tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-482162561509117032024-03-13T10:24:10.772-04:00Jason Todd's Comic SpotA Comic Review and Discussion Blog for fans and readers alike.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.comBlogger167125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-20379629024029968692012-01-30T18:36:00.000-05:002012-01-30T18:36:14.297-05:00Guess who's back...Hey everyone, Jason Todd here after an extended break with some big news. First things first I wanna give you guys some info about myself and this blog. In 2009 I joined the Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos Message board because I was eagerly awaiting that awesome game. There I met a lot of cool people and myself and a few friends decided to start a blog known as Batmania Reviews! to pass the time, we did reviews on comics, movies, games, everything Batman based and even held contests. After the game came out the blog lost steam though, so I stopped blogging. I was still big into comics though, and while looking up some Nightwing comic book story arcs, I came across the blog of a guy that would become one of my best friends, <a href="http://xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com/">http://xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com</a>.<br />
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X would soon convince me to start my own blog which I did, and two years later here we are. I met a lot of cool people through this blog but near the end of 2011, blogging felt like a chore. I'd always have to fit blogging in around spending time with my girlfriend, Falisha, as well as working and doing things I enjoyed like playing video games and watching movies. So reviewing and comic-reading just seemed more like a job and less fun. So I decided to take a quick break from blogging and I enjoyed it a lot, I didn't have to review things and I could read comics, enjoy them and move on. I didn't have to take notes, read and review at once or anything else. I'd been considering when to come back and blog again and I'd though about changing things up but I wasn't that excited about it, until a few days ago when I had a talk with X.<br />
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He offered me a chanc to write for his blog, considering his hectic posting, the fact that he's been going through some stuff lately and since I'm infinitely more awesome than him, he figured that having me post at his blog would give him a chance to relax, have a new contributor with different thoughts and views, as well as give me a way to post without the pressure of having to, as I can post what I want when I please, as well as having my reviews seen by a wider audience, as X's blog gets WAY more traffic than my own. So this worked great for myself and X, and I agreed. So as of today, I am now a contributor for <a href="http://xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com/">X-Man's Comic Blog</a>, and I hope anyone who reads my blog that isn't following X's will come over with me as well. <br />
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I won't be closing this blog, I put a lot of time into it and I appreciate everyone that's followed it and commented, so I'm not going to delete it and act like it's never been here. Thank you all for reading what I've posted and you guys have been great friends to me. Here's hoping things are this great over at X's blog, since I plan on adding some class to the place. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, JT, signing off.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-989158806748521522011-12-12T19:09:00.000-05:002011-12-12T19:09:57.146-05:00Christmas Break?Hey Todd Squad, JT here with an update. The last few weeks of this blog have been weird for me, I've been forcing myself to post when I'm not in the mood, barely pulling down four books some weeks, and pretty much just posting for the sake of posting. I love comics but blogging is starting to seem like more of a chore and less of a hobby, so I'm going to take a little hiatus, depending on how quickly I start to miss it I'll be back, but as of right now I plan on coming back fresh in January, or maybe a bit sooner for the Second Annual Red Hood awards, but until then, I'm your friendly neighborhood burned out blogger, Jason Todd, signing off.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-39112902944535607912011-12-01T15:44:00.000-05:002011-12-01T15:44:29.937-05:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Uncanny X-Men #2Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here once again, welcoming you outlaws to this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings! Last week's review was delayed til this week due to the holiday and the fact I only had three books last week and found out I'd only have one book this week, so I just decided to give you one post with the four reviews this week, so let's kick things off with Invincible.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Invincible #85</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jun110546.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jun110546.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
We start things off seeing Mark's parents on a space ship getting bizzay, if you catch my drift. We then cut over to see Allen the Alien (Wooooooooo) and his girlfriend discussing Oliver who apparently walked in on them playing a game of space invaders if you know what I'm saying. We then see a healed up, teenage version of Oliver, I hadn't even realized how much I missed the runt, who goes on a test run with his new and improved body parts. After reporting in with Allen and telling him that the Viltrumites have joined Earth and that's the agreement he and Mark had to make, Nolan retired to his chambers with Mark's mom to have an intergalactic voyage if you know what I'm saying. Man... there is a LOT of sex in this issue. After trying to take down a villain but watching the villain subdue himself to the police, Oliver is approached by his shoeless, super powered hippie father, Omni-Man, who takes him to see his mother. While the two catch up, Oliver meets with Allen and discuss what could happen with the Viltrumites living on Earth, and how that could either help or hinder things. After thinking long and hard, Allen decides he's going to send the Scourge Virus to Earth and personally deliver it, and Nolan objects since it will kill Viltrumites and Earthlings since they have similar DNA, but Allen stands by his decision and the two get ready to throw down as the issue closes. Well this comic was pretty funny, a lot more relaxed than the last few issues and the ongoing joke with Oliver hearing Allen and his girlfriend as well as his parents having sex *shudder* it was pretty enjoyable. Up until the end it was nothing amazing but far from bad, but after that great ending I can't wait to see what's next. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Debbie Grayson: Just because they say they're not going to cause any trouble, doesn't mean you should believe them. Your people are very good</span><b style="color: cyan;"> liars</b><span style="color: cyan;">. (BURN!!!!)</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Kick-Ass 2 #5</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug118087.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug118087.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with Dave going to see his dad in prison, who stands by his decision to lie for his son. He warns them that the villains know who he is and they put Katie in the hospital but Dave's dad says they can make it through this. Man...that noble dude is SO going to die. We then cut over to see The Mother Fucker working on his new lair because he's a comic mark and that's what we'd all do, and he gets a call from his uncle that works with the police telling him that he can't turn a blind eye to Chris' actions any longer, only when he was trying to help the family, and he says he'll target him like any other scumbag. We then see Dave with his friends discussing how Hit-Girl still won't come back when he gets a text message that includes a picture of his dad being hanged in prison. Poor, noble, fool. After his father is killed, The Mother Fucker released Dave's secret identity on Twitter (I knew Twitter was full of jerks... only confirms my past suspicion.) And we also see that Justice Forever is released from prison but have been banned from ever wearing their costumes. Afterward, everyone tells Dave how sorry they are and Dave says he's going to live with some cousins in Connecticut and giving this all up. He's then approached by Mindy who hopes he doesn't blame her for not helping and his dad dying but he doesn't. Suddenly, some people blow up Dave's dad's casket (holy shit!) and open fire before grabbing Dave and tossing him in a van before driving off. They attack Dave and dress him like Kick-Ass as they drive him to the Mother Fucker but suddenly two kidnappers are killed as we see Mindy on top of the van with a gun, as Hit-Girl returns. Damn this issue was brutal but SO fun to read. The outrageous of the death of Dave's dad, the stuff with Hit-Girl and the funeral, THIS is was a great comic. I'll give this issue a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Hit-Girl: Game on, mother-fuckers.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Uncanny X-Men #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/40/2068963-uncannyxmen_2_cover.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/40/2068963-uncannyxmen_2_cover.jpeg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with the Extinction Team taking on a bunch of Mister Sinister clones, when Cyclops gets work from Agent Brand that the rest of the Celestials are heading towards Earth. When Sinister offers the X-Men a ceasefire to discuss the incoming celestials, to which Scott agrees to since it give the town more time to evacuate. Once entering Sinister's lair or palace or whatever you want to call it, we're treated the origin of Sinister, given by Sinister himself. He also says how the Celestial's will come and kill all the Earthling's for defiling the Dreaming Celestial and then the real competition starts, Sinister's species vs. the Mutants. He then uses his telepathic powers to control everyone with the exception of Emma who he takes shots at by calling her inferior to Jean but good enough to house Scott's seed. Well damn... that was hilarious. Luckily, Sinister makes the mistake of stepping into the open and gets sniped by Hope, and when he switches to another body to take control, his head is crushed by the juggernaut hands of Colossus. The issue ends with Sinister regaining control of another body and stating that he can't be killed, because he's his own species and if you're not Sinister, simply put, your time is over. This was a really good issue as well. I loved Sinister here, as well as Emma and Namor. I could've used more Magneto but it made sense why he wasn't around. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Namor: I increasingly understand the reason for the "X-Men." It's not Xavier or the X-Gene. The "X" is a target pasted on our backs. (I wanna make a joke about Namor and dry humor but instead I'll just say HA!)</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20735_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20735_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Kid Flash trying to save what looks like a decaying and much thicker version (I notice these things) of Solstice but making a mistake and getting them into a hell of a position, that position being falling off of an icy mountain. One thing I like is Bart is still smart, we clearly saw that he does retain information he's read like pre-reboot Bart Allen. From there we see Cassie attacking Thrice in a hospital and looking for answers about who hired him to attack Skitter and Red Robin. We also see a young man that's from Mexico but in America on business and seemingly loves the land of the free. He hops onto a passing train and stumbles upon a giant cocoon as well as a vagrant that he also meets, and after talking for a bit the vagrant attacks. It turns out that the vagrant is none other than Red Robin in disguise (That was a good one...) and attacks, as he believes this young man is working for NOWHERE. The guy apparently set out for America to find Red Robin, as he's a big fan, and wants to join his team. He introduces himself as Miguel Jose Barragan, Codename Bunker. The train they are on stops soon after the introduction and they see a bunch of people that look mind-controlled coming towards the Teen heroes. Red Robin goes off to find out who is controlling them and finds a hunk of metal calling himself Detrius, but before he can be stopped, he mind controls Red Robin to return and forget about their encounter, and Red Robin does. Well alright, I guess they guy will show up later. As Red Robin returns he meets up with Bunker as we see Skitter is now back in her human form and wondering where she is and how she got there. Back with Solstice and Kid Flash, she manages to fly them to safety before passing out, and we see the two teens are in the middle of nowhere, and just as it seems things can't get worse, they're in the middle of a blizzard. Well, like the other three comics in this post, this was another good issue and a fun read. I like that the team has a deep pool so far, it seems to consist of Red Robin, Cassie, Kid Flash, Solstice, Skitter, Bunker, and we haven't even seen Superboy join yet which may be the next issue since it suggested they'd take on SB. One thing I want to do is compliment the are of Brett Booth who is doing an amazing job, from the big things to the small things like strands of hair, he's quickly becoming one of my favorite artists. I'll give this issue of Teen Titans an<span style="color: red;"> 8/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Red Robin: A little advice. Don't reveal your entire backstory on meeting someone. It just makes it easier to defeat you.</span><br />
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And just like that, that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Thanks for reading and feel free to comment and let me know what you think. That's it for me, until next time I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "How do you feel about the Walking Dead?"<br />
Last place with 9.1% - Tie between I read the books and I do neither but I want to.<br />
Third place with 18.2% - I'm not interested at all. <br />
Second place with 27.3% - I watch the TV Show and read the books. <br />
<u><b>Winner</b></u> with 36.4% - I watch the TV Show.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Justice League International #4, Amazing Spider-Man #675, Deadpool #47, and Venom #10Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-48726835160146974012011-11-18T15:31:00.000-05:002011-11-18T15:31:22.876-05:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Morning Glories #14<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20636_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Hey Todd Squad, it's time once again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! We've got a pretty big post ahead of us with a whopping 10 books?! So needless to say these reviews will be much more abbreviated than my usual reviews. So let's jump into the swing of things and get to it, as we start things off with Catwoman #3, and keep in mind that for the rest of this month, books still may be dropped if I don't feel confident in them after the third issue, so hopefully nothing else is added to the chopping block. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Catwoman #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20686_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20686_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
After seeing a quick flashback of her friendship with Lola, we open to see Catwoman tied to a chair being yelled at by a pissed off mobster by the name of Bone. He tells her she made a mistake by stealing from him and leaves as he tells his guys to work her over then dump the bodies. Catwoman quickly escapes and makes the goons tell her where Bone is, and she makes her way over to meet him. Catwoman then takes Bone to a secluded place, pulls out a bat and beats him to pebbles before preparing to kick him off of a room, until Batman shows up and stops her, or so it seems. As Bats and Catwoman kiss, she knocks Bone off the roof with her whip, causing Bats to save him while Selina escapes. The issue ends soon after, as Selina is burning evidence of her friendship and links to Lola in her apartment and crying over Lola's body as the GCPD shows up. Okay, I really liked this issue, we got to see a darker side of Catwoman, and let's not forget Catwoman did kill Black Mask in the former DCU so she does have a dark side, so I really enjoyed that, I also enjoyed that she can't make things easy for her and Bats so she did what she had to do to escape. A lot of people have been mixed on this comic but I love it, and I love what one of my favorite writers, Judd Winick, is doing with Catwoman. Also, the art by Guillem March has been great, and as a guy who doesn't mention artwork unless it's bad, that shows you how much I enjoy March's work. I'll give this issue an<span style="color: red;"> 8.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Batman: Listen to me... Don't do it. Killing him... that's not who you are.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Catwoman: You don't know who I am. Anymore than I know who</span><b style="color: cyan;"> you</b><span style="color: cyan;"> are.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Nightwing #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20694_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20694_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off at the funeral of Mr. Haly, the former owner of Haly's circus before handing it over to Dick Grayson on his deathbed. Needless to say this decision doesn't sit well with some people, especially Haly's son, who makes a spectacle at the funeral. After the funeral, Dick talks with Raya and learns their former friend, Zane, that worked for the circus is now living in Chicago and handling contracts for killers. Nightwing then heads to Chicago and questions Zane but suddenly Nightwing falls to his knees seeing a bunch of visions where he's failed. He manages to escape but runs into a vision of his parents falling and dives to save them but doesn't make it in time. During these hallucinations, Zane pistol whips Nightwing around before Nightwing figures out a way to cause feedback to the transmitters Zane is using to subdue Nightwing and turn it back on Zane. He asks him who hired Saiko but he says he doesn't know, if he did he'd kill them himself. Nightwing advises Zane to take up a new profession before leaving Chicago and heading to Pennsylvania to tell Raya that Mr. Haly gave him the circus and he's staying with it until they figure out who killed Haly and why they did it. The issue comes to a close as we see Haly's son talking about killing Dick with none other than Saiko! This was an alright issue, the stuff with Zane seemed like filler, and it wasn't bad by any means, but I couldn't get fully invested. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">6.5/10</span> rating but it's safe for now.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Mr. Haly: Hey, you know I'm always looking out for you, kiddo...</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20674_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20674_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things start off with a flashback to Alan Wayne saying that people are after him and their nests are all around the city, which I'd assume means The Owl people they mentioned in issue #2. Back in the present we see Batman interrogating a criminal before being attacked by The Whisper gang and taking them down in a really cool way that I wouldn't be able to explain if I tried. Well I could, but I choose not to so maybe you'll go enjoy the coolness for yourself. Anyway, after discussing The Talon and the Owls with Alfred, Bruce discovers that his great, great, Grandfather had senility and was obsessed with owls. Bruce then goes to talk to Lincoln about the Owls and the myths before hearing something that sends him looking for answers. Batman then investigates the Wayne Tower and finds that on the thirteenth floor The Talon had a nest of his own, which was a genius idea by Snyder. The issue ends as Batman goes to numerous Wayne buildings, each housing a nest for The Owls, when suddenly he mistakenly trips a wire that causes the entire floor to explode as The Talon looks on. Man, Snyder knows how to tell a story, everything flowed well, the stuff about the Owls and the nests was perfect, there was nothing I didn't enjoy about this issue, I have to give this a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Batman: About the owl nests.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Alfred: What about them? Sir?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batman: They're in our homes.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20636_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20636_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a stunningly drawn Wonder Woman (props to Jim Lee) walking around looking for a Harpy that was reportedly attacking while various news outlets talk about how this Wonder Woman causes so much collateral damage and how she believes in Zeus and Gods and whatnot. While looking, Wonder Woman has Ice Cream with a little girl that seems to look up to the Amazon. Suddenly, a portal opens and out comes a bunch of Parademons, which excites Diana because she gets to fight. We also see the Parademons pop up in Detroit (where Vic Stone is) and take Doctor Ivo and in Metropolis, where Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern take them on. As they fight the Parademons, Superman notices they aren't killing anyone but they are taking people, when Wonder Woman shows up to join the fight. We also see Vic's dad using the equipment from Star Labs to save his son, thus turning him into Cyborg. Suddenly a giant beam hits the sea and causes something to emerge, and while this happens a Parademon lands in front of Wonder Woman as Aquaman steps out of the water and asks who's in charge, before voting for himself as this issue ends. Man, that was a great way to introduce Aquaman, and I'm really enjoying this comic. I like the new origin for Cyborg, I like how Wonder Woman was ready for a fight but still carefree like she used to be, and I love how she's drawn by Jim Lee, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Wonder Woman: Hm. Ice cream<b> is</b> wonderful. You should be <b>very proud </b>of this achievement!</div><div style="color: cyan;">Ice Cream Man: Um... Thanks.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Supergirl #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110119.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Kal-El telling Kara about Krypton and all the things she's missed, but Kara doesn't believe him and flies off. Superman knows she can still hear him so he tells her that she's not ready for this world and her powers make her a danger to everyone around her, but he can't go after her since someone is in trouble and needs his help. Kara goes back to find her pod but finds a hologram of a man who says he has it and basically lures Kara to him by having her follow an orb that leads her to a space station. While in the station, the man, Mr. Tycho, puts Supergirl through a bunch of tests while studying the Kryptonian Native. Kara eventually topples the tests and finds her way to the pod she arrived in when she suddenly drops to the ground, having come in contact with Kryptonite, which apparently fueled her pod. The issue ends as Tycho stands over a fallen Supergirl and vows to take care of her, and states he only has her best interests in mind while flashing an evil grin. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but still a perfectly acceptable comic as my good buddy X would say, I'll give this issue of Supergirl a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Supergirl: But there's something in his voice. Like he can only ever tell the </span><b style="color: cyan;">truth</b><span style="color: cyan;">. </span>(Very different Superman from the one in Justice League then...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Red Hood and The Outlaws #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20691_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20691_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things kick off with The Outlaws going after The All Caste, but first they have to give up their most cherished memories to the Protector known as S'aru, someone that's apparently four millenia old but looks like Aang The Avatar. Upon giving up their cherished memories, they enter a room that would make M.C. Escher dizzy. As they follow on the trail of the clan known as The Unwritten, we see the Protector looking at our crews memories, including Kori killing a slaver that was nice to her, Roy taking a beating from Killer Croc and trying to use Crock to kill him but getting a pep talk from him (boy was that odd...) and lastly, Jason's memory which involves him being too sick to go out on patrol, and surprisingly Bruce stays home with him and watches TV with a sick Jason. I liked that, it shows that deep down Jason does still care about Bruce and Bruce clearly cared about Jason. Meanwhile, The Outlaws run into a gigantic green monster that eats Starfire while Jason and Roy fight a futile battle, that is until Starfire fries her way out of the beasts stomach and escapes with Jason and Roy, as Jason grabs the clue that will lead him to the Unwritten, a snow globe that says Colorado. Upon leaving the chamber, S'aru returns the memories to Roy and Starfire, but Jason walks off and tells him to keep it as the issue ends. This issue was weird, some of it I thought was odd like Croc giving a pep talk, but the new background with Ollie and Roy I liked, the weird morals of Starfire adds more to her, and the stuff with Jason's memory involving Bruce and him not wanting it back made perfect sense for his character. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10 </span>rating as well.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Arsenal: He's <b>so</b> gonna shoot that kid. You watch. </span>(I swear I was thinking the same thing...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #9</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110544.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110544.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Venom desperately looking for Betty, all the while thinking about how his father's death hadn't set in yet and how he didn't want to be the one to have to tell his mother and sister. While searching Venom runs into a nut job in an impenetrable tank that's been robbing banks and running over people with no regard for anyone's safety. Venom tries to stop the tank but he can't, nor does he have time to save a woman and her son who are run over by the tank in front of his eyes. He snaps and the suit takes over and follows the tank to it's hideout and when the criminal steps out Venom attacks and bites the villains head off and spots it out before walking away. Later, Betty arrives home and Flash asks if she turned like he did, or so he claims, into a spider, but Betty says she locked herself into a utility closet and was safe until it was over. She then asks if Flash has told he mom but he says he can't do it. As he sits with Betty he mentions he never got to read his Dad's letter, but she says he had her take down a copy and the one Flash got was a cleaned up version, so she reads him the original draft of his father's not as Flash lies his head in Betty's lap and this issue comes to a close. Alright, I'll say it, Venom is the best series since Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl run, each issue is great in it's own way and I love seeing Flash's scales of good and evil weighed in front of us. Rick Remender has done a remarkable job with Flash and making him my favorite Venom, a title which Eddie Brock held for quite a while. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9.5/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Venom: BBEGG UUSSS..... </span>(I love Venom, especially when his dialogue is like that.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #46</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110620.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
After surviving an airplane being crashed near him, Deadpool goes to get some Chimichangas and runs into Evil Deadpool. This of course leads to Deadpool running over Evil Deadpool with a garbage truck which doesn't work because Evil Deadpool somehow is in the passenger seat afterwards. What then ensues is so much hilarity that explaining it would besmirch all the work Dan Way has put into it, so I'll simply recommend you read it. Anyway, The hilarity comes to an end soon after, as does the issue, when Evil Deadpool leaves and Deadpool is confronted by Captain America! God I love funny comics, and that's what this was. This comic made me laugh all the way through and seeing Cap deal with two Deadpool's will be even more fun, I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: <b>Dude!</b> This was my <b>all-time</b> favorite place to go for <b>chimichangas</b>! </div><div style="color: cyan;">Evil Deadpool: Heh. Mine, too.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: Then why'd you <b>blow it up</b>?!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Evil Deadpool: I dunno... just seemed like the evil thing to do. I guess.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #674</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110542.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off seeing someone fall from the sky wearing wings and we later see that the police force thinks it's related to people trying to jump and be like Spidey after Spider Island, except Carlie doesn't believe that. From there we see Spider-Man found by the Anti-Spider patrol unit, and he's found over a dead body, so they shoot first and ask questions later as Spidey escapes. We also see Kingpin has bought the blueprints to the Spider-Jammers from a mole in Horizon Labs, to which he can use to repel or contain Spider-Man. From there we see a bunch of people with wings flying around and robbing houses, obviously working for The Vulture....or Icarus. And after running into a wall on both fronts, Peter and Carlie decide to call a truce after their recent break up and work together on the case of the robberies and dying teens in wings. The issue ends soon after as we see The Teens in wings delivering the stuff they stole to the Vulture. Well... this issue of Spidey was a bit odd for me, it was good but I expected more and the Vulture reveal is obvious when you see the cover. But I guess this was a transitioning issue so I'll give it that, and this this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span> rating.<br />
<div style="color: cyan;"></div><span style="color: cyan;"> The Vulture: I'm not getting any younger. </span>(Ha! I get it...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b> Morning Glories #14</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/10/107120/2088680-morning_glories__14___page_1_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/10/107120/2088680-morning_glories__14___page_1_super.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a weird flashback where a woman is watching someone she loves be tortured by having a ton of heavy rocks placed on a board that lays on him, saying all they need is her to speak for him to be released. We then cut over to seeing Ms. Hodge run into a room where she's met by Gribbs and Ms. Daramount. They discuss the Woodrun, all the while the sisters, Daramount and Hodge, take shots at one another. From there we cut over to Zoe going to her lock and the lock has been broken open, she opens the locker to see a "In Loving Memory" picture of the same girl she killed, and looks around wondering who knows that Zoe's the one that did it. We then see her walk off and bump into Hunter like in the last issue, but now it's from her point of view instead of his. After being told off by Hunter, Zoe goes to the restroom and sits in a stall, as two girls come in and talk about her, unknowing that Zoe's there. After hearing them insult her, and claim she "blew" or "stabbed" her way through the application process to get into the school. A crying Zoe wipes her face and storms out, alerting the girls of her presence before going to Ms. Hodge's office, but finding no one in there. After quickly cutting back to the flashback where the woman says she'll tell them whatever they want to know if they don't kill her...husband I'm guessing, we cut back to the present and we see Zoe walk up to Hunter during the Woodrun. She ignores the fact it was him who told her off and says they should be friends because she can help him out, and mentions being told off earlier by some asshole. Hm... I wonder what she's planning... Anyway, she quickly tells us as she hints that being a "highly wanted woman" there are advantages, like being able to flirt with a jock to have them beat up someone that pisses her off, so she advises Hunter that they should be friends, and friends often help out friends by cleaning up after them and doing their homework. Before Hunter can get away from his new best frenemy, he, Zoe and Jun are teamed up for the Woodrun. Hunter wants to escape during the Woodrun but Jun and Zoe don't plan on it, and Zoe wants to win, and says they'll her her because "That's what fucking friends are for." While we see the gang participating, we see the woman from earlier explaining what we see to her captors, and when she says everything went dark, it suddenly becomes night for the gang, but Zoe brushes it off as an eclipse, and doesn't want to go back, nor does she when it rains. We then see Miss Daramount freaking out, wondering where her sister is, obvious aware that Hodge has something to do with this. Daramount is then confronted by Gribbs who says she needs to go tell the Headmaster that she has lost all the children at the school! Wow... that was... a hell of an ending. Now I'm wondering where the kids are and how they'll return, as well as where Casey and Hodge are. I'll give this book a<span style="color: red;"> 9/10</span>, only because I had so many questions about the flashbacks and got no answers, but Zoe was BAD ASS, her and Ike may be my favorites.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Zoe: Who wants to shake a hand with that much semen residue on it, right? (Lmao, BURN!)</span><br />
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And that's it for me everyone. You can't really do a condensed review for Morning Glories, hence the length but I doubt anyone minds. But I'm outta here, feel free to comment and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible, and be sure to vote on the weekly poll that finally makes it's return! So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b><u>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</u></b></div><br />
Teen Titans #3, Invincible #85, and Kick-Ass 2 #5Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-48886245650985007592011-11-10T16:52:00.001-05:002011-11-17T23:15:45.366-05:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Green Lantern #3Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here once again with those comic content comments you capriciously crave, that's right folks, I'm here once again and this week should be interesting. Still continuing on with my "Not for me by three"method if a book hasn't won me over by the third issue it joins the dropped list, currently leading the way is Detective Comics, so let's see if anything else joins the list today.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman and Robin #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20681_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20681_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Damian and Alfred playing chess, while Bruce as Batman improves the security perimeters of Wayne Mansion, due to his recent run in with Nobody a.k.a. the man he also knows as Morgan. He then goes out on patrol, but tells Damian that he isn't to come, as he needs to seem defenseless and doesn't want Damian in that position with him. He also tells Damian to name the dog he bought in the last issue, as he's a gift for Damian's recent self-control. Damian, seemingly ignoring all of that, decides to go out on his own, but Alfred manages to place a tracker on the Boy Wonder before he leaves. While on patrol, Robin stops a robbery and brutally beats the living hell out of the two robbers, including throwing one of their knives through the robber's hand. As Robin pummels the robber someone tells him to "finish him,, Damian. " to which Robin is confronted by Nobody. Nobody says that Damian is holding himself back for Bruce, and he looks down at the recently beaten the and says thanks to Damian's beating, the criminal is now brain-dead, so Nobody kills him. Damian tries to stop him but Nobody uses a pressure point to subdue the Boy Wonder then removes his mask. Suddenly, Batman arrives and faces off with Nobody, but Nobody uses an Ultrasound (not the kind for babies...) to incapacitate Batman long enough to lure him into the street where the Dark Knight is hit by a speeding car, man that scene was so unexpected. The issue ends soon after as Batman and Robin awaken strapped to the inside of an old car in front of a screen at a old drive in theater, as Nobody tels them to enjoy the show. I really enjoyed this issue, I like the stuff with the dog as it ties into future Batman events (Batman Beyond), I loved the Alfred/Robin interactions, especially with the tracker, and I like how Nobody was portrayed here, he could be a great addition to Bats' rogues gallery. I'll give this issue of Batman and Robin a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>, and it's definitely safe from being dropped by me anytime soon.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Alfred: Did you know this chess set has been in the Wayne family for over 200 years?</div><div style="color: cyan;"></div><div style="color: cyan;">Damian: That's almost as old as you, Alfred.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20696_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20696_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
This issue opens with Carol Ferris arriving home from her train wreck of a date with Hal Jordan, she answers her cellphone after turning down a picture of her and Hal together as someone tells her to turn on her TV to channel four. She turns and see's a super-powered Hal Jordan helping save the city with Sinestro and is shocked. From there we see Sinestro explaining why he wants to take down his former Corps, and mentioning how they went against what he told him and enslaved his home planet, and if Hal helps him defeat his former Corps, he'll give Hal his ring and they'll go separate ways.Hal agrees and the two head off to defeat the Sinestro Corps together. Before the attack, Sinestro tells Hal that after the sun sets on Korugar, Sinestro will head down and engage the entire Corps, meanwhile Hal is to take Sinestro's Green Lantern and put it in the Sinestro Corps battery, as a green lantern is the fail-safe for the rings. Pretty sneaky sis! The two head down to the planet and wait for sunset, until a woman named Arsona attacks a Sinestro Corps member that's about to eat another native of Korugar. Arsona is then attacked which causes Sinestro to jump into action to save her and fight the Corp, while Hal flies off to the Yellow Battery. Hal takes the lantern in the battery and it says "Green Lantern detected, Disintegration process initiated as Hal fucking DISINTEGRATES as the issue ends! Oh man that was epic, I know it won't last but the visual of that was awesome, so that plus the awesomeness of Sinestro gets this issue a <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Hal Jordan: Dammit, Sinestro! You set me up!</span> (Then he was dust...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Grifter #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20720_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20720_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with Grifter, Cole Cash, being confronted by his brother, Max Cash, as they hold one another at gunpoint with a helicopter hovering over them, even though I'm fairly sure there was n helicopter and the car Grifter was in was turned over in the last issue, but whatever. After a pretty boring argument full of vague comments, we cut over to see Cole's ex-girlfriend arriving outside of Gotham City. Who runs from crime and goes to Gotham City?! That's just dumb... I'd take my luck anywhere besides the place that's home to The Joker, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze, Black Mask, Poison Ivy and the rest of those loons. She ends up getting caught by what I can only assume are the things after Cole. Meanwhile Cole and his brother's argument is interrupted by one of the Alien things, and during a fight, the Helicopter is knocked out of the air and falls and explodes on Cole's brother....okay then. When Cole's next line is "That was my brother!" I decided I was done with this comic and this series. I tried, but I can't even make myself care about this isue to finish the review, this issue gets an<span style="color: red;"> N/A</span> and joins Detective Comics on the dreaded drop list.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Me: Um...check please!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deathstroke #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20719_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20719_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start off with Deathstroke fighting some dude that's dumb enough to impale himself on Deathstroke's gigantic sword (that whole sentence sounded weird) and we then jump over to see Slade training and then talking with a man known as Peabody. He gives Peabody the briefcase and asks him if whatever is in it is real, and Peabody says he'll need a few days to find out, and Slade says fine. From there he discusses his target and we see Slade arrive in a gigantic suit that looks like the one Dexter used to play Dodgeball on Dexter's Lab back when I was a kid. Anyway, Deathstoke breaks into the lair of his target and kills a bunch of people, just like in the last two issues before he's confronted by a by in the same suit as the one from the beginning of the issue, and after a bit of a struggle, Deathstoke beheads him. As the issue comes to a close we see that Harmony's parents are the one's hiring people to go after Deathstroke. Meh, I couldn't get into this either. It seems like every issue is just Slade decapitating people, and there's no substance, which made this get old for me fast, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">5/10 </span>rating but I won't stick around for anymore.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Me: I bet twenty bucks he's gonna decap..yep, I was right.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batgirl #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20689_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20689_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with Batgirl trying to save the people on the train that a bomb has been placed there by The Mirror. (This reboot has some lame villain names.) Haha, there's graffiti on the train that says "For a good time, call the Red Hood." Batgirl realizes she can't find the bomb so she singles out the man The Mirror is trying to kill and makes everyone else move to a different train car. She then hugs the intended victim and states that since The Mirror believes Batgirl is to die by falling, he won't kill her and the intended victim because that would dishonor his plans, but The Mirror says Batgirl has forgotten the guy who saved the intended victim is on another train and he also "cheated death" and with a push of a button he detonates his train, killing the good Samaritan as well as a bunch of innocents.We then see that the young woman who's partner was killed in now investigating Batgirl, as she believes Gordon has a blind spot when it comes to Bats. From there we see Batgirl steal her bike back from the GCPD impound lot when she's approached but Nightwing, who has been tailing her. The two leave on Babs' bike and talk alone, as Dick asks Babs if she wants to be back in her chair, considering they said her condition could deteriorate. She leg sweeps Dick and tells him to catch her and see if she's ready to be back, he eventually does catch her but Babs lashes out and attacks Dick, the two fight for a bit before he calms her down and says that he and Bruce aren't worried about her because they doubt her but because they love her. She apologizes and says she needs to take care of this alone, and Nightwing obliges and leaves Batgirl all alone as this issue comes to a close. This was a fine issue, nothing bad but nothing amazing either, although I did enjoy the swerve the Mirror pulled, this book is safe for now, I'll give it a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: You're a mess, you know.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Nightwing: Yeah. Fought this tough redhead chick. She beat the crap out of me.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: She sounds wonderful. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ultimate Spider-Man #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110520.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110520.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start where we left off in the last issue with the kids being told in the gym that Spider-Man had been shot, Miles has Ganke cover for him and sneaks out. Miles eventually makes his way to the fight and see's Peter take down Osborn before he dies on the lawn while talking to Aunt May, as we see Miles watching in the crowd. Miles walks over and asks a crying Gwen Stacy what his name was, and she replies Peter Parker as Miles looks over at the fallen Spider-Man. Back at his dorm, Miles tells Ganke this is all his fault, and if he'd used his powers earlier he could've helped Peter instead of sitting in his room being afraid of his dad and everything else. At Peter's funeral, Miles and Ganke make their way to the front of the barricade and Miles asks Gwen why he did it, she explains that he did it because of what happens with his uncle and with great power comes great responsibility. From that we see Miles trying to make his costume much like Peter did, when Ganke comes up and hands him a brand new Spider-Man Halloween costume. Haha, you gotta love that. After going out on patrol and clumsily defeating a villain as we read in a report via the Daily Bugle, they also refer to him wearing Spidey's costume being in bad taste. Back at his room, Miles and Ganke discuss what to do next and they almost get caught in the process, as Miles and Ganke's roommate almost catches Miles dressed up like Spidey. Afterwards, Miles is out on the town when he's suddenly kicked in the face by Spider-Woman, who ends the issue by asking Miles "Who the @#$@ do you think you are??" Once again, I enjoyed this issue, I liked that Miles is slowly coming along and how Peter inspired him and how we're seeing a trial and error run with him, thins can only get better with Spider-Woman in the next issue. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Miles: I need to figure out the buzzing in my head thing. Head buzzing. Is it cancer? Did the spider give me?</span> *BLAM face kick!*<br />
