Ratings and Rantings

Welcome everyone, to another edition of Jason Todd's weekly dose of comic content, Ratings and Rantings! I'm a little late this week due to not having internet access and work kicking my butt, but I'm back with a slew of reviews to brighten up your weekend. But before we do, I have a little news, courtesy of Judd Winick, "Yes, we're going to do more Jason Todd/Red Hood. And yes, I'll be writing it. I can't tell you in what manner. Or what we're doing exactly, but we'll be announcing it soon. There will be some Jason Todd stuff coming out." Man, I couldn't be happier about reading that! So, we've got nine issues to jump into (Batman Inc sold out) and four include Batman, so we're gonna get things started off with Brightest Day!

Brightest Day #14

Brightest Day # 14 starts off with Dove and Deadman on the rooftops of Gotham City, the ring whisks Deadman away and tells him "A Replacement has been chosen." Deadman jumps off of a building and uses his acrobatic skills to end up right in the middle of a crew of villains that must be working for Mr. Freeze. They attack Deadman, and Geoff Johns even has one utter the hilarious line (sarcasm), "You're Dead, Man." Deadman makes sure to note that the ring brought back the White Lantern's at the physical peak of their lives, I guess to shut up all of the Captain Boomerang questions. Deadman takes care of the henchmen, but when Freeze gets the drop on him it seems like Brightest Day will end early, until Batman makes the save. From there, Deadman and Batman catch up, and Dove arrives to the party as well. Deadman tries to give Batman the ring, but it stays on his finger, until he yells at it to go to Batman. From there the ring jumps onto Bruce's finger, turns his costume white and names all of the twelve resurrected heroes and villains. The ring takes over Bruce and makes him extremely out of character, and he starts talking about how life is connected and other hippie crap. The ring, through Batman, then tells Boston that wearing the ring should be an honor and Boston saw it as a chore. After he finishes his sentence, one of the Freeze thugs wakes up and shoots Boston Brand through the chest. Sucks to be you eh? Deadman then see's a point of his life when he was a child talking to his Grandpa who gives Boston great advice about growing old, but he brushes him off like a kid would to go watch TV. He then see's that he's been a jerk to other people as well and relives those moments, up until when he's shot and killed while performing at the circus. Boston then has a "What a wonderful life" moment and wishes he wasn't dead, so the Ring brings him back again. The ring flies off of Batman's hand, hits the shooting thug in the head, knocking him out, then flies onto Boston's finger. The issue ends soon after with a moment between Dove and Deadman and
with Batman wanting to talk to someone about Max Lord. This issue was kinda bleh, as usual. I like that it focused on one story and we knew Batman wasn't the White Lantern due to it being WAY too obvious. Also, who the hell killed Deadman, Claw from Inspector Gadget?! Anyway, the only thing this issue really did was make Bruce aware of Max Lord, which I've been calling for a while, so I'm happy that'll work out. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 3/10.

Batman: It's Batman. We need to talk about Maxwell Lord.

Streets of Gotham #17

Streets of Gotham starts off with Harley Quinn, with a little blood trickling from her head, driving home, repeating "It's only a dream..." over and over. She grabs a bazooka or something, and when Selina tries to stop her she knocks her out. From there, She gets ready to blast a door or something but Batman swoops in and catches her. Selina tries to tell Dick she doesn't know why Harley is acting like a Zombie, and Bruce tells her it's him and they kiss. Really? She can't tell the difference between the man she supposedly loves and his "son" when they have completely different costumes as well? Really? From there we find out that Harley was being controlled due to bug bites from bugs sent by a villain named Bedbug. REALLY?! Like...really? Did Dini write this or did Grant Morrison?! Bruce explains the way Harley was controlled and Selina asks how long he's been back as himself and not The Insider. Bruce replies by saying a few of days, they then talk about what he's done since being back and their relationship. Bruce also tells Selina that Hush has escaped, and that he'll do his best to find him. Meanwhile, Hush awakens with blood dripping down his face from the bullet grazing him in the last issue. When his shooter, Judson Pierce, enters the room, Hush decides to play dumb and see what Pierce wants with Bruce Wayne. We soon find out that Pierce swindled Bruce's mother, Martha Kane, and her family out of the Kane family fortune. Pierce continues and even manages to insult Hush's mom too, which was inadvertently funny. We then see an interesting scene with a young Thomas Wayne, Martha Kane, Leslie Thompson and Alfred (hook those two up!) all at Leslie's clinic. Meanwhile, Pierce sent in his goons to kill them all and ruin Leslie's clinic, but Alfred saves the day and defeats his thugs. Hush continues to try to stall, and when they get ready to kill the faux-billionaire, Hush uses that opportunity to fight back. Hush kicks ass in a manner that shows he should definitely be higher on the villain totem pole, I wouldn't mind Hush becoming the new Prometheus. Hush holds Pierce at gunpoint and pulls him close, telling him to note the stitch marks on his face, and his green eyes, making Pierce realize that he isn't Bruce Wayne. The issue ends soon after with Hush making some demands of his own. This was a fine issue but the art is always annoying me. Harley, Selina and other people really don't look like themselves and that annoys me. The fact that Selina didn't recognize her man also annoyed the hell out of me, and of course the ultimate annoyance, why the hell did this issue start with nothing from the last issue being handled?! I thought I skipped an issue by mistake, also, Bedbug is a horrible villain. Anyway, moving on, besides those, this was an alright issue. I'll give it a 6/10.

Pierce: I figured your ma could just spread her legs for some wealthy sap and be in the green again. That worked out for her pal, Marla What's-her-name. (Elliot, Marla Elliot.)

Power Girl #18

Cover of the year for four reasons.... okay, I'm joking. So this issue of PG starts off with Maxwell Lord and the evil Dr. Sivana meeting up at a secret location. After some talking and a failed mind control attempt due to Sivana having planned for it, Max tells the good doctor that he wants to replicate a Kryptoinian, leading us to Divine, a black haired, leather clad, Power Girl clone. Divine tries to hit Power Girl with her heat vision, but instead of a beam, it's the size of one of Cyclops' optic blasts. When Nicco asks what's going on because he has two readings of PG on his monitors, he asks if she has any weaknesses they can use against her, but PG won't say since Divine can hear the conversation due to super hearing. The busty hero and busty villain fly at one another at mach speed and cause a huge sonic boom when they collide. Peej realizes she can't have a straight up fight with herself so she grabs Divine around the waist and flies into the air, hoping Divine doesn't know how to use her powers too well. Sadly, Divine copes with them just fine and knocks PG deep underground, but luckily right into the lair she was searching for. Peej is shocked when she looks around and see's more clones of her in tanks, but this is cut short when Divine prolongs her attack. The two Kryptonians slug it out before the fight is stopped by Max Lord using a "high-intensity red solar energy blast." Divine is pulled out of it by our big Purple Hulk wanna-be from a few issues ago, Crash, as Max Lord explains why having Divine will help them replicate the powers of more metahumans. Power Girl see's Max's face but can't remember who he is or why his name is so important. Max decides to leave Power Girl there, and when Crash asks why they are leaving the equipment behind, Max says they don't need it. Power Girl looks over at the equipment and reads "Kord Industries" and immediately remembers Ted Kord, thinking he shot himself in the head, but when Max teleports away with Divine and Crash, she remembers that Max Lord killed Ted, but as she stands up she notices that the room is powering up, and it soon explodes. The issue ends on the page after that with Power Girl remembering who Max Lord is. I loved this issue, it was great, we continue to see Power Girl get her on Rogues Gallery, now adding Crash and Divine to the mix. We also got to see another hero remember Max, now with Bruce, possibly Dick, and the rest of the Gen Lost crew, we can add Power Girl to the group as well. I found nothing wrong with this issue at all, and really enjoy Judd's writing on it so far, I'll give this issue a solid 9/10.

Power Girl: His name is Max Lord. And I remember.

