Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with another weekly collection of comic content comments, we've got a few comics to get to and three I'm REALLY looking forward to, Venom, Schism and Batman's final issue before the reboot which was written by Fabian Nicieza. One book I said I was going to get but didn't once I flipped through it was the final issue of Green Lantern Corps, it was cut into different stories with different artists so I passed, but enough of that, let's jump right into things with this issue of Batman!

Batman #713

Awesome cover with Bruce and three of his four sons. We start things off with a quick flashback of Bruce's past, what led him to being Batman and how the addition of Robin changed his dreary outlook. This also shows the rift that grew and caused Robin to go out on his own, becoming Nightwing. From there we see how Batman brought on a new Robin that "wasn't ready" and the tragedy that followed, and how the third Robin figured out who both Batman and the original Robin were, and how he earned his spