Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, thanks again for stopping by for another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This is a big week for comics as Spider-Island part one officially starts, and awesome comics like Fabian Nicieza's Red Robin and Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl sadly end. But we've got a lot to get through today so enough with the introductions, let's jump into things with the aftermath of the War of the Green Lanterns!

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2

We start things off with Soranik being asked to help assassinate Sinestro, and after hesitation she agrees to help. From there we see Kilowog, Kyle and Guy discussing Kyle's rift with Soranik, John not showing any remorse for killing Mogo, and the fact their rings won't show them where Hal is. Suddenly, Morro shows up and tells the GL's that the Guardians wish to bury Krona with their fallen Green Lantern members, which riles up Kyle, Guy and Kilowog so they go to see Salaak. They tell him they don't want Krona buried there, but Salaak says he's following orders. When Kyle stands up to him, Salaak accuses him of mutiny and he's threatened by Guy. Salaak then leaves, saying he has to take care of some errands, which prompts Kyle to realize how divided the Corps are thanks to this mess which was caused by Krona. He says he's going to apologize to Soranik and asks his ring where she is, but it replies that she's blocked tracking of her ring. He immediately realizes she must be up to something no good, involving her father, Sinestro, so he flies off, leaving Kilowog and Guy confused. Hannu, Soranik and the other members of the squad that wants to kill Sinestro subdue the Guardians' security but Kyle shows up before they can get inside. He tells everyone to relax and tries to talk to his girlfriend, which Soranik says she isn't and attacks Kyle. Kyle manages to knock Sora out and turns his attention on everyone else, and they blast at him but he moves out of the way. Their blasts rip open the Guardians door to reveal they have Sienstro in some sort of torture device trying to force the ring off of his finger. They give up and decide to address the Lanterns soon after as a group, and the Guardians say they will forgive most misdeeds of late, but one thing they will no longer tolerate is to have their judgement questioned. They don't know why the ring chose Sinestro but it must have something planned for the future they can't foresee, so they command everyone to return to guarding their sectors. The issue ends soon after with the Lanterns giving Mogo a proper send-off, us never seeing Hal in this issue, and the Guardians approaching Ganthet like zombies. Well this was weird. I find it odd we never saw Hal in this issue, Sinestro was just allowed to keep his ring, Kyle and Soranik and Kyle and John seem to have grudges, and Guy is just Guy. Oh, and Atrocitus has Krona's corpse thanks to Ganthet. Anyway, most of this issue seemed like filler in my opinion, I'd give it a 6/10.

Sinestro: Surely, they came to kill me. It's what I would do.

Teen Titans #99

We start things off seeing that Superboy Prime had himself cloned pretty much to bring along three other Superboy's to deal with Superboy and the Teen Titans. As the Teen Titans take on their enemies, we see into the thoughts of Red Robin, dealing with fighting his best friend, Wonder Girl fighting her now ex-boyfriend's clone, and Kid Flash taking on a carbon copy of Inertia. Meanwhile, we see Beast Boy, Solstice, Raven and Ravager fight their counterparts, Ravager even takes on the Persuader AND Indigo. Woo, you go Rose! Prime then leads his Titans after Titan Tower to finish the onslaught, even having Headcase use the Golden Gate bridge to turn it into a gigantic robot-like monster. The Teen Titans are busy saving civilians and manage as Prime sits back admiring the handiwork and says he's about to end the Titans legacy, when he's confronted by Bombshell, Zatara, Aquagirl, Speedy, Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Supergirl and a very tall Damian Wayne as this issue ends. Well, that issue flew by, it was basically a fight stretched out over twenty or so pages with some needless dialogue to get us to the final issue, #100. This was alright, nothing amazing, and I would've preferred to see more Titans of the past, maybe Dick, Roy, Donna, Starfire and such, but ah well. Also, why is Prime just standing around watching, he could kill ALL of them. ALL OF THEM! Even the other Superboys!!!! Anyway I'd give this issue a 6.5/10.

