Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with a your weekly collection of comic content comments. First things first, I saw that next week I'm only picking up two books, so I'm bumping Kick Ass 2 #3 and Superman Beyond #0 to next week so I at least have four books. Also,  this just so happens to be the final week of the DCU being the way we know it, because this Wednesday, Flashpoint ends and the DCU Changes. Babs becomes Batgirl again, Roy regains an arm, Dick loses the cowl, Superman loses his marriage and many more changes, so with this as the final week of the DCU until it's retconned or something, let;s take a look at the final DCU Comics in this timeline, starting off with the final issue of Gotham City Sirens!

Gotham City Sirens #26

We start things off with Harley and Ivy attacking Catwoman, who immediately goes on the offensive. Batman shows up and tells Gordon to let the girls fight this out for ten minutes, as it's between them and surprisingly Gordon allows it. Selina holds her own until she finds out it's hammer time, courtesy of Harley. Once they have Selina down, Ivy says Selina shouldn't be surprised since she betrayed two women that saved her, but Catwoman laughs and says she's the one who saved them. She basically says that Batman was pulling the strings and got them all together with a master plan that maybe they'd do good in Gotham. Harley says what Selina's saying makes sense but Ivy still thinks she's lying. Catwoman then says she basically kept then out of Arkham until they forced her hand, and that she helped them because she thinks their both better than that and can do more for Gotham outside of Arkham. Once finding out Batman was pulling the strings, Poison Ivy gets upset and starts destroying buildings and such, demanding Batman come face her. Bats shows up but Catwoman buys Harley and Ivy some time to escape, as the two go their own ways, setting up for their new roles in the DCnU. The issue ends soon after with Catwoman getting ready to take on Bats to give her friends a head start. Well this was... something. The ending just came off weird for me here, it wasn't bad and I'm sure it was rushed due to the situation DC has but it felt forced and odd, I just couldn't enjoy it like I wanted to, so I'll give it a 6/10.

Catwoman: I kept you free. Until you forced me to put you in Arkham.

Teen Titans #100

We start this issue with the Teen Titans and the former Teen Titans taking on Superboy Prime and his Terror Titans. After a few are taken care of like Indigo, Sun Girl and the Zookeeper, Cassie attacks Prime. While those two duke it out, Kid Flash grabs Inertia and runs around trying to kill him until he's stopped by Raven. This story was so rushed it shouldn't have even been done. Plus the fact that's not the real Inertia bothers me endlessly. Anyway, we cut over to Superboy taking on the clones, when he tells Ravager to go grab the box from his room we saw a few issues ago, and she grabs it to find a sharp piece of Kryptonite. She stabs one of the Superboy clones with it, then gives it to Robin who looks joyed to kill a Kryptonian with a piece of Kryptonite. After getting rid of everyone else, all of the Titans attack Prime at once, because, it's not like he killed a bunch of Titans and Outsiders and was stronger than Superman. Once he's been defeated, Conner decides there's only one place that can hold Prime, and he and Supergirl put Prime in the source wall, his own personal hell. Well, that's a let down, Prime was an A-Lister now he's beaten by a bunch of Teenagers. Afterwards, we see Conner and Ravager talking, and he tells her if he goes crazy he needs someone like her to put him down, and she has her feelings hurt because she thinks Conner see's her only as a murderer. Aww, poor murderous Rose. The issue ends soon after with Raven and Beast Boy kissing and the Teen Titans posing, well alright. This was a big let down in my opinion, as Prime was amde to look like a chump. Superboy beat up the Teen Titans by himself, there's no way four Superboy clones plus Prime AND a team of equally matched Titans should've been destroyed so easily. I'd give this issue a 3/10 rating.

Robin: You have no idea what cutting loose is, Red Robin. But I'd like to see that.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #5

We start things off with Batman taking it to The Architect, Dillon May. Meanwhile, under Kane bridge, Black Bat and Robin are trying to disarm the bomb that was planted there by The Architect. With a plan forged by Cassandra, she and Damian detonate the bombs safely away from the bridge, keeping everyone safe. After the bridge is safe, Batman subdued the Architect and explains that the Gates went made from the suit, and extended use caused extreme decompression sickness which pretty much drove the Gates insane. After proving this, Batman asks how long Dillon has been in the suit, which enrages Dillon causing him to break free of Batman's bind. He dives at Batman but Bats removes Dillon's Helmet before cracking him across the face with it. We later see Dick checking in with Bruce via satellite, and explaining "Dillon May" was an alias and the Architect was actually Zachary Gate. Bruce commends Dick on his work and says with enough time he'll be an even better Batman than Bruce. The issue ends soon after with Bruce announcing he's coming home to see Dick and Damian soon and to have a talk, and a quick flashback shows Nicolas Gate being sent to Arkham with Alan Wayne still trying to help his former friend. Well... another rushed issue, it was fine but the Dillon May reveal was pretty obvious, hell X-Man75 pointed it out like three issues ago. I'd give this issue a 6.5/10.

Bruce: I never doubted it Dick. Given enough time I'm sure you'd make an even better Batman than me.