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And just like that, that's it for me guys. I want to thank you all for reading and as always comments are appreciated. I want to let you guys know due to the number of books I'm grabbing, next week's reviews will be much more condensed, also, until I get my laptop back (still working on someone else's) there won't be any new polls, as don't have the log in info to the site on my laptop and can't get the password sent to my email. But that's it for me guys, once again thanks for reading and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Time on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman #3, Catwoman #3, Justice League #3, Nightwing #3, Red Hood and the Outlaws #3, Supergirl #3, Morning Glories #14, Venom #9, Amazing Spider-Man #674, Deadpool #46, and Ultimate X-Men #3... Eleven Books, who am I, X-Man?!<br />
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<u><b>List of Books I'll Drop Come December (Subject to Change)</b></u><br />
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1. Detective Comics<br />
2. Grifter<br />
3. DeathstrokeJason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-77327493405754788632011-11-03T18:35:00.000-04:002011-11-03T18:35:22.559-04:00Ratings and Rantings Featuring Uncanny X-Men #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with another edition of your FAVORITE comic content comments. This week I've only got six books but a few of them are game changers to say the least, so let's get started off by jumping into this month's issue of Detective Comics!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Detective Comics #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20678_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20678_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start off with a partially paralyzed Batman trying to escape after finding out the cut up Gordon in front of him, is not the real Jim Gordon. While trying to escape, Batman is attacked by a bunch of the Dollmaker's goons, and there was a very forced scene where each goon would compliment the other goon by name, which seems SO forced, especially since these lesser characters don't matter.From there, Batman escapes and brings a goon with him to torture, he even calls him "Sunshine" which just seemed odd. After heading to the cave, Bruce using facial scanning to find out that The Doll Maker is Barton Mathis, the son of a man Gordon shot when he was younger. Because that makes SO much sense, we reboot everything then the first villain is someone that's the son of someone Gordon shot YEARS ago?! Anyway, Batman finds out where Gordon is thanks to Olivia, who apparently was working for the Dollmaker to lure Bats there. While going to save Gordon, Batman is caught from behind by a big Killer Croc look-a-like before being choked unconscious. Instead of... I don't know, unmasking him, they throw Bats in a room where he's attacked by a bunch of people who look like The Joker as this issue ends. Alright, I'll be dropping this comic. This month I'll be dropping any comics that haven't drawn me in yet, so this is number one on the list, and the list will be at the bottom of each post until this month concludes. Anyway, this issue gets a <span style="color: red;">4/10</span>, I hated Bats talking out of character, I hated how he KNEW it was a trap but didn't get any back up whatsoever, and I hated the face that no one tried to unmask him, while he was paralyzed of unconscious, but as usual Tony Daniel's art was great.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batman: Let's go shunshine, I've got Earl Grey tea brewing.</span> (Okay.. I embellished some of that...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League International #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20638_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20638_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Booster distracting the first giant robot while Batman does recon mission on it, as the rest of the team seems to be doing the same thing. Ice and Rocket Red go below the sea in Russia to take on one of the giant robots, and this time was also used to plant some seeds of Rocket Red asking Fire out and asking Ice about Fire. While the teams are taking on the Robots, news breaks that a huge spaceship is over the Earth, which Guy Gardner overhears and says hat everyone is in over their heads, which is why they needed him. Over in Africa, Vixen and Fire bond while distracting and investigating their giant Robot, and the two seem to bond pretty well. Suddenly they're attacked by a bunch of underground people, who overcome Vixen and Fire,and knock them unconscious, causing Fire to turn back into her human form as well. And lastly, over in Canada we see General August in Iron a.k.a. General with Godiva, as he seems more annoyed than anything by her, but the two enter their underground cavern and are attacked by the underground men as well. There was an odd scene where Godiva was supposed to be in trouble and say help but for some reason they drew in General's head instead of hers, which should've been caught by someone... Anyway, General defeats the undergrounders and saves Godiva in the process, which leads to them starting to bond as well. One thing I like about Godiva is that she says this was basically going to be a P.R. stunt for her, which makes her the female Booster in a way, before Booster grew up anyway, which should be interesting. Back with Booster and Batman, Batman uses the underground set up to find out that they are being watched on a live feed, but eventually he and Booster are overcome by the number game. Guy Gardner reaches space and see's that the beams each Robot is sending into space is making a giant orb of light and he crashes his way into the ship. Guy goes to investigate but is suddenly knocked unconscious by a man only known as Peraxxus, as this issue comes to an end. I am really enjoying J.L.I., and this issue only added to the fact. I love the cast and how different most of them are, so I like seeing them interact, if anything I'd want to see more interactions and last fighting, which is odd but shows how good the cast and dialogue are. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Peraxxus: A Lantern. I expected </span><b style="color: cyan;">more</b><span style="color: cyan;">. You'll be one of my easier kills.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Invincible #84</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/may110514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/may110514.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
We start things off by seeing a little good that has come with the destruction of Vegas, as they're now utilizing it's glass like surface with double sided solar panels which allows the panels to draw in double the solar energy, which causes a sad Invincible to state that Dinosaurus was right, before walking off. We then cut over to see Monster Girl telling Rex she's moving out, and that she didn't sleep with Bulletproof, but Rex says he doesn't care anymore. Well alrighty then. We then see Mark and Samantha talking about something very vague, I'd be lying if I said I knew what they were talking about, other than the fact it was vague and Samantha supports Mark. Next we see Invincible show up at the Pentagon, and he tries to get Dinosaurus to turn into Dinosaur form to save him, but since he turns due to indifference and not anger (shout out to The Hulk), Invincible starts telling him a very boring story about his life, which cause Dinosaurus to make an appearance. Invincible basically says that although his methods are extreme, Dinosaurus does have good ideas and wants to help people, so Invincible wants to work with him and with their combined ideas and powers, they can make a much bigger impact on the world. Dinosaurus accepts Invincible's offer and the two break out of the Pentagon, and head out to make a difference, even though this has resulted in Invincible becoming a fugitive. This was a fine issue, it seems as if we're getting back to the action instead of the slower pace this issue has taken since the Viltrumite War, so let's hope things heat up a bit, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Every Man that read this: Monster Girl is pretty hot...</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #573</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110541.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110541.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a bunch of naked people that used to be giant spiders, including Misty Knight *rawr*, Black Panther and Hawkeye. We also see Steve Rogers say he has something to do, and asks where the government issued Spider-Man went, so there's our segue into the next issue of Venom, which should be seven shades of awesome. We also see Kaine trying to sneak off using the Stealth Mode of the suit he borrowed from Peter, but he's caught by Madame Web, who wants to talk about his future. We also see Peter and MJ talking but he has to run off to see Aunt May who wants to make sure he's fine... that old woman annoys me so much. As Peter leaves we also see that he cured everyone except for MJ, who web-swings away. Interesting...I'm gonna love this. While seeing off Jay and May, Peter oversees Eddie Brock on TV with Reed Richards, hailed as the hero that helped cure the Spider-Infection, which is pretty awesome that Eddie finally gets to be a hero. As May and Jay leave, Peter is then confronted by Kaine, who says he's leaving the city and taking Peter's stealth suit, since Madame Web says he may need it. Also interesting... Peter finally arrives home and see's Carlie packing her things, she doesn't want to hear Pete's excuses and she says she knows he's Spider-Man, and she's been lied to by so many people but now he's on the list, so to show her some respect and say it. He tells her that he's Spider-Man and she says she knew because he knew how to use his powers, he didn't need a learning curve and he should've made more mistakes on purpose like when she taught him how to skate. She says whatever this is they have is now over, before leaving him standing alone in his apartment. Once again, interesting. Peter then goes to see Doctor Strange and asks how Carlie figured it out considering Strange's sell, but he cites that Peter introduced himself to the world while having his powers during Spider-Island, and while everyone won't remember he's Spidey, they can in fact learn he is once again. Goddamn this issue is setting up SO much, between MJ having powers, May and Jay leaving, Kaine leaving with the stealth suit, Cap after Venom, Brock as a hero, Carlie and Peter splitting, and now Pete's identity being able to be learned again, this is easily a year worth of storylines. Afterwards, Pete heads to Horizon Labs and asks Max if he has any of the cure left because Spidey sent him. Max gives Peter a cure and Peter changes to his Spidey threads and heads up to a rooftop where he's met by Madame Web, who says he has earned this and he can use the cure to have a normal life from now on, and a new Spider-Man, possibly Kaine, will take his spot on the web. Spidey said no, the vial of cure is for someone else, and Madame Web says okay and tells Spidey sorry for his upcoming loss. From there, Spider-Man goes to see Mary Jane and gives her the cure (booo) but she says it was fun while it lasted. He mentions to her that he and Carlie are over and that he's a bit disappointed that Eddie gets all the credit for saving the city but MJ tells him to look over at the Empire State Building, as it has lights shows Red and Blue over it, as the city shows their respect to Spidey for saving the day. I loved this issue, it set up so much while dealing with the Spider-Island fallout, and who knows, maybe the cure didn't work on MJ... haha, either way, I was a big fan of this event and this issue, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">10/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Clint Barton: Guys, we live in a world where the Hulk grows ten times his size and his pants stay on. Roll with it.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Uncanny X-Men #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110591.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/se/sep110591.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We started with a page that has pretty much all the major members of the team, along with their powers and real names as well as their code names, which is something Wolverine and The X-Men could've used. Anyway, we start off seeing Mr. Sinister kill some tourists before casually tapping his cane on the side of a big golden robot and making a portal. Next we see Cyclops address his new team, which he dubs the Extinction team. He says it's their job to save so many humans that people realize they are good guys, but Storm points out the obvious, besides herself, Hope and maybe Scott, everyone else on the team has at some point been, a super villain. Eventually, the team is needed and go to the giant statue that we saw Sinister at, as he has used his powers to turn the head of the statue into that of his own, because it's unnecessary yet awesome. Sinister says if Cyclops and his crew want to be heroes, he'll help them, as he attacks the team using the statue. Emma calls for backup as Namor arrives to help the team out, but a huge blast manages to subdue Colossus and even blasts off Emma's arm while in diamond form. Colossus then changes into The Juggernaut and is ready for round two. With the help of Danger, Magneto reconstructs the statue into just an ordinary statue in a pretty impressive maneuver. While trying to locate the head of the statue, they see that Sinister has landed it in the city, and effective turned everyone into versions of himself as this issue closes. I liked this issue, I had a few things I didn't like how odd Storm's face looked, but for the most part I enjoy the team, I enjoyed the story, and I enjoyed Mr. Sinister of course. I'll give this first issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating and say that I'm very interested in the next issue, especially since things to come in the series shows what looks like Hope confronted by the Phoenix, and Namor making out with Emma Frost.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Hope: We get fancy chairs now? This <b>is </b>a new direction. Did we steal them from someone?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Namor: To sit in a seat so fine, Namor would take it from any man.</span> (Lmao...Namor is crazy.)<br />
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And just like that, that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Feel free to leave any comments as well as checking out the results of last week's poll. FYI, no new poll this week since I'm having problems with their website. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "What character do you miss the most in the DC Reboot?"<br />
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Last place with 0% - Donna Troy, damn, poor poor Donna. <br />
Third place with 11.1% - Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, I guess since she'll be back as Spoiler?<br />
Second Place with 22.2% - Wally West as The Flash, I expected more.<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 67.7% - Power Girl, after an awesome run by Judd, I can't express how much I miss Peej.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings an Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batgirl #3, Batman and Robin #3, Deathstroke #3, Grifter #3, Green Lantern #3, and Ultimate Spider-Man #4<br />
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<u><b>List of Books I'll Drop Come December (Subject to Change)</b></u><br />
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1. Detective ComicsJason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-22989010277904576782011-10-27T18:21:00.000-04:002011-10-27T18:21:34.955-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Wolverine and The X-Men #1Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here again with your favorite comic content comment. After a week of the awesomeness that is Batman: Arkham City, I'm back and ready to review six comics that I'm, hoping are damn good. Considering two are new series by Jason Aaron, two are Spider-Island related, one has Deadpool vs. Deadpool, and the other is issue two of the new Teen Titans, I'm expecting good things. So, enough yammering on, let's get underway with Deadpool! <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #45</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110674.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
This issue of Deadpool starts off with us seeing evil Deadpool hijack a jet to get from the U.K. to the USA, meanwhile Deadpool does the same, via stowing away on a ship. Evil Deadpool along the way lights a billionaire on fire and kicks him out of his own jet, which was as awesome as it sounds. Meanwhile, Deadpool's brain questions why they hopped aboard a freighter instead of taking a plane back, which reveals that Deadpool picked that freighter to save a bunch of women that were basically kidnapped into slavery, which DP does. Up in the air, Evil Deadpool kills the pilot and co-pilot that he overhears talking about crashing the plane, then kills the flight attendant, before assuaging himself with pretzels. Once he makes it to New York with the girls he saved, Deadpool takes them to someone who can help them that owes him one. From there Deadpool heads to New Jersey but encounters a jumper on the way that wants to kill himself because he has cancer, and once he fidns out Deadpool also had cancer and kills people, he asks Deadpool to kill him. Over in Jersey, evil Deadpool arrives at a chimichanga place that Deadpool was headed to as his jet crashes not far behind him as the issue ends. This was an alright issue, I like that Deadpool is coming off more human and good and evil Deadpool clearly seems evil and heartless. I am curious to see those two interact, this was fun but nothing amazing. I'll give it a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Smuggled Woman: The <b>men</b> .. they have guns. Do you have gun? </div><div style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: Heh.. *flexes* Two of em baby. Boom.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110226.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110226.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />
Yep, first page we get confirmation that Bart Allen IS in fact, Kid Flash, for anyone who was curious. We start off with Bart being held captive in a cell by someone an hour after his superhero debut. From there we see Tim and Cassie "Don't call me Wonder Girl" Sandsmark (with a snarky new attitude that I love) trying to figure out what to do about NOWHERE as Cass allows Tim to stay the night on her couch, and interestingly enough, Tim wears no costume around Cass but won't tell her his name because he doesn't want to compromise other people he works with....even though Bruce and his cohorts are always on the news. Either way, she thanks Tim and says he's a good guy for helping her out today, as we see Tim is a bit disappointed with that comment, as clearly he wants to be more than a good friend, if you catch my drift. Next we see Superboy in a pod, studying Cassie's movements from when NOWHERE attacked her and Tim, since he's been tasked with bringing her in. In the morning, Tim watches an online report about a bug woman named Skitter, so he goes to investigate and quickly finds out that she's a twin sister of one of the people who reported seeing her, so he questions her and finds out that she's worried about her sister and mentioned her to the government people that asked about her, obviously being NOWHERE. Red Robin goes after this Skitter girl so he can reach her before NOWHERE and runs into some of their thugs on the way. After fighting the goons, Tim finds Skitter, but she seems to no longer be in control as she attacks Red Robin. Red Robin tries to talk her down but she lunges at Red Robin, luckily Cassie comes in and decks her with an instant knockout, before telling Tim that saving metahumans isn't her job and to lose her number, she was just paying him back for saving her. Yep, she looked back at him too, there's definitely something between those two. Red Robin meanwhile picks up Skitter and wonders what he's going to do next. Next we see some guards dumb enough to deactivate the force field on Kid Flash's cell, so he quickly betas them up and escapes, but on the way out he encounters a cell that says Solstice, he peeks in and see's her falling to her knees in pain as she's covered with some kind of black smoke. Awesome ending, I didn't like Solstice but seeing her here like that was interesting, I'm liking the stuff with Tim and Cass, and this new version of Cass may be my favorite rebooted character. Also, Bart came off more likable and intelligent here than the first issue, and SB while he was seen shortly was also impactful as he studied Cass. In short, I really enjoyed this issue, if there's anything I didn't like it would be the fact it wasn't a bit longer, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating, hell between this and Red Hood I'm quickly becoming a fan of Scott Lobdell.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Red Robin: You followed me?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Cassie: Like you didn't recognize my ass in the clothing store? Right.</span> (I love snarky Cassie, reminds me of Jason a bit.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Incredible Hulk #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110584.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110584.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off seeing The Hulk underground as he defeats a bunch of gigantic beasts before dragging them back for the underground community that he is clearly the savior of. He often brings them food and as they feast, Hulk sits alone, waiting for the attackers from above ground that he's positive will come, but the eldest member of the community says that Hulk should come and be with them, after all, he came to find peace and now he should enjoy it. As Hulk finally goes to enjoy the community and their festivities, we see a tiny robot that reports that Hulk's identity was confirmed and the move in. Some people in robot suits try to apprehend Hulk but he fights them until one removes her armor, a woman by the name Amanda Von Doom. (She claims no relation to Victor.) She says they came in attacking so Hulk would take them seriously and it's not him they have a problem with, their problem is with Bruce Banner. From there we see two man-sized, talking Boars, as they are grabbing a bunch of animals and dragging them back to Banner, who seems to be trying to replicate the formula that created The Hulk by testing it on animals. This was a fine issue, it was fast and I can't say I'm all that invested in it. I'll probably give this first arc a try and see how things go from there, but I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Amanda Von Doom: It's Banner. Something has to be done about about Banner.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #8</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110601.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Flash leaving Betty in the hospital room with his gun, since he's being called for another Agent Venom mission, this time to eliminate The Queen. Throughout the issue, we see text from a note that Flash's dad left just in case Flash didn't make it in time, which is a good touch, as Flash's dad states that Flash should definitely marry Betty, and if he doesn't it will be the great mistake of his life. As we see Agent Venom try to assassinate The Queen, she stops him and the two face off in hand-to-hand combat. The Queen actually owns Flash, which isn't surprising considering her past, and screeches at him which causes him to lose the Venom suit temporarily. Flash is saved by one of The Queens fed-up subjects that attacks her, which causes a distraction for Flash to grab the symbiote and try to bond with it, but he leaves his dad's touching letter behind before getting to read it, and it burns up in fire. Damn, I'm really disappointed Flash never got to see that letter. Flash tries to get the symbiote to merge with him but it's still a bit shell-shocked, and Flash is bitten by a giant man spider, but is able to get the symbiote to fully form so he can be Agent Venom again. Once The Queen goes looking for Flash, he attacks her once again, but she overtakes Flash once more, and beats him senseless, until he's saved by none other than Steve Rogers, Captain America! Cap and The Queen fight and it seems she has the upper hand due to her getting extra power in ASM #671, but suddenly The Queen is killed by Flash, when he jams Cap's shield into her back. The issue ends as a giant cocoon is formed oevr the Spider-Queen, and the formerly hot vixen is now transformed into a gigantic Spider, as Cap and Venom stand side by side, ready for round two. This was a really good issue, I liked seeing Cap appear, I enjoyed the stuff with Flash's dad's note. The only thing that bothered me was the fact Flash never got to see it, which makes sense, but I think he needed that closure, either way this was a great issue, I'll give it a <span style="color: red;">9/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Captain America: Soldier? You still with me?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Agent Venom: Always. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #673</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110598.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110598.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We pick up where we left off in Venom with Venom and Rogers getting ready to take on the new and scarier Spider-Queen. Meanwhile we see Peter and Kaine together as Pete has Kaine dress up as Spider-Man just in case anyone questions those two being the same person I guess. Suddenly, Mary Jane shows up at Horizon Labs with a bunch of people that had been cured by Anti-Venom. Reed Richards tells her the reason she's yet to turn into a giant Spider is because the process was slowed due to her being around Peter so much, haha. Peter and Kaine head off (Kaine wearing Pete's Sonic suit) to face the Spider-Queen, as do The X-Men, Venom, Cap and the Avengers. So yep, if someone else were to start trouble on the other side of America, they'd get away. Spidey and Kaine attack the Spider-Queen and Spidey is knocked back, but caught by The Amazing Spider-Model, Mary Jane Watson. Spidey wants to quit since he knows his powers won't make much of an impact, but MJ suggests he build something, and Spidey says "Like what, a spider-slayer?" before finally understanding what Smythe meant. Spidey and MJ go to the precinct and find a box of Doc Ock's octobots and heads with MJ to a large antenna so he can control them. He uses the Octobots to get the cure and then bite infected people, which cures them by the thousands and causes the Spider-Queen to weaken. Kaine and Ms. Marvel take advantage of this to do a move that she and Spidey have, as she spins Kaine with his webs and shoots him at the Spider-Queen, and Kaine uses his blades to stab through the throat of the Spider-Queen as Madame Web remarks that it was Kaine she saw in her vision, crossing the line that Peter wouldn't cross. The issue comes to a close as Spidey and MJ look down over New York together, having helped save the city and the world. I enjoyed Spider-Island, I enjoyed everything it built to, and I'm wondering what the aftermath will lead to, also, Peter/Carlie/MJ love triangle? I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating as well.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Peter: Just hanging with my pal, Spidey. Say something.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Kaine: Um. Wallopin' web-snappers.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Wolverine and The X-Men #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110653.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
We start off with Wolverine and Professor Xavier talking about the school opening and all that comes with running the school, which was fun to see. From there we see the inspectors come to look over the school, as Wolverine and Kitty, the Headmaster and Headmistress show them around. The snooty inspectors seem to be jerks as they comment offhandedly while seeing classes being run by Husk and Rachel Grey. From there we see more of the same until the inspectors finally meet up with Hank, who Logan and Kitty believe can make them change their minds about the facility. Unfortunately, Hank is too busy trying to fix the school up so he's vulgar and very uncaring, which seemed very out of character. From there, Wolverine is told someone is asking for him, so he heads to the gate and meets Kade Kilgore, who for some reason looks 16 instead of like a kid. He basically says he was to blame for the schism and everything else and he plans to ruin Wolverine and everything he's started. This pisses Wolverine off and as he heads back to the school, he's told the school will be shut down for being too dangerous, and at that moment the school is...attacked by the ground or something. Well, I'm done with this series... I loved Schism but I never got into this, a lot of people seemed out of character, Wolverine smiles WAY too much, I get that he was putting on an act for the people but still, and the art just seemed off to me. I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">4/10 </span>rating and state that after this I make no regrets in choosing Team Cyclops. <br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Wolverine: Call Scott. See if he's rented out our old rooms yet.</span><br />
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And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone, thanks for reading and as always, comments are appreciated and mandatory! :P And be sure to vote on this week's newest poll as well as check out last week's poll results. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Two months in, how do you feel about the DCnU?"<br />
Last place with 27.3% - Tie between "It's okay" and "When is the old DCU coming back" (I'm shocked...)<br />
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<b>Winner</b> with 45.5% - I love it more than the old DCU.... This is the most surprised I've been about a poll.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Detective Comics #3, Justice League international #3, Uncanny X-Men #1, Amazing Spider-Man #673, and Invincible #84Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-4332875525633546232011-10-20T16:17:00.000-04:002011-10-20T16:17:26.391-04:00Ratings and Rantings Featuring Red Hood and The Outlaws #2Hey Todd Squad, it's that time once again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! This is a busy week for me, because while I only have a few books books, I also have the greatness that is Batman: Arkham City sitting in my PS3. So let's see which of these seven comics delivered and which failed to keep up the momentum of their prior number one issues. But before we get into the DC deuces, let's hop into issue number thirteen of Morning Glories!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Morning Glories #13</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.razorfine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/morning-glories-13-cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.razorfine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/morning-glories-13-cover.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a flashback as we see Casey's dad teaching her how to box. Her mother seems to worry that he's turning her into a tomboy, as he's teaching her boxing, hiking, hunting and whatnot, but he maintains that he just wants her to be able to take care of herself, since they won't be around forever. From there we see the scene we saw a few issues ago, where Casey tells Hunter she thinks they'd fare better if they weren't in a relationship, except this time we follow Hunter out and see him bump into Zoe while turning a corner, and she accuses him of trying to cop a feel. She continues to demean Hunter until he snaps and tells her she's not hot and anyone who thinks she is hot is an idiot, He says the only people that pretend to care about her are guys that want to use her, and proceeds to call her a stuck-up skank and a bitch. Well damn... that seemed odd for Hunter but after being jumped, missing his date with Casey and being turned down by her, I can see where the rage came from. Hunter heads to his dorm to see Ike is moving back in, and begrudgingly unpacking his things, which seems to give a bit of enjoyment to Hunter and Jun. Back in her dorm, Casey gets a letter delivered to her by a student from Ms. Hodge, we don't see what it says but Casey drags Jade along with her, yelling for Hunter. Before she can talk to Hunter, Casey runs into Ike and before she can manage to beat the hell out of him, Casey, Ike and Jade are partnered up for a Woodrun. What is a Woodrun you ask? Apparently it's...something that never gets explained. Jun, Zoe and Hunter also happen to be in a group together but rather than go find them, Casey takes this as a chance for her and her team to escape. Casey eventually leads them to an escape that was in the letter she got from Ms. Hodge, and the three are then confronted by Ms. Hodge. Hodge is upset that Hunter isn't there and Ike is, saying she gave Casey specific instructions, but Casey says he'd already left. Hodge plans on getting them out of there, but she tells Jade she can't come since that was never in the plans. Casey says she isn't leading Jade, but Jade gives Casey her blessing and says she knows Casey will return for her. Ms. Hodge gives Jade and Ike orders to stay up on a ledge their on while Casey and Hodge sit in chairs, and they can't leave until they disappear from the chairs they're in. While Hodge and Casey sit there,something happens and we see a bunch of different eras of time, before we see Ms. Hodge and Casey appear outside of a fence and approached by army men with guns yelling for them to get on the ground. The issue closes as Casey realizes one of the men is actually her father. Man, what a reveal that was. I really liked this issue, from the beginning to ending, and the Back to the Future and Star Wars references they threw in that Hunter missed out on. Everything just gelled, and sure there are more questions than answers as always, but I'm in for the long haul and issues like this really help. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">10/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Casey: My knuckles haven't healed up, but my knee's just fine.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Ike: Well, that's a pity. I'd like to see those knees reddened up somehow... </span>(Lmao... I love Ike.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Nightwing #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20465_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20465_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things get started quickly as Nightwing defends himself against the attacker that's after Dick Grayson. When the attacker endangers some civilians, Nightwing has to allow him to get away to save them. After arriving home, Raya (Dick's old friend from the circus) begs him to drive her to Atlantic city on her two days off so she can see Bryan. On the way there, via jet, she reveals this was a ploy and Mr. Haly wants to see Dick tonight because he's dying. Haly meets with Dick and hints that he knows Dick is Nightwing through his mannerisms, and he says that's not what Dick was supposed to be, as he hands him the deed to Haly's Circus, saying he owes it to Dick. After getting the deed and doing the deed with Raya on the jet on the way back, Dick gets a phonecall from the killer, going by the name of Saiko. He reveals that he knows Dick is Nightwing after torturing old man Haly. Dick has the jet turn around and goes back to save Haly, and has a big fight with Saiko before making the building cave him. Nightwing escapes with Mr. Haly who soon dies from blood loss due to being tortured by Saiko, but not before he tells Dick that the reason people are after Dick is about the circus...and the answers are in the heart of the circus, as this issue ends. Well this was interesting, I'm wondering what comes from Dick getting the Circus, but Haly knowing Dick was Nightwing pretty much all this time, then ratting him out via torture even though he's ALREADY DYING just annoyed me. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Mr. Haly: I watched you grow up and learn how to fly, kiddo. The others may not know what you do now, but I </span><b style="color: cyan;">always</b><span style="color: cyan;"> have</span>. (I wonder how long he considered blackmail...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20454_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20454_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start off with Batman taking down some criminals before using his virtual reality technology to meet Gordon after an autopsy is done at the morgue. They discuss how the murdered man in the last issue has no identity and paid all of his bills with cash. I enjoyed the autopsy because they used a lot of Bruce's detective knowledge, so I can't give that scene the description it deserves, other than the fact it showed why Batman is the world's greatest detective. After that, he meets with Nightwing, to question why the dead man has Dick's skin under his fingernails. He explains that a week ago the John Doe approached him at a Wayne function and grabbed Dick's arm and said "they're real, and they're sending them for you all" before security dragged him away. The next day, Bruce meets with Lincoln March at Wayne Tower, when suddenly a masked man enters the room and throws a knife into the stomach of March. Bruce attacks the masked man but for some reason he can't stop him, and suddenly Bruce is kicked out of the window of his office and falls towards the ground below, but luckily lands on a gargoyle instead of falling to his death. The issue ends as we see the mysterious man is far from done with his rampage. This was a pretty good issue, it caused a lot of questions although I was a bit peeved that Bruce doesn't trust Dick, even after all of his Batman Inc. stuff. That aside, this was another good issue by Snyder, I'll give it a<span style="color: red;"> 9/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Masked Man: Bruce Wayne. The court of owls has sentenced you to die.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20433_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20433_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Superman and Green Lantern fighting as Batman tries to calm them down, but when Hal feels he's in trouble he calls for back-up in the form of The Flash. Flash shows up after some begging from Hal, and dodges Supes for a while before he gets thumped by Superman and knocked off of his feet. Batman interjects himself and explains about the alien they saw and asks Superman if he knows anything about it, which he doesn't. The military then shows up and Flash, Batman, Superman and Green Lantern all leave together for some reason. We then cut over to see Victor Stone's dad, Silas, and a team of people investigating the box that one of the alien's left behind. Vic shows up to meet with his dad and after arguing about how his Dad never has and never will come to one of his games, Vic's dad is called away, so Vic follows. Meanwhile, the four heroes discuss what to do, in a pretty funny scene including Hal being dumb enough to call Barry by his name after he reveals he's a cop, Flash asking Batman what he can do, and Bats saying Supes apparently has no identity to protect since he doesn't wear as mask. Suddenly, the box Bats has been carrying around starts to beep before a ton of parademons come out of it and attack while yelling "For Darkseid!" Meanwhile, the box that the scientists has shoots a beam that pretty much incinerates everyone and blasts Victor away as his father is laying on the ground, barely missing the beam and yells for Victor. We start to see Victor mutate into metal as the issue closes. I really enjoyed this issue, It was surprisingly good and I liked seeing the four heroes interact, it felt oddly new yet similar, plus the next issue has Wonder Woman. I'll give this issue a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>, there was nothing about it I didn't enjoy.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">The Flash: Batman's real?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Green Lantern: Yeah, and he's a total tool.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Catwoman #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20468_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20468_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Batman and Catwoman having sex, cause if that doesn't get you interested I don't know what will. They talk for a bit and he asks if she's okay with the fact her apartment got blown up and someone may be after her, but she doesn't seem to be worried. From there, Catwoman steals a valuable painting and offers it to the people she stole it from as well as the opposing mob that wants it, including Renald, the guy who's eye she clawed out the night before. They meet at some big fancy Wayne function, as Bruce also noticed Selina, even though she has a blonde wig and a dress that shows more than it covers. Bruce walks up to her, playing the drunken playboy act he's perfected, as Selina flirts with him, unknowing he's Batman. Meanwhile, she has both groups leave payments in different places, as she turns down Bruce's charm. Bruce apparently had Alfred intercept her texts and see's that she has drops planned at the party, and goes to investigate when suddenly Catwoman drops onto his shoulders and plants a kiss on him, before throwing a firecracker into a room with the mobsters fighting over the painting, which of course leads to a shootout, which Selina hopes will also kill Renald. Catwoman then grabs both money-drops before escaping, as Bruce runs off to change into Batman. As Catwoman arrives home to celebrate with Lola, she finds her tied up with a bullet in her head! Suddenly, Selina is attacked and beat bloody by the guys that blew up her apartment, when she's approached by their leader, a man known as Bone who has white, bone-like skin. (Picture a white version of The Thing.) Say what you want but I loved this issue, I'm annoyed Lola got killed off so quickly but it showed things get real fast, and there's been a lot of death around Catwoman this issue. And of course, things are going to get interesting when Batman comes after her as well, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Catwoman: C'mon, there's a whole lotta dirty money we need to roll around naked in!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Supergirl #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20451_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20451_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