Robin: Legends are a thing of the past.

Speedy: Legacies last Forever. (First thing she's said since Lian's funeral in Rise and Fall of Arsenal...)

Deadpool #41

We start things off with Deadpool, once again wearing his trademark mask, welcoming back the fellow inmates he beat the hell out of. We see that Deadpool has progressed since getting his mask back, and sense everyone's afraid of him and giving him their fruit cocktail (THAT IS NOT A EUPHEMISM!), Deadpool's on top of the world. One person who hasn't been allowed out to play or get any fruit cocktail is the Fool Killer, who wants revenge against a certain Deadfool, er, um, Deadpool. Meanwhile, we see Deadpool talking to the Doctor that'd taken an interest to him, when he realizes the boxes in which he converses with the voices in his head no longer show up, he asks her how she stopped them. Deadpool asks what she did to him and his brain, but she says she's not that kind of doctor. When an inmate says maybe she should tell DP what kind of Doctor she is, she has the inmate escorted away by security, before giving Deadpool one of her "specially made puzzles" to do. Deadpool immediately recognizes the picture from the scattered pieces, a job he'd completed in the past, as he notes they left out all the good stuff, all they left was the bodies. The Doctor said she wants Deadpool to see the bodies, but he says those are boring, and when she asks if murder is boring, Deadpool replies that he's a Mercenary, not a murderer, and he does it for money, but the doc doesn't believe Wade. Deadpool then notes that when he was a kid he saw a grown man slip off his porch and die, and that everyone in the neighborhood was shocked... but Deadpool never finishes the story because he apparently forgets he started it... that was interesting. Deadpool then says he's sleepy and wants to take a nap, but the doctor says he has to finish his puzzle first. Ten days later we see the doctor and her supervisor talking about how Deadpool has been sleeping so much and is sparingly leaving his cell, the soctor realizes she's losing Deadpool on her road to trying to cure him. We then cut to Deadpool, sleeping, when he's hesitantly awoken by a fellow inmate, who asks if Deadpool ever got any of Siryn's fruit cocktail (That IS a euphemism.), to which Deadpool replies he doesn't remember, he's done tons of things he no longer remembers. He then gets a letter from the daily mail distribution and it turns out he sent it to himself before he was committed and didn't remember that either. The letter contains a picture of Charlie Chaplin, which confuses Deadpool, we then see that the Foolkiller got a letter too, that enrages him, but we don't see what it is. The issue ends soon after with The Foolkiller being released from his cell as a sleeping Deadpool catches up on some rest. Now this was a pretty good issue, I couldn't get into the last one as much but this one was interesting, Deadpool seems to be somewhat cure, and he even started a story and didn't finish for some reason... I'd give this issue an 8/10.

Deadpool: What's so bad about puzzles? Puzzles are rad! (People still say rad?)