Batman: Arkham City #5

The final issue of the comic mini that bridged the gap between Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. We start things off with Batman finding more info on Hugo Strange, and we also see the biggest damn Robin I've ever seen in my life. I swear this Robin looks like Captain Atom in a Robin costume. Batman realizes he can't go after Hugo since he's hiding in plain sight, so he decides to confront him as Billionaire Bruce Wayne instead. At a press conference, Bruce makes it known that four years ago Hugo Strange vanished from Arkham Asylum, and now he's supposed to be in charge of Arkham City. But Huge plays it like a politician and says inept doctors made mistakes, but more importantly why does a rich playboy care about a Doctor he's never met? Bruce quickly replies that he doesn't think the criminals of Arkham City will stay in Arkham City for very long, especially with Strange in charge of things. Hugo stands by his guns and says that Arkham City has no weaknesses, and unless Wayne wants to expose any secrets, he has nothing else to say to him. After Arkham City opens, Zsasz is allowed to escape only to be caught, as to kill any fears of the people of Gotham. As the issue comes to a close we see Catwoman, as well as many villains in their new environments, carving a niche in Gotham and Arkham City, including Two-Face, Penguin, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, Harley Quinn and of course The Joker, as Strange thinks to himself how he's aware that Batman and Bruce Wayne are one in the same and how he's eagerly awaiting his return to Arkham City. Now this was a fun issue, it really set the tone for the game, which I can't wait to play. The art was great, especially for Poison Ivy and Two Face, and the story was simple but well written, I'll give this an 8/10.

Hugo Strange: I eagerly await your return to Arkham City.

Deadpool #42

We start things off with Deadpool arguing with Death, as she calls him lazy and says she's leaving him. Deadpool doesn't care that Death is leaving him, as he's content sitting around and being "disabled." Turns out Deadpool is dreaming, as the Foolkiller stands over him shouting for Deadpool to wake up and fight him. After not getting a reply Foolkiller knocks Deadpool down and reaches for his mask, when Pool reaches up and grabs Foolkiller by the neck. We then see Deadpool's dream and how he's changed and wants to find his dear old Death again, and how that's pretty much revitalized Deadpool to his old self as he wakes up and beats the hell out of Foolkiller and the rest of the inmates, until DP gets distracted which allows the Foolkiller to hit him with a stun baton, which leads to a dogpile on Deadpool. We then find out that Foolkiller is in love with Doc Whitby, and that's why he's jealous and angry of Deadpool. Also, she signed off on FK's parole, and he doesn't want to leave, so he plans on killing Deadpool and getting a permanent stay. Deadpool has a plan, and we later see that he and The Foolkiller switched masks and FK stays in place of Deadpool while the Merc with a Mouth is a free man. Actually, I was reading this comic and reviewed as I read, and guessed that before finishing because it was obvious, and I was right, because I'm obviously "The Man". The issue ends soon after with Deadpool leaving dressed as the Foolkiller, but not before Doctor Whitby tells Wade she loves him and now that he's free they can be together, as Deadpool realizes he's now the object of affection but someone who's crazy, and not crazy sexy, but scary ugly. Well this was a fine issue as well, nothing amazing but it was far from bad, albeit predictable. I'd give this issue a 7/10.

Deadpool: I'm killin' everyone!

And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone. This was a pretty lackluster week, and not the best way for the current DCU to end but what can you do, this was clearly a rushed plan. But next week should be interesting as we finally get a look at the DCnU. That's it for me though, I'll see you guys next week, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's weekly poll asked "Which Comic Movie did you like more/or want to see more if you haven't seen any?"

Last place with 8.3% - Green Lantern, It's DC's Blackest Night so far...
Second place with 25.0% - Tie between Thor and Captain America, maybe Avengers will do better?
Winner with 41.7% - X-Men: First Class, I almost voted for this as well, man this was a great movie.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Justice League of America #1, Amazing Spider-Man #668, Superman Beyond #0 and Kick-Ass 2 #3

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd back with more of your favorite comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! After my post yesterday on the new Ultimate Spider-Man controversy if you want to call it that, I'm back and ready to review my comics for this week. Surprisingly it's only three comics, even more surprisingly they're all Batman comics, and each features a different Batman! We have Bruce Wayne in Arkham City, Dick Grayson in Gates of Gotham, and Terry McGinnis in Batman Beyond. So let's get things started with our Dark Knights of Gotham City!

