Ratings and Rantings featuring Uncanny X-Men #2

Hey 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.

Invincible #85

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 8.5/10 rating.

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 liars. (BURN!!!!)

Kick-Ass 2 #5

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 10/10 rating.

Hit-Girl: Game on, mother-fuckers.

Uncanny X-Men #2

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 8/10 rating.

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!)

Teen Titans #3

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 8/10 rating.

Red Robin: A little advice. Don't reveal your entire backstory on meeting someone. It just makes it easier to defeat you.

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!

Last week's poll asked "How do you feel about the Walking Dead?"
Last place with 9.1% - Tie between I read the books and I do neither but I want to.
Third place with 18.2% - I'm not interested at all. 
Second place with 27.3% - I watch the TV Show and read the books. 
Winner with 36.4% - I watch the TV Show.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Justice League International #4, Amazing Spider-Man #675, Deadpool #47, and Venom #10

Ratings and Rantings Featuring Uncanny X-Men #1

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!

Detective Comics #3

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 4/10, 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.

Batman: Let's go shunshine, I've got Earl Grey tea brewing. (Okay.. I embellished some of that...)

Justice League International #3

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 8.5/10 rating.

Peraxxus: A Lantern. I expected more. You'll be one of my easier kills.

Invincible #84

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 7/10.

Every Man that read this: Monster Girl is pretty hot...

Amazing Spider-Man #573

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 10/10 rating.

Clint Barton: Guys, we live in a world where the Hulk grows ten times his size and his pants stay on. Roll with it.

Uncanny X-Men #1

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 8/10 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.

Hope: We get fancy chairs now? This is a new direction. Did we steal them from someone?

Namor: To sit in a seat so fine, Namor would take it from any man. (Lmao...Namor is crazy.)

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!

Last week's poll asked "What character do you miss the most in the DC Reboot?"

Last place with 0% - Donna Troy, damn, poor poor Donna.
Third place with 11.1% - Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, I guess since she'll be back as Spoiler?
Second Place with 22.2% - Wally West as The Flash, I expected more.
Winner with 67.7% - Power Girl, after an awesome run by Judd, I can't express how much I miss Peej.

Next Week on Ratings an Rantings

Batgirl #3, Batman and Robin #3, Deathstroke #3, Grifter #3, Green Lantern #3, and Ultimate Spider-Man #4

List of Books I'll Drop Come December (Subject to Change)

1. Detective Comics

Ratings and Rantings featuring Schism #5

Hey 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!

X-Men: Schism #5

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 8.5/10.

Cyclops: You press that damn button, you're killing me too!

Wolverine: No.. you're killing yourself.

Detective Comics #2

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 click here 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 7/10 rating.

Batman: Someone else hits me exactly where Joker knifed me. The sutures explode. (Excellent visual.)

Justice League International #2

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 8/10 rating.

Batman: Learn from this, Booster. Follow your gut and make the team yours.

Invincible #83

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 7/10.

Shapesmith: There are parts of your clothes where there are no clothes and we can see your skin instead.

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!

Last week's poll asked "Who was your favorite Batgirl?"

Last place with 22.2% - Tie between Cassandra Cain and the current Batgirl, Babs Gordon.
Winner with 55.6% - The former blonde bomber, my favorite Batgirl, Stephanie Brown!
 

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

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.

Ratings and Rantings featuring Batgirl #1

Hey 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.

Invincible #82

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 7/10 rating.

Eve: Actually, Mark likes me the say I am.

Kate: He does? Really? Weird.

The Amazing Spider-Man #668

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 8.5/10.

J. Jonah Jameson: Why in all my years in this city, I never thought I'd... Parker?! With Spider-powers?! Now I have seen everything.

Static Shock #1

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 4/10.

Static: Arrest me? You got it all wrong! They were just eager, real eager to get my autograph and my fingerprints.

Justice League International #1

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 8.5/10 rating.

Booster Gold: Does the U.N. know you're here?

Batman: I've always enjoyed your sense of humor, Booster.

