Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd here with another edition of your favorite weekly feature of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Thanks for coming through and we've got a nice amount of content today, with four DC comics and two Marvel comics. We've also got a new poll and last week's poll results. We've got a lot of stuff to get through, so let's get things started with our first comic.

Gotham City Sirens #23

Man, with the crazy look on her face and the gymnast like butt on Harley, I almost didn't even notice Catwoman and Poison Ivy in the background. We start things off with Catwoman noting how everything on this night is making this the right time to separate a million dollars from a fat man, and we see her target is none other than Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin. Catwoman takes out Penguin's guards and takes his diamonds while remarking how she missed being on her own, when Batman drops in to tell Catwoman about Arkham. He pretty much tells her that he has some other business but once he takes care of that, he's going to Arkham and anyone he finds there is going to stay there, which is code for, go save Harley and Ivy before I make sure they stay there. Catwoman tells Batman she's done with his schemes, saying she knows what he did before he won the cowl (anyone wanna explain that?), and Batman remarks that Cats were never known for their loyalty, before disappearing into the night. We then jump over to a hectic Arkham with guards and everyone else running amuck and in the middle we see Harley kissing a gun-wielding Joker. The Joker and Harley decide they want to have a game night so they go off to find some "volunteers". We then see Aaron Cash calling Commissioner Gordon to tell him they need help at the Asylum, and Gordon says their on the way. We soon find out that Arkham Director Alice Sinner is still in Arkham and is being protected from inmates, including Dr.Arkham. When the inmates come to attack Sinner, Arkham uses his crazy mind and his knowledge of the human body to scare the guards into surrendering, then he has them killed anyway. Arkham walks over to Alice Sinner who is happy he came for her, and opens a wall safe to give Arkham another Black mask skull. God I hate that Arkham is black mask... He puts the mask on and he and Sinner kiss while inmates beat a guard to death behind them. Catwoman arrives at one of her secret caches and is still upset that Batman tried to manipulate her, she says she doesn't owe Harley and Ivy anything, even if they helped her when she was down, then she thinks for a minute and realizes she owes them, so heads out to help. We then see Arkham and Sinner realize they can't escape due to the GCPD being at Arkham now, and the guards he's spent time blackmailing could be killed in the riots, so there's only one thing they can do if they hope to escape anytime soon. We then see Black Mask and Sinner along with some inmates confront the Joker and tell him to give up the Guards he was torturing, because Black Mask and his men outnumber Joker, but Harley pulls out the debilitator which shocks and subdues all of Arkham's men. After arguing over the guards being bargaining chips and saying that Batman is on the way and they could've used them, Arkham yells that this isn't a game, to which Joker tells him everything is a game. Their fight is then interrupted by Poison Ivy who erupts through the ground and tells Harley she's tired of saving Harley from The Joker, and now she has to pick, once and for all, Ivy or Joker. The issue ends with Batman (Bruce) and Catwoman heading to Arkham to stop the chaos as Ivy waits for an answer from Harley. I liked this issue, and while I didn't care much for the Black Mask stuff, I did like the fact we get a Harley/Mr. J, Catwoman/Batman battle in the next issue, as well as the first face to face Batman (Bruce) Joker meeting since Bruce returned from his trip through time. I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating and I hope the next issue is at least this good.


The Joker: I was going to take the opportunity to place your face in the fryer. Make it so you don't need that ridiculous mask.

Deadpool #37

We start things off with Deadpool in what can only be described as "his crazy ass heaven", before we see him in a kiddie pool bleeding with a gun in his head. We jump back nine days with Deadpool asking Wolverine how he can die due to their healing factor, but Wolverine doesn't wanna help Deadpool off himself. Deadpool mentions how Wolverine used him to help him find Daken (in Wolverine Origins) and that Wolverine owes him, but he still doesn't help, but Deadpool seems to have figured out what Wolverine doesn't want to tell him. We see four days later, Deadpool stops in Russia and pays a TON of money for the Russians to get him something, but we don't see what it is he wants. We then see today, as Deadpool waits on Bruce Banner and drives after him. He asks Bruce if he's having a party and if The Hulk will be there, but Bruce says he isn't having a party and leaves, but Deadpool says there will be a party. As Banner drives away he wonders why Deadpool confronted him just to talk, and we see Deadpool press a button which explodes a nuke on the bottom of Bruce's car, which obviously causes The Hulk to emerge from the wreckage. Deadpool and Hulk have a huge fight in the middle of nowhere, so no one else gets hurt, see Deadpool is still quite heroic! Deadpool tries his best to piss off Hulk even more, so he jams two swords in his nostrils and fills his mouth with C4 and dynamite, which is just plain awesome. But surprisingly, Hulk responds and says Deadpool won't drive him mad, and to go back to whoever hired him but Deadpool says no one hired him, causing Hulk to say that should make it easier for Deadpool to walk away. Deadpool tells Hulk he won't stop until Hulk does what he wants him to do, but Hulk says he does what he wants to do, before flicking Deadpool away. Deadpool presses a button when he lands which lights up a backpack by Hulk which causes it to blow him up again. An enraged Hulk jumps over to Deadpool as the issue ends. Now this was fun, I loved seeing Deadpool try to irritate Hulk as well as his quick confrontation with Wolverine. Now that Bruce doesn't seem to be in control of the enraged Hulk, things are gonna get even more crazy, I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Hulk: I'm a 2,000 pound radioactive monster. I only do what I want to do.

Green Lantern #66

We start of learning that Mogo's role as moral compass is what guides the Green Lantern rings when searching for recruits, and an infected Mogo finds mindless and violent recruits and makes them Green Lanterns. We then see Guy and Hal being overwhelmed by the Guardians who are fused with the entities, minus Parallax. Guy wants to leave and regroup but Hal is positive their close to Parallax and starts to drill at the battery while Guy tries to hold back the Guardians. Guy realizes his red ring isn't doing much against the Guardians so he uses Krona's Gauntlet instead. He says that it feels like he's wearing twelve Green Lantern rings at once (something Hal would know about), but before he can strike, both Guy and Hal or blasted by Krona with the power of all seven entities, and for the record, it looked pretty damn cool. We then see Sinestro as a Green Lantern fighting Manhunters, when he radios to Abin Sur and doesn't get an answer, he remembers that Abin is dead, and that he's no longer a Green Lantern and sheds a tear. Aww, isn't that sweet. Anyway, he realizes he's in the pages of the Black Book and yells at the top of his lungs to Lyssa Drak that he knows she's hiding within the pages. As we see Sinestro looking for Lyssa we see other trapped people's memories in the background, including Saint Walker with his kid, Larfleeze and Atrocitus. We also see Indigo-1 locked in a cell, she attacks Sinestro and asks where did Abin Sur imprison her... before Sinestro frees himself and looks through more pages. That's interesting, I wonder how Abid Sur and Indigo connect. Sinestro finally escapes the book but as he does, Krona puts him back into it, telling him the Green Lantern Corps no longer needs him, as it has the Earthmen. He then tells Hal and Guy that the Guardians are unable to do their jobs due to having emotions, but Hal and Guy will no replace them, as he has them wrapped in the same bandages that turned him into one of them, and now Hal and Guy will rule next to him, as the new Guardians as this issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, It looks like Sinestro may become a GL again at some point which would be interesting, we also saw that Indigo used to be a criminal or something which was a shocker, as well that someone can become a Guardian since I figured they were born that way. Either way, great issue and I hope the other two are this good, I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating.

Indigo-1: Where did Abin Sur imprison me? Tell me before I tear your throat out.

Green Lantern Corps #60

We start things off with temporary Indigo Lantern John Stewart and Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner, encountering the rings Mogo is sending to new Green Lantern recruits thanks to Krona. They encounter over 10,000 rings according to John's ring, and Kyle's Blue Lantern ring proves to be useless again when he can't even stop the rings and shut them down. John is able to latch onto the rings power and makes a giant dome to contain the rings from getting out and pushes them down to a cave on Mogo, but he can't hold the rings down and they explode through the dome. Kyle figures is Blue Rings can heal, maybe he can get to Mogo's mind and heal him so he can recall the rings. As they travel to Mogo's brain John tells Kyle to remember Mogo is psychic and he's gonna try to hit them with their deepest fears. Surprisingly their attacked by some more Green Lanterns, as Krona sent them to Mogo to go after Kyle and John. Kyle is boosting their ring power just by being a Blue Lantern but he also uses his ring to remove the impurity from a few of the Lanterns while he and John fly further into Mogo. They finally encounter Mogo's brain, which is a giant GL Ring encased in a circle of green. Kyle tries his ring and makes a construct of Mogo's former partner, Green Lantern Bzzd (?) but the impurity stays, because Mogo also had the Black Lanterns inside him as well. Kyle tries to purge them from Mogo but Mogo blasts Kyle, knocking him out, as Hundreds of GL's head towards Mogo to come after John and Kyle. John decides he'll tap into Mogo's GL power to defend himself and an unconscious Kyle but Krona tells Kyle telepathically there's nothing he can do, because as each second passes more and more GL's are recruited and being sent to Oa. Kyle regains consciousness and John says Mogo is too far gone, but he can do one thing. He grabs the Black Lantern element into his ring and makes a portal for himself and Kyle. John says billions will die unless he does this, and infused with the Black Lantern power, he creates a sniper and shoots Mogo's core, causing Mogo to explode as the issue ends. Once again, another great issue in "War of the Green Lanterns". John did what he had to do, and I think he made the right decision, but of course they'll be a huge fallout from this. Anyway, this issue was great, but the one problem I had is with Kyle, who was the main GL ten years ago, looking weak and worthless, I'm sure there's something coming from that eventually but it still bothers me, but I'll give this a 9/10 rating.

