Booster Gold - The Golden Road

(Hey Todd Squad, JT here with a post about one of my favorite heroes, Booster Gold. I did this post over at the L.O.L. blog and I figured since my site is getting a little more traffic due to recent events, I may as well throw it up over here too, so without further adieu, I present Booster Gold - The Golden Road.)


Hey L.O.L., I'm Jason Todd also known as J.T. and I'm glad to be apart of this lovable Legion of Losers. I didn't know what I wanted my first post here to be about, since Kello's spur of the moment invitation hit my email inbox. I'm usually more of a read then review guy, so when wondering what to write about I remembered my post "Can Jason Todd Regain Glory?" over at my blog. So I thought for a few minutes and I decided to write about another of my favorite characters, one that's really been taking the DCU by storm lately, Booster Gold.

Booster Gold was created by Dan Jurgens and made his comic book debut in 1986, making him four years older than yours truly. The story of Booster Gold is that Michael Jon Carter, a young man born in Gotham City in the 25th Century with a twin sister named Michelle Carter. Michael and Michelle were raised by their mother after their father left, but not before gambling away their money. Luckily, Michael was a great athlete and ended up getting a football scholarship to Gotham University. Michael's father soon returns to his life, and convinces Michael to bet on games and then throw them. It's not long before the College Star gets caught and banned from playing. Michael then takes a job at the Metropolis Space Museum and starts to study heroes and villains from the past. Thanks to a little help from a Museum security robot, Michael steals Brainiac-5's force-field belt, a Legion Flight ring, and Rip Hunter's Time Machine to go back to the 20th Century.

While in the 20th Century, The Golden Hero saves the life of then-President Ronald Reagan, when asked what his name is, Michael, who wants to use the name Goldstar, mistakenly mixes it with his College Football nickname, Booster. This causes President Reagan to introduce him to the world as Booster Gold, a name that soon stuck to him. Booster Gold was mostly used as a comedy character, and one of the few superheroes that had sponsors. Whereas Superman was a hero for good and justice, and Batman was a hero to clean up his city, Booster was a hero just for money. The irony of it is pretty funny considering Booster's football career was ruined over money, then his entire Superhero Career revolved around it. At one point Booster even married a very old woman just to get his hands on her money.

Booster would soon evolve into a more serious character, but before that could happen, he would embrace his inner comedy character. Booster Gold was soon teamed up with the former Blue Beetle, Ted Kord. Booster Gold and Blue Beetle became one of the greatest Duo's in comic books, and always brought the laughs. When you saw Booster Gold and Blue Beetle together, you could be sure the "Bwa-Ha-Ha" wouldn't be far behind, for you or them. Some classic Blue and Gold jokes included Blue Beetle always mentioning he had a heart condition, Booster's marriage to the old, rich woman by the name of Gladys, and many more great moments with the two.

As most comic readers know, Ted Kord would later be killed at the hands of Maxwell Lord, former friend of both Ted and Michael. While this death was pretty uneventful for the most part, it did one thing, and that's push Booster Gold. Without joking around with Ted, Booster was forced to grow up, and become a real hero. It's almost as if he took part of Ted's personality when Ted was killed off. This is when I started to become a fan of Booster Gold. He grew up, stopped the merchandising, and became a true hero.

So what's the point of all this? Booster Gold is the perfect example of a character who was made and became nothing more than a joke, not Booster Gold has three comic books a month. Now Booster appears every two weeks in Justice League Generation Lost, He also appears in his own comic, Booster Gold, and lastly he's shoulder to shoulder with two of the biggest names in DC Comics, Superman and Green Lantern, all why searching for fellow Gothamite, Batman. Booster didn't have a comic at all six years ago, now he's in three a month. If Booster Gold can become a huge character due to excellent writing, than anyone can. Booster Gold is what inspires me to think that maybe someone can redeem a character like Arsenal, or use a character with potential like Connor Hawke. I remember the exact moment I became a true Booster Gold character, and the issue for anyone interested. Booster Gold #5, entitled "No Joke". In this issue Booster Gold tries to go back in time to save Barbara Gordon from being shot and paralyzed by The Joker. Every time he does back, he fails. Booster's always one second too late, or something always goes wrong, and even when he's beaten, battered and bloody, he never gives up. He always tries, and when Batman discovers this, he gains a ton of respect for Booster, he even offers to get him into the Justice League. But Booster graciously denies, claiming as long as no one sees Booster as a threat, and thinks he's a knucklehead and a joke, they'll never expect him to be the true hero that he is. That's the moment I knew I'd always be a Booster Gold fan, because he's evolved from a guy who just wants money and fun, to a true hero that always tries to do what's right. And to me, that's better than being a Hero all your life because he's learned from his mistakes and tries his best, making him human. He's almost like the DC version of Spider-Man in that sense. So even though his past is tarnished, Booster Gold always shines bright.

- Jason Todd

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, it's once again that time of the week for some Ratings and Rantings, Jason Todd here to welcome you to my Red Hood again. Today we've got a huge haul of comics to jump into, so we're gonna get things started off quickly. Few notes first though, No Booster Gold review because I wasn't enjoying the last few issues of this arc so I'll pick it up starting with the new one, and no Atom because I got tired of wasting money on half a comic. And just to remind everyone, there will be a new poll this weekend, as well as another Top 5 Five, and the categories will be below. Now, let's get things underway with Batman #703!

Batman #703

This issue is titled, "Prelude to Bruce Wayne: The Road Home", and is written by Fabian Nicieza, the only man besides Bryan Q. Miller to make me like their portrayal of Damian Wayne.  The issue starts off with Damian busting Dick's chops about not catching a criminal. When the criminal escapes, Damian starts to rip into Grayson, but Grayson remembers when he ripped into Batman for the same problem. They discover that the criminal was possibly "The Getaway Genius", just as Red Robin shows up with a newspaper that has Batman and Robin on the cover and says "Batman & Robin fail to stop Museum Thief", by Vicki Vale. After discussing that Vale may be involved, Dick decides to go meet with her, as Dick Grayson of course. Dick and Vicki argue, all the while she insinuates that Tim is Red Robin and other members of Wayne's entourage may be Bat-family members. Before leaving Dick places a huge tracker on her bag, which I found funny considering it's as big as a freaking quarter, so how she doesn't see it just blows my mind. We see a quick look at the Getaway Genius, and find out she's a woman, but not one I recognize. We then see Damian working out and talking to Alfred, as Damian basically shows an attitude at his father even being bothered with the Getaway Genius. Alfred tells Damian to stop making decisions on what he thinks Bruce "was...is" and started to learn the truth. From there we see Vicki Vale taking pictures for the society page and sees a crime, as someone snatches a woman's necklace. Batman and Robin arrive on the scene, have some banter, then Batman decks a guy who turns out to be our criminal using a holographic projector. The nice swerve of the Getaway Genius was a great view at showing us who Batman was, and what he may be upon his return. I like seeing different sides of Bruce and that's what this allowed us, and even made me connect with Damian a little. I'd give this issue an 8/10, it was a solid issue, with a self contained story that was well-written and built hype for "The Road Home", so you can't ask for more.

Batman: We've talked about about being overconfident.

Robin: Yes. You said it had been your most endearing trait as Robin.

Batman: And it was, but it works better with a smile than a scowl...