Batman: Arkham City #4

We start things off with Batman arriving at Arkham City and jumping right into the line of fire, as Warden Sharp's guards were waiting for him. Once Batman gets away from the guards he hears the man that's really behind Warden Sharp and Arkham City, the man they've yet to reveal as Hugo Strange. It turns out he's cracked the frequency Bats uses in his cowl to talk to Oracle and Alfred and is taunting Batman through it. Strange has also got his task-force trained in to know Batman's fighting style, and their suits even absorb the impact of his explosive gel. When Batman is taking on the task-force, he's saved by a huge armored tank, bring driven by none-other than Catwoman. Once with Catwoman, Batman shuts off his comm link, so Strange can't hear him and Selina talking. Bats asks Catwoman why she's there, and the obvious answer is she's there to steal things. She also mentions running into and helping Poison Ivy, so she'll owe her one. Interesting, I guess that confirms Ivy for the Arkham City game. She mentions how she helped Ivy escape and she's staked out at the Central Gardens, before Batman warns her that even with allies like Ivy, Arkham City is dangerous, before he leaves Selina in her ride. We then see the Joker meeting with a Doctor he's keeping hostage to see if he's healing from the Titan serum, but his vitals are still destabilizing. We then see that Joker asked the Doctor to isolate the toxin from his blood sample, and the doctor hands it over to Joker, I wonder what THAT will lead to. After getting what he needs, The Doctor is led to his death by The Joker, oh you! Meanwhile, Batman attacks a group of guards that are waiting to ambush him, he then takes one and hangs him off the edge of the building, demanding to know who is the main man in charge. The guard tells him the man's name is Hugo Strange, as we cut to Hugo to see him in a room surrounded by monitors of Batman, looking pleased with himself as he promises to become immortal by taking everything Batman has and is, as this issue comes to a close. This was a great issue. We got to see a bit of Joker's plan, Catwoman popped up, we got a hint that Ivy will be in the Arkham City game, and now we definitively know (in the comic) that Strange is the man behind Arkham City. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Batman: Be careful Selina, this isn't a game.

Catwoman: You're telling me. Security has gotten tighter than my catsuit.

Batman Beyond #8

Just so you guys know, it was reported at the DCU Blog that the Batman Beyond series will start again in 2012, but this is the final issue of 2011. So we start this off with Batman fighting a mysterious villain named Inque. Imagine the Venom Symbiote beating up people, and there you go. After getting the best of Batman, Inque shoves herself down some poor guys throat and escapes using his body, until she makes him spit her out. Yeah, it sounds worse than it was. While Batman tries to pursue Inque, we find out a bit about her past. It turns out she was from a poor city and when she was a kid her country had a civil war which destroyed her city. And once her family went poor, they had to turn to the Black Market to sell their possessions, and once they ran out of possessions, the Black Market took Inque, as her parents were left behind to die. Once they made it to America, Inque escaped, and when she got sick she discovered she was pregnant, so she had a will to go on. Once she was offered a chance in an experimental procedure, she accepted, as she had food and shelter, but once they were concerned she would die from the tests, they returned her to the streets. She finally had her child while living in a charity ward and months after, she started to transform into the Inque she is now, so she gave her child to an Orphanage and waited to die, but she didn't. She then decided to use her powers as a service to make cash, and send the cash anonymously to her daughter to make sure she's well taken care of. She eventually revealed herself to her teenage daughter, thinking she'd understand, but she didn't. I actually stopped reading here, I just couldn't get into this issue. I tried but there was nothing endearing about this story that made me want to read about it, especially since it's the last issue of the year for Batman Beyond, it should've at least featured more Terry, some stuff with Dick Grayson or something. I gotta give this a N/A.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #4

Things get started with Red Robin and Robin fighting The Architect. Batman contacts Red Robin and says the Architect;s next target is Kane bridge, and Red Robin mentions he and Damian are fighting him now, so Dick says he and Cass will be right over. The Architect is holding his own against the Robins, but Damian dropkicks him through a load bearing beam which causes the building to come down on top of them. From there we jump to a flashback, and see one of the Gates mourning the death of his brother. He doesn't believe his death was an accident and uses the same suit the Architect now uses to move the rubble underwater to find proof that his brother's murder was premeditated. We then see Alan Wayne telling Nicholas Gates he's sorry about his brother, but Nicholas says he thinks his brother was murdered and asks for Alan's help. Alan tells him he won't because secrets are power and that's something he'd never understand. Yep, Alan Wayne was a bit of a dick. Back in present times, Batman and Black Bat arrive to help Robin and Red Robin but the Architect has already escaped. Red Robin then tells the gang that the Architect plans to blow up the Kane Bridge, which will result in half the city being drowned. While looking for the plans for the bridge, Black Bat comes across Nicholas Gates' diary, and we see another flashback, this time of Gates in the Architect suit attacking Cameron Kane. Robert Kane overhears and shoots Gates in the back, and when Gates grabs Robert by the neck, his suit depressurizes which causes him to lose mobility, but the suit stays choking Robert Kane, who dies soon after. He's soon arrested, but the final lines in his diary say that he doesn't regret what he did, he only regrets he couldn't do more. The issue ends soon after with Batman going to stop the Architect at Kane Bridge, once and for all. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but far from bad. The only big reveal I could see is that Nicholas is still alive but I doubt that, but I guess we'll see soon enough. I'd give this issue a 7/10 rating.

The Architect: I am the Architect, Gotham's forgotten son, but soon they will remember. (Seems like something Gates would say to me...)

And that's it for me, on a quick edition of Ratings and Rantings. Next week should be interesting as I'll have more books, many of which are the final issues of their runs before the DCnU starts. But that's it for me, feel free to comment and vote on this weeks newest poll, as well as checking out the results of last weeks. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off.

Last week's poll asked "Which Marvel Hero would you like to see get Spider-Man's powers in Spider-Island?"