To start things off we see a flashback to three days ago (as far as Kara's concerned) and she's babysitting her little cousin Kal-El, but now she's looking at an adult version of him, asking who she is. She wonders what's going on and why this man is wearing their family crest, and he explains that he's Kal-El, and they are apparently cousins. She calls him a liar and punches him, and surprisingly we actually see something that's on the cover of a comic... crazy right?! She continues to beat the hell out of Superman, but while she does, she mistakenly triggers her powers and is able to see through him, from veins, to muscles to bones. Superman tries to explain to her about her powers but she attacks again, which causes him to go on the defensive. The entire fight is littered with Kara finding out she has random powers, including flight, which is an interesting way of approaching the subject, which i enjoyed. Every time Kara gets herself in trouble (like falling out of the sky) Superman is there to save her, and gets walloped in the face for his troubles. Eventually, Kara realizes that this fight could hurt innocents, so she calms down and allows Superman to explain about Earth, the Yellow sun and how it gives them the power of Worldkillers, whatever those may be. When she asks why Superman doesn't just return to Krypton, he has the unfortunate honor of telling her that Krypton is gone. The issue ends soon after as a crystal of knowledge from Kara's pod falls into the hands of a mystery man. This was a good issue as well, I enjoyed the fight and felt how confused Kara would be on this new world, I also felt Kal's frustration of her not listening and punching him across the planet like forty times. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Superman: Because Krypton... is gone. </span>(I love that he paused for dramatic effect....I really do.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Red Hood and the Outlaws #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20466_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20466_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start off with a flashback to a year ago, seeing Jason a year ago, still in his training to become The Red Hood. He was introduced to the ancient trainer, Ducra by Talia Al Ghul, and after disrespecting the old woman, he wasquickly shown not to judge a book by it's cover. She manages to knock Jason out after he upset her after only six seconds, and she states that she can train him to be the most skilled assassin in the world (Please gimme Jason vs. Deathstroke, or even a team-up.) She then tells Talia she will train Jason, because she doesn't want the world at his mercy. We then jump forward to three hours ago and see Roy and Jason on a plane, with Roy trying to apologize for sleeping with Jason's girl, which Jason claims he doesn't care about since she isn't his girl. On the plane, a flight attendant asks what is Jason's reason for attending China, and he replies "A death in the family." which I loved. Jason also manages to get the number of said flight attendant before he and Roy arrive in China and are greeted by a limo, which has Starfire, looking like an orange skinned, six-foot tall Beyonce sitting in the back. Roy mentions how great a team they are already, but Jason says there is no team, even though Kori and Roy are clearly growing on him. While going to his safe pad to grab his mask and weapons, Jason is ambushed by a rather large woman named Suzie Su and her guards, but Jason defends himself by killing them all, and Suzie Su says wait until her daddy finds out, and Jason replies he'll kill him too. From there we see Jason return to avenge Ducra, where we left off in the last issue, except now Starfire and Roy are with him, I could complain but Lobdell worked around the inconsistencies so at least he did that. As Jasonm Roy and Starfire defeat the reanimated corpses of people that helped train Jason's body and mind, the issue comes to a close as Jason goes to avenge them, and tells his "team" to get ready to kick some ass. Alright, I know I sound like a broken record, but I enjoyed this. Why Lobdell decided to make it so Star and Roy were with Jason when they weren't in the last issue, I don't know, but whatever, he worked around it and I enjoyed it all, from the plane ride to them rolling in style to Jason's past with Ducra. I hope we get to see more into Roy and Kori's pasts too, but I'll give this issue a<span style="color: red;"> 9/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Talia Al Ghul: Before he was murdered, Jason has the potential to be a great man. I believe with the proper guidance, he could still be the case. I believe he deserves a second chance.</div><br />
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and as a bonus Line of the issue...<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Roy: Look at you, Todd! You put the </span><b style="color: cyan;">move</b><span style="color: cyan;"> in </span><b style="color: cyan;">smove</b>. (Yes, s-m-o-v-e.)<br />
<div style="color: cyan;">Jason: I'm gonna put the<b> you</b> in <b>traction</b> if you don't shut up.</div><br />
And that's it for me everyone, now I gotta go play Arkham City. Be sure to vote on this week's newest poll and until next time,I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Time on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Teen Titans #2, Amazing Spider-Man #672, Deadpool #45, Incredible Hulk #1, Venom #8, Wolverine and The X-Men #1Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-26496152667820997892011-10-13T17:54:00.001-04:002011-10-14T21:12:07.977-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring X-Men RegenesisNote: Halfway through this post, my computer crapped out on me so I drove over Falisha's to post this. Long story short, I was tired and didn't feel up to reviewing Morning Glories this week as well so It will be in next week's R&R, if my computer is fixed by then. Thanks for reading.<br />
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Hey Todd Squad, yours truly hear again with a huge week of Ratings and Rantings. This is actually my 160th post, shocking enough. A pretty odd milestone to celebrate but I just happened to realize that when I started typing this. So congrats to me, haha. Well this week I've got ten issues to review, and my more detailed style would make this one LONG, monotonous post, so instead I've decided to borrow a format from my good buddy <a href="http://xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com/">X-Man75</a>, in which I'll basically give a quick overview over the comic, then give my thoughts. Again, this won't be my usual style of reviews but this is a big pull week for me, so bare with me. FYI, expect the same next week since I'll be enthralled with Batman: Arkham City! <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #44</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110673.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110673.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
This is last week's issue which I never got to review. Over the course of this issue, Deadpool tries to stop his crazy stalker, Dr. Ella Whitby from killing The Warden of the prison he recently inhabited. While trying to save the Warden, Deadpool confronts Ella and they share a laugh or two, before she blows the place to high hell, seemingly killing herself in the process, as Deadpool simply gets up and walks away. Later on, Whitby returns to Deadpool, burned up looking like a small, chubby version of Wade. He tells her he's in love with someone else, but doesn't state who, so a heartbroken Whitby puts a gun in her mouth and pulls the trigger, killing herself before Deadpool can stop her. Also, in this issue, Deadpool found a bunch of his body parts in Whitby's fridge and threw them away, and at the end of the issue it seems they all reformed to make an evil Deadpool. Well this was weird, I expected a more delightful romp, not to see a kamikaze and a suicide. I guess I like the idea of Deadpool vs. Deadpool though, but this issue fell flat, which is sad because I like Dan Way, and I figured once Deadpool had his full attention it would get even better, but that hasn't been the case. I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">5/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Deadpol: She's gonna be copying me, so... how would I do this? Ah-Ha! I'd teabag him! </span>(I'm giving you no context here...)<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deathstroke #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20486_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20486_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We started things off with Deathstroke meeting with Mikel at a bar, When things get heavy the man turns to the patrons and asks how many of them he's paid to kill Deathstroke if he needed them to. A bunch of people pull out their weapons and the brash Deathstroke murders them all with ease and pure awesomeness before killing Mikel as well. Mikel's reinforcements show up late, including a big metal juggernaut (not that one) by the name of Road Rage. After killing about fifty people, including civilians and innocent bystanders, a camera crew runs up to Slade...for some reason... and tapes him as he says that all of this is nothing but fun for him. This of course makes worldwide news and Deathstroke is content since this was all a plan to get him more mercenary work. Well... that was something. I couldn't get into this issue, it rushed by and nothing really made me care, I liked seeing Deathstroke kill a bunch of people, that was fun, but I doubt I'll remember this issue thirty minutes from now, which is not a good thing. I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">6/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Deathstroke: ...This is nothing but </span><b style="color: cyan;">fun</b><span style="color: cyan;">.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batgirl #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20461_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20461_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Batgirl pursuing The Mirror, and she inadvertently kicks him off a ledge too hard, almost killing him in the process, but he grabs a gargoyle. Batgirl tries to help him and is thrown off the ledge for her trouble, considering she's "on the list". Batgirl manages to stop herself from hitting the ground but crashes into a taxicab rib first instead, so.. kudos on that Babs. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon soon learns from Detective McKenna that Batgirl is back, and his eyes bug out as he's surprised, suggesting he may know that Babs is Batgirl. Batgirl eventually catches up with The Mirror, who beats the crap out of her, but she manages to steal his list of names, and when the cops come, he hightails it. When Babs eventually finds The Mirror's base, she discovers that he's someone who watched his family die as he was saved, and now he just wants to die, but he's taking out people that should have died but also lived. So yeah, very convoluted. Anyway, the issue ends as he states there's a bomb on a train so.. there's your cliffhanger I guess. There was also a VERY boring storyline in this where Babs went on a date with some guy, so boring I didn't even thing it was worth reviewing. This issue was the opposite of Deathstroke, it seemed to drag on and on with Babs getting beat up by the Mirror and the basic theme is that she's not 100% yet, I'd give this issue about a <span style="color: red;">6/10</span> rating, as it was pretty slow and I just didn't enjoy it as much as Batgirl #1.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Cab Driver: Hey, look what you did to my cab!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: Yeah, but look what your cab did to my ribs.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20469_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20469_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
In one of the best verbal smackdowns ever, Sinestro lays into Jordan before making a Green Lantern ring and giving one to Hal. The ring allows him to have all the power that Sinestro designates and Sinestro can turn the power off and on at will, thus making Hal his slave. Sinestro then one-ups Hal, as Hal tries to save a woman that fell off a hole in a bridge, but Sinestro saves the woman, everyone else, and manages to fix the bridge, as he tells Jordan he should've been using his ring to fix society, not to be a glorified cop, but to bring change. He then kills a member of the Sinestro Corps, the one that apparently ruined the bridge. After killing the rogue Corpsman, Sinestro tells Hal that the Sinestro Corps have ruined Korugar and that Hal is going to help him destroy them all. Now this was a good issue, Sinestro had plenty of zingers, Hal was made to look like even more of a chump, and we got to see why prior to Hal, Sinestro was the greatest Green Lantern, for good reason. And those two teamed up taking on the entire Sinestro Corps should be fun, I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Sinestro: The Corps didn't simply give you a ring that could let you fly and create airplanes. The corps offered you a chance to improve the universe.</span> (Preach it, Sinestro!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Grifter #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20487_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20487_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things start off with Cole meeting his girlfriend, Gretchen, in a bar, trying to explain to her how he actually killed two aliens/monsters/demons on that flight (last issue) and how he would never do anything like that. While they talk, one of the possessed things strolls into the siner`, and Cole confronts and attacks him before setting him ablaze using a cigarette and a pan of flour...yes, it was as awesome as it sounds. From there, Gretchen thinks Cole is insane, and she tells him not to follow her. Cole then leaves the diner but doesn't make it too far before he's confronted by someone looking for him, his brother, Max Cash. Max Cash is an awesome name, anyway I enjoyed this issue. I like that Cole is pretty much on his own against an enemy no one else believes exists, I also like that he dropped the huge sideburns as well. And the fact that Gretchen was shown possibly going to Gotham City opens a ton of Batman/Nightwing vs. Grifter possibilities. But yeah, things heated up and I'm interested in where we go next, I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">7/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Demon: You bring a fist to a gunfight? How </span><b style="color: cyan;">human</b><span style="color: cyan;"> of you. </span>(Well I guess I'll put my hands back in my pockets.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman and Robin #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20458_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20458_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things start off with Bruce explaining to Alfred how he's worried about Damian and what would happen to Damian without Bruce around. Well... you were missing for a while and he listens to Dick more than he does to you now, but whatever you say Bruce. Batman and Robin go out and stop some criminals from trafficking guns and leave them hanging for the cops, when suddenly Nobody shows up and slits their throats, unbeknownst to Batman and Robin. Afterwards, Damian takes out his rage of not being able to kill and maim on the training dummies in the Batcave, as Alfred also seems to worry about Damian and his rage issues. Also, we see Batman buy a Great Dane, which is cool because he has one in Batman Beyond, so that's some nice continuity. The issue ends as Batman is confronted by a man named Morgan, a mutual acquaintance of Ducard, and it seems Morgan is Nobody, and Bruce knows, just as Morgan knows Bruce is Batman and vows to save Bruce from himself. This was interesting, I was surprised at how nonchalant the Morgan/Bruce conversation seemed, and Bruce randomly getting a dog, although that may be to calm Damian, but I loved the stuff with Damian and his rage. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Bruce: I'm a billionaire, Damian, not a trillionaire.</span> (And you never <b>will</b> be with that attitude, Bruce!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ultimate Spider-Man #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110596.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Curious about Miles' spider-powers and the mysterious spider that bit him, Miles let's Ganke talk him into going to talk to his Uncle Aaron. They arrive at Aaron's house to find it completely empty, as he's apparently moved away in the span of one day. On the way home a building catches on fire, which is excellent timing I guess. After some prodding from Ganke, Miles saves the day without a mask before fleeing the scene. Afterwards, he tells Ganke that he's done doing that, and there's already a Spider-Man, plus Miles feels that he isn't cut out for the job. Miles then moves on with his life and attends his new highschool, where he rooms with Ganke and another kid. The issue ends soon after with the kids being called to the auditorium, and told by the faculty (for some reason) that Spider-Man had been shot. I really enjoyed this issue, I loved seeing Miles save the day and as always he comes off really likable. If I had any problems, it's why they felt the need to wake up a bunch of kids and call them to the auditorium to tell them Spider-Man had been shot, I know he's a hero but that still seems rather excessive. But besides that, this was another issue I enjoyed in the brief run of Miles Morales, I'll give this a<span style="color: red;"> 9/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Ganke: Show Me!!!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Miles: Shut the door.</span> (I'm once again giving you no context here, except that Miles had a sly grin as he spoke.)<br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: cyan;">Ultimate X-Men #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110595.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110595.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a captured Jimmy Hudson being thrown into a room with Reverend Stryker. From there we saw Rogue saved by Iceman, Human Torch and The Shroud (Kitty Pryde) but run into a little trouble in the process, including Iceman getting his arm broken off, which was pretty damn awesome. After being saved, Rogue explains that she was told to incite the robots and that she'd be saved, and she was told this by God. Next we see a woman named Elise Cartwright chained up, as she's approached by Reverend Stryker. We find out that Elise has been opening her home to orphaned mutants, and Stryker takes this as an opportunity for her to confess her sins, before he kills the woman in gold blood, then states that he's doing God's will, as the issue comes to an end. This issue was interesting, I like that both Rogue and Stryker believe they are being led by God, so when they confront one another it will be interested, I also enjoy the playful banter between Johnny (Torch) and Bobby (Iceman), but what annoyed me is how we started out with Jimmy being thrown in a room and we don't see how he was caught. Not only that but we don't see him again for the rest of the issue, but that aside I enjoyed this. I'll give this an<span style="color: red;"> 8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Human Torch: Ha! Bobby dated a crazy chick.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #671</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110597.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Over the course of this issue we see that Mary Jane has finally developed her spider powers and is using them to save herself as well as other civilians. Meanwhile, Jameson is subdued by Spidey, but not before he bites Spider-Man on the arm. Medics then try to keep Smythe alive as he mutters about them having all the Spider-Slayers they need. Also, the Spider-Queen finds out about the Anti-Venom cure and has Jackal send Tarantula to Horizon Labs to contaminate the cure. Surprisingly, we find out that the secret "Number Six" at Horizon is none other than Michael Morbius! Interesting. When he arrives at Horizon, Spidey is shocked tom see Peter Parker is already logged in, and he's attacked by Tarantula, when Jackal tells him via satellite that Tarantula is none other than Kaine?! Meanwhile, Madame Web tells the people at Horizon that the Spider-Jammers have cut off her link to the web and to fix them now, and with the help of Reed Richards, they change the frequency so it not only allows her to see the web, but gives Spidey his Spider-Sense back! Using his Kung-Fu and Spider-Sense combo, Spidey knocks Tarantula into the Anti-Venom cure which cures him of his giant spider look, but allows Kaine to crawl out looking normal, and still apparently with his Spider-Powers. Kaine mentions to Spidey that The Queen is the mastermind behind this and he can take him to her, as The Queen snaps at The Jackal and screams at him with a scream so powerful it incinerates him. The issue ends soon after, while Madame Web notes that by interfering she's inadvertently caused the Spider-Jammers to give The Queen "God-like" powers. Okay, I loved this issue, a ton happened and it sucks that Brock may not be Anti-Venom anymore after giving up his powers to cure people, but I love the idea of Spider-Man, Kaine, Venom, Mary Jane and the recently cured Captain America all teaming up to go after The Queen. I'll give this issue a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Soldier: Commander Grimm... you stand relieved! Take a Clobberin' Time-Out!</span> (Lmao... that is genius.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men: Regenesis One-Shot</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110651.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
I love how this issue was done, basically we saw Wolverine and Cyclops draw a line in the sand for the most part and recruit people to either side with Wolverine or Cyclops. We started off seeing Wolverine go to Iceman, and basically tell him he needed him, and Bobby obliged and teamed up with Wolverine. Wolverine also tries to recruit Psylocke but she refuses and decides to stay with Cyclops.The thing I love is each time someone picks, we see a tribal version of them basically standing behind a tribal version of Cyclops or Wolverine, which was a great touch.We also see Kitty decide to go to Wolverine's team as Colossus believes he shouldn't be at a school with everything he has inside him now, so he stays in Utopia. For the rest of the issue we see everyone from Magneto to Storm choose sides, some are surprising and some are pretty obvious, but at the end of the issue we see the two teams head off on their own ways for the foreseeable future. This was a pretty good issue, a few of the characters I didn't know about, being new to the X-Men books, but I'm excited about this split. Instead of a line of the issue, I'll give you the team picks. And I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span> rating. The final tally seemed to be<br />
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Team Wolverine: Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Rogue, Idie, X-23, Rachel Summers, Quentin Quire (against his will), Gambit, Frenzy, Toad, X-Man75.<br />
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Team Cyclops: Psyclocke, Colossus, Magneto, Hope, Dazzler, Namor, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, Magick, The Cuckoo's, Avalanche, Emma Frost, Storm, Me.<br />
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And just like that, 10 books have come and gone. Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of this condensed style I stole from X. And as always, be sure to check out the surprising results from last week's poll. But that's it for me, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Who are you the most excited to play as in Batman: Arkham City?"<br />
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Last place with 0% - Catwoman, I gotta that, that shocked me, especially since she's in the main game.<br />
Third place with 7.7% - Robin, the third Robin, Tim Drake, comes in behind two other Bat-Boys.<br />
Second place with 38.5% - The title character, Batman.<br />
<u><b>Winner</b></u> with 53.8% - The recently announced, fourth playable character, Nightwing! (<a href="http://gamerant.com/batman-arkham-city-nightwing-dlc-cj-108764/">Info here</a>)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Morning Glories #13, Batman #2, Catwoman #2, Justice League #2, Nightwing #2, Red Hood and The Outlaws #2, and Supergirl #2.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-28902442722984215932011-10-06T17:45:00.000-04:002011-10-06T17:45:17.071-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Schism #5Hey Todd Squad, It's that time again for your favorite weekly comic content and comments. This week I've only got four comics (forgot to grab Animal Man from Lisha AND managed to leave my Deadpool over her house...) but one at least one should be a major game changer. So, I've waited long enough and I'm not gonna stall you guys with an intro, let's get to the finale of X-Men: Schism!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men: Schism #5</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110649.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/au/aug110649.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We pick up where we left off, with Cyclops and Wolverine beating the holy hell out of each other while the sentinel attacks them both. While Wolverine and Cyclops beat each other to the point of near death, they realize that Idie, Hope and the rest of the students are all fighting the Sentinel, so they put their differences aside and help the kids. We also see that Rogue and the other X-Men are on their way back to Utopia, and Emma Frost has finally gotten her face slug removed. She heads outside just in time to see the sudents celebrating their victory after defeating the Sentinel. Looks like Scott was right after all Logan... Go Team Cyclops! After the fight, Wolverine and Idie talk and she says she's glad she killed those people at the museum and her friends didn't have to, because she can live with it, since she knows she's a monster and knows what it means to be an X-Men. Wolverine, obviously disappointed by Idie's outlook, walks away, and while walking through the corridors he see's a picture of himself, Beast, and the original X-Men with Xavier. Logan goes to find Scott, and they talk, and Scott says he was right, the kids beat the Sentinel and Logan owes him an apology. Wolverine says they beat one sentinel one time, and things could easily change next time. Wolverine says they failed those kids by teaching them the wrong things, and he's done, and he's leaving. Wolverine says that anyone who wants to leave with him is welcome, and he leaves with a few of the kids, Idie, and a tied up Quentin Quire. Meanwhile, Scott sends Gambit, Rogue and Warpath to find the Hellfire Gang, but instead they find their corpses. We also see the newer, younger, more compact version of the Hellfire Club, quite proud of what they've accomplished so far by selling thousands of their new and improved sentinels. The issue comes to a close soon after with Wolverine and his team heading back to the ruins of Xavier's school with the intent on making it their new home base. Well this issue was a lot of action and from that point we saw the split which was interesting. This wasn't the best issue but I enjoyed it for what it was, and that alone warrants this getting a<span style="color: red;"> 8.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Cyclops: You press that damn button, you're killing me too!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Wolverine: No.. you're killing yourself.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Detective Comics #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20456_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20456_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Before we get started, let me say I'm not a fan of Tony Daniel. I didn't like his Batman run and I hated how weak he made Tim look in BFTC, as well as his decision to make Jason from a anti-hero to an insane villain, that aside I really enjoyed Detective Comics #1, which I got from my girlfriend, Falisha, and read. I didn't review it but if you need to know what happened in issue one then <a href="http://xmanscomicblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/detective-comics-1.html">click here</a> to see X-Man75's review. So this issue kicks off with Bruce having a meeting with a guy named Hugh that wants his business. From there we see Bruce meet with a woman who seems to grill him with questions but apparently just wants to make out with the playboy, so they make out. Well alright then, three pages in and Bruce is already sucking face. After doing the Bat-Tusi with this woman, he promises her they'll spend this weekend together so he can make time for her and she accepts. Next we see Bruce as Batman investigating the city as he's found out that The Joker has been helped to escape Arkham Asylum and all he left behind was his face. Well, find the guy with no face should be an easy mission, right? Then again Gotham has a guy with two faces... After finding no leads at Arkham, Commissioner Gordon steps outside and has a chat with Batman, and lets Batman know that a man named Ray Quimby had recently abducted a young girl, and his former partner was a cannibal that mutilated his victims, which ties in with a faceless Joker. Once Gordon gets an update on where Quimby may be, Batman heads to the location as Gordon follows not far behind. Batman heads inside and remarks that he see's no officer although a squad car was out front, and he also smells death in the air. Gordon arrives and calls dispatch, but discovers the squad car that's there belongs to someone that isn't even on duty today. Gordon hears a thumping in the trunk and opens it and is grabbed by someone. Inside, we see Batman find the bodies of both Ray Quimby and the missing officer when suddenly he's attacked by who people who look as if they've been stitched together by a bunch of different parts. They manage to take Batman down with a shot that destabilizes him and with the help of a woman in a nurse costume that hits B-Man with a sledgehammer. Batman is then confronted by a weird looking man with some more goons, the man calls himself the Dollmaker, and says that he'll use Batman to make his legacy. The issue ends as he shows Batman a sample of his work, as we see Commissioner Gordon with a face full of patches and stitches. Well that was a weird ending, Tony is just doing whatever the hell he wants, isn't he? Anyway, this was a cool issue, nothing amazing, although I would've preferred a little info on Joker's whereabouts and why he's faceless. Anyway, I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Batman: Someone else hits me </span><b style="color: cyan;">exactly</b><span style="color: cyan;"> where Joker knifed me. The sutures explode. </span>(Excellent visual.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League International #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20434_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20434_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with the JLI's mission in deep doo-doo, as they take on a giant metal man. Damn you Hellfire Club...oh wait, wrong company. Anyway, Booster and the JLI learn that their fight is being televised live, as to win over some of the non-hero lovers of the world. The metal man takes down Rocket Red, Ice and a few of the other teammates, until Team Leader, Booster Gold, has the team evacuate so they can get help for Ice. A few of the teammates don't like this decision, but everyone backs down to Booster's decision, especially since he's backed up by Batman. Later on, Guy Gardner is at a bar when he see's footage of Ice getting blasted by the metal man on TV, and heads off to check on her and give Booster a piece of his mind. Back at their destroyed Hall of Justice, the JLI, their government leaders, and Guy Gardner all tear into one another, which leads to Booster getting ready to quit the team. That is until August General steps up and says that he's been to battle and he knows sometimes you must retreat for the good of your team, and he's honored to follow Booster. This sentiment is backed up by Batman as well as Godiva, but between you and me, I think it's because she wants to shine Booster's gold, if ya catch my drift. Booster says he'll lead, but their running out of time. He calls Skeets, who's hanging out in the Booster Cave (I'm not even kidding), and we find out there's at least four of these metal men. The issue ends as we see an intergalactic foe that's behind these giant metal men plans to destroy Earth! I really liked this issue, I enjoyed the dynamic of the team and how they aren't really a team but a bunch of individuals that need to learn how to work together. Batman also brings a good vibe, and it's weird to see him not as a leader, but still teaching Booster how to be one. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Batman: Learn from this, Booster. Follow your gut and make the team </span><b style="color: cyan;">yours</b><span style="color: cyan;">.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Invincible #83</b></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/mar110587.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/mar110587.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>We start things off with Cecil telling Invincible how he had all the dead Invincible's from other universes turned into reanimen. Surprisingly, Invincible is okay with this and tells Cecil if he needs him to give him a call. From there we see a few familiar Invincible villains meeting with Titan, trying to convince him to let them work for him again, but he decides to give them a tryout to prove their worth. From there we see Mark and Samantha head to a superhero party. One of the biggest surprises to everyone is how Monster Girl has aged into a woman once again, and has a lot of jaws dropping at her... physique. Meanwhile, Robot a.k.a. Rex is watching as she flirts with other guys, and when Invincible asks if everything is okay between him and Monster Girl, Rex replies, not remotely. Turns out that Monster Girl isn't ready to hop into anything with anyone either, as she states it's "too soon", making me wonder even more what happened between the two. Next we see Tether Tyrant and Magmaniac attack Machine Head, trying to gain favor with Titan, when Magmaniac is seemingly killed by Machine Head's guard, Vault. A distraught Tether Tyrant tells his suit that he's ready to bond with it completely, since he has nothing left now that Magmaniac. He suddenly falls into darkness, and continually yells he doesn't want this, he wants control. He awakens in the midst of a fight with the Guardians of the Globe, who say that he's been rampaging for four hours (?!) and now just wants to give up? They cuff Tether Tyrant as Invincible shows up, and takes note that the Guardians of the Globe didn't need him, maybe this will help push him closer to his goal of hanging up his hero boots? We end the issue soon after, with Rex telling Amanda (Monster Girl) that they came back and left behind so much so he could forget what she did, why won't she let him forget? Well that was an odd ending, but this was a solid issue. It pushed Invincible closer to retiring seeing as how they have the Guardians and the Reanimen. Add that with the stuff between Rex and Monster Girl, and this was a perfectly acceptable comic as a friend of mine would say. I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Shapesmith: There are parts of your clothes where there are </span><b style="color: cyan;">no</b><span style="color: cyan;"> clothes and we can see your </span><b style="color: cyan;">skin</b><span style="color: cyan;"> instead.</span><br />
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And that's it for me everyone, thanks for reading and feel free to leave questions and or comments. Also, be sure to vote on this week's newest poll and check out the results from last week's poll below. But I'm outta here, I gotta get ready for the huge haul of comics I got in next week's R&R! Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Who was your favorite Batgirl?" <br />
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Last place with 22.2% - Tie between Cassandra Cain and the current Batgirl, Babs Gordon.<br />
<b>Winner </b>with 55.6% - The former blonde bomber, my favorite Batgirl, Stephanie Brown!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Deadpool #44, Batgirl #2, Batman & Robin #2, Deathstroke #2, Green Lantern #2, Grifter #2, Morning Glories #13, Amazing Spider-Man #671, X-Men: Regensis One-Shot, Ultimate Spider-Man #3, and Ultimate X-Men #2.... Damn.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-87268619384338246972011-09-29T18:24:00.001-04:002011-10-03T00:14:05.917-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Teen Titans #1Hey Todd Squad, J.T. here with that weekly column you love to read, Ratings and Rantings! We're concluding our week of reboots while tackling the Teen Titans, Two Spider-Men, a Man of Steel, and so much more. As well as checking in with one of the closest polls we've had in a while here at JTCS. So let's get things started with a team of super powered teenagers known as the Teen Titans!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20170_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20170_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
I really liked Scott Lobdell's work on Superboy and Red Hood and the Outlaws this month so I'm hoping he can make it three for three with the Teen Titans. We start things off with a building on fire, but much less interesting than you'd think since all there's no one trapped inside. Kid Flash shows up, and seems more like Impulse which is fun, as he's trying to help and make an impact on television for his "adoring fans". When Kid Flash runs inside and throws a door open, he causes a back-draft that blows both the building and Kid Flash away. The firemen are all safe, as Kid Flash lays in the grass, barley conscious with a burned up costume. Meanwhile, the news reports that a metahuman took a small controlled fire and turned it into a roaring inferno in seconds. We then cut over to Tim Drake, former Robin and current Red Robin, keeping up with the news of a ton of incidents that have been caused by super powered teens, as we see Kid Flash, Static, Raven and Miss Martian. Interesting note is they say a spokesman for the Justice League says Kid Flash has no ties with The Flash, hm... Surprisingly, Tim is not alone, as we see a few masked people with guns sneak up behind him and hold Tim at gunpoint, while their supposed leader mentions that Tim has been blogging information about the group. Tim says that he's aware they've been kidnapping super powered teenagers, and after being offered a job which Tim denies, he tells the members of N.O.W.H.E.R.E. that they'd best head for the hills, because his room was rigged with explosives that would detonate in eleven seconds. The cowardly gang run while Tim jumps out of the window before deploying his wings and jets and flying off as Red Robin. He mentions that he's tried to work in the shadows since his time as Robin but now he realizes he'll need help, before heading out to gather a team. We then see Cassie Sandsmark driving a car she clearly stole when she is pulled over by a police officer. It turns out the officer is actually an agent for N.O.W.H.E.R.E. and tries to strangle a surprised Cassie before the agent is knocked out from behind by Red Robin, good timing right? He introduces himself to Cass and explains the deal with NOWHERE (I'm done adding the periods for that acronym.) but Cassie denies that she has powers. That is until a giant helicopter comes down and opens fire on the two, Red Robin is protected by his wings which are apparently bullet proof, which causes Cassie to power up, and she apparently HATES being called Wonder Girl. The super powered femme fatale makes quick work of the gunner before telling Red Robin now that these people know her identity her life will never be the same again. On the other side of the world, we see something we saw a bit earlier in Superboy #1, as NOWHERE releases Superboy to go after the Teen Titans as this issue ends. Well this was interesting, I hated how they went from one second of Tim in his room to just thrusting us into this NOWHERE thing, but I did like how well Tim was written. Tim and Bart (?) came off sounding like Tim and Bart, and I like Cassie as she's written powerful but apparently still wishes to have her normal life as well as her hero life separate. I'd give this first issue of Titans a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>, nothing amazing but I'll definitely stick around for the ride.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Cassie: I'm serious Red... <b>DON'T</b> call me Wonder Girl.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ultimate Spider-Man #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thecomicbooknerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/UltimateComicsSpiderMan_2_Second-666x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.thecomicbooknerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/UltimateComicsSpiderMan_2_Second-666x1024.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