The Amazing Spider-Man #641

This is the finale to the four-part mini series known as "One Moment in Time" which I've been thoroughly enjoying. We start off with Mary Jane and Peter discussing the events that led to this moment like they have been for the last few issues. We see Doctor Strange conversing with Tony Stark and Reed Richards about making everyone forget that Peter Parker is Spider-Man. Strange mentions that when he was offered a chance at anonymity he jumped at the opportunity, as did Tony Stark, and that Peter deserves the same chance. Tony acts like a tool and says it's Pete's fault for leaving the Avengers and breaking the law that his family now faces these problems, but Strange retorts that Tony is just upset because Peter stopped believing in him the way he used to. After Tony decides that Peter should have privacy, and everyone should forget, Reed interjects that everyone except he, Tony and Strange should forget, in case something happens. Tony says nothing good could come from them knowing. After some deliberation, everyone agrees to make it so only Peter remembers everything that's happened. While this is going on we see Peter standing over an unconscious Mary Jane, telling her that everything will be back to normal soon. There's an awesome panel where we see Spidey's HUGE rogue gallery. Strange snaps out of his trance and tells Peter to enter the bubble that will basically keep him from forgetting his past, Peter enters and cries as he leaves MJ behind, and suddenly runs out and grabs MJ, bringing her in while telling Strange he can't live a life without her knowing the truth. When the dust clears everyone has forgotten and Strange is knocked out as Peter, holding MJ in his arms walks away. She awakens later and Peter tells her a quick version of what happened and how only they know the truth, before telling her to get some rest and that he's explain in the morning. Pete wakes up and sees MJ is gone, but before he can go to far he finds out she's in the bathroom crying. She tells Peter not to touch her, and she asks him questions and then asks if he did what he did for them, or for him. She asks Peter why he couldn't just let her forget too. MJ cries and tells Peter it's not her family that suffers because Peter is Spider-Man, they suffer because she's Spider-Man's girl, and if someone rips off his mask the cycle will start over. The two kiss as MJ tells Peter to stop ignoring the phone or pager or something and go see Aunt May at the hospital. They talk and as Aunt May asks about MJ we see her putting her bags in a taxi and leaving New York. We all know what happened after that so I won't elaborate, but the final part with MJ and Peter talking was great. This whole Mini was pretty good, and the think tank with Reed, Strange and Tony was some fantastic writing, I can't stress how much I enjoyed that. I gotta give this issue a perfect 10/10 and a very high recommendation for the One Moment in Time story.

Peter: Face it Tiger, you just hit the jackpot. How you, feeling, gorgeous?

Aunt May: Like I was hit by something a tad bigger than a jackpot.

Batgirl #14

Batgirl and Supergirl, the first real team-up between the blond bombshells of the World's Finest takes place in this issue! Things start off with our two crime-fighting teens being held by the neck by a black and white Dracula. But hey, we're getting ahead of ourselves, so we take a jump back to about ten hours ago. We see a super bored Stephanie Brown with her mother playing Scrabble on "Family game night!" We see that Babs is off with the Birds, Wendy is updating firewall equipment and surprisingly there's not any crime going on in Gotham tonight. The doorbell rings and Steph jets to it and sees Supergirl,  who uses her super speed to put on some civilian clothes (or Civvy Skivies as I call them...) before Steph's mom can see her. The two girls decide to head out, and talk about how life is going for them lately. After a little talking, Supergirl runs around like a child while saying how much she envies Batgirl for being in college. Supergirl asks Steph if they can go to Keg Parties and have pillow fights... now that sounds like a comic worth reading! Kidding, kidding. Kara talks Steph into going to see a 3-D movie, meanwhile some nerd doesn't wanna go back to being a teaching assistant so he does something that causes the Vampires in the 3-D movie to come to life. Yes, it's as corny as it sounds. It takes Kara a minute to realize because growing up on a farm for a few years obviously makes you stupid. Anyway, the two femme fatales decide to team-up and take care of the blood-sucking movie stars. There was a funny scene where Kara rips her shirt off and has her costume underneath, and waits for Steph to do the same until she replies "Not unless you wanna see my bra." They find out that there's 24 of these pesky Dracula's around that they have to stop. We see a montage like scene before there's only one Dracula left and that's where things started in this issue. From there you can pretty much guess what happened. This was another fun issue, pretty corny but hey, what can ya say? We saw Dracula's crying in black and white 3-D, but it was STILL better than Twilight :P I'll give it a 7/10 rating.

Supergirl: Aren't you gonna... you know...

Batgirl: Not unless you wanna see my bra.

Supergirl: Does it have a bat on it?

Batgirl: I assure you it does not.

Green Lantern #57

First things first, this is a really nice cover. I don't know who the big man is in the middle but the way they used the colors to accentuate over having to draw everyone's faces is a pretty cool idea. So as we start off things, Larfleeze and Hal are avoiding attacks by Hector "The Great Pumpkin" Hammond, who looks positively creepy. After trying to eat Larfleeze, the Orange Entity'd Bobblehead flies off trying to find Carol Ferris. Hal and Larfleeze decide to head to Vegas to find Carol before Hector does. We jump over to Zamaron, the home world of the Star Sapphires and see that their power battery is rebuilt but not as strong that it was, and also for some reason it was powered by the remains of Hawkman and Hawkgirl. Alrighty, well that's pretty awkward. They talk about how the Lantern will die out soon unless they find the Predator, but Carol is already in Vegas on the case. Carol runs into some jerks and disposes of them, and is then contacted by the head of the Star Sapphires telling her to pick up the speed basically. Meanwhile, some dude with a camera is snapping pics from afar of some chick he likes then takes them back to develop them. Suddenly the Star Sapphire entity appears and pretty much merges with him so he can go talk to the woman he's been stalking. Tough love I guess. While looking for The Predator, Carol stumbles upon Larfleeze who is loving Vegas and it's all you can eat buffets. Predator and his new host attack Carol and Larfleeze but Hal shows up to join the fight. After a bunch of conversation, Carol realizes that there's more to it than the entity just being evil. She confronts the host and the entity, and tells it that he doesn't love the woman he's watched, it was just infatuation. She kisses the guy which somehow allows her to catch the entity... which was odd. But that's not the end of the comic, because I wouldn't ruin that for you guys. But I was pretty surprised by the ending of the issue. This story wasn't one of the best in recent memory but it was far from bad, I'm wondering how the ending will affect everything though, and the tag for the next issue leaves me even more excited. I'll give this issue a 7.5/10.

Larfleeze: "ALL YOU CAN EAT"?! I HAVE ARRIVED!!!!

Daken Dark Wolverine #1

Just when you thought it was safe to not get killed by Wolverine's murderous Mohawk having son, Daken has a new series that starts only two weeks after his past one ended. This one is also written by Marjorie Liu and Daniel Way who's now going by Dan Way. So in other words... awesome. We start things off with a flashback from fifty years ago, seeing a drunken Wolverine stumble out of a bar. A crying woman runs out behind him, and says that the man Wolverine just gutted was done fighting, and Wolverine did it for nothing, implying he'd just killed her husband or boyfriend or something. All the while we can see someone has Wolverine in a Sniper Scope, but at the last second Daken tells them not to take the shot because "They have time." We jump forward to Present Day, which I love because even if you read this comic eighty years from now it's still present day. Anyway, at a Modeling show we see a blond woman looking for a model, and she finally finds her in the back room, making out with Daken. After the model leaves, Daken apologizes to the blond woman who blows him off and says she's used to dealing with Jackasses. Daken then flirts with a few people, then gets a call from Johnny Storm, which is weird, sure they could've kept in touch after meeting a while back but it just seemed odd. Anyway, he tells Johnny he has to call him back because someone's about to kill him. Daken hangs up, sips his champagne out of his tiny glass, then opens a 64 oz can of whoop ass on his attackers. Daken then goes to meet with the person who sent the attackers, telling them he's done his part of the deal. The mystery man replies that Mystique betrayed them, to which Daken sarcastically replies while acting shocked considering her track record. When the man wonders how she knows of the plan, Daken says he told her, because he wants everything, and the only way to get it is to make sure no one else has anything. The issue ends while we see things wrap up and Daken in his new costume. I thought this was a well written introductory issue, it raised a lot of questions as it should, yet set the ground as well. I'd give this issue an 7/10 rating.

Daken: I'm going to have to hang up now. Someone's about to kill me.

Daredevil #510

This issue gets underway with Foggy and Dakota in a hotel room, Foggy is standing by the window like an idiot after Dakota warns him not to, so some ninjas come in through the window to attack, but Dakota is ready for them. She makes them regret ever attacking as she handles them all, but Foggy manages to get held hostage. He isn't for long because some unlikely help comes in the form of Tarantula. He warns them that Matt is losing his mind and now it's not just The Hand to worry about, but the whole city is turning on itself. We jump over to Detective Alex Kurtz, commenting on how the city is going crazy. While in a convenience store, he overhears a robbery and tries to stop it before The Hand can come and deliver their harsh version of justice. When The Hand attacks, one of the robbers shoots and runs before realizing he just shot a teenager, and that the two "Hand" members were teenagers playing crime-fighter. We then see Iron Fist and Luke Cage talking about if they want to kill the thing inside of Matt, they have to kill Matt. At just that moment, Dakota and Foggy walk into the room, catching Iron Fist off guard. After deliberation, the heroes agree that they must kill Matt, but Foggy says this is all The Kingpin's idea, which prompts The Kingpin to walk into the room. Like the genius he is, Kingpin says just the right things to convince everyone they need to act now before the city rips itself apart. We then see Tarantula confronting Daredevil, who has Elektra and Typhoid Mary with him,  telling him he doesn't approve of his recent decisions. Daredevil seems to agree with Tarantula before quickly changing his stance and telling Tarantula to get back on the streets and remind everyone who their lord is. The ending of this issue was great, (which I won't ruin, you're welcome.) I'm looking forward to the next issue of Shadowland and Daredevil just based on the last three pages of this issue. I'm wondering what will happen with Tarantula and everyone else, and that we may have a bit of Matt left to fight back is interesting. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 9/10 and recommend it to anyone who's loving the Shadowland story as much as I am.

