets check the place for fingerprints they find that the only prints there are Professor Ivo's, who created the super powerful android known as Amazo. Back with Fire, Ice and Rocket Red, they attack the Metal Man (patent pending) with everything they have but can't put a dent in the big guy. Fire tells Ice to focus on Mercury's part and try to freeze him before taking a HUGE head on punch that smashes her into the ground. Ice takes the offensive and attacks the Metal Man while Rocket Red checks on Fire, who is stunned but pretty much fine. The two go to see Ice to see that something, maybe her rage at the machine for attacking Bea has changed her into something new as the issue ends. This was a great issue, I've never been a fan of the Metal Men but they were used fine here, and humanized which works for them. I'm definitely wondering how they'll explain Ice's transformation in the next issue. But this was a solid, well written issue. I'll give it an 8/10.

Max Lord: ... And I just live to make peopler happy.
Prof. Ivo: They're not actually people.
Max Lord: And they're not actually happy. So no need to split hairs.


The Road Home: Batgirl

This issue of Road Home follows the current Batgirl and former Spoiler as well as the fourth Robin, Stephanie Brown. We start off with a quick look into the past with Batman and Robin confronting Spoiler, and Batman telling her to go home, an order she disobeys. We see from Bruce Wayne's notes that Steph has always been a variable he can barely control. We then jump forward to present day and see Batgirl at the Waynetech research facility as a Masked Man (Bruce) is setting off alarms. She attacks the Masked Man who fights back to test her, and even compares her to Dick in the sense of her always cracking wise during a fight. When the Masked Man uses his heat vision, then uses his Green Lantern-like powers, there's a funny moment where Batgirl is shocked and thinks she's fighting Amazo. When the Masked Man disappears from the fight we jump over to seeing Stephanie and Babs Gordon discussing the prior events. They mention how Batman and Robin took on the Masked Man earlier in the week, alluding to their one-shot. Babs also mentions she may get the Birds of prey on the case, possibly alluding to the Oracle one-shot. Babs then says she wonders why the Masked Man took it easy on Batgirl, and Steph begrudgingly agrees. Steph then gets excited about teaming up with the Birds of Prey before Oracle makes her promise to sit this one out. Steph promises, even throwing in some good ol' fashioned "Scouts Honor", too bad she had her fingers crossed. With the help of Wendy "Proxy" Harris, Stephanie (not dressed as Batgirl) stumbles onto the secret Lair of the Mystery Man. She also discovers from Proxy that he stole a gun from Waynetech. Steph looks around and soon finds a map of crime alley, and starts to connect the dots. We then see another flashback, with Steph as Robin and Bruce as Batman as she mentions that Bruce never gave her a fair shot. Steph's trip down memory lane is quickly ended when she's ambushed by a group of attackers and Bruce watches on while invisible. Steph takes care of the goons before running off while Bruce watches her fight and compliments her style to himself. Batgirl quickly realizes that the Mystery man is planning on shooting someone (Commissioner Gordon?) in Crime Alley with the gun he's stolen and figures out a way to track him down. When she confronts him she points out that he's obviously testing her, as he has super speed and invisibility so why would he resort to using long range weapons like laser beams?  The Mystery Man unmasks himself as Bruce Wayne, and goes to compliment Stephanie but before he can she slaps the taste out of his mouth. Yes, you read that right. Stephanie SLAPPED Bruce Wayne. Oh man that was awesome, and it got even better when she's so shocked at what she did she just runs away and says "I'm glad you aren't dead." We then jump over to see Vicki Vale confronting Oracle, and suggesting that she and Dick Grayson were Batgirl and Robin. Oracle denies every claim but manages to use her tech-wizardry to clone all of Vale's data to her phone. Later on we see Batgirl on a rooftop, she knows Bruce is there even though he's invisible so he shows himself and they discuss the "Slap heard round the world!!!" Steph then discusses how much she's changed, and the dialogue here was so perfectly written by Bryan Q. Miller that I'm just gonna say, buy this comic, BUY THIS COMIC. After the great conversation between Bruce and Stephanie, we see Bruce talking with Alfred about Stephanie, his upcoming reveal to Babs Gordon, and going to see Selina and what she's been doing with the Gotham City Sirens. We even got a little information on the former Batgirl, Cassandra Cain, which made me very happy. This was an amazing issue and the best of The Road Home one-shots so far. I'll give this one a solid 10/10 rating.

