Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, JT here with another edition of Ratings and Rantings! Now before I jump into the reviews, I wanna mention that my good buddy X-Man75 has opened a forum for comic book fans to discuss comics, TV shows, Movies and everything in between. It's a forum for us to discuss everything from our favorite comics, our least favorite storylines, and of course, the DCnU Reboot/Relaunch. So come join us at this comic forum and let us know what you think. And, you can even discuss the comics I'm going to review now. (Yep, I'm a master of the segue!)

Superman/Batman #85

We start things off with Jimmy Olsen finding a dead man with a newspaper stuffed in his mouth that washed ashore. We then find out that the man was the editor of the Gotham Gazette and had claimed to crack the case on who Batman was. When Perry White delegates this task to Clark Kent, Clark tries to tell Perry that he thinks Batman is a good guy that wouldn't do this, but Perry replied that good guys don't need masks. Ever heard of Zorro, Perry? When Clark finally arrives in Gotham by train (gives him time to start his article) he meets up with Batman in an alley. Clark offers his services but Bruce said he doesn't need them, this is his city and he can take care of it. Bruce leaves and goes to investigate and look for clues like only the World's Greatest Detective can, But when Batman stumbles onto a room with tons of Bruce Wayne articles plastered on the walls, with Cowl's drawn on them, he realizes this may be a bigger problem than he expected. While looking this over, Bat's notices the doorknob jiggling, and we see the deceased Editor's co-worker was coming with the police to check out his apartment. Batman decides to burn the evidence...and the apartment and manages to get seen escaping by the police. That's REALLY sloppy, Batman. Supes soon finds out about the arson when it's reported on the police scanner, and flies there just in time to see everyone is safe. Commissioner Gordon shows up and tells Superman they don't need this getting out of hand and don't need Superman's help. He says that Batman started the fire and then put it out with a special retardant, which sounds like Batman. Superman then goes to find Batman, and asks him what the deal was with him lighting an apartment on fire. Batman explains he used a retardant but Superman says it was stupid and sloppy. Hey, I said that! While they talk, Batman opens a safe-box he got from the editor's house, he opens it and says that he made a mistake, and forgot to file off the patent number on one of the pieces he used from Waynetech to make a Batarang, and that's what Remington (the editor) had, one from a mistake that Bats made during his first year as Batman. And Remington had created a paper trail to prove Bats had been getting tech from Waynetech (kinda really makes you appreciate the whole thing Grant did with Bruce announcing he funds Bats, that would REALLY help in this situation.) and Bruce mentions since they were a publicly traded company at the time, he was defrauding stockholders, which is something that needed to be done. Clark mentions that he has to finish this story, but he'll prove Batman isn't a murderer. The issue ends Bats telling Superman he doesn't need his help, as Superman mentions that Bruce is wrong, and he does in fact need the Man of Steel's assistance. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but it was far from bad. Bruce made a few mistakes, one was explained as a rookie mistake but the other seemed kinda weird for him to make, but the guy is human. But this issue was fine enough, I enjoyed it and I'll give it a 7/10.

Perry White: Good guys don't need masks, Kent.

Batgirl #22

We start things off with Steph finding out she;s been activated for her Batman Inc. mission. Next she's in foggy ol' London town with twenty minutes to meet up with someone across town in a place she's never been. She even mentions spending ten hours in coach, and attributes that as her punishment for slapping Bruce in The Road Home. I love callbacks, so that automatically bumps this score up by one. Steph is soon picked up by Squire, who says she was sent by Knight, but uses the pointy ear thing which of course made Steph think she meant Bats. Man, why is this the first time these two are interacting? Cause it seems to be golden already. After yanking Steph's chain a bit, the Blonde Bat-Babe and London's Lady Liberty take off across the town. On the way, Squire asks Steph when was then last time she left the states, and Steph thinks of Africa, after her "illustrious year of dying". God, Bryan Q. Miller deserves SO much more credit than he gets... the guy has been writing Steph for less than two years and is already one of my three favorite writers. Steph and Squire's Excellent Adventure even has them pass Abbey Road while four guys who look oddly like the Beetles are crossing the street. While heading to their destination, our two ladies overhear an alarm and go investigate what turns out to be a robbery. It turns out the robbery is by a thug who calls himself the Orphan, and he's after The Mean, which is apparently a sword that has control over time. He beats Batgirl and Squire to it and manages to freeze time for everyone around except the three, who were nullified from the exposure since they were in the room with him. The girls try to figure out what Orphan would want to do with time frozen, and immediately set out to find Knight, just as the frozen in time Knight is about to be beaten to death by The Orphan and his Urchins. Batgirl and Squire figure that the Urchins can move due to the temporal clocks their wearing and target those, and Squire attacks The Orphan, but she's starting to sink back into real world time and slows down. Just as The Orphan prepares to finish her off, Batgirl tackles him and manages to steal his temporal clock and tosses it to Squire. The girls then manage to save the day and replace the sword, and all before dinner time. As Steph finishes up in London, she and Squire have a talk about their respective mentors and just as Steph says she's jealous, Squire says she's jealous of Steph, because she certainly isn't a sidekick. The issue ends as Steph finally gets home and Batman appears in the shadows, asking why she's late, which will be continued in Batman Inc. #9. I really enjoyed this issue, it was fun, funny and showed that Batgirl has REALLY come a long way in the last two years, it sucks that it all comes to an end in a few months, because in that short time, Stephanie has managed to become my favorite Batgirl, and I owe that to the amazing writing of Bryan Q. Miller. So thanks Bryan for this issue and all the rest. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating, it's bittersweet to know there's only a few more of these left.