Me: That is the worst Kurt Angle I've ever seen in my life... (Upon seeing an add for some TNA action figure things.)

Justice League Generation Lost #9

We start things off for this issue of Gen Lost with Booster Gold, Master of the monologue, filling us in on what's been going on so far for the team formerly known as the JLI. Unbeknown to the Golden One, He's a mere one room away from Max Lord, the man he and the rest of the JLI have been searching for. Meanwhile, Max has Fire at gunpoint, but our Brazilian Babe powers up and tries to engulf Max in flames, but lucky for him he has a force field. Max uses his super mind powers and makes Fire sit down and shut up. Fire tries to yell for help but the room their in allows no sound out, so Max once again tells her to pipe down while he works, before he puts a bullet in her knee. Back with the rest of the JLI, Ice says she's not happy and wants to quit the team. Captain Atom retorts that he doesn't wanna chase Max over the world either, but he's doing it for the good of the world. We then see Skeets and Rocket Red, as the injured Russian tells Skeets he's fine and wants to "up suit." Skeets announces he's found something to Gavril, and we see Max press a button that electrocutes Skeets. As Gavril tries to help, Max uses his control over Fire to make her go attack our Russian Comrade. Still able to talk, Fire warns Gavril that Max is controlling her. Gavril gets to his hand gear and rocket boots and tries to fight back, which attracts the JLA. Fire warns them that Max is there, and Atom tries to subdue her while telling Ice to help Rocket Red and Beetle to help Skeets. Booster has already found and attacked Max Lord, while Captain Atom overcharges Fire so she runs out of power. Meanwhile, Booster and Max are face to face as their force fields hold one another back, they argue as Max pulls out a gun, but drops it as his nose starts to bleed. Booster gets ready to attack but Max binds Booster using his powers somehow and leaves via teleportation, but as he leaves he tells Booster he's sorry, cause the gloves are coming off. The issue ends with Max Lord calling in a certain someone, (if you follow Brightest Day it shouldn't be hard to figure out) and asking them to kill Captain Atom. This was a really good issue, It held my interest the entire time and teased the big Booster vs. Max showdown very well. I'd give this issue a 10/10 rating, it deserves it in my eyes.

Captain Atom: It's not because we want to Ice! IT'S BECAUSE WE HAVE TO!

Red Robin #16

This issue starts with a web chat, we see that someone has been killing possible Robin's and Red Robin's based on age, body type and wealth to find the real hero. We see that this man is Tim Drake's former nemesis, Anarky. The man who as Tim put it, "Thinks of himself as my own Joker." Tim finds out about the murders that were caused somewhat because of him, and plans to put a stop to Anarky. From there we get quick updates on Lynx, Prudence, the search for Bruce Wayne, and Captain Boomerang since they all tie into Tim Drake, which I thought was pretty cool. From there we see Tim handle the running of Wayne Enterprises, as well as dealing with Vicki Vale. From there Tim and Tam Fox had lunch, and it was funny seeing how awkward Tim is with girls, guess the Wayne charm only rubbed off on Grayson... anyway the meal gets cut short when Tim gets a text message from an ally that Anarky may be striking again soon. We find out soon that Anarky is using Lonnie, the former Anarky, and that Lonnie is Tim's texting ally. Red Robin arrived on the scene just in time to stop Anarky from killing another innocent victim. While being subdued by Red Robin, Anarky activates a protocol that will blow up his apartment, killing the paralyzed comatose Lonnie and he has sixty seconds to get to him while he's fourteen blocks away. Tim hits Anarky in the vagus nerve, paralyzing him for at least twenty minutes as he heads to save Lonnie from a grim fate. The end of this issue was great, and it didn't end with the Lonnie stuff but with even more great writing from Fabian as we saw Tim stand face to face with one of his biggest enemies. Along with the hype for the next issue of Red Robin in two months I can easily say this has become one of my top five series since Fabian took over. I'll give this issue a perfect 10/10 score as well, there wasn't one thing I didn't enjoy.

Tim: They don't care about any of this. Vicki Vale or any of them. Will the first question be about my "injury" or my "engagement"?

Vicki Vale: Tim, How has your injury affected your engagement?

 Tim: That's why she's the best...

So that's all for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Thanks for reading and as always comments are appreciated from my loyal readers as well as my new ones. Also, it's that time again for the Top 5 Five! So if you wanna participate, send me your five picks for each category to KevinKavalier@gmail.com. The choices are below, so don't forget to send those in by this Sunday. Until then, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd!

Top Five Powers you wish you had
Top Five Supporting characters (ex. Lois Lane)
Top Five Characters you hated now you like
Top Five Characters you'd hang out with if they were real
Top Five Former Robin characters in Order of your Favorite to Least Favorite (only canon, no Carrie Kelly)

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #4, Birds of Prey #5, Brightest Day #10, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #2, and Deadpool #27

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here once again, welcoming you to my Red Hood. I've broken away from watching Supernatural (great show by the way), to bring you another edition of Ratings and Rantings.  It's hard to believe that I've been running this blog for about nine months now and already have 22 followers. I wanna thank you guys for reading, voting in polls, sending in picks and commenting, even the readers who don't comment. Just thanks for being apart of this little thing I call a comic blog.

I have a pretty big announcement, a personal announcement, nothing really blog related, but I'll announce it near the end of the post. Also I'll post the results from this weeks poll, as well as a new poll today. And lastly, my shop didn't have Booster Gold this week, I guess they messed up the order because the guy said they had much less than they ordered and sold out earlier that day, so sorry to anyone looking for that review. Well we've got some good things scheduled for this week, Batgirl and Birds of Prey so I won't stall, let's jump right into things.

Birds of Prey #4

Finally, the issue we've been waiting for, we finally find out who White Canary is! I was gonna save this for the end of the review but I couldn't wait, so let's see who she is. We start things off with a flashback into the mysterious White Canary's past, and see that she is destined for great things. We jump back into present time with Black Canary taking on White Canary, telling her she knows who she is. They continue their brutal fight, in which White Canary breaks Dinah's wrist. Meanwhile, we see Savant is holding Oracle on a the top of a damn, threatening to push her off of it. We find out that the reason Savant is so pissed off is because of his inability to conceptualize time correctly, he believes that past transgressions have happened more recently than they actually did. (Oh yeah, I dropped those SAT words on ya!) In the middle of the Canary vs. Canary fight, Dinah lets loose with what may be the most powerful Canary Cry I've ever seen. The other Birds of Prey run into danger too, and it seems like this may be the end for one of our ladies. We jump back over to Canary, where she confronts her newest foe, who we find out is very unstable when it comes to protecting her families honor. On the Dam, Savant and Oracle have a heart to heart that ends in a way I didn't expect to happen, until a certain redhead tries to intervene. Back with the canary's, White Canary threatens to murder Dinah's friends and family as she makes her watch, including The Birds of Prey, Roy Harper and Oliver Queen. Hawk and Dove have a quiet, interesting moment to themselves, and the previously mentioned showdowns that I won't ruin all crescendo at this one moment in the comic, giving it a very important feel. The ending of this comic surprised me, and left a lot of questions to be answered, but I can honestly say this is one of the best opening arcs for a series I've ever read. I'll give this issue of BoP a solid 10/10.

White Canary: I killed them Ms. Lance. To save my father's honor, I hunted them down and beat each one of them to death. It wasn't difficult. They trusted me.