John Stewart: Katma Tui is dead!!!! (Out of context I find this hilarious... you tell em John.)

Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #10

Things start with Krona about to turn Hal and Guy into Guardians, but suddenly Krona, the Guardians and all the Green Lanterns hear a screech and drop to the ground. We then see Kyle and John arguing about John killing Mogo, to which John says he had no choice and Kyle says he shouldn't have given up hope. John tells Kyle he didn't wanna have to do this, he has enough guilt in his life with what happened to Xanshi but he did this because he had no other choice. Kyle, still upset, tells John to leave him alone, and starts trying to pull enough of Mogo's pieces together to restart his core. Kyle fails of course, and John drags him away, saying that Hal and Guy need his help. Over on Oa, Kyle and Hal finally break free from Krona's chains as he and everyone else convulse on the ground. As Guy and Hal leave they grab Ganthet and the Book of Black, and Guy or course socks Krona in the face on the way out. As Hal and Guy leave they literally run into Kyle and Guy, and after explaining what the two teams have been up to, John teleports them to the battery so they can free Parallax from it. While they try to release Parallax, our guys can't make a scratch on the Lantern, but Ganthet regains consciousness and tells them the reason why they can't tap into the battery is because they need all of the emotional spectrum, and they still have two unused rings, the Orange and Sapphire rings. Ganthet has Guy put on the Sapphire ring with his Red Lantern ring, and Hal put on both the Sinestro and Orange Lantern rings. The four Lanterns use the power of six to blast the Lantern but before they can release Parallax their attacked by the entire GL Corps. Ganthet tells Guy to go try since he wields the two extreme rings, while they all hold back the GLC, so Guy goes but can't work both rings at once. Ganthet tells him to look into his sole and thing of who he loves and who he hates the most to make the rings work. Guy reveals that the thing he loves most is his ring and the Green Lantern Corps, because the Corps is his life, he hates being filled with the Rage of the Red Lantern Corps. Guy yells that over and over and breaks a hole in the battery which releases Parallax, causing the Corpsmen to drop once again. Under Ganthet's orders they all zap Parallax as the Green Rings return to Hal, Guy, John and Kyle. Guy notes that Mogo purged the red from him last time and now that Mogo's dead, if he takes that red ring off, he'll die too. Kyle mentions that he can heal him, as a Blue Lantern, and convinces Guy that he can do it. He does in fact heal Guy as the two rings leave Guy's finger and Kyle, John and Hal remove their rings and put on their Green Lantern rings again. The issue ends with Krona, the Entity-infected-Guardians, and Parallax getting ready to take on the entire Green Lantern Corps. This was another great issue, it was full of action and set the story for the final chapter of the War of The Green Lanterns in next month's Green Lantern comic. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating.

Guy Gardner: This ring feels weird, makes my mouth feel like it's got sugar and blood in it now.

Venom #3

We start things off with Jack O'Lantern appearing in the bedroom of Betty Brant, the girlfriend of Flash Thompson, the current Venom. We then see the place that started the Venom project as they tell one of the directors that Venom has been radio silent for three days, well over the 48 hours that he's able to wear the Symbiote for. The director tells them not to detonate the fail-safe, as just in case Flash doesn't still have control over the Venom symbiote, he needs to take out the shipment of Antarctic Vibranium that he set out to destroy in the first place. We then see Venom taking on a bunch of the employees that are moving this shipment, and he's started to unleash the Venom we all know and is losing control. As Venom attacks, one of the Henchmen get a hit on him with a flaming sword, which causes Venom to get angry, and in a Hulk like moment, the symbiote takes over as Flash just has to watch it destroy them. After the symbiote disposes of the last few henchmen, Flash gives himself a shot of a sedative, that allows him another hour in control before he has to give in to the suit. Flash makes his way to the shipment of Vibranium and soon enough he's piloting it when the helicopter radio asks for Corporal Thompson. Flash plays dumb, but the shrouded figure tells him to bring him the Vibranium in New York, or his girlfriend will get it, as she's currently strapped to a comically huge bomb by Jack O'Lantern. We then see Peter going to check on Betty when he notices her apartment has been trashed and she's missing, he calls Glory Grant and asks if she's talked to Betty, and she says Betty said she was gonna sleep in today, so Pete tells Glory to call the police and send them to their apartment as he web-slings away as Spider-Man. Venom finally lands the shipment in New York for the Crime Master and meets him face to face, along with his henchmen. Flash thinks to himself how the suit is in control but it's playing along with Flash, as he asks where Betty is. Crime Master tells him where Betty is and says he has five minutes, and not to tell his superiors what happened. He notes that since he knows Venom's identity and he also knows that being Venom must feel like a thrill to Flash since he's legless without him, he's sure he'll omit that Crime Master knows who he is and he won't tell them that or they'll take the suit from him. Flash remarks to himself that it takes everything he has to focus on Betty and keep the symbiote from eating CM's face. As Venom goes to save Betty he's attacked by Spider-Man, who thinks he kidnapped Betty, and is using things it remembers to go after his friends. Flash keeps trying to take control but the symbiote is too busy trying to kill Spider-Man. The issue ends as the bomb tied to Betty is getting ready to explode, Venom is trying to murder Spider-Man in the middle of New York, and they finally decide to hit the Fail-Safe on Venom. This was an excellent issue, action-packed, great story, and finally some Spidey/Venom interaction, with Venom facing the guy that Flash has idolized since he was a teenager. I can't wait for the next issue of Venom now, I'll give this a 10/10 rating.

Venom: KKILL SPPIDDER-MMAN!!! (Can't beat the classics!)

And that's it for this week's reviews. Six great issues, this was a pretty good week for comics in my opinion. Now with those reviews done, I wanna thank you guys for reading and welcome any comments or criticisms you may have. Below are the results to last week's poll, and thanks to that, be sure to vote on this week's poll as well. So that done, I wanna say thanks for reading and be sure to join us next week for more Ratings and Ratings, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay classy, Todd Squad!

Last week's poll question asked "What do you think I should do with the weekly polls?"

16.7% said Get rid of them.
And a shocking 83.3% said to keep them, I didn't even know anyone cared about them, so consider them here to stay for good.

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #6, Static Shock Special, and Amazing Spider-Man #663

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here with another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This week's post only has three comics to review, and all are DC comics, but each of them has a ton of potential. We've got Power Girl written by one of my favorite writers, Judd Winick. Also by Judd we've got Batman and Robin #23 which features the return of my favorite character, Jason Todd, so you KNOW I can't wait to read that. And last but not least we have the amazing Scott Snyder's Batman: Gates of Gotham which features Batman (Dick), Robin, Red Robin and Cassandra Cain! So with three comics but a ton of talent involved, this should be a great post, or so I hope. And since I don't have anymore witty banter to stall with, let's jump right into these reviews!