The Flash #6

Flash gets things off to a start with Barry Allen in future court with the Renegades, with Barry on trial for murdering the Mirror Monarch. Flash tells the Renegades that he was fooled by The Top, and that they need to catch him before it leads to bad things, especially for Flash's wife, Iris. We then see Top trying to take the box of evidence from Iris, so he can keep his reputation as a police officer in the future. Alrighty then. Back in the court, the Renegades realize that Flash may be right, and the information they got from Top could in fact be fabricated. Flash gets tired of waiting some he breaks out of the cuffs and tries to escape, which he succeeds in doing, and stops Top before he can suck the air out of Iris' lungs with his spinning top powers or whatever. Top flees but Flash follows after him, asking why he killed the Mirror Monarch, and Top tells him he's only dead for now, and that everything will reset and history will change when he's done. We find out that Top did this because if your ancestors were arrested then you can't be a police officer in the 25th century, so he doesn't want Flash to reopen that case because it would convict a family ancestor. Really? When Flash tells Top he's a criminal and had blood on his hands, Top snaps and tries to take down Barry, but fails when Barry uses his speed to go inside of Top and reverse the spinning and stop his speed....um....okay. After Top is knocked down and defeated, the Renegades show up to arrest him and then they leave. Cool, I guess. From there Barry gets the real criminal arrested, free's the kid who was mistakenly arrested, and we see the Rogues say that whatever happened with the Mirror they broke instill doubt in The Flash. Back with the Renegades, they note the multiple paradoxes with the 21's century, including Wonder Woman's classic and new look, Deadman and his White Ring, Batman back in time, and Luthor talking to Death. The issue soon ends after with someone on a motorcycle saying they hope Barry finds Flashpoint soon. So, with this issue I constantly found myself wondering what the hell was going on. I'm, thinking this may be my last issue of Flash, I'll see how I feel next month, but don't be surprised if this get's dropped relatively soon. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 4.5/10.

Renegade guy: Something's wrong with history. (Well when ya fix it, give Wondy her old costume, Roy his arm back, and make Wally West important again.)

Superman/Batman #78

Okay, so a Joe Kelly issue of Superman/Batman, with everyone from Mongul to the Scarecrow on the cover plus the promise of a Power Girl/Huntress team up? Excellent. The issue starts with Batman and Superman having a brutal fight as Batman thrusts a Kryptonite sword into Superman's chest, immediately making me think this is a game or something between two kids or nerds. So the nerds make rules about how they can't use Kryptonite, No killing, and a reason for Superman and Batman to fight. Yep, it's kids. They also add the rules of no Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk, and no magic. They then try to decide what Superman and Batman would fight about, ruling out girls (Wonder Woman), a dead Robin (lmao), and membership in the league. They skip a reason and have Batman and Superman argue, leading into a big fight, and Superman punches Baman and takes his utility belt. Batman utters the code, Damocles, causing the belt to explode, blasting Superman away. The explosion temporarily blinds Superman so Batman can escape, but Superman listens to his heartbeat and tracks down the Dark Knight. The two then fight everywhere, even in space, with Batman and Superman constantly one-upping one another and leading to some great comedic moments, especially when Batman attacks Superman with the big Superman/Batman composite robot. Superman destroys the robot but it releases a giant Bat Shadow that blocks out the sun causing Superman to lose his powers as he and Batman fall to the earth, inevitably going to die because neither of them would give up. The two kids realize how the game is stupid because they'd never fight one another because their friends, and we see that Batman and Superman were above them, listening in. Superman enjoyed it but Batman feels like he wasted five minutes of his time, before telling Superman he could beat him, even without Kryptonite. The story ends with Batman telling Supes that the kid was right about a lot of Bruce's techniques, and when Supeman asks which ones, Batman stays silent and Superman wonders confused. I loved this, I mean LOVED it. It was a bunch of fun, a great story, and the humor that only Kelly can bring. If this was in the 75th issue of Superman/Batman I would've rated it MUCH higher, because this story was one of my favorites. The Huntress/Power Girl story was just okay, but the main story definitely picked up the slack. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves comics, humor, and is a big fan of Batman and Superman. I'll give this issue a 10/10. Also, this issue was so good it has TWO lines of the issue.

Narrator: Of Course! I mean... they wouldn't fight over a chick-- 

*Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman are shown*

Batman: So long as there is crime in the streets, I have no time for nooky. 

Batman: I work better alone... If you don't count Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Azrael, The other Robins, Nightwing, Oracle, and The Outsiders.

Batman: The Return - One-Shot

We start off with a lesson on Bats, and see the travel of a wounded bat, the same bat that would make his way into Bruce Wayne's study, and inspire Bruce Wayne to become Batman. From there we see Bruce Wayne, in his new Batman costume, as he saves a kid, thwarts a criminal, and tells another criminal that he's next, after returning his son. From there we see an awesome page with the Batcave, as Bruce has assembled Batman, Robin, Oracle, Batgirl and Red Robin. Bruce tells his team that due to his recent experiences he has big plans and they start with them, and has given them envelopes with special assignments. Bruce tells Babs that next spring Waynetech will start Internet 3.0, and he wants her to be his ghost in the machine, giving her access to cheat codes, vehicles and weapons no one else has. Is this a video game or something? He also wants Steph to enroll in finishing school in England for some reason. That should be easy to explain to Mrs. Brown, right? hen Damian asks what about Batman and Robin, referring to himself and Dick, but we don't get an answer. From there we see Bruce, with Damian and Lucius Fox go on a spending spree of equipment for Batman, including some Jet suits that increase strength, endurance and have short-range flight. Bruce tells Lucius to fix two and make them look like Batman and Robin. From there, he and Damian go on a mission that's so absurd I can't even try to explain it, basically a bunch of mutated things that failed are there, and Batman is attacked by some freaky looking big baddie. He keeps calling for Robin who doesn't come for some reason, and Robin stumbles onto some mysterious guy that flies away.... yeah. I read that part four times and I'm still confused. Bruce finally finds Robin and yells at him, and back at the Batcave, Damian tells Bruce to find himself a new Robin, and quits. Bruce tells Damian that the chances of them working together as Batman and Robin are zero. When Dick tries to talk to Bruce about how he didn't follow orders much as Robin, he tells them that Damian will be Robin, just the Robin to Dick's Batman. We then see Bruce and Alfred talking, and Bruce tells Alfred they need more Batcave's across the world, to which Alfred tells him not to worry. They bond, and afterwards, Bruce calls Selina and asks her to steal him a weapon from a criminal mastermind.... um...okay. The issue ends soon after with some more confusing Grant Morrison stuff that makes me wanna not read Batman Inc., I'll give this a 2/10.

Batman: Selina! I just got back from the dead and thought of you.

Deadpool MAX #2

Deadpool MAX gets things started with the Crimson Comedian in therapy, with his psychiatrist, Inez. We know her as Outlaw, or if you have the guts to call her that, Crazy Inez. Deadpool keeps hearing things the way he wants to, and most of them involve Inez saying how much she wants to do certain things with DP. When she asks about Deadpool's childhood, we see his Dad beating him with a bat while his mother nonchalantly irons, and replies that his father was a big Baseball fan. The session is interrupted when Bob bursts into the room, and tells Deadpool that a white Supremacist named Zemo is in Wisconsin, vowing to kill almost every person of every race, except using a bunch of racial slurs. Deadpool tells Bob he can't go because he has to go away do to being schizotypal, paranoid, antisocial and more. She pulls Deadpool away as Bob grabs his gun to go after them and finds out that all Inez has been writing for the entire session is "Inez loves Deadpool!" Bob tries to chase after them but Deadpool trips him and he falls face first into a cactus. We see another Deadpool flashback after he leaves with Inez, this time with him trying to get an orange, but having his hand smacked away by his mother. She then tells him if he wants an orange he'll have to do something for her, but we then cut-away to see the nursing home where Inez has taken Wade. He takes off his mask and tells her he won't mind if she runs off screaming, but she tells him he's gorgeous, before having a quick flashback of her own and remembering being attacked by her dad, who apparently looks like/may be Cable. She then tackles Deadpool and plants a huge kiss on him, and we find out that this whole time she actually WAS saying the stuff that Deadpool thought he was imagining, which was pretty funny. And from the bra we see fly off in the panel, we can only imagine what happens next. We then see Bob trying to get to Wade but he can't get into the building unless he offers sex to the very old woman working the door at the building, which he thankfully refuses. Next we see another Deadpool Flashback, with his father calling his mother a whore, and implying that to get the orange she made Deadpool have sex with her... man, no wonder he's so screwed up. Deadpool's dad gets upset and takes a boiling teapot and either beats him with it or pours the scalding hot tea all over Wade's face. From there we find out Inez is actually a patient at the hospital, and that she's told in nurses that the Doctor in charge can have Deqadpool's organs after DP's scratched the itch Inez has. DP then finds out how infatuated Inez is with him and that Dr. Harry has been making her lure people back so they could sell their organs on the black market. From there we see another flashback, now in the hospital, and that Wade's Mom actually slept with a man named Jakub, and Wade covered for her, which led to him being beaten by his father. She thanks Wade and tells him she's leaving forever, and gives Wade a box of oranges before leaving. When Dr. Harry finds Inez and DP he pulls out a gun, but unlucky for him, due to Deadpool's revelations, he was no longer insane, he'd become sane due to remembering his past, and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of Dr. Harry before killing him. He then has the orderlies put Inez in a straight jacket, because he can't be with her insane ass now that he's sane. This was a great issue, I loved the flashbacks and how Inez was written. I was wondering what to think of this series after the first issue but after really enjoying this one I know I'll continue to read it. I liked how Inez was written and hope she returns soon, also I'm interested to see how Zemo is written since they've made Zemo into a woman in this universe. But this was a solid issue in a new series that cemented Deadpool as a real threat, I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Inex: Come, Mr. Wilson. I need to get you into bed and screw your brains out before my head explodes.

