Reign of Doomsday: Steel #1
This issue starts things off right at the battle, as we see a beaten Steel on his knees in front of a raging Doomsday that's screaming "STEEL!!!!" at the top of his lungs. We then get a quick flashback to Steel, trying to be a hero as John Henry Irons and ending up in the hospital after trying to help Superman with Doomsday, and how he'd first heard that the Man of Steel had been killed. From there we go back fifteen minutes prior to Steel being in front of Doomsday, and we see Steel and his niece Natasha. Natahsa's trying to talk John out of fighting Doomsday but he tells her how Superman nor the JLA are around so he's taking it upon himself. He tells her he knew what he signed up for, that's what he, Superboy, the Eradicator and Cyborg-Superman signed up for when they took over after Superman's death. Natasha continues to try to talk John out of it but it doesn't work obviously, as he heads to take on Doomsday. Steel heads over to save the civilians from Doomsday and launches his hammer at him, knocking the behemoth monster down. It's then that John notices that Doomsday is changing, as he starts to grow armor out of his body. Doomsday then flies (Good call X.) and grabs Steel, showing that Doomsday can now fly, leaving Steel wondering how. Steel continues to try to take on Doomsday but his efforts seem to do little against the monster. Steel finally manages to chip Doomsday's armor and releases nanobytes into Doomsday, stopping him in his tracks. Natasha then runs up like a rookie talking about how her uncle defeated Doomsday, and she helps Steel walk away but Steel notices that his attack has worn off. He tells Natasha to run while he heads for round two with Doomsday. Doomsday goes after Nat to lure Steel in which works, and Doomsday continues to decimate Steel. Steel continues to fight until he no longer can, and knows he won't be able to get up to keep the fight going, and he finally passes out. I'm not sure if he's actually dead or just unconscious as the issue ends, but man this was a great comic. They took Steel, who I'd say has been a C-Lister at best since 52 and made him relevant, he fought his ass off against the man that killed Superman, and even though you knew he couldn't beat him, it keeps your attention. If the rest of this story is anything like this first issue, I'll love it. I'm curious as to how Doomsday returned, why he can now fly, and what other tricks he has up his sleeves, and we'll find out next month in Outsiders, where I assume the Kryptonian Killing Machine will set his sights on The Eradicator. The only thing I don't like is not being 100% sure if Steel is dead or not, but everything else was great, I'll give this issue a 9/10.
Brightest Day #17
The universe blew up. There, you're all caught up on the last issue. Oh wait no, apparently the Firestorm boys are just in another universe, the anti-matter universe, and their just surrounded by an army of Shadow Demons. That's...pretty lame. After dispatching of that, the Firestorm boys hear the White Light tell them to protect him because Boston Brand/Deadman has yet to find the White Light's Champion. They sense life on the nearest planet, Planet Qward, and head there. We then see Deadman cooking cheeseburgers for breakfast in Dove's house, and they make playful banter that suggests that they had sex the night before. Oh yeah Boston, you eat cheeseburgers and sex up Dove, that's exactly how the White Lantern wanted you to embrace life. From there we find out that Boston called Oracle (I guess she's easily accessible now.) and found out that his Grandfather is still alive at the age of 98 and Boston plans on going to see him after a little chat with Dove. Over on Zamaron, the Hawks watch helplessly as Shiera's mother tries to take over Zamaron for some reason as Carol Ferris fights her and her hawk-people off. She saves Hawkman and Hawkgirl, and the Star Sapphire entity recognizes them because of their ancient hearts. Oh God... really?! Please don't make Hawkman a Star Sapphire. From there we see Boston go visit his Grandpa, then they hug and cry. After that, they talk about everything that's happened and his Grandpa tells him he should be happy he has Dawn because she'll make life worth living. Back on Zamaron, the Hawks, powered up by love, attack the Hawk-Woman and her Manhawks. Then the Predator takes it upon himself to jump into Hawk-Woman, so now she's powerful and and the Hawks and Carol are back to being overwhelmed again. The issue ends with Deadman and his Grandpa flying around on a White Lantern motorcycle as Deadman's power ring start's to die and then recharge itself. Okay, well that was all over the place. I don't know what to make of the Firestorm's, Deadman's story was okay until the weird ending, and I hate everything the Hawks have done since they died during Blackest Night. I'll give this issue a 3/10.