Batgirl: You know this guy?

Squire: Calls himself the Orphan, always wants some more. (See... that's just plain genius.)

Power Girl #25

We start things off with the last issue of Judd's amazing Power Girl run with a thirteen year-old Rayhan Mazin, telling his father how much he hates it in America. He says how his father was an engineer and now he has to drive a taxi, and how people yell at his mother because she doesn't have a good grasp of English, and how he's been beaten up at school. His father tells him how his mother isn't bothered by rude people, how he's taking night classes and will be accredited in two years, and how America is better than where they came from. How they don't have to worry about bombings, militias or being drafted. How they can speak their minds and live how they want and love who they want, and how it's up to them to show Americans that Arabs are no different from them and how it won't be easy, but nothing worth it is ever easy. (This was brilliantly written by Judd.) We then jump to the present with Batman (Bruce) and Power Girl confronting an enraged Rayhan. They tell him to stand down and Rayhan notes he's done that all of his life, and Power Girl replies until he tried to bring down that plane. Rayhan tells her he was saving that plane, but Power Girl believes that she and Bats saved the plane, so of course she doesn't believe Rayhan. Batman says this is not the time and place for a debate and Rayhan agrees and tries to strike Batman, who dodges the lighting blast. Rayhan manages to blast Power Girl, which doesn't hurt her but manages to daze the Kryptonian powerhouse while he escapes. He leaves the raging storm behind so Peej tries to figure out a way to stop the storm from causing any collateral damage. We then see inside the hospital and see Rayhan looking for his father. He asks a nurse but she says he can't see him during an emergency, as their trying to accommodate all the patients due to the flooding caused by Rayhan's storm. Rayhan gets upset once again and powers up but he's suddenly shot in the neck with a syringe from afar by Batman, who tells him to relax and let the drugs do their job. Batman thinks to himself how his dart should've knocked Rayhan out, as it can knock out a man three times his size. Bats is then hit with a giant wave of water from Rayhan. Meanwhile, Power Girl uses her X-Ray vision to blast all the rain and make it evaporate, she then attacks the lighting blasts to make sure no one gets hit by them, and the storm quickly disappears, which lets Peej know that something must be going on with Rayhan. We see the reason it stopped is because he's calm, as he's finally found his father's room. Rayhan finally talks to his father, he lies and says they let him go, and his father says he tried to get Rayhan free, he got a lawyer, started petitions, and says he knew Rayhan was trying to save those people in the plane. He tells Rayhan that he's glad he got to come see him, as he passes away and Rayhan cries at his fathers deathbed. In the hallway, Batman tells the officers to leave him be, since all he did was cause a flood and no one got hurt, and that he and Power Girl will handle it from here. We then see Power Girl tell Rayhan she's sorry about his father, and he thanks her for her condolences. She also apologizes for getting him arrested, and says that Batman checked and saw there were discrepancies with the black box, and that Rayhan did save the plane before they actually did and some people knew but kept Rayhan locked up in order to create an incident and fear in people. Peej asks what they can do to make it up to him, and Rayhan says nothing will be necessary, so she asks something of him. We then see her telling Batman that Rayhan agreed to meet with the J.S.A. who have talked about bringing in new blood. Bats says that's good, and he's going to make sure the people that kept Rayhan locked up when they knew he were innocent will pay for their misdeeds as well. Before Batman leaves, Power Girl tells Bruce she missed him and she's glad he's back, and the best ones do always make their way back. Bats replies that Kara is among the best as well. The issue ends with a confident Power Girl flying off, stating that she is, one of the best. I loved the story with Rayhan, the motivation he had and I'd love if he became one of the first (?) Arab superheroes in DC. I loved this issue, and I've loved Judd's run on Power Girl. I believe this is is last issue and I've enjoyed every one up until this, and since it doesn't look like Peej has a place in this new DCU, I wanna thank Judd for making me a big fan of her, making her one of my favorite female characters, and making her my second favorite Kryptonian, right behind big blue. This issue was gonna get a 9, but since I enjoyed it so much, since it's Judd's last one, since it might be the last we see of Power Girl for a while after this reboot, and since it's my blog, I'll give it a solid 10/10.