Green Lantern Corps #54

Beautiful cover, Sinestro vs. Rayner. Those two have so much history, sometimes it seems like they have more than Sinestro and Jordan. Anyway, the issue starts off with Sinestro's ring construct choking Kyle, asking him if he's trying to shatter the truce after punching Sinestro. Kyle says he just wanted Sinestro's attention, to which Sinestro replies "Mission accomplished, alley rat!" before slamming Kyle into the ground. Sinestro removes his ring, as to not violate the truce, and fights Kyle one on one. By the way, when he removed it, the ring said "Fisticuffs enabled" which made me laugh so damn hard. Kyle and Sinestro duke it out, and after knocking Kyle down three times, Sinestro invokes the Mercy rule. After the fight ends, Kyle asks Sinestro to help him save Soranik again, and Sinestro tells him to do it himself. Kyle tells him that if Sinestro doesn't go, The Weaponer will kill Soranik, and Sinestro tells him he'd better figure out a new plan then. We then see Soranik, she wakes up on a couch and see's the Weaponer who is working not far from her. She tries to arrest him but he's already confiscated her ring. He tells her that he doesn't want to hurt her, she is merely bait for Sinestro. We soon see that the people of Qward were once the seat of power to the Anti-Monitor, and he had people who fought for him, and the people who made their weapons, were called the weaponers. He then talks about how Sinestro came to him to make a replacement power ring after losing his Green Lantern ring, and how he expected a Hero's reward for helping Sinestro. But Sinestro just brought war to the anti-monitor and the people of Qward. Years later Sinestro returned to Qward and enslaved it's people to make him more Yellow Rings for the Sinestro Corps. Since someone had to bear the blame and the Weaponer made the first ever yellow ring, he was exiled from his people. He finally was able to bring the fight to Sinestro after finding a mysterious white Net, the same recently created by Deadman with his White lantern ring, the net allows him to conjure any weapon he can imagine. Back with Kyle, he goes to Oa to recruit help from fellow Lanterns to save Soranik. Back with Soranik she tells The Weaponer she doubts Sinestro will come but he's adamant that he will. When his machines announce someone is coming, Soranik tries to grab her ring from where it's being kept but takes a huge shock for her troubles, knocking her unconscious. The Weaponer runs out to fight expecting to see Sinestro but is greeted by Kyle, John Stewart. Ganthet, Boodikka and Hannu. The issue ends as The Weaponer gets ready to take on the five Green Lanterns. This was another solid issue, I'm sure Sinestro will show up but I'm wondering if it will lead to a team up with him and Kyle or what will happen. As always the story was cool and the art was beautiful, but not much happened between this issue and the last. I'll give this issue an 8/10.

Sinestro's Ring: Fisticuffs Engaged. (Why...is that even a setting?)

Green Lantern #59

Green Lantern, featuring The Flash. Somewhere in the world, X-Man75 just got heartburn. Anyway, GL starts off with with two injured men being tended two by two paramedics in the back of an ambulance, the ambulance crashes and as one paramedics tries to climb out of the wreckage, he's met by the Indigo Tribe and Black Hand, who speaks on their behalf. The paramedic, Shane Thompson, is then chosen by the Indigo Entity, Proselyte. Over in Livonia, Michigan, Hal tells Barry he has everything under control, and Barry disagrees since a young teenage girl has been possessed by an Alien entity. Barry complains that Hal has been running with Sinestro and not him, I guess he's jealous. When Hal plays the Parallax card and tells Barry he wasn't there to see him when Parallax took over and made him kill his fellow Lanterns and friends, and that this is his responsibility. Over on Oa, Salaak is snitching on Hal because he believes he's up to something, and he may be possessed by Parallax again. The Guardians tell him to send the Alpha-Lanterns to Earth to investigate what Hal Jordan has been up to. Salaak tells them that the Alpha-Lanterns are still recovering from their run-in with Cyborg-Superman in Green lantern Corps' last arc, so Salaak recommends sending someone from outside of the Corps to track Hal. Back on Earth, Barry keeps acting like Hal's wife and nagging him, until Hal brings up Green Arrow. Barry says that's the last person he should look for approval from since he's a murderer. From there he says he didn't like Ollie because he changed Hal, so yeah, in other words he was jealous. Flash then says he's not the only one that thinks Hal is making a mistake, he's just the first on there cause he's the fastest. Saint Walker tells Barry that he should wear the Blue Ring again so he can understand where their coming from. Soon after that, the Indigo Tribe shows up with their entity in their new host, and also have Black Hand, who they claim to have reformed by giving him compassion. Barry interrupts and tells Hal to stop teaming with Villains and team with him, Batman and Superman, and that they're on the way. Oh no, the heroes are on the way, you're in trouble now Hal! Hal ignores Barry and asks if the rings make them feel compassion, if they were all murderers before they put on the rings. The entity Adara looks inside and notices the Indigo rings make them feel emotions and they don't have their own. The Indigo Lanterns get upset and threaten to take all the entities themselves if they won't team up with them. Their interrupted by the mysterious figure and Parallax, who takes control of one of the bystanders, I won't say who, but the next issue should be interesting. This was an alright issue, I really only cared for the ending and that's about it. I'll give this issue a 6/10 rating, here's hoping the next issue goes all out and has a hell of a fight.

The Flash: Once again Hal, stop digging yourself into this hole. It's going to turn into a grave.

Well everyone one, that's it for me. Hopefully next week's Ratings and Rantings will be done before the weekend. I work this week from 7-3, including Thanksgiving so if it's late, that's my excuse haha. But I'll try my best, also an early Happy Thanksgiving from me to you guys. And lastly, don't forget to vote on the new weekly poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Time on Ratings and Ratings

Action Comics #893, Batman Beyond #6, Gotham City Sirens #17, Generation Lost #14, Amazing Spider-Man #649 and Deadpool #29.

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here with your weekly dose of Comic Content Comments, that's right baby, Ratings and Rantings! We've got a nice pull this week so hopefully I'll be saying good things about these comics. I actually forgot to put up a new poll last weekend, so my apologies. I'll have a new poll this weekend as well as the Top Five 5. So near the end of the article you can see the five topics and hopefully you guys will participate. So, let's get this party started.

Superman/Batman #76

Superman/Batman #76 is written by Judd Winnick, and as some of you know I'm a big fan of Judd due to his fantastic work with Jason Todd. We start things off with Lois Lane, awaiting Clark after the battle that we know as Final Crisis. Superman arrives home so quickly and silently that Lois doesn't realize it first, but she sees the Man of Steel, obviously sad and starts to try to comfort him. On the next page we see Superman tell Lois that Bruce is dead. From there we see Robin and Nightwing, that's right, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson trying to keep things stable while awaiting Bruce's return when we see Superman and Wonder Woman show up, with Supes holding what we believed to be Bruce's bones in his arms. We see Dick break down, and demand to see the body, which we would later find out isn't Bruce's body and Dick was right. Meanwhile, Tim didn't say a word which I found odd considering he's been the advocate for believing Bruce is alive for the last year. We then see Doctor Mid-Nite explaining how it's Bruce's body and the Omega Beam killed him... WRONG. Man, he thought that was Ollie's corpse that one time, now he's wrong about Bruce's corpse... someone revoke that man's license. From there we see Superman staring at the body and thinking back to the funeral of his own adoptive Father, Johnathan Kent. After the autopsy Grayson says he wants to take the body home for a funeral as Tim cries in the background, still not saying a word. We then see Clark dressing for the funeral, telling Lois that hes going to Bruce's funeral, and that it's core members of the league only, and no uniforms because that's what Dick wanted. One of my favorite parts was when Clark went to leave he left his glasses behind, and Lois reminded him, and he said he didn't leave forget them, it's no uniforms. That was a great moment because we often forget that Superman is who he is and Clark is his facade. At the funeral we see the speech Dick made originally about letting the legacy of Batman and the fear he's instilled live on. We also see Superman think about how things went when he met Batman for the first time. As the funeral ends we fast forward to seeing Superman in space, listening to all the news reports of the world with his super-hearing, and catching wins that Scarecrow was caught in Gotham by Batman. Next we see Superman with Wonder Woman, she guesses that Batman is Dick, which Supes confirms. When he looks uneasy she asks what's wrong and Superman replies "All of it. All of it is wrong." Next we see Superman confront Dick, basically telling him to honor his legacy but not as Batman, to which Dick says he doesn't want to be Batman but the world needs a Batman. Superman gets REALLY upset at Batman and gives the line of the issue which you can read below the review for it's full impact. The rest of this issue was great, It was nice to see the other side of what happens, and Judd wrote Superman fantastically. Every decision, everything about it made sense for Superman. I can honestly say that if Judd Winnick wrote Superman I'd be on board. As for this issue, this is definitely one of my favorites. I'd say it may be my second favorite issue of Superman/Batman right behind issue #26 which was dedicated to Sam Loeb and Starred Superboy and Robin. But I'm getting off track, this issue deserves a 10/10, outside of Tim not saying anything after Bruce died this comic was perfect, and it wasn't about Tim so I can't fault them for that. Also I'd recommend this issue to anyone, whether they love the series or not.