Red Robin #26

The final issue of Red Robin finally arrives, as a series I've followed since Fabian took over, I'm sad to see it go. There's been tons of women vying after your Timmy Drake/Wayne, and the final issue is Tim Drake finally going after the man who killed his father, so let's get to it. We start off with Red Robin facing off with Digger Harkness, a.k.a. Captain Boomerang. We get a quick recap to see that Tim planted seeds to lead Boomer to this trap, and that if he would've made one right choice in this cycle, he'd have never ended up in Red Robin's trap. We see that he had Digger steal what he thought was Black Lantern energy, and it eventually led him to Mr., Freeze because it needed to be opened by him due to being cryogenically sealed. Boomer bribed Freeze into helping him by saying he could use the power to resurrect his wife but when Freeze tells him it doesn't work, Boomer thinks he's lying and wants the power to himself. Red Robin intended this, so when Freeze killed Boomerang, Tim would feel no guilt, but at the last second he set off an explosion and took out Freeze before Digger knew what happened. But Timcouldn't allow Boomer to kill himself, nor would it allow anyone else to, so he decided he'd kill Boomerang himself. During their fight, Boomerang is hit and stumbles off a ledge, falling to his death, but Tim's conscience makes him save Boomer. Batman and Robin show up as the GCPD arrest Captain Boomerang, and Dick tells Tim he made the right choice saving him. After Dick and Damian leave, Tim says he knows Bruce is in the shadows, and Batman steps out, telling him he knows Tim made all the wrong choices that led Digger there, and regardless of how many options he gave Boomerang, Tim knew he'd pick the ones that would lead to him. Tim says this is him, and these are his decisions, as Batman leaves Tim standing on the rooftop, Tim says that this is his city if he wants it to be. Not Dick's or Bruce's, but his. This was a pretty good issue, we all knew Tim wouldn't kill Boomerang, nor allow him to die, but the planning that went into everything shows why Tim is Tim. This was a nice end to a great run of Tim as Red Robin under Fabian's watch, I'd give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Batman: You saved him tonight, Tim... But what about tomorrow... ? (Like you'd continually save Joe Chill...)

Batgirl #24

Batgirl, I've called one of the best series going for the last two years, with good reason. Bryan Q. Miller took a plucky character named Stephanie Brown, and made us care about her, he even made her become my favorite Batgirl, and yes I do mean over Barbara Gordon. So I'm sad to see this series end, but I do want to thank Bryan Q. Miller for the great issues, the tons of laugh of out loud moments, and being one of the first writers to actually make me like Damian Wayne. Thanks Bryan Q. Miller. So let's get to the finale of Stephanie Brown's run as the Blonde Bomber, Batgirl! We start off with Batgirl, Stephanie Brown, confronting her father, the former Cluemaster. It turns out not only was he behind everything that led Stephanie here, he also has been growing a powerful hallucinogen plant known as Black mercy. He blows the aroma at Stephanie which causes her to fall out and start hallucinating, and he gets ready to leave, saying he wonders what Steph's mom is up to. Before he can go, Batgirl throws one of her patented Goop-a-rangs, which explodes on her dad's hand, causing him to get stuck to the wall. Batgirl wakes up in the hospital with a nurse sitting next to her, the nurse is none other than her mom. After a few words back and forth, we discover that Batgirl got a blood transfusion to clear the spores from her body by her mom, and she's aware Stephanie is Batgirl and is very proud of all the good she's done. From there we see Batgirl leave her hospital room and she's surrounded by Nell and a bunch of the kids Batgirl and Robin helped save earlier in the series, we even see Robin through a window salute Batgirl from afar. That was a really great moment considering how critical Damian has been of Stephanie. From there we see Stephanie and Babs talking on the rooftop, and Babs asks Steph what she saw while under the spell of Black Mercy, as we see Steph beating up goons as Batgirl, Damian giving her the cold shoulder, and a mosaic of Babs, Wendy and Steph, a scene with Batgirl, Supergirl, Star Girl, Bombshell and Miss Martian in olden times fighting a dragon and dwarves, and even get the uber-awesome scene of a blue lantern Batgirl, Green Lantern Oracle and Red Lantern Damian Wayne (Awesome!) taking on a bunch of black lanterns. We also see a picture from 1944 with three Batgirl's (Steph, Babs and Cass) standing with the Blackhawks, as we even see Skeets in the picture, insinuating Booster Gold took it and finally we see an adult Stephanie with her son, and on the next page we see the adult Stephanie Brown as a futuristic Batwoman fighting crime alongside a future Batgirl. The issue ends soon after with Batgirl being optimistic about the future, and claiming this moment as her own, before swinging off into the city. This was an excellent issue, I loved the way Steph had things wrapped up with Babs, kind of passing the torch in a way. I loved the little what-if photos we got to see due to Steph's hallucinations, and I really loved the way Bryan showed how proud Mrs. Brown was of Stephanie. This has been a great run, damn near perfect in my opinion and I'm really sad to see Steph's run as Batgirl end. So thanks again to Bryan Q. Miller for giving us a hell of a book and a hell of a hero, Steph may be the "forgotten Robin" but she'll always be my favorite Batgirl. I'll give this issue of Batgirl a 10/10 rating.