Batman: Gates of Gotham #1 of 5

Awesome cover by Trevor McCarthy with the Bat-Family in the pane glass windows behind Batman. Everyone from Damian to Babs, Steph, Catwoman, Cass Cain, Tim, Jason, Alfred, Huntress and more. We start things off with Alan Wayne and a few of his colleagues looking over plans for Gotham City to be built. We then jump forward to see Batman trying to get information out of a man named Ronnie, who was at the Gotham harbor when someone brought in three-hundred pounds of Semtex. Well damn... anyway the guy spills that it was Penguin who brought it in, but as he does a bridge blows up. Batman radios to Red Robin and tells him the new Trigate Bridge blew up, but Red Robin replies it's not just Trigate, it's a trio of bridges also including 22nd Street and Madison. Batman tells Red Robin to take whichever is worse and he'll see what he can do at New Trigate. Batman manages to save a few lives but the end result seems to be thirty-one dead and twenty-five being hospitalized with concussions and/or burns. When talking to Commissioner Gordon, Batman mentions that Ronnie pointed the finger at Penguin before the explosions but it doesn't seem like a Two-Face crime. Gordon mentions he should lean on him anyway and Batman says he will. Batman checks in with Red Robin for clues but Tim hasn't found anything either. Dick then mentions that the trigger man says "The Families of the Gates of Gotham will fall", to which Tim let's Dick know that the bridges used to be called "The Gates" back in the day. Batman then pays Oswald "Penguin" Cobblepot a visit, questioning him about the Semtex. Penguin denies that he did the explosions because he has no intention of blowing up a bridge that has his name. He reveals that Madison bridge was originally called "Cobblepot Pass." Batman recites that the trigger man said The families of the Gates of Gotham will fall and then used explosives Cobblepot helped him get to take out his bridge. Penguin tells Bats he never met the man but he hears he wears a rather interesting costume. Dick later meets with Tim to discuss their findings at the Bat-Bunker, and surprisingly, Cassandra Cain shows up. She mentions she was the one chasing the Semtex in Hong Kong and she should have been able to stop it. Damian then enters the room as they explain that the Wayne's are the family behind the New Trigate bridge, and the bridge on 22nd Street's heritage belongs to none other than the Elliot's, the family of Thomas "Hush" Elliot. The issue ends with us seeing Hush in Arkham being approached by someone in a costume asking if he'd like to come out and play. Awesome! I liked this comic, it was slow and methodical but built up well, plus it has Hush and after his treatment in the last few years I hope our boy Scott Snyder can give him a push in the right direction. I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating.

Batman: What is this, pleather? You know how flimsy that gets in the rain?

Power Girl #24

Power Girl starts with a very interesting story about an Arab-American man who's on a plane when it starts to go down to to engine failure. It turns out the man is a meta-human and has never told a soul about his powers and doesn't want to stand out. He does decide to use his powers and level out the plane to save all the passengers, including himself. He says he's aware that people would try to blame him or say he took down the plane but saving everyone is more important than that, and as he saves them, everyone looks out the window and would know they were safe thanks to the heroes who'd also stopped the plane from crashing, Batman, and Power Girl. Once they landed our Arab-American hero, Rayhan, was blamed as a terrorist and arrested, and six months later he's still in custody for something he didn't do. He's been denied an attorney and no one believes his story. They continue to interrogate him but he never changes his story, he's just a man who was afraid to use his powers because he knew people would fear him because of who he is. He asks if his father is okay since they've given him no outside contact, and wants nothing but to know if his father is okay, and he's told they'll see if they can find out, but they don't usually reward people who don't give them answers. We then see that the newly red-head Karen Starr's company, Starrware, is making huge rounds in the news. This leads to Karen Starr having a National Security Agent put with her which drives her insane because she's not used to having someone tell her what to do. She complains about it to Batman later to which he replies this is her fault. She's made Karen Starr a smart, powerful and media-savvy woman and she's now one shaved head away from being  Lex Luthor, which has led to her being watched. But Batman says the world needs a Karen Starr, and that he'll help her anyway he can, which leads to us seeing Karen Starr attending a red carpet benefit with none-other than Bruce Wayne. We then see Rayhan in prison still, asking to see his father, but his guard deny him the chance. He says that from what they've told him he'll die soon, and they can send as many guards or put as many power dampeners on him they have to, but he wants to see his father, but they still deny him. We see that Rayhan has been able to break out at anytime but he hasn't out of respect for this country, but upon being told he couldn't see his dying father, that's as the final straw, so he bust out of the prison. Rayhan gets to the hospital and wants to see his father but they won't let him up without I.D., he says they can send security with him but he wants to see his father, but he's suddenly swooped up by Power Girl. She holds him while Batman moves in to put a power dampener on him but Rayhan fights back which takes Batman and Power Girl by surprise as the issue ends. I LOVED this issue. The storyline is genius, a nice guy who has power is immediately viewed as a terrorist because he tried to help and all because of his race. It's sad but a true thing in our society and Judd did an excellent job of putting us in Rayhan's shoes, a man who did nothing wrong and paid the price, I'll give this issue a 9.5/10.

Batman: You're a shaved head away from being Lex Luthor. You're going to be watched.

Power Girl: I guess it would be easier if I pretended I was a drunk playboy.

Batman: It would. But not nearly as effective.

Batman and Robin #23

And now the moment I've been waiting for, Batman and Robin #23, written by Judd Winick, the Return of Jason Todd. We start things off seeing Batman, Nightwing and Robin, Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd catching a few criminals. While we see this we hear Batman and Nightwing discussing Jason, and both seem to have a lot of faith in the second Robin. In the end, Batman tells Nightwing that Jason is Robin, and he needs him to be the best he can be. We then jump forward to see The Red Hood, inmate number 357-428 (the first and last issues Jason appeared in as Robin), in a holding cell with Batman (Bruce Wayne) staring back at him. Jason has red hair, meaning the Morrison thing will stay in continuity, but I don't mind it because he kinda looks like Roy with long hair, it makes no sense but I won't mention it anymore because I'd just get annoyed. Anyway, Jason welcomes Bruce back to the land of the living, saying he knew he wasn't dead anyway, because Bruce wouldn't go out like that. Jason talks about what he remembers on his return to the land of the living, before asking Bruce how he is. Batman gets straight to business and mentions Jason asked for a transfer from Arkham to a correctional facility, which peeves Jason a bit, because he wants a talk before they get down to business, he even asks how Damian's mom is. Interesting... Bats tells Jason he's in Arkham for his safety, and Jason replies that Arkham is for the criminally insane, and he isn't insane, in fact he killed criminals. Jason says he's not insane, he's homicidal, and he will kill again, so lock him up with criminals, not in Batman's kennel for freaks. We then see Dick and Damian talking to Bruce in the Bat-Bunker, as Dick asks why Jason would want to go to a correctional facility where he'll have to fight off all the enemies he's made over the years. Bruce tells them because Jason has a plan, and they need to be prepared, because by the time they figure out what it is, it'll be too late. From there we see Jason showering when he's cornered by some goons, one of which had their brother killed by The Red Hood. Jason doesn't seem to be worried and even throws a few barbs their way which only upsets them further as Jason leaves. Later we see the main guy that was trying to confront Jason has been hanged in his cell, obviously that would point at Jason being his killer. While out reading during recreational time, Jason is attacked by a few prisoners, one with a shiv. Jason, being the well-trained Bat-family member he is, defends himself and makes even more enemies in the process. Over time we see more and more people try to take Jason out, he apparently has a price on his head, but they each end up dead. Over in Gotham, Batman and Robin take down a gang and overhear that their leader has committed suicide while locked up. Batman then calls the Warden, upset that he hadn't been contacted like he told the Warden to do if any problems arose. Meanwhile there's been nine suicides and six murders since the Red Hood was transferred there. The Warden tells Batman that 82 prisoners are now dead and over a hundred are ill due to poison in the food and that he suspects Red Hood after finding poison in the food. Batman says he's on the way but the Warden says The Red Hood has been moved back to Arkham and is currently en route. We see Jason as he talks about how he's always loved trouble, and how if you put him in a building with a bunch of criminals that deserve death and think he's gonna behave himself than you don't know him to well, and now he's on his way back to Arkham, unless something else comes up. Suddenly the squad cars escorting him are blown up and all the guards escorting Jason are killed. Jason asks who the hell just killed everyone and we see some giant animals toting guns for some reason and say their the ones breaking Jason out as the issue ends. Well that was weird. I loved the beginning with Bats, and I was hoping Jason would be redeemed but I'm not surprised he killed all those criminals, it's what he's been doing for years now. I don't know what to think about the whole, Jason being broken out by talking animals or whatever but I enjoyed most of the issue up until that point, PLUS I'm a big Jason fan so I'll give this a 8/10 and hope Judd has a plan for where this is going.

Jason Todd: You look good. And I don't just mean that because you were dead.

And just like that, three comics have come and gone. That's all for me this weeks guys and gals, thanks for reading and as always comments are appreciated. Below are the results for last week's poll and be sure to vote on the newer poll as well whenever I get a chance to put it up. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay classy Todd Squad!

Last week's poll asked "Which Brightest Day character's series are you looking forward to the most?"

Last place with 0% - Swamp Thing and Firestorm... sad... just plain sad. Champion eh?
Second place with 12.5% - Aquaman and None of them... That's a pretty bad look for Aquaman too..
Winner with a whomping 75% - Justice League Generation Lost, so get Judd on it and let's go!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Deadpool #37, Venom #3, Gotham City Sirens #23, Green Lantern #66, Green Lantern Corps. #60, Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #10,

Ratings and Rantings

Hey there Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd here again for another edition of your favorite comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Before we get started I wanna thank everyone for stopping by last week and checking out 5 Reasons why you should read Invincible, What I Learned from Brightest Day, and for sending their picks in for the return of the Top Five 5! You guys have prompted e to make the Top Five a monthly thing, so expect more Top Five 5's in the future, but for now, we've got this weeks R&R. We've got four comics this week and all are DC related but none are Flashpoint related for obvious reasons. They are all Batman related for the most part but that's more of a coincidence than anything. Anyway, let's get things started with our first comic, Batman: Arkham City!