Superman: You knew him. Better than anyone. Better than me. And you know... his disguise was Bruce Wayne. He was Batman. You're parading around in his skin. You're going to take it off.

Power Girl #16

Our issue starts with our heroine Power Girl being beaten up by a gloved figure. PG tells us about all ther powers she has a a Kryptonian and how she's STACKED (No pun intended...well okay, pun intended) with Super Powers. She then wonders why she keeps getting her butt kicked, which is a damn good question. PG keeps fighting the scuba suit wearing foe, but can't seem to shift the tide of the fight in her favor. She eventually goes from Power to Pissed Girl and just starts beating the hell of the guy. She eventually pulls the guy's mask off but we don't get to see his face before we switch over to seeing Karen Starr, PG's alter ego. We see her employee Nicco accusing her of being Power Girl, well hell she's either PG or Pamela Anderson is... Karen laughs in his face and tries to play it off, but Nicco pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot on three. He gets the "Thr" out before Karen changes into her PG costume and takes the gun away from him at lightning speed. She takes the gun and he reveals it's a Vacuum Cleaner for the most part, and he pulled a fast on on Peej. They argue and judge one another, Nicco for saying PG was a fraud and PG bringing up Nicco's past as a cyber thief. He eventually walks away, and when Peej calls out to him as Nicco he says it's Nicholas, seemingly saying they're no longer friends. Next we see PG and Batman (Dick Grayson) as he tries to find the woman that embezzled from Karen's company. Due to Dick's technical expertise due to all his years learning from Bruce, he quickly helps put Power Girl on the trail of her embezzler, Donna Anderson. Donna is found on the floor in her bra (who could give Peej a run for her money, okay I'm done.) and has overdosed on drugs. Power Girl realizes that Donna didn't do it because the facts don't add up, and she expects foul play. She asks Nicholas for help, and after some hesitation he agrees. She takes him to a new lab she had made, and tells him it's his. He asks why can't Batman help, and she says who do you think built the place, then replies that he's busy and she needs someone full-time. The issue soon ends after that, giving us a hint that we may find out who scuba suit man is next issue. This was another solid issue of Power Girl. and helped further some storylines, It was a good read, nothing amazing but far from bad, I'll give it an 8/10.

Batman: Did you have any indication that she might try to pull something like this?

Power Girl: Of course, Dick. She kept going on and on about her plans to embezzle millions of dollars from my company but I never put it together.

Titans #27

This cover is very simple but very well done, and Cheshire has some damn sharp nails... Anyway, the issue starts with the team that took care of the Titans in the last issue being introduced by their boss. Deathstroke goes after the biggest guy first but can't take him down as easily as he planned. Next we see Roy Harper as he thinks to himself how Speedy, Arsenal, and Red Arrow are just names and masks he used and they all covered the same lying face, and the biggest lie was him being a hero. He even says he's a Titan again, something he swore he'd never do, all because of Cheshire, because he owes her for what happened to Lian, even though we all know it's not his fault. He then thinks about how much he's gonna enjoy helping Cheshire murder Slade. Roy then finds the place where kids are being harvested in pods for energy like something out of The Matrix. He tries to break one out but the kid gets zapped and cooked or something. Ever the drug addict, Roy then wonders what the drug the kids are being made into tastes like. Oh Roy, you love your drugs don't you! Anyway, Roy is attacked from behind by a furry villain, imagine a gray version of Beast from the X-Men. Meanwhile, Orisis sees a vision of his sister since one of the villains shot him up with Bliss in the last issue. In his vision he learns he has to do things to bring back his sister, which we already knew due to Brightest Day. They alluded the rest of the Marvels and Black Adam family may have to as well, so that's cool. Then his sister turned into a blackened evil version of herself, and Osiris attacks it, not knowing it was Slade. Slade then passes the buck onto one of the enemies and Osiris kills him, since he's an idiot and stuff. Back with Roy, Gray Beast is kicking the crap out of him, Roy says he's moving in slow motion because he needs a fix but he can't allow another child to die. Roy subdues Gray Beast and knocks him into a power generator, which knocks off the power, allowing him to save the kids. About time you got priorities Roy. Meanwhile the rest of the Titans kill the other enemies, as Roy comes out with the kids. They leave and Roy is visibly shaking due to his addiction, Jade is surprised that Slade wanted to save kids until she sees him carrying out a body and realizes it was all about him getting what he came for. Osiris later sees that Isis' statue has more cracks and realizes that he has to kill people to bring her back, he doesn't want to but he seems to be thinking about it. We then see some guy and his son sitting on the couch, I'd guess that's one of the kids Deathstroke and the Titans saved or something but to be honest I don't know. We then see Roy looking for his drugs which are gone, we see Cheshire walk in holding them and tells Roy don't let the drugs control him. Roy replies they don't and she says she has something to satisfy his hunger and drops the sheet wrapped around her body. So... the issue ends on the next page, and we see Slade has a plan as well. Well this was pretty crappy, Roy wants drugs, Jade obviously wants another kid by Roy, and Slade has plans to control Roy. Big whoop, the only interesting thing was Osiris having to kill people and that's not all that interesting. This was a pretty lackluster issue so I may drop this series if the next arc isn't good, I'll give it a 4/10.

Cheshire: It's really killing you, isn't it? The hunger? Something's gotta satisfy it. I've got something... far more addictive. (She means SEX, Roy... well she means something else but I'll just say sex...)

The Flash #5

I was gonna drop Flash from my comic list but after the last issue I changed my mind, so I'm hoping this issue wasn't a mistake in picking up. Things start off with Flash and Top discussing what they have to do to save Flash's wife and Top's teammate of the Renegades by stopping the Rogues from breaking the "In case of Flash Return, Break Glass" glass. Back at the glass, the Rogues our facing their Renegade counterparts, all except Captain Boomerang who has no counterpart considering how lame a Boomerang is as a weapon. Meanwhile, Mirror Master is about to break the glass and unleash the Mirror Lords, one of which will possess Isis and make her one of Barry's biggest enemies, when Flash swoops up and and punches him. Mirror Master breaks into a bunch of tiny pieces of glass then shows up on Flash's wingtips which he apparently keeps nice and shiny... okay then. Trickster uses his remote thing to turn up the police scanner Flash apparently has built into the wingtips to try to subdue Flash, who rips them out. He's then thrown around by Wind and tornadoes thanks to Weather Wizard. Top reverse the tornado to stop it and help Flash out, then falls to the ground. The Renegades move in to try to arrest Top and Flash, and on the other side toe Rogues move in to try to kill Top and The Flash. Captain Boomerang tries to walk up and do something but the White Lantern symbol shines on his chest and causes a bright flash. Digger's pupil turns into the white Lantern symbol and says if he wants to stay alive he has to throw the Boomerang at Dove, which we see, and it looks like it takes place in Green Arrow's Star-wood forest, then we see his pupil turn into the Black Lantern symbol. Interesting. Boomer then starts throwing Boomerangs everywhere as the Rogues and Renegades duck for cover. One of the Boomerangs causes a crack in the mirror, which shows something has changed since originally Mirror Master broke the mirror. Top tells Flash that Flash has the power to stop the Mirror Masters and to do so, while Top tries to hide Iris and keep her safe. Flash tries to hold hip but Top spins, and knocks Barry through the giant mirror. While in the mirror, Barry see's is mother but realizes it's all just reflections that aren't real and breaks away. He then sees that the Mirror Masters have gotten free and disappeared while he's been caught by the Renegades. The end of this issue was a nice swerve that I didn't expect. The issue was also pretty action packed and left me wondering how Flash will try to get away from the Renegades in the next issue. This was another solid issue although nothing really happened until the end, but it wasn't bad at all. I'd give this issue a 8/10.

Captain Cold: So you're The Top from the 25th century, huh? I killed The Top from this era. I can kill another.