Batgirl #1

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 8/10 rating.

(Edit: In the scene where the guy is pushed out of the window, he has one eye... so..yeah.)

Civilian: Bless you. Bless you Batwoman.

Batgirl: Well, close, I guess, and you're welcome. And the name's Batgirl.

Morning Glories #12

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 9/10 rating.

Zoe: Who in the hell are you, anyway? And why are you dressed like a zookeeper?

Miss Hodge: I'm your guidance counselor, Bitch. Now get in the goddamned office. (Awww snap!)

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!

The last poll asked "Which DC Comics are you picking up this week?"

Last place with 0% - Flashpoint #5... I'm not even going to make a joke.
Third place with 10% - No DC Comics for me this week
Second Place with 30% - Justice League #1, This was me as well..
Winner with 60% - Justice League and Flashpoint #5, So... learn anything about the DCnU?

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman and Robin #1, Deathstroke #1, Green Lantern #1, Grifter #1, Amazing Spider-Man #669, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, and Deadpool #43.

Ratings and Rantings

Hey 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!

Gotham City Sirens #25

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 7/10 rating.

Poison Ivy: I am going to kill her. (Harley) Snap her like a flag in the wind.

Teen Titans #98

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 8.5/10.

X-Man75: Tim is gonna LOVE all those Connors. (I know you were thinking it X..)

Green Lantern Corps #62

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 8/10.

Soranik Natu: Never speak to me again, Lantern 2814.4. And stay the hell out of my sector! (The GL equivalent of get your shit outta my house.)

Detective Comics #880

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 9/10 rating.

The Joker: I didn't do anything to the old bitch. My Batman would know my work.

Invincible #81

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 7.5/10.

Invincible: I have no interest in being the two-hundredth hero on your payroll. I'm doing my own thing.

Venom #5

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 8/10 rating as well.

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!

X-Men Schism #2

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 7/10.

Cyclops: And if I ever, ever, 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! (Dayum!)

The Amazing Spider-Man #666

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 8/10 rating.

The Thing: Aw. Why;d ya haveta go an' do that? We had matchin' outfits. We wuz adorable.

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!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #8, Batman Arkham City #4, and Batman: Gates of Gotham #4.

Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, it's that time again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings. I'm your host, the incomparable Jason Todd, here to review comics for you guys and gals. Before I get started I'd like to mention a few of DC's new reboots that have interested me so far, besides JLI and possibly JLA,  Nightwing and Red Hood and the Outlaws, I'm also now interested in the new Teen Titans and the new Static Shock series. So, five or six outta 52 eventual titles so far I guess isn't a bad start... Anyway enough about the future, let's get to the present comics, because we've got five to run through today, and since I didn't know Invincible #80 dropped this week, it's been subbed in and Superman/Batman has been pushed back a week by DC, and lastly, my shop didn't have Morning Glories this week (boo) so I'll review that next week.

Red Robin #24

We start things off with Red Robin taking on the Scarab and her fellow Scarab's. but the fight doesn't last long because Tim and Lonnie had already worked up a virus for the armor that was stolen from the GCPD, which quickly takes care of everyone except Scarab, who wasn't wearing armor. She somehow manages to escape from Red Robin so Tim asks Lonnie to see if he could find any information on this tournament of death that Tim's life is the prize of. It turns out that killing a CEO was a ruse, and that was used to throw people off the trail so they wouldn't know the real target was Viktor Mikalek, so four hours later, Red Robin arrives in Samara with the intent on saving Mikalek. Once Tim gets past his security, he asks Viktor why they were after him, and who shot him. Mikalek mentions that he was shot by the woman Red Robin helped escape a few issues ago, Promise. He also mentions that thanks to Red Star, he's pretty much going to be ousted by Russia, to which Red Robin doesn't care, until Mikalek mentions that if he is ousted, where else would he go but the city where he recently purchased a hockey team, Gotham City. Red Robin then decides to try to find Promise before she can finish the job of killing Mikalek, but by the time he finds her "crow's nest" as it were, it's been abandoned. Surprisingly he's attacked by a GIANT member of the tournament that is beating Tim senseless, until Promise shows up and blasts him in the back with rubber bullets. Tim is then attacked by Promise of all people, who can make her hands look like Venom's for some reason, and knocks Tim out. He awakens chained up underground, with his Red Robin suit on but his cowl off. He's introduced to Promise's sister, a.k.a. the woman we've seen with Ra's Al Ghul, and she intends on killing Tim, but not before his legacy lives on by giving her a child, and the mystery woman disrobes as this issue ends. I couldn't get into this for some reason, obviously it's being rushed do to the reboot, I mean we went from Tim being cornered by a ton of guys to him beating them in three pages, to chasing Scarab, meeting Mikalek, fighting a big guy, then this Ra's mystery lady just being related to Promise, out of nowhere. But I couldn't get into it, it wasn't bad, but things jumped around too much and seemed really rushed, I'll give this a 6/10 rating.