Batman: Arkham City #1

Arkham City is a comic that will bridge the gap between the amazing videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum and the upcoming sequel Batman Arkham City. We start things off where the game ended, with Batman hitting The Joker with an explosive Mike Tyson punch, only Bats literally had explosive jail on his glove as he tagged The Joker's jaw. From there we see Joker apprehended by the police and put in a straightjacket. Joker thinks of how he knows there won't be a next time because the Titan Formula is eating at his insides slowly, and how it's a cruel joke but he can't help but laugh. In a close cell, Harley hears the laughter of her puddin' and says to herself how much she misses him. She then overhears some guys saying how Joker won't last long due to him being sick and him not being the most liked guy around, so Harley vows that they won't get take Mistah J before his time. We then see Mayor Quincy Sharp getting ready to make an announcement but he's currently in his dressing room having a video chat on Skype (or so I assume) with a mysterious figure, obviously Hugo Strange. While making his announcement that Gotham will no longer tolerate any supervillians or vigilantes, Vicki Vale reminds him that often Batman and his allies are the people who save the day, with Batman saving Arkham Asylum while Sharp was incapacitated for most of then night. Sharp stands by his statement that anyone causing trouble will end up spending the rest of their life in Arkham Asylum. We then see Jim Gordon who tells Batman that Vale was right and Sharp is an idiot. He then tells Batman about a new brother and sister crime team, Terry and Tracy Trask, known as T&T (genius) who were low time crooks but are now Titan enhanced and a big threat. Batman gets info from Oracle that says the two are working for Two-Face which makes perfect sense so he heads to some of Two-Face's most obvious hide-outs, including the Two of Spades. Batman deals with his thugs and finds Two-Face waiting for him. Batman doesn't want to fight he just wants information. Two-Face tells Bats how he found a few crates of Titan during the Asylum events and had his thugs put them away. The Trasks had plans of their own and eventually turned on Two-Face and killed half of his men and how they wanted control of the whole city. Batman quickly realizes they plan to attack at a dedication ceremony at city hall and heads there. He also informs James Gordon but T&T have already started their plan, which apparently is a result of them teaming with Hugo Strange. They attack Warden/Mayor Sharp during the announcement and Batman swings into action, and takes them both out with tranqs after knocking them around. One of the T&T twins reports to Doc Strange saying their going down and he asks if their ready for what must be done, they say they are as Batman overhears and see's their body temperature spiking with his detective vision. So glad that was mentioned here. Anyway, Batman swings away as T&T explode, living up to their name. Batman escapes as do some the civilians who ran when gigantic freaks showed up, but the new City Hall has been completely wiped out and three hundred people died in the explosion. After that and billions in property damage, Mayor Sharp declares marital law in Gotham, during which he semi-phases out the GCPD and brings in a private military force to follow his orders. We see that Batman believes that Sharp is doing the work of someone else and Batman wonders how he'll stop that person as the issue ends. Now this is the Dini that I missed. This is a great way to build even more interest in Arkham City and seems to be a great tie-in to the game, I'll give this issue a 8.5/10, I'm also extremely curious to see where the Joker stuff goes from here.

The Joker: My night was over. Arkham secured, Gotham saved, and a the rest of that heartwarming crap.

Red Robin #23

We start things off with a quick synopsis of Tim being allowed to make renovations to the theater that Bruce and his parents went to the night of their deaths. Bruce seems to have a ton of faith in Tim, but their moment was cut short when a new Black Spider tries to assassinate Bruce Wayne. Not long after, Red Robin and Batman try to pursue him but he escapes. While following up on a tip Red Robin then encounters a familiar foe, Lynx. She tackles Red Robin through a window and plants a huge kiss on him as they plummet, he saves them with a line and swings to a building, all the while, Lynx is frenching the hell out of young Timothy. Playa playa! Turns out Lynx has to play along in front of her gang and attack Red Robin but once she's away the Lynx will play. Yeah, I AM clever, aren't I? After getting some information about one of her people's laptop being stolen and it being the same thing that caused Tim's suspicion, he heads to see James Gordon to convince him of his new plan. His plan will apparently endanger Lucius Fox but Red Robin is sure it will help save his life as well. From there Red Robin and Batman (Dick) put Tim's plan into action, unbeknownst to Lucius Fox. Red Robin and Batman pretty much have all the bases covered and are watching Fox meet with some clients and waiting for an attack on his life by the assassin. An hour later, the assassin outwits Red Robin and takes the shot from an airborne position. Batman pursues the assassin and places a tracer on him before he escapes, but he moves into orbit which freezes the tracer's signaling system. Soon the news stations report Lucius Fox as dead but we know he's not actually. Red Robin identifies the assassin to Batman as Scarab, but Scarab is currently in jail. He asks Batman to get her released into his custody, which Dick does, and Red Robin then takes Scarab to Cairo, all the while pestering her in a way that would make Dick Grayson proud. Once they arrive on a back alley street in Cairo, Scarab says "open sesame" (really?) which opens their secret hideout. Scarab leads Red Robin in and says a code which unleashes a bunch of traps for someone who's following one of the Scarab members. As Red Robin pursues he loses track of Scarab and gets a message from Lonnie. He tells him that Mikalek was shot, Dr. Light was attacked in her civilian guise and much more, but the issue ends when he discovers the Assassination Tournament has begun, and the new order is, Kill Red Robin. Now this was the Red Robin I enjoyed before the Unternet stuff.. I really like where this is going and this was a nice start to what looks to be an interesting arc, I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating.

Myself: Tim loves Asian women, who is he, Bobby Hill?

Batgirl # 21

We get things underway with Batgirl taking on one of her newest threats, a woman with a sonar shooting suit that's taking it to our favorite blonde Bat-babe. After taking care of her opponent momentarily, Batgirl heads off to try to help her non-official sidekick, The Grey Ghost. She finds him and asks what the hell, and he explains that he overheard Harmony (our sonic shooting senorita) saying she'd take out Batgirl and not end up like Slipstream. I already like this pitiful guy just for wanting to help Batgirl out. Batgirl notices Harmony is on the move but Grey Ghost wants to come. Steph decides to use some tough love to get the Grey Ghost to back off and tells him not to cross her path again but he vows to show her that she needs him. Meanwhile, our "B" story features Proxy a.k.a former Teen Titan member Wendy Harris seeing visions of her brother Marvin, telling her that she needs to find peace. She even meets with Dr. Thompkins who tells her that her spine isn't in as bad of a shape as Barbara Gordon's once was. And says that if Wendy needs peace she knows some where she could go. We then see Wendy meet up with Barbara to tell her that she needs to go to Nanda Parbat. Barbara is shocked at first but realizes it's what Wendy needs so she gives Wendy her blessing. Back with Batgirl we see her catch up with Harmony, who is collecting samples from graves for her bosses. Batgirl can't throw Batarangs without her zapping them with her Sonic Boom (Shout out to Guile!) and can't get close enough for hand-to-hand combat. Batgirl quickly thinks of a plan and drops a giant bell from the bell-tower near Harmony, which causes her sonic powers not to work due to the vibrations and sound from the bell. After taking down Harmony we see Steph and Babs on campus, with Steph explaining how Harmony was actually a music major that goes to her college, much like Slipstream. She mentions that there are three more Reapers on campus that could be anyone. After taht, Babs tells Steph about Wendy leaving for a while, and we see Batgirl in her new lair all alone, saying she likes her odds. The issue ends with The Grey Ghost meeting with the other three Reapers, saying he'll do his best to keep Batgirl away from them, if they try not to cross her path. Man I REALLY enjoyed this issue, Batgirl is always good for the most part and this was no exception. Even Wendy's B story with Marvin kept me interested, and now I'm wondering when she'll come back and how these other Reapers will come into play. Excellent work as usual by Bryan Q. Miller especially with taking characters like The Grey Ghost and Wendy and making me interested in them. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Batgirl: What the hell, Clancy?

Grey Ghost: Just watching your back, my... violet.. avenger.

And just like that, that's it for this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings. Some of you may be wondering where the Birds of Prey was, but simply, I read the first five pages and couldn't even continues because the story did not interest me at ALL. Since this is apparently a two issue arc, I'll skip the next one and if the series doesn't get back to the way it was early last year, I'll probably drop it. Anyway, that's all for me, I'll be back very soon with another edition of Ratings and Rantings, so until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay Classy Todd Squad!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman & Robin #23 (Return of Jason Todd), Batman: Gates of Gotham #1, and Power Girl #24,

Top Five 5!