Green Lantern Corps #52

Aww the tagline on this issue is Immortal Combat, isn't that cute. Things start off with Boodikka commenting about how there are no better comrades she's rather have at her funeral, referring to Hannu, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Soranik Natu. She returns the three Lanterns that wear their rings powers and Soranik tells the others that Boodikka is dying and she can't do anything to help since Boodikka's all machine at this point. John steps up, since he's an architect he rigs up something to hold her together. There was a funny like where Hannu said he doesn't wear his ring but when he sees what John can do with his he thinks maybe he should. Meanwhile, Ganthet is trying to reverse the Alpha Lantern procedure of Horoq Nnot since he's being made to by Cyborg-Superman, aka Cyberman as I call him. The procedure works, she's still got a robot like shell but apparently she's back to her original state of mind. Cyberman is happy, but that angry happy that only a crazed Cyborg can have, and demands that Ganthet do the procedure on him next. A huge earthquake then occurs, and Cyberman tries to check in with Alpha Lantern Boodikka, when she doesn't reply he sends the rest of the Alpha Lanterns to find her. They soon see that One Billion Grendans are attacking, loyal to fellow Grendan and Green Lantern Stel, and the attack is being led by Hannu, Kyle, John and Soranik. Cyberman uses his influence and powers to stop all Billion of the Grendans since their robotic life forms, but it's taking a strain on his mind. Soranik heads on to find Stel and Ganthet as Hannu goes after the Alpha Lanterns. Soranik finds Ganthet, he's charging his ring and trying to reassemble Stel. Back outside Kyle and John attack Cyberman, but are fought off easily, until Stel, Ganthet and Soranik show up to help them out. They destroy Cyberman's body, and he tries to take another one, that of Boodikka. I loved this scene, and seeing Boodikka again, and not her robotic form. The ending of this issue was interesting, I'm wondering what happens to Hank Henshaw from here, as well as the rest of the Corps. This was a really great issue, probably the best since Tony Bedard has taken over. I'll give this issue a 10/10, it was great and I can't wait to see what's next for the Green Lantern Corps.

Boodikka: On the way here, John Stewart ordered him not to kill any Alpha's. Hannu just laughed. I, too, would laugh--If I still had a diaphragm.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #16

House of Hush starts with this issue and I couldn't be happier, I'm a big fan of Hush, Hush Vol. 1 and 2 are some of my favorite comics ever. We see Hush as Bruce Wayne, pleading Jane Doe's case to the Arkham Asylum board trying to get her freed from the asylum. Turns out the board denied his request, and Manhunter tells him he's lucky because if they had released Jane, she would have killed both Hush and Jane on the spot. We see that the Tweeds, Humpty Dumpty, and Lock-Up have all been freed thanks to Hush's actions while masquerading as Bruce Wayne. Hush realizes that he has to come up with a better plan now that he's failed in releasing Jane Doe from Arkham. We then see Jane and a guard that apparently connects with Jane, so this may translate to something later in the issue. We then see Mr. Pierce, the man from two issues ago that vowed to kill Bruce Wayne, eating at some restaurant. His goons ask him why he wants to kill Bruce, and we find out he wants to as revenge against his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne. We see that he used to work with Martha's dad, after he died, Mr. Pierce tried to bribe Martha with sixty thousand dollars to walk away from the Thompkins Medical Clinic. She refuses, and he calls her out on being turned down by the Elliot's, and says maybe Thomas Wayne will by her sob story if he's sober long enough to listen. Martha then takes the money as a donation for the clinic, and gives Pierce a receipt before waking away. I liked this because Martha showed that Lois Lane-like personality of not being pushed around, even daring to take the money from the gangster, but as a donation and not a bribe, keeping her convictions. Meanwhile, Hush is made to appear at a party as Bruce Wayne, and this time he's being watched over by Zatanna who will act as his date. We got a very interesting back story on Bruce, Zatanna and Thomas Elliot since they all knew each other as kids. There was another scene where Hush pretty much mockingly professed his love as Bruce for Zatanna in an interview, just to bother Zatanna who we all know has a crush on Bruce. While passing a TV, Zee and Hush see that Jane Doe has caused a riot at Arkham while attempting to break out while wearing the guard she talked to earlier in the comic's skin. Alfred assures Zee that Dick and Damian are on their way to Arkham to stop the riot. Zee decides to go to help while Alfred drives Thomas home, but their limo is soon knocked into a light pole by another car. The issue ends soon after that but I'm sure you can guess who was in the other car if you think hard. Anyway, this issue was cool, but the art really hurt it. I couldn't tell what the hell the mobster guys were eating, I didn't even know who Zatanna was until they said her name, and from afar Jane Doe's head looks like an apple. Those are things that hurt the story for me, but besides that the issue was good. I'd give it a 7/10 rating.

Hush: We both know the only way for you and your pals to stop me for good is to kill me, and a big part of me wishes you would. I'd die happy knowing my murder was on your snow-white consciences.

Justice League: Generation Lost #10

This issue starts off with a view of the future courtesy of the White Lantern light, we see Magog as he hunts down an unwilling to fight Parasite. Magog is with a team known as the Magog's Justice Brigade, featuring Judomaster, a new Captain Atom I believe and some other very aggressive heroes. Magog continually bullies and pushes around Parasite until he attacks him back. Parasite attacks the Captain Atom and causes him to explode, killing millions in seconds. This then causes the war we know as Kingdom Come. We see that the White Lantern Light wants Max Lord to kill Magog, stopping the war that will one day start. From there we see Magog with Max, as Max is apparently giving Magog's lance an upgrade. Max has brought on Magog to try to kill Captain Atom, which confuses me because it seems like that would jump start the war, but maybe that's what Max wants. From there we see the JLI learning from Skeets that the day he returned Max relaunched four dormant Checkmate cells, so the gang thinks to check those. Skeets also reveals that he downloaded all of Checkmate's files, way to go Skeets! Later on, Fire confronts Ice about leaving the team. We see that Ice changed her mind because she wants to be around to help Fire since she can't live with herself if anything happened to Beatrice. I loved this because it was a nice moment between the only two that are friends outside of the team. Next up we see a fantastic scene with Batman, showing Alfred a picture of Max Lord's neck being snapped by Wonder Woman, Alfred only sees a bunch of pictures of people named Max Lord that aren't our Max, and that's what Batman sees too, although he doesn't believe that's what he should be seeing. Leave it to Batman to be a true genius. Power Girl surprisingly shows up and tells Batman that she saw a man named Max when she fought C.R.A.S.H. in the last Power Girl arc. (Not this weeks.) PG says that maybe Booster is telling the truth about Maxwell Lord, and Batman agrees. Batman goes to call in Martian Manhunter, The Green Lanterns, Superman and Flash but immediately forgets what he was doing, thanks to Max of course. PG then says she needs help finding one of her ex-employees (See Power Girl review above.) That was a fun moment because I found myself happy that the JLI had some help, then they lost all hope in a matter of seconds. We then see the team has split up with Fire, Ice and Rocket Red checking an "active" hideout in China, and Booster, Captain Atom and Beetle are in Chicago. Red feels through his Mecha Empathy that there are computers below the floor, so he lifts up a hatch and Red, Fire ad Ice head below.The end of the issue had a team pop up I did not expect, not the biggest threat but they can be if used right. I thought this was another well done issue of JL Gen Lost and I'll give it a 9/10 rating. Great issue, great appearances by PG and Batman and of course, the always needed continuity!

Max Lord: Batman is a lightning rod for psychotics. He's like a naked broad walking into a room full of rapists.

Magog: So you're not a fan.

Max Lord: Batman tries to contribute to the greater good, but his methods in the end cause much more harm.

Well that's all for today folks, but luckily we had a pretty good pull this week. I'm hoping you guys enjoyed my reviews as much as I enjoyed typing them up. For those that want to participate in the Top Five 5 this weekend, be sure to send me your top five picks for each category at KevinKavalier@gmail.com so send those in as soon as possible. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger man, Jason Todd!

Top Five Characters you wish would be Amalgam'd (for Paul)
Top Five Characters you'd like to see turn evil/good
Top Five Characters you'll never be a fan of
Top Five Characters that need their own Series
Top Five Characters you'd assemble for an all Female Team

 Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #893, Gotham City Sirens #16, Green Arrow #4, Teen Titans #87, Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3,

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, it's that time again for a little rating and a lot of ranting! Jason Todd welcoming you guys once again to my Red Hood for another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This is a HUGE week with ten, count it, TEN reviews! I can't review Green Arrow #2 because I mistakenly put it in Falisha's bag when we left the comic shop, so once again, a comic has been bumped to next week. Everything else is on schedule though, so I'm gonna try to keep this entertaining and not boring for you guys. Also I wanna thank Falisha for the AMAZING banner she made for the site, so thanks again Ms. Falisha for the great work! So in the words of a wise man, from The Black Eyed Peas, "Let's get it started...Ha!" (And yeah... he actually does say Ha, I wasn't laughing.)