Last place with 9.1% - Captain America, Super Soldiers don't need Spider Powers I guess...
Second Place with 18.2% - Tie between the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool and the Gamma Giant, the Hulk
Winner with 54.5% - Wolverine, the best there is at spinning webs, bub.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batgirl #24 (Sad to see it go), Detective Comics #881, Red Robin #26, Teen Titans #99, War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2, Morning Glories #11, Amazing Spider-Man #667, and Deadpool #41! Eight comics next week!

Ratings and Rantings!

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, back again with another edition of the best weekly comic reviewing post you've never heard of, Ratings and Rantings! So, right off the bat I wanna correct myself, last week I though I'd only have three books to review, when I actually have five, due to one book being bumped forward a week and the other just slipping my mind. Speaking of mind slips, it seems everyone, myself included forgot about last week's Top Five 5, since no one sent in any picks. So we're gonna try it again this week, and this of course shows me that these should be done once a month. But we'll get to more of that later, for now it's time to get reviewing!

Batman: Arkham City #3

We start things off with a criminal, avoiding the G.C.P.D. and breaking into Arkham City. I'm pretty sure he's Batman but we don't have any proof as of yet, anyway, he thinks to himself that Joker and Penguin has both set out to make themselves the main crime boss in Arkham City, and decides to interview with the Clown Prince of Crime for a job. After a few tests by the Harlequin of Hate, our boy makes it face to face with The Joker, and also face to face with the barrel of Harley's gun. And no, that is not a euphemism. Joker asks for the guy's name, and he replies that he's Lester Kurtz, and Harley looks him up, finding out that he's done time for armed robbery, grand theft auto and aggravated assault, as well as spent two years in Arkham. Joker likes the cut of his jib, and offers Kurtz a spot on his band of merry men, which Kurtz accepts. Harley leads him to his room and once he gets away he escapes from Casa De Joker and goes to see what Cobblepot is offering. Penguin tells Kurtz he's never heard of him but he's big and strong so he's in, and he doesn't have to go through any initiations like with The Joker. Pengy then notes that he's about to be short one thug anyone, and calls out one for double-crossing him and selling his secrets to "The Joker's slut". Penguin quickly puts him to work and has his men go to the Gotham Armory to steal guns before The Joker can send his own men. Penguin's men get to the guns but Joker's men show up and Kurtz throws a grenade that saves the men at the expense of the guns. He and one of the other thugs note that sense so many of Joker's thugs were nabbed at the explosion by the cops, that they have a number advantage over Joker's crew, but Penguin is still pissed. Penguin cuts his pay and tells him now he'll be leading an attack on The Joker the next day, and Kurtz says fine. While Penguin's guards escort Kurtz away, he takes them out and reveals that he was Batman in disguise all along. He thinks to himself that Oracle really helped him out by coming up with the fake rap sheet and now he knows firsthand about the tension between Joker and The Penguin. Batman thinks to himself how he still doesn't know who's behind the stuff with Mayor/Warden Sharp though, and the issue ends as Batman leaves, unaware he's been watched the whole time by Hugo Strange. This was another really good issue, it built more interest for the breaking point, it shows us what we have to look forward to with Joker and Penguin, as well as keeping Strange relevant, and not giving away too much. It even hinted that Killer Croc, or someone else may be below Penguin's layer, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm hoping the next issue we see an appearance by Tim Drake, Riddler, Catwoman or another with Two-Face, but this was a really good, interesting issue, I'll give this a 9/10.

Hugo Strange: The disguises, the elaborate subterfuge, He's only a boy at play, really. Motivated by a child's intense passion and unshakable convictions, but ultimately doomed to fail.

Gotham City Sirens #24

And from one comic with Joker, Harley and Bats to another. And man that cover is mega creepy, especially the shadow that completely covers Joker's eyes. We start things off with Ivy telling Harley Quinn to choose between her and Joker. Ivy tries to talk sense into Harley but Harley keeps her talking so Joker can free himself from her vines. Harley and Joker attack Ivy but she blasts them both back. She asks Harley what's wrong with her, and she never acts this way, even around Joker. Harley asks how does she know that's not the real her and the rest is just an act. Harley continues her psychological mind games on Ivy, while Ivy desperately tries to get Harley to realize Joker doesn't love her. Harley then jumps to the crux of the matter, and says the only reason Ivy is her friend, is because Ivy loves Harley! Wooooo, thank you Peter Calloway. Ivy is caught off guard by Harley's statement, so Harley then manages to beat Ivy senseless, before casually dumping her into the whole she emerged form in the prior issue. On the next page we get a pretty awesome picture of Joker and Harley jumping down at the same time as Bats and Catwoman, and it's split screen so it looks as if Harley and Selina are composite Superman/Batman. Anyway, Batman and Catwoman take out a bunch of the inmates, including Clayface in a pretty funny scene. Bats tells Cash to turn on all the lights, then turn them off when he says so, and when Joker see's the lights come on, he whips out two blindfolds for Harley and himself, and tells her to put it on, interesting. Catwoman takes out Zsasz but manages to get surrounded by more inmates, but Bats drops down and tells Cash to cut the lights. When they go out, Bats turns on his Night-Vision and Selina does the same, and they make short work of the inmates. When the lights go out, Joker and Harley remove the blindfolds, and she realizes Joker had them do that so they wouldn't get dilated pupils when the lights went out. Joker and Harley then finally meet with Batman ad Catwoman, and they all have it out, but when Batman throws a light grenade and temporarily blinds Joker and Harley, they manage to subdue them, then the both of them are admitted back to Arkham with the rest of the inmates. Catwoman then finds Ivy, still knocked out and wakes her up. She mentions how they missed her when arresting the inmates, but Catwoman didn't. She then mentions how she could let her escape, but she won't, she wants revenge for when Ivy tried to steal information from her by force, and we see back when Ivy tried to drug Catwoman into telling her who Batman was. Catwoman then turns Ivy in and tells her to enjoy her stay at Arkham, as this issue ends. This was a great issue, I kept expecting Harley to be double-crossed or do it to Joker but it never happened. I'm just wondering what the last two issues of Sirens are going to be about, with one as a good guy and the other two in Arkham. I'll give this issue an 8/10 only due to the fact the fight we all wanted only lasted one splash page.

Harley Quinn: Is it because you love me?

The Incredible Hulk Annual #1

Hulk looks SO constipated...Anyway here we are at the finale of one of the best tri-series crossovers this year in my opinion, waaaay better than that Batman/Sirens/Red Robin crossover, Identity Wars. We start things off with a trip to hell, where we see The Amazing Spider, Peter Parker's soul is there while his body is comatose, and he's taking a beaten from one of Mephisto's minions. We also see this dimension's Wade Wilson, Death Mask, being sent to hell. Death Mask notes that they have a deal, he's going to serve Mephisto, and he says he's basically sending him to hell to toughen him up. We then see Hulk land in hell, and he's ready for a fight, as are all of the hell dwellers. Apparently Hulk and Bruce are separate entities here. Anyway, back on the parallel Earth, their evil horned Hulk goes after the alternate Banner, who is actually Doctor Strange's protege. He tries to banish this Hulk away but he's too much for Bruce, that is until The Amazing Spider (Our Spider-Man) shows up to help him out. It turns out Banner realizes Pete isn't the real Amazing Spider-Man, tipped off by his demeanor and the fact he's rocking HIS costume and not the Amazing Spider's. Once Deadpool shows up, Spidey has Magic Banner turn Deadpool's appearance into his own, so he can lead Hulk away. Spidey then introduces the magic Banner to our Bruce Banner, and they quickly realize the only way to stop this Hulk is to reverse the seperation spell, which will put both Bruce's back with their respective Hulk's. After some magic, both Hulks are brought to the same place as both Banner's and Spidey. They have a pretty boring fight and Hulk snaps his neck while he's in human form, yawn. Parker, Banner and Deadpool are then sent back to their own world, but not before Peter Parker drops the Amazing Spider name and comes back as Ghost Spider... I kid you not, as the issue ends. I loved the other two issues but this one was slow and boring, and it doesn't help that I'm not a big Hulk fan, this REALLY bored me which is sad because I enjoyed the other 66.6%, I'll give this a 4/10 rating.

Hulk: C'mon... Pumpkin. Is that really the best you can do? (Hulk SUCKS at trash talking...)

Amazing Spider-Man #644

We start things off with Anti-Venom standing over a tied up Spider-Man, and he tells him he gets why Spidey always fights him, because all his team ups start this way, with Daredevil, the FF, the Avengers, it's so true. Anti-Venom tells him he's Eddie Brock and tries to remove Spidey's mask but it stays on due to his sticky skin power, which luckily is still working. Eddie says that's fine, he had to earn Spidey's trust, and tells him he's trying to stop Mr. Negative. Spidey notes that he hates him too, but only stopped Anti-Venom so he wouldn't attack Martin Li, and Brock explains that Li is Negative, but Spidey doesn't believe him so Anti-Venom takes off to prove him wrong, leaving Spidey webbed up in his lair. We then see The Wraith, Jean DeWolff, getting information out of someone on Li's payroll, while unbeknownst to her, Forensic scientist and girlfriend of Peter Parker, Carlie Cooper, is watching the Wraith and taking pictures. Over at a press conference involving Jameson and Martin Li, Norah and Randy are filming a piece on it when Phil Urich, the newest Hobgoblin shows up, jealous since he's Norah's cameraman. After some friction with Randy and Phil, Norah asks Phil to film her interview with Mr. Li, to which he agrees to, but thinks to himself that he needs to come up with a permanent plan for getting Randy out of the picture. Over with Martin Li, one of his guards mentions their plans are underway, which a security guard hears and pursues them, as the security guard is actually Anti-Venom in disguise. Once Spidey finally frees himself from Anti-Venom's webbing, he's webbed up again but the recently returned Anti-Venom, which was pretty funny. He carries Spider-Man to the museum so he can prove once and for all that he's not crazy and Martin Li is Mister Negative. Eddie webs up Spidey so he can watch him prove him wrong, but when Eddie thinks he's early for his attack on Mr. Negative, he's instead stabbed in the back with a sword which counteracts Anti-Venom's healing abilities. Spider-Man is still struggling to get free ends up getting loose thanks to help from the Wraith, as they rush into action. Spidey, Anti-Venom, and the Wraith take on Negative and his henchmen but Spidey realizes they may have a problem so he sets off a museum alarm, and manages to get a HUGE shot in on Mister Negative when the villain lowers his guard. Wraith takes advantage to use her facial recognition tech and confirms that Martin Li and Mister Negative are one in the same, and uses that tech to send the analysis to every computer, smart phone and TV within range. Negative, knowing he's defeated, runs away and leaves a cloud of cyanide, so the heroes don't pursue. The Wraith leaves since she can't face the cops, and Spidey pulls the sword out of Anti-Venom's back who then heals and leaves, once Spidey admits he was wrong, which makes Anti happy that Spidey trusts him somewhat. One they leave and the cops show up, Carlie slips into a back room, and Spidey follows her on the ceiling, to a room where she confronts Captain Watanabe and tells her she knows she's the Wraith, as she planted planted her phone in her bag and followed the G.P.S. and Watanabe admits it, that she did it to make a difference and scare people into telling the truth while honoring Jean. Carlie tells her if she figured it out someone else could too, so maybe it's better to take a break for a while, and the Captain concurs. The issue ends shortly after with Peter knowing Carlie can keep a secret and wishing he could tell her his secret about being Spider-Man. This was a really good issue, lots of fun with Eddie and Peter, Eddie came off looking good for once, and even the Wraith reveal made sense, I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Anti-Venom: See, This is what I'm talking about! No one takes crazy Eddie Brock seriously! But I'll show you, I'll show everybody!