Hey everyone, once again welcome to the Top Five 5's! The Top Five 5's makes it's triumphant return so thanks to everyone who sent me picks to help make this interesting.. 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

Caz Tidrick

Falisha 

X-Man

Marc

Kello 
Paul 

Five DC Villains/Anti-Heroes You'd put on Deathstroke's Titans Team (Not Counting Slade)

Jason Todd
Ravager
Huntress
Arsenal
Grace Choi

This is a hard one... I dunno who I would pick. I don't know what villains would work well with him, honestly. I'm gonna leave this blank.

Cheshire
Jason Todd
Ravager (It needs to be done)
Black Manta

Superboy Prime

Jason Frigging Todd

Ravager

Huntress

Catman

Inertia (Holy crap that's a great pick!)

Darkseid

Deadshot

Hitman

Two-Face

Catwoman

Ravager

Black Adam (forget Osiris)

The Demon

ZOOM

Giganta

Anarky (the original one)
Jason Todd
Man-Bat
Etrigan
Hitman

Five Characters You wish you could write for

Batman
Invincible
Jason Todd
Wolverine
Spider-Man

Wally West-He needs someone writing for him
Invincible
Indigo Tribe
Chewbacca - Corny, right?
Deathstroke

Elektra
Spider-Woman
She-Hulk
Batwoman
Jason Todd

Saint Barry Allen ('cause I'd kill him off within the first page)

X-Man ('cause I'd have him kill Saint Barry within the first page)

Kid Flash/Impulse ('cause then he'd be more than a spare part)

Red Robin (what can I say, I like Timmy)

Jason Frigging Todd ('cause that would mean he'd be in something on a monthly basis)

Spider-Man

Doctor Strange

Captain America

Daredevil

Dracula

Plastic Man

Spider-Man

The Li’l Depressed Boy (great comic, by the way)

Fry from Futurama

The Thing

Legion of Super-Heroes
Aquaman
Superman
Spider-Man
Supergirl

Five Characters you wish were used more

Jason Todd
Grace Choi
Vixen
Wally West
Cassandra Cain

WALLY WEST!!!
Booster Gold (or at least in more of a publicized role)
Jason Todd-And this is sincere, not because of your blog
Indigo Tribe
Superman-Used better, anyway

Harley Quinn
Aquaman
Vixen
Zachary Zatara
Black Cat

Jason Frigging Todd... Okay I'll stop now (You never have to buddy!)

X-Man (Figure it out :P)

Wally West...

Huntress (how does she not have a solo series...)

Hardball (Yes, he IS awesome...)

Gravity

Doctor Strange

Runaways

Young Avengers

Stilt-Man!!

Wally West

Captain Marvel

Black Panther (Shuri)

The Falcon

Jesse Quick

WALLY WEST!!!
B'Wana Beast
Matter-Eater Lad
Man-Bat
Chunk

Five Characters you want resurrected

Ted Kord
Vic Sage
Black Mask (He was hilarious, yet evil)
Owen Mercer
Tempest

Abin Sur!!!
Don Hall
Johnny Storm
Elongated Man
Ted Kord

The old Wonder Woman

Genocide

Elongated Man
Gwen Stacy ( I think she'd made Spider-Man preeetty happy lol)
Solomon Grundy

Jack of Hearts

Inertia

Vulcan

Holocaust (The Static Villain?)
Red Skull

Banshee

Nightcrawler

Ned Leeds

Cable

Ben Reilly

Black Flash (There technically isn’t one at the moment)

Captain Boomerang Jr.

Damage

Johnny Storm (It just seems weird without him)

Magpie

Karate Kid
Ben Reilly
B'Wana Beast
Ted Kord
Terra Man

Five Characters who you wish stayed killed off

Martian Manhunter
Barry Allen
Reverse-Flash
Jade (She serves no purpose...)
Captain Boomerang

Captain Boomerang
Hawk
Deadman, Aliveman, Whatever
Bruce Wayne-if you're going to come back, come back in style..none of that traveling through history stuff
Susan Storm

HawkGirl

Hawkman
Hawk

Barry Allen
Firestorm

Saint Barry Allen(can I just say him five times? No? Fine...)

Harry Osborn(sorry, he died a great death the first time)

Hal Jordan(He went crazy. He died. Get over it.)

Green Arrow(God, I can't believe I'm even saying this, but seriously, what has he accomplished since his return?)

Magik(Her death was great! It was powerful! Now it's meaningless!)

Jean Grey

Apocalypse

The Jackal

Norman Osborn

Geoff Johns

Barry Allen

Jason Todd (Kello, you're banned from here now :P)

Amadeus Cho

Jean Grey (she’s not Hope, right?)

Magog (NEVER BRING HIM BACK EVER)

Alec Holland (the original Swamp Thing was better)
Osiris
Donna Troy
Jean Grey (Her return in the '80s really diluted the Dark Phoenix Saga)
Betty Banner

Category Winners

Main Character wanted on Slade's Titans: Ravager/Jason Todd
Most Wanted Character to write for: Spider-Man
Character we wanted used more: Wally West
Character most wanted to be resurrected: Ted Kord
Character we wish stayed killed off: Barry Allen

Man, we got some interesting picks. I love that almost everyone seems to agree that we need to see more Deathstroke/Ravager Hate/Hate (In the words of Bobby Blue Bland "Ain't no love..") so that's one thing DC should do. We also seem to want Jason on the team, and I for one would love to see Jason and Deathstroke interact, as well as Jason and Ravager interact some more. Hell, I say revamp the whole team from scratch, make it like Judd's Outsiders run but with anti-heroes. Anyway, the character most people wanna write for are Spider-Man, and considering how many Spidey books there are, we should all get a chance! We all want more Wally West, so give us more Wally. The fact that we want more of a character we've had as Flash for over 20 years shows what a big mistake it was for Barry to replace him. We want quite a few people resurrected but Ted Kord gets the top vote, so please DC, give us back Ted Kord! And we seem to want Barry Allen back in the grave, so have Barry sacrifice himself again during Flashpoint, he can look like a hero, just give us Wally back!

I wanna thank everyone for sending in your posts, if you guys like the Top Five 5 back I'll make it a monthly thing, so let me know what you all want. Below are the results of  last week's poll and be sure to vote in the new poll as well. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay classy Todd Squad!

Last week's poll asked "What did you think of Brightest Day overall?"

Last Place with 20% - "I loved it!" - See DC, the minority of the vote.
First Place with 40% - Tie between "It was...Okay" and "I hated it!!!" Not good for a big year long crossover DC...

What I Learned From Brightest Day

Hey everyone,  Jason Todd here with another edition of my crowd pleasing, award winning, bone chilling, life changing, over exaggerating column, "What I Learned From..." This time I plan on telling you guys what I learned from the year long bi-weekly comic series known only as Brightest Day. It's gonna be sarcastic, point out a ton of flaws, as well as probably negative, so unless that's your thing, I'd get the hell outta here! So, let's get this thing underway!

~The following are the views of the Jason Todd Comic Spot, they are in no way, shape or form considered to be coherent in any language or to any race or creed of people. Without any more stalling, I present to you What I learned from Brightest Day.~

Deadman's first act back was to destroy his own headstone... he's gonna regret that in about 24 issues...

In issue 0 the White Lantern ring convinces Boston to help him by showing a TON of images that don't happen, including Hawkman and Hawkgirl fighting, Osiris' breaking the Black Adam and Isis statues, Blue Beetle and Max Lord shaking hands, Mera having Aquaman chained up and Hawk and Dove making out... damn that ring is a lying son of a bitch.

The White Lantern ring causes a forest to sprout in the middle of Star City in the shape of a star... for no apparent reason.

Aquaman can return from the dead apparently bulletproof, Captain Boomerang can return younger and shedding a ton of weight, yet Deadman returns only as a guy who is teleported around randomly by a ring. Interesting. wait no, I mean stupid.

No Aquaman leads to Manta being a fish gutter, Aquaman returns, he goes crazy and starts killing people. See Arthur, you did more good when you were dead, ya bastard.

By submerging himself in water, Black Manta can apparently jump OUT of the water in full gear... because putting on gear underwater is apparently less of a hassle than putting it on while on dry land.

A crazed Martian apparently lived in disguise and had a family with a human on Earth and waited for Martian Manhunter to return, who was dead for all of a few months in the comic world, all the while he apparently believed himself to be the only living Green Martian...

In order to get information he wants, Martian Manhunter is not above pretending to be a crazy old woman's deceased father, yep, he's that kind of hero.

Whoever's in charge of the continuity forgot that Jason Rusch's dad has a prosthetic arm in issue three and drew him with two perfectly fine arms, which would later change back to a prosthetic with no explanation.

The bones of the Hawks can apparently make a portal to another dimension, I guess that adds truth to the phrase what goes around comes around... or something?

Deadman and Dove's relationship started by him sniffing her while she slept... yep, Deadman's got game. If you're single, go sniff a chick while she's sleeping, the babe's love that. She'll be making ya cheeseburgers for breakfast in no time.