Batgirl: It's only the end if you want it to be.

Detective Comics #881

This ends the over 50 year run of Detective Comics, and I can't think of too many other writers that deserve the honor more than Scott Snyder, who's crafted some of the best Batman related stories in recent memory. The last issue blew me away, and I know this one will as well. We start things off with Batman promising Commissioner Gordon that he'd fine Barbara, whose wheelchair was found outside with her blood stained on it. From there we see James and Babs, and Babs says that he's going to be found and he'll never see the light of day again. He says that may be true but it doesn't scare him, The only time he was really scared is when he first met Barbara, and the way she looked at him like she could tell there was something evil in him waiting to get out, but he was relieved because she saw it too. He asks when she first discovered he was "a psychopath" as Babs called him. Babs says when he retaliated at a bus driver for calling him four-eyes, and how he waited a year to get his revenge, as she was attacked in an alley and had her face slashed and disfigured. He asks how she knew it was him, and she says the weapon he used, a matchbox with razorblades tapes to both sides, so the cuts were too close to stitch, because if you stitch one side it pulls the other open. That sounds painful as hell... Snyder you're a sick man. Anyway, Babs says James did it for the sake of hurting her, and he wants people to pick on him, as it gives him an excuse to do what he already wants to do, torture them. He then tells Babs to look at her legs, she pulls away the cover that's over them to reveal two knives sticking out of her thighs above her knees. James says their stuck in her femoral arteries and if she pulls either one out she'll bleed to death in a matter of minutes. He then cites the time he was thrown in Arkham by Babs and their dad for a few nights to be scared straight, and how his cell was a few away from The Joker's. James said he actually ended up getting along with The Joker, and how Joker's a good listener, and he told Joker how Babs was always in a rush to grow up... and how he may have suggested maybe she should slow down and rest in a nice cozy chair. Holy shit... Scott Snyder is a goddamn genius. James Gordon... is the one to suggest The Joker paralyze Barbara Gordon?! Nope, he isn't as it turns out he never did say that, he's just tormenting Babs because he's an asshole. Well played good sir. Babs says she thought James was different, unlike the other criminals when he came from her, she figured when James came for her there wouldn't be any grandstanding, he'd just kill her, and before she can finish her sentence, James yanks the knife out of one of Babs legs. He says that Babs is right, but this isn't just about her, it's also about him, as we cut over to Batman trying to find Babs with the help of Red Robin via comm link. The link is interrupted by James Gordon who immediately outs Batman as being Dick Grayson. He recounts how basically while he was in a clinical trial, he saw that Batman had returned on the news and he was smiling, and how that reminded him of Dick from his childhood always being around Babs and how Dick always smiled and genuinely cared about people. He said at that moment he realized Dick was Batman, and it was no longer Bruce. He then reveals he's been around for most of the run Snyder has been doing, how he was there when Dick attended The Dealer's auction, and how this all led up to him getting alone time with Barbara for this moment. He then says they'll find Babs' body soon, and before he leaves town he's going to kill his father too, and he turns around and notices Babs has tries to escape. He turns a corner looking for her when Babs stabs him right to the side of his left eye with the knife that was in her other leg, but James recovers as if nothing happened. James gets up as Babs tries to crawl away, and as he finally reaches her, Batman appears and lays James out with one big punch, and tells Babs he's going to cauterize her wounds. Babs asks how he found them and he says when he met James for lunch he placed a tracer on him that works on a cellular platform, and how it just kicked in a few minutes ago. As Dick tries to cauterize Babs' wounds, she tells him not to let James get away. James gets outside and tries to get away when he's shot through the leg by his father, and then through the other leg as he continues his escape. He falls off a bridge but James is caught by his dad who says he's not letting him go. We later see Gordon thanking Dick, for everything, implying he knows he's Batman, and Dick tells him it was no problem. They ten talk about Gotham and how it seems to know everyone's nightmares and make them true. The issue ends soon after with both men vowing to stay in Gotham, ready for whatever the future brings. This was a wonderful issue, I'm looking forward to Snyder's Batman run even more now, and the character of James Gordon is so sick and sinister that he's a perfect villain. I would LOVE to see him return and become Babs' own Joker if you will. I'd give this issue a 10/10, especially due to the cliffhanger it left, an excellent end to the franchise of Detective Comics.