Spider-Man: Right, because only the super-sane people storm off yelling, "I'll show everybody."

Venom #4

Man I've been waiting for this issue! We start things off seeing that Flash left a bomb with Jack O'Lantern and the villains, which apparently is the bomb that was implanted in the symbiote. The Symbiote is so smart it expelled the bomb because it knew there was a chance it would be detonated. Meanwhile, Venom is fighting Spider-Man and Flash has no control, he's just hoping Spidey can kill them before he and the symbiote hurt someone. Flash is trying to gain control of the symbiote long enough to tell Spider-Man that Betty is strapped to a bomb, but between Spidey punching his teeth down his throat and the symbiote overwhelming Flash it's pretty damn hard. Flash tries to get the symbiote to run but Spidey, thinking he's the one behind Betty's disappearance, keeps attacking, which just ticks off the symbiote. When Venom knocks Spidey through a drug store, Flash spots a shelf of sedatives and makes the symbiote take them all, and the rage of the symbiote gets sleepy instead, but it's still trying to over control Flash. Flash makes the symbiote tell Spidey that Betty is on Valentine Lane, but the symbiote then picks up a truck and flings it at Spidey who uses his body as a shield to save pedestrians. Flash outright yells at the symbiote that he will not kill Spider-Man, he's going to go save Betty, because if he doesn't Dodge will kill Flash, and the symbiote decides he doesn't want another host, and gives Flash full control. Flash tries his best to save Betty but the building explodes before he gets there, luckily Spidey was faster and saves her, but she's in shock. Venom slowly thanks Spider-Man but Spidey tells him he failed in trying to hurt Betty and next time he's taking him down. The symbiote then gives in to Flash because it knows it went too far, and Flash finds a Spider-Tracer on himself, but keeps it, because he knows once he stops Jack O'Lantern and the rest of the bad guys, he'll probably need Spidey to take him down. Venom heads after the Vibranium Shipment but is stopped en route by Jack O'Lantern, and Venom's had a toll taken on him thanks to all the sedatives, as well as the fights with Kraven and Spider-Man. Jack O'Lantern lays into Venom, all the while saying how psyched he is to finally have an arch-enemy, citing how real enemies have a grudge, then showing the remains of his face after Venom threw a grenade into it. Jack's fun is cut short when he's told by his boss the Vibranium shipment is being intercepted by government guys and to get back to guarding it now, and as Jack flies off he tells "Eugene" he'll be seeing him soon, unbeknownst to him that Venom has stuck the Spider-Tracer on Jack O'Lantern. Back at the base, Flash lies to his superior, saying the run-in with Spidey was the only time he lost control of the suit, and also keeps quiet about Crime Master, considering he knows Venom is Flash Thompson now. The issue ends with a conversation about the recent events with Flash, Peter Parker and Betty Brant literally in the middle of them as they wonder why exactly she was brought into things, and Venom and Spider-Man are unaware their a mere inches away from one another. And once again, Rick Remender outdoes himself. He's brought new life to one of my favorite characters and he's made Flash my favorite Venom after only one arc, so I can definitely say I'm into Venom for the long haul, this issue gets a perfect 10/10 rating.

Flash: My name is Flash Thompson. I'm about to kill my lifelong hero.