Batman Beyond #1
From mini-series to ongoing comic, someone at DC loves Terry McGinnis! Things get underway with Terry taking on a group of villains that have decided to model themselves after Tweedledee and Tweeldledum of all people, which gives Batman a big laugh while he makes short work of those chuckleheads. Bruce tells Terry via communicator not to waste time with those guys because the untrained ones are the most dangerous, and Terry obliges because he wants to go meet his girlfriend and hang out with his family. Next wee see a mysterious man named Carson Jatts, he's been diagnosed with a fatal, inoperable disease, and he blames metahumans. He also works at the JLA watchtower, which seems pretty backwards of him. He walks into the confidential areas of the watchtower and finds what he's looking for, a wand that allows him to change people's physical make up, and turns one of his co-workers into lead. From there, we catch up with Terry who meets with his girlfriend Dana, and after a quick talk with her and one with his mom, he promises he'll be at his little brother's graduation ceremony. Meanwhile, Jatts is trying to escape from the JLA and he's attacked by Warhawk but he turns his wings into helium which causes the hero to fall from the sky, but he's caught by the current JLA Green Lantern. Jatts also falls from the sky on his hover-bike and falls through the ceiling of the mall. Terry see's the smoke from the building and checks in with Bruce, and Bruce tells him that it's the mall, the same one Terry's mother and brother are currently in. Terry makes a lame excuse that his girlfriend gladly takes and he runs off towards the Mall to save the day. Jatts has apparently made the entire outside of the mall into polyritanium which is a fancy word for super hard metal. Comissioner Gordon is about to send in her officers but jthe Justice League shows up, now consisting of Warhawk, a young Green Lantern, (Not Big) Barda, Aquagirl and Micron. The issue ends soon after as Batman joins the fray and is face to face with the new JLA. This was an okay issue, not bad to start things off but if you're someone who didn't watch the Justice League unlimited or Batman Beyond cartoons, I can imagine you'd be pretty confused. But this was an alright way to start things off but not amazing, I'll give this issue a 6/10.
Bruce Wayne: It's the ones that don't know what they're doing you have to watch out for. Bozos like those can still do a lot of damage, McGinnis.
Well, that was quick eh? That's if for me this week everyone, thanks for reading and feel free to ask and questions or make any comments you want. Be sure to vote on the newest weekly poll as well and the results for last week's are below. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!
Last week's poll asked "Which former Teen Titan should have their own show instead of Raven?"
Last Place with 6.3% - Tie between former lovebirds, Arsenal and Donna Troy
Second Place with 31.3% - Timothy Drake, the former Robin and current Red Robin.
Winner with 56.3% - Nightwing, so cancel Raven and give us a Nightwing series!
Next Time on Ratings and Rantings
Batgirl #17, Birds of Prey #8, Booster Gold #40, Generation Lost #17, Red Robin #19, Amazing Spider-Man #651, and Deadpool #31
Jeez, where's the love for Roy in last week's poll... I still say he'd have an awesome show. Plus he could carry it without a whole bunch of other heroes running around. How do you do a Nightwing series without having a Batman appearance? 'Cause I seriously don't see DC having Bruce slum it by guest-starring in Dick's series... Oh well. Roy got screwed again! :/
ReplyDeleteDamn, now I'm REALLY upset that I forgot to grab the Steel book... Oh well, after your review(which I had to skip naturally)I'll definitely snag it either this week or on-line. And it looks like BD actually turned out worse then you expected! Man am I NOT looking forward to reading THAT! Too bad Batman Beyond didn't score higher for ya. Since I didn't watch either of those cartoons, expect MANY questions from me if I do decide to pick this series up down the line.
This week's poll was kind of slim pickings for me... I could care less about anything with Chairman Johns attached to it, and I'm not really sold on the Doomsday story yet, so I guess I'll go with Bats Inc by default.
Geez just three comics this week!!! Although it's my favorite number, I always look forward to quite a few of your reviews.
ReplyDeleteOf the three I'm really looking forward to Steel. He's one of those characters that I know little about and can't wait to read about. And after reading your review I'm definitely excited to get a chance to read this. Lol loved the Quote from this comic as well.
Thanks for the comments guys :) And I would watch a Roy show X, as for Nightwing I'm sure they could do it without Batman. It's one of those things that would seem like eventually Bats would appear but you wouldn't even really have to mention him much since Nightwing is such an independent character.
ReplyDeleteAs for Steel I think you'd both enjoy it, it was really good even if the ending was a little ambiguous, to me anyway. I thought Steel and Nat were written very well and I'd definitely read a Steel ongoing. And yeah Falisha, that quote is awesome, lol.