Titans #26

From the cover this looks to be a Cheshire-centric issue, with a special guest that I think we all can guess who. We start things off with a regretful Cheshire at Lian's grave, vowing to make everyone pay for her death. After some "delightful" banter with our special guest star, she asks him to help her kill someone, that person is Slade "Deathstroke" Wilson. She talks him into helping her after throwing Lian's death in his face. We jump to Cinder, the Human Torch of this band of miscreants known as The Titans. This is where I noticed the art is a little odd, it's more like general outlines of people with no definition, Ink doesn't even look the same, I wouldn't even know who he was if he wasn't the only black person on the team. Anyway, after talking to Cinder he finds out she can never go home, before she can elaborate, a pissed off Osiris blames her for the crack on the Isis statue, and takes a shot at Ink when he tries to calm him down. Ink retaliates and appears to cut Osiris, confusing the super powered teen, who takes off, thinking of how much he hates his team. Orsiris' rant is soon cut short as he's interrupted by the voice of the White Ring (as mentioned in Brightest Day 7) telling him to bring back his sister, Isis. One of the most shocking things is what happens when Slade and the Mystery Man finally meet up, but as always I won't ruin that for anyone who hasn't read it. The last fight scene, along with the mystery of what happened to Osiris was the only part of the comic where I could fully emerge myself, and then the issue ended. It wasn't a bad comic, but it wasn't amazing, it was average, like most of this run has been, I'd give it a 6/10.

Cheshire: Titans. That's what he calls us. He's stealing everything you stood and fought for all those years. Doesn't that mean anything to you?

Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors

This cover is amazing, definitely one of my favorites of the year. The way Ganthet and Atrocitus stand behind guy, and you can see the Red Lantern symbol in his eyes, it just looks great. Anywho, things start off with the main protagonist of this new series, Guy Gardner, watching out over Oa. He heads back inside and records a message, he starts to talk about the future and how he may not be around for it, but his recording is cut short when his ring reports a crime. We see an awesome action scene where Guy, utilizing his ring makes a motorcycle, and makes a hit with a Bat-construct that would make Jose Canseco do a double-take. Guy, victorious in his mission, says he now has an idea about his other mission, the one he made with Ganthet and Atrocitus. He actually gets permission from the Guardians to go to the Unknown Sectors and heads on his way. Over in the orbit of Daxam, Sodam Yat falls to the planet, and is pulled into the dark shadows by some kids, protecting him from people whose faces we can't see. Back on Oa, or um.... under Oa, Ganthet raises a book that has the Black Lantern symbol on it, Scar's book, and one of the pages shows Guy fighting Kyle (or Hal, but I think Kyle.) They decide to study it later, but hide it away for now, and discuss their partnership with Atrocitus, whom Guy doesn't trust. We jump over to Atrocitus to see him saying the same about Guy and Ganthet, before sending one of his Red Lantern's, Bleez, to join Guy Gardner in his mysterious mission. The final page of this issue raises a lot of questions, and will definitely keep people tuned in, this opening issue did it's job in keeping me interested and wanting the next, and for that I'll rate it a 8/10.

Guy Gardner: You have the right to scream as loud as ya want while I kick your ass!

Adventure Comics #517

The Atom comic only for the newer readers. I'll only follow it for this arc since I don't see the point in paying for two comics to read one. Anyway, things pick up where they left off last time, with Atom's head under his foe's boot. We get an interesting story of a moment with Atom and Batman, where the Caped Crusader asked how Atom breathes. Anywho, Atom shrinks down himself and his enemy to escape the pathogen that was released in the last issue. We see a flashback where Ray won a science fair and his father didn't show up but his mysterious Uncle Dave does, I'm starting to think he may be Palmer's biological father, but that's just a guess. Anyway, he encourages Ray to keep studying and not let his academics fall just because he doesn't have the most supportive father. Back in the present, Ray pops out of Oracle's computer with his newest enemy, who doesn't know of Oracle's identity anymore, and she's ready with an inoculation for The Atom. Ray intimidates his latest foe (man I work hard to keep from spoiling for you guys) into giving him the information he needs. When Ray calls to check up on Professor Hyatt, the issue ends in suspense. I never really got into the issue, unlike the other two, it was okay but nothing really special. I'd like to see more than just a chase and flashbacks in this comic, I'll give it a 5/10.

The Atom: Or I could bring you back inside that computer and leave you there. You like information so much... how would you like to become some?

JL Generation Lost #7

This week's issue of Generation Lost gets things underway with recently the returned from the dead Maxwell Lord talking to someone, telling them to keep an eye on some people while using code names. He's interrupted by the white light, which appears in other comics this week and seems pretty cool that all these different comics are synced up. The white light tells him to stop the war before it starts, and we see a bloody and battered Magog murdered by Max Lord, who proclaims he's saving the world, before snapping out of this image. We then get a glimpse of the "JLI", and see that Fire wants the team to break into Checkmate to go after Max, even though she was against this plan two weeks ago in the last issue. They use a distraction plan, with Captain Atom bringing out the big guns to keep everyone at Checkmate occupied so Fire, Ice and Rocket Red on Team One, and Booster, Skeets and Beetle on Team Two. Fire and Ice have an interesting discussion, Ice thinks they should still try to convince people to remember who Max is, instead of going straight into the Lion's Den. It was pretty cool seeing the JLI in Rocket Red costumes, and hearing Red's Nazi-act to fool Checkmate was funny to see. The plan doesn't work out the way intended (of course) and we're left with a cliffhanger, wondering how our team will get out of this one. In the theme of the week, this issue sadly is nothing special, just average. If you read it you wouldn't be disappointed, yet if you skipped it you wouldn't miss much, I'll give this issue a 6/10.

Ice: At some point while we've all been running around, I think Booster's become the team leader.

Fire: OhMiGod, You're right!

Ice: I know! What the hell, right?!

Daredevil #509

Shadowland continues with this issue of DareDevil, we start things off with a welcome face taking down a guard in an awesome way, and that face belongs to super ninja extraordinaire, Elektra, the associate of Master Izo. We see some Hand members or something (still new to Daredevil) talking about the Hand members recently killed, yet they don't know Elektra is responsible yet. They check in with White Tiger, and learn that Daredevil has crossed the line into being a killer. The old dudes tell White Tiger to hunt down and kill all of Daredevil's former friends. Elektra and Master H-to-the-Izo (I couldn't resist...) overhear the plan, and Izo seems to know why they chose Daredevil for this experiment, and exclaims he and Elektra must get to New York as quick as possible. We also catch up with Foggy and Dakota, who are attacked by members of The Hand, following the car accident from last time we saw them. Meanwhile in Japan, Izo tells Elektra to go to New York, find Matt Murdock, and she knows what she must do, before staying to face the Hand members that were following them. We also see Daredevil make his first recruitment in the hero/villain community, and his first member surprised me. This issue did a great job of filling in the blanks between the last Daredevil issue and Shadowland. I like that everything seems to happen in real-time and fit in between certain events we've already read. This Shadowland story continues to keep up it's great pacing in Daredevil and the main series, I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Hand Ninja: Prepare to meet your death!

Ivo: Oh, I've been prepared since before you were born.

Superman #702

Supes walks through my hometown of Detroit, Michigan in this issue of Superman. Things start with some lazy guy sitting on his porch, his wife tells him that someone says Superman is walking through the neighborhood, but he's too lazy to see, and when Superman walks by, he's too lazy to even lift his head up and see who he's saying "Good afternoon." to... now THAT'S lazy. Supes then plays basketball, and uses his Super speed to destroy the guys he plays, then let's a nerdy kid block him, so he looks cool and everyone loves him. Eventually the Man of Steel fights someone who made a big robot suit to attack him. We then find out that the guy and his neighbors are aliens who immigrated to planet Earth.... what?! There are aliens living in Detroit? And no one told me? I live here, I have a right to know these things! Supes then encounters an old man who used to work at an abandoned factory (someone did their homework, JMS.) and he and Supes talk about how times change and whatnot. The old man asks Superman to fly for him, because he's never seen anyone fly in person (no, really?) and The Man of Steel does what he asks. As Superman goes to leave, the guy keels over, and Supes picks him up, flies him to the aliens and ask them to help... I cannot believe I just typed that sentence. Well, things happen from there, but I'll leave you guys to read that. The best part about this issue was the last page, which kept me interested in knowing what will happen, since this issue almost killed my interest. I expected this issue to be more like the last, since he's grounded and solving human problems, I didn't expect aliens and robots. I'll give this issue a 4/10.