And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings, feel free to comment and leave any questions for me and be sure to participate in the Top Five 5! For those of you that don't know how it goes, you send me your top five picks for each category at KevinKavalier@gmail.com and I'll post the answers this Monday, July 4th, and compare everyone's results. Make sure ya send your picks in ASAP so you don't forget. The topics are below, and here's hoping you guys participate before the deadline of Sunday 10:00 pm EST. And lastly, be sure to vote on this week's newest poll and check out the last poll results below the Top Five 5 topics. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd. You stay classy, Todd Squad.
Note: None of your picks are limited to DC, they can include Marvel, Image or whatever you like.

5 Characters You'd give a Green Lantern (Will) Ring?
5 Characters You'd give a Red Lantern (Rage) Ring?
5 Characters You'd give a Yellow Lantern (Fear) Ring?
5 Characters You'd give a Orange Lantern (Greed) Ring?
5 Characters You'd give a Blue Lantern (Hope) Ring?

Last week's poll asked "What DCnU retcon do you wish you could keep the same?"

Last place with 13.12% - Teen Titans and their old designs.
Second Place with 27.7% - Tie between Dick Grayson as Batman and Steph Brown as Batgirl
Winner with 33.3% -Barbara Gordon staying Oracle

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman and Robin #25, Batman Beyond #7, and Titans Annual 2011 so I have at least three books...

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

Ratings and Rantings

Hey there Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd here again for another edition of your favorite comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Before we get started I wanna thank everyone for stopping by last week and checking out 5 Reasons why you should read Invincible, What I Learned from Brightest Day, and for sending their picks in for the return of the Top Five 5! You guys have prompted e to make the Top Five a monthly thing, so expect more Top Five 5's in the future, but for now, we've got this weeks R&R. We've got four comics this week and all are DC related but none are Flashpoint related for obvious reasons. They are all Batman related for the most part but that's more of a coincidence than anything. Anyway, let's get things started with our first comic, Batman: Arkham City!

Batman: Arkham City #1

Arkham City is a comic that will bridge the gap between the amazing videogame Batman: Arkham Asylum and the upcoming sequel Batman Arkham City. We start things off where the game ended, with Batman hitting The Joker with an explosive Mike Tyson punch, only Bats literally had explosive jail on his glove as he tagged The Joker's jaw. From there we see Joker apprehended by the police and put in a straightjacket. Joker thinks of how he knows there won't be a next time because the Titan Formula is eating at his insides slowly, and how it's a cruel joke but he can't help but laugh. In a close cell, Harley hears the laughter of her puddin' and says to herself how much she misses him. She then overhears some guys saying how Joker won't last long due to him being sick and him not being the most liked guy around, so Harley vows that they won't get take Mistah J before his time. We then see Mayor Quincy Sharp getting ready to make an announcement but he's currently in his dressing room having a video chat on Skype (or so I assume) with a mysterious figure, obviously Hugo Strange. While making his announcement that Gotham will no longer tolerate any supervillians or vigilantes, Vicki Vale reminds him that often Batman and his allies are the people who save the day, with Batman saving Arkham Asylum while Sharp was incapacitated for most of then night. Sharp stands by his statement that anyone causing trouble will end up spending the rest of their life in Arkham Asylum. We then see Jim Gordon who tells Batman that Vale was right and Sharp is an idiot. He then tells Batman about a new brother and sister crime team, Terry and Tracy Trask, known as T&T (genius) who were low time crooks but are now Titan enhanced and a big threat. Batman gets info from Oracle that says the two are working for Two-Face which makes perfect sense so he heads to some of Two-Face's most obvious hide-outs, including the Two of Spades. Batman deals with his thugs and finds Two-Face waiting for him. Batman doesn't want to fight he just wants information. Two-Face tells Bats how he found a few crates of Titan during the Asylum events and had his thugs put them away. The Trasks had plans of their own and eventually turned on Two-Face and killed half of his men and how they wanted control of the whole city. Batman quickly realizes they plan to attack at a dedication ceremony at city hall and heads there. He also informs James Gordon but T&T have already started their plan, which apparently is a result of them teaming with Hugo Strange. They attack Warden/Mayor Sharp during the announcement and Batman swings into action, and takes them both out with tranqs after knocking them around. One of the T&T twins reports to Doc Strange saying their going down and he asks if their ready for what must be done, they say they are as Batman overhears and see's their body temperature spiking with his detective vision. So glad that was mentioned here. Anyway, Batman swings away as T&T explode, living up to their name. Batman escapes as do some the civilians who ran when gigantic freaks showed up, but the new City Hall has been completely wiped out and three hundred people died in the explosion. After that and billions in property damage, Mayor Sharp declares marital law in Gotham, during which he semi-phases out the GCPD and brings in a private military force to follow his orders. We see that Batman believes that Sharp is doing the work of someone else and Batman wonders how he'll stop that person as the issue ends. Now this is the Dini that I missed. This is a great way to build even more interest in Arkham City and seems to be a great tie-in to the game, I'll give this issue a 8.5/10, I'm also extremely curious to see where the Joker stuff goes from here.

The Joker: My night was over. Arkham secured, Gotham saved, and a the rest of that heartwarming crap.