HA! We start things off with Miles running down the street top speed, and overhear a guy saying "so I said to the guy: You never read the book yet you go online and talk about it as if.." Nice inside joke by Bendis for all the Miles haters. Anyway Miles jumps over the guy and his co-worker that are moving a giant TV, which of course draws a crowd. Miles runs away, obviously feeling weird as people proclaim him a mutant. Miles waits for a bit, still stunned, before walking home. On the way home, Miles is about to be robbed by some delinquents, but when one of them grabs him, he touches them and they get zapped. Well alright then, apparently one of his powers is electricity based, as he zaps the guy again and knocks him out, before running away as the robber's friends once again call Miles a mutant. Miles then runs to tell his best friend, because there's always the obligatory best friend that must know when a teenager gets powers. Static Shock anyone? Miles tells his buddy Ganke to watch as he tries to turn invisible, but he can't do it for some reason. Maybe he's like Kel Mitchell in "Mystery Men" and can only turn invisible when no one's looking. Next he tries to show Ganke his electric powers, which he successfully does, and once Ganke turns his back, Miles turns invisible as well. Ganke is amazed by this new powerful, invisible Miles and tells him how great it is that a spider turned him into a mutant, but Miles isn't happy about it. His father then shows up at Ganke's house and takes Miles with him, he tells Miles that he has to stay away from his Uncle Aaron because he's a thief and Miles shouldn't be around that. He then mentions that both Miles' father and his Uncle Aaron had been to jail prior to Miles' birth, but he's turned his life around and that he's tried to make good choices every day since then. This was basically the Great Power speech but worded different and from a different man, but it had the same effect and came off very well. He then tells Miles that he can tell him anything, and before Miles can tell him about his powers, The Human Torch and Iceman fly by, which prompts Miles' dad to say how the mutants should all just leave New York alone. Smooth move, jackass. Later that night, Miles is awoken by a text from Ganke that says that Spider-Man was bitten by a spider, and links to an interview that Ben Urich did saying how Spidey got his powers, he also mentions that Miles has chameleon like powers like some spiders do and he has a venom strike like some spiders, before asking if Miles is Spider-Man. The issue ends as Miles climbs the wall and realizes that he does indeed have spider powers. I enjoyed this issue, I love finding out about characters and Miles discovering his powers, the was no action but there was a lot of well written dialogue and storytelling. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Miles: Prepare to be freaked out like you've never been freaked out, <b>before</b>.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Ganke: Please don't take off your pants. </span>(Best...friend...duo...ever.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b> Superman #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20070_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20070_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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We kick things off with the announcement of a new Daily Planet, a building that is more futuristic than it's past self, but more importantly it's bigger than hell and it's owned by the new boss of the Daily Planet, Morgan Edge. Meanwhile, Superman is seen floating above the debris of the old Daily Planet building, seemingly paying his respects before flying away after being seen by Jimmy Olsen. It was around this time that I tried to continue on and saw such things as guys wearing the clown masks from The Dark Knight movie, Superman/Clark Kent saying "Bull!", and some big weird alien blowing a horn like Satchmo and so many text bubbles it would make Brian Michael Bendis go crazy! Well, that's it, I'm done. No more Superman for me in this reboot,<span style="color: red;"> N/A</span>!<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Bendis: Damn, that's a crap load of speech bubbles!</span><br />
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</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #7</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/33806/1860814-venom007_cov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/3/33806/1860814-venom007_cov.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Another awesome cover in the Venom series! Venom may be my favorite new series since Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl started two years ago. We start things off with the former Venom and current Anti-Venom Eddie Brock, in a church healing a bunch of people that are turning into giant spiders due to the events of Spider-Island. Once The Queen finds out about Brock curing people, she sends the Spider-King to go kill him, unaware that he's actually Agent Venom, Flash Thompson, in disguise. Flash sends this info to his superiors, who then alert Reed Richards that the cure lies in the blood of Eddie Brock, so they all send someone to get Brock so they can synthesize a cure. Flash heads over to the church, while talking to Betty on the phone. She reminds Flash that his dad doesn't have long to go on this Earth and if he doesn't make amends before he dies, Flash will regret it forever, so Flash assures her he's on the way. Once Flash arrives at the church, he says the Symbiote reacts to seeing Eddie, and feels jilted but assures Flash that they are a better team. Flash intends to shoot Anti-Venom with a tranquilizer and move him to Horizon labs for tests when suddenly Brock attacks him. Anti-Venom tries to cure Venom, saying the symbiote is a cancerous demon sent from hell. After a fight and conversation, Flash realizes Brock is right, and the symbiote has slowly changed him. Suddenly the symbiote jumps off of Flash and onto Brock, as he's been weakened from healing people. Brock tries desperately to remove the symbiote from himself before it reunites them as Venom, but he fails. Flash claims he doesn't want the symbiote now, but he needs it to save the city because if it stays on Brock it would wipe out his anti-bodies. He tells the symbiote he needs it and that Eddie will always reject him, and the symbiote agrees and binds back with Flash. Later, a webbed up Anti-Venom is left at Horizon Labs, where Richards says he's going to help the city whether he likes it or not, but Eddie says he's happy to help. He mentions how Venom never asked him to help and that Venom is no good guy. Over at the hospital, Flash finally see's his dad, and his dad apologizes for always letting Flash and his family down and asks for his forgiveness. Flash tells his dad he wouldn't trade him for any other dad and that he loves him, and Flash's father passes away as this issue comes to a close. I enjoyed this a lot, especially the symbiote wanting Brock, and clearly alluding to another Venom vs. Anti-Venom fight that's far from over. The stuff with Flash's dad was pretty quickly touched upon but I enjoyed it all, and had no complaints. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating as I frantically wait to see those two face off again.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Anti-Venom: Everything you've done since putting on that suit has been the symbiote's decision. </span><b style="color: cyan;">Everything</b><span style="color: cyan;">.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Amazing Spider-Man #670</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Amazing-Spider-Man_670-674x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Amazing-Spider-Man_670-674x1024.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start off seeing a bunch of people around the city like Randy Robertson and Hawkeye turning into giant spiders. Meanwhile, Mary Jane is being chased by giant spiders and Spidey is too busy trying to remember which giant spider was Carlie. On the other side of town, we see the spiders are all heading to see The Queen, Adriana Soria, a woman that apparently has spider powers and super soldier powers. We get a quick recap on her past, and that she apparently used to date Steve "Captain America" Rogers. We see that he stumbled upon her hiding spot not too long ago and she knocked him out, considering they are both super soldiers, which led to Steve being one of the first test subjects, and now being a giant brute of a man-spider known as The Spider-King. Unbeknownst to her, the Spider-King has been replaced by Flash "Venom" Thompson, using his camouflage powers. We then see a glimpse over at the church to see Anti-Venom healing people, as I touched upon in the last comic review. As Jameson and his motorcade leave Horizon Labs, they're attacked by giant spiders, so Spidey goes to help, and he gets some unexpected assistance from the Sensational Spider-Mayor. Meanwhile, The Queen realizes she has the Mayor infected and could use this to her advantage, but before Flash can do anything about it, she sends him to go kill Anti-Venom, which we also already heard about via the last review. Back with Spidey and Jameson, they head over to conduct Jonah's plan, where he questions The Spider-Slayer, Alistair Smythe, the man that murdered Jameson's wife. He asks him how to stop the spiders but Smythe is in no mood to help Jameson, and even calls him the Black Widower. It's during this time that The Queen gets into Jameson's had and makes him angry using memories of his former wife Marla, to turn Jameson into a giant spider. We then jump around and see Anti-Venom fighting Venom, the Heroes for Hire protecting a tower from spiders, and Mary Jane saving herself as she finally develops spider powers. Over at Horizon Labs, Anti-Venom tells Reed he's happy to help, but Reed says they'll need every antibody in his suit, and he'll have to give up being Anti-Venom! Back with Spidey, he's frantically trying to hold Jameson back, and a freaked out Smythe says he'll spill the info and is about to tell them how to stop the spider infection when suddenly Jameson bites his neck and seemingly kills him as this issue comes to a close. Man, this was a crazy issue, it was pretty action packed but it jumped around so much it seemed clunky and slows down at parts that I was really getting drawn into the story at. I'd give this issue of Spider-Man a <span style="color: red;">8/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">J. Jonah Jameson: You can't do </span><b style="color: cyan;">anything</b><span style="color: cyan;">, can you?! We should just call you Mr. </span><b style="color: cyan;">Can't-Tastic!</b><br />
(Okay... that was genius.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Kick Ass 2 #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Kick-Ass-2_4-200x303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Kick-Ass-2_4-200x303.jpg" /></a></div><br />
Mother Russia is one big chick. We kick things off with Hit-Girl talking about how boring her life has been up until seeing the news story that a New York City hero was killed by the returning Red Mist, now known as The Motherfucker. Mindy wants to go take care of him, but Marcus tells her she's an eleven-year-old child and this doesn't concern her, before sending her to her room. Meanwhile, Kick-Ass and the other heroes meet at a diner and try to decide what to do next, especially since the villains say that this is only the beginning. It only gets worse as The Motherfucker and a few of his cronies decide to pay Kick-Ass' girlfriend or ex-girlfriend or whatever she is to him, Katie Deuxma, a visit. While looking for her, MF opens fire and kills a bunch of kids and civilians. They bust into Katie's house and MF shoots her dad point-blank in the head, punches Katie in the mouth then rapes Katie. Well damn, I know he's evil but killing kids and raping women?! Outside the cops arrive but their all dealt with by Mother Russia and a very powerful gun. After taking off, we see at the police station that reports show that twenty-seven people were killed and over eighty injured. Man, that's insane. We then see that they've traced the IP addresses of the twitter and facebook accounts and plan on hitting the houses with five hundred men, but Kick-Ass' name is also on the list, showing they're going after the heroes and villains. They then arrest a bunch of people, including heroes, and when they come to Dave's house, they arrest his father since he claims he's Kick-Ass. Well that's a good dad. As Dave and his friends all stand over an unconscious Katie in the hospital, Dave feels remorse that she was attacked because of him, when he gets a text from MF that says he should be worried about his dad, and Dave rushes home. Dave arrives home to see his dad arrested on his behalf as the issue comes to a close. Man, this issue was insane. It moved so quick, MF and his team are insane and you gotta wonder what Hit-Girl can do to join the fight and how Kick-Ass and his crew will strike back. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10 </span>rating and I hope the next issue comes out soon.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Hit-Girl: We need to hunt this fucker down and make him wish his dad had finished on his mother's tits.</span><br />
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And just like that, this week's R&R comes to a close. I enjoyed most of my issues this week and I'm always interested in what you guys think. Before I get out of here I want to remind you to vote on this week's newest poll as well as check out the results of last week's extremely close poll. Well that's it for me everyone, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Following the events of Schism so far, who would you side with?"<br />
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Last place with 27.3% - Team Cyclops and "I didn't read Schism."<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 45.5% - Team Wolverine (It was tied yesterday!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Animal Man #2, Detective Comics #2, Justice League International #2, Deadpool #44, Invincible #83, and X-Men: Schism #5!Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-41618716210197577432011-09-22T15:08:00.000-04:002011-09-22T15:08:48.239-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Nightwing #1Hey Todd Squad, HUGE week of comics thanks to Jason Aaron, Judd Winick, Scott Snyder, and many more awesome writers and artists. I'm hoping to enjoy this week's haul so instead of fooling arond with an intro paragraph, let's just get it started!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Nightwing #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20093_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20093_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Dick Grayson as Nightwing, in his new Black and Red suit to show a change in his persona I guess. This Nightwing is not only our fun loving acrobat but now possesses the knowledge of walking a mile in Batman's shoes. He says he was Bats for just under a year for anyone wondering how long he was actually in the cowl. He also mentions how life has changed for him in Gotham, and how just as he's adapted to his new life, things change, considering Haly's Circus is back in town, yet Dick still hasn't gone to visit his circus family. We also see this new, more aggressive Nightwing take down a criminal using tricks he's learned from his time ad the Dark Knight, showing that while he's once again Nightwing, he still has the prowess of Bats and that this is far from being a demotion. We then see someone arrive in Gotham, and when it looks that he's going to be robbed, he makes work of his would be attackers, but kills them before walking off nonchalantly, so there's our introduction to a new baddie in town. From there we get a quick insight for the newer readers into what makes Dick different from Bruce, as he cites how he's living in a new loft that's closer to the bad part of the city as opposed to the richer parts that house Wayne Manor and the Penthouse, as Dick states "Why live in the best part of the when you're trying to save the worst part." which is an excellent point. After working up enough nerve, Dick finally visits Haly's circus and gets a welcome reception from his former family, especially Raya, a Red headed female acrobat, which has Grayson's name written all over her. On the way home, Dick is attacked by a man brandishing claws like Wolverine, well technically more like Daken since he has no middle claw. He attacks Dick for some reason, but the cops show up and he gets too caught up in killing them, which allows Dick to make the costume change to Nightwing. Once Nightwing takes on the costumed attacker, he replies that Dick is far from innocent and Nightwing is "Protecting the fiercest killer in Gotham, and that Grayson just isn't aware of it yet." Interesting. The attacker one-ups Nightwing and manages to get the upper hand, seemingly sealing the fate of Nightwing as this issue ends. Now first things first, I was recall reading we'd know why Nightwing took make his name and costume in the first issue, and we didn't find that out at all. But this issue was fine, it was a little slow but it's an opener so I don't expect too much. The new villain looks interesting although we never got a name, but this issue was solid, nothing special but far from bad, I'd give it a <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> but I'm faithful it will get better from here.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Nightwing: Being Batman taught me a lot about myself.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Red Hood and the Outlaws #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20096_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20096_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with The Red Hood (Awww yeah!!!!) saving Roy "Arsenal" Harper from a prison in Quarac, after coming in one of the best disguises someone in the Bat-Family has ever used. Damn, this comic started off with action, plus the art work is pretty damn awesome, it's gritty but doesn't look too dark. There's a ton of jokes and back and forth that comes off well between Jason and Roy that I can't give the justice it deserves, but I enjoyed their banter. While escaping, Hood and Arsenal run into three tanks that are ready to blow the former teen sidekicks sky-high, the two are saved thanks to an attack by Starfire. Not only is she with Jason and Arsenal, apparently she's WITH Jason, which is just awesome in my book. Jason never gets any women besides Ms. Al Ghul so of course I marked out for that, even if she is Dick's old flame, no pun intended. We then cut to a few weeks later as out Outlaws are chilling on a beach in St. Martinique. Roy asks Jason how Kori feels about dating him considering his run-in's with Dick, which proves those also happened, as did the Teen Titans considering Jason alludes to them. He says that Tamaranians apparently have short attention spans about all things Earth and she probably barely remembers the gang they used to hang with. He also says they see humans as basically sights and smells, which I don't know how I feel about that considering I don't think that's how Kori was pre-reboot but whatever, could be worse. As Jason and Roy are chilling on the beach, a chick in all black with white hair by the name of Essence asks for a word with Jason. She mentions that a bunch of people have turned up dead, missing their organs, but the organs were apparently missing before they died and there were no incisions made, which leads Jason to believe that a group called The Untitled are behind it. Over with Kori and Roy, Roy mentions that Jason is talking to himself, which seems to show that only Jason can see Essence. Kori on the other hand doesn't care, as Roy asks her if she remembers Dick, Garth, Vic (Cyborg was on the Titans? ...Okay.) but to his and my surprise, she asks Roy if he wants to have sex. Roy is taken aback and asks if she's Jason's girl, to which she replies she is free and does what she wants when she wants. Good answer considering she was a slave, so that fit her character, plus Star's always been a free spirit and a bit promiscuous. And considering Roy is Roy, and also was in a prison week ago, he says yes. Meanwhile, after some prodding from Essence, Jason agrees to help her take down The Untitled. We then cut halfway around the world to Chicago as we see a young black man on the internet looking at a picture of Starfire that was uploaded from a kid on the beach, he recognizes her and says "A Tamaranean. On Earth. At Last." Hm.. so now someone's looking for Starfire, more intrigue! :P Back in St. Martinique, Jason walks in to see Starfire and Roy in bed sleeping, and nonchalantly grabs his mask and walks back out. We then see Jason twelve hours later in his Red Hood attire, now in the Himalayas, apologizing to the corpse of a woman named Ducra, who is what I imagine is one of the people who trained him during his journey to become better than Bruce. During his goodbye, Jason is surrounded by the people who apparently murdered Ducra, as he pulls out his guns and says "Finally, someone to shoot." as this issue comes to a close. Now say what you want, but I LOVED this issue. Jason was smarmy old Jason which is great, he had black hair which is even better, he came out looking awesome, as did Arsenal and Starfire. Arsenal is a bit more timid then I'd like but I think this will be a growing experience for him. I kind of like Starfire in this, her personality makes her a wild card as well. So I enjoyed this, and I can't wait for the next issue. If I have any complaints, it would be that we could've learned more about Ducra, and maybe a bit about why Jason made this team in the first place, but because I loved it, and because I'm willing to admit I'm biased, and because I'm just happy Jason has his own comic and Roy has two arms, I'll give this a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Red Hood: The </span><b style="color: cyan;">only </b><span style="color: cyan;">reason I'm here is 'cause if anything happens to you, that would make me the worse former sidekick ever.</span> (Brutal... and that's why Jason rules.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Catwoman #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20094_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20094_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things out with Selina Kyle throwing on her costume, grabbing her cats and jumping out of the window as a bunch of men with guns bust through her door. Excellent timing. As Selina escapes, she mentions that she doesn't know who the guys are but they won't find whatever they're looking for in her apartment, and that she'll circle back and get her things in a few days, but to her surprise the skull wearing brutes blow up her apartment. Realizing she needs a new place and some cash, Selina goes to see Lola, who apparently was a showgirl. (Shout out to Barry Manilow!) Turns out Lola is Selina's best-friend, as well as great at intel, which helps Selina know who to rob, what to get, and how to get it. She gives Selina info on a place where she can crash while the millionaires that stay there are out of town, and also gives her information on a job so she can do what she does best, steal from the rich and keep for herself. She gets a gig tending the bar where guys from the Russian mob meet, and since she's proficient at Russian, she listens in for anything she can use to her advantage when she overhears something about a painting that is worthless but one of the mobsters believes it's a lucky talisman, which leads Selina to believe if she steals it, they'd pay big money to get it back. Selina is about to leave with her new information when she overhears a man talking, a man named Renald, a man who apparently shot a woman in front of her as a kid. An upset Selina follows him into the bathroom, and uses her seduction to lower his guard before beating the hell out of him, leaving him a bloody mess before leaving the club. We then see Selina in her penthouse that she's staying in now, when she notices Batman in the shadows. He asks if she's alright after the firebombing, but before he can finish she's kissing him. He tells her they aren't doing this, he's come because she's endangered herself and others, but that just leads to her tackling him and the two having sex, but before the issue ends we learn that Catwoman doesn't know who Batman is under the mask. Holy retcon! Catwoman doesn't know Batman is Bruce... and they are still getting it on apparently... well I don;t like that. But I did like this issue, a lot. It showed how awesome and capable Catwoman is, she went under cover and used her skills, I didn't even know she spoke Russian, plus there was like three scenes with her in a bra, which I'll never complain about. But honestly, this was a good issue and Judd has done a nice job in writing Selina for the first time, I'd give this a <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Lola: Your place got torched <b>again</b>?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Selina: </span><b style="color: cyan;">One</b><span style="color: cyan;">, it was my </span><b style="color: cyan;">new</b><span style="color: cyan;"> place. </span><b style="color: cyan;">Two, </b><span style="color: cyan;">blown up, not torched. And </span><b style="color: cyan;">three</b><span style="color: cyan;">, yes.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20086_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20086_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with Batman being attacked by a cavalcade of villains, including Two-Face, Killer Croc, Professor Pyg, Scarecrow, Clayface and more. We even see the recently turned villain, James Gordon Jr. there reading a book while the rest of Bats' rogue gallery tries to take out The Dark Knight. When Batman in thrown through a window into a cell that belongs to The Joker, things take a shocking turn as Batman and The Joker team up to defeat Bats' enemies. Before we can get an explanation, we see Batman talking to Jim Gordon about how he went to Arkham to go after a corrupt guard, and how the guard sprang open the inmates doors which led to Batman being attacked. Gordon questions Batman on if he actually teamed with The Joker, to which Batman tells him that would be ridiculous, to which Gordon agrees. Hm... Afterwards, we see Batman in his cave, unmasked when The Joker shows up. We soon see that The Joker was actually Dick Grayson, wearing the E.M.P. mask that was used in the final arcs of Detective Comics before the reboot, a mask that contorts light to give you someone else's appearance. Turns out that Dick was in Arkham as The Joker for a few days to make sure that the guard Batman believed had gone corrupt actually was. Dick and Bruce then get dressed and head upstairs to meet Tim and Damian for some fancy soiree they are all attending. It turns out it's a big banquet where Bruce gives a great speech (kudos to Scott Snyder) and basically says how he's looking towards the future of Gotham and how he hopes to improve the city with new buildings and a new public transit system, which gains applause from the crowd. During a meet-and-greet Bruce takes the time to use his new device (a mobile bat-computer in his ear, and no, not literally.) to read Jim Gordon's lips as he repeats that someone in Gotham was stabbed. A few minutes and a costume change later, Batman is heading towards the scene of the crime. At the scene the crime, Batman learns from Harvey Bullock that the victim was loaded with antique throwing knives, with each vital organ missed purposely so he would suffer before he died. Gruesome. Being Batman, he soon uncovers a clue that was left, a clue that says "Bruce Wayne will die tomorrow." The issue ends soon after, when Batman runs an analysis on the corpse and the skin cells between the victim's fingernails are none other than those of Dick Grayson! Man, that was a great cliffhanger, maybe this and Nightwing link-up? Snyder and Higgins have worked together so I could see it, but only time will tell. But this was a good issue, and Scott Snyder is a damn genius. He used the facial recognition that Bruce has in what's basically a mobile bat-computer in his ear, to use that as giving us a name and a bit of information on various characters, which was a genius way to introduce these characters to new readers, as well as something that can easily be written off as Bruce trying new tech. That alone was a pretty clever idea that made me appreciate this comic even more. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>. It was a perfect intro issue, it built on a lot, it showed off Batman's planning and tech and gave us a bit of doubt for one of Bruce's closest allies. There's nothing about this comic that I didn't enjoy.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Tim: Tell me he's not using facial rec for the party.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Damian: The party? He's using it to remember who you <b>are</b>, Drake.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Dick: And... Zing.</span> (Somewhere, X-Man75 just marked out for that.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #43</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Deadpool_43-674x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Deadpool_43-674x1024.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Deadpool hiding out in England because he's afraid Dr. Whitby is going to go to the police about him escaping, since he turned down their life together in the form of a super kick. But it doesn't take long for the Doc to find Deadpool, which leads to her disrobing and showing her wearing a Deadpool outfit with fishnet stockings. Deadpool (and myself) yells "MY EYES!" after seeing this. She then opens fire on Deadpool, thinking he'd like that, but Deadpool manages to take her gun and knock her out before fleeing. Deadpool, after sleeping in garbage, decides to don his red and black attire and head to the street, jackin some fools yo, Deadpool style! Hey... he said it, not me. During his escape, Deadpool manages to get surrounded by the cops and the guards that are watching The Queen of England, and they capture DP...for about three seconds before he escapes once again. Deadpool manages to hitch a ride with The Queen, wait really? Yep, he hitches a ride with the Queen of England and uses her as a bit of a hostage to escape. While talking to the Queen, he explains his situation with Doctor Whitby, which leads DP to the realization that as long as she's killing people and emulating Deadpool, that Whitby is his responsibility. Deadpool decides to go finish this once and for all, by confronting Dr. Whitby as this issue comes to a close. This issue was solid, and a lot of Deadpool comedy. It wasn't the best issue, but Deadpool meeting the Queen and using that classic Deadpool style of surviving and planning was enjoyable. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">6.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: Give it up smooth, Dingus! You just got jacked! Deadpool style!</span> (See... I told you.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ultimate X-Men #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thecomicbooknerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/UltimateComicsXMen_1_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.thecomicbooknerd.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/UltimateComicsXMen_1_Cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
It annoys me way more than it should, but I hate the fact that Iceman is wearing that hat on the cover. Anyway, we get things started with Karen Grant, formerly known as Jean Gray, going to a school to recruit a young mutant who's powers have recently started to manifest. It turns out the young mutant was upstairs taking a nap, and in a world where Mutants are being shot on sight if they don't turn themselves in to containment camps, her parents felt it would be better to just murder the poor girl in her sleep. Man, that scene blew me away right at the beginning. Leave it to Nick Spencer to draw you in within a few pages. Meanwhile, a news story breaks that basically says the mutant gene is a virus that was created in America and somehow spread around, infecting people. It's also disclosed that the man formerly known as Wolverine was the first genetically engineered Mutant, thanks to the Weapon X program. Jimmy Howlett, the son of Wolverine decides to go investigate the place that made his father into a mutant killing machine. We also get a glimpse into one of the containment cells, which is basically a mutant concentration camp, and we see that Storm is actually being held in one, as well as Colossus. We even see Rogue pursued and captured by one of the teams in charge of the containment camps. We then see Kitty Pryde, Bobby Drake, and Johnny Storm discussing the news, which only upsets Kitty. When they mention the rioting going on in New York, Kitty says they aren't playing superhero, as they made a promise not to once Peter died. But as Kitty walks away, the guys tell her that Rogue was identified as an attacker on the news. Knowing that someone has to save Rogue, Kitty suits up and Bobby chills out and Johnny flames on (you know that was genius), as the issue comes to a close. Well this was interesting, the idea that the mutant gene is a virus kind of makes sense, it explains how two humans can have a mutant child as well. I like where this is going, and with Spencer writing it, he hasn't steered me wrong yet, so I'll keep checking this out. I'd give this issue about a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Johnny: Mutants got their powers through a science experiment! I got my powers through a science experiment! It's the same thing!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men: Schism #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/X-Men-Schism_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/X-Men-Schism_4.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
I've been waiting for this for about a month, so let's do it. We start things off with Cyclops telling Idie back at Utopia that she saved lives, and if the deaths of those men she killed are anyone's fault, it's his. At least Cyclops owned up to it. For some reason, Cyclops is at Utopia while Wolverine tries to fight the gigantic Sentinel from the last issue. What the hell Scott?! As the Sentinel knocks Wolverine into the sea, Dr. Nemesis tells Cyclops that the Super Sentinel is heading towards Utopia. Cyclops immediately tries to rally the X-Men when he learns that the teleporters are down, some X-Men are busy or incapacitated, and the closest ones en route are thirty-seven minutes away. Cyclops runs outside, while realizing that the X-Men were set up by someone, and he blasts the hell out of the Super Sentinel, which is apparently closer than I thought. His blast doesn't take down the SS, but he's offered help by Hope, Idie and the rest of the students. Scott accepts their help but Wolverine doesn't and tells Scott to get rid of the kids. Logan says they're children and are going to get killed, Scott says they're X-Men and can handle it. They argue back and forth, as Wolverine says the kids should evacuate and live to see another day, but Cyclops says they should fight now because if they run today they'll be running forever. Wolverine says he's done everything Cyclops has asked, lied, killed, and kept secrets so they wouldn't have to, but Cyclops retorts that if Wolverine is so concerned about their fighting skills then he should have taught and led them instead of blowing off every class he assigns them. Cyclops tells the kids anyone who wants to leave can, anyone who wants to stay can as well, as a pissed off Wolverine walks away. While inside, Wolverine grabs something we can't see, while Quentin Quire tries to instigate him. As Scott tries to rally his team, Wolverine walks out and tells everyone to leave, as he's armed 2,000 pounds if explosives and he plans on blowing the island up with the SS gets close enough. The kids leave, as Scott tries to tell Logan this won't help, all he's doing is taken down one Sentinel when there are thousands of others, and now the mutants won't even have their safe haven, but Wolverine stays adamant and says he's pushing the button and tells Scott to walk away. Cyclops then says that Jean never loved Logan and was always afraid of him, to which Wolverine replies she'd be more afraid of Cyclops now. And enraged Cyclops blasts Wolverine, who immediately fights back and takes it to Scott. The two X-Men fight each other as the Sentinel draws near, ready to destroy them both. Man, now THIS was a great issue. I loved the debate between Scott and Logan, as I love when a conversation is so fluid it draws me in like a TV show or a movie, and that's what this issue did. I'll give this issue a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Cyclops: She <b>never</b> loved you, you know. You always frightened her.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Wolverine: And if she was here right now...<b> who</b> do you think she'd be more frightened of?</div><br />
Man, what a great week, THREE perfect scores?! I love it man. I love how Lobdell is doing Red Hood and the Outlaws and I'm optimistic for that, as well as Ultimate X-Men, Batman, Catwoman, and Nightwing. As for Schism, the arguments were so compelling I feel like it would be tough to pick a side, but in my opinion, I'd probably have sided with Scott. They may be kids but they know what they signed up for, and eventually they're going to have to get into a battle with a Sentinel and I think they had a chance of stopping them, so let me know what you guys think in the comments. But that's it for me everyone, thanks for reading and feel free to reply with any questions, comments or criticisms, as well as vote on this week's poll. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off.<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Halfway through the month, how do you like the DCnU comics?"<br />
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Last place with 0% - "I hate them!" Well that's good for DC. <br />
Third place with 22.2% - "I expected them to be better." <br />
Second place with 33.3% - "I love them!"<br />
Winner with 44.4% - "Better than I expected..." I definitely feel that way after this week!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Teen Titans #1, Superman #1, Amazing Spider-Man #670, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, Kick-Ass 2 #4, and Venom #7Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-63193447518736231652011-09-15T17:16:00.000-04:002011-09-15T17:16:04.375-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Ultimate Spider-Man #1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Hey Todd Squad, welcome back to the blog that's giving you more bang for no bucks, the place that has weekly comic content comments, and apparently has what you guys love, a weekly column with multiple reviews, that's right, I mean Ratings and Rantings! This week's edition has five number one issues, and surprisingly one of them isn't DC related, it's Ultimate Spider-Man! Throw in the fact that we've got the DCnU debuts of Green Lantern, Batman and Robin, Grifter and Deathstroke, as well as more Spider-Island, and we've got a potentially great post ahead of us! So let's start things off with none other than Deathstroke!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deathstroke #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20154_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20154_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, in Moscow, Russia after accepting a job, and one page later we see exactly what Deathstroke is, a mercenary that as clearly earned the nickname, "The Terminator". Hell, we even see him slice a fly in half by throwing a paperclip... yeah, it was awesome. Anyway, we see Slade accept a new job offer, and as he attends it, he finds out he's working with a bunch of twenty year old mercs that refer to themselves as "The Alpha Dawgs...Dawg." Well alright then. Needless to say, Deathstroke is annoyed by his "team", and pretty much stays to himself until the mission starts. When Deathstroke drops in on the target, a plane boarded by a suspected arms dealer, as we soon find out that he's actually a biological weapons arms dealer. He sics his men on Deathstroke, that are apparently modified soldiers with Clayface DNA, which makes them harder to kill. So, instead of trying to think of a way to kill them., Deathstroke just chucks one out of the plane and heads towards his target. The target surprisingly hands Deathstroke a briefcase and says they went through a lot to get Slade there. Slade asks if whatever is in the briefcase is a threat, to which his target replies that it's a message. Deathstroke then leaves him with a message as well, some C4 which blows the plane sky high (no pun intended) while Deathstroke rappels back to his plane, piloted by the Alpha Dawgs. As the Alpha Dawgs or the Harm Armory since they can't decide on a name, celebrate their first mission, Slade is asked what he thinks of his up-and-coming team, to which he replies there is no team, only competition, and he doesn't work with competition. Slade then opens fire on the Harm Dawgs or Alpha Armory or the Dead Guys or whatever you'd like to call them. Slade then yells at his manager I guess, about accepting a contract that had him teaming with kids, and that he's the best. His manager, Christoph, says people don't think Slade can cut it anymore, and Slade says they have a lot of work to do then, as he intends to prove his rep is well deserved. The issue ends soon after with Deathstroke telling Christoph to be a good dog and clean up the mess. Hm.. that was interesting. It was a solid issue, very action packed, and shows that Deathstroke is done with teams after a year of him on the Titans. It was enjoyable and perfectly fine, but nothing amazing or anything that would make me want to read more if I was new to Deathstroke, I'll give this first issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Deathstroke: Do the smart thing and head to whatever whorehouse you spend your nights. Before I cut off your reason to go there.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Grifter #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20152_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20152_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
