Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with more of that comic goodness that you eagerly crave week in and week out. I'm here with another edition of weekly comic content comments, that's right it's time for another edition of Ratings and Rantings. This week we've got a nice little pile of comics to get to and I'm expecting most of them to be pretty good. I didn't pick up Detective Comics because I'm weary about a new arc surrounding a whale or whatever, and they didn't have Kick-Ass #2 there, but everything else is ready to go! So let's get all these pleasantries out of the way and start the reviewing.

Teen Titans #93

We start things off with the Teen Titans, Superboy, Red Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Raven, Ravager and Beast Boy all meeting outside Titans Tower. The gang then head out to an archaeological dig to meet Cassie's mom, and all the while Red Robin thinks to himself how much tension there is on the team. He thinks about the (sexual) tension between Superboy and Wonder Girl, Raven and Beast Boy, Kid Flash and Kid Flash, Superboy and Red Robin.. okay I made those last two up. Once they arrive we see they were called there to help Solstice look for her parents. Raven apparently can't be near her due to Solstice giving off such a bright and cheery attitude because she risks feeling the emotions and making herself vulnerable for yet another Trigon attack. Kid Flash on the other hand is apparently in love with Solstice right off the bat and is made to look like an idiot trying to impress her, thanks to Ravager. He uses his super speed to run off with a picture Solstice had of her missing parents and runs all over looking for them and finds no results so the team decides to split up. While Red Robin and Superboy explore, Connor mentions that Red Robin should defer to Cass since she's leader and he mentions Cassie told Tim to take over as Leader as she needed a break. The conversation is cut short when the two are attacked by a very ugly demon woman or something. She takes down Superboy which sends Kid Flash and Ravager to help Red Robin. She quickly takes down Kid Flash and Ravager as well as Beast Boy. Solstice shows up and blasts the chick which hurts her, and theoretically makes Solstice stronger than the previously mentioned heroes, but whatever. The Demon woman retreats and grabs Cassie's mom, and takes her and Wonder Girl with her to cross over to another dimension. The issue ends with Wonder Girl and her Mom in another dimension trapped with Demons. Well this was an okay comic, nothing amazing but nothing really bad besides the Demon squashing most of the Teen Titans. I'll give this issue a 6/10.

Red Robin: But I go by Red Robin now.

Beast Boy: You must get that a lot. I put out a press release when I changed my name.

Action Comics #899

Lex Luthor's Action Comics #899 gets underway with Lex finding the final Black Orbs, as he lists everyone who stood in his way like Groilla Grodd, Larfleeze and The Joker he's confronted once again, this time by Braniac. Braniac describes his GENIUS plan that shows he's been watching Lex through the Lo-bot which was made by his technology, he then had this Robo-Lois introduce nanobytes to Lex's bloodstream that rushed to his head when he was hung upside down back wih this run in with Mr. Mind, which would make him dream that he had to pursue the orbs, rather than just study them. A Shocked Lex looks hurt, then proclaims that he's a terrible actor, he then says he expected all of this because of a concealer he noticed when Vandal Savage bisected (yep, he said that.) the robot. Brainiac then notes how Lex betrayed him the last time they met, yet Lex carries on as if he was the one wronged. Lex and Brainiac talk for a bit longer before Lex mentions that he's made sure Superman will be too busy to stop the fight before attacking Braniac. Lex and Brainiac fight one another, quickly countering each others attacked until Lex gets the drop on Brainiac, then delivers a Wonder Woman-like neck snap to Branaic. After ridding himself of Brainiac, Lex forgives Lois then combines the black spheres which causes a giant black demon to come from it which apparently came from the Phantom Zone. Lex then decides to break Lois' face and reach inside to let the nanites that Brainiac mentioned earlier join him. He controls them to take the fight on a mental plane and fights the Phantom Zone demon. The issue ends with a huge fight between the two that only leaves one standing. Well, I was kinda lost once Lex started talking about mental planes and whatnot, just because so much went on over the span of like six pages, but I will say the ending makes me curious on what will happen in the next issue now that Superman is returning. I'll give this issue a 7/10.