Batman: Widening Gyre #6

If you thought the Flash: Rebirth mini took forever, you must've not been following Widening Gyre! Issue one came out August 2009.... It'll be August 2010 next week! So, if you're having trouble, do what I did and check out my reviews of issues four and five for a bit of a refresher. This issue gets underway with Bruce and Silver Sable heading to a special place, and that special place is somewhere Bruce had to have gotten permission from the Man of Steel to use, and it surprised me. It seems outta character for Bruce, yet Bruce is in love so it kinda makes sense he'd do things he wouldn't normally do. Smith is also very good at the banter he does between his characters, as it comes off real and not forced. The things that followed also blew my mind, but this being the Batman mythos I know not to read into them to much. As for finding out what Silver's nickname for Bruce meant... man that was uncomfortable haha. especially for Alfred. Bruce's paranoid mind of course made him do something stupid, but can you blame the guy? Either way, I couldn't help but laugh at the way he confronted Silver while she was being dropped off by Alfred. Some of the dialogue was so out of character for Batman it was just weird, Bats would NEVER admit to someone what he did to Baphomet, not even Dick or Tim. The surprise appearances by Deadshot and Catwoman made me more into the comic since I was kind of losing touch after Batman's embarrassing statement to Baphomet. The dialogue with Deadshot was fun, I love that he's become such a good comedy character but is still taken seriously for the most part. After some more crime fighting and an interesting Catwoman moment, Batman and Baphomet talk, and Baphomet mentions (just like Jason Todd) that Bats could kill these criminals and save more lives than sending them to the revolving doors of Arkham Asylum. The comic ends with Batman, trusting Baphomet and bringing him into the Batcave. There he unmasks and... I will not ruin it for you. But that was the most shocking thing I've read in a while... I didn't see that coming at all. The story was solid, and this volume, although it took forever, was amazing. Even with the weird out of character moments, I gotta rate this comic a 9/10.

Silver: So... the JLA, what? Just gives you guys a giant dinosaur when you join?

Bruce: I had mine before it was trendy.

Deadpool #25

Deadpool #25, in 3-D!!!! It even includes 3D glasses and tells you how to put them together, and make glue in case you don't have any, but do happen to own an old horse and a blender. And I'm so serious by the way, it actually says that. OH MY GOSH!!! It's Blind AL! Somewhere X-Man is smiling while wearing his Nate Grey T-Shirt that he made himself because no one sells Nate Grey T-shirts. :P Anyway, Weasel runs to Blind Al, via telephone, and tells her how Deadpool has ruined his life recently. She tells him to basically be happy that's all he's done and to run away and never look back. Weasel, like the idiot he is, decides he's gonna show up our Crimson Comedian and take back his city. Meanwhile, Deadpool as The House whose supposed to be Weasel, stages a robbery, so that Weasel, Wildcard whose supposed to be Deadpool would try to stop him. Weasel eventually defeats Deadpool, or so it seems, making everyone think that Deadpool beat Weasel since, ya know, they switched suits last issue. Anyway, Deadpool pops up, ruining Weasel's plans once again, because he's Deadpool baby! Weasel thinks Deadpool is going to kill him, but since he's turned over his new heroic leaf, Deadpool tells Weasel he's here to help. The story ends maybe two pages after that in a really lackluster way. The whole story was confusing and nothing really happened. The bonus story was alright, oh and only the cover was in 3D, so yeah. I'll give this issue a 5/10.

Materials Needed for putting together 3-D Glasses:

1. A blade (non-rusty), sword, scissors or comparable cutting utensil.

2. Glue (if you have glue, skip to step 5)

3. Old or Lame horse

4. A big Blender

5. A steady hand (non-severed)

Green Lantern Corps #50

Two issues down, eight more to go. I should really be getting paid for this... Yeah right. My writing isn't worth twenty five cents, Canadian. Haha, well that aside, I know I say it very month but I LOVE the art in Green Lantern Corps. Clearly one of the best looking comics out today. The stubble on Kyle's face has more definition than the entire bodies of people in some comics. Anyway, we see Kyle racing to save John Stewart while Ganthet and Soranik take on the other Alpha-Lanterns. Cyborg-Superman is continuing his dastardly plans on John Stweart and sets up a mind link, causing John to see Cyborg-Superman's memories. They discuss the accident that turned him into what he is today, along with what happened to his wife and crew. Then we see how Cyborg-Superman has returned, after the events of the Sinestro Corps War and what he did during Blackest Night. This was a fantastic view into how Cyborg-Superman thinks and really made me appreciate his character, for that alone I'd recommend this issue. I really sympathized with him after reading what he did/thought during the Blackest Night storyline. We then see that all of this was done to lure Ganthet to Cyborg-Supes, which works as Ganthet distracts Cyberman (it's easier) and Kyle escapes with John. They meet up with Soranik and they decide to use their newly hatched plan to try to save Ganthet. This was a really strong issue of GLC. I know a little, but not a ton about Cyberman (upset it took me that long to shorten his name) but I really enjoy him here and his motive was very well done. I'd love to see more of him and this mysterious thing with Ganthet. Solid issue, 9/10 rating for this issue of Green Lantern Corps.

Kyle Rayner: Two former girlfriends died at the hands of my enemies. I'll be damned if that ever happens again.

 Detective Comics #867

This story starts innocently enough. Normal business man leaves home, kisses his wife and kid and heads to work. Then he cancels his meetings, goes to the mall, cracks open a tube, turns pale faced and magically looks like The Joker. Yep, normal. "The Jokerz" are running amuck, and we see Oracle tell Batman, who replies with "I have more important things to do..." while saving some people. Okay, I know Bats is busy, but for one, Batman would never say he's too busy if there's crime in Gotham. Secondly, it's daytime, So what's he even doing out?! And lastly, why not at least say, I'm busy, send Robin, Batgirl, Red Robin, Huntress or one of the other MANY Gotham vigilantes? So, I'm not gonna lie. There's a lot of comics on tap and this one didn't interest me enough, so I stopped reading it. Sorry if anyone was looking for a review on it but the re-hashed Batman Beyond "Jokerz" storyline is not something I wanna sit through, especially if I can't even have the "real" Joker. So, sorry once again, but I'll be skipping this issue and this arc. Rating is N/A.

Justice League: Generation Lost #6

A look into the history of Captain Atom kicks this issue of Gen Lost off. I actually never knew how he became Captain Atom so this was interesting. Jumping into current time, Booster wants to go after Max at the Checkmate HQ. Fire tries to talk him out of it, but when Captain Atom agrees it seems that's where their going. Then we see a flashback that takes place after the big explosion in issue one. Turns out Cap got blown through time or something, and his body has to acclimate before he can return to the present. While time traveling, Cap is asked to stay with a family instead of sleeping out in the wilderness, and he obliges. While staying with the family and talking Cap eventually notices half the moon is missing, blown to smithereens. Cap quickly finds out he's in the future, and upon mentioning Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and other heroes that things have changed. He's taken to meet "Old Karrie." On the way, we hear that Captain Atom feels like he's becoming more machine than man, and losing touch, He's afraid that he's going to outlive anyone, and much like Cyborg-Superman, feels alone. Eventually he meets up with Old Karrie and man, that shocked the hell outta me. The following conversation was haunting, and showed us why Captain Atom may be even more determined than Booster. This was an amazing issue, the last issue was filler, and this one kind of was but the way it was written, the determination and reasoning behind Captain Atom. This was a great issue, definitely one of my favorite so far and it deserves the 9/10 rating I'm giving it.

Old Karrie: STOP MAX! STOP HIM, NATE!! STOP MAX LORD!!!

Action Comics #891

This issue has a very nice and gritty cover, I love how that's portrayed to make Luthor's lab come off as a Doctor Frankenstein, evil genius. We start things off with Lex Luthor stealing fire, much like Prometheus (not the arrow-head one, the greek mythology one) and giving it to his people. We find out that this is a fantasy of Lex's that he believes is real thanks to Mister Mind. Next we see Luthor, in the persona of Dr. Frankenstein as I mentioned above, standing next to his dangerous creation with Lois Lane. They debate on whether the world is ready for such a powerful tool of destruction, and really did a good job of hyping the reveal, which caught me off guard. The conversation he has with Lois was extremely well done, and seemed to backfire on Mister Mind. All the while, Mister Mind talks to someone or something we can't see, and builds suspicion of who/what it may be. The fantasies are fun to see Lex in, it's like Lex + Return of Bruce Wayne, minus the terrible story. Seeing Big Blue walk into town was great, and I love how Superman was adapted to the timeline as well as his primary colors. Seeing Lex figure out what was going on, then confronting the parasite known as Mister Mind was a lot more unintentionally funny than it should've been but I loved it. The following "dream" I won't even ruin for you guys that haven't read it yet, other than Lex ripping his shirt open will forever be awesome due to this one page. The end of the Mister Mind fight was pretty funny as well, and Lex definitely moved up a few notches in my favorite character rankings after that. The end of the story made sense, and really answered a lot of questions I had from Titans as well. I thought this was a really well done issue, nothing mind-blowing but just very solid and fun, I'll give it a 8.5/10.