Old dude: Didn't figure you'd come by Detroit or Flint. Figured you'd go someplace sunny on vacation.

Batgirl #13

This issue starts with Stephanie Brown, who secretly masquerades as the Gotham's female protector, Batgirl, having an intense game of Ping-Pong at school with a fellow student. She gets a call from Proxy, who she mistakes as Oracle, telling her that there's a shooting at the financial district and Batgirl is needed there. She also manages to use the phrase "Po-Po" which was very out of place, but Steph called her out on it, so that makes me aware that Bryan Q. Miller is poking fun at himself. There's also a cool scene where Steph runs off and her shadow makes the Batgirl symbol, it's used a lot it Batman comics but I still mark out for it. We see Detective Nick Gage, a little love interest of Batgirl, trying to take down the shooter, who runs away on foot. Nick follows and when the two are alone on a rooftop, the shooter reveals himself to be Clayface, and knocks Nick off of the roof. He's caught just in time by The Caped College Crusader (just made that up) who engages in witty banter that would make Dick Grayson smirk. Meanwhile, with help from Proxy, Batgirl follows Clayface's trail, and manages to lockdown the Bank in the way only Steph can. I've haven't read a comic that mixes action with humor this well since the beginning of the Booster Gold series. The Clayface fight is awesome, and the first time Stephanie, as Batgirl is taking on a major villain in the Rogue's gallery. This issue is more of a stand-alone story but it was great, and gives us a little insight into Nick Gage's background. We also got to see the first Batgirl/Proxy team-up without Oracle, and I really enjoyed this issue, I'd rate it a solid 9/10.

Stephanie: Nothing like the wind... and bullets... whipping through my hair on a beautiful spring day.

So, that's it for this weeks edition of Ratings and Rantings. Thanks for reading guys, I appreciate it and as always comments are appreciated. As for my big news, I've recently gotten a Temp Job working at Chrysler making 14$ an hour (INSANE!), I start Orientation next Wednesday so don't be surprised if I have to push Ratings and Rantings back a few days some weeks, but it will be done because I love typing these reviews and hearing what you guys think. The main reason I'm letting you know if because you guys are like family, so I wanted to keep ya updated. But that's all, below are the poll results from the last week. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd.

Last week's poll asked "Who would you like the chance to play as in Batman: Arkham City next year, even if it's just in Challenge Maps?"

Last Place with 0% - Batman Only

Third Place with 12.5% - Tie between Catwoman and Two-Face.

Second Place with 25% - Tim Drake as Robin.

Winner with 50% - Nightwing, Let's have Escrima Sticks!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #3, Batman: Streets of Gotham #15, Brightest Day #8, Green Lantern Corps #51, Powergirl #15, Amazing Spider-Man #640, and Deadpool #26.

Ratings and Rantings

Ladies, Gentlemen, children of all ages, it's that time once again for the rant-fest known as Ratings and Rantings! I'm your host, the always interesting Jason Todd, welcoming you, once again to my Red Hood. First things first, I'm actually not reviewing Dark Wolverine, it's crossing over with Franken-Castle and I didn't wanna read half the story so I didn't get this month's issue. Also, they forgot to put my Deadpool issue in my bad even though it's on my receipt so I paid for it... and I'm too lazy to go back to the shop today so I'll review it next week. We've got a lot of comics on deck today, so I'm gonna jump right into the swing of things. And since I'm running low on ideas, anyone who has an idea for the weekly poll next week, feel free to submit it. Now, let's get to it!

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #1

Now, long time readers may remember how hyped up I was when I found out one of my favorite DC characters, Booster Gold, would get a chance to team up with The Man of Steel and Green Lantern Hal Jordan, to search for Bruce Wayne back in mid-April. So to say I've been waiting for this is an understatement. So the issue starts off with some awesome insight on the usually secret background of Rip Hunter. We see some bonding time between him and his Father, who if you keep up, you should definitely know by now. Jumping into present time, or um.. at least the 15th century, we see the Time Masters crew (Booster, Rip, Superman and Hal Jordan), the latter two want to help some people who have smallpox. Hunter vetoes this saying they can't change anything, except in a much funnier way, to Superman that's almost guaranteed to be the line of the issue. From there we see how Rip put this team together, and also see appearances of Despero, Supernova and Goldstar, Booster's sister. This first issue of Time Masters has everything I wanted and more. I'm usually not a big fan of the whole jumping around, past, present story unless it's done well (ala Lost) and it was done well here. The only thing that bothered me is we were kinda just dropped into it with not a lot of background, but I'm sure we'll learn more as time goes on. As for this issue I enjoyed it a lot, I'd give it a 9/10.

Superman: We can't ignore this, Hunter.

Rip Hunter: This isn't a jaunt to the Smallville candy store, Superman! We are in the past and that means we don't change anything! It also means you'll do as I say!

Power Girl #14

Every once in a while an issue starts with a great scene. A hero flying high, a hero surrounded by the people he's saved who are praising them. A hero staring at another hero letting you know they respect one another. This one starting with PG getting punched by a fist that makes The Hulk's look small in comparison. We then flashback to earlier in the day when Power Girl's alter-ego, Karen Starr, found out that after an employee named Donna embezzled millions from the Karen's company that it was being seized by the government. She then gets a call from Booster Gold, who if you count this appearance is in four comics this month. After Power Girl fails at recognizing Max Lord, a defeated Booster takes off. PG heads off and see's three destroyed buildings along with a currently falling forth. She goes to investigate and runs into a robotic, android type thing that is caused from something else in the issue that I won't spoil for you. From there a little assimilation happens and we leave off with our plucky, precious Power Girl in a precarious predicament. Wooo, Alliteration!!! Anyway, another solid issue of Power Girl. It doesn't have that big time feel though, it just seems like it's to be read, but never to fully be immersed in like some other comics. I did enjoy it though, I'll give it an 8/10 rating.

Purple Dude: I don't even have any junk for pete's sake!

Power Girl: Junk?

Purple Dude: The Frank and Beans, kiddo. I'm like a Ken Doll down south. This is no way for a man to live.

Brightest Day #6

Martian Manhunter's on the cover so I'm hoping it's his story, the Firestorm boys and Deadman. Maybe the Aqua-Team too, and no Hawkman/girl. Well we start with some stupid green alien thingy killing some people for no apparent reason. Awesome... that's just awesome. *Sarcasm* Meanwhile, Martian Manhuter realizes that all the plants he comes in contact with die. Anyway, jumping to Hawk, Dove and Deadman are trying to bring female Hawk back from the grave. Dove comes up with the brilliant idea that to use his ring he needs to embrace life, much like a Green Lantern much use Will for their rings. When trying to remember what he enjoyed while alive the ring or white voice or whatever randomly chimes in with "He loved cheese-burgers." and that causes Black Lantern Girl-Hawk to shoot up from the ground. What in the hell am I reading? Apparently that was a warning and not real, when asked why Hawk's brother and Dove's sister aren't back from the dead the ring says "eat a cheese-burger." .....Anyway, jumping to Jason Rusch, he's hit on by some girl who introduces herself as Kelly from Chemistry. She likes Jason obviously and he turns her down, I'd assume cause he misses Gehenna. After blowing her off she says "If you change your mind, I'm on Facebook." ....WHAT?! Does someone not know how facebook works? I don't think you can type "Kelly from Chemistry" in the search engine just to find her. That just annoyed me more than anything. From there the Firestorm storyline heats up, no pun intended. We also got an explanation of Mera's past that was pretty interesting. Then we jump back to Martian Manhunter who's enlisted Oracle to help him out with finding the culprit of some grisly murders. The end result left me confused on what exactly happened, so I guess I'll be awaiting the next issue. This review is weird because the comic was horrible at the beginning but got good with the Firestorm, Aquaman and last few pages of the Martian Manhunter stuff, but not enough to save this. I'd give it a 4.5/10.

White Ring: Eat a Cheeseburger. (Brought to you by Burger King.)