Lex: When I encountered Death, I wondered if there was judgement, If there was a God, There is now!

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8

God I love the nonchalant look on Guy's face as he just casually strangles the life out of Hal Jordan. We start off with the Mod Squad of the Green Lanterns, Guy, Kilowog and Arisia flying back towards Oa so they can update the Guardians about their recent run-in with Zardor. As they fly back the impurity strikes once again, and Arisia flys towards Oa at breakneck speeds while Guy and Kilowog comment on how Parallax must be back in the battery. They turn around and see Hundreds upon Hundreds of Green Lanterns flying towards them on their way to Oa. While they fly by the Lanterns attack, and Guy mentions if he and Kilowog are okay some other Lanterns must have been able to right it too. Kilowog agrees and sends Guy to get help while letting himself be captured by the Lanterns. Guy almost rushes in headfirst but holds back and tries to call for helpand finally gets an answer from Hal. They can barely hear one another but agree to meet at the Green House and Guy flies off as fast as he can and a few hours later he lands at the green house, which just so happens to be in Antarctica or something. Hal confronts him and they talk about where they were when they got the flash vision of Parallax. Guy explains that he and Kilowog were fine though, and they soon figure that the people who had been in contact with Parallax before were able to fight off his control. They then start to explain what they've been doing and their respective missions, which of course upsets Hal because he didn't know about the Atrocitus/Guy/Ganthet pact. They argue more and pull no punches with Guy even mentioning Hal's past mistakes before the two start fighting one another. They have a knockdown drag out fight that includes Guy making a ton of constructs that look like he has over the years and having them all attack Hal. As the two fight they realize whats happening, and take off their rings to stop the fighting. The two then realize they have to figure out a way to stop Krona and do it without their rings. Well this was a great issue, I love seeing the Hal/Guy rivalry come to a head so this was great, and I don't know what to expect, maybe Red Lantern Guy saves the day? I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Guy: Heh... is that what we've got between us, a rivalry? I always looked at it as purely a difference of opinion.

Gotham City Sirens #21

GCS #21 or as I refer to it, Harley's Day Out starts off with Harley wondering about what people will say when she's studied in psych classes years from now, and if she'll be known as The Joker's love-sick sidekick or for what she plans on doing, and that's killing Mistah J. She's then standing in front of Aaron Cash who says he knows she's behind everything that's happened at Arkham tonight just to get to The Joker. He mentions that he remembers meeting Harley when she first got hired at Arkham, which causes us to see a flashback. He says he can't let Harley free Joker but Harley says she doesn't want him free, she wants him dead. She tells Aaron to move out of her way but he refuses, and she thinks to herself how sad she is she has to do this to Cash. She tells him his infant son who passed away died because of a nail she has in her hand. We then see The Joker threatening Cash upon hearing his wife is pregnant which caused Cash to beat the Joker senseless. Later on while out with his son and wife, a clown offers Cash's son a balloon which Cash refuses, and while Cash and his wife talk, the clown (The Joker in disguise) drags the nail across the baby's arm unbeknownst to his parents, which later killed Cash's son due tetanus. The tetanus caused the face muscles to be pulled down over the child's jaw which made a makeshift smile. Cash, shocked at this revelation that it was the Joker, unlocks his cell and even gives Harley a gun to use on The Joker before walking away. Harley walks into Joker's cell, pointing the gun at him and he tells her he's missed her, which causes her to think about her times with Joker, even him letting her fall off a roof before dropping the gun and hugging The Joker. I did NOT see that one coming, although I should have. Meanwhile, Selina and Ivy have come to save Harley but when Catwoman notices the police are heading to Devil's square she decides to investigate that instead, leaving Ivy to go get Harley alone, and Ivy tells Selina she'll never forgive her for turning her back on them as the issue ends. Man this was a great issue, this series was so bad not long ago but Harley's being competent, there's tension within the Sirens and now we see what happens with Harley back with The Joker, I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating just because I don't see how Cash could NOT know Joker killed his kid, if my kid died with a smile after The Joker said he'd give him a smile, I'd go straight in to work and kill him, proof or not.