Mister Mind: If you go for your gun... I'll blow her mind!

The Flash #4

Okay, I thought maybe I was kinda harsh on the last issue of Flash, but even my buddy Kello, resident Flash fan, Fantastic Four fan, and Iced Tea consumer, ripped the last issue. I've decided if this series doesn't pick up by the time this arc finishes, which I believe is this issue, I'll drop this series and just jump in around Flashpoint, because the slow pacing of this storyline along with the lackluster story of it is a little hard to justify spending money on it when there's so many other comics I enjoy. Anywho, issue four kicks off with the Rogues sitting around watching the news report about Captain Boomerang breaking out. He talks with Flash while flinging Boomerangs, then takes down a helicopter as Flash races to save the passengers. Meanwhile the future Rogues a.k.a. the Renegades team up with Flash to take on Boomer. Heatstroke and Top have a heated (no pun intended) discussion about whether what their doing is right, ad Top decides to warn Barry of the future, an act punishable by death. Top tells Barry he wants to stop him from committing murder by telling him what's going to cause it in the future, by telling him what happens to Iris. The act that Top describes sounds genius, and definitely cements me into wanting to continue to read this series, just to see if it will in fact happen that way, or worse since Barry will obviously try to change it. This was a really good issue, action packed and the story really progressed instead of just lagging on like it has been. This is definitely the strongest issue of this series to date, and I'll continue to read on in this arc and I hope it maintains momentum, I'd give it an 8/10.

Captain Boomerang: Blimey, you folks from the future really don't know how to make your own identities, do ya? Reverse-Flashes. Reverse-Rogues. Please tell me ya don't got a Reverse-Captain-Boomerang on yer little odd squad.

Gotham City Sirens #14

The sensuous Sirens of South Gotham (not really, I just wanted another S-Word :P) are back again. Things get underway with Poison Ivy looking like a brittle dried out plant version of herself, picture Ivy mixed with Bizarro and sprinkled with a little Solomon Grundy. We then see Ivy in hr Dr. Irving persona and her new cohort, Alisa Adams explaining what they claim happened to the dehydration unit, when what actually happened was Alisa dropped the tube on Ivy and tried to blackmail her. We find out that Ivy is there to see how her predecessor caused these plants to grow at suck a huge size, something even Ivy can't do. Alisa tells her that there was a problem with the program and Ivy demands to see it. Meanwhile, our other Sirens, Catwoman and Harley Quinn are getting worried about Ivy since she hasn't checked in since heading to her new job. They decide to wait and not blow her cover mistakenly, so instead they head out on the town, in costume to run a few "errands." On the other side of town, Poison Ivy finds out shocking information about the studies of her predecessor, and the alien-plant thing he studied. The alien plant takes control of Ivy of course, since it was super predictable. Harley and Selina show up just in time looking for Ivy, and end up having to fight her. Seems like all the Sirens ever do is fight one another. This issue, thankfully ends soon after, I'm not a fan of this storyline, it's pretty boring and basically the same as every other Poison Ivy story except now she's not in control. Sirens is such a gamble because some issues are awesome, and others, like this, are just hard to make it through without predicting or being bored. I'll give this issue a 5/10.

Random Employee: Morgue's just ahead on your right, Dr. Irving.

Alisa: I'll never get tired of your pheromone trick.

Wolverine Origins #50

Um..... I could've sworn, the last issue said this was a four issue arc. Then I get this comic, and it's the series finale. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I just read this series from issue one, and got caught up around #47, and now it's over. Ah this sucks, as I really enjoyed Wolverine Origins, but I'm glad I got to read it and I wanna thank Daniel Way and the rest of the Wolverine Origins staff for writing such a great comic. Alright, let's end this. The first shot is of Wolverine, clearly confused after the last issue, wondering what caused him to shank Nick Fury. Logan uses a syringe Nick had on him, then see's his past loves again, telling him to let them go. They tell him to stop dwelling on their deaths and enjoy his own life. After that, Nick regains consciousness, and tells Logan what was in the syringe was basically a miracle cure they made from Wolverine's DNA, for emergency use only. Cloak and Dagger appear, and make Wolverine face the thing he's been running from all these years, himself. I'm not sure if that was real or more of his hallucinations. Wolverine finally comes to peace with himself and his past as this issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, I loved seeing Wolverine settle everything, and while I feel this was a bit of a too soon ending for such a great series, I wouldn't have wanted it to end any other way. I'm interested in seeing if this change for Wolverine remains and how it'll impact future storylines. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 and I recommend this series to any Wolverine fan, or any fan of good comics.

Wolverine: My name is Wolverine. I'm the best there is at what I do.

Green Lantern #57

Man Hector Hammond has a big ass head... he looks like a Sinestro bobblehead. Anyway, this comic starting off with Hector as an attractive Green Lantern beating up a bulbous-headed Hal Jordan makes me laugh way harder than it should. Hector's daydreaming is interrupted by the guards, and then the mysterious voice in his head that we've seen since Blackest Night. We get a glimpse of the mysterious guy, the same guy with a cloak that made an appearance in this months Green Lantern Corps. He helps free Hammond with control over some rats. There's also a very nice shot in this where you can see Hal and Carol in each of Hammond's eyes. We jump over to see Hal Jordan and a police officer, and learn that Larfleeze has broken into more than 70 places, along with his constructs and has been taken any and everything that's not nailed down. Hal goes to confront Larfleeze, who apparently claims to live on earth now. Larfleeze is writing a list for Santa Claus so he can give him what he asks for. Hal soon asks Larfleeze how he imprisoned his entity, so he, Sinestro and the others can imprison the remaining entities that are free on earth but is interrupted by Hector Hammond. He takes Larfleeze's lantern and wants to know how to release the entity inside of it. While trying to get the Lantern back from Hector Hammond, Hector invades Larfleeze's mind to find out what it is he wants. We then jump to Nanda Parbat and see Vic Sage, the former Question, laid to rest by The current Question, Renee Montoya and Saint Walker. They have a quick discussion about hope, and then the Blue Lantern entity, Adara, shows up as Saint Walker says "We will soon bear witness to a miracle." Back with Hal Jordan, Hector Hammond can't release the Orange entity, so he pulls a Rosie O'Donnell and just eats the lantern. After doing that he's able to see the location of every freed entity on earth, and the entity merges with Hector. Holy hell that looks creepy. This was another solid issue of Green Lantern, one of the most stable comics in terms of being good, I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Hal Jordan: Dammit, Larfleeze! I'm having a hard enough time with Hector digging into my brain for pinup shots of Carol! Call off your lanterns!

So that's all for this weeks jam-packed edition of Ratings and Rantings. Here's hoping you guys enjoyed this weeks, and are looking forward to next weeks edition. I'll be back this weekend with a new poll and a review of Batman: Under The Red Hood as well as the results of this weeks poll. Well until then, lemme know what you guys think, whether you agreed, disagreed or anything else, until next time, I'm your neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Green Arrow #2, Brightest Day #7, Red Hood: Lost Days #3, Red Robin #15, Superman: The Last Family of Krypton #1 of 3, Shadowland #2, Shadowland: Bullseye One-Shot, and Deadpool #1000.

Ratings and Rantings

It's that time again, the weekly review of comics by yours truly, so allow me to welcome you back to my Red Hood with another edition of Ratings and Rantings! Before we jump into the groove of things I want to make a few announcements.

The first announcement is this weekend I'll debut a new article called "The Top Five", and that will include five categories along with the top five choices for that category. So, I figure it may be boring if it's just my top five, so if anyone wants to participate in listing your top five, I'm going to name the categories at the bottom of the article. Then I'll have you guys send me your top five for each category, and we'll see how everything adds up. It's just something I figured would be fun to see how everyone thinks. The deadline for that will be Saturday at Noon Eastern time, so make sure if you want to take part, to send me what you think before Saturday afternoon since it'll be up that day.

The second announcement, This Sunday you guys can look forward to an Animated Movie Review. Which one? I haven't decided yet, but you guys will, because I'll allow you to vote for it, in this column at the bottom. So yeah, I'm turning up the heat on the blog, just trying to make it more enjoyable for everyone. Man this is a LONG opener, so let's get to some comics!