Power Girl: I am one of the best. (That you are Peej.)

Morning Glories #10

We start things off with Jade walking down a hallway and being approached by a female student with a bald head that would make Lex Luthor jealous. She leads Jade somewhere while some pictures float magically out of lockers and they pass a that shows rubble of buildings and a bunch of dead bodies. She leads Jade to a lab and the scientist tells Jade to take a seat. Jade tells him nothing she does is ever good enough and she can't make herself or anyone else happy. The scientist says, "What about her?" and gestures over to a red headed woman who asks Jade if she's ready to go home and gets in a car. Jade says yes and hops in and as they leave the scientist tells Jade to make sure she tells Oliver Simon that he was right. This is trippy, I feel like I'm on LSD or something. Anyway, they leave and drive past a bunch of rubble and destruction, Jade's mom asked how she's doing. Jade tells her how no one remembered her at home and everyone was trying to kill her at the school, and her mom asks did Joshua ask her to the dance. Just as I wondered what the hell was going on, Jade's mom crashes into something and we see Jade was dreaming, as she wakes up screaming in her bed. Casey asks Jade if she was having nightmares again, and some guards rush in, obviously having gone through this before. They ask if maybe she needs to return to the nurse, and Casey tells them to try it if they dare. The Guards say if they want to they will, to which she replies that if they could they would've, and obviously can't, most likely due to headmaster's orders. The guard looks as if the cat has his tongue, and says if it happens again their taking Jade, and he and his guards leave. After all the hooplah dies down, Jade goes back to sleep and wakes up to a wall with the scribblings "The hour of our release draws near" over and over, and she walks into a room and see's some mysterious guy. Jade mentions she remembers him, and he asks if she remembers saying she'd never leave, no matter what, and she says yes. He then asks if she remembers him cutting her open and rings a bell which causes Jade to wake up in her bed. What? She awakens to Casey who tells her to get ready for class. While getting ready, Jade overhears Hunter telling Casey about what happened and why he never made it to their date. She believes him but tells him maybe they shouldn't be dating and maybe they should just be friends. Jade walks in and Hunter quickly leaves and tells Casey he'll see her around, and Jade shoots Casey a look and Casey says she knows. While on the way to class, Jade encounters Ike but Casey tells him to back off or she'll kick his ass again. Well, feisty aren't we? In class, the teacher shows them how to make a noose, then asks if anyone wants to test the noose. Really? Anyway, Jade volunteers and Casey tries to stop her but some students hold her back. Jade goes up and puts the noose on the steps off of the desk. When she does, we see an older version of Jade in an office, and she cuts young Jade free. Older Jade then asks Young Jade about Casey, Hunter and the rest of the MG Cast, and Young Jade tells her what she knows. She asks about Ike as well, which makes me think those two are going to get together. She then asks about her dreams and she mentions the lab and the cutting guy, but forgets to mention Oliver Simon. Older Jade then has Young Jade look up at the sky and describe what she see's as everything fades and she wakes up in the nurses office as this issue ends. Okay, well this confused the hell out of me. Maybe I need to re-read it a few times but it was all over the place and left me very confused, so for that I gotta give this issue a lower score than usual. I understand that the reason Jade always wants to die is so she can apparently talk to her future self, so that explains why people at the school want to kill her I guess. So I did understand some things but most went over my head, so I hope it's explained later, but this issue gets a 5/10.

Older Jade: Ha. You see him again, you should tell him you remember how shit he was in bed. (That made me chuckle.)

And that's all for me guys and gals! Thanks again for joining us on this week's Ratings and Rantings and feel free to comment and let e know what you guys think. And be sure to vote on the new weekly poll and check out the results for last week's poll below. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "How do you feel about Babs Gordon being Batgirl again?"

Last place with 8.3% - I love her as Batgirl!
Second Place with 25.0% - I'm indifferent. (My personal pick, I like them both for different reasons.)
Winner with 66.7% - I loved her as Oracle!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 and Deadpool #39... Really? That's it?!