This is my first time reading Grifter, but I was compelled after hearing him described as "Sawyer from Lost in the DC Universe", and considering Lost is one of my favorite shows and Sawyer was in fact my favorite character on Lost, I decided to check out Grifter. So we start things off with Cole on a plane, hearing voices. The scene quickly gets hectic as one of the passengers attacks Cole, clearly one of the voices he's somehow hearing in his head. Cole makes quick work of her by stabbing her in the eye with what looks like a sewing needle. Clearly, this doesn't play out well for Cole among the passengers, who think he's just crazy and murdered a woman in cold blood. Cole takes a hostage to keep everyone calm and has them open the airplane door so he can jump out, when suddenly the passenger attacks Cole, as the passenger is also one of the things Cole can hear plotting to kill him. The guy tackles Cole as they fall out of an airplane, plummeting towards the water. We then flashback to a bit earlier as we see Cole pulling a con, and when he's paid some fake money, the partner that believes he's pulling the con on Cole remarks that Cole won't realize his payment was counterfeit until the next day. As the man leaves, we see Cole throw his fake money on a desk then grab a briefcase from behind a hidden door. Cole opens it to reveal a bunch of cash, clearly proving who the true conman is, as the man who tried to con Cole later opens his briefcase to reveal a bunch of playing cards. As Cole calls a woman, he says he'll be at the airport soon and meeting her in San Juan, when Cole is snatched up in a dark alley. He awakens to find he's been restrained to a table next to a tank with a giant blue glowing alien construct looking thing. As Cole is confused about where he is and decides to escape, he hears voices in his head, which prompts him to try to escape even faster. As Cole leaves, he encounters a man that asks how Cole recovered so fast, and the man telepathically alerts his "brothers", but since Cole can also hear this, he attacks the guy with a blunt instrument, but since he's still in shock he takes it too far and kills the guy. Cole, still shocked, escapes and notes that he was only out for 17 minutes, and wonders what they were doing to him when he hears that "The host body escaped." in his head. Still confused, he heads to the airport and that catches us up to where we started, as we see Cole and his mysterious attacker plummet into the sea. Two hours later, Cole calls Gretchen, and says he didn't make it to San Juan due to his recent events, but she says Cole was missing for seventeen days, and not seventeen minutes! Also, due to his airplane shenanigans, he's being searched for since people believe him to be a terrorist. From there we see Cole's brother, Max Cash, Special Operations Commander, is told to find his brother before news leaks out who exactly Cole Cash is and that he's related to a soldier. As Cole sits in a cemetery, he overhears the voices, saying to find and hunt down Cole Cash, as Cole puts on his mask and states he dares them to find him, before he finds them. This was a pretty good issue to start with, it threw a lot at the reader, and we saw Cole con someone. This issue really just set the stage for the next issue, which I'm pretty excited for now. I'll give this first issue a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Cole Cash: A fool and his money, as they say... are an easy mark.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman and Robin #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20090_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20090_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things get underway with a beefed up looking Batman taking down a criminal in Moscow, the Batman look-alike says he's an ally of The Bat as he holds the criminal, when suddenly the criminal is short point blank in the head. The Bat based hero is then beaten up by a mystery assailant, with his joints broken and bent the wrong way, before his helmet is cracked open. He asks his invisible attacker who they are as they turn visible, and they reply "I'm Nobody. And so are you." From there we cut to Bruce Wayne sitting in Wayne Manor, as he walks to a portrait of his parents and a young Bruce and proclaims to his father that tonight is the night for change. Bruce then gets Damian and tries to tell him why the passwords and such for the Batcave are 10:48, and explains that's the time his parents were kill. Damian, ever the little jackass, doesn't seem to care one bit about Bruce explaining this. When Bruce tells him to show some respect, Damian replies they are just names and dusty frames on the walls to him, which Alfred takes offense to, since he says there is not a speck of dust on those portraits. As Batman and Robin head out, they go to crime alley and Bruce proclaims this is the last time he will mourn their deaths. He says it's how they lived that should be remembered and not how they died, and he will honor their wedding anniversary, not mourn the last time he saw them as they bled to death. Bruce mourns his parents one last time, all the while Robin makes smart-ass remarks that should've led to Bruce backhanding him like a few other Robins, but Bruce maintains his cool. The duo are then told by Alfred that they are needed at Gotham University, so the newly teamed Dynamic Duo make their way there. Once arriving there, Batman and Robin attack the ne'er do-wells (I just wanted to use that phrase...) As they take them out, three of the criminals escape and Robin pursues them as Batman yells for him to wait. Robin engages and cuts a wire on their vehicle, but one of the criminals tries to shoot Robin with a flamethrower of sorts, which just incinerates the men inside. When Batman catches up, he asks Robin what happened to the men, but Robin says he doesn't know. Bruce says he doesn't have a license to kill and he needs to control himself, to which Robin replies that he's not like Tim, Jason or Dick, and he's light-years ahead of the past Robin in skills and training, and he's Batman's partner or he's not. Batman replies that he isn't his partner, he's his son, and Damian has to earn his trust. We then jump over to Nobody, as he slowly immerses the Moscow Batman in acid, and says it'll be like he never existed. He then says the global circus has to end (referring to Batman Inc.) and that he'll be paying Bruce Wayne a visit as this issue comes to a close. Damn, that was a good issue. I was a bit worried about the brooding Batman teaming with Damian who is... well Damian, but it worked together well. And Damian's so disrespectful that you KNOW eventually Bruce is going to snap. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating, plus Nobody looks like an interesting villain.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Robin: And you were easier to look up to when you <b>weren't</b> around. </div><div style="color: cyan;">Batman: Should I be expecting those words on my next Father's Day card?</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20102_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20102_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Man that is an awesome cover with Sinestro wearing a Green Lantern Corps ring. He's had like three different rings in the past two years though. We get started with Sinestro saying the Green Lantern Corps Oath and charging his ring as the Guardians look on. They say they believe the ring chose Sinestro to give him a chance at redemption, and they tell Sinestro to defend his sector and send him on his way with his ring and lantern. Ganthet is outraged since he remembers that the last time Sinestro had a Green Lantern Ring. The Guardians then say Ganthet needs to be on the same page as them so they all zap his giant head with beams from their giant heads, cause that's how they roll I guess. We then see Hal Jordan and his landlord demanding rent, when suddenly Hal hears a woman screaming for help. He looks across from his apartment and see's a musclebound man that looks just plain cartoon-like attacking a woman. Hal decides to go save her and jumps out of his window, through her window and clocks the guy before realizing they were filming a movie. HA! After some time in the pokey, Hal's bail is paid for by Carol Ferris.Once they leave, Carol tries to explain to Hal he can't try to fight crime anymore, since he's no longer a Green Lantern. Hal then tells Carol he's ready to fly planes again but she says she can't insure her planes with him flying them due to his accident record, so if he comes back to Ferris Air he can't work as a pilot. Man, life just sucks for you Hal, and now that ya can spend time with your woman, she's a hero and YOU aren't. You were better off dead. Oh, I spoke too soon as Carol says she hasn't put on her ring since she got back and she doesn't plan to, so Hal asks her on a date and shoots her a perv smile. We then see Sinestro, looking at the Sinestro Corps through a giant construct of a telescope and see's they have enslaved the people of his home planet, Korugar. Suddenly, Sinestro is attacked by one of the Sinestro Corps members. He says that Sinestro betrayed them since he has a Green Lantern Ring, which leads to Sinestro killing him, then destroying his ring before it could find a replacement before flying off. While out on their date, Hal pops the big question to Carol, asking her to co-sign a lease for his new car. She obviously thought he was going to propose so she throws her drink in his face and storms off. As Hal walks home in the rain and finds an eviction notice on his door, he's approached by Sinestro who says if Hal wants his ring back he'll do everything Sinestro says as this issue comes to a close. This was also pretty good I enjoyed seeing Hal's crappy life crumble and Sinestro is almost always awesome, I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8/10 </span>rating. <br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Hal Jordan: Wait! Carol! You drove me!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Ultimate Spider-Man #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jul110605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jul110605.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Norman Osborn in a lab telling the story of Athena and Arachne to a scientist named Markus while looking at a spider with the number 42 on it's back. Afterwards, Osborn explains how he created Spider-Man due to one of the spider subjects biting him, and how they weren't able to replicate that formula. And that's why Markus is there, to replicate the formula since he's a genius with four doctorates. After that we see the news of Osborn being the Green Goblin made headlines, and someone breaks into the lab soon after. Spider number 42, which escaped from it's containment box then hitches a ride out on the guy that broke in, thus escaping the lab. Next we see a young Miles Morales and his parents walking through Brooklyn to a lottery drawing that will basically allow forty kids out of seven-hundred and Miles is the last kid to win a spot when his lottery ball is pulled, lucky number 42. Miles feels bad for the other kids but his parents are happy he gets a chance to thrive in the inner-city by getting into a charter school. Afterwards, Miles goes to see his Uncle Aaron and tells him how he got into the charter school, as his Uncle says he's happy Miles will have chance, which is more than he and Miles' dad had. As Uncle Aaron goes to grab some popsicles to celebrate, Miles sits down and we see Spider number 42 climb out of Aaron's bag, as he was apparently the thief at Oscorp. The spider climbs across the couch and bites a unsuspecting Miles who falls out and begins to foam at the mouth before passing out. He wakes up a little while later as his father and uncle argue, as his father asks what he gave him, clearly he doesn't think much of his brother. They continue arguing as Miles asks his dad to stop, but they keep at it, until they notice Miles is gone. Miles' dad walks outside looking for Miles but little does he know Miles is sitting right in front of him, and can apparently turn invisible as this issue closes. Say what you want about Marvel and Miles Morales, but I enjoyed this issue. It gave us the typical Spider-Man origin but tweaked in a way that works for Miles. We also have all these questions about Miles' powers, his rogue gallery, why he puts on the suit, and especially his family. All in all I enjoyed this issue, the ending was a bit abrupt but I like what I read and I definitely plan on reading more. I'll give the first issue of Ultimate Spider-Man an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Norman Osborn: I said I will beat you to death with my bare hands.</span> (Good ol' Norman... never change.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #669</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jul110617.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jul110617.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Peter and Carlie being attacked by Chance, White Rabbit and Scorcher, which Carlie attributes as a good thing since it means the Jackal is behind this, considering he has people guarding one of his old bases. Great point. Peter soon realizes that these super villains also have Spider Powers, and they quickly knock Carlie out. Pete takes advantage of that to bust out the Kung Fu that Shang-Chi taught him and makes short work of the villains, but Carlie see's the end of it. She asks Pete where he learned moves like that and why he waited to bust them out, but he dances around the question, that is until she says she, Pete, and Spidey need to have a chat about the Jackal now they they've confirmed his involvement. We then see The Jackal is watching, which is awesome due to his comments as if he's watching a sitcom. When he's beckoned by the mystery woman, Jackal states that soon another major city will be infected with spiders... interesting. We then jump over to see Venom taking on the Spider-King, as we saw in <a href="http://jasontoddscomicspot.blogspot.com/2011/08/ratings-and-rantings_18.html">Venom #6</a>, before we cut over to Times Square and see a disappointed Mary Jane over the fact that it seems as if everyone in New York has spider powers except for MJ. Next we see the Avengers are either keeping people from New Jersey that want spider powers out of New York, or keeping people with spider powers in the big apple. We then jump to Horizon Labs to see Max Modell telling Mayor Jameson that they've built spider-sense jammers based on Peter's designs of a Spider-Sense disruptor he used back in issue #654 so people with spider powers can't leave the quarantine zone. Before that news can sink in, Reed Richards makes it known to the Mayor that the spider power infection is now airborne, and eventually if not stopped, the entire planet will have spider powers, that is, everyone that's not a mutant or already has superpowers. Reed says in order to stop that they'll give everyone a power, a low-level magnetism that will allow them to tell which way is North. Lame, but it'll do the job so Reed starts producing a pathogen that will allow it. Meanwhile, Mayor Jameson goes to get his spider power vaccine, but when he's tested, he finds out that he has spider powers! Oh God, PLEASE gimme a J. Jonah Jameson vs. Spider-Man fight. On the other side of town, Anti-Venom is zapping people and curing them, against their will of their spider powers. With so many spider-powers out there, Madame Web's tether breaks and causes her to fall out, unable to see the future anymore.Over at the police station, Carlie and Spidey chat on the roof since Carlie "just missed Peter as he'd just swung off". Peter seems to think Carlie knows he's Spider-Man, so when she questions him then says she's going to call Peter, he says he has somewhere to be and takes off, but she follows him.Spidey arrives on the scene to see a six-armed Shocker! We see that he isn't alone, as he removes his mask we see Shocker is turning into a human-spider, and so is Carlie! The issue ends soon after as we see the mystery woman working with Jackal to turn these people into human-spiders is <a href="http://spiderfan.org/characters/queen.html">The Queen</a>! Man this was a good issue, nice reveals, the fact JJJ finally has spider powers, the mystery of why MJ doesn't have them yet, the stuff with Venom and Anti-Venom, and of course the human spider mutations! I'll give this issue a<span style="color: red;"> 10/10 </span>rating because I thoroughly enjoyed it from cover to cover.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">The Jackal: Puh-lease. I'd recast, she's no Gwen Stacy. </span><br />
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And that's it for me everyone, thanks for tuning in and checking out this week's Ratings and Rantings. I hope you enjoyed this week's post and feel free to reply and let me know what you think, as well as ask any questions you may have. And be sure to check out last week's poll results as well as vote on this week's newest poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "How should posts be formatted at Jason Todd's Comic Spot?"<br />
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Last place with 37.5% - Single Reviews for each comic.<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 62.5% -<span style="font-size: small;"> Weekly reviews in one post. (Ratings and Rantings)</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Deadpool #43 (My shop was out this week), Batman #1, Catwoman #1, Nightwing #1, Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 (AWWW YEAH!), and X-Men: Schism #4!Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-27395466106726705382011-09-08T18:25:00.000-04:002011-09-08T18:25:31.935-04:00Ratings and Rantings featuring Batgirl #1Hey Todd Squad, hot off the heels of the debut of the "new" DC Universe, we've got quite a few books to get to, so no time for a long-winded intro. So let's get things kicked off with two books I missed last week so I could get the review for Justice League #1 up.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Invincible #82</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/fe/feb110462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/fe/feb110462.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
That is one upset green chick on this cover, she makes She-Hulk look like a pacifist. We start things off seeing that "Rex" has returned, and after a few space years on another planet, he's ready to get back into the swing of things on Earth. Surprisingly, Cecil Steadman offers the man formerly known as Robot to pretty much lead every team and hero that Cecil has contact with, and Rex says he'll do the job since he has nothing else to do, pretty much hinting that something happened to his relationship with Monster Girl. From there we see Invincible go meet with our cover girl, who blames him and Eve for the death of countless innocents while Invincible tries to apologize, until he gets her to shut up long enough for him to talk. Before we can see what he says, we jump over to see Eve and Kate eat salads together, and Kate keeps taking shots at Eve's weight, although she's slowly starting to lose weight due to using her powers which burn calories. Back at the Pentagon, Cecil is alerted that Dinosaurus is not only alive but also in the building, but in his human form to turn himself in. Over with Invincible, he talks to our Green Queen Killing Machine, and tells her he understands that she was there to save her own people and was desperate, so he's going to try to get them to release her, and after she agrees not to hurt anyone, she is in fact freed thanks to Invincible. She vows to repay Invincible for his kindness one day as she heads off to her home planet. Back at the Pentagon, Cecil asks Invincible if he can count on him when he needs him, Invincible says yes but he may be done crime fighting in the near future. After a quick talk, Cecil tells Mark he hasn't been all that truthful with him, as he shows Mark the Reanimen he and D.A. Sinclair have created as this issue comes to a close. This was an alright issue, nothing really happened though. It was more verbal problem solving like the last few issues, and although we saw Robot return with a smoking hot Monster Girl, and we know Universa will be back but that's about it. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Eve: Actually, Mark likes me the say I am.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Kate: He does? Really? </span><b style="color: cyan;">Weird</b><span style="color: cyan;">.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Amazing Spider-Man #668</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jun110624.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ju/jun110624.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We pick up where things left off with Spidey being helped up by Shang Chi, who recognizes it's actually him, and this is confirmed by Wolverine. Spidey wants to join the fray but Luke Cage tells him to leave since there's so many Spider-Men and they don't want to risk caving his head in by mistake.. again. While Pete sulks and changes outta his Spidey costume, he runs into MJ who tells him to get back in the game, as she points out Carlie who's using her powers for good to help people, and seems to be the only civilian doing so. Realizing MJ is right, Peter hijacks a camera from Norah and proclaims he's a New Yorker who also developed powers today, and that everyone should use their powers to help save the city. Surprisingly, Pete's crusade works as he leads a group of New Yorkers to the fight to stand alongside the Avengers and the other NY based heroes. After a battle, the New Yorkers and Heroes take down the rogue Spider-men. Soon after, Mayor Jameson announces that everyone who helped has been deputized as Spider-Island is quarantined, and he's counting on them to help keep the city safe. We also see Mary Jane may be jealous of Carlie, considering Pete's former beau doesn't have Spider-Powers. Over at Horizon Labs, Peter discovers there's someone working on a cure with Reed Richards, someone only known as Number Six to keep their identity a secret. Reed asks Peter for a DNA sample to help out. Next we see Eddie Brock as Anti-Venom healing someone against their will of their Spider-Powers, as he proclaims he's going to help everyone, Madame Web steps out of the shadows behind him, saying to herself that both Anti-Venom and Venom are needed, but this is also where the story ends for one of them. Interesting. Back with Pete, we see that he's been sent by Max to work at Carlie's department and help fix tech for Jameson's Anti-Spider patrol, but after a quick talk with Carlie, she reveals she has a lead with The Jackal, Miles Warren. Pete kicks himself for not thinking of that sooner, and heads out with Carlie to follow up on it. As they arrive at Jackal's last known base, it looks as if Peter and Carlie may be walking into a trap as this issue closes. Now this was a pretty fun issue, I like that Peter gets to be Spider-Man without being Spider-Man, and fighting crime with Carlie is new and fresh and also pretty fun. I'm just wondering how long it takes for someone to mess up, since I'm pretty sure no one else has Spider-Sense either, but I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: cyan;">J. Jonah Jameson: Why in all my years in this city, I never </span><b style="color: cyan;">thought</b><span style="color: cyan;"> I'd... </span><b style="color: cyan;">Parker?!</b><span style="color: cyan;"> With Spider-powers?! Now I </span><b style="color: cyan;">have </b><span style="color: cyan;">seen everything.</span></div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Static Shock #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20173_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20173_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start tings off with S.T.A.R. Labs newest employee, Virgil Hawkins fighting crime as his alter ego, Static Shock. Static is now in New York and his first job is stopping Sunspot from attacking his new job. After a bunch of bad jokes and some trial and error, Static takes down Sunspot, but also manages to disable a bunch of cars, cell phones and other electronic devices, which pisses off the ungrateful New Yorkers. Once Sunspot realizes his force field has been taking down, he says he has to escape because some people are going to kill him, but before he can finish his sentence he's shot dead, which doesn't seem to bother Static at all as he traces the bullets kinetic energy back to the gunman. Well that annoys me, Static was a teenager who seemed to care about others, the fact this dude died while Static basically held him there would've at least bothered him. Plus all these bad jokes and electricity quips sound like Mr. Freeze in the Batman and Robin movie. Static's view of the kinetic energy gets messed up by the sun setting (damn Sun!) so he leaves, unaware five people on hover-bikes are watching him. He then talks to some guy named Hardware that I guess is his younger more active, African-American Alfred. He tells Static to head home because his parents are probably worried since they know his job was attacked. Meanwhile we see the hover bikers who are known as the Slate Gang at a base explaining to villain known as Piranha who Static is and how he was stationed in Dakota.They decide Static is one hero too many in New York so they send a hulking brute by the name of Virule. Well alrighty then. After showing a run-in with his family, we see Virgil go to his secret base which apparently is courtesy of Hardware. As Static flies around New York he's attacked covertly by the Slate Gang, who shoot at him and apparently shoot his arm off as this issue ends....What? Okay, first things first, if DC is trying to gain new readers by rebooting they have truly fucked up. I'm a pretty hardcore reader, I read some of Static's older comics, I read all of his DC stuff up to this point, and I watched his show, and the ONLY person in this comic I recognized besides his family WAS Static. Nothing was introduced, if you knew nothing of Static beforehand you're only going to be more confused now, and the reboot was supposed to kill the confusion right? Also, if Virgil loses his hand, on one page, while the page on the left shows a solicit for Aquaman it's quite possibly the most unintentionally funny thing I've seen. Anyway, this issue was pretty convoluted and the cliffhanger seems pretty unnecessary one issue in, I guess I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">4/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Static: Arrest me? You got it all wrong! They were just eager, real eager to get my autograph and my fingerprints.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League International #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20048_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20048_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with the Government deciding they need a team they can control, they can take credit for if they succeed and blame if they fail. After deliberation and passing on certain heroes like Green Arrow (who would be too unruly), Blue Beetle (because he's a rookie), Batman (he'd be harder to lead) and Plastic Man (who would be insane), they decide on a Booster Gold led team, featuring Fire, Ice, Vixen, Rocket Red, August General in Iron, Guy Gardner and Lady Godiva, a character introduced in Flashpoint. After that we see a team of researchers vanish due to some weird earthquake that swallows them whole... interesting. Later we see Booster Gold arrive at the Hall of Justice, wondering where Superman and Wonder Woman are before finding out this is a different Justice League. This Booster is apparently the version that loves being the center of attention so I REALLY hope this is an act and he's still the hero we've read about since 52. When Booster meets the rest of the team, everyone seems up for the task except for Gardner, who refuses to let Booster lead the team, and storms out. Booster refuses to go after him and says he has to come back on his own or he won't respect Booster at all. We also see Lady Godiva apparently has a crush on Booster as she keeps hitting on him. As Gardner leaves he's stopped by Batman, who says he believes in Booster and he knows he can do this. Gardner says he refuses to follow his orders why Bats, Supes and Hal are on the main squad. He tells Bats if Booster is as capable as he thinks he is, they'll do fine without him. Later, the newly formed team are giving a Jet by Queen Industries just to spite the X-Men I guess..., also, August General and Rocket Red argue because apparently Russians and Chinese people don't get along. As the team goes to look for the missing researchers, Booster tries to make it to the cockpit, before he wonders who's flying the jet, he arrives to find out it's Batman, who wanted to lend a hand to our Golden Boy. Booster thinks that Bats doesn't believe he can lead the team, but Batman says it's because the JLI is short-handed, and the JLA thinks it;s good to have a link between the two teams. As the JLI searches for the missing researchers, we see two rogue civilians blow up the Hall of Justice because they don't like the U.N. "buying off" their heroes. Back with the JLI, they're suddenly attacked by some rock monsters that climb up from underground, the JLI fight them and make the rock monsters retreat, but suddenly a giant robot shoots forth from the ground as the JLI go on the defensive and this issue ends. Now THIS was a good issue. It shows Booster has still grown up, and clearly he and Bats prior conversations happened because Bats believes in Booster. I like that the team has a dynamic where everyone is still feeling one another out and there are really no set friendships besides Fire and Ice and Bats and Booster. This was a good start, and although we don't know a lot about each character yet, it definitely set some storylines into motion, I'd give this an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Booster Gold: Does the U.N. know you're here?</div><div style="color: cyan;">Batman: I've always enjoyed your sense of humor, Booster.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batgirl #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20091_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20091_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a villain named The Mirror, he has a list of people and he walks up to a man named Graham Carter, who survived a sinking ship when twenty-seven of his fellow sailors did not, the mirror then takes a water hose from Mr. Graham and puts it in his mouth until he drowns. Well I like this guy already, he's killing people in ironic ways where they "cheated death". It's like someone took the plot for Final Destination and instead of making like eighty movies they just made him a supervillain. Anyway, we see Barbara Gordon is next on his list. From there we see a Red-Headed Batgirl (Sorry Stephanie...) dropping in to stop a bunch of criminals that break into homes and murder parents for fun, known as the Brisby Killers. Batgirl takes them down left and right, and knocks one of them out cold, which she attributes to "having arm strength like a mother" now. After a stand off, Batgirl manages to save the family and take down the criminals, but she thinks to herself how rusty and scare she was during it all. We then see Babs in bed, having a nightmare of when The Joker shot her, which was three years ago for those interested. We see Babs get out of bed and walk to the kitchen where her father is sitting as Babs explains to us that she was shot through the gut with a spinal cord injury and how she couldn't use her legs for three years until a miracle happened which allows her to walk, but we get no insight on what exactly happened. We then see her talk to her dad and she explains it's time for her to move out. We then see Babs moving into her new apartment, where she has a roommate named Alysia that works nights, which works for her Babs' alter-ego. Meanwhile, we see one of the criminals Babs thwarted is in the hospital, and The Mirror has found his way inside and killed a guard. Babs gets a police report text since she's wired her phone to get her dad's police messages. She gets her Batgirl costume on and pulls out her Bat-Cycle (memories) and heads to the hospital. As she arrives, The Mirror finds the criminal from earlier and states that he should've fell and died during his fight with Batgirl. Batgirl arrives to stop the Mirror but he pulls a gun on her and she freezes, which is expected given her past. The Mirror then grabs the criminal's bed and runs him towards the window (I always wondered why they have those huge window-walls at hospitals...) and pushes him out before turning a gun back on Batgirl, as a downed police officer calls Batgirl a murderer for letting him kill the criminal as the issue comes to a close. First things first, that dude isn't dead, I'd bet anything that Batman, Robin, or Nightwing caught him. Secondly, how is Batgirl a murderer for not doing anything... meanwhile the woman accusing her also did nothing. Anyway, this was a good issue, there's still a lot of questions but after reading JLI and Static, I's say this was closer to JLI in terms of being a good reboot story, so I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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(Edit: In the scene where the guy is pushed out of the window, he has one eye... so..yeah.)<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Civilian: Bless you. Bless you Batwoman.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: Well, close, I guess, and you're welcome. And the name's Batgirl.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Morning Glories #12</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/may110521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ma/may110521.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />
We start thing off seeing a character named Miss Hodge return to Morning Glories academy. Interestingly enough, to get to the Academy you apparently have to take a elevator then a vehicle through a huge underground radioactive cellar until you get to the school... that's pretty wild. Apparently the MG students love Miss Hodge as she's joking and laughing and giving advice before she finally gets to her office. As she looks through some papers she notices something and heads to see a student that was murdered, looks to be the one Zoe killed a few issues back. After seeing the bodies of other dead students in the morgue, Miss Hodge pulls Miss Daramount out of her classroom and questions her about the bodies and if "he" knows, to which Daramount says the Headmaster knows. Hodge then pulls Daramount's sleeves up as we see she has all types of cuts and marks on her arms, courtesy of the Headmaster. Hodge then says she needs to spend time with these new kids and she already has permission slips signed. When Miss Daramount asks Hodge what she's going to do, Hodge says the same thing she always does, bail out out of trouble with dad. What? Apparently Hodge and Daramount are sisters and the Headmaster is their dad. Miss Hodge quickly finds Zoe and has her come to her office and gives Zoe a gun, she tells her to keep it close and make sure she doesn't get searched. She tells her that her records show she's going to need it. Interesting... after that Miss Hodge meets with Jun, their conversation is brief but we see she basically helped him get into Morning Glories, obviously to save his brother. During her chat with Jade she gives her some pills that should help her stop having nightmares and throwing up, that is if she wants to stop having the nightmares. During her meeting with Hunter, she mentions him having a problem with time and how he always see's the same time. She then says that his files have everything he's done and ever will do, including him having a crush on a certain classmate, but when she shows them to him they show that the files are blank, as she asks how he suppose that works. After that Miss Hodge goes to meet with Ike but walks away and mumbles "not yet" to herself. Lastly, we see Casey go back to the site where she last saw her parents in issue one, as Miss Lara Hodge introduces herself and asks if her friends know yet about Casey's parents. She says that she's being held there too, even as a faculty member she's still stuck at MGA. She also says Casey's file says she goes there everyday, which is how she new where Casey was, and her parents loved her very much, which annoys Casey so she socks Miss Hodge in the mouth and says she doesn't trust her one bit. Miss Hodge tells her she could never escape Morning Glories Academy but now she can with the help of Casey, and she can help her burn Morning Glories to the ground, when Case asks why she would ever believe this, Miss Hodge says what if she said she could bring Casey's parents back, as the issue ends on a huge cliffhanger. Now this was a great issue, I really like Miss Hodge, she may or may not be trustworthy but I like the character as of right now and this issue was informative and set a lot of things into motion, it answered questions but started new ones as well. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Zoe: Who in the hell are you, anyway? And why are you dressed like a zookeeper?</div><div style="color: cyan;">Miss Hodge: I'm your guidance counselor, Bitch. Now get in the goddamned office. (Awww snap!)</div><br />
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And that's it for this week everyone, thanks for reading and be sure to check out the results for last week's poll. Even more important, be sure to vote on this week's poll, because depending on the results, next week may be the last Ratings and Rantings! So vote and let me know how you feel about that. Anyway, that's it for me, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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The last poll asked "Which DC Comics are you picking up this week?"<br />
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Last place with 0% - Flashpoint #5... I'm not even going to make a joke.<br />
Third place with 10% - No DC Comics for me this week<br />
Second Place with 30% - Justice League #1, This was me as well..<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 60% - Justice League and Flashpoint #5, So... learn anything about the DCnU?<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman and Robin #1, Deathstroke #1, Green Lantern #1, Grifter #1, Amazing Spider-Man #669, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, and Deadpool #43.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-34472069204530303632011-08-31T00:32:00.001-04:002011-08-31T21:24:24.881-04:00Rantings and Rantings featuring Justice League #1Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages, it's time once again for that weekly cavalcade of comic reviews and rantings, brought to you by one half of the blogging tagteam champions of the woooooorld, yours truly, Jason Todd. So, here we are, officially apart of the DCnU, everything's changed, some for the better, some possibly for the worse, only time will tell. FYI, I bumped Amazing Spider-MAn #668 to next week so I could get this review up asap for all you Justice League fans. So since time is of the essence, let's get to what may be one of the most anticipated comic books of the year, but before we get to JLA, let's tie up a few loose ends from last week's review.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Superman Beyond #0</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19623_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19623_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Superman barely being able to keep the peace on an alien planet where a battle has broken out, but he's able to stop the planet from being invaded by the attackers. After helping the aliens, Superman decides it may be time to return home for the first time in a year, since helping Batman Beyond, Terry McGinnis, defeat Lex Luthor in the Superman/Batman Annual #4. We then see the Justice League trying to get Batman to come help out with Metropolis but he says he's busy enough with Gotham. We then see a prisoner named Mangler, and after his wife tells him she's not bringing their daughter to see him in prison anymore, and he seems defeated since he's been trying to get good behavior points to get out early, but she sticks by her guns and walks out on him. Later on, during a bit of a prison scuffle, a guard shoots some liquid that falls on the Mangler and of course makes him into a powerful villain. We then see Clark Kent on Earth, planting flowers at his parents and Lois' graves before meeting with a very old Jimmy Olsen who offers him a job as a reporter now that Jimmy is a media mogul. Meanwhile, Mangler uses his new powers to beat the hell of the joke that is the Justice League, with his Sandman-like powers. Superman makes the save but it doesn't take long until the Man of Steel is taking a beating due to his old age and the fact he's slowly grown weaker since his days on top. Once he momentarily despises of Supes, Mangler goes to see his daughter, but upon seeing what her dad has become she screams, obviously afraid, which breaks Mangler's heart. He then tells Superman to do his job and protect her from monsters like him, or he's going to destroy Metropolis. Superman throws everything at him but runs out of options so uses his speed to make a tornado and suck Mangler into space to knock him out, but once up there, with his last breaths Mangler manages to turn his arm into a spike and stick it through Superman. Well damn... as Supes realizes he doesn't have much time left, he selflessly grabs Mangler and takes him back to Earth so he doesn't suffocate in space, and takes the brunt of the fall as well. As Superman slowly dies, Mangler repeatedly asks why he would save him after he killed Superman, Barda checks on him and it appears Superman is still alive as his wounds slowly heal. They ask him to join the Justice League and he accepts, and the issue ends as we see an old Clark and Bruce share a moment like only Superman and Batman can. This was a good issue, but to be honest I think it would've been more impactful is they killed off Supes here. I mean with the reboot it's not like it matters, and Supes saving someone that killed him is like the epitome of something he'd do, which could lead to Mangler becoming a good guy to try to make that up to Superman and society. But maybe they wanted him around for more Batman Beyond stories. Either way, it was a fine issue that I had no problems with, I'd give it a <span style="color: red;">6/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Superman: Maybe tomorrow has finally arrived for the so-called Man of Tomorrow. Maybe I'm just too </span><b style="color: cyan;">old</b><span style="color: cyan;"> to play hero.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Kick-Ass 2 #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i2.cdnds.net/11/30/550w_comics_kick_ass_2_3_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i2.cdnds.net/11/30/550w_comics_kick_ass_2_3_1.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Kick-Ass and his ragtag team of jabroni's questioning the criminal they caught, asking him where the girls he has working as prostitutes are. He says upstairs, so Kick-Ass goes to investigate wit two other heroes. They free the girls and give the the fifty-grand the criminals had so they can go start new lives. Afterwards, the heroes leave and let Kick-Ass in on the tidbit that they carry empty guns to scare the criminals, which Kick-Ass thinks is pretty awesome. We also see they don't just fight crime, but these heroes also pass out missing persons flyers, volunteer at soup kitchens, and of course influenced more people to become street heroes. And eventually, Kick-Ass decided to have his friend Todd join since he was the odd man out, but the person Dave really wants is Hit-Girl, but she continues to turn him down since she made a promise she was done fighting crime. Dave doesn't let up but when Mindy walks outside and see's Marcus, she runs to the car, as Marcus stares at Dave, clearly aware that he's Kick-Ass. When Dave arrives home he walks into his room to find his dad holding his Kick-Ass costume. His dad says he was worried because he thought Dave was on drugs but this is worse, and he's found his boots, sticks and the newspaper clippings he's saved. Dave says he's a hero and he's proud of what he's done, before snatching his costume from his dad and running out of the door. Over at the Justice Forever Headquarters, Colonel Stars is attacked and shot through the stomach by a huge woman named Mother Russia, the new bodyguard of the Red Mist. He orders her and his guards to tear the base apart and to leave a message for the other heroes. We then see the Colonel dead, duct-taped to a chair with his head gone and his dogs Sofia's head in place of his (gruesome) and the words "The Red Mist is Dead, Long live The Motherucker." The issue ends as the news of the dead hero found in a basement is seen by Mindy, which seems to incite the rage of the former Hit-Girl. Man this was a good issue, it started a bit slow but Dave's secret being found by his dad, the return of the former Red Mist and that gruesome scene made this a really good issue, I'd give it a<span style="color: red;"> 9/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Marty: Those trunks are so tight I can make out individual pubic hairs.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Justice League #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20046_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/2/0/20046_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off in the past, five years ago to be exact as we see Batman pursuing a criminal, while also dodging the GCPD. Batman manages to catch the person he's pursuing when suddenly the villain is blasted by a green firetruck, courtesy of Green Lantern Hal Jordan, who seems shocked that Batman is real. When the GCPD shoots at both GL and Bats, Hal throws up a shield, but while they focus on the GCPD, Bats and GL are attacked by the mystery villain. The villain blasts down a helicopter but Hal makes the save while informing Bats that he was sent there due to an extra-terrestrial sighting. Bats tells GL to go back to Coast City but he sticks around, and is shocked to learn Batman has no powers and is just a man in a bat costume. Batman somehow manages to take GL's ring and then returns it once he realizes it's the source of Lantern's power. The two start to get into a scuffle when Batman notices the alien planting a bomb. Hal tries to stop the alien but he yells "for Darkseid" before the alien explodes in the sewers of Gotham, as Hal protects himself and Batman with a box he constructs. Batman and GL then investigate the alleged bomb the alien left behind, and GL figures it may be connected to Superman since he's an alien, so the two go to confront the Man of Tomorrow. We then jump over to see Vic Stone playing football as he's apparently a highly scouted player, but when he scores a touchdown and looks in the crowd and see's his Dad isn't there he's pretty disappointed. Aww, poor Cyborg. Back with GL and Bats, they arrive in Metropolis right outside of where Superman is. Bats tells GL there was obviously a scuffle here and to take this tactfully but the ever cocky Hal Jordan decides he's going to go restrain Superman and question him, and half a second later he's flying across the sky from a red-blue-blur punch. The issue ends soon after with Superman staring at Batman asking what can he do. Well this issue kinda flew by, we didn't learn much... I mean literally. We saw Bats meet GL, we saw Bats meet Supes, we saw Hal get "one-punch!'d" by Superman and we saw Vic play football. It wasn't a bad issue but I expected more from this first issue since DC only dropped two issues this week, but on the plus side, Jim Lee's art was pretty damn good! I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Green Lantern: You <b>really</b> want to pick a fight with someone who can create <b>anything</b> he can think of?</div><span style="color: cyan;">Batman: I'd be worried if I thought you could think.</span><br />