Bruce: Who knows, maybe there's room for hope in Gotham, after all.

The Road Home - Batman and Robin

This issue starts off like the other Road Home one-shots in the sense that our heroes are taking on some villains to serve as a test by Bruce a.ka. The Mystery Man. While we see Bruce watch over Batman and Robin as they chase after one escaping villain, we see their also being watched by Vicki Vale, and she wants to know what caused Batman and Robin to become what they are. We see Vicki wants to know the back story to help her be seen as a more serious journalist, instead of just throwing names out there she wants interviews to accompany them. Vicki walks over to her couch and grabs the tracking device Dick planted on her bag in Batman #703, and speaks into it saying she knows Bruce can hear her and if he doesn't talk to her by noon the next day then the truth will make the final edition by sundown. Her message is overheard by Alfred who looks upset by the news. Back with the Dynamic Duo have found the escaped villain, Killshot, and we find out that Dick let him escape so they could track him. When Dick drops in for the attack on the gang members, as we see Bruce comment on how effortlessly Dick has accepted the Cowl and the role of Batman. He also commends Dick's skills in getting Damian to follow along with him as Robin. Before Batman and Robin can catch Killshot, Bruce intervenes, because Killshot being captured would jeopardize his plans. Next we see Vicki Vale, wearing a dress she must've stolen from Power Girl, out meeting with Bruce Wayne, obviously Hush. He denies being Batman but then plants a kiss on Vicki Vale, he then hits on Vicki and ivites her over to put the Batman stuff to bed, as well as other things. Vicki soon realizes that's not Bruce, because he seems like a real jerk, and not the fake jerk Bruce comes across as. Next we catch up with Batman and Robin who have gotten ahead of Killshot and caught him, as a testament to their skills. Next we see Bruce at a new hideout, and we find out he's talking to Red Robin, Tim Drake. We see the Mystery Man discuss his plans and unmask as Bruce Wayne, meaning this one should've been read first, and much like X-Man75 says, this should've had some type of numbering on it. Other than that this was another solid issue, I ofund it better than the Red Robin (since I was less confused) but not as good as Batgirl, but that was great. This was just a solid way to kick-start Bruce's return. I'll give it an 8/10.

Hush: Now I have to go, but let's meet for dinner at the manor, say... next Tuesday? We'll put this whole Batman nonsense to bed... and maybe some other things as well...

Titans #28

This episode of Titans starts off with Ryan Choi's girlfriend all sad because she hasn't seen Ryan in a while. She STILL doesn't know he's dead. It's been like five issues and no one knows that Ryan Choi is dead? Are you KIDDING me?! When a light turns on in the house across from hers, which happens to belong to Ryan, she runs over to see The Atom and hugs him, but is disappointed when she realizes it's not Ryan, but Ray Palmer. They talk about how Ryan has been gone for weeks, (WEEKS!!!!) and how Ray is the first hero to come check it out. We then cut over to Arkham Asylum and see the arrival of the Titans. We see a guard is working with Deathstroke, allowing the Titans to sneak in and get their target. While they follow Deathstroke, Roy tells Jade they should attack Slade, and pretty much sounds like an idiot, then she points out that ONCE AGAIN Roy is high. We then see Ink thinking about how he hates helping Deathstroke, and how he should be redeeming his son, but instead is helping Deathstroke hunt people down. Ink looks sad before wondering what he's become. Meanwhile Osiris talks to the crooked guard and finds out he's accepting the money so he can get out of Arkham before he dies like so many other Arkham guards have. Osiris decides he has to kill the guard, either cause Deathstroke told him or because of the whole Isis thing, but the guard says if Osiris steps towards him he'll press a button releasing all the inmates. Osiris attacks him anyway, killing the poor bastard but he presses the button right before and releases the Arkham Inmates. The inmates step out and for some reason Zsasz already has a knife, Firefly has a torch and Mr. Freeze has a Freeze Gun, because apparently no one takes that stuff away in the Asylum.... As the Titans take on those villains and a few others, Osiris is attacked by Killer Croc who he mistakes as Sobek, which is pretty clever. Meanwhile Deathstroke has run into MAd Hatter for some reason, then goes to help Allegra Garcia (?) but before Deathstroke can reach her Batman drops in through the window above as the issue ends. Well this issue was really a bust, a lot of things annoyed me like people emerging from their cells with weapons, no one looking for Ryan after many weeks and etc. The best part was the actual ending, I'll give this comic a 4/10.