Red Robin #23

We start things off with a quick synopsis of Tim being allowed to make renovations to the theater that Bruce and his parents went to the night of their deaths. Bruce seems to have a ton of faith in Tim, but their moment was cut short when a new Black Spider tries to assassinate Bruce Wayne. Not long after, Red Robin and Batman try to pursue him but he escapes. While following up on a tip Red Robin then encounters a familiar foe, Lynx. She tackles Red Robin through a window and plants a huge kiss on him as they plummet, he saves them with a line and swings to a building, all the while, Lynx is frenching the hell out of young Timothy. Playa playa! Turns out Lynx has to play along in front of her gang and attack Red Robin but once she's away the Lynx will play. Yeah, I AM clever, aren't I? After getting some information about one of her people's laptop being stolen and it being the same thing that caused Tim's suspicion, he heads to see James Gordon to convince him of his new plan. His plan will apparently endanger Lucius Fox but Red Robin is sure it will help save his life as well. From there Red Robin and Batman (Dick) put Tim's plan into action, unbeknownst to Lucius Fox. Red Robin and Batman pretty much have all the bases covered and are watching Fox meet with some clients and waiting for an attack on his life by the assassin. An hour later, the assassin outwits Red Robin and takes the shot from an airborne position. Batman pursues the assassin and places a tracer on him before he escapes, but he moves into orbit which freezes the tracer's signaling system. Soon the news stations report Lucius Fox as dead but we know he's not actually. Red Robin identifies the assassin to Batman as Scarab, but Scarab is currently in jail. He asks Batman to get her released into his custody, which Dick does, and Red Robin then takes Scarab to Cairo, all the while pestering her in a way that would make Dick Grayson proud. Once they arrive on a back alley street in Cairo, Scarab says "open sesame" (really?) which opens their secret hideout. Scarab leads Red Robin in and says a code which unleashes a bunch of traps for someone who's following one of the Scarab members. As Red Robin pursues he loses track of Scarab and gets a message from Lonnie. He tells him that Mikalek was shot, Dr. Light was attacked in her civilian guise and much more, but the issue ends when he discovers the Assassination Tournament has begun, and the new order is, Kill Red Robin. Now this was the Red Robin I enjoyed before the Unternet stuff.. I really like where this is going and this was a nice start to what looks to be an interesting arc, I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating.

Myself: Tim loves Asian women, who is he, Bobby Hill?

Batgirl # 21

We get things underway with Batgirl taking on one of her newest threats, a woman with a sonar shooting suit that's taking it to our favorite blonde Bat-babe. After taking care of her opponent momentarily, Batgirl heads off to try to help her non-official sidekick, The Grey Ghost. She finds him and asks what the hell, and he explains that he overheard Harmony (our sonic shooting senorita) saying she'd take out Batgirl and not end up like Slipstream. I already like this pitiful guy just for wanting to help Batgirl out. Batgirl notices Harmony is on the move but Grey Ghost wants to come. Steph decides to use some tough love to get the Grey Ghost to back off and tells him not to cross her path again but he vows to show her that she needs him. Meanwhile, our "B" story features Proxy a.k.a former Teen Titan member Wendy Harris seeing visions of her brother Marvin, telling her that she needs to find peace. She even meets with Dr. Thompkins who tells her that her spine isn't in as bad of a shape as Barbara Gordon's once was. And says that if Wendy needs peace she knows some where she could go. We then see Wendy meet up with Barbara to tell her that she needs to go to Nanda Parbat. Barbara is shocked at first but realizes it's what Wendy needs so she gives Wendy her blessing. Back with Batgirl we see her catch up with Harmony, who is collecting samples from graves for her bosses. Batgirl can't throw Batarangs without her zapping them with her Sonic Boom (Shout out to Guile!) and can't get close enough for hand-to-hand combat. Batgirl quickly thinks of a plan and drops a giant bell from the bell-tower near Harmony, which causes her sonic powers not to work due to the vibrations and sound from the bell. After taking down Harmony we see Steph and Babs on campus, with Steph explaining how Harmony was actually a music major that goes to her college, much like Slipstream. She mentions that there are three more Reapers on campus that could be anyone. After taht, Babs tells Steph about Wendy leaving for a while, and we see Batgirl in her new lair all alone, saying she likes her odds. The issue ends with The Grey Ghost meeting with the other three Reapers, saying he'll do his best to keep Batgirl away from them, if they try not to cross her path. Man I REALLY enjoyed this issue, Batgirl is always good for the most part and this was no exception. Even Wendy's B story with Marvin kept me interested, and now I'm wondering when she'll come back and how these other Reapers will come into play. Excellent work as usual by Bryan Q. Miller especially with taking characters like The Grey Ghost and Wendy and making me interested in them. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Batgirl: What the hell, Clancy?

Grey Ghost: Just watching your back, my... violet.. avenger.

And just like that, that's it for this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings. Some of you may be wondering where the Birds of Prey was, but simply, I read the first five pages and couldn't even continues because the story did not interest me at ALL. Since this is apparently a two issue arc, I'll skip the next one and if the series doesn't get back to the way it was early last year, I'll probably drop it. Anyway, that's all for me, I'll be back very soon with another edition of Ratings and Rantings, so until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay Classy Todd Squad!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman & Robin #23 (Return of Jason Todd), Batman: Gates of Gotham #1, and Power Girl #24,