Saturday, January 29, 2011

Ratings and Rantings

It's that time everyone, for your weekly collection of comic content comments! I'm your host, confidante, and Grade "A" reviewer, Jason Todd. This week we've only got four comics to get through, but we should have some great reads. The always entertaining Deadpool, the Power Girl/Gen Lost crossover continues, The Joker meets face to face with Lex Luthor in Action Comics, and Captain Marvel returns in Shazam! So, let's get this party underway with our favorite Regeneratin' Degenerate!


Deadpool #32

This issue starts off with our Crimson Comedian, he's in bed watching the news while chomping down on some junk food when he finds out that he's the suspect in killing a man named Reginald Harris and his family with an explosion. Before Deadpool can figure out why they have him on tape for something he doesn't recall doing, his motel room is entered by someone only known as Macho Gomez. Macho Gomez says that was supposed to be his hit and Deadpool stole it. He tells DP that he may be hot stuff on Earth, but where Macho comes from, he ain't S***. He then tells Deadpool to go get all of his money and give it up. Deadpool stares him down, then happily obliges. He leads Macho Gomez to a great big pile of coins, that happens to have a claymore under it that blasts Gomez outta the room. Afterwards, Deadpool's inner thoughts tell him to finish off Macho but he says that's not what a hero would do, so he goes off to try to find out who's framing him. We then see the allegedly dead Reginald Harris and his family, and Reginald tells his wife they had to fake their deaths because he sabotaged some government project as well as had some tech stolen so they could manufacture things faster. We find out he hired Deadpool to steal it, as Deadpool walks into the room. Turns out the tape that showed Deadpool near their house was from two years ago when Deadpool was dropping off what he stole for Reginald. Reginald says everything was fine until the Pentagon sold him out, and he pointed the finger at Deadpool. Deadpool is pretty angry and pulls out a gun to the guys head, but his daughter runs in and cries for him not to shoot her daddy. I guess that touches Deadpool so he doesn't shoot him and tells them to stay dead. While walking away Reginald says he wants to hire Deadpool again, to kill Macho Gomez. Deadpool is shocked to hear Gomez is considered the best and calls him a clown, but DP doesn't know Gomez is behind him. He tells Deadpool he led them right to him and opens fire, but DP uses his body to shield the family, and tells Reginald he'll accept his offer, but doesn't want his money cause this one is on the house. Deadpool goes after Macho, who has went to get a bigger gun, and they have an average Deadpool fight, which of course is anything BUT average! This leads to a pretty awesome ending for the fight that I didn't expect, which shows us while Deadpool is the best at what he does, hey, even Wolverine admitted it. As for the decision to go back to being a Merc... I wish Deadpool was ust a full-fledged hero but I don't mind him staying as a Merc, either way I enjoyed this issue. Nothing amazing but it was far from bad or boring. I'll give this issue an 7/10.

Deadpool: I stopped being human a long time ago dude.

SHAZAM! #1

We start things off at the apartment of Billy and Mary Batson. Mary gives Freddy Freeman some eggnog while talking about how much she hates being normal now and her life has no purpose now that she has no powers. Fredyy tries to tell her she can still make a difference, but she says that's easy for him to say. (Wisdom of Solomon backfired eh buddy?) Billy then asks where Freddy has been, and he says he left after the events of Cry for Justice and has been trying to forget, but everywhere he went he helped people. Billy and Mary act like a couple of spoiled brats saying "we needed you too..." which really annoys me. They just want powers again, which they pretty much say, and Freddy is sad that he can't help. He then falls over, as his eggnog has been drugged by Mary (What a bitch....), which even surprises Billy. A black figure then appears and Mary refers to her as Blaze, saying she's done the deed. We then go back a week earlier to see Mary at a homeless shelter feeding people but one of the people surprisingly is Blaze. She makes everyone disappear so she can talk to Mary, and mentions how everyone her father (The Wizard that gave Freddy and the Batsons powers) gives powers to, he takes from them after deeming them unworthy. She mentions how Black Adam and Isis were turned into stone, Osiris was brought back and walks a dark path, and Billy and Mary lost their powers. She says she can make a deal with Mary and return her and Billy's powers, if she kills Freddy Freeman. Back in the present, Mary tells Blaze to cough up the powers, and Blaze says nah, I had my finger's crossed. Mary then pulls a trump card and Freddy sits up and says "Shazam!" It turns out Mary warned Freddy and was using this plan to get the jump on Blaze. Captain Marvel and Blaze have a huge fight that destroys buildings and cars of course, and when things seem grim, a little help from the Batsons help the tide change for Freddy. The issue ends soon after with Freddy vowing to help Billy and Mary get their powers back. This was a solid issue, but the stuff with Mary seemed unnecessary. I mean is Blaze that stupid? She can't tell when someone is faking death? She can't hear in hell when someone she's supposed to be watching tells the person she wants dead about their plan?! That annoyed me, and if the series is gonna be about Freddy getting them powers, that sounds pretty boring after the first arc. I am looking forward to his apparent throwdown with Osiris though. This issue was okay, but I wanted more than this issue delivered. I'll give this a 6/10.