James Gordon: That's the spirit, sis! Hide and seek!

Morning Glories #11

We start thinks off with Ike sitting with a pool of blood pouring out of the body by his feet. He's stunned as he's told by Abraham to get out of here, and that everything will be taken care of by Abraham himself. Ike, seeming confused and still stunned leaves after thanking Abraham. From there we see Mr. Gribbs banging on a door and three women walk out, before finally Ike comes to the door. Gribbs tells Ike they finally have some use for him, and we see the two taking a walk. Gribbs basically says he figured Ike for the rich, prissy, smart ass type but after looking through his file he was surprised to see that Ike was wicked enough to kill his own father. We see a flashback of the media whirlwind that ensued once people thought Ike killed his billionaire father, but we see he was exonerated of all charges, and his lawyer wants to get him home after leaving court but Ike says he wants to stop at his father's funeral, but they must make another stop prior to that. From there we see Gribbs tell Ike he will let him free, let him out of Morning Glory Academy and allow him to go wherever he pleases without hearing from them again, if he kills for him. Ike is taken aback and says he needs time to mull it over, which Gribbs grants him. We then see a flashback to Ike's dad's funeral, where he brought a party bus and a bunch of dancer's, and even a banner that says "The Dick is Dead, Long live the Dick." He then drinks alcohol and insults his mother all while enjoying the death of his father. From there we jump back to present day and see Ike going to his former quarters where he's threatened by Jun for betraying the team, but Jun is calmed by Hunter. From there we see Hunter run into Jade, which we saw in Jade's issue, before being told to F*** off by Casey. He's then approached by Zoe, who states that as long as he keeps drawing their rage she coasts by. He says that if she were smart she would've cut the gang off a while ago, he did and pretty soon he'll be going home, to which Zoe replies that Ike doesn't seem like the type that has much to go home to. Burn! After that epic burn, we flashback to seeing a parking attendant that Ike is bribing, since he has tape of Ike leaving the building after his father was killed. Ike tells him he has to destroy the tape and forget he saw it but the guy plans on using it for more money because he's a greedy bastard. Ike warns him that it isn't safe and the money was to get his attention, the man starts coughing and clutching his chest before he falls over dead. Ike grabs the phone with the video from the mans hand and leaves as people come over to check on the man. Back in the present, Ike goes to see Gribbs and says he'll have to decline the offer, and Gribbs says that's fine but he can tell Ms. Daramount himself. He walks into her office and she tells him to call her Georgina, and she says if she had offered she would've been much less callous about it than Gribbs. What then follows is a bunch of words I didn't notice because Miss. Daramount took her hair down and removed her glasses and she is hawt! She basically offered to "thank Ike" if he did what she asks, probably with some fruit cocktail and the next page we see Ike walk out asking Gribbs where the guy is and how can he kill him. Well played Ike, well played. As Gribbs leads Ike to a basement room with the guy Ike is to kill, Ike is asked if he killed his own dad. Ike stumbles for a bit before saying yes, but they weren't that close. Gribbs says good news, before opening a door and revealing Ike's father, Abraham (?!), who says hey to Ike, as Ike, who doesn't even look surprised says hey back, as this issue ends. Now this was interesting, I loved seeing into Ike's past, as he's a smart ass and that's a fun character to read about (Jason Todd anyone?) and the stuff with him and Zoe as well as the scene with Miss Georgina Daramount made this issue interesting to say the least. Now I'm wondering why Ike's dad isn't really dead... and apparently is none other than Abraham. I'd give this issue a 9/10 rating only because we don't know why the guy in the bar died, that seemed very abrupt and I wish I had more insight on that.