Me: So wait...that dude...on the cover is Promise?

Batman: Arkham City #2

This cover is epic, one of my favorites of the year so far. We start things off with Vicki Vale and Jack Ryder outside of the future Arkham City, doing a live report on the future prison , or as Mayor Sharp refers to it, a "Quarantine Zone". As Sharp speaks, we see someone else is saying words and Sharp is merely parroting them. During this, Bruce Wayne arrives, and Vicki asks his thoughts, considering he's a member of the parole board, Bruce mentions he has a wait and see approach, but he does want to know who is in charge of releasing criminals, sense Sharp has suspended the parole board. But Sharp dances around the subject and never gives Bruce an answer. From there we see Batman, as he mentions to Alfred that he is convinced Sharp's strings are being pulled by someone else, so he goes to try to find Mayor/Warden Sharp's file at his home. Batman gets past Sharp's rent-a-cops without anyone noticing him, and finds his file which says that due to Sharp's past, he's a prime candidate for Schizophrenia. That explains why he believed himself to be the spirit of Amadeus Arkham. While Batman gathers files, a computer turns on and we see a shadowed figure that tells Batman welcome and that he can take the files, but they have something for him. A small Gatling gun descends from the ceiling and starts shooting Bats with rubber bullets, which barely sting due to his suits armor. Sleeping gas is then released, as well as other nuisances, which Batman deals with quickly because he realizes this is being done so they can study his fighting style. We then see Aaron Cash is doing his job of sedating criminals for their movement to Arkham City, even a guy named Jimmy Briggs, who's a small fish that won't survive in Arkham, I hope Jimmy Briggs is addressed in the game. We then see The Joker being moved, and he can't wait to get to Arkham City, he even plans on running for Mayor, which made me laugh. As he's wheeled away, he realizes he isn't being taken to be sedated, and is instead being taken to a guard room, where a bunch of pissed off guards plan on killing Joker over what happened to their friends during the events of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" That's an awesome callback, and I loved seeing Joker's thoughts during this, as he knew he was in trouble but played his Joker persona up the whole time. Surprisingly, Joker is saved when one of the guards turns on the others, even more surprisingly, the guard is revealed to be Harley Quinn, who does some pretty vicious attacks in order to save Mistah J, and the two escape by boat. Batman has apparently planned for this after the last events of Arkham, and knows when someone leaves Arkham without clearance, and he's also installed cameras in the boats, and see's Joker and Harley escaping. He goes after them with the Bat-Boat, and Batman blasts their boat with a missile. He tells them to surrender but they don't, so he blasts them again which blows the boat up. Well damn Bats... anyway he doesn't find any survivors, which lets him know Joker and Harley escaped. When Joker and Harley wash ashore, they find their way into none other than Arkham City, and no one knows their there. So Joker and Harley proclaim themselves Mayor and Mayoress of Arkham City as this issue ends. Man... I LOVED this comic. I mean, the last two years have been hit or miss for me with Dini's work, but this comic was great, everything had a pace, we saw Joker and Batman take center stage, we even got to see Harley kick some ass and show us why she's one of the baddest women in Gotham. I'll give this a perfect 10/10 rating, bring on more Arkham City!