Mary: Now Shut up, Blaze. I'm tired of hearing your voice. (Man...Mary grew a pair.)


Action Comics #897

Lex Luthor's Action Comics starts off with Lex Luthor and and his Lois Lane-bot pulling into Arkham Asylum. Lex is upset while he reads his paper to see that Bruce Wayne is now sponsoring Batman and Batman Inc. and says Wayne is letting down the human race. As Lex walks into Arkham, his assistant tries to tell him that most of the articles he's read about the Black Power seem to have been planted there, but his Lois-bot tells his number one that it'll have to wait, Lex needs full concentration to interrogate The Joker! Lex tries to ask Joker questions but the Clown Prince of Crime uses this to deliver some "A" material, even taking a shot at Lex himself and how he thinks killing Superman will save the world. That pisses Lex off, so he slugs the Joker, but Joker tells Lex to back off, and delivers the line of the issue. Lex then says if he killed Joker right now, everyone would be delighted, but Joker replies that Batman would come after Lex, to which Lex realizes is true, and backs away from The Joker. From there they have a deep conversation that only those two can have. I mean, I can't do it justice, so I'd recommend reading it just for their interaction. When it's finally revealed that Joker has a Black Sphere, Lex's assistant wants to sample it, but Joker won't let him anywhere near it. From there we see a deep, moment of humanity from The Joker, before he gets back to the yuk yuks. I'm gonna say right now, Paul Cornell is a damn genius. The guy writes Joker and Lex PERFECTLY. Anyway, after more talking, The Joker convinces Lex to make the sphere larger, which Lex does, and Joker runs into the sphere then right back out. Whatever Joker see's in the sphere scares the hell out of him and he decides he wants to stay where he is, and begs Lex's assistant to stop the sphere. Joker then tells Lex, as serious as can be, to make the RIGHT CHOICE when the time comes, or he'll crack the biggest joke of all time. Man, Cornell knows how to build suspense doesn't he? Lex leaves the room as Joker, Spalding and Lois stay to check our the sphere. When Spalding mentions the misleading documents, Lois pushes him into the sphere, and he screams and the sphere disappears. Lex comes back and asks what happens and Lois says Joker pushed him in, and Joker admits that he did, even though he clearly did not. The issue ends with a certain Orange Lantern looking for Lex Luthor. This was a very interesting issue. I loved the Joker/Lex interaction, and it built a bunch of suspense for the next few issues. I'm also curious to see what this Lois robot has planned. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

The Joker: I once boiled a baby in front of the father. And made him drink the soup. (That's so sick... and still so Joker.)


JL Generation Lost #18

Gen Lost shows us how things were years ago, as we see Captain Atom and Power Girl, both with "funky fresh" Haircuts. We see PG telling Captain Atom she doesn't need to go to dinner with the rest of the JLI, and she doesn't need to eat. He tells her to go and have fun, she doesn't have to stay with him. After a lot of back and forth she admits she's trying to be nice because their friends, and Captain Atom accepts her gesture, showing that the two are friends. Fast forward to the present day and we see Power Girl with her hand around Cap Atom's throat. Some friendship, eh? We see Captain Atom trying to explain how he didn't kill those people but Power Girl seems to be rambling on to herself, until we finally see that she thinks she's fighting Superman. I guess Max knew her mind would know something is up if she was fighting Cap Atom so he switched it to make it look like Supes had snapped and she had to take him down. Captain Atom shoots a burst of energy into the sky to signal to the JLI he needs help, and Fire, Ice, Booster, Skeets and Rocket Red head towards his location. Meanwhile, he gets decked by the busty bombshell known as Power Girl, and continues to get bashed until the JLI save him. Power Girl, still confused things that Cap, Fire, Ice, Rocket Red and Booster are Superman, Supergirl, Starfire, Green Lantern and Batman. From there we see Max Lord and Professor Ivo, experimenting on Blue Beetle and his suit, and Jaime starts to remember who Max is, and Max mentions the Mindwipe tens to slip when someone is in intense pain. Interesting, I'm sure that will come up later. Jaime tries to tell May they'll stop him, which causes Max to say all the cliche'd "Good will triumph over evil" lines, to which Max replies, "You all keep thinking I'm the bad guy." Back with the JLI, PG continues to dismantle the team, and this really puts Power Girl over as a heavy-hitter and a threat, which it should, because she's a hell of a hero. The JLI tries to think of a way to stop Peej but considering off her powers their efforts seem fruitless, until Booster remembers her super hearing. He has Rocket Red blast her with a high frequency sound, which causes Kara to break past the mind wipe, and immediately remember Max Lord. The issue ends with one more member joining the JLI on their hunt for Maxwell Lord. This was a great issue, as they built up Power Girl while not making the JLI look weak, we also got to see a hint that Max's evil deeds have a higher purpose as well. I really enjoyed this issue and I can't wait to see what happens now that our heroes are on the same page, I'll give this a 9/10.