Mera was sent to kill Aquaman, instead she married him, banged him and gave him a kid she apparently didn't even want, clearly he sniffed her while she slept which caused all of that.

Boston Brand takes one bite of a burger because apparently after being dead for YEARS, all you need is one bite and you don't need to eat for the rest of the series. Damn, is there anything cheeseburgers can't do? (Thanks to Caz for pointing this out.)

In issue 7 everyone gets their missions from the White Lantern, they are as follows:

- Deadman - Embrace life, which got him killed. Man, that sucks....

- Martian Manhunter - Burn it down (while showing the forest). he eventually kills D'Kay and somehow that counts....

- Jason Rusch (who didn't die) has a mission to get his head out of the books... nothing comes from that.

- Ronald Raymond - Study More, which he doesn't but their joint mission was to destroy Deathstorm which they do.

- Hawkman - Don't let them leave this world, stop the Queen. Hawk stops the evil queen on Zamaron.

- Hawkgirl - Save Hawkman from Hath-Set, she does and ends up dying even though she completed her mission.

- Aquaman - Find him (Aqualad) before they do, he finds him... hooray. D

- Boomerang - Throw a Boomerang at Dove, it took him 24 issues but he did it.

- Jade - Balance the Darkness... well that's vague...

- Osiris - Free your sister, which he had o do by killing people... yet the White Lantern resurrected people... so that really made no damn sense. Especially since people had to die for the Champion to come back and Osiris had killed a fair share already...

- Max Lord - Kill Magog, which he did pretty quickly compared to some of these people and their missions.

- Reverse Flash - Allow Flash to escape the Speed Force...which I thought he WAS according to... Flash Rebirth... where Reverse Flash appeared... even though he should've been dead... which... whatever... point is he had to do nothing.

- Hawk - Catch Boomer's boomerang, which he didn't do, which resulted in nothing.

In other words, Deadman and Hawkgirl did their missions and died, yet Hawk didn't do his mention and is rewarded by being the only guy on a team of hot female superheroes...

The ring will tell Boston to find the protector of Earth, even though he's apparently dead, so out of over 7 billion people on Earth alone, Deadman is looking for a dead...man.

Jason Rusch's dad said he deserves the world's worst dad trophy, I'd put him behind Michael Jackson's dad and Omni-Man, but whatever.

Deathstorm can use the White Lantern to resurrect a bunch of Black Lanterns from people that are already living, because sure, that doesn't go against EVERYTHING we learned in Blackest Night.

When waiting for Martian Manhunter to arrive, D'kay decides to go shopping, kill some people and then prepare some turkey and wine for their big meeting, because if there's anything a Martian loves, it's turkey and wine by candlelight dinner.

When looking for who the Champion of Earth could be, Deadman has pictures of Green Arrow, The Flash and... The Ray? Bwahahaha

Batman wasn't the Champion of the Earth, because the guy whose saved the Earth countless times and taken down the heavy hitters like Superman, Green Lantern and The Flash, is nothing to the Alec Holland, who technically wasn't even Swamp Thing according to Johns.

Boston gave up the ring and got shot and died, but was given the ring back and given a second, well third chance. He'd later die again due to a boomerang, because... he had horrible luck apparently. I mean who gets shot two seconds after taking off a ring that's BASED on life? So he's been shot dead twice and killed with a Magical Boomerang for those counting.

Boston Brand was a dick... that is all.

Martian Manhunter wants to be a Green Lantern, because if there's anything someone that's as powerful as Superman needs, it's a Green Lantern Ring. (I'm looking at YOU, Sodam Yat.)

In the future The Batman will look like Marlon Brando... And he's gonna make you an offer ya can't refuse.

Batman Europa comes out January 2011....Wait a minute...

Congorilla had to appear because DC has a contract with the company that makes King Kong movies... either that or someone at DC LOVES Monkeys, you decide.

When in doubt, have Firestorm "blow up the universe" as a cliffhanger at the end of issue 16 in what you've already announced as a 24 issue series... because somewhere there's someone stupid enough to believe he really DID blow up the universe.

Hawkman and Hawkgirl's "ancient Hearts" power the Sapphire Lanterns through their love.. or something. I feel like Geoff Johns is just saying random shit just to say it now.

The entity for Love senses that Hawkgirl's mom has no love.. so it rewards her by bonding with her to give her an insane amount of power... that makes NO sense...

Boston's grandfather is allowed to leave a nursing home on a motorcycle... with his grandson that's been pronounced dead for years now. God that staff is really half-assing it aren't they?

The bones of Hawkman and Hawkgirl's past lives can come back to live and drag Hawkgirl's mom to hell or something, because if there's one thing magical bones of people who've died numerous times should be able to do, it's get revenge on someone who DIDN'T kill them.

The last time we saw the Hawks alive in Blackest Night, they had just had sex and were then killed by Ralph and Sue Dibny. They came back, fought people and teamed with animals, then were about to have sex and were blasted by Deadman and his ring. In other words, if you have sex, you will die... this message was brought to you by DC Comics.

Aquaman got both hands cut off over his lifetime, and know he has both back, meaning he's the only superhero that was forced to be ambidextrous.

Aquaman, he's pretty much bulletproof yet you cut off his hand and he cries like a little girl that's stubbed her toe.

Mera's powerful enough to control the entire sea, cause ya know... that comes with Kegel exercises I'd guess.

When there's drama and you call in a veritable who's who of heroes like Superman, Batman, and The Flash, you should also call in Metamorpho, and Congorilla, because those are A-Listers If I've ever heard of one.

Martian Manhunter, not to be outdone by Deadman, also dies three times, because, ya know... the death in three's thing is meant to be taken literal.

If a White Lantern Ring tells you to choose your world, between a desolate world with no one, and a world full of billions, choose the desolate one, or an acrobat in a ghost costume will shoot you with a power ring.

During Crisis on Infinite Earths, Ronnie Raymond wrote "Ronnie was here" on a rock, because clearly nothing about your entire universe being destroyed means that Ronnie should be serious.

After having him infused with him for like 12 issues, Deathstorm released Prof. Stein for no reason whatsoever. When I asked Deathstorm why, he said he thought it would be radical. I've since stopped talking to Deathstorm.

Firestorm's mission was to destroy Deathstorm, which he only did because it told him mission complete and blasted a beam which killed Deathstorm... meaning the only way he could complete his mission...was to complete his mission. Oh, and they never fought one on one.

Green Arrow appeared in one page on Brightest Day 23 to shoot an arrow at a wall that kept people from entering the forest... and wasn't seen again. Riveting!

Geoff Johns has been watching Power Rangers which influenced his Color Corps, and Captain Planet which encouraged Brightest Day, in other words, yes, the power is yours!

Alec Holland is Captain Planet... That's all.

Hawk couldn't catch a boomerang that he had a year in our time to prepare for almost, yet if he had, Deadman wouldn't have died and Alec Holland wouldn't have a life... so the world would be doomed, so thanks for failing Hawk. YOU get the big ol' Fail Award!

While two giant Swamp Things fight each other, Superman, Batman, even Giganta and Apache Chief are nowhere to be found.

This time Deadman died without his mask, yet his ghost has to wear a mask... okay..

Dove can hear Deadman, but he's still dead. Yep, that's what a young hottie needs, a dead boyfriend that she can hear, so if she dates someone else she has to know Deadman's thre AND listen to him while he's watching her.

Aquaman comes back with his hand, but Hawkman comes back without his woman, which means Aquaman's hand is Hawkgirl, which adds a WHOLE new meaning to... nevermind. I won't go there.

The White Lantern didn't really answer a few questions, then it left, because if there's anything we didn't need to know, it's why the hell THAT lantern could talk.

Swamp Thing killed a bunch of BP execs for ruining his planet, oh yeah, you're definitely the Earth's champion. A giant tree-hugger that doesn't mind the blood.

John Constantine showed up and told us all that this series was bollocks... I agree Constantine.

Coming in 2012, the biggest crossover mini-series since Blackest Night, Brightest Day, and Flashpoint, Dimmest Noon!

Well that was a lot longer than I expected, so if you even read part of it, thanks for sticking through. And before I get out of here I wanna remind you all of the Top Five 5! For those of you that don't know how it goes, you send me your top five picks for each category at KevinKavalier@gmail.com and I'll post the answers this Monday and compare everyone's results. Make sure ya send your picks in ASAP so you don't forget. The topics are below, and here's hoping you guys participate. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd. You stay classy, Todd Squad.

Five DC Villains/Anti-Heroes You'd put on Deathstroke's Titans Team (Not counting Deathstroke)

Five Characters You wish you could write for

Five Characters you wish were used more

Five Characters you want resurrected

Five Characters who you wish stayed killed off 

Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay classy Todd Squad!