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And just like that, three comics have come and gone. Welcome to the DCnU, and the next month should be exciting with more DCnU comics, more Schism and Spider-Island from Marvel, and hopefully more Morning Glories and Invincible. Here's hoping you guys enjoyed this review and feel free to let me know what you guys think. But that's it for me, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Action Comics #1, Batgirl #1, Justice League International #1, Static Shock #1, Invincible #82, Morning Glories #12 and Amazing Spider-Man #668 Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-10987824714877477412011-08-26T16:24:00.000-04:002011-08-26T16:24:54.706-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with a your weekly collection of comic content comments. First things first, I saw that next week I'm only picking up two books, so I'm bumping Kick Ass 2 #3 and Superman Beyond #0 to next week so I at least have four books. Also, this just so happens to be the final week of the DCU being the way we know it, because this Wednesday, Flashpoint ends and the DCU Changes. Babs becomes Batgirl again, Roy regains an arm, Dick loses the cowl, Superman loses his marriage and many more changes, so with this as the final week of the DCU until it's retconned or something, let;s take a look at the final DCU Comics in this timeline, starting off with the final issue of Gotham City Sirens!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Gotham City Sirens #26</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19596_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19596_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Harley and Ivy attacking Catwoman, who immediately goes on the offensive. Batman shows up and tells Gordon to let the girls fight this out for ten minutes, as it's between them and surprisingly Gordon allows it. Selina holds her own until she finds out it's hammer time, courtesy of Harley. Once they have Selina down, Ivy says Selina shouldn't be surprised since she betrayed two women that saved her, but Catwoman laughs and says she's the one who saved them. She basically says that Batman was pulling the strings and got them all together with a master plan that maybe they'd do good in Gotham. Harley says what Selina's saying makes sense but Ivy still thinks she's lying. Catwoman then says she basically kept then out of Arkham until they forced her hand, and that she helped them because she thinks their both better than that and can do more for Gotham outside of Arkham. Once finding out Batman was pulling the strings, Poison Ivy gets upset and starts destroying buildings and such, demanding Batman come face her. Bats shows up but Catwoman buys Harley and Ivy some time to escape, as the two go their own ways, setting up for their new roles in the DCnU. The issue ends soon after with Catwoman getting ready to take on Bats to give her friends a head start. Well this was... something. The ending just came off weird for me here, it wasn't bad and I'm sure it was rushed due to the situation DC has but it felt forced and odd, I just couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to, so I'll give it a <span style="color: red;">6/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Catwoman: I kept you free. Until you </span><b style="color: cyan;">forced</b><span style="color: cyan;"> me to put you in Arkham.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #100</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19661_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19661_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start this issue with the Teen Titans and the former Teen Titans taking on Superboy Prime and his Terror Titans. After a few are taken care of like Indigo, Sun Girl and the Zookeeper, Cassie attacks Prime. While those two duke it out, Kid Flash grabs Inertia and runs around trying to kill him until he's stopped by Raven. This story was so rushed it shouldn't have even been done. Plus the fact that's not the real Inertia bothers me endlessly. Anyway, we cut over to Superboy taking on the clones, when he tells Ravager to go grab the box from his room we saw a few issues ago, and she grabs it to find a sharp piece of Kryptonite. She stabs one of the Superboy clones with it, then gives it to Robin who looks joyed to kill a Kryptonian with a piece of Kryptonite. After getting rid of everyone else, all of the Titans attack Prime at once, because, it's not like he killed a bunch of Titans and Outsiders and was stronger than Superman. Once he's been defeated, Conner decides there's only one place that can hold Prime, and he and Supergirl put Prime in the source wall, his own personal hell. Well, that's a let down, Prime was an A-Lister now he's beaten by a bunch of Teenagers. Afterwards, we see Conner and Ravager talking, and he tells her if he goes crazy he needs someone like her to put him down, and she has her feelings hurt because she thinks Conner see's her only as a murderer. Aww, poor murderous Rose. The issue ends soon after with Raven and Beast Boy kissing and the Teen Titans posing, well alright. This was a big let down in my opinion, as Prime was amde to look like a chump. Superboy beat up the Teen Titans by himself, there's no way four Superboy clones plus Prime AND a team of equally matched Titans should've been destroyed so easily. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">3/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Robin: You have no idea what cutting loose is, Red Robin. But I'd like to see that.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Gates of Gotham #5</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Batman-Gates-of-Gotham_5-665x1024.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://cdn.ifanboy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Batman-Gates-of-Gotham_5-665x1024.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Batman taking it to The Architect, Dillon May. Meanwhile, under Kane bridge, Black Bat and Robin are trying to disarm the bomb that was planted there by The Architect. With a plan forged by Cassandra, she and Damian detonate the bombs safely away from the bridge, keeping everyone safe. After the bridge is safe, Batman subdued the Architect and explains that the Gates went made from the suit, and extended use caused extreme decompression sickness which pretty much drove the Gates insane. After proving this, Batman asks how long Dillon has been in the suit, which enrages Dillon causing him to break free of Batman's bind. He dives at Batman but Bats removes Dillon's Helmet before cracking him across the face with it. We later see Dick checking in with Bruce via satellite, and explaining "Dillon May" was an alias and the Architect was actually Zachary Gate. Bruce commends Dick on his work and says with enough time he'll be an even better Batman than Bruce. The issue ends soon after with Bruce announcing he's coming home to see Dick and Damian soon and to have a talk, and a quick flashback shows Nicolas Gate being sent to Arkham with Alan Wayne still trying to help his former friend. Well... another rushed issue, it was fine but the Dillon May reveal was pretty obvious, hell X-Man75 pointed it out like three issues ago. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">6.5/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Bruce: I never doubted it Dick. Given enough time I'm sure you'd make an even <b>better</b> Batman than me.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Arkham City #5</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19590_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19590_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
The final issue of the comic mini that bridged the gap between Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. We start things off with Batman finding more info on Hugo Strange, and we also see the biggest damn Robin I've ever seen in my life. I swear this Robin looks like Captain Atom in a Robin costume. Batman realizes he can't go after Hugo since he's hiding in plain sight, so he decides to confront him as Billionaire Bruce Wayne instead. At a press conference, Bruce makes it known that four years ago Hugo Strange vanished from Arkham Asylum, and now he's supposed to be in charge of Arkham City. But Huge plays it like a politician and says inept doctors made mistakes, but more importantly why does a rich playboy care about a Doctor he's never met? Bruce quickly replies that he doesn't think the criminals of Arkham City will stay in Arkham City for very long, especially with Strange in charge of things. Hugo stands by his guns and says that Arkham City has no weaknesses, and unless Wayne wants to expose any secrets, he has nothing else to say to him. After Arkham City opens, Zsasz is allowed to escape only to be caught, as to kill any fears of the people of Gotham. As the issue comes to a close we see Catwoman, as well as many villains in their new environments, carving a niche in Gotham and Arkham City, including Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, Harley Quinn and of course The Joker, as Strange thinks to himself how he's aware that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one in the same and how he's eagerly awaiting his return to Arkham City. Now this was a fun issue, it really set the tone for the game, which I can't wait to play. The art was great, especially for Poison Ivy and Two Face, and the story was simple but well written, I'll give this an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Hugo Strange: I eagerly await your return to Arkham City. </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #42</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/5/58550/1918376-deadpool_42_by_dave_johnson_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/5/58550/1918376-deadpool_42_by_dave_johnson_super.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Deadpool arguing with Death, as she calls him lazy and says she's leaving him. Deadpool doesn't care that Death is leaving him, as he's content sitting around and being "disabled." Turns out Deadpool is dreaming, as the Foolkiller stands over him shouting for Deadpool to wake up and fight him. After not getting a reply Foolkiller knocks Deadpool down and reaches for his mask, when Pool reaches up and grabs Foolkiller by the neck. We then see Deadpool's dream and how he's changed and wants to find his dear old Death again, and how that's pretty much revitalized Deadpool to his old self as he wakes up and beats the hell out of Foolkiller and the rest of the inmates, until DP gets distracted which allows the Foolkiller to hit him with a stun baton, which leads to a dogpile on Deadpool. We then find out that Foolkiller is in love with Doc Whitby, and that's why he's jealous and angry of Deadpool. Also, she signed off on FK's parole, and he doesn't want to leave, so he plans on killing Deadpool and getting a permanent stay. Deadpool has a plan, and we later see that he and The Foolkiller switched masks and FK stays in place of Deadpool while the Merc with a Mouth is a free man. Actually, I was reading this comic and reviewed as I read, and guessed that before finishing because it was obvious, and I was right, because I'm obviously "The Man". The issue ends soon after with Deadpool leaving dressed as the Foolkiller, but not before Doctor Whitby tells Wade she loves him and now that he's free they can be together, as Deadpool realizes he's now the object of affection but someone who's crazy, and not crazy sexy, but scary ugly. Well this was a fine issue as well, nothing amazing but it was far from bad, albeit predictable. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: I'm killin' everyone!</span><br />
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And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone. This was a pretty lackluster week, and not the best way for the current DCU to end but what can you do, this was clearly a rushed plan. But next week should be interesting as we finally get a look at the DCnU. That's it for me though, I'll see you guys next week, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!<br />
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Last week's weekly poll asked "Which Comic Movie did you like more/or want to see more if you haven't seen any?"<br />
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<u>Last place</u> with 8.3% - Green Lantern, It's DC's Blackest Night so far...<br />
<u>Second place</u> with 25.0% - Tie between Thor and Captain America, maybe Avengers will do better?<br />
<b>Winner </b>with 41.7% - X-Men: First Class, I almost voted for this as well, man this was a great movie.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Justice League of America #1, Amazing Spider-Man #668, Superman Beyond #0 and Kick-Ass 2 #3Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com56tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-25744148473096423082011-08-18T14:56:00.000-04:002011-08-18T14:56:14.827-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with another weekly collection of comic content comments, we've got a few comics to get to and three I'm REALLY looking forward to, Venom, Schism and Batman's final issue before the reboot which was written by Fabian Nicieza. One book I said I was going to get but didn't once I flipped through it was the final issue of Green Lantern Corps, it was cut into different stories with different artists so I passed, but enough of that, let's jump right into things with this issue of Batman!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman #713</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19580_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19580_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Awesome cover with Bruce and three of his four sons. We start things off with a quick flashback of Bruce's past, what led him to being Batman and how the addition of Robin changed his dreary outlook. This also shows the rift that grew and caused Robin to go out on his own, becoming Nightwing. From there we see how Batman brought on a new Robin that "wasn't ready" and the tragedy that followed, and how the third Robin figured out who both Batman and the original Robin were, and how he earned his spot and helped Batman loosen up. And how the change in Batman allowed him to accept more allies like Catwoman, Huntress, and the like. And once things seemed to be perfect, Batman "died" but upon his return he saw that the original Robin was Batman and Bruce's son with Robin, and he was proud so he gave them Gotham City to protect. We see that being Batman was a new adventure for Dick to take on, and Robin, who was always too stiff and strict had been warming up to Grayson and learning to have fun, we also see that although Damian would never admit it, he thought being friends with Dick was an honor. As the issue comes to a close we find out this whole recap was a story that Damian was telling to a young group of survivors, basically telling them there's always lessons to learn and to view everything optimistically, or at least that;s what I got from it. After talking to the kids we see Damian leave with Dick as the Bat Signal lights up the sky, and the Dynamic Duo swing off into the night. This was a cool issue, it was basically just a big recap issue but it was done pretty well, but it didn't deliver what I was led to believe. The synopsis for this issue said "Over the years, Dick Grayson has worn several guises: First, he was Robin the Boy Wonder, then Nightwing, and finally Batman. But now that Bruce Wayne has donned the cape and cowl once again, Dick finds himself at an identity crossroads." But we got none of that, we didn't see Dick feel conflicted or hint at going back to Nightwing, which annoyed me since that's what I expected to read about, so for that reason I'd give this a <span style="color: red;">6/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Dick: We need something that changes our clothes automatically, like a pole or something.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Damian: That is ridiculous.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #38</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19664_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19664_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things out in the final issue of Titans seeing Ryan Choi's son and the mother of his son arrive at his funeral. We then cut over to see the Titans fighting amongst themselves over the machine that brought Joseph back from the brink of death. Roy eventually releases DJ Molecule, and since his power was running the machine, he's needlessly pissed, and sides with Roy and Cinder, before blasting Osiris. Jericho is eventually taken down and Roy prepares to leave, but is told by Slade to leave Jericho with him. Roy asks why Slade called them Titans, and Deathstroke says the Titans ruined his son, so he had to take their name and make it a disgrace. Well.. that seems like too much work. Roy realizes that Dick was right, the Titans were an ideal and thanks to Slade they'll be known as the Team that killed Ryan Choi, so Roy takes this time to deck Slade with a punch from his robotic arm, before bringing the fight to Slade like never before, before telling him the Titans <b>are</b> an ideal that won't be corrupted, so Roy will lead the team from now on. Slade tells him he's a little late (read my mind) but Roy says it;s never too late, and that Slade is fired. Cinder takes this time to meld herself with the Methuselah machine, causing it to explode as everyone runs, and Roy tries to get Jade to come with him since she doesn't want to live without Lian. Meanwhile, Osiris and Sivana escape together as the Doctor promises Osiris to rebuild the machine and bring back Black Adam if Osiris kills the Wizard Shazam, which he agrees to do. Isn't it a little late to start new storylines?! After the explosion, Ink and Jade tell Roy they're going their separate ways and Jericho says he'll follow Roy's new leadership. We then cut over to Ryan's funeral which seems pointless since he's The Atom in the DCnU apparently, and after we see Palmer give a speech we cut over to Deathstroke as he vows to throw out the rulebook as this issue ends. Well this was a lackluster ending. This started storylines which made no sense since this is the end for now, I mean why have Roy start a new group of Titans when we know he's going to be in Outlaws? Also, since her inception we still barely know ANYTHING about Cinder, so yeah this was all over the place, also Roy was magically no longer a junkie... I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">2/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Deathstroke: Next Stop? Crazy Town.</span> (That is the least Deathstroke sounding thing I have ever read.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Power Girl #27</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19652_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19652_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Nice cover Peej, very nice cover. :P We start things off with Peej taking on some robots, after finishing them she see's a message that says she has sixty seconds to save people in three life-threatening situations, but she only has time to save one. She has to choose between saving a friend, Cyclone, who is at gunpoint, saving a young girl fishing, or saving a bunch of old people in the leaning tower of Pisa. The first thing we do is see Peej pick up a giant boulder and throw it into the sea for some reason, next we see Peej save Cyclone with forty seconds left to spare. After she saves her, Peej writes the coordinates to somewhere and a note that says be there in twenty-five seconds, you'll know what to do, with her heat vision on the floor, out of view of a camera that was watching Cyclone. Peej then jets to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and stops the super-powered villain from pushing it over before heading to the young girl on the boat with twenty seconds left. In the midst of the first two missions, Peej snatches a bunch of guns from guys having a war and saves a cat from a tree. Peej arrives at the young girl in the boat just as she's about to be killed by Typhoon, when a giant wave throws her out of the boat, and she's caught by Power Girl. It turns out Peej threw the rock to buy her some time to catch the girl in the air, just in case she was late. Cyclone arrives a second later to help Power Girl stop the waves from destroying a nearby city. As Power Girl finishes up with seconds to spare, she then triangulates the signal of the cameras to find out who's been testing her, as we find out it was the Calculator, who's not even there. Power Girl grabs the guys who are there and tells them to explain what happened, as she has all the time in the world. This was a fun issue that I enjoyed, it was action packed, made sense, and it showcased Peej's strength and intelligence, which I always like. It sucks that this is the end of Peej's solo run, but I hope she's used well in the new DCnU, because she's a hell of a hero. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Power Girl: Thanks to very much for their help, old man!</span> (Peej speaking another language, she's almost as bad as Peggy Hill.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #6</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/8/83236/1967260-venom6_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/8/83236/1967260-venom6_super.jpg" width="211" /></a></div><br />
Things get started right in the fray of things as Venom is deployed to deal with the mass panic caused by Spider-Island. Before Venom heads into the field, Flash gets a call from Betty, basically saying his Dad won't be aloive for much longer and to get there as soon as possible to say goodbye. Flash has that flying around his head as he takes on a big Spider-Monster, I believe one of The Jackal's henchmen, as Venom's leaders have told him to bring the monster in alive. He's getting the better of Agent Venom, until Venom grabs Gravity and tosses him into the sky, he falls down with extra weight onto the Spider-Monster and gets knocked out cold. Back at the secret base, Flash talks to his commanders about the monster he brought in, as the monster starts throwing up a bunch of tiny spiders. They figure he was sent into the city to infect more people with powers, but before anyone can react, the monster erupts from his cell, as Flash and the rest of the employees try to escape. The monster and it's spiders are between Flash and the holding cell with the symbiote, leaving him helpless. Flash speaks up with false courage that they have to take the monster and the spiders out, even if it means blowing up the base, and everyone else reluctantly agree and decide to arm themselves and try to reach the control panel that has the self destruct button. As they head out for the panel, the monster attacks and knocks Flash out of his chair, when suddenly it's attacked by the symbiote, which has formed like a black dog. Once the monster is distracted by one of Flash's teammates shooting at it, Flash suits up with the Symbiote and Agent Venom takes on the monster, but this time he intends to kill it, so you can imagine Flash's surprise, and my own, when one of the Doctor's runs the blood sample from the monster and finds out it's actually Captain America! The issue ends soon after with Flash taking down the Cap Monster, and being told by his commander to mimic the monster, take his spot, find out who did this to Cap, and snap their neck as Flash obliges. Meanwhile, Betty Brant is trying to call Flash so he can say goodbye to his dying father as we come to a close. Damn that was a good issue, the swerve with that being Cap was crazy, I didn't see that coming at all. This is going to be very interesting, I'll give this issue of Venom a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Venom: Hello, is it me you're looking for?</span> (Flash Thompson, Number one Spidey fan, number two Lionel Richie fan.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men: Schism #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/9/96457/1967577-schism_3_oroboros_cps_001_super.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/9/96457/1967577-schism_3_oroboros_cps_001_super.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
Things start with Cyclops talking to Emma Frost telepathically about the big gala, before there's some telepathic backlash which cuts their conversation short. Emma notifies the fellow mutants on the scene Iceman, Magneto, Namor and Colossus that either Utopia is under attack or they are, and a quick cut to Logan shows him at a bar when news breaks out that there's a disturbance at the Mutant Museum, which leads to him heading there in a hurry. We also get a quick flashback to Kade Kilgore putting together his adolescent society of murderous geniuses, as well as some insight into each of their lives before jumping back to the present to see the Pre-Teen Scream Team (Yes, I named them that) blowing down a wall and crashing the Mutant Museum Gala. The kids demand the X-Men, so the X-Men deliver, and surprisingly the treacherous little tykes manage to take down Namor, Emma, Colossus, Iceman and Magneto. In the midst of that there's some awesome things like Emma Frost breaking a kid's finger with no remorse (I like her now...) and a kid calling Magneto a old bastard and a withered old fart. Meanwhile, Idie is still in the building, hiding and watching as she speaks to both Cyclops and Wolverine through telepathy, as both men are on their way. Idie tells Scott and Logan that the kids are taking the X-Men and leaving a briefcase, that may be a bomb. Logan keeps telling Cyclops to tell Idie to get the hell out of there, as Idie asks if she should try to stop them. Logan repeatedly tells her he'll be there soon and for her to run, but Cyclops tells her they won't make it there in time and to do what she feels she has to. Idie steps out and apparently saves the X-Men and the civilians but kills twelve men in the process. Logan says that's on Scott's head now, but Scott stands by his choice and said Wolverine should've been there and not at some bar. Wolverine's claws pop out but it turns out the bomb is some type of magnet that draws metal towards it, and it's drawing all the metal to form a giant Sentinel. Man, this was a good issue, since we KNOW the rift between Scott and Logan is coming we keep thinking it's one thing then we find out it's not, which keeps me drawn in even more. I really liked this issue, my only problem is we didn't see Idie's attack, because it happened in Generation Hope, and also we didn't see Colossus get beaten, but I enjoyed this issue, I'd give it a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> as well.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Wilhemina: Mr. Farnesworthe (a cat) didn't like to be tickled, so I made his head all squishy, now he doesn't mind.</span> (That's so damn insane that it scares me.)<br />
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And that's all for this week guys and gals. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment and let me know what you guys think. But that's it for me everyone, be sure to come back next week for more Ratings, Rantings, and the last few issues of the DC Universe before the DCnU starts! And remember to vote on this week's newest poll and check out the results of last week's poll as well, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, signing off!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Which comic movie are you looking forward to the most?"<br />
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Last place with 7.7% - The Amazing Spider-Man, swings into last place.<br />
Third place with 15.4% - The Man of Steel wins the bronze in this poll.<br />
Second place with 30.8% - The Avengers, which I'm definitely looking forward to.<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 46.2% - The Dark Knight Rises to first place.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman: Arkham City #5, Batman: Gates of Gotham #5, Gotham City Sirens #26, Teen Titans #100, Deadpool #42, and Superman: Beyond #0Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-1759179808114037132011-08-11T20:19:00.000-04:002011-08-11T20:19:51.712-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey 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!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19516_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19516_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">6/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Sinestro: Surely, they came to kill</span><b style="color: cyan;"> me</b><span style="color: cyan;">. It's what</span><b style="color: cyan;"> I</b><span style="color: cyan;"> would do.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #99</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://st3.speedforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Teen-Titans-99.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://st3.speedforce.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Teen-Titans-99.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">6.5/10</span>. <br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Robin: Legends are a thing of the past.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Speedy: Legacies last Forever. (First thing she's said since Lian's funeral in Rise and Fall of Arsenal...)</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #41</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comics/covers/large/4569098-deadpool-41.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/comics/covers/large/4569098-deadpool-41.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
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 <i>is</i>, 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 <span style="color: red;">8/10</span>. <br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: What's so bad about puzzles? Puzzles are </span><b style="color: cyan;">rad</b><span style="color: cyan;">!</span> (People still say rad?)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Red Robin #26</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19595_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19595_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Batman: You saved him tonight, Tim... But what about </span><b style="color: cyan;">tomorrow</b><span style="color: cyan;">... ?</span> (Like you'd continually save Joe Chill...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batgirl #24</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19592_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19592_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">10/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: It's only the end if you want it to be.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Detective Comics #881</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19584_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19584_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>, especially due to the cliffhanger it left, an excellent end to the franchise of Detective Comics.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">James Gordon: That's the spirit, sis! Hide and seek!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Morning Glories #11</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.newsarama.com/images/morningglories11-cov-web_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i.newsarama.com/images/morningglories11-cov-web_02.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> 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.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">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.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Amazing Spider-Man #667</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROx9fBKVGPy9x4tR7ZxNV-PsF_wsUpSvuJc5TAc9u3VNZc3xjGpw" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcROx9fBKVGPy9x4tR7ZxNV-PsF_wsUpSvuJc5TAc9u3VNZc3xjGpw" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">8.5/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Mary-Jane: I swear, if we're doing the clone thing again, I'm going back to L.A.!</span><br />
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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!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Which Comic Character do you think should get a movie next?"<br />
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Last place with 0% - Venom, cause Sony and Topher Grace ruined him for us.<br />
Third place with 9.1% - Teen Titans, cause we don't WANT it, but if it looks good, we'll see it. <br />
Second place with 36.4% - The Flash, and 100% hope it's Wally and not Barry...<br />
<b>Winner</b> with 54.5% - Invincible! Make it happen Kirkman!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman #713 (By Fabian Nicieza), Titans #38, Green Lantern Corps #63, Power Girl #27, Venom #6 and X-Men: Schism #3Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-17167360873073551752011-08-04T19:56:00.000-04:002011-08-04T19:56:42.487-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey everyone, Jason Todd back with more of your favorite comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! After my post yesterday on the new Ultimate Spider-Man controversy if you want to call it that, I'm back and ready to review my comics for this week. Surprisingly it's only three comics, even more surprisingly they're all Batman comics, and each features a different Batman! We have Bruce Wayne in Arkham City, Dick Grayson in Gates of Gotham, and Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. So let's get things started with our Dark Knights of Gotham City!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Arkham City #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18982_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18982_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Batman arriving at Arkham City and jumping right into the line of fire, as Warden Sharp's guards were waiting for him. Once Batman gets away from the guards he hears the man that's really behind Warden Sharp and Arkham City, the man they've yet to reveal as Hugo Strange. It turns out he's cracked the frequency Bats uses in his cowl to talk to Oracle and Alfred and is taunting Batman through it. Strange has also got his task-force trained in to know Batman's fighting style, and their suits even absorb the impact of his explosive gel. When Batman is taking on the task-force, he's saved by a huge armored tank, bring driven by none-other than Catwoman. Once with Catwoman, Batman shuts off his comm link, so Strange can't hear him and Selina talking. Bats asks Catwoman why she's there, and the obvious answer is she's there to steal things. She also mentions running into and helping Poison Ivy, so she'll owe her one. Interesting, I guess that confirms Ivy for the Arkham City game. She mentions how she helped Ivy escape and she's staked out at the Central Gardens, before Batman warns her that even with allies like Ivy, Arkham City is dangerous, before he leaves Selina in her ride. We then see the Joker meeting with a Doctor he's keeping hostage to see if he's healing from the Titan serum, but his vitals are still destabilizing. We then see that Joker asked the Doctor to isolate the toxin from his blood sample, and the doctor hands it over to Joker, I wonder what THAT will lead to. After getting what he needs, The Doctor is led to his death by The Joker, oh you! Meanwhile, Batman attacks a group of guards that are waiting to ambush him, he then takes one and hangs him off the edge of the building, demanding to know who is the main man in charge. The guard tells him the man's name is Hugo Strange, as we cut to Hugo to see him in a room surrounded by monitors of Batman, looking pleased with himself as he promises to become immortal by taking everything Batman has and is, as this issue comes to a close. This was a great issue. We got to see a bit of Joker's plan, Catwoman popped up, we got a hint that Ivy will be in the Arkham City game, and now we definitively know (in the comic) that Strange is the man behind Arkham City. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Batman: Be careful Selina, this isn't a game.</div><div style="color: cyan;">Catwoman: You're telling me. Security has gotten tighter than my catsuit.</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman Beyond #8</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19594_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19594_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Just so you guys know, it was reported at the DCU Blog that the Batman Beyond series will start again in 2012, but this is the final issue of 2011. So we start this off with Batman fighting a mysterious villain named Inque. Imagine the Venom Symbiote beating up people, and there you go. After getting the best of Batman, Inque shoves herself down some poor guys throat and escapes using his body, until she makes him spit her out. Yeah, it sounds worse than it was. While Batman tries to pursue Inque, we find out a bit about her past. It turns out she was from a poor city and when she was a kid her country had a civil war which destroyed her city. And once her family went poor, they had to turn to the Black Market to sell their possessions, and once they ran out of possessions, the Black Market took Inque, as her parents were left behind to die. Once they made it to America, Inque escaped, and when she got sick she discovered she was pregnant, so she had a will to go on. Once she was offered a chance in an experimental procedure, she accepted, as she had food and shelter, but once they were concerned she would die from the tests, they returned her to the streets. She finally had her child while living in a charity ward and months after, she started to transform into the Inque she is now, so she gave her child to an Orphanage and waited to die, but she didn't. She then decided to use her powers as a service to make cash, and send the cash anonymously to her daughter to make sure she's well taken care of. She eventually revealed herself to her teenage daughter, thinking she'd understand, but she didn't. I actually stopped reading here, I just couldn't get into this issue. I tried but there was nothing endearing about this story that made me want to read about it, especially since it's the last issue of the year for Batman Beyond, it should've at least featured more Terry, some stuff with Dick Grayson or something. I gotta give this a <span style="color: red;">N/A</span>.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Gates of Gotham #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19587_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19587_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things get started with Red Robin and Robin fighting The Architect. Batman contacts Red Robin and says the Architect;s next target is Kane bridge, and Red Robin mentions he and Damian are fighting him now, so Dick says he and Cass will be right over. The Architect is holding his own against the Robins, but Damian dropkicks him through a load bearing beam which causes the building to come down on top of them. From there we jump to a flashback, and see one of the Gates mourning the death of his brother. He doesn't believe his death was an accident and uses the same suit the Architect now uses to move the rubble underwater to find proof that his brother's murder was premeditated. We then see Alan Wayne telling Nicholas Gates he's sorry about his brother, but Nicholas says he thinks his brother was murdered and asks for Alan's help. Alan tells him he won't because secrets are power and that's something he'd never understand. Yep, Alan Wayne was a bit of a dick. Back in present times, Batman and Black Bat arrive to help Robin and Red Robin but the Architect has already escaped. Red Robin then tells the gang that the Architect plans to blow up the Kane Bridge, which will result in half the city being drowned. While looking for the plans for the bridge, Black Bat comes across Nicholas Gates' diary, and we see another flashback, this time of Gates in the Architect suit attacking Cameron Kane. Robert Kane overhears and shoots Gates in the back, and when Gates grabs Robert by the neck, his suit depressurizes which causes him to lose mobility, but the suit stays choking Robert Kane, who dies soon after. He's soon arrested, but the final lines in his diary say that he doesn't regret what he did, he only regrets he couldn't do more. The issue ends soon after with Batman going to stop the Architect at Kane Bridge, once and for all. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but far from bad. The only big reveal I could see is that Nicholas is still alive but I doubt that, but I guess we'll see soon enough. I'd give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">The Architect: I am the Architect, Gotham's forgotten son, but soon they </span><b style="color: cyan;">will</b><span style="color: cyan;"> remember.</span> (Seems like something Gates would say to me...)<br />
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And that's it for me, on a quick edition of Ratings and Rantings. Next week should be interesting as I'll have more books, many of which are the final issues of their runs before the DCnU starts. But that's it for me, feel free to comment and vote on this weeks newest poll, as well as checking out the results of last weeks. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off.<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Which Marvel Hero would you like to see get Spider-Man's powers in Spider-Island?" <br />
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Last place with 9.1% - Captain America, Super Soldiers don't need Spider Powers I guess...<br />
Second Place with 18.2% - Tie between the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool and the Gamma Giant, the Hulk <br />