Max Lord: But that's the thing Jaime... You keep thinking I'm the bad guy.

Well, that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings guys. Thanks for reading as always, and comments are greatly appreciated. I know we had a short week on my end but hey, what can ya do? Below are the results of last weeks poll, and as always be sure to vote on the new weekly poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which superhero would you rather be?"
Last Place with 7.7% - A Speedster, why do the Speedster's always come in last on these polls?
Tie for Second Place with 23.1% - Kryptonian and a Green Lantern fall behind to...
Winner with 46.2% - A member of the Batfamily! Intelligence, Skills and Determination beats powers.


Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #2, Brightest Day #19. Gotham City Sirens #19, and Amazing Spider-Man #653.

18 comments:

  1. Well, I see you reviewed 4 comics this week, JT... That's good. Um... You see, I actually can't read any of it since I intend on reading all 4 issues eventually. But hey, I know your entire week revolves around my weekly comment, so who am I to deprive you of that? :D

    From the looks of those scores this wasn't exactly a stellar week, although it wasn't that bad either. Let's see what can I talk about... Ah! I'm def kind of surprised at the results of the last week's poll... Who'd want to be a powerless member of the Bat-family as opposed to wielding the nearly god-like powers of a Kryptonian?! That was kind of surprising. As for this week, I went with Eradicator because... well, why not? I mean would anybody really miss him if he went? So yeah, I'm picking him! Oh, and in closing, that new live traffic thing is creepy. So long!

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  2. You arrogant mofo you, thanks for the comment :D Haha, and of course you haven't read them yet, you slacker. :P

    That also shocked me, because we could all pretty much be Bat family members with enough determination and training. But having super speed, strength, flight, sight and hearing? Man, you'd be untouchable and could cause or the good...or evil in your case X, that ya wanted. I also picked Eradicator, I think he'll be missed the least and Cyborg Supes wants to die, so I doubt they'll let him. And how's the live traffic creepy?

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  3. Wait, do you mean Morrison Follower of the OTHER meaning to that word? Because some people would say I qualify as BOTH those things! :P

    Exactly! Hell, if you were ANY of the other three categories you could conceivably become a member of the Bat-family. Who's to say a Kryptonian couldn't become a Bat-family member? Like you said, bust out some hardcore training and BAM, you're a Bat-family member!

    Yeah, Cyborg Supes wants to die, so you KNOW he's not going, the only other real choice for me was Doomsday, but since he's supposed to be able to evolve past anything, I kind of doubt it'll be him. He always seems to come back.

    It's like I'm being watched by Big Brother or something! :P I can see you sitting there all crazy looking watching your blog and being like, "Ahhh... X has arrived... Welcome X..." It just weirds me out!

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  4. Haha in that case, let's just say both. That works, oh yeah, that works. :P

    Exactly, you can't get those powers from training, but you can always get those powers and then train, hell, be a lot easier too.

    Same thing I thought, doubt SB dies again, Steel is a tossup, Eradicator was the best choice.

    Lmao. I don't see them until late anyway :P I think its cool to know how many people find my blog from a picture or googling something or where their from.

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  5. Gee, thanks! >:/

    Couldn't agree more, amigo. Gimme those Supes powers anyday... Then you'll all be sorry... Oh wait, I mean then I'll help everybody!

    Yeah, there's NO way SB is going. Chairman Johns even said once that he was a big SB fan(I guess he confused Conner with Clark when he was SB back in the 50's or something), so there's NO way SB is going. As for Steel, especially after reading about him during the Mon-El run in the Superman book, I think he's a character with some potential, so I hope it's not him. However, his death would have the biggest effect on the Supes family(well besides SB, but he's not going anywhere)

    Suuuuuuuuuuure JT. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuure. Man, that's a lot of "u"'s I know you're sitting in some darkened room watching who comes and goes from your blog 24/7. As a matter of fact, you're probably watching me through my webcam right now...

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  6. My pleasure buddy! :D

    Haha, I'll be sure to have Kryptonite ready the day you get Kryptonian powers, X.

    Lmao, you're such an ass. I await the day Geoff finds your blog somehow and chews you out. Speaking of which, you should have that issue soon right? You SHOULD have picked it up Wednesday if I'm not mistaken.