Superman/Batman #74

Lex Luthor starts off things in this comic, still trying to give his name the respect he feels it deserves on the planet that hates Superman. We see that Lex has been keeping both Superman and Batman busy so that they don't see his true actions, while trying to attain a God-like status on this new planet. Lex has been keeping Batman busy with crimes in Crime Alley or around churches and foster homes, and pretty soon Batman figures out that he's being distracted, but doesn't know what he's being distracted from. Meanwhile, Supes returns to the planet to make peace but is attacked with Kryptonite, obviously a gift from their "God", Lex Luthor. Supes eventually finds out that Lex is behind it, due to him using Luthor Corp products in his rockets. If you're rich, buy someone else's stuff!! That's like Batman using Wayne Corp grappling hooks. Batman eventually discovers it's Lex's men running crime in Gotham and pays him a visit. Superman, much like myself, calls Lex out on using his own products when he also pays Lex a visit. The issue was less team-up and more common enemy, and seemed to be a filler until issue #75. It wasn't bad but wasn't great either. I'd give it a 6.5/10.

Superman: You may push too far one day, Luthor, and all your lawyers and fall guys won't be enough to protect you... Or you might even get me mad.

Lex: I doubt it Superman... I know what buttons to push... and which to avoid.

Batman Beyond #2

Batman Beyond #2 kicks things off with a news report on the man whose been killing people lately that's being watched by someone whose name I can't make out and Amanda Waller. On the other side of Neo-Gotham, Batman drops in on Bruce Wayne to tell him who he almost went up against. Bruce has believed Hush to be dead for some years, due to the events he recounts in this comic, but was never certain. Bruce decides to study the bandage "Hush" left behind while Terry hits the street to find the killer. The killer spends this time killing a former villain by the name of Armory, and his wife and son, this time using sharpened umbrellas, the trademark of the Penguin. While heading home, Batman spots someone trying to steal proverbial billions in merchandise from Cloudware industries. Turns out this person is a futuristic Catwoman, much like our current (futuristic) Batman. Terry loves this, and claims he's always wanted a Catwoman because it's an unwritten law that they have a "thing" for each other. They banter, fight and the feline femme fatale (more alliteration!!!!) disappears like magic. Batman is then sent to look up former Batman villains by Bruce, to possibly cut off the killer at the pass. Terry walks in on the Calender Man, Julian Day, who had the big plan to send Commissioner Barbara Gordon an exploding birthday card. Batman takes it and is suddenly tackled by the killer who bursts through the window. After a quick fight, the killer stands up and says he's going to kill Batman, and the killer has the exact same wrapped face and gear as Hush. This was a very good issue and stayed strong. The introduction of the new Catwoman as well as the mystery of who is the Killer and if it's really Hush is keeping me interested, plus the artwork looked better this month. I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Batman: But Batman and Catwoman are supposed to have a thing! It's an unwritten law! A Tradition!

Catwoman: Well, I ain't into the law... and I ain't your grandma's Catwoman.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #14

From one Hush story to another eh? I'm not complaining at all. Anyway, things here start off with a former gangster getting out of Blackgate Prison after 27 years. He's picked up by Anthony Marchetti  and ZZZ, the big brute that always falls asleep. The gangster makes small talk asking about the town and such and how it's changed. He says he's gonna take a hot shower, go grab a grinder and some beers, take a walk on the bridge and look at his town, and then put a bullet in Bruce Wayne's skill. and yes, he said it VERY casually like that. Then we see Hush, who's just had a dream he's killed Batman, Zatanna, Robin, Katana, Catwoman and the rest of his guardians since he's stepped out into the city as Bruce Wayne. He awakes, shaves, showers and is met by Katana, whose on babysitting duty today. Hush starts to think back on things he's been doing since moving back to the Elliot Manor, like coming across his Mother's diary. We then see a VERY interesting flashback (what is it with flashbacks today?!) with the Elliots, Bruce's parents, Thomas Wayne and Martha Kane, and Zatanna's father, John Zatara. Back in present day, Katana tells Hush that he's dreaming if he thinks Arkham Asylum will release the people he's listed, and he mentions Harley Quinn is free thanks to a recommendation by Bruce Wayne. It seems one of the women he wants released, is Jane Doe. The co-feature is a Two-Face story, and it's phenomenal. It was better than the main story, and the main story was good. I'll give this issue of Streets of Gotham a 9/10. 8 for the main and 10 for the co-feature.

Hush: It's not fair, really. I had to endure months of agony to surgically change my appearance. You wardens cheat with illusions created by Zatanna's magic rings.

And that's it for a big week here on Ratings and Rantings. I'll be back with the new weekly poll this weekend and the results of this weeks VERY lopsided poll. I don't have any plans for posting things but if you guys wanna see something feel free to suggest it. If I'm not too lazy, I'll gladly do it! Well until then, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger man, Jason Todd!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #891, Batman: Widening Gyre #6 (I reviewed #5 on March 10th btw...), Detective Comics #867, The Flash #4, Gotham City Sirens #14, Green Arrow #2, Green Lantern #56, Green Lantern Corps #50, JL Generation Lost #6, Deadpool #25 and Wolverine Origins #50.

Ratings and Rantings

It's that time once again, for the weekly revolutionary ranting and ratings-fest known as Ratings and Rantings! JT here as usual to welcome you guys back to my Red Hood once again. This week's edition of R&R is gonna be a big one. Also this weekend will be the return of the now Bi-Weekly "Top Five 5!" since it was so well received by you guys. But more about that later. And I'd like to give a special thanks to you guys for helping me reach 20 followers. I appreciate the fact that twenty people think my insane thoughts are worth reading and subscribing to. Lastly, Power Girl was pushed back a week so I won't be reviewing that. Alright then, let's get things started!

Batman #701

This is the beginning of a two-part story of what apparently happens between Batman RIP and Final Crisis when Bats supposedly died. It's written by Grant Morrison and has art by Tony Daniels, a.k.a. The guy who turned Jason Todd into a villain and also gave Catwoman a sidekick that we haven't seen since last year. Things start off with Batman swimming to the surface after the Helicopter crash from RIP. He waits for Hurt to surface but he never does. I gotta say, seeing Bruce in the costume is kinda weird after knowing Batman as Grayson for the last year, but a good kind of weird. I know he's been in other things as Batman but this seems more real, if you get what I'm trying to say. We see Bruce try to make sense of who Thomas Hurt is and what he wants and even enters the secret room at Wayne Manor which he promised his parents he'd never enter. That confuses me because what the hell is back there, and I mean if he's a kid and someone broke in and that's the only place he could hide should he just stay in plain sight? Anyway, the room has Barbatos scrawled on the walls along with the name Thomas a ton of times. Not long after, Bruce is summoned by Superman who lets him not that a New God was killed. (Orion if I recall from Final Crisis.) This issue was surprisingly good, it showed us Batman's psyche before the events of Final Crisis, which he was barely in, so this should be interesting. I'll give this issue an 8/10, bring on part two!

Batman: All I had to do was survive a few minutes more. And remember one thing; if it was this hard for me, it would be impossible for him. For Hurt.

Adventure Comics #516 (Atom Story)

And it seems like they were just on issue one a few months ago. :P But no really, seeing as how I'm not a big fan of the Legion, I'll just be reviewing the Atom Co-Feature. And seeing as how I'm paying for half a comic, I don't expect to be reviewing this series for a long time. The story starts with the aftermath of The Atom Special I reviewed last week. Ray sits in a hospital with his unconscious father and tries to tell himself he'll get the chance to talk to him and air out their "dirty laundry" so to speak. Just for the record, there's a spoiler in this comic that ruins Batgirl #12's ending if you haven't read it yet so READ BATGIRL BEFORE THIS if you plan on reading them both. Well, that was annoying. Anyway, The Atom, with the help of Oracle, goes after The Calculator to ask him a few questions about the Library hold-up. Atom finds the Calculator but at a deadly price. The issue ends with a good cliffhanger that makes me want the next issue. Damn you writers!!! But this was a pretty good chapter of The Atom saga, the inclusion of Calculator seemed weird but it works. I hated that it spoiled Batgirl for me though, so I'm docking it's score for that, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

Oracle: I mean, even Batman can't track him.

Atom: I realize that, but last time I checked, Batman couldn't surf data lines.