Batman: You're not touching this girl, Deathstroke.
Deathstroke: Then we've got a problem... because I'm not leaving without her.

Well that's all for me this time guys, I'll be back this weekend with a new poll and the results from last week. As always, comments are appreciated and loved. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd!


Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #5, Brightest Day #12, The Road Home: Catwoman, The Road Home: Commissioner Gordon, DCU Halloween Special 2010, Power Girl #17, Deadpool #28, Daredevil #511, Carnage #1 and Kick-Ass 2 #1. (10 MORE Comics!)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Top Five 5

Hey everyone, once again welcome to the Top Five 5's! My favorite, and only bi-weekly feature here at JTCS. So, of course we're gonna do things just like always, I'm going to list each category along with each person's picks. So let's get into it. And just to remind everyone, here's the color guideline:

Jason Todd
Marc 
Kello
Paul C.
X-Man
Falisha


Top Five Least Favorite Comic Couples

Green Arrow and Black Canary (She's too good for him)
Donna Troy and Terry Long (See above)
Dick Grayson and Starfire (Rather it be Babs)
Deathstroke and Terra (It's just odd...)
Beast Boy and Raven (SO BORING.... It's not "Streets Ahead" either)

Spidey and Mary Jane
Carol Ferris and Hal Jordan
Superboy and Cassie (She doesn't deserve a man that awesome) lol.
Batman and Talia (They spawned a demon child Damian. :\)
Dick Grayson and Starfire

Spidey and MJ (keep 'em unmarried!)
Green Arrow and Black Canary (I felt bad for Dr. Mid-Nite when Dinah went back to Ollie.  Nice guys finish last.)
Brainiac 5 and Laurel Gand (Supergirl is the only girl for Brainy! Accept no substitutes!)
Batman and Catwoman (Talia is a much more interesting love interest)
Storm and Black Panther (what is the deal with that?)


Scott Summers and Emma Frost
Batman and Catwoman
Beast and Agent Brand
Angel (Warren Worthington) and Husk -- sorry Chuck Austen, I'm just not into pedophelia
Peter Parker and anyone other than MJ
Cyclops and Emma Frost(that was the easiest answer to any Top 5 question EVER!)
Nightwing and Starfire
Donna Troy and that Creepy Old Professor she married
Robin and Wonder Girl
Colossus and Shadowcat

Emma Frost and Cyclops
Spider-Man with anyone but Mary Jane or Gwen
Hawkgirl and Red Arrow
Vision and Scarlet Witch
Dolphin and Aqualad (Garth)


Top Five Members of Your Personal JLA Squad

Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Booster Gold
The Flash (Wally West)
Power Girl
Batgirl (Stephanie Brown)

Arsenal
Batman-Jason Todd (Yes, I went there!)
Catwoman
Batgirl (Stephanie Brown)
Booster Gold (Yes JT, now stop smiling)

Hawkman (Carter)
Atom (Ray)
Green Lantern (Hal)
Flash (Barry)
Green Arrow (Ollie) Carter and Ray are best friends, so are Hal and Barry. Ollie would be there to cause trouble.

Bruce Wayne
Robotman
The Question (Vic Sage)
Animal Man
Booster Gold

Superman
Wonder Woman
Batman(Bruce Wayne)
Green Lantern(Kyle Rayner)
Flash(Wally West)

Flash - Wally West
Supergirl
Green Lantern - Kyle Rayner
Donna Troy
Batman - Bruce Wayne (Team leader and manipulator)

Top Five Characters that need a Reboot

Gambit (I still think he has potential)
Venom/Eddie Brock
Donna Troy (Another one....)
Arsenal (Another one....)
Carnage