The Joker: I hope it doesn't have your smile.

Aaron Cash: I said shut up.

The Joker: Don't Worry, if it does I'll give him mine.

Amazing Spider-Man #657

We start things off with Spidey meeting up with Sue, Ben and Reed, as they all share memories about Johnny. We see the Fantastic Four and Spidey take down Krakatoom, and Spidey is about to take off but is asked to help and stay monitor the area and have a camping trip with the Fantastic Four, to which Spidey quickly agrees to. Ben mentions how he thought having Spidey and Torch would be more annoying than anything but he ended up having fun because Torch and Spidey were like brothers the way they joked around. Reminds me of a certain blogger I know and myself. Over the course of the trip Spidey and Torch played a ton of pranks including Torch tanning the words Flame On! onto Spidey's back and Spidey webbing up the toilet paper so it stuck to Johnny's butt. Ben enjoyed it the most because with Torch preoccupied, he wasn't bothering the ever lovin' Blue Eyed Thing, which allowed him to tan and... get his rocks off. Okay, I contemplated not typing that but I couldn't resist, my blog, my rules. Anyway, Ben was able to relax, until Spidey and Torch teamed up and made a makeshift Krakatoom which they tricked Thing into attacking. After reminiscing they tell Spidey he doesn't need to be related to be family and Ben tells him if he needs a brother, he's always there for him and Sue says the same, which leads Spidey to say he already does except for the time they had to take her home. Now it's Sue's time to spill the beans and she mentions how she and Johnny were out on patrol when Johnny stopped to sign autographs. Spidey shows up and decides to humble the Torch and yanks his pants down in front of the girls, causing Torch to chase after him, which leads to the heroes being caught with their pants down (I made a funny!) by three fourths of the Frightful Four. This leads to Johnny complaining about not being able to fight without pants, so Sue makes the enemies pants go invisible so they get shy about covering their undies, which leads to them getting their clocks cleaned. Afterwards, Sue is arrested with the three villains because she pantsed three men in public, so she's arrested for indecent exposure. Okay, that made me legit laugh out loud. After that we see a story from Reed's description where he, Johnny and Peter are going into space, but of course first Johnny has to paint flames on the side of the ship so it can go faster. While in space the ship stops working due to the boys encountering a gigantic Green Star, and they have Torch try to absorb the energy from the star so they don't burn to crisps. Pete and Reed then try to look all over to see what the problem is and talk over Johnny whenever he tries to add something. They finally listen and Johnny let's them know it sounds like their carburetor is flooded, which it turns out he's right. As Johnny goes to burn off the energy he held in, Spidey admits to Reed that for all the stuff he says about Johnny, he's actually a bright guy. Back in the present Peter says he wish he'd got to tell Johnny that and Reed plays a special hologram Johnny left for Peter. He tells Peter that he knows how he feels about losing family but he's leaving him something, his spot on the team with the best sister, two brothers, niece and nephew a guy could ever ask for. The issue ends with Spidey agreeing to take Johnny's spot on the team for his fallen brother. Now this was a great issue, I loved seeing Spidey and Torch's exploits and the rest of the Fantastic Four being in on it was even better, especially the stuff with Sue. I had no problem with this and it showed the great friendship bond between Peter and Johnny that we needed to see, no I take that back it showed the bond between two brothers. I'll give this a solid 10/10 rating.

Spider-Man: Now, with great power comes great responsibility. And just because you can make men's clothes disappear doesn't mean that you should.

And that's all for me folks. We had a decent haul this week, and as of right now the weekly poll hasn't ended but it looked fairly obvious that Invincible wins, so expect a 5 Reasons: Why you should read Invincible within the next few days. Until next time that's all for me, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #4, Brightest Day #23, and Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38