Ratings and Rantings

Hola Todd Squad, Me Llamo Jason Todd welcoming you to another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This is in fact only stop numero dos on our three post week, and if you're wondering why I'm speaking Spanglish, it's because I have nothing better to do! Anyway, we've got three comics on tap for this review, so we're gonna get through all three of those and I have a special surprise at the end of this post. But for now, let's get things underway with our first comic, Batman Beyond!

Batman Beyond #5

Things start off with a man named Paxton Powers being released from prison. Paxton Powers is the son of the former co-owner, Derek Powers of the company Wayne-Powers, before he was arrested which granted Bruce Wayne one-hundred percent ownership. A week later all of the Wayne Powers workers are causing a huge scene outside of the building after breaking off negotiations, Batman swoops in and drops off some tear gas and drops down to get some peace but manages to get attacked instead. Bats disposes of his attackers and decides to leave once Bruce tells him he's gonna look into some things.  Terry decides to go meet Dana for a meal and she gives him the cold shoulder when he tries to kiss her on the cheek bad sign McGinnis. She tells Terry she's been waiting around the corner for the last thirty minutes trying to get up the nerve to tell Terry it's over. Terry tries to defend his choices and mistakes but Dana sticks to her guns and tells him he's a great person, but a lousy boyfriend, before leaving. On the other side of town, Bruce Wayne meets with the new negotiator his men hired to represent them, Mr. Godfrey. He has a shady past and Bruce doesn't seem to trust him too much as he cuts their meeting short. In other news, Dana's brother Doug has been released from prison which Dana, although apprehensive at first, seems to be very happy about. Meanwhile Bruce and Batman are talking while Bats is on patrol when they spot Powers entering the Wayne Powers building. Bats follows him and confronts him but Powers says this is a misunderstanding and he was told by someone to meet them there. Bruce yells to Terry that it's a set-up and to get out of there but the building suddenly explodes. The issue ends as we see who arranged for Paxton's release as well as tried to blow him up, and it's surprising to say the least. Well this issue was really show, nothing happened and I found myself so bored I almost stopped reading a few times, but the reveal was interesting. Sadly everything else was pretty boring and slow-paced so I'll give this a 5.5/10.

Dana: You're a good person, Terry... You're just a lousy boyfriend. (I'm the EXACT opposite of that... :P)

Deadpool Annual #1

And finally, stop two on the three part Identity Wars mini-series. To see my review of part one's Amazing Spider-Man Annual, click here. Anyway, we start off with Deadpool in this alternate world, about to be slain by an alternate Doctor Doom by the name of Death Mask, Overlord of the Underworld. Yes, he DOES have an awesome nickname. He sends Deadpool out to sea with the help of his henchman, a big buff guy who looks kinda like Bane, named Dead Weight. (Clever.) While out there DP's boat apparently explodes, and we get a flashback to how this started. We see Deadpool in the alternate world hanging out with what he calls the yin to his yang, the peanut to his butter, the Cagney to his Lacey, the Green and Black Clad, apparently not affiliated with D-Generation X, Death Wish. After skipping through flowers, taking pictures with sharks, and having an old west duel, the duo go grab some Ice Cream. While eating their frozen desserts, Deadpool asks Death Wish why his healing factor is so much slower than his. Death Wish doesn't know what DP is talking about so he says that the healing factor is what makes Deadpool Deadpool, and in his case makes Wade Wilson Wade Wilson. DW then replies that he's not Wade Wilson, so DP asks who is, and is immediately zapped by the big beefy Doctor Doom guy. He says this is the last time Death Wish lets him down, and knocks Deadpool out of the way. Death Mask tells Death Wish he's failed him for the last time by not procuring the thing he was supposed to from Parker Technologies, and now he's gallivanting with a cartoon counter-part. Death Mask then kills Death Wish and tells him Wade Wilson didn't become the world's greatest criminal mastermind by forgiving mistakes. Deadpool is heart-broken that his buddy is dead, and vows revenge. Over with Bruce Banner and The Amazing Spider (Peter Parker in disguise) we find out that the reason Bruce Banner can't become Hulk in this world, is because their Bruce Banner went under Dr. Strange's wing and learned magic and inherited the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme. Deadpool then shows up and tells Spidey he needs his help. We soon find out that Doom became Death Wish after the Fantastic Four disbanded when The Amazing Spider defeated Galactus by himself, so they felt they were no longer needed. Deadpool manages to distract Spidey long enough to get his info on Death Mask and go after him. Deadpool then goes after Death Mask's Deadpool based villains including Brain Dead (Hammer Head), Deadeye (Bullseye), Dead Head (M.O.D.O.K.) and Bob (Bob). After handling the lackeys, Deadpool heads for Death Mask and watses no time attacking him. He throws him a bomb which Death Mask catches, and it blows up in his face, which only knocks him out due to his healing factor. Deadpool takes this time to switch costumes with Death Mask. Dead Weight who is apparently Wilson Fisk (Bwhahahaha!) walks in and Deadpool-dressed-as-Death-Mask has him tie up Death-Mask-dressed-as-Deadpool. Which puts us where we started with Death Mask (secretly Deadpool) watching as Dead Weight and Deadpool (secretly Death Mask) blow up in the middle of the water. Deadpool then goes to Wilson Towers, spray paints over the Wilson, and above it rechristens it "Wilson" Tower. Later on Deadpool is relaxing, still dressed as Death Mask when the Amazing Spider attacks. He beats the hell outta Death Mask before Deadpool finally gets to tell him he is in fact Deadpool. He explains to Spidey how he's deactivated and blow up all of Death Mask's bases and robots and moved all of his cash into a new memorial called the Make-A-Death-Wish Foundation. Genius...just plain genius. Spidey is shocked at Deadpool's heroic ways and Deadpool asks for a hug which Spidey gives him. The issue ends as we see Death Mask at the feet of Mephisto, offering his servitude if he releases the monsters to Earth, as we see a giant horned-Hulk emerge from a portal. Now THIS was great, I really enjoyed the first part of Identity Wars and this second part was just as good. It had everything I love in a Deadpool comic as well as an awesome Alternate World story, I'll give this a solid 10/10 rating. Bring on Part three!

Deadpool: Sorry, Spidey. Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I created that great diversion? Keep looking at me and I'll tell you...

Morning Glories #9

We start things off with a Flashback to ten days ago when Jun tried to break out of Morning Glories Academy. He suddenly has a gun to his head and turns around to see none other than himself, well not himself, but his twin brother. We then go back even further to five years ago as we see Jun and his brother Hisao fighting like most brothers do. Their mom tells them to relax cause their expecting guests, and the guests are none other than Morning Glories faculty members Miss Daramount and Mr. Gribbs. Jun introduces himself with the always graceful "Die Alien Scum!!!" as his mother looks disappointed. She tells Miss Daramount the one with bad manners is Jun and his slightly-better-behaved brother is Hisao. Jun's mom offers the teachers some Tea while the boys get ready. Hisao asks Jun where his bag is and Jun says he's not going. When Hisao tells him the place looks nice in the pictures and booklets Jun says the teachers seem weird and the woman doesn't know he understands English and he overheard them saying strange things. Hisao tries to convince Jun but he says no and pushes him, which causes a statue to fall over and break. Downstairs Jun's mom calls them to get ready to go, while she mentions how proud she is her boys have been accepted to such a prestigious school. The boys are afraid as to what she'll do about the statue being broken as it's the last thing they have from their father. Hisao tells Jun to tell her that Hiaso broke it and that if he says it's an accident she'll believe it, as opposed to Jun whose been in too much trouble lately. He tells Jun to go tell her while he cleans it up, and to pull her aside so she doesn't make a scene in front of the guests. Hisao tells Jun not to worry about the school because they'll be together and he'll never let anything happen to him. We then jump forward to see Jun turn around as Hisao has a gun pointed at him, shocked to see his brother. Hisao asks Jun why he's there and he says he came there for his brother, but Hisao doesn't believe him. Jun says he was warned Hisao may be brainwashed but he's there as a friend, but Hisao says he's there to hurt people that he cares about. Jun asks how can he care about them after what they did to them. We go back once again as Jun's mom call them down and mention how Jun is often late but Hisao is never late, except for his own birthday. She mentions how he was born thirty minutes after Jun and almost missed their birthday. Daramount and Gribbs exchange a look and Daramount mentions that she thought they had the same birthday and birth-time 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) on May 4th. She mentions that the nurse made a mistake and just took down Hisao's birth and time. Well that confuses me since Jun was apparently born first but whatever. Daramount mentions that funding has been cut short and sadly they can only accept Hisao, which obviously has something to do with their birthdays. Their Mom gets upset and says they can't just take one of the boys, they've lost too much already and she refuses to have them lose one another. Miss Daramount says it's not that simple and tells Mr. Gribbs to take over. He then beats Jun's mother to a bloody pulp but unaware to them Jun is watching. He runs as Daramount yells to Gribbs to get the one in the blue shirt (Hisao). Back with Hisao and the Gun he asks what they did to him. Jun asks Hisao if he even knows who he is, and Hisao replies that he's his failure of a brother Jun, a little boiy that was supposed to die a long time ago. He thinks Jun has come to take everything from him and Jun asks why would he do that. We see Jun run upstairs in the flashback as Hisao asks what happened, he grabs Hisao and switches shirts with him, and tells him to hide. Gribbs busts down the door and grabs the kid in the blue shirt (now Jun) and takes him as they set fire to the house. Back in present time (yet ten days ago) we see Jun tell Hisao that he saved his life and switched shirts with him, and that Jun is Hisao and Hisao is actually Jun which I saw coming a mile away to be honest. Jun (the brain-washed brother) punches Hisao (formerly known as Jun) and puts the gun to his face, he tells him that he's the chosen one and he'll prove it. He's interrupted by security guards who take him back to his dorm, and give Jun (Hisao) detention with his buddies. His brother yells asking who pulled him out of the fire and saved him, as we see Abraham, the same man Zoe met as a kid in a flashback in an earlier issue. He helps a young Hisao escape and promises he'll see his brother again as the issue ends. Well this was interesting. I'm wondering what the back story is with Abraham, as he gives me a Jacob from Lost vibe as I'm sure each of the kids has come in contact with him over their lifetimes. I saw the swap between the two brothers coming the second they were wearing different colored shirts and one was acting up but it was still enjoyable, plus gave us more insight into how ruthless these people are. I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Jun: You are not the one they wanted. You are not Hisao... I am.