<b>Winner</b> with 54.5% - Wolverine, the best there is at spinning webs, bub.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batgirl #24 (Sad to see it go), Detective Comics #881, Red Robin #26, Teen Titans #99, War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2, Morning Glories #11, Amazing Spider-Man #667, and Deadpool #41! Eight comics next week!Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-62422695664181841432011-08-03T12:54:00.002-04:002011-08-03T21:17:52.839-04:00The New Ultimate Spider-ManHey everyone, I'm here with a topic that is lighting up most comic sites, the identity of the new Ultimate Spider-Man. In case you've been living under a rock the past few months, Marvel decided to kill off the Ultimate Version of Spider-Man. Not the adult, dated Mary Jane until it was retconned and now currently is apart of the Avengers and the FF version, but the teenage, high-school student version of Peter Parker. The news was everywhere, even on CNN for some reason, and what followed was one of the best issues of a comicbook I'd ever read. The issue where Peter died, protecting his family and friends while surrounded by them was one of the best things I've ever had the privilege of reading. So, obviously the next question is, what happens to Spidey now, is the mantle taken over by someone else? Harry Osborn? Gwen Stacey? Aunt May? Every idea was discussed online, some good, some not so good, but the news was finally leaked a few days ago and has the internet in an uproar, so if you'd like to avoid spoilers, stop reading now.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/UltimateComicsFallout_04_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://blogs.laweekly.com/informer/UltimateComicsFallout_04_Cover.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><br />
Alright, still here? Anyway, the news was that the new version of Ultimate Spider-Man would be a new character completely, named Miles Morales, but seemingly more important is the fact that he's half African-American and half Hispanic. That news alone has a bunch of people in an uproar. Now don't get me wrong, I understand people may be upset that Spidey's mantle isn't being taken by someone close to Peter, or someone like Ben Reilly, but some people are delivering harsh criticisms of a character they haven't read about or have no background information. Some people are solely judging this character based on his heritage of being Black and Hispanic, so frankly, their being racist. Don't believe me? Here are a few quotes of what people are saying about Miles Morales, a Black/Hispanic Spider-Man, and race in general.<br />
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"Well, that nails it. Spidey’s dead to me."<br />
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"More politically correct stupidity! If the Spider Man series I read in the Sunday papers EVER changes from good ole white Peter Parker, I’ll simply cease to read it. If the PC nuts want to have super heros who represent other ethnic groups along with various sexual perversions then let them create new ones from scratch and leave our time cherished traditional heros alone!"<br />
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"What will he say when he runs into a criminal? “Sup Foo? Dis is MY ‘hood!”"<br />
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"That’s just dangerous. With spider powers, just think how much stuff he could steal, if he was not so lazy."<br />
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Those comments, as a black man, a comic fan, and a human being disgusted me. In this day and age, to think that people can be so racially insensitive, and to get that angry and disrespectful over a comic book character that you know nothing about, and are not obligated to read about is just stupid and sad. And here's one more comment that caught my eye. <br />
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"Shame on Marvel Comics! This is not diversity; this is a disgrace! Spiderman was Peter Parker, and Peter Parker was white. Create a new character if you want to prove that Marvel Comics is “diverse”. Minorities are typically less than 18% of the population, but they seem to get nearly 100% of the history. Why should white children not have a comic book hero that they can identify with?"<br />
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The one above is my favorite, because it makes NO damn sense. Really? Minorities have all of the history of comics? That person must've missed the 90% Caucasian Justice League that's coming out at the end of this month. I was under the impression that characters like Wolverine, Captain America, Superman, Batman, Ironman, Daredevil and etc. were white, but now I see their actually minorities. And really? Is it worth getting THAT upset about the new Spidey being of Hispanic and African-American descent? First of all, he's not even the MAIN Spider-Man! He's a Spider-Man you can read about if you choose to, no one is making you. You still have Peter Parker in the main Marvel Universe, he's still going to be in the Spider-Man movie next year, so why the uproar about one character taking the Spider-Man name and trying to be the best Spider-Man he can be, to help New York and to pay respects to the original, courageous Spider-Man that died a heroes death? <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbcDCmObIUq6IasifwVM6kDtecdD9mG3o0wnzYnMmVEF0T6PppWSgbbhGwW1Gh_ZFFCgskqyGOhCqpTqvN8KXKYakZQCa_5w-3tgR0HKA9K3xlp0mlQYBp5E466plOiHCJcE3UCS2xA/s1600/Miles+Morales+is+the+new+ultimate+spider+man" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAbcDCmObIUq6IasifwVM6kDtecdD9mG3o0wnzYnMmVEF0T6PppWSgbbhGwW1Gh_ZFFCgskqyGOhCqpTqvN8KXKYakZQCa_5w-3tgR0HKA9K3xlp0mlQYBp5E466plOiHCJcE3UCS2xA/s320/Miles+Morales+is+the+new+ultimate+spider+man" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/08/The-new-Spider-Man-Half-black-all-hero-MH8RQ8T-x-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div>Another thing I want to comment on is Brian Michael Bendis, since he's the driving force behind this character. Bendis is the man that crafted the excellent send of story for the Ultimate Universe's Peter Parker, and it was his idea to make the new Spider-Man and mixture of Hispanic and African-American. Bendis has said that this character is personal to him, as he has two adopted children, one African-American and one that was born in Ethiopia. So considering he's in a position to create characters and decides to create one that can have different views than the traditional Peter Parker as well as make him relatable to Hispanic and African-American fans is a great move. There are plenty of white characters I relate to as a black man, so who's to say a white man can't relate to a Black or Hispanic character? Bendis says one of the main things that really made him want to make the new Spider-Man half African-American was seeing Donald Glover dressed as Spider-Man on the season two premiere of Community.<br />
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Bendis was quoted as saying, “He looked fantastic! I saw him in the costume and thought, ‘I would like to read that book.’ So I was glad I was writing that book.” I loved reading that because I'm a huge fan of Donald Glover's acting, writing, comedy and music. And for those that don't know, Donald Glover's Spider-Man costume on "Community" was an inside joke. Donald Glover actually auditioned to play Spider-Man in the new Spider-Man movie, but lost the role to Andrew Garfield. It all started on Twitter where Donald mentioned how he'd like to play Spider-Man as a joke, which started a huge twitter campaign Donald4SpiderMan, which eventually got so big it earned Donald the chance to audition for the role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man, which he of course didn't get. Sadly, that also resulted in a bunch of racist comments about how Spider-Man shouldn't be Black, much like the news of Miles Morales being the new Ultimate Spider-Man.<br />
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So, in a world where people are ready to flip out when a minority character debuts or takes up the mantle of someone else, we can only hope that Miles Morales is a great character and can get a fanbase behind him. If not, then back to the drawing board, but hating a character we know nothing about does no good for anyone. This isn't an African Batman, this isn't a Black Iron-Man or One Black Green Lantern out of thousands, this is Miles Morales, the half Hispanic, half African-American, Ultimate Spider-Man, and with great power, comes great responsibility.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-77450330310561757672011-07-30T17:00:00.000-04:002011-07-30T17:00:27.243-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey everyone, Jason Todd here with eight hopefully awesome comics for this weeks Ratings and Rantings! I'm not feeling the long introduction thing, partly because I'm watching All That on Teen Nick's The 90's are All That! and the other reason is because we've got a lot comics to get to, so let's get this party started! <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Gotham City Sirens #25</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18991_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18991_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a scorned Poison Ivy, escaping from Arkham Asylum with the help of her plants. We see that she was approached by a man disguised as a guard who told her if she got out and tried to kill Catwoman, his employer would help her, since the employer also has a grudge with our favorite feline. The only thing is, the trap is in motion so Ivy has a time limit. She immediately heads out to find Harley, and she plans on killing her but when she see's Harley has scrawled pictures of The Joker all over her cell, she realizes that Harley is addicted to him, and she still wants to help Harley, probably because she does in fact love her. She offers Harley to help her kill Catwoman, and two thirds of the Sirens flee Arkham Asylum to find and kill Selina Kyle. It turns out that the employer is Penguin, who has a bone to pick with Catwoman after she stole money from him. The issue ends soon after with Ivy approaching Catwoman as they get ready for a fight, with Catwoman unaware that Harley is behind her ready to strike. Well that was a really quick issue. This was pretty much a segue issue to get Harley and Ivy outta Arkham and ready to get revenge on Catwoman, which will undoubtedly fail. But this was a fine transitional issue, I'll give it a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Poison Ivy: I am going to kill her. (Harley) Snap her like a flag in the wind.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Teen Titans #98</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19003_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19003_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Supah Boy Prime returns! I love SBP, he's probably my second favorite Kryptonian after Power Girl to be honest. Anyway, things start off with a Black Hole almost taking Superboy in the middle of a battle, he escapes but the black hole somehow brings Superboy Prime back to our world. Upset that this is a world where he's a villain and has no family and no Laurie (his girlfriend) he vows to kill all of the Titans, just because I guess. We then jump over to see Kid Flash taking on three of the Rogues, he defeats them but Inertia (!) runs in for an attack, Kid Flash, angrily grabs Inertia and runs so fast that his skin peels away. We then see that Bart was in a "X-Men Danger Room" if you will but Red Robin is worried that Bart is using the room too much and it isn't safe for him. We then see Superboy and Wonder Girl break up, and she gives Connor a box back but we don't see what it is. Ravager see's this (and looks smoking hot...) and hits on Connor, even though she's surprised those two have finally broken up. She asks whats in the box and he says maybe he'll show her one day. Over with Raven we see that she feels like she's being phased out, her darkness being enlightened by Solstice's bright aura. Suddenly, trouble breaks out in the town and the Teen Titans head over to find none other than Superboy Prime with his Teen Titans, Headcase, The Persuader, Indigo (?!), Sun Girl, Zookeeper, and Inertia!!!! They split up and fight with Red Robin facing the former Titan, Indigo. Sun Girl takes on Solstice, Beast Boy and Zookeeper fight, Kid Flash takes on Inertia which according to Red Robin isn't the same one that was killed (Booo!), Ravager taking on The Persuader, Headcase faces off with Raven and Wonder Girl and Superboy taking on Superboy Prime...Superboy (Bald), Superboy (crew-cut) and another Superboy?! The issue ends with Prime, his Titans and three more evil Superboys getting ready to take on the Teen Titans. This was a pretty good issue. I love the though put into the choices, since Ravager and the Persuader do have a past as well as the rest. I also like the curiosity of what's in SB's box (Kryptonie I'd guess), and Raven's thoughts on Solstice. Really good issue that I enjoyed, I hope the next two are this good. I'll give this one a <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">X-Man75: Tim is gonna LOVE all those Connors. </span>(I know you were thinking it X..)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern Corps #62</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://westfieldcomics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/glcoprs62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://westfieldcomics.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/glcoprs62.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
We start off with a look at the past, where thanks to a Star Sapphire, Soranik Natu and Kyle Rayner were shown their true loves in the confines of their minds. Soranik saw Kyle, but Kyle apparently saw the then-deceased Jade. He lies and tells her he see's her as well, and they went on with their relationship. We then catch up to the present where Kyle is morning Green Lantern Mogo. He's told not to take things so hard by Tomar-Tu, the replacement for Tomar-Re. Kyle thanks him and says that Soranik is really taking things hard and blaming him due to problems they had before the stuff with Krona happened, but Tomar seems to be there for Kyle. When Kyle's emotional tether with the Star Sapphire from earlier is connected, he see's her attacking a bunch of seemingly innocent people. He's sucked into a pink abyss and Tomar grabs his hand which brings him with Kyle. Kyle and Tomar-Tu land on a desolate planet, and Soranik lands soon after. It turns out Star Sapphire Miri has brought Kyle and Soranik there to have them try to stop her from taking over the planet. Tomar-Tu quickly realizes there have been no deaths, only collateral damage, and wonders why Miri has done all of this. Miri attacks Tomar and Kyle and Sora team up to save him, they then take on Miri's constructs and take out Miri. She then admits that she orchestrated all of this to get Kyle and Sora back together. Well duh. Kyle, ever the idiot blurts out in rage that he didn't see Soranik in the crystal which just pisses Soranik off even more. He explains that he saw Jade, but she was dead and he never expected to see her again, and he chose life by choosing Sora. She tells him to stay away from her and never come to her sector again as this issue comes to a close. Aww poor Kyle, well at least she got out before she died. This was another good issue, It broke up Sora and Kyle though, who were one of my favorite comic couples. So hopefully they meet up more in the new DCnU since the GL stuff is pretty much staying the same. But I enjoyed this issue, the introduction of Tomar-Tu and everything, but the ending was obvious when we found out tat Kyle lied about seeing Soranik in the love crystal, I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">8/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Soranik Natu: </span><b style="color: cyan;">Never</b><span style="color: cyan;"> speak to me again, Lantern 2814.4. And stay the hell out of my sector!</span> (The GL equivalent of get your shit outta my house.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Detective Comics #880</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.4twenty.co.uk/uploads/images/large_images/comics//detective_comics_issue_880_cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.4twenty.co.uk/uploads/images/large_images/comics//detective_comics_issue_880_cover.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
That cover is creepy as hell. We start out with Gordon calling a woman named Barbara Gordon, not that one, this is Barbara Gordon Sr., and warning her to stay put and be safe because The Joker is free and he's probably coming for her to get at Jim. She wonders why he would come after her and when she opens the door expecting the hotel security that Jim had them send, she instead is confronted by the Joker and Jim hears her screams. He pulls up to the hotel and runs upstairs to find her naked in the shower, rocking back and forth with a smile that shows she got some Joker Toxin. It turns out that the Joker was eating the Joker Toxin since it was being put into his food for him, and since he's immune, he ate enough to the point it secreted from his pores, giving him a deadly touch. That's pretty freaking genius. Batman then follows after The Joker, as Babs waits for him to come to her, since she's ready for him this time. Tim calls Babs to tell her that Barbara is doing better and Commissioner Gordon is still with her. Batman goes under the sewers to find The Joker and finds him, waiting for Bats. He takes advantage of Batman's night vision and shines a huge spotlight which disorients Batman. The Joker gets close enough to smell Batman and determines that it isn't his Batman, but one with feathers that will have to do. The Joker attacks while telling Batman that Gotham means a safe place for Goats, which are fed on by Bats and he isn't his Bat so he can't hurt him. Batman tells Joker that maybe that's right, but he's gonna get an "A" for effort, before decking The Joker. When Batman tells Joker to leave the Gordon's alone, Joker calls him an idiot and says his Batman would know that he didn't attack old lady Gordon, he's just waiting on his Batman to come out and play. The issue ends with the realization that the attacker was none other than James Gordon, Jim Gordon's son, and he attacks Babs Gordon (former and future Batgirl) as this issue comes to a close. This was a DAMN good issue. I didn't see the swerve coming which is weird because I should've after the last few issues, I loved the stuff with Joker, knowing his Batman as always, knowing that Batman was actually a former Robin, and probably even knew he was Nightwing. This was just a great issue, and Snyder can write the hell out of The Joker. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">The Joker: I didn't do anything to the old bitch. My Batman would know my work.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Invincible #81</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://comicrelated.com/graphics/solicits/image/mar11/Image%20Comics%20Art/invincible81cov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://comicrelated.com/graphics/solicits/image/mar11/Image%20Comics%20Art/invincible81cov.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things start off with Mark and Samantha watching the news as they report on the new land of glass that lies where Las Vegas once was, thanks to what happened in the last issue. When news breaks that the hero who tried to stop Dinosaurus was Invincible, Powerplex almost snaps. It turns out he's apart of a "Suicide Squad" like team of former criminals that were put together by Cecil Stedman, but Powerplex still shows that he may not be able to hold his anger at Invincible due to their past run-ins.We then see that Invincible has met with the Pentagon and feels that they feel he's to blame. In actuality they don't blame him, but they do realize things within the organization need to change, and Cecil also believes that Dinosaurus may have survived that explosion. We soon see that Cecil is right, as we see Dinosaurus' alter-ego hiding from the police after they find his armor. On the way home, Invincible and Atom Eve encounter a criminal named The Gravitator who uses a powerful Gravity Gun. Invincible makes short work of him and demands to know where he got his tech. It turns out the inventor-turned criminal from the last issue sold his tech to a criminal, and he's shocked when Invincible turns up at his doorstep. Invincible contemplates taking the guy to jail, but when he meets his fiancee, Hanna, he decides to take him to go see someone that will buy his tech instead. After dropping the inventor off, Invincible heads home when he's randomly attacked by Powerplex. Powerplex asks how long it'll take for Invincible to realize he's causing destruction and deaths, and surprisingly Invincible admits that he's aware and he thinks about all the people he hasn't been able to save everyday. Invincible refuses to fight Powerplex, but explains how each time people died, more would've died had he not been there to save them. He also says that he can't be blamed for killing Powerplex's wife and kid, he didn't bring them there nor did he blast them with electricity inadvertently, Powerplex is the one who did it. Powerplex agrees and breaks down crying, and is soon captured by his former teammates. The issue ends soon after with Invincible explaining to Atom Eve that as a hero he's done his fair share of bad by making mistakes, and he starts to wonder if he should continue on as a hero. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but far from bad. It was a little slow in my opinion, I'd give it a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Invincible: I have no interest in being the two-hundredth hero on your payroll. I'm doing my own thing.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #5</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtrxmFiwEVjIu95mwZs7W8dnW9QlB1Iuyu6QGqz880p4Ceg9v4gjmfL15WMdwA-YWu6uBoxZ9G3o2ayhKhPnP-7iMua5rwPZ3nlJGlEXPdeA4s_hUunDXOn51sfUS_KLHjMaeMkPdxqg/s1600/Venom5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtrxmFiwEVjIu95mwZs7W8dnW9QlB1Iuyu6QGqz880p4Ceg9v4gjmfL15WMdwA-YWu6uBoxZ9G3o2ayhKhPnP-7iMua5rwPZ3nlJGlEXPdeA4s_hUunDXOn51sfUS_KLHjMaeMkPdxqg/s320/Venom5.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Things start with a villain known as "The Human Fly" that's kidnapping a bunch of people and saving them for lunch. It turns out his most recent kidnapping was of the Senator's daughter, which springs Venom into action. Sadly, the Human Fly takes his meals to a bell tower, so when he attacks Venom and knocks him into the bell, his suit starts to react to the sonic impact. Venom recovers and throws the bell at the Human Fly and manages to web up him and the bell before they hit the public below. Turns out he did the whole mission in less than a minute but was scolded because Agent Venom made the news. While at home, Flash thinks about his father and how much he hates him, and how he worked his whole life for his respect and never got a thing but insults and beatings. Flash then makes his way to go meet with his girlfriend, Betty Brant. They talk about her recently being saved by Spider-Man, and Flash being sorry for having to leave so much (to secretly operate as Agent Venom) and the two finally seem to be at a good place, until Flash's phone rings. It's his mom and she tells him his dad may be drinking again, and Flash vowed long ago that if he did start drinking again he wanted nothing to do with him. Flash doesn't want to go look for his dad but when his mom starts crying he feels obligated, and tells Betty he has to leave. Flash calls Peter to help him go find his dad, and after checking a ton of places, they still can't find Flash's dad. Flash gets a call and it turns out his dad is drunk at the police department, so Flash shows up to get his dad. Flash tells him let's go, because he promised his mom he'd bring him home, and his dad says he couldn't take him when he had legs, so he should think twice before talking to him like that. He continues to pressure Flash and tries to attack him while saying he has a weak cripple for a kid, but Flash simply lets him fall instead of giving him the beating he wants to. We then see that his dad has been drinking because he knows he's going to die soon since he has cirrhosis of the liver and has known for a year. It's because of this, and his father's disregard to those that love him, Flash decides not to see his dad again, and leaves the hospital. He runs into Betty outside and hugs her, and his phone rings, he accepts another mission as Agent Venom as this issue ends. This was another very good issue of Venom. It dealt more with Flash, substance abuse, and child abuse and it was written damn well by Rick Remender. If there's one thing I didn't care for it was how quick we were introduced to the Human Fly and he was defeated, I would've rather he escaped since at the moment Flash only has like two rogues. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating as well.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Flash: No, SORRY, Pete! After the son of a bitch would lose his mind and beat me, I didn't ask what bat he'd be hitting up next!</div><b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men Schism #2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://gamerscircle.org/newsletter/Your-First-Look-At-X-MEN-SCHISM-2_B1E9/XMEN_SCHISM_2_Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://gamerscircle.org/newsletter/Your-First-Look-At-X-MEN-SCHISM-2_B1E9/XMEN_SCHISM_2_Cover.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
That's quite a busty Rogue on the cover of this issue... anyway, things start with a Middle-Eastern leader speaking to his people about how the mutants want to control them, as he cites how he was controlled by Quentin Quire. He says this time is over as he shows gestures to a Sentinel as his people cheer, but when they fire it up, the Sentinel goes wild and starts blasting everything and killing the civilians. We then see Wolverine walking the halls of the base on Utopia when he runs into some of the Mutant Students. Idie says everyone is afraid of mutants because their monsters, Wolverine tries to tell Idie she's no monster but she says she's made peace with what she is... interesting. From there we see that nearly 75% of the sentinels around the globe are defective, per Kade Kilgore's orders. We then see that Kade has even more plans, as he tells the Hellfire Club he needs four billion dollars and ten of their most violent men, which they give Kade, who then puts his next set of plans into motion. Back with the X-Men, Wolverine tells Cyclops to send him into the field so he can help take down Sentinels with Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Domino and the rest, but Cyclops says he needs Logan there in case the non-defective Sentinels attack. Surprisingly their argument is interrupted by the appearance of Quentin Quire, in the flesh. Quentin asks for Sanctuary on Utopia since that's what all mutants are offered, but Wolverine grabs him by the hair and asks what button calls Steve Rogers. Lol, that was hilarious. Cyclops says they aren't turning him in, he'll be tried right there by his own peers, but Logan says their harboring a fugitive, luckily their argument is interrupted again because Steve Rogers actually calls The X-Men. During the video-call, Logan keeps Quire quiet and Cyclops lies, saying he has no idea where Quentin is at the moment. Afterwards, Wolverine pushes Quire to Cyclops and says he isn't happy about this situation. After Wolverine leaves, Cyclops goes off on Quentin and banishes him to his quarters, when Emma Frost tells him the Mayor has moved up the opening of the Mutant History museum in hopes of easing the tensions between humans and mutants. Cyclops quickly realizes things won't bode well for the mutants if something happens at this event because it will be televised. He sends some of the X-men, Colossus, Magneto, Namor, Iceman and Emma Frost, as well as the students, including a worried looking Idie. The issue ends soon after with the building about to be invaded by a fully equipped for war Kade Kilgore and his goons.I really like how they keep teasing arguments between Logan and Scott because we know they are going to have a falling out, it's just a matter of where and when. This was a fine issue, but nothing spectacular. It was more of a prep for issue three and the fallout from issue one, so for that reason alone I'd rate this about a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Cyclops: And if I ever, </span><b style="color: cyan;">ever</b><span style="color: cyan;">, hear of you belittling Wolverine again, I will personally break you in half! Pray everyday, Quentin, That you will someday be even half the man he is! Because as It stands now, I wouldn't take six of you on your best day for one of him on his worst!</span> (Dayum!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Amazing Spider-Man #666</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://i.newsarama.com/images/asm666_dc11_lr_0001_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i.newsarama.com/images/asm666_dc11_lr_0001_02.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Spider-Island starts here! We kick things off with a rejuvenated Spidey catching a few crooks and being thanks by the citizens and and few police officers. After that, Spidey even manages to help the Young Allies take down Hydro-Man, and even more surprisingly he doesn't make any puns! Afterwards he has back to work and we see he genius Peter Parker has even made an invention that allows him to change his Spidey costume to look like normal clothes, man this guy is getting more and more awesome. After showing an invention to Max Modell and his colleagues that allows you to freeze things cryogenically then thaw them at will, perfectly unharmed, Pete gets a call from his girlfriend, Carlie. When Peter answers Carlie says something weird is going on, and we see one of the criminals Spidey webbed up recently break out of the webbing, he tries to run away but Carlie backhands him and he's out cold. After hearing that Carlie wants to talk with him, Peter heads to his apartment, but forgets to look both ways since he's relied on Spider-Sense so long and almost gets hit by a bus, but he's saved by Phil "Hobgoblin" Urich, along with Norah. They mention that there have been a bunch of Spidey sightings, and sometimes three places at once, so Pete makes an excuse so he can go check things out, but first he has to stop to check with the FF While at the Baxter Building, Mary Jane calls to remind Pete that it's his Aunt and Uncle-In-Law's last night in the Big Apple, she also reminds him to check on Betty in the hospital since Flash got called out of town again. From there we see Flash kicking butt as Agent Venom before calling Betty himself. Betty answers her cell phone in the hospital (which is damn near impossible to get reception in in my experience) and she happens to encounter the story of a lifetime (she's a blogger, like myself except people read her stuff... badum tsh!) when she stumbles onto a ton of patients that are exhibiting the powers of a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Spidey goes to an Avengers card game, then goes to do more martial arts training with Shang-Chi. While training with Shang-Chi, Peter faces off with Julia Carpenter, the new Madame Web, as she informs him that they've been getting him ready for a new challenge, and he'll have to use a killing blow, which Peter refuses to do, since he vowed no one would die around him. She continues to tell Peter it's mandatory but he claims he'll find another way, and he finally heads home to meet with Carlie, whom he'd forgotten about. When she asks if they can talk he says he's been swamped and asks if it can wait until morning, and Carlie looks disappointed but says yes. The issue ends soon after, as we find out the man people behind this mystery phenomenon of spider-powers are a mystery woman and none other than Miles Warren, a.k.a. The Jackal! Now this was a pretty good issue, it set the stage and got a lot of questions started, I'm wondering what happens from here and who will be the first major heroes and villains to get arachnid powers, since I already know Carlie and Mary Jane will have them. But this was a nice start to Spider-Island, I'd give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">The Thing: Aw. Why;d ya haveta go an' do that? We had matchin' outfits. We wuz adorable.</div><br />
And just like that, this week's comics have been read, reviewed and ranted. So feel free to leave a comment and vote for this week's newest poll. Last week's poll barely had any votes so no use in posting the results, the clear winner with 80% was Justice League International. And that's it for me, so until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger man, signing off!<br />
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<u><b></b></u><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Time on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman Beyond #8, Batman Arkham City #4, and Batman: Gates of Gotham #4.Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-60771573262092248922011-07-22T14:08:00.000-04:002011-07-22T14:08:24.804-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey 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!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>War of the Green Lantern Aftermath #1 of 2</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18981_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18981_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">John Stewart: I traded one life for billions. There were no other options.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Power Girl #26</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18980_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18980_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">8/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Power Girl: And what I want to talk to you about is not Power Girl, but rather, Girl Power.</span><br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Margot: And I hate wearing pants. If you're a superhero, you don't have to wear pants.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Gates of Gotham #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18979_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18979_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">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. </span>(BURN!!!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Titans # 37</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19000_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/9/19000_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
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 <span style="color: red;">7/10 </span>rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Dr. Sivana: Osiris, kill that bitch.</span> (The best thing he's ever said...ever.)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"></div>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!<br />
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Last week's poll asked "Which event are you looking forward to the most?"<br />
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Last place with 7.7% - Spider-Island swings into last place.<br />
Second place with 15.4% - X-Men Schism falls into second place and...<br />
Winner with 76.9% - The DCnU Reboot, proving that this blog has a lot more DC than Marvel readers.<br />
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</b></u></div><div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Time on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
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.)Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-56813286443992801062011-07-14T18:40:00.000-04:002011-07-14T18:40:17.052-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with a big week for Ratings and Rantings. We've got seven hopefully awesome comics, including the first issue of Schism, the last issue of War of the Green Lanterns, the prelude to Spider-Island, one of the last issues of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, and SO much more. So enough of this lead-in, let's get to the meat and potatoes of the post, the reviews!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern #67</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.thefanboyseo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Green-Lantern-67.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.thefanboyseo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Green-Lantern-67.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><br />
We start off with action as Hal, Kyle, John, Guy, and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps charge the Guardians that are possessed by the color corp entities. They quickly realize they have to get the entities to make an emotional contact so Hal heads to the Book of the Black to free Sinestro, Atrocitus and the rest. Kyle draws them escaping from the book in one of the pages and it happens because that's how the book works. Once their free, the respective rings go to each of the Corp Leaders but before they can put them on their overridden and the rings all go to Krona. Krona uses his power to knock Ganthet away and then tries to kill Hal. Hal mentions that Krona's rage is wrong because the Guardians made a mistake and everyone is flawed. Sinestro overhears Hal's speech and before Krona can kill Hal, Sinestro interjects and says that Hal would die for the Corps (he already has...) and Sinestro said he would as well. By standing up to Krona, Sinestro is deemed worthy of a Green Lantern Corp ring, which even shocks him, and he and Hal team up to blast Krona. Krona says he's defeated Hundreds on Lanterns and they aren't turning the tide, and Hal somehow inexplicably uses his ring to kill Krona, who has the power of six rings, but whatever. Atrocitus oversees the killing blow and yells that Atrocitus was his to kill, meanwhile I yell that he should put on some damn pants. When Krona explodes, because that's what happens when you die via ring apparently, the rings fly free to their owners. Interesting enough, Indigo-1 yells asking where Abin Sur is, and Larfleeze yells "Keep the orange one away from me." yet both seem unaware of their actions after they get their rings. After the fight is over, Sinestro is still wearing the GL ring, whereas his Sinestro ring has went to someone else. (Maybe the Weaponer can take over his Corps?) The Guardians note that no Ring should've been powerful enough to kill a Guardian, referring to Krona being killed by Hal, and also note that they will decide what to do with Sinestro and his new ring. The Guardians then determine that Hal Jordan is dangerous, he hid his actions before Krona's attack and killed a Guardian, and they dishonorably discharge him from the Corps and take his Green Lantern ring! The issue ends with Hal being transported from Oa to a random spot on Earth, saying "This isn't how it was supposed to end." I figured with the Sinestro news, that Hal would lose his ring but that was shocking... I wonder what happens now and how he gets it back. I'm also curious as to how Hal killed Krona and where Sinestro's ring went, I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8.5/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Guardian: In the </span><b style="color: cyan;">past</b><span style="color: cyan;">, we may have considered Hal Jordan the </span><b style="color: cyan;">greatest</b><span style="color: cyan;"> Green Lantern, but now... he is the most </span><b style="color: cyan;">dangerous</b><span style="color: cyan;">.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Deadpool #40</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQO9OgBd657MNSqQ26nNA_XD6tblvD2q082HItLfTXMEvZ2JaOCDUDJisU9jz1vMsMqPqsLqhWgJYdLSCU0rFseB-VyqqkPMmOAJRX53_y2NagiuTNgowemZJ8TC-Mrjo1bqPDOZXVQ/s1600/DPOOL040_DC11_LR.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrQO9OgBd657MNSqQ26nNA_XD6tblvD2q082HItLfTXMEvZ2JaOCDUDJisU9jz1vMsMqPqsLqhWgJYdLSCU0rFseB-VyqqkPMmOAJRX53_y2NagiuTNgowemZJ8TC-Mrjo1bqPDOZXVQ/s320/DPOOL040_DC11_LR.png" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Things start with the Merc with a Mouth being locked in an asylum, screaming that he's not crazy. We then jump to seeing that his defense attorney is none-other than Jessica "She-Hulk" Walters, and she kept him out of "The Raft", a prison for criminals with super-powers, but since Deadpool is Super-Human, he doesn't fit the criteria, and therefore belongs in a normal asylum. We then see Deadpool apparently has a friend in a Dr. Whitby. Deadpool tries to break out and Whitby allows him to use her as a hostage, but when DP finds out he's in England, he's a bit shocked and manages to get shot in the face, which knocks him unconscious for thirteen minutes. Whitby gets upset, saying Deadpool isn't crazy, if anything he's a troubled man, and it's a wonder he can move or speak. When DP wakes up thirteen minutes later in a glass cell, he tries to break out of the room and fails. Meanwhile, we see Dr. Whitby making an inmate do a puzzle, the inmate is in for committing Mass Murder, and the puzzle she's making him do apparently is a puzzle version of a picture of his murdering spree. Interesting that she'd take that approach to make him feel bad about the murders, and he replies that he doesn't like the puzzles, as Whitby walks away with a smirk. She then walks over to Deadpool, and he tries to chat her up so she'll free him, but when she comments on his scars, Deadpool realizes he doesn't have on his costume, and starts to get upset and claims people are laughing at him. He gets enraged, but Whitby tells him that his cell is unlocked. Deadpool takes this time to leave his cell and apparently injures ten other inmates so bad they needed to be hospitalized. Whitby takes this time to try to psycho-analyze Deadpool before we then cut over to one of the guys DP attacked, who wants to get back to the asylum for revenge, as this issue ends. Well... I couldn't get into that issue, not enough laughs, very slow story, unnecessary She-Hulk appearance. So yeah, this wasn't the best issue of Deadpool I've read, I'll give this one a <span style="color: red;">4/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Deadpool: Hey, didja see it when I stabbed that dude with his own femur?</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batgirl #23</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18988_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18988_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Things start off with the GCPD being ransacked by three of the five Order of the Scythe members. They manage to get back the suits of the two members Batgirl defeated recently. Batgirl, recently back from her trip to the U.K., finds out that her former unwanted sidekick, the Grey Ghost, has been killed in her absence. Batgirl then gets some info from Detective Nick Gage about his past as a Reaper. We find out that when he was a Reaper, a heist went wrong and it lead to his fiance getting killed. Gage then tells Batgirl that Grey Ghost's dying words were "find Batgirl" and gives her a recording he left for her, explaining the Scythe's plans. I can't help but feel Clancy was killed here because of the reboot, and had it not happened he would've been around much longer. When Batgirl finds out that the two former super-powered suits she took down are being broken out of prison, she heads there. After calling Batman and Robin, and finding out the Dynamic Duo and the Birds of Prey are all busy, so Batgirl decides to go in alone, against the five super-powered villains. Before she goes in, she tells Gage to give Babs Gordon a call, because although she'd never say it, she digs Detective Gage, as Batgirl drops into the prison as Gage looks confused. Batgirl takes a beating but finds out Order of the Scythe Suits are there to keep everyone busy and murder their client, so Batgirl yells out "SHAZAM!" Surprisingly this brings her allies, in the form of Supergirl. Stargirl, Bombshell and Miss Martian. Now that's a Teen Dream Team if I've ever seen one, just add Ravager. The Furious Female Heroines take it to the Reapers and quickly dispose of all of them. Supergirl mentions making this team-up a regular thing, that I hope alludes to a future comic, which I doubt. The second to last issue ends as Batgirl goes to find out who the "client" is, as we see it's none other than her father, the Cluemaster. Well that was a surprising swerve, I'm wondering how the final issue of Stephanie and Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl series will end, but it's going to be bitter sweet. This was a fine issue, but of course it seemed rushed for obvious reasons, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">8/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Batgirl: SHAZAM!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Jabberwock: Wait... Guys, she isn't magic, right?</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Red Robin #25</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18990_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18990_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