Titans #25

Pretty sweet cover by the way. Anywho, Lex and Slade are in the sewers dodging bullets from the shape-shifter who acted as if she worked for Luthor. They aren't dodging for long until Slade lands a head-chopping-off slice with his blade on the shape-shifting senorita. Sadly that doesn't kill Facade, who continues her attack. The usual swerve you expect when dealing with Shape-shifter's happens but it was pretty well done this time around. Slade's choice when finding out who was the real Cheshire was pretty drastic if I say so myself. I don't think I would've made the same choice, but it was entertaining and shows you never know what to expect with Deathstroke. From there we get some Cryptic stuff from Deathstroke, a fire lit under Cheshire and a revelation we have to wait until next month for from Osiris. This issue was okay but nothing special or notable happened, I'll rate this issue a 6/10.

Facade: I see about-to-be-dead people. (Nothing like ten year old movie references.. yeah.)

Superman #701

So for those unaware, J. Michael Straczynski has taken over both Superman and Wonder Woman writing duties. After reading Superman #700 I decided to see what's going on in this issue, as the arc is titled "Grounded." Basically Supes feels he's lost touch with earth and it's people so he's gonna walk across America, literally walk and be closer to the people. Sounds weird but weird enough to keep me interested, so let's see how JMS does. It starts off with Supes helping a guy fix his car, then walking away from reporters. It's really MUCH more interesting than it sounds but I can tell this review is gonna make it sound very boring. The best part is all the reporters asking Supes if he's had any contact with Red Kryptonite or lost his powers or anything else. That's how you know it happens too much when they become common questions. Superman eventually stops to grab a bite to eat but can't afford the Philly Cheese Steak he wants and insists on paying, (he keeps his money in his cape...and I find that freaking hilarious.) so he offers to do some work there to pay for his meal. I'm sure there's people getting mugged while he's cleaning a back room to pay for a Cheese Steak but whatever. Eventually Supes encounters some Drug dealers, and a woman who plans on committing suicide by jumping off a building. This comic was different from the average Superman comic, it was very deep and I really enjoyed it. I honestly did, and I'd love to read more because it's Supes out of his element, dealing with real people but in a way only he could. 10/10 from me, everyone won't like it, but I thought it was great.

Reporter 1: So what're you doing here, Superman?

Superman: Walking.

Reporter 2: So why aren't you flying?

Superman: I'm not flying because I'm walking. Are you sure you're a reporter?

Justice League: Generation Lost #5

Gen Lost gets things underway with a flashback (er...uh... Flash Forward?) from Booster's past (future?) It's right after the top Quarterback, Booster (not yet Gold), was caught betting on his own College games, then throwing the games to make money. This is all as we see, a perfect metaphor of Booster never knowing when he's being screwed, as Max has been screwing over Booster and the rest of the former JLI'ers. Max claims he reunited everyone because the team needs to be back together. Max tells the team to fight crime and do good, and most importantly don't come after him because he doesn't want to hurt them. Booster vows to find Max and make him pay for his past troubles as Max ends his transmission. Meanwhile, Reyes manages to pick up Max's signal and may be able to help the JLI find him. The issue ends with more of Booster's thoughts (remembering his first meeting with Max) and he once again vows to make Max pay. I thought this was a solid issue, but not much happened. I'm still enjoying the series though. I'd rate this one a 7/10.

Max Lord: Booster, It's like I told you before, I still think of you as a friend.

Booster Gold: When you said that you were beating me to death with a pipe.

Booster Gold #34

This comic starts with a great opening page, and a little evidence that Mr. Dematteis (writer of the Super Buddies comics) doesn't like that Max killed Blue Beetle by shooting him in the head. Man the artwork in this comic is weird, faces look all long and stretched out, the little girl looks like a midget because she has a toddler's body but an adult's face. Michelle looks like.... a crackwhore for lack of a better term. I mean seriously she does and I wish I didn't have to say that but it's the best description. Anyway, Booster decides to try to replicate (oh yeah, I'm smart!) his deeds from the past issue but come back with evidence he can use this time. But this time he runs into Ted Kord, The Blue Beetle. Ted recruits Booster to going with him to get the Book of Destiny since it was recently stolen. After some classic Blue and Gold banter, the two recruit Big Barda and Mr. Miracle to help them track down this book. This comic also reminded me why I love Big Barda, because she is awesome. The art gets better too, I think because the early art is done by Giffen who should leave the art to the artist. Booster also realizes he's a different man than he was, he's smarter and more serious and I liked that this was brought up because Booster has matured. I'm happy with this issue and I'm excited for the next, as long as the artist stays on the art work. I'd rate this one a 7.5/10.

Big Barda: Oh for Heaven's sake, What is everyone making such a fuss about? It's just a dragon!

Booster Gold: "Just"? What? You think you can just stroll up to it and punch it out?

Big Barda: Yes. (And she did.)

Batgirl #12

It's about time they used this cover, I've had it on my computer since like November. It's a great cover and deserves to be on stands. We see Steph parachute into the Calculator's grounds then get past his security measures. She eventually finds Babs and Calc in a room, mind linked and trips an alarm. Meanwhile, in Calc's mind, Oracle see's that as a kid he was locked in a cage by his mother with a Rubik's cube until he could solve the puzzle, and he worked on it so much his hands bled. We also wee that his girlfriend/wife killed her self the day she brought his twin son and daughter, Marvin and Wendy home from the hospital. We also see the debut of Proxy, which I like. It seems as if Babs may be leaving Batgirl to go to the Birds of Prey comics, but it's too early to tell. I wouldn't mind, I like how things are either way. I thought this was a nice conclusion to the comic, we got a new use for Wendy, we saw inside Calculator's mind and we even got to see Steph save the day. I enjoyed this arc and I can't wait to see Steph take on Clayface, I'd give this issue of Batgirl a 8/10.

Batgirl: My name? Stephanie Brown-- I've said it before. I'll say it again-- I'm Batgirl.

Birds of Prey #3

The artwork by Ed Benes is phenomenal. That guy can draw like a freaking GOD. This comic starts off with me laughing, so damn hard. "Penguin party in my pants" is now my new favorite phrase. From there, The Birds try to figure out who's behind everything they've been through, but soon after their attacked by rogue cops. Hawk goes on the offensive and Canary and Huntress join him. Meanwhile, Penguin continues the funniest hallucinations I've seen in years. Babs tries to call in the JLA when the Batcave's connection doesn't go through, and Babs is shocked to see who confronts her. It shocked the hell out of me too. Hawk gets taken down due to his bravado and stupidity, and Dinah decides to take on her new nemesis one on one. Black Canary vs. White Canary. And Dinah knows who she is, or so she claims. This comic had me on the edge of my seat the whole way through, wondering what will happen with Dinah, who White Canary is, How'd Hawk get taken down, what's gonna happen with Babs. I've said it once and I'll say it again, Gail Simone is a genius, and quickly becoming my favorite writer. Birds of Prey gets it's third 10/10 rating from me.

The Penguin: Penguin party in my pants. (Always and forever Oswald, Always and Forever.)

So now that all the reviews are done with, let's get to the Top Five 5. Basically for newer readers, or long-time readers who've lost braincells from reading too much of my stuff, I'm going to list five topics. I want you guys to pick your top five answers for each topic, so the end result should be 25 picks. Then you email them to me at KevinKavalier@gmail.com and I'll list all the answers this Sunday. So you guys have until Sunday at noon, EST. time to get me your picks if you'd like them counted. Get it? Got it? Good. So the topics are as follows:

Top Five Artists
Top Five TV/Film Adaptations
Top Five Couples/Duo's/Bromances
Top Five Favorite storylines of 2000-2010
Top Five Favorite Villains

And there you go, so please submit your answers to me whenever you get a chance, and make sure you tell me who ya are so I don't have to guess. So that's all for this week's Ratings and Rantings. Thanks for reading, and this weekend be sure to come back and see everyone's Top 5 picks, until then, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger Man, Jason Todd.

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

 Batman Beyond #2, Batman: Streets of Gotham #14, Brightest Day #6, Power Girl #14, Superman/Batman #74, Time Master's Vanishing Point #1 (FINALLY!!!!), Dark Wolverine #88, and Deadpool #25!

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here welcoming you, as usual to my Red Hood. This weeks Ratings and Rantings should be a good one, as I'll be reviewing the always good Batgirl, as well as Titans, Booster Gold, JL Generation Lost and the monumental 700th issue of Batman. So, I'm not gonna waste time with Small talk about how you should recommend my blog to everyone, and how awesome I am for my reviews and stuff like that, and how I'm all cool and the life of the party. Because who want's to hear that?! :-) Lol anyway, really, let's get to the reviews!