The Joker: There are hands to shake, babies to kick, no one puts the "pain" in "campaign" like yours truly!

Deadpool #38

We start things off with an enraged Hulk asking Deadpool where the nukes are, but Deadpool won't spill the beans, especially since he doesn't have anymore nukes, but doesn't want the big green wrecking machine to know about that. DP tells Hulk that he has a small transmitter in his body that's powered by the electrical current in his body which will detonate a randomly placed nuke all over the city each hour, which is an excellent lie that he made up on the spot. He then taunts the Hulk, asking "What the hell are you gonna do about it?" Which makes the Hulk even MORE angry and causes him to grow in size/ Hulk calls Deadpool a monster, to which DP replies, takes one to know one. He then punches Deadpool SO far that he goes through numerous buildings and backgrounds and momentarily dies. Goddamn... that's just awesome. Deadpool soon awakes from death but not before promising his angel of death that he was gonna get Hulk to kill him. When Hulk lands where he knocked Deadpool, Deadpool manages to use a wrecking ball wire, get it ties around the Hulks legs, and use him as a wrecking ball, until Hulk gets even larger and more angry. Deadpool, proud of himself for finally enraging The Hulk so much that he KNOWS he's gonna smash him into dust, he realizes that Hulk will not only destroy him but probably everything within a Hundred feet. The issue ends as Hulk rushes towards Deadpool, who realizes that he's right next to a children's daycare. Man, this issue FLEW by as you can tell from the short review, but there was so much action that I loved it. I mean, I'm not a Hulk fan but he's been really impressive in these issues and as always, Daniel Way writes a fun Deadpool. This issue was really funny and now that DP has pissed off Hulk to the max, he has to get him away from innocent kids? Genius twist Dan Way, THAT's how you do it, M. Night! This issue of Deadpool gets a 9/10 rating from me.

Deadpool: He's gonna mega smash us into, like, sub-atomic particles!

Batman and Robin #24

We kick things off with a flashback, to Jason's time as Robin, and Batman telling him when things go wrong, not to just act cool and stay level headed, but to take control of the situation. We then flash forward to see Jason and his anamorphic rescuers who just saved him from being shipped back to Arkham, the Menagerie. The chained Jason asks for answers, but his saviors aren't at liberty to say who sent them or why, so Jason decides to take matters into his own hands, and beat the hell out of them. The artwork in this issue has fallen DRAMATICALLY since the last issue, I mean... I'm not trying to be a jerk but in comparison it looks horrible. Anyway, Jason takes down one of them but is soon overcome considering it's four on three and they have the strength and speed of their animal counterparts. They catch Jason and plan on taking him in alive, but considering he can't help but be an ass, he kicks one of them in the head, which makes him angry enough to want to bring Jason in as "Alive but broken". Before he can attack Jason, Batman and Robin show up to the party. Batman and Robin take on the Menagerie along with Jason, and Dick even saves Jason's skin (literally) but once Jason gets a gun the tone changes. Jason takes the reptilian member of the Menagerie hostage and shoots him in the foot, then holds a gun to his head and prepares to leave when he gets a call on a phone one of the Menagerie members has. Jason answers and we see him talking to some mysterious woman, who tells Jason to surrender or they'll kill the only person he cares about, his former partner, Scarlet. I guess this is enough of a reason for Jason to team up with Batman and Robin, which is a decision Damian is not a fan of.  Damian wants to leave Jason, tied up, and take Scarlet to Juvie. Dick says no, Jason is coming to willingly turn himself in, but won't go unarmed. Damian mentions that Jason will probably turn on them, and he'd prefer a plan, but Dick says they'll adapt if they have to, which is what Bruce told Jason as Robin. Dick also notes that if they make a plan, Jason will hear them since he probably has the building wired, and Dick mentions that's what he'd do anyway. Jason chimes in that Dick is right, and sometimes "You've gotta lie down with dogs and wake up with fleas." as Jason walks out wearing his costume from Grant's run, except without the cape and pill helmet, he has a leather jacket and his classic Red Hood helmet as the issue ends. This was a nice issue, I expected it to be dumb with the animals from the last issue, but the callback to Scarlet as well as Jason's new costume made me really enjoy this issue. I'll give it a 8.5/10, as I'm not a big fan of the artwork.

