Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd is here with another edition of your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! This week is a pretty busy one as we've got Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgin's Gates of Gotham series continuing on, we're gonna see Matthew Sturges take over the second to last issue of Power Girl, we've got the beginning to the War of the Green Lantern Aftermath by Peter Tomasi and a look at Deathstroke and his Titans. So, lets get things started with the Green Lantern Corps!

War of the Green Lantern Aftermath #1 of 2

We start things off shortly after Hal Jordan has been banished from the Green Lantern Corps and the planet of Oa, with the Guardians saying how he should have never been able to kill a Guardian and wondering if the rings are still compromised. Guy gets upset that the Guardians are crying over Krona, and Kilowog says he did they right thing and they banned him, and next they'll let the traitor (Sinestro) keep his ring. Sinestro says he doesn't want the ring and tells them to get it off, but one of the Guardians says the ring chose Sinestro and they will discover why, until then outbursts will not be tolerated. The Corps continue to yell out responses until the Guardian yells, but that doesn't scare Kilowog one bit. Kilowog says remove Sinestro's ring or he's done, and when the Guardians don;t reply, Kilowog takes his ring off and throws it to the Guardians, saying he resigns but Salaak catches it. He tells Kilowog he's received over 300 resignations and none will be honored today. How can you tell someone they can't quit? Anyway, the Guardians tells Sinestro he's coming with them, and he refuses. Soranik Natu gets upset and says there shouldn't be a debate, and when Kyle tries to calm her down she snaps on him, telling him to butt out. Salaak scans the corps and many of the members have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, so he tells them to not make any rash decisions until everyone is checked out and they bury their dead. The Guardians leave and Sinestro goes with them, with hopes of them removing his ring. We then see Ganthet, missing the hand which wore his Green Lantern ring thanks to Krona, as he says he's ashamed to face the Corps, and doesn't know if he's a Lantern without his ring or if the Guardians would even take him back. Well considering their all distraught over Krona with all the crazy shit he did, I'd say yes. Saint Walker shows up and makes a construct of Sayd for Ganthet, and it heals his hand as he talks to the construct, while in reality Sayd is still in the position of Larfleeze. We then see John Stewart and some GL's going to rebuild stuff on Oa, but they try to attack him for killing Mogo, until Kyle shows up and stops them. By the way, for some odd reason, one of the Lanterns looks EXACTLY like Green Arrow... I'll chalk it up to this issue not having the best art ever. Kyle explains that John channeled Black Lantern power using his Indigo ring to kill Mogo, but John says he knew what he was doing, and he'd do it again to trade one life for billions. Kyle says he could've found a way and John says that's because he's a dreamer, and he gets to be one because guys like John have to make all the tough decisions and live with them. He tells Kyle if he can't understand that then don't pretend he's his friend, and Kyle says he won't and flies off. Over with Soranik Natu, Hannu guides her to a group that includes a telepathic Green Lantern, he says that he saw the Guardians emotions and he knows they're afraid that a GL can kill them as easily as Hal killed Krona, so he thinks their so desperate they've run to Sinestro for help. They then ask Soranik to help them break into the Citadel and execute Sinestro as this issue ends. So this was a fine issue, I wish we'd gotten more info on Hal, but the stuff with Kyle and John, the Guardians and the stuff with Kilowog was interesting. It also sucked that Guy was in like one panel for the entire issue. The art REALLY hurt this comic in my opinion, Sinestro looked more like a red cartoon devil than the pink, smug villain we're used to. Hell, Soranik barely looked like herself, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

John Stewart: I traded one life for billions. There were no other options.

Power Girl #26

The second to last issue of Peej is being written by Mr. Matthew Sturges, I'm not familiar with his work outside of Salvation Run, but I'm hoping he can keep Power Girl as good as Judd has for these final two issues. We start things off with a really good speech by Power Girl, delivered to a ton of women dressed as Power Girl, a few as other heroes, and a few guys dressed as Bats and Superman. We then see a bunch of women in line to see and speak to Power Girl, one even cuts and says she's a student and her studies have shown that Power Girl is the most powerful female hero, and somewhere Wonder Woman the Teenage Amazon is talking to her black cat. Peej says she can't verify that information or people may try to use it against her so the student gets all huffy and walks away. There's a funny moment where a little girl says she wants to touch Peej and get super powers, so she pokes Power Girl while saying "I'm poking you", so of course when the little girl starts to float seconds later, she thinks that's why. Turns out the student, Rana, is actually a super villain and is trying to abduct Peej to study her, so she had the building where the Power Girl meeting was, lifted into space in a tractor beam. Well... that's persistence!Rana gets Power Girl subdued by using some magic creatures and tells Power Girl her planet needs a hero and names some reasons why. Peej says they could've had the JLA come, but she says they need heroes and not quickie police action. She says Earth has hundreds of heroes and her planet has four, haha, it's funny cause it's true. When Power Girl says she can't help, Rana says she'll just use this tube she stole, which will copy Power Girl's molecular structure and give it to Rana. Rana climbs in and starts to get some of Peej's power but surprisingly it's interrupted by the young girls and women Power Girl gave her speech to. They release Power Girl but Rana attacks her, clearly having gained some power. Power Girl tells her she isn't trying to save her people, she just wants power herself, and that makes her a villain. Rana manages to knock Power Girl down but she's then attacked by the young women from earlier, they mention Rana left her machine on. They use their new powers to help Power Girl dispose of Rana. The issue ends soon after with the two girls, no longer with powers, hang out with Power Girl, as their unaware the small girl still has the powers of my favorite Kryptonian. Well this was a pretty good issue, I loved the beginning of the comic and I liked that the girl was trying to "save her world" and Peej compared her to Lex Luthor, excellent point. Overall I liked this issue and it makes me want to read the final one knowing that Power Girl was left in good hands, so thanks Matthew Sturges. I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Power Girl: And what I want to talk to you about is not Power Girl, but rather, Girl Power.
and
Margot: And I hate wearing pants. If you're a superhero, you don't have to wear pants.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #3