Cheetah
Joker
Vixen
Lex Luthor
Harley Quinn

Madam Fatal!
The Penguin (I hate crime boss Penguin, get 'im robbing banks again!)
B'wana Beast
Katar Hol (there's room for two Hawkmen)
Terra Man (get him back to his crazy space cowboy roots)

Deadpool (waaay too many comics right...he needs to get back to basics)
Howard the Duck
Simon Dark
Animal Man
Gambit (actually more of a retcon than a reboot -- I want him erased from the existence of the Marvel Universe)

Mr. Sinister
ARSENAL
Jason Todd(back to his pre-Morrison ways)
Magneto
Grant Morrison :P

Hulk
Arsenal
Magneto
Captain Marvel (I’m going to put him down somewhere in all my Top 5s until DC takes notice)
Plastic Man 
 
Top Five Ongoing Comics you recommend reading

Batgirl (Always a fantastic read.)
Red Robin (Fabian has made it one of the best series today.)
Birds of Prey
JL Generation Lost
Green Lantern

Batgirl
Birds of Prey
Black Widow
Power Girl 
Red Hood

Action Comics (Lex and Cornell are kicking ass!)
Amazing Spider-Man (With writers like Dan Slott, Joe Kelly and Mark Waid everyone should be reading this regardless of their opinion on OMD)
Invincible Iron Man (Matt Fraction is awesome, almost as awesome as Tony Stark)
Legion of Superheroes (Soap opera, superhero and sci-fi action from Levitz. But needs more Matter Eater Lad!)
Supergirl (the best Super-book on the stands)

I've gotta sit out the monthly comics one, since I'm not reading any monthly comics.

Captain America
REBELS
Daken: Dark Wolverine
Batgirl
Avengers: The Children's Crusade(yeah, I know it's not an ongoing series, but it's STILL my pick!) (So we got a trouble maker eh?! :P)

Batgirl
Fantastic Four
Justice League: Generation Lost
Captain America
Thor: The Mighty Avenger (only read one issue, but it’s great!)

Top Five would be if you went to a Halloween Party
Venom
Batman
Deadpool
Hush
Red Hood (Not the Morrison one with the Phallic Helmet...)

Wonder Woman
She Hulk
Harley Quinn
Empowered ( ;-) JT)
Black Widow (I'm JT and I approve these picks!)

Superman
Aquaman
Matter Eater Lad
Madam Fatal
Brainiac 5

Deadpool
Ben Reilly
Brian Bendis (his writing's scary, right?)
The Thing
Stilt-Man

Batman
Green Arrow
Captain America
Dr. Doom
Galactus!

Flash
Spider-Man
Scott Pilgrim
Guy Gardner
Mighty Thor
 
Category Winners

Least Favorite Comic Couple: Dick Grayson & Starfire and Cyclops & Emma Frost
Most Recruited JLA Member: Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Character in Need of Reboot: Arsenal
Top Ongoing Comic Recommended: Batgirl
Most Common Halloween Costume: Batman & Deadpool

Man we had some great picks this week, so thanks to all who participated. The first category was extremely close, and I can't say I'm shocked that Cyclops and Emma or Grayson and Starfire were the top picks, but I do find it funny that both of those relationships involve a red-headed ex Girlfriend though. Batman being highly recruited wasn't a surprise, and all the teams had Batman involved except for one so that shows you that Batman is an integral part of the JLA. Almost everyone agreed that Arsenal needs a reboot due to recently losing his arm, daughter and everything else. Top ongoing Comic is won by Batgirl, one of, if not the most consistently good comic book published today. And lastly the Dark Knight and the Merc with a Mouth were the most common Halloween Costumes, I can't say I'd mind seeing that team up either, but maybe that's just me. Anyway, thanks again to everyone who participated, and special thanks to Kello who sent in a TON of great future Top Five 5 categories. Below are the results to last weeks poll, and don't forget to vote on the newest weekly poll as well. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd.

Last Week's poll asked "Which character would you kill off for good if you had to?"


Last Place with 6.3% - Batman, Bruce Wayne returns from the grave for good.
Third Place with 18.8% - Superman, The Death of Superman is a thing of the past.
Second Place with 31.3% - Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man gets One More Day.
Winner (or Loser?) with 43.8% - Captain America, maybe Bucky is doing a fine job?