Tim Drake's getting raped, or that's how we start anyway. More and more like Dick Grayson each day, eh Timothy? Anyway, he's "saved" from being raped by the half-sister of Ra's Al Ghul, by Cassandra Cain. Cass manages to subdue both Promise and the younger Al Ghul. Cassandra then frees Tim and stabs him in the back with a sword that protrudes through his chest. Once his blood pours onto the floor, it's confirmed as his and a door opens, allowing Cass to be immortalized among the past Assassination Tournament winners. As Cass takes her place, a laser takes a shot at her but she's tacked out of the way by Tim, who faked his death with the help of Cassandra, a collapsible katana, and a blood pack that contained a pint of Tim's blood mixed with glycerin water. Pretty damn clever, Timmy. Tim talks to the mysterious man that's lived for centuries and apparently wanted him dead, and he asks where Tim see's himself in twenty years. We see images of his grave, a futuristic Batman in Red and Black, and Tim sitting at a Giant computer, which all seem viable. Tim claims he doesn't plan that far ahead, but the mysterious voice says Tim has likely just thought of three scenarios, but Tim will actually be by his side. Tim then realizes that the base their in is going to explode soon, so he and Cassandra high-tail it out of there as it explodes. After realizing he has no answers and a ton of questions, Tim tells Cassandra thanks for helping, and she asks if he'll help with Cricket, to which he replies that he will after tying up some loose ends. We then see Tam Fox slap the taste out of his mouth after finding out her father's death was a ruse constructed by him to help find a criminal. She says she fell in love with Red Robin because he was cool, but the man under the mask is just cold. We then see Red Robin and Black Bat get their asses handed to them by Cricket in Hong Kong, a ten-year-old kid who is fast enough to seem as if he has power from the Speed Force, and is one of the deadliest fighters on the planet. Tim uses the six weeks healing from his dislocated shoulder and jaw, and three broken ribs, courtesy of Cricket, by getting a new apartment with his own base, and of course, "assassinating Captain Boomerang"?! as this issue ends. This was another good issue, I like how the loose ends are tying up, but the Cricket ass-whooping didn't help him or Cass.. so that was weird to just throw in there. Anyway, the next issue of Red Robin is the last one, and we finally get to see Tim get revenge on the man that killed his father, so that alone should be worth the price of admission, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Red Robin: He left Cass with something worse: the promise that he'd fight her "for real" next time. </span>(Dayum, burn by Cricket!)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Green Lantern Corps #61</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://mycomicpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Green-Lantern-Corps-61-00a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://mycomicpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Green-Lantern-Corps-61-00a.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><br />
John Stewart, taking angry black man to a whole new level. (That's what they SHOULD'VE put on the cover.) We start off seeing thousands of Green Lantern rookies taking their rings off one by one and throwing them into a gigantic green hill of rings. One rookie thinks she deserves it, so she flies off with it. We see that her name is Qurina Vint, and she's the first person from her planet to be inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. She's a cop who got her ring during the Mogo fiasco, even though she was in the middle of a drug bust gone bad. Qurina flies off and finds John, who still feels bad about killing Mogo, and she says maybe he can relate since he's the only person who feels less welcome there than her. John agrees, and she explains how she was a cop on her planet and she feels she can do it on a cosmic scale. John tells her if she wants to prove her worth to veterans and such then she should report to basic training with Stel. She agrees but she gets a message on her ring that says she has an emergency in her sector, and since she's the only Lantern for that sector now, she goes to help, and John follows after her. When they arrive to the planet, they realize it's pretty much a civil war, so the first thing Qurina does is remove the weapons from both sides. That causes them to send airships for attacks instead, so John has Qurina keep everyone from killing with each other and heads to talk to the leaders of the two factions. Of course John solves everything and by the end of the mission, tells Qurina to remember that her ring isn't the only weapon she has, her brain should always be used just as much as the ring. The issue ends with Qurina saying she plans on attending Stel's training and she notes that she plans on telling anyone who will listen that John Stewart mourns what he did to Mogo more than anyone will ever know. Well this was a find issue, nothing happened of course, because it's the second to last issue before the reboot, but it was fine for what it was, I'd give it a <span style="color: red;">7/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">John Stewart: When your only tool is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. Don't ever forget that this weapon on your hand is only as good as the one between your ears.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #665</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmunk1WgzY1qgictio1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmunk1WgzY1qgictio1_500.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We kick things off with Peter Parker and his former-crush turned one of his best friends, Betty Brant, and how they always try to hang out the first Friday of each month for movie night. But in typical Spider-Man fashion, he has to break off the monthly movie date with Betty due to always being busy, between working at Horizon Labs, being a member of both the Avengers and the FF, and his original Spider-Man duties, he's pretty damn busy. Betty gets upset at Pete standing her up and says that she misses back when he was a struggling photographer, which upsets Peter since Betty has been on him for years to make something of himself, so he kind of snaps on her and hangs up. Betty's boyfriend, Flash Thompson (secretly Agent Venom), then comes to check on her before he leaves for a secret Venom assignment. He promises her he'll take her to see her movie when she comes back, but sadly it's only going to be playing today, (it was in theaters for ever but Pete kept standing her up), and Flash remarks that it's in the worst part of town but if that place is still standing, he'll taker her when he gets back. Betty decides she can take care of herself, and after Flash leaves she heads out to see the movie. On the way to the theater, she of course manages to get grabbed, and the next thing wee see is Glory Grant running through a hospital saying she's there to see Betty. Glory calls Pete and tells him what happened and he immediately thinks of the time he let a criminal run past him and that led to Uncle Ben's death, as he puts on his Spider-Man suit and goes to look for whoever hurt Betty. In the waiting room we see Robbie Robertson, Glory Grant, Mary Jane, Carlie Cooper and more of Pete's friends, even J. Jonah Jameson shows up. We see that Flash has been contacted and is on the way back to New York and Aunt May and Jay Jameson are waiting for him at the airport. Betty apparently wasn't sexually assaulted but has a cracked rib, head trauma and swelling on her brain. Jonah has brought a neurosurgeon from Mount Sinai, and he notes that he's lost Marla, he refuses to lose Betty, who is like a daughter to him. He says if you think he's been tough on crime before, wait until now. We then see Spider-Man, beating a small-time crook senseless, looking for answers of Betty's attacker, and he finds her pendant that her mother gave her. Spider-Man demands a name from the crook and finds out the guy who attacked Betty's name is Harlan Finch. We see Spider-Man beat the hell out of a ton of criminals, all the while demanding leads on Finch. Flash finally shows up at the hospital, and is upset he wasn't there and was on a mission as Venom. May eventually notices Peter isn't there yet, MJ tries to cover for him since she knows he's Spider-Man, but Aunt May says to stop making excuses for him because this is too much. Peter finally finds Harlan but before he can get him, Aunt May calls and dishes a guilt trip, saying she hasn't been this disappointed in him since the night Ben died. She says how he disappeared the night Ben died instead of staying with her, of course she doesn't know he went after Ben's killer, but Peter apologizes. Peter abandons his chase for Harlan and manages to make it to the hospital before Betty wakes up. When Betty wakes up, Peter returns her locket which makes her quite happy, and the two finally enjoy their movie night, as Peter sits next to Betty in her hospital bed as this issue ends. Now this was a great issue, Dan Slott usually brings it and this was no different. Everything about this comic was great, you felt Peter's rage, Betty's disappointment, Flash's guilt, everything worked here, I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">10/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Spier-Man: Who sold you this?! HIS NAME! NOW!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>X-Men: Schism #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.comicsninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/XMen-Schism-1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.comicsninja.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/XMen-Schism-1.png" width="196" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Wolverine arriving home, with spears and ninja stars (shurikens) sticking out of his chest. He finds out he apparently has a combat class to teach, per Cyclops' orders, but Wolverine is sleepy and tired so he dismisses the class. He goes to finally catch some Z's, but Cyclops tells him he has a speech to deliver in Switzerland, and for some reason Wolverine needs to be there, so he agrees to come with Scott says he can sleep on the plane. They arrive at the Conference and they talk about Scott's speech, all the while making jokes at one another's expense and showing that their relationship has come a long way, which makes the impending break up more meaningful, so nice work Mr. Aaron. Scott's speech is apparently to get everyone to deactivate their Sentinels, considering they've claimed the lives of so many mutants and humans alike. During his speech, someone walks in and interrupts, and that someone is Quentin Quire a.k.a. Kid Omega. Quire uses his psychic powers to make every politician there speak out their horrible deeds, including someone beating their children because they enjoy it and a man cheating on his wife of thirty-five years as she low dies from Leukemia. Everyone blames the X-Men for what's going on since Quire referred to himself as the future leader of the X-Men before committing his deed and disappearing. This leads to at least six Sentinels being activated and told to attack any male mutants, which includes Wolverine and Cyclops. They dispose of the Sentinels and manage to catch Quentin pop up on television, saying how he singlehandedly made the Earth's leaders into puppets and he did it for mutantkind. Afterwards, we see Mr. Kilgore announce that due to the recent developments, Kilgore Brand Small Arms are now half-priced. As Kilgore leaves, he see's his son, Kade Kilgore, is in his car with him and has a gun pointed at the elder Kilgore. He mentions how he's slowly taken over the company, being a child prodigy and all, and has even taken Kilgore's driver and bodyguard Bessy from him. Kade then shoots his father and lets him fall from the hover-car as he remarks that he just killed his father and took his company and feels no remorse, before telling Bessy to take him to the clubhouse to meet with the others. Back on Utopia, while Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor and Magneto discuss the current news, Wolverine drifts away and gets a box from Kitty Pryde. He then takes it to a teenage mutant, a young fourteen year old named Idie that was going to be in his combat class. He gives her a doll, which relates to earlier when he said a girl her age should be playing with dolls, and she remarked that she had one once but it was burned when she was accused of being a witch. It seems Wolverine has taken a shine to the young woman, the same paternal shine he took to both Jubilee and Kitty. So Wolverine and Idie eat ice cream together and bond a bit. This is interrupted when the news reports that many countries have started to build even larger, more powerful Sentinels. Cyclops tells Emma to get on Cerebra and tell everyone with an X-Gene whats going on, Storm thinks he's acting too fast but Cyclops says he wants to be prepared. We then see Kade Kilgore at his clubhouse meeting with a bunch of hooded figures, as he mentions how he's the one who freed Quentin Quire, although Quentin is unaware. The issue ends as the twelve year old Kade Kilgore takes his spot as the new Black King of the Hellfire Club. Now this was a really good issue, I'm new to the X-Men comics but I never felt lost or unaware of what I was reading, which is good. I'm wondering how the actual Schism between the team will start, as I know it will now include Kilgore, Quire and a bunch of Sentinels, but this was a great start, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Wolverine's sign: Logan's quarters, Warning: trespassers will be stabbed repeatedly.</div><br />
And just like that, that's all for this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings. I had a pretty good week with Schism and Spidey especially, and DC's bittersweet since Batgirl and Red Robin are ending soon, but all in all this was a nice week for comics. But I'm outta here, thanks for reading and be sure to vote on this week's weekly poll. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, until next time, Keep Cool my babies!<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/ivan1087/SHhzFbk3xXI/AAAAAAAACuc/dIqB2kcHXWQ/conan%20obrien%20keep%20cool%20my%20babies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/ivan1087/SHhzFbk3xXI/AAAAAAAACuc/dIqB2kcHXWQ/conan%20obrien%20keep%20cool%20my%20babies.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman: Gates of Gotham #3, Power Girl #26, Superman/Batman #86, Titans #37, and War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1,Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-61608728271504516552011-07-08T20:28:00.000-04:002011-07-08T20:28:29.448-04:00Ratings and RantingsHey Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd, here again with your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! We've got another short week ahead of us but it should be action-packed, considering the big Batman/Robin/Red Hood team up, the Titans taking on the JLA, and the last issue of the Batman/Powers showdown, so let's get this thing started.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Titans Annual 2011</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18987_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18987_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off as Isis and Osiris make their presence felt in a Kahndaq war, heavily tipping the scales in favor of their country. Iris thinks to herself how different Osiris has been acting since he killed The Persuader back in 52, as Osiris kills a bunch of retreating soldiers. Meanwhile the other Titans run into the JLA who tell them their under arrest for murdering Ryan Choi, Deathstoke, with his eye back somehow tells the JLA the back off or he'll detonate a nuke he has aboard the ship which will take out China. Cheshire and Roy tell Slade to give it up because he won't blow up a country, but Slade mentions that the JLA will back down because they won't risk Roy's life, not after Choi or Star City, and that's the only reason he let Roy join the team in the first place, and this was his plan all along. Once the JLA realize they can't stop the explosion or contain it, Batman (Grayson) tells them to fall back. We then see Tattooed Man at Slade's base when he's met by Dr. Impossible and Sr. Sivana who show him that Slade's basically created the fountain of youth pretty much,and the Titans have helped him put it together with their plans over the past few months. They then give TM a transportation device that sends him to Slade and the Titans, as they are currently trying to re-recruit Osiris. Osiris see's Slade and attacks but Slade gets him to calm down when he mentions he still may be able to bring Black Adam back and after some smooth talking, things go according to plan. Soon after, we finally see the Titans and the JLA throwdown, and when Cinder blasts Congorilla, Starman blasts her back which causes her to blow up, but somehow she's able to pull herself back together, kind of like Clayface. Meanwhile, Slade and Palmer face off while Donna and Jade fight while discussing Roy, and Batman and Arsenal one one another. Tattooed Man joins the fight and is hesitant to fight the good guys but he has a debt with Slade so he does, and brings down Supergirl with his magic. Slade then pulls out a Sword coated with Kryptonite and attacks Supergirl, and we see this was a gift from Lex after saving his life back in the first Titans mission. As the two teams fight, Isis is fed up and causes a tornado to move both teams off her land, she then says outsiders are no longer welcome there and bans the J.L.A from Kahndaq. Batman wants to stay and fight and says they should've killed Slade years ago but Slade says they never will and that's why he'll keep winning. The JLA leaves while Arsenal thinks to himself maybe he does have hope again, hope that he can kill Slade. The issue ends with Slade using blood he got from Supergirl as the final stage of his "Fountain of Youth", as he plans on healing someone he cares about, and we see a flesh decaying Jericho as the issue ends. Damn this was better than I expected, and now I gotta get the last two issues of Titans... but I liked the big fight and seeing Roy and Dick throw down, as well as Donna and Jade. I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">7.5/10</span>.<br />
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<div style="color: cyan;">Donna Troy: You were always bad for Roy.</div><span style="color: cyan;">Cheshire: You're just jealous you couldn't keep him. Maybe you were a lousy lay? </span>(Burn!) <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b> Batman Beyond #7</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18986_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18986_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We get started with Batman being grabbed by Derek Powers a.k.a. Blight and he uses his phosphorus touch to grab Batman's head and literally melt away at his mask and onto his skin. Batman frees himself by using a Batarang to break part of Powers' containment suit, which will likely kill him. Powers' assistant, Mr. French calms him down long enough to explain that if he doesn't get this suit patched soon he'll die, and Batman uses that opportunity to escape. Batman arrives back at Wayne Manor to tell Bruce that Powers was behind everything, but Bruce is already aware. Bruce heads down to purchase his company anyway and uses that as a chance to lure out Blight, who takes the bait. Batman joins the frenzy and he and Blight face off once more. Batman manages to overpower the containment suit on Blight and makes it explode, which makes Blight turn into a gas and drift away or something. The issue ends soon after once Bruce Wayne makes it known to Terry that he intends to rename Wayne/Powers enterprises to Wayne Incorporated. Well this was a quick issue, there was some other stuff with Terry's friends and stuff that I didn't care to review, so yeah this flew by. It was okay, nothing special, I was kinda bored near the end but maybe that's because I know there may not be left in this Batman Beyond series come September, anyway I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">5/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">JT: These subway stories are pissing me off....</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman and Robin #25</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://mycomicpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Batman-And-Robin-25-00b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://mycomicpost.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Batman-And-Robin-25-00b.jpg" width="207" /></a></div><br />
Okay, so I bought this variant cover because A.) It's awesome as hell and the same price as the original, and B.) It didn't feature my namesake getting his face kicked into a brick wall. Anyway, we start off with Scarlet telling her captor that Jason Todd is coming to save her, and he's gonna kill the woman who kidnapped her. We then see Batman, Robin and Red Hood heading to save Scarlet, along the way, Jason won't shut up with the quips, which annoys Robin. The entire thing is hilarious, especially when Jason says maybe Damian will loosen up once he hits puberty. Before they arrive to save Scarlet, Jason blasts his way out of the Hovering Batmobile and gets a lead over Batman and Robin. Red Hood asks the kidnapper where she wants to meet him, and they decide to meet at Thomas Wayne Middle School. Once he gets there, they demand he drop his guns and strip and Jason does surprisingly, making ever female member of the Todd Squad blush. Anyway, they see Jason is unarmed and free Scarlet, and Batman and Robin spring into action, as they'd been hovering over in the camouflaged hover mobile. Bats goes to save Scarlet but some goons grab her first, and the first, second and fifth Robin's start to take out the goons, as Batman tells Jason no killing, and Jason acquiesces. We see some interesting thoughts on Dick from Jason as they fight side-by-side to take out all of the armed henchmen. Damian saves Scarlet but as he's repelling up to the Batmobile, Jason shoots his line and catches Scarlet, saving her himself. They then head to his Red Hoodcopter, because everyone knows he has one apparently. Batman and Robin pursue Jason as he and Scarlet escape but he detonates a bomb that he apparently planted months ago, and tells Batman and Robin they can save lives or come after him, and of course the Dynamic Duo have to go save civilians while Red Hood and Scarlet escape as this issue ends. Now this was a great issue, I loved all the banter between Red Hood, Batman and Robin. I loved seeing the snarky Jason one-up the Dynamic Duo. Sure a lot of questions weren't answered like who that chick was and why she wanted Jason, but who cares. This is my favorite of the three issues, and this is my blog, so I'll give this a solid <span style="color: red;">10/10.</span> <br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Red Hood:<b> Wow</b>. This is one tight-assed sidekick. Not a lot of <b>quips</b> gonna be coming out of <b>this Robin</b>, huh, Dick? </span><br />
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And that's it for this week's R&R everyone! Next week should be a much bigger week as seen below, so feel free to check out the results of last week's poll below, no poll this week since Vizu is down though, so that's it for me guys and gals, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger Man, Jason Todd. And in the words of Conan O'Brien, Be cool my babies!<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Last week's poll asked "Which DCnU series needed a reboot the most?"</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Last place with 9.1% - Superman and Teen Titans, because walking around doesn't get boring. :P </div><div style="text-align: left;">Second Place with 27.3% - Wonder Woman, I've said it once, I'll say it again, she just got a reboot sadly.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Winner</b> with 54.5% - Justice League of America, because no JLA team should have Congorilla... ever.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u> </div><br />
Batgirl #23, Green Lantern #67, Green Lantern Corps #61, Red Robin #25, Amazing Spider-Man #665, Deadpool #40, and X-Men Schism #1! Now THAT'S what I'm talking about!Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48216256150911703.post-29426272286329734492011-06-30T19:50:00.000-04:002011-06-30T19:50:51.631-04:00Ratings and Rantings!Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, back again with another edition of the best weekly comic reviewing post you've never heard of, Ratings and Rantings! So, right off the bat I wanna correct myself, last week I though I'd only have three books to review, when I actually have five, due to one book being bumped forward a week and the other just slipping my mind. Speaking of mind slips, it seems everyone, myself included forgot about last week's Top Five 5, since no one sent in any picks. So we're gonna try it again this week, and this of course shows me that these should be done once a month. But we'll get to more of that later, for now it's time to get reviewing!<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Batman: Arkham City #3</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18347_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18347_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with a criminal, avoiding the G.C.P.D. and breaking into Arkham City. I'm pretty sure he's Batman but we don't have any proof as of yet, anyway, he thinks to himself that Joker and Penguin has both set out to make themselves the main crime boss in Arkham City, and decides to interview with the Clown Prince of Crime for a job. After a few tests by the Harlequin of Hate, our boy makes it face to face with The Joker, and also face to face with the barrel of Harley's gun. And no, that is not a euphemism. Joker asks for the guy's name, and he replies that he's Lester Kurtz, and Harley looks him up, finding out that he's done time for armed robbery, grand theft auto and aggravated assault, as well as spent two years in Arkham. Joker likes the cut of his jib, and offers Kurtz a spot on his band of merry men, which Kurtz accepts. Harley leads him to his room and once he gets away he escapes from Casa De Joker and goes to see what Cobblepot is offering. Penguin tells Kurtz he's never heard of him but he's big and strong so he's in, and he doesn't have to go through any initiations like with The Joker. Pengy then notes that he's about to be short one thug anyone, and calls out one for double-crossing him and selling his secrets to "The Joker's slut". Penguin quickly puts him to work and has his men go to the Gotham Armory to steal guns before The Joker can send his own men. Penguin's men get to the guns but Joker's men show up and Kurtz throws a grenade that saves the men at the expense of the guns. He and one of the other thugs note that sense so many of Joker's thugs were nabbed at the explosion by the cops, that they have a number advantage over Joker's crew, but Penguin is still pissed. Penguin cuts his pay and tells him now he'll be leading an attack on The Joker the next day, and Kurtz says fine. While Penguin's guards escort Kurtz away, he takes them out and reveals that he was Batman in disguise all along. He thinks to himself that Oracle really helped him out by coming up with the fake rap sheet and now he knows firsthand about the tension between Joker and The Penguin. Batman thinks to himself how he still doesn't know who's behind the stuff with Mayor/Warden Sharp though, and the issue ends as Batman leaves, unaware he's been watched the whole time by Hugo Strange. This was another really good issue, it built more interest for the breaking point, it shows us what we have to look forward to with Joker and Penguin, as well as keeping Strange relevant, and not giving away too much. It even hinted that Killer Croc, or someone else may be below Penguin's layer, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm hoping the next issue we see an appearance by Tim Drake, Riddler, Catwoman or another with Two-Face, but this was a really good, interesting issue, I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Hugo Strange: The disguises, the elaborate subterfuge, He's only a boy at play, really. Motivated by a child's intense passion and unshakable convictions, but ultimately doomed to fail.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Gotham City Sirens #24</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18355_400x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.dccomics.com/media/product/1/8/18355_400x600.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />
And from one comic with Joker, Harley and Bats to another. And man that cover is mega creepy, especially the shadow that completely covers Joker's eyes. We start things off with Ivy telling Harley Quinn to choose between her and Joker. Ivy tries to talk sense into Harley but Harley keeps her talking so Joker can free himself from her vines. Harley and Joker attack Ivy but she blasts them both back. She asks Harley what's wrong with her, and she never acts this way, even around Joker. Harley asks how does she know that's not the real her and the rest is just an act. Harley continues her psychological mind games on Ivy, while Ivy desperately tries to get Harley to realize Joker doesn't love her. Harley then jumps to the crux of the matter, and says the only reason Ivy is her friend, is because Ivy loves Harley! Wooooo, thank you Peter Calloway. Ivy is caught off guard by Harley's statement, so Harley then manages to beat Ivy senseless, before casually dumping her into the whole she emerged form in the prior issue. On the next page we get a pretty awesome picture of Joker and Harley jumping down at the same time as Bats and Catwoman, and it's split screen so it looks as if Harley and Selina are composite Superman/Batman. Anyway, Batman and Catwoman take out a bunch of the inmates, including Clayface in a pretty funny scene. Bats tells Cash to turn on all the lights, then turn them off when he says so, and when Joker see's the lights come on, he whips out two blindfolds for Harley and himself, and tells her to put it on, interesting. Catwoman takes out Zsasz but manages to get surrounded by more inmates, but Bats drops down and tells Cash to cut the lights. When they go out, Bats turns on his Night-Vision and Selina does the same, and they make short work of the inmates. When the lights go out, Joker and Harley remove the blindfolds, and she realizes Joker had them do that so they wouldn't get dilated pupils when the lights went out. Joker and Harley then finally meet with Batman ad Catwoman, and they all have it out, but when Batman throws a light grenade and temporarily blinds Joker and Harley, they manage to subdue them, then the both of them are admitted back to Arkham with the rest of the inmates. Catwoman then finds Ivy, still knocked out and wakes her up. She mentions how they missed her when arresting the inmates, but Catwoman didn't. She then mentions how she could let her escape, but she won't, she wants revenge for when Ivy tried to steal information from her by force, and we see back when Ivy tried to drug Catwoman into telling her who Batman was. Catwoman then turns Ivy in and tells her to enjoy her stay at Arkham, as this issue ends. This was a great issue, I kept expecting Harley to be double-crossed or do it to Joker but it never happened. I'm just wondering what the last two issues of Sirens are going to be about, with one as a good guy and the other two in Arkham. I'll give this issue an <span style="color: red;">8/10 </span>only due to the fact the fight we all wanted only lasted one splash page. <br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Harley Quinn: Is it because you love me?</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Incredible Hulk Annual #1</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110588.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Hulk looks SO constipated...Anyway here we are at the finale of one of the best tri-series crossovers this year in my opinion, waaaay better than that Batman/Sirens/Red Robin crossover, Identity Wars. We start things off with a trip to hell, where we see The Amazing Spider, Peter Parker's soul is there while his body is comatose, and he's taking a beaten from one of Mephisto's minions. We also see this dimension's Wade Wilson, Death Mask, being sent to hell. Death Mask notes that they have a deal, he's going to serve Mephisto, and he says he's basically sending him to hell to toughen him up. We then see Hulk land in hell, and he's ready for a fight, as are all of the hell dwellers. Apparently Hulk and Bruce are separate entities here. Anyway, back on the parallel Earth, their evil horned Hulk goes after the alternate Banner, who is actually Doctor Strange's protege. He tries to banish this Hulk away but he's too much for Bruce, that is until The Amazing Spider (Our Spider-Man) shows up to help him out. It turns out Banner realizes Pete isn't the real Amazing Spider-Man, tipped off by his demeanor and the fact he's rocking HIS costume and not the Amazing Spider's. Once Deadpool shows up, Spidey has Magic Banner turn Deadpool's appearance into his own, so he can lead Hulk away. Spidey then introduces the magic Banner to our Bruce Banner, and they quickly realize the only way to stop this Hulk is to reverse the seperation spell, which will put both Bruce's back with their respective Hulk's. After some magic, both Hulks are brought to the same place as both Banner's and Spidey. They have a pretty boring fight and Hulk snaps his neck while he's in human form, yawn. Parker, Banner and Deadpool are then sent back to their own world, but not before Peter Parker drops the Amazing Spider name and comes back as Ghost Spider... I kid you not, as the issue ends. I loved the other two issues but this one was slow and boring, and it doesn't help that I'm not a big Hulk fan, this REALLY bored me which is sad because I enjoyed the other 66.6%, I'll give this a <span style="color: red;">4/10</span> rating.<br />
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<span style="color: cyan;">Hulk: C'mon... Pumpkin. Is that really the best you can do?</span> (Hulk SUCKS at trash talking...)<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Amazing Spider-Man #644</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110597.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110597.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
We start things off with Anti-Venom standing over a tied up Spider-Man, and he tells him he gets why Spidey always fights him, because all his team ups start this way, with Daredevil, the FF, the Avengers, it's so true. Anti-Venom tells him he's Eddie Brock and tries to remove Spidey's mask but it stays on due to his sticky skin power, which luckily is still working. Eddie says that's fine, he had to earn Spidey's trust, and tells him he's trying to stop Mr. Negative. Spidey notes that he hates him too, but only stopped Anti-Venom so he wouldn't attack Martin Li, and Brock explains that Li is Negative, but Spidey doesn't believe him so Anti-Venom takes off to prove him wrong, leaving Spidey webbed up in his lair. We then see The Wraith, Jean DeWolff, getting information out of someone on Li's payroll, while unbeknownst to her, Forensic scientist and girlfriend of Peter Parker, Carlie Cooper, is watching the Wraith and taking pictures. Over at a press conference involving Jameson and Martin Li, Norah and Randy are filming a piece on it when Phil Urich, the newest Hobgoblin shows up, jealous since he's Norah's cameraman. After some friction with Randy and Phil, Norah asks Phil to film her interview with Mr. Li, to which he agrees to, but thinks to himself that he needs to come up with a permanent plan for getting Randy out of the picture. Over with Martin Li, one of his guards mentions their plans are underway, which a security guard hears and pursues them, as the security guard is actually Anti-Venom in disguise. Once Spidey finally frees himself from Anti-Venom's webbing, he's webbed up again but the recently returned Anti-Venom, which was pretty funny. He carries Spider-Man to the museum so he can prove once and for all that he's not crazy and Martin Li is Mister Negative. Eddie webs up Spidey so he can watch him prove him wrong, but when Eddie thinks he's early for his attack on Mr. Negative, he's instead stabbed in the back with a sword which counteracts Anti-Venom's healing abilities. Spider-Man is still struggling to get free ends up getting loose thanks to help from the Wraith, as they rush into action. Spidey, Anti-Venom, and the Wraith take on Negative and his henchmen but Spidey realizes they may have a problem so he sets off a museum alarm, and manages to get a HUGE shot in on Mister Negative when the villain lowers his guard. Wraith takes advantage to use her facial recognition tech and confirms that Martin Li and Mister Negative are one in the same, and uses that tech to send the analysis to every computer, smart phone and TV within range. Negative, knowing he's defeated, runs away and leaves a cloud of cyanide, so the heroes don't pursue. The Wraith leaves since she can't face the cops, and Spidey pulls the sword out of Anti-Venom's back who then heals and leaves, once Spidey admits he was wrong, which makes Anti happy that Spidey trusts him somewhat. One they leave and the cops show up, Carlie slips into a back room, and Spidey follows her on the ceiling, to a room where she confronts Captain Watanabe and tells her she knows she's the Wraith, as she planted planted her phone in her bag and followed the G.P.S. and Watanabe admits it, that she did it to make a difference and scare people into telling the truth while honoring Jean. Carlie tells her if she figured it out someone else could too, so maybe it's better to take a break for a while, and the Captain concurs. The issue ends shortly after with Peter knowing Carlie can keep a secret and wishing he could tell her his secret about being Spider-Man. This was a really good issue, lots of fun with Eddie and Peter, Eddie came off looking good for once, and even the Wraith reveal made sense, I'll give this issue a <span style="color: red;">9/10</span>.<br />
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</div><div style="color: cyan;">Anti-Venom: See, This is what I'm talking about! No one takes crazy Eddie Brock seriously! But I'll show you, I'll show everybody!</div><span style="color: cyan;">Spider-Man: Right, because only the super-sane people storm off yelling, "I'll show everybody."</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Venom #4</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.tfaw.com/covers_tfaw/400/ap/apr110600.jpg" width="210" /></a></div><br />
Man I've been waiting for this issue! We start things off seeing that Flash left a bomb with Jack O'Lantern and the villains, which apparently is the bomb that was implanted in the symbiote. The Symbiote is so smart it expelled the bomb because it knew there was a chance it would be detonated. Meanwhile, Venom is fighting Spider-Man and Flash has no control, he's just hoping Spidey can kill them before he and the symbiote hurt someone. Flash is trying to gain control of the symbiote long enough to tell Spider-Man that Betty is strapped to a bomb, but between Spidey punching his teeth down his throat and the symbiote overwhelming Flash it's pretty damn hard. Flash tries to get the symbiote to run but Spidey, thinking he's the one behind Betty's disappearance, keeps attacking, which just ticks off the symbiote. When Venom knocks Spidey through a drug store, Flash spots a shelf of sedatives and makes the symbiote take them all, and the rage of the symbiote gets sleepy instead, but it's still trying to over control Flash. Flash makes the symbiote tell Spidey that Betty is on Valentine Lane, but the symbiote then picks up a truck and flings it at Spidey who uses his body as a shield to save pedestrians. Flash outright yells at the symbiote that he will not kill Spider-Man, he's going to go save Betty, because if he doesn't Dodge will kill Flash, and the symbiote decides he doesn't want another host, and gives Flash full control. Flash tries his best to save Betty but the building explodes before he gets there, luckily Spidey was faster and saves her, but she's in shock. Venom slowly thanks Spider-Man but Spidey tells him he failed in trying to hurt Betty and next time he's taking him down. The symbiote then gives in to Flash because it knows it went too far, and Flash finds a Spider-Tracer on himself, but keeps it, because he knows once he stops Jack O'Lantern and the rest of the bad guys, he'll probably need Spidey to take him down. Venom heads after the Vibranium Shipment but is stopped en route by Jack O'Lantern, and Venom's had a toll taken on him thanks to all the sedatives, as well as the fights with Kraven and Spider-Man. Jack O'Lantern lays into Venom, all the while saying how psyched he is to finally have an arch-enemy, citing how real enemies have a grudge, then showing the remains of his face after Venom threw a grenade into it. Jack's fun is cut short when he's told by his boss the Vibranium shipment is being intercepted by government guys and to get back to guarding it now, and as Jack flies off he tells "Eugene" he'll be seeing him soon, unbeknownst to him that Venom has stuck the Spider-Tracer on Jack O'Lantern. Back at the base, Flash lies to his superior, saying the run-in with Spidey was the only time he lost control of the suit, and also keeps quiet about Crime Master, considering he knows Venom is Flash Thompson now. The issue ends with a conversation about the recent events with Flash, Peter Parker and Betty Brant literally in the middle of them as they wonder why exactly she was brought into things, and Venom and Spider-Man are unaware their a mere inches away from one another. And once again, Rick Remender outdoes himself. He's brought new life to one of my favorite characters and he's made Flash my favorite Venom after only one arc, so I can definitely say I'm into Venom for the long haul, this issue gets a perfect <span style="color: red;">10/10</span> rating.<br />
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</div><span style="color: cyan;">Flash: My name is Flash Thompson. I'm about to kill my lifelong hero.</span><br />
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And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings, feel free to comment and leave any questions for me and be sure to participate in 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 <a href="mailto:KevinKavalier@gmail.com">KevinKavalier@gmail.com</a> and I'll post the answers this Monday, July 4th, 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 before the deadline of Sunday 10:00 pm EST. And lastly, be sure to vote on this week's newest poll and check out the last poll results below the Top Five 5 topics. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd. You stay classy, Todd Squad. <br />
Note: None of your picks are limited to DC, they can include Marvel, Image or whatever you like.<br />
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5 Characters You'd give a Green Lantern (Will) Ring?<br />
5 Characters You'd give a Red Lantern (Rage) Ring?<br />
5 Characters You'd give a Yellow Lantern (Fear) Ring?<br />
5 Characters You'd give a Orange Lantern (Greed) Ring?<br />
5 Characters You'd give a Blue Lantern (Hope) Ring?<br />
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Last week's poll asked "What DCnU retcon do you wish you could keep the same?" <br />
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Last place with 13.12% - Teen Titans and their old designs. <br />
Second Place with 27.7% - Tie between Dick Grayson as Batman and Steph Brown as Batgirl <br />
<b>Winner</b> with 33.3% -Barbara Gordon staying Oracle<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><u><b>Next Week on Ratings and Rantings</b></u></div><br />
Batman and Robin #25, Batman Beyond #7, and Titans Annual 2011 so I have at least three books...Jason Toddhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07796190974001777556noreply@blogger.com7