We start off with Batman (Dick) standing in the debris of Wayne Tower, as Hush laughs at him for allowing this to happen. Dick delivers a punch across Hush's face but realizes that he's going to have to solve this because Hush won't help him, and neither can Bruce. Batman goes to meet up with Robin and Black Bat, and Penguin notes how four generations walked through the doors of the Iceberg Lounge, and how the rumors must be true, Batman is indeed slipping. As that happens we get random flashbacks to the Gates family, and Bradley tells his brother that the Waynes, Elliots and Cobblepots are using them until they have what they need, and then they'll be brushed aside and forgotten. Back at the Bat-Bunker, Tim tells everyone how the suit was created by the Gates of Gotham, Bradley and Nicholas Gates. They also discover that Dillon May was the last known owner of the suit, and it was stolen from him six months ago. Dick then decides he's going to go question Hush some more on the Gates, and tells Tim and Damian to go check with Dillion May and see if he knows anything about the suit. We then see that Dick has Cassandra read Tommy's body language when he's with the Architect, and she discovers that he wasn't afraid when he was with him which may be important. We quickly discover that Red Robin and Robin, while looking for clues have stumbled into the Architect's trap, and the issue ends soon after we find out that Nicholas Gates' brother was killed due to the drama that escalated between the Waynes, Cobblepots, Elliot's and the Kane's. This was a good issue, I hate the font they use for the flashbacks because it's harder to read in my opinion, but this was a fine issue, I'd give it a 7.5/10.

Red Robin: Well, deny it all you want, But I think we both know the real reason you don't like her... (Cass), is that she's just one more person your father picked over you. (BURN!!!)

Titans # 37

We start things off with Deathstroke explaining how this whole team was apart of his bland to get blood cells from Supergirl and build a machine that would help stabilize his son Jericho's cells and keep him from dying. The reason they broke into Arkham was even to free the Mad Hatter so he could help Slade come up with painkillers for Jericho, which are now starting not to be much help. They then put Jericho inside the machine and he comes out completely healed surprisingly. If there wasn't a reboot coming I'd say toss Roy in there and give him a damn arm. Once this is done, Slade tells his Titans they were all chosen for a reason, and that's because now he can bring back Lian, Black Adam and the rest of their loved ones, all he needs is the bodies. The Titans agree, with the exception of Cinder who doesn't want to bring her loved ones back to this world. Jade steps up to her and says she's not letting her get in the way of bringing back Lian, so Cinder clocks her then tries to destroy the machine. Osiris tries to stop her but Tattooed Man talks her down, saying if he can bring back his son he will and she's not going to ruin that. Roy then tells Jade he thinks Cinder is right, and he's been hiding from the fact that Lian's gone with drugs, but now he knows she's in a better place, and he wants to walk away from it all, the Titans, the machine, everything. Jade attacks Roy, saying she needs her daughter back. Which splits the team with Cinder and Arsenal vs. Cheshire, Ink and Osiris. The issue ends as Jericho, realizing he indirectly caused all of this, turns on Slade and says Slade and Jericho will both pay for their crimes as he uses his powers to take control of Slade. This was a pretty good issue, the stuff with Superman and Palmer was boring so I omitted it, but the rest was kinda interesting, plus I like stories where everything gels together and this one did, so I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating.

Dr. Sivana: Osiris, kill that bitch. (The best thing he's ever said...ever.)

And that's it for me everyone, just four comics this week, with pretty average scores for the most part. Next week should be a big week, which I'll be looking forward to. So, that's enough for me everyone, feel free to comment and let me know what you guys think. Also, don't forget to vote on this week's new poll and check out the results to last week's poll below. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, saying, Stay cool my babies!

Last week's poll asked "Which event are you looking forward to the most?"

Last place with 7.7% - Spider-Island swings into last place.
Second place with 15.4% - X-Men Schism falls into second place and...
Winner with 76.9% - The DCnU Reboot, proving that this blog has a lot more DC than Marvel readers.

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Gotham City Sirens #25, Green Lantern Corps #62, Detective Comics #880, Teen Titans #98 (RETURN OF SUPERBOY PRIME!!!),  Invincible #81, Amazing Spider-Man #666, Venom #5, and X-Men Schism #2! (Eight books, next week is gonna be VERY interesting.)