Jason Todd: Thank God. Batman and Robin are here. (This comment just OOZED of sarcasm.)

Invincible #80

We start things off with a huge bomb dropped on Mark, just minutes after finding out the news that Eve was pregnant while he was away, his parents tell them their getting back together, but since Nolan can't stay on Earth, both of Mark's parents are going to Talescira, plus his mom wants to go see Oliver. They also waste no time leaving, as they leave only minutes later. With the house to themselves, Eve tells Mark she's moving in, due to all the drama that goes on at her parents house. The next day, Mark goes to see William and explain how he and Eve are moving in due to his parents moving to an alien world. While they talk, Rick walks in with dinner and kisses William, his boyfriend, on the cheek, which of course, surprises the hell out of Mark. After talking about it, Mark thinks back to all the times they changed in gym and he says he's glad William wasn't attracted to him, and in a moment of pure hilarity, William says he's always been attracted to Mark a little, to which even Rick agrees. Lmao, that's so damn awkward. Anyway, Mark, embarrassed leaves and William wishes they had handled it better, because he doesn't think Mark will take him flying again. Man... this series is so awesome. The fact that that's what worries him the most is hilarious. From there we see Invincible flying when he spots a criminal, the criminal instantly gives up, knowing he can't take on Invincible. When Invincible asks why he ran away on the side of a building with gravity boots and such when he could've just escaped with what he stole (bonds from a bank) with normal clothes and he would've never noticed him. The criminal seems nice and we find out he stole the bonds so he could buy his girlfriend a wedding ring, he starts crying when he realizes he's going to jail, so Invincible tells him he'll return the bonds for him and let him go free. He then goes to return the bonds for him before getting out of his Superhero gear and hitting a comic shop. While there, Mark manages to take a few shots at his own writer and DC Comics for restarting ALL their series at #1! Haha, God this is great, go Kirkman! Afterwards, we see Mark and his newer, thicker, more bootylicious (lol) version of Eve cleaning the master bedroom, and she even cleanses the sheets, which only slightly changes Mark's mind about sleeping in a bed where his parents had sex. They get a call at Invincible Inc. a.k.a. a cell phone that Eve has, and she tells him there's a big red guy attacking a client's building in Vegas. Mark gets dressed as Invincible and heads to Vegas to take on The Velociraptor. When the dinosaur-man announces that Vegas is full of bombs that will explode any second, Mark tries to figure out how to stop him, but surprisingly runs out of time, and Las Vegas is wiped off the map, the blast is so huge it obliterates everything, turns the ground to glass from the heat, and manages to turn Mark's suit into dust, leaving him nude in a desolate land as this issue ends. Man, that was wild, I didn't expect that ending at all, and this was a good issue with a lot of action, and since I can't think of one thing I didn't like, I'll give this a 10/10 rating.

Eve: We can move into the master bedroom.

Mark: No Way. My parents have had sex in there.

Eve: From what your mom told me, if that'll keep you out of a room we should probably just stay outside.

And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. That's it for me, and the results for last week's poll is below so be sure to vote on this week's new poll as well. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. Until next time, you stay classy, Todd Squad.

Last week's poll asked "What are your thoughts on the DC Reboot?"

Last place with 11.8% - "I hate it, I'm done with DC", good thing that's the minority eh?
Second place with 17.6% - "I love the idea, can't wait", we've got a few fans that can't wait.
Winner with 70.6% - "I'll wait and see before I decide", my personal pick, and a few series I can't wait for, but others should've never been more than an idea.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batgirl #22, Power Girl #25, Morning Glories #10 and Superman/Batman #85