I guess I could see the Nightwing show too. Start it up right after he leaves Bat's service and becomes Nightwing. I just think Dick Grayson is too wrapped up in the Bat-mythos, whereas Roy is more of a blank slate, making the show easier. I mean even starting the series with Dick moving out on his own and becoming Nightwing, you have to bring up his parents deaths, living with Bruce, becoming Robin, falling oit with Bruce, etc. Since you're the big shot TV writer, what would your idea for a Dick Grayson: Nightwing pilot look like? :P
ReplyDeleteHaha, I'm a big shot now? And I see your point, but you can;t go too far with Arsenal without including Ollie, but yeah, he's easier to get on a show than bats, so I agree.
ReplyDeleteHm.. I'd probably have it start with Dick at the circus, standing there in an empty big top and have it flashback to his final performance with his family before what happens, then show Bruce taking him in but only show him from the chest down. Then show him as a kid as Robin fighting villains, then as a teenager, then the argument with Bruce but we'd only see Batman from behind with his cape and such, then have him go out on his own. I'd even try to get an appearance from Tom Welling to play Superman/Clark Kent since he does on Smallville and explain the whole Nightwing origin, then show Dick going about picking a new town that needs him, making the Nightwing persona his own, and dealing with his first criminal bust on his own. Sound good?
Good reviews, JT. As always, your Brightest Day review had me laughing! And I didn't even know Steel was still around...I read some stuff with him in the mid-'90s, but figured they got rid of him along with most everything else from that decade. Nice to see he's still kicking and actually in a decent comic, though.
ReplyDeleteThanks Marc. Brightest Day is... if for nothing else, always something that makes me laugh, for all the wrong reasons. And yeah, Steel's comic was more of a one-shot, why they titled it Steel #1 I don't know, but I wouldn't mind him getting and ongoing.
ReplyDeleteHell, in the Roy show, Ollie could simply be dead(like circa 1996). He can be shown in flashbacks, but I wouldn't really rely too much on flashbacks since the archery and lady-killer persona Roy got from Ollie would always be there. I still think Roy as a single father to a little girl, fighting crime would make for an awesome TV show. Throw in Cheshire in a reoccuring role, and if the gods like me, Deathstroke, and you've got a hit!
ReplyDeleteI actually like almost everything you put there, JT. I really like never showing Bruce's face, either as Bruce, or as Bats. That could always be saved for some time down the road. My one major gripe would be adding Supes to explain the Nightwing name... I think that could be a bit of an uneccessary headache. If asked why he picked Nightwing, Dick could simply say, "Because it sounded cool." Simple, and totally devoid of wacky Kryptonian myths! I'd probably stretch most of Dick's origin out to a few episodes though, you know, build up to the fact that he was tossed out of Gotham by Bruce. What do ya think, the full origin in the pilot, or drips and drabs as we move along?
Ah okay, I wasn't sure if that was a one-shot or if there would be more comics starring Steel. I think they made a crappy movie starring the character as well, which I never bothered to see.
ReplyDeleteAlso, does the Batman Beyond comic take place before, after, or during the show? (Btw, I asked the library to order a copy of the box set so I could finally watch it...we'll see if they listen to me or not, lol.)
X - I'd love to see Deathstroke involved, as well as Cheshire, Merlyn and anyone else with a good connection to Roy and his past. I wouldn't even mind Dinah showing up from time to time as a sort of mentor/mother figure to Roy.
ReplyDeleteLol I like the idea of the "It just sounded cool" answer, cause that's so something Dick would say. I just kinda threw his whole origin in but I like that idea. I could see it being stretched out as well, since us fanboys already know how it goes, but people who don't read comics would be pretty captivated about the whole thing.
Marc - Yep, with Shaq as Steel, and it sunk faster than Shaq would...as Steel. And from my understanding that comic takes place after the show, due to some references they've made to the new JLA, Tim Drake, Babs Gordon and some other stuff. Hopefully they get it for ya, and if you can, get Batman Beyond Return of the Joker, it kinda ties in with it, and it's a good story, although a bit far-fetched.
What a great movie career Shaq had. Between Steel and Kazam, I still don't know how that man never got an Oscar!
ReplyDeleteAlso, just noticed that next week is Spidey AND Deadpool. It's gonna be a good week!
Exactly, I mean move over talented people and realize how AMAZING Shaq is as Steel and Kazaam. A Black genie and a 7 foot metal superhero with a hammer? Why not? Lol
ReplyDeleteMan, Spidey, Deadpool, Batgirl, Red Robin, Birds AND Gen Lost?! It's like it's my birthday or something
They should really do a crossover movie or something: Steel vs. Kazaam!
ReplyDeleteThe sequel could co-star Freddy, Jason, Aliens, Predators, the Terminator, and entire the cast of Glee.
I've already bought three tickets on ebay!
ReplyDeleteWell the joke's on you then, since I'm the one who was selling them. ;)
ReplyDelete