Action Comics #890

Action Comics is now about the former President of the United States and our favorite alien  hating bald man, Alexander "Lex" Luthor. Funny thing is it's not under the Brightest Day banner but the Blackest Night Aftermath banner. We start off seeing Lex hanging off of a building... well hanging by a building, yet he isn't worried at all about being dropped by the person who's holding him there, he just wants to know what their goal is. He then thinks about how this all started. Lex of course is being Lex and fired a dude then says spread rumors so he never works in this field again, and he does this right in front of the man. I'd say Lex had some hair on his boys if I didn't know he had alopecia. (That's loss of hair from the body FYI.) The guy attacks Lex and lets just say that doesn't work in his favor. Later Lex has dinner with a woman he calls Lois... It's damn sure not Lois Lane and if it is it'd gotta be a robot or something because come on dude. Lois would NEVER leave Clark for Lex. I'm going with a clone or a robot. So it turns out Lex wants a power ring, not just one but one of each if possible. It's funny seeing Lex's thoughts and he pictures everyone bowing to him from Supes, Batman, and Wonder Woman to Darkseid, The Joker and even Brainiac. The end was underwhelming only because of the reveal but other than that it was a very solid issue, I love Lex's character so I'm loving him taking over this comic, it should be interesting. This issue gets a 7.5/10.

Lex Luthor: I've made up my mind about the former employee who assaulted me. Would you kill him now, please?
 

The Flash #3

Isit just me or is this series going by REALLY slow? Especially when Gen Lost is bi-weekly this seems like it's taking forever. We jump in with Boomer getting checked out by the doctors after the guards beat the hell out of him in the previous issue. They beat him up some more after he fights back, then he magically forms a Boomerang, I'm guessing due to his "MYSTICAL RETURN FROM THE DEAD!!!!!" Or some crap. Anyway Barry lucks off because they believe he contaminated the scene like an amateur, because sure, he's THAT stupid.  Later, he meets with Iris and then he's attacked again by the Renegades. who show that their pretty awesome. They also allude to Iris West possibly committing some crime in the near future, around Flashpoint maybe? Dun dun dunnnn! Anyway this issue ends with a bit of a surprise, I'm just happy it didn't end the exact same way it did with one and two, with someone telling Barry Allen he was guilty for killing someone. It was an okay issue but nothing special, I'll give it a 5/10.

Captain Boomerang: Well now gents, looks like I got me some Get out of Jail free cards!

Batman Beyond #1 of 6

So the return of Terry McGinnis at last. After seeing him pop up in Superman/Batman Annual #4 as well as Batman #700 I gotta say I have pretty high expectations for this mini-series. This issue starts with Amanda Waller walking around Cadmus labs which was recently broken out of by someone, we aren't told who yet though. Those who watched Batman Beyond of the Justice League Unlimited cartoons will recall Terry and Waller have an amicable relationship after she announced to him that Bruce is genetically his biological father. Anywho we finally see Terry, with Bruce in ear of course, fighting crime, including the Spellbinder. Turns out Terry's been fighting crime in Gotham for 12 hours straight but can't catch a break. Our newer Batman is once again offered a spot in the JLA (referring to Batman Beyond Season 3) but turns it down, he's told the door is always open as he takes off in his Bat-Plane. The escaped man goes on to kill former Batman Villain, Signalman, and he's killed by being stabbed in the heart Twice, and the Throat Twice with Two different knives. Got any ideas yet? Well... I won't ruin it for you but I loved the ending. It was one of those things that's in your face and you don't even realize it. I thought this was a fantastic opening issue and although not perfect it was very close. I'll give it a 9/10.

Terry: Ace, Tell me he's not upstairs watching that Zorro DiGi again...

Bruce: I only watch that move once a year. Once.

Gotham City Sirens #13

Maggie Kyle gives a whole new meaning to the term "The Flying Nun" on this issue of Gotham City Sirens! That's be the solicitation if I were working for DC. Anyway, Selina tries to talk her crazy ass sister out of a fight but it doesn't work, so Selina and Harley both attack but are thwarted by the crazy nun chick that has the power of a demon or something. Yeah, it's not the easiest storyline to follow. The page that had Batman's Rogue gallery was very awesome to look at and was very well done. Harley's written very well, a few of her lines were hilarious but for a lot of this issue I just couldn't get into it. I mean as fast as that Nun chick was moving she could've cut Selina's throat twenty times. And the ending really... annoyed me. So I don't know where the Sirens go from here, but I'm not sure I'll be sticking around much longer to see if it doesn't improve. 4/10 rating for this issue.

Harley Quinn: Hey Sister Psycho! Here's something I owe ya!

Green Lantern #55

The return of Lobo. Oh hell's yeah Bastiches! I'm a fan of Lobo, and he's usually fun when he's around, minus that crap in 52 with him. And if the cover is right and he's fighting Atrocitus then this should be awesome. And... it has begun! Turns out an anonymous person has put out a bounty on Atrocitus and had "The Main Man" Lobo go after him. The two big men duke it out and the White Lantern tells Hal to help Atrocitus so he does. Hal makes the mistake of riding Lobo's "Fraggin" bike and hits Lobo with it. Lobo then gets beat up by Sinestro, so that's Sinestro, Hal, Carol and Atrocitus, man Lobo has some guts. Lobo breaks out of Carol's Hallucination Crystal, he then tells her what he really loves, which leads to her constructing a HUGE hand and slapping him. Eventually the four Corps members band together and Lobo takes off. We later find off why, and boy is it a good reason. All I'm gonna say is I can't wait to see what happens with The Main Man. Say what ya want about Geoff but this continues to be a solid series. The mini with Dex-Starr made this comic even better, I love his motivation for being with the Red Lantern Corps. I'll give this issue of Green Lantern a well deserved 10/10.

Sinestro: You sealed Lobo in your Hallucination Inducing Chrystal?

Carol: I thought it may sedate him. You've been encased in the Sapphire crystal before. It shows you your greatest love, which in your case I'd guess was a mirror.

Sinestro: Yes. A Mirror. How Humorous.

The Joker's Asylum: Clayface

This is the last issue of the second Joker's Asylum run. This time we get to see a story about Basil Karlo a.k.a. Clayface, called Mudnight Madness. Pretty nice title compared to some of the others. He attacks a kid at the movie theater who insults his work, because the kid was unaware that he was Karlo.  Afterwards we see a flashback to before Clayface became the mud monster he is today. He has an argument with his co-star who tells him no one remembers the guy who plays the monster, they just remember the star. Basil tells him that he disagrees and he'll prove it. Back in the present timeline Clayface is pissed off about his movie being used in a "shlockfest" so he rampages the movie theater until he comes upon someone dressed like his character. Clayface's description of how he was going to kill this guy was excellent. It was so chilling and descriptive that it really makes you think about how a guy like Clayface is the last person you wanna run into. The smoke shot of Batman was amazing, and his return to the theater after it's closed down was pretty cleverly written. This is the first Joker's Asylum of his run to heavily feature Batman instead of just having him in one or two pages and it really works here. The Joker's dialogue on the last page really comes off like The Clown Prince of Crime should be written. As you can see from all the text I thoroughly enjoyed this issue, while not as good as the Killer Croc or Penguin issues its still very well done and definitely made me want to see more Clayface in the future. I'll give this an 8.5/10.

Newspaper Headline: "Clayface Kills at The Box Office!" (Much like the Joker, I also love a good pun.)

Teen Titans Rant

I'm really starting to dread this comic now. There's no cohesiveness to the team, there's far too many members (TEN?!) and the storyline is so rehashed. They've been searching for Raven since Dick Grayson was a Teen Titan, now he's Batman. How do you justify her being SO powerful yet always getting kidnapped? And Beast Boy's boring as hell, with or without Raven now. I'd say the team needs to be Superboy, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, Static, Ravager, Aquagirl and Miss Martian. There's a perfectly well-rounded team. Anyway, due to all of those reasons, I've decided to drop this comic. Maybe I'll pick it up after this Raven arc ends to see where it goes from there but right now I'd rather just avoid it all than sit here and review a comic that I know I'll most likely dislike. So until they find Raven for the hundredth time, consider be dropping this comic. 

That's it for the reviews this week, hope you enjoyed it. As always comments and such are appreciated. So now, like I mentioned up top if anyone want's their selections to be included in this weekend's post, just send me your picks via email. I say email so we can keep it secret and have people surprised about the picks this weekend, but if you're lazy then you can post it in the comments. :P Alright then, remember to pick your top five (doesn't have to be in order) for each category and email me at kevinkavalier@gmail.com. The five Categories are:


5 Favorite Male Comic Characters
5 Favorite Female Comic Characters
5 Favorite Comic Writers
5 Favorite Ongoing Comic Series
5 Most Underused Characters


So, I'm awaiting these answers because I'd LOVE to see what everyone chooses and how many matches we have. So be sure to send those in before Noon Eastern Time on Saturday. Now, for the voting to see which Animated Film I'll review on Sunday. The voting stops Sunday morning so get your votes in asap, also since this poll is up, I'll throw the new weekly poll along with the results from this week's on Sunday as well. So happy voting, until next time, I'm your Friendly Neighborhood Blogger Man, Jason Todd.

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Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman & Robin #13 just to see how they explain this Joker thing, Brightest Day #5, Red Hood: Lost Days #2, and Red Robin #14.