Ike: Mummy! You know I applaud a woman who wears white to a wedding even though she's not a virgin, and wears black to a funeral even though she's not mourning.

The Amazing Spider-Man #667

We kick things off with Carlie Cooper showing Peter she has spider powers, which makes him wonder if he gave her a S.T.D., a Spidery Transmitted disease. Classic Slott. From there we see Madame Web and Shang-Chi on a rooftop, as they watch The Jackal and his guards show up at a meeting of thieves and mobsters from various crime families. Of course, they all end up fighting one another with their spider powers until the Jackal and his two goons, Spider-King and the Tarantula step in and put everyone in time-out. Jackal tells them thanks to him they have powers, and forget about what gangs they were in, they all have a new uniform, as he presents them with Spider-Man costumes, saying their going to break so many laws, and the most important one, Identity Theft. From there we see Peter and Carlie saying good bye to Jay and May at the airport, as Peter calls Aunt May "Mom" before they leave, and Carly for some reason yells she has Spider-Powers in the middle of her good-bye which cracks me up. Next we see a bunch of Spider-Men in different suits terrorizing New York, Mary Jane happens to see this and steps in, saving a kid from being crushed by something one of the bad guys threw. When a Spider-Man with the FF costume tells her quick thinking, she asks "Is that you, tiger?" to which he replies "Oh, I'l be your Tiger, pussycat." before he has his clock cleaned by The Thing! The Avengers join the fray and start taking on the phony Spidey's as MJ asks where Peter is. We then see Peter is stuck in traffic with Carlie as Jameson has ordered a lockdown on New York, due to a bunch of people developing spider powers. Before Pete can even react, Carlie web-slings off, saying this is a job for your friendly neighborhood Spidey-Cop. I'm really starting to like Carlie, plus she has a tattoo of Spidey's face on her pelvis apparently. Peter quickly changes into his Spidey gear and goes after Carlie, hoping he's able to dissuade her. Spidey arrives on the scene and manages to get beat up by Thing, Ms. Marvel and Iron Fist because they don't believe he's the real Spidey. Shang-Chi, unable to sit this one out like Madame Web instructed, joins the fight as Madame Web says Spidey has just learned the first lesson of Spider-Island, even though he has great responsibility, on Spider-Island his great powers are meaningless. We see Spider-Man laid out next to a bunch of other Spider-Men as this issue comes to a close. This was a fun issue, it jumped around a lot, I got a few laughs from Carlie and Ms. Marvel, and it was a great official start to Spider-Island. I'm wondering what Spidey can do to differentiate himself from these costumed villains as well. I'd give this first issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Mary-Jane: I swear, if we're doing the clone thing again, I'm going back to L.A.!

Whew, a pretty good week if I say so myself! The end of Batgirl, Red Robin and Detective Comics, the beginning of Spider Island. Well, that's all for this week guys and gals, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, recklessly misusing my Spider-Powers to get a main event match against CM Punk and Wrestlemania. Anyway, I'm Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which Comic Character do you think should get a movie next?"

Last place with 0% - Venom, cause Sony and Topher Grace ruined him for us.
Third place with 9.1% - Teen Titans, cause we don't WANT it, but if it looks good, we'll see it.
Second place with 36.4% - The Flash, and 100% hope it's Wally and not Barry...
Winner with 54.5% - Invincible! Make it happen Kirkman!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman #713 (By Fabian Nicieza), Titans #38, Green Lantern Corps #63, Power Girl #27, Venom #6 and X-Men: Schism #3