Titans #24

Titans started by following Dick Grayson (Batman), Roy Harper (Armless), Wally West (Demoted), Starfire (REBELS), Donna Troy (JLA), and Cyborg, Raven and Beast Boy (Teen Titans AGAIN). Now it's following what may be one of the best put together teams DC Teams of all time, Lead by Deathstroke and featuring Cheshire, Cinder, Tatooted Man (referred to as Ink by me from now on), and Osiris. This issue starts with Osiris talking with Cassie who wants him to turn himself in for killing Persuader back during 52. HA! I wish I WOULD, He killed someone, he died, we're even as far as I'm concerned. Anyway, he refuses like anyone with a brain would. From then on we see Osiris has joined Deathstroke, for reasons we can only speculate as bringing back Black Adam and his sister. We eventually see the Titans attack Lex Luthor as apart of Deathstroke's plan, and even see something weird happen with Osiris that surprises both him and Slade. The explosion and Osiris standing there made for an awesome visual, showing us that while being small, he is powerful and possibly the most dangerous person on the team. The ending surprised me, and while it wasn't a huge surprise it was enough to keep me waiting for the next issue. Titans is starting off to a good start so far, and the 7/10 rating should reflect that. I'd love to see more into the minds of the team though.

Cinder: Say hello to the Devil, Lex. You can tell him I sent you.

Batman #700

Grant Morrison AND Tony Daniel... why did I buy this book? Turns out his gonna chronicle the Three Batman, Bruce, Dick and *shudders* Damien... Damn couldn't it have been Terry McGinnis or something?! Well the first story I hated.... It was just all around, everyone was talking about nothing. It's just stupid... there are FIVE villains in the room and Batman's tied up and their standing around him... why the hell would you have a conversation after he tells you he's gonna break out. It just seemed like the most pointless thing to me. The second story continues to the first, I'm guessing ten or so years into the future, maybe fifteen as Grayson is now Batman.The second story was much better, and I gotta admit, I marked out to see Grayson using the Escrima sticks, there's the Nightwing I know and love. (Sorry Chris Kent!) Also seeing Batman and Robin in a restaurant eating Pizza and drinking coffee shows that Dick isn't the same Batman that Bruce was. I'm sure the place was closed, because if there was people there that'd be... weird but seeing them take a break from kicking ass and relax with some Pizza is a very Dick Grayson thing to do, and helps us remember that Grayson is his own Batman. If I were rating this story by story the first would get a 1 and the second would've gotten an 8, so now unto the sad future where Damien is Batman. This story follows a grim future with Damien as Batman, who's stupid enough to bring Brother-Eye back after how it backfired the first time. Nice job dumbass, also Babs is the Commish, I didn't know they handed that job to Ex-Librarians and Teachers but ah well. And the villain is a poor-man's Two-Face.... man If this is the future no wonder Geoff Johns is bringing back the past. the swerve at the end of the Damien story definitely saved it and left me pleasantly surprised. If I was rating his story I'd give it a 6, I'll give the overall comic a 5.5/10 rating. The art gallery was great though, beatifully done work, a lot would make excellnt background for the laptop. Anyway this may not have been my favorite, but I'm glad to be around for the 700th issue of Batman, and like they say in the comic, here's to 700 more.... with more Jason. ;-)

Dick Grayson to Damien: You'd be the worst Batman ever. (You tell him Dick... you tell him. Lol)

Justice League: Generation Lost #3

Gen Lost, which may be my favorite new title under the Brightest Day banner besides Birds of Prey has been wonderful lately. Starring one of my favorites, Booster Gold, along with Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and now Jamie "Hai-Me" Reyes, the not so true Blue Beetle joining the cast, I'm a tad disappointed but if anyone can make me enjoy him I'll put my faith in Judd and Keith. The line about Ice not knowing who the OMAC's were was well written and I'm glad it was addressed instead of her magically knowing of them. Her saying she was dead like it was a common cold came off pretty funny though. Seeing Jamie Reyes get FACESLAMMED into the ground automatically bumped this comic up to at least a 7. Anyway he does something awesome that makes me dislike him a little less. Meanwhile, Fire is dealing with her own personal problems much like Cap last month and it ends in the same way. Meanwhile, Cap, Ice and Blue and Gold Version 2.0 have their own troubles to deal with which I won't ruin. This issue was great, action packed and kept me interested every inch of the way. Even Jamie came off somewhat good. For the second time in a row 10/10, and it's yet to get lower than an 8, let's hope it keeps up the awesome story.

Max Lord: Do I smell Barbecue? *Bursts into flames*

Booster Gold # 34

I love that this cover is a play on last month's cover, that's just awesome. So our story starts with the Greatest Hero you've never heard of fighting a huge Scottish monster of a man named Brigadoom! Booster is trying to get his morning coffee when he encounters what looks like a mix between "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Andre The Giant. The fun bonding, and occasional hint dropping between Booster's new house guest and Rip Hunter was pretty fun, as was the surprise appearance by Cyborg. I didn't expect them to get in a heated argument but they went at each other, one of the first times Cyborg came off as a jerk in my recent memory. But Booster ripping him a new exhaust hole was epic and I LOVED seeing the Golden Boy (Lol X) stand up for himself. I'm glad that Booster Gold also links up with Generation Lost somewhat, making the time lines between this, Generation Lost, Teen Titans and Power Girl all mesh together. Booster's idea on how to expose Mex is great, and seeing him execute it and also seeing appearances by J'onn, Guy, Ted, Younger Booster and some other people is a great treat, I can see myself really loving this storyline. Also, a BIG fan of Dinah's old costume, no wonder she made Ollie's arrow come outta the quiver... okay, I'm done making jokes, for now anyway. The rest of this comic was great, with Booster trying to one up max using the time stream and everything else that occurred. I'm never disappointed by this series, and it's definitely one of my top three ongoing series, even with Jurgens gone, Keith and J.M. have kept the stories going great. I'll give this a 10/10 and highly recommend it to everyone following Generation Lost.

Booster Gold: Look at him, Skeets-- sleeping like a seven-foot-five, six hundred and fifty pound homicidal baby.

Batgirl # 11

Damn this cover is awesome. Excellent work on Steph and Manbat. Anyway, we left off on the Techno-Zombies barfing on Oracle and seeing some of our favorite Gothamite's attacking Batgirl. We see into Babs' mind and what's happening to her as a Techno-Zombie. Seeing her walking put a smile on my face, I'll say that much. I know I say this all the time, but Bryan Q. Miller does a phenomenal job of balancing the seriousness, the comedy and the well-rounded aspects of Batgirl. She's written kind of like Spider-Man in the past, as a struggling person who tries her best, jokes around and lives for the moment. She's an excellent character, much better than her time as Spoiler. Seeing Steph take on Catwoman and Huntress is also a treat in this issue. Babs' "On no you didn't moment." was pretty good too, just well written and a perfect comedy moment. The rest of the issue features an interesting team up between Wendy and Batgirl, who have more in common than they thought. The possibility of these two along with Oracle seems like an interesting one, and it definitely left me wanting to read the final issue of The Flood. This third issue definitely set the tone and I can't wait for the finale, I'll give this issue of Batgirl a 10/10 rating. It was greatly written, the art was awesome and the story was interesting all throughout, which is why Batgirl is my favorite series today.

Batgirl: Some Jackass named Calculator just kidnapped Oracle and threw a Romero movie my way to stop me. Wait, Who's this?

Wendy: Wendy.

Batgirl: Harris?

Wendy: Yes.

Batgirl: That's what I was afraid of. Sorry I just called your dad a Jackass.

So, a mostly nice week, Batgirl and Gen Lost continue to lead the pack and always impress. Don't forget to vote if you haven't on the poll as it's a tight race, also this weekend I'll be back with the poll results, a new poll and a review on something. I don't know what yet, could be Wolverine, Captain America, Marvel Boy, Spyboy or something else but I'll have a review up, until then Todd Squad, You've just been Gobsmacked!

-Jason Todd

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Deadpool #24, Dark Wolverine #87, Batman Beyond #1, Birds of Prey #2, Brightest Day #4. Joker's Asylum: Mad Hatter and Joker's Asylum: Harley Quinn.