Well that didn't take long at all eh? Thanks for joining me guys, here's hoping you enjoyed this weeks Ratings and Rantings. As for this surprise, it's the return of the Top Five 5! For those of you that don't know how it goes, you send me your top five picks for each category at KevinKavalier@gmail.com and I'll post the answers this Monday and compare everyone's results. Make sure ya send your picks in ASAP so you don't forget. The topics are below, and here's hoping you guys participate. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd. You stay classy, Todd Squad.

Five DC Villains/Anti-Heroes You'd put on Deathstroke's Titans Team (Not counting Deathstroke)

Five Characters You wish you could write for

Five Characters you wish were used more

Five Characters you want resurrected

Five Characters who you wish stayed killed off

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batgirl #21, Batman: Arkham City #1, Birds of Prey #12, and Red Robin #23

5 Reasons: Why you should read Invincible

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with stop one on the "making it up to my readers" promotional tour, coming to a town  near you. I figured we'd kick things off with something YOU guys voted for a few weeks back, 5 Reasons: Why you should read Invincible. So, now's a better time than ever to convince you guys and gals to read what may be the best damn superhero series in print today. For new readers, I plan on giving five reasons, then elaborating on each why you should read a certain series. So, without any further stalling, lets get this thing started!

 

1.) The Story - Invincible is a hell of a story, it's about a teenager named Mark Grayson, he happens to be the son of Omni-Man, hero of the planet Earth who is a member of the alien race of Viltrumites. Mark lives the normal life or a normal kid, except keeping his dad's secret identity under wraps, until one fateful day when Mark finally gets his powers. Mark wastes no time in telling his dad, going about getting a superhero name (Invincible) and costume, and fighting crime. In no time at all Mark is saving the world, teaming up with other superheroes and even going into space to fight other alien forms. But life isn't all fun and games for Mark, he eventually learns of his father's dark past, and things are never the same again. I won't ruin it for you but things really change. From there on in Invincible tries to make his mark (no pun intended) by becoming one of Earth's greatest heroes. Along the way he encounters a ton of heroes, villains and so much more. The story focuses on Mark Grayson's life as Invincible but also has no less than three or four other storylines going at all times, always bringing action and each story having it's own payoff, even if it's something as simple as a stray bag of garbage that Mark mistakenly launches into orbit. The writing is well thought out by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and clearly every step is planned out beforehand. It's one story that quickly ties you to it's characters emotionally, you'll grow attached to some and come to hate others, and then you'll be surprised at yourself when you suddenly hate a character you loved and love a character you hated.

2.) The Characters - Man oh man, if there is ANY comic out there that has such a wide cast of characters in less than a hundred issues, I haven't seen it. Not only does this comic boast a TON of characters, each of who manages to get screen time at some point, some of the names are just amazingly clever. There's the explosion causing superhero bad-boy Rex Splode, his girlfriend and Mark's crush, Atom Eve, A man with the ability to shrink himself named Shrinking Ray, and a brother and sister with the ability to clone themselves, Multi-Paul and Dupli-Kate. Some of my other favorites on this series are Allen the Alien, Bulletproof (which was almost Invincible's name apparently) and the evil Conquest who debuts late in the series. Each character has a pretty great backstory which we get insight to throughout the comic and pretty much everyone has their own views on right or wrong, so I'm sure you'd immediately find a character to relate to. And of course I can't skip over a superhero by the name of "The Immortal" who looks just like, and apparently WAS... Abraham Lincoln. I kid you not, read the series and see if I'm lying.

3.) Cross-Over Appeal - Invincible may just be one of the best comics in the world for it's ability to seamlessly cross-over and mention other comics. I LOVE comics that are self-aware (Deadpool anyone?) and Invincible does it even better by being aware of other comics. Mark Grayson is a teenager who visits his comic shop just like we do, he has a pull list and even has a favorite comic character, Science Dog. But what I'm referring to is Invincible's little nods to other comics. In one issue, Angstrom Levy, a time-traveling scientist mentions going to a world where there's only women and one man surviving, obviously a nod to Y the Last Man. While going through alternate worlds himself, Invincible encounters Batman and manages to insult his name, saying it seems pretty lazy since he dresses like a Bat and calls himself Batman, and has the same conversation with Spider-Man while going to his world as well. He even mentions how lazy it would be for someone with super powers to walk around calling themselves Super-Man. But Invincible isn't only good for making pop-culture references, it's also a great one in itself. In the movie Paul, Simon Pegg wears an Invincible shirt while in the comic shop, and even the animated series King of the Hill put a shout out to Invincible in an episode where Bobby Hill is reading a comic that looks similar to the first issue of Invincible that's called "Unvincible." If that's not a sign this series is awesome, I don't know what is.

4.) The Artwork - At first look Invincible's art looks like good, clean, wholesome cartoon art. And don't get me wrong, it is. The amazing art work on this series by Ryan Ottley and Cory Walker is crisp, smooth and greatly represents the story Kirkman is telling. You know I enjoy the art because I usually can't think of artists outside of Jim Lee, Nicola Scott, Alex Ross and a few others, yet Cory and Ryan's names popped into my head in seconds so that shows how much I enjoy their work. But the artwork isn't always that way because the story isn't always that way. I've seen panels that look like something you'd see in a Pixar movie and then turned the page and seen panels you'd see in a snuff film. That's a testament to how great Ryan's art has been as he took over full time at issue eight. I've seen panels where Ryan has drawn some gory stuff like people getting punches through the stomach and hands coming out of backs, I've seen people get their jaws disconnected from their face and I've seen panels with worse. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a super gory series, but when times get rough heroes and villains aren't playing slapsies, their fighting, sometimes for their lives or the lives of their families and friends, and that's represented here.

5.) Quick to Catch Up - And lastly, a great reason to read Invincible is because it's not hard to catch up to it. Invincible has 14 trades in the main story and a one-shot trade chronicling the histories of Atom Eve and Rex Splode. Now fifteen trades may sound like a lot, especially when they cover the first 78 issues of a series, but that's all it is. One with a bit of free time can read through these comics in no time, retain them and enjoy them. Falisha has manages to read five trades in the last week as well as working because they read so fluid and quickly and always make you wanna see what will happen next. Plus, when compared to other heroes that have been around longer like Superman and Batman who have over 700 issues of just their main titles, not counting Action and Detective Comics, as well as comic like Wonder Woman and Spider-Man who each have over 600 issues, Invincible's 78 should be a cake walk. I can honestly say there has not been one moment in the entire Invincible run that I didn't like the comic or didn't enjoy it. Invincible may not, no, it IS the best superhero based comic out right now, probably the best comic I've ever read.

Bonus Reason - I plan on reviewing Invincible, starting next month at issue 80!

I don't think I've ever met anyone who has read Invincible and hasn't enjoyed it. I read the entire Invincible series while also reading the entire Y the Last Man series and finished them withing three weeks or less, and those are some of the best comics I've ever read, so give Invincible a chance, read to at least the third volume and decide if you want to continue, I'm pretty sure you will. And that's it for me guys, I hope you enjoyed 5 Reasons: Why you should read Invincible. Until next time, I'm your friendly blogger-man, Jason Todd signing off, you Stay Classy, Todd Squad!