    Yeah, I am, I have those awesome computer hacking abilities like Oracle, and yes, you DO need a haircut.

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  7. Well sir, good reviews this week. Deadpool sounded pretty good as always! But you know I look forward to reading Gen Lost and after reading this review and that score I'm definitely looking forward to reading it.

    And as for the poll, Lol, I voted for Superboy, although I have no idea what he's doing in the comic world, I just have a feeling he's going to get all mancho man and try and do too much and get killed. lol.

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  8. Meh, I'll just Sinestro that Kryptonite and squash you! :P Yes, to “Sinestro” something now means to no-sell it!

    HA! We ALL know that Chairman Johns is too busy plotting the destruction of everything I enjoy about DC to bother reading any blogs. Anyway, blogs first sprouted up AFTER 1965, so how would he even know about them?!

    Dammit, he's right! I do!!!

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  9. Hey JT, I enjoyed reading your reviews this week! The name "Reginald Harris" sounds suspiciously similar to "Reginald Hudlin," who wrote Black Panther and some other crappy comics for Marvel...I don't think he's writing anything currently though. I wonder if it was intentional?

    Love the Joker quote from Action Comics, although the cover's kind of lame...Lex looks like a cheap action figure from the '90s, lol.

    By the way, I finally have the last few issues of ASM although I haven't read them yet since I've been so busy. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up over the weekend before the new issue comes out. They look like they'll be really enjoyable.

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  10. Falisha - Deadpool was great, and of course Gen Lost is always a good fun read, can't wait to see what you think of it. "I just have a feeling he's going to get all mancho man and try and do too much and get killed." Just like the first time he got killed eh?

    X - Haha, I'll definitely start using that. "Cena just Sinestro'd that chair shot." And yeah, but Geoff's white ring will lead him to your blog on a search for cheeseburgers. Also, get a haircut ya damn hippy!!!

    Marc - That's the FIRST thing I thought of when I read that, Reginald Hudlin, who was also the CEO or something of BET, which I don't watch. Lol. That Joker quote was SO sick but so Joker, and I agree, that cover is definitely one of my least favorites. And awesome that ya got ya Spidey issues, hope ya enjoy them as much as I did.

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  11. "Cena just Sinestro'd that chair shot." HA!! I love that...

    Wait, Chairman Johns is Deadman now?! I guess in some warped way that makes some sense... Why else would anybody EVER use Deadman in any sort of starring role!?

    Meh, it's not May yet...

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  12. Speaking of which, I'm waiting for you to Sinestro Brightest Day. :P

    Haha, exactly. Obviously Boston had taken Geoff's body and ended up writing a bunch of Deadman related crap.

    You damn hippies. Get a haircut, and not from Hottyz, cause Jack stole their first chair.

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  13. God, I wish I COULD Sinestro Brightest Day!!! :D

    Hmm... Maybe that explains why everything has gone so horribly wrong in the DCU lately... Somewhere along the line Deadman possessed Johns and won't let him go!

    Well I sure as HELL ain't going to Jack's to get a haircut!!! And wind up looking like that guy what killed all them other guys?! No thanks!

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  14. Haha, you gonna squash it like Taker? You should use your blog and put it over in time for DCMania, Oh yeah! :P

    Yep, there ya go. He's all "So yeah, let's give me... I mean uh, Deadman a hottie like that Dove chick. Bwahahaha"

    But X, if Jack doesn't cut your hair then you'll look shaggy for your picture with the Arlen midget!

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  15. Dude, "Sinestro" means to no-sell something! Not to squash it! You're mixing up my made up phrases!! :D

    HA! DAMN YOU Deadman!!! You've had your fun, you've gotten to bang Dove, basically from out of left field, and you made yourself the center of the Brightest Day boondoggle! PLEASE go away now!!!

    Hmm... Well, the Arlen midget isn't in town until the spring and summer, so I guess I can wait.

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  16. Well EXCUSE me! Lol, so what are we gonna make it for Squashing something?

    Haha, nice use of boondoggle. And yeah, he comes back after being dead for SO long, bangs the first chick he see's, and steals her right from under Hawk. Deadman, you S.O.B.!

    Haha, I hate you so much X. You may be my King of the Hill match... or you may just start panhandling since your hair is like that dude's. :P

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  17. Once I typed that I began wondering what could replace "squash"... Who out there is known for simply squashing all of their foes... I think I'll leave that up to you! :P

    Why thank you! Boonsoggle was quite inspired if I do say so myself! :D

    Ronald Reagan kicked me out of my mental hospital!

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  18. Hm.... I honestly don't know... maybe Superboy Prime? Lol, I can't think of anyone.

    Quite the Hornswoggle Boondoggle mon frere.

    Haha, I can't think of that crazy old bum's name. I remember they made him a shopping cart thing as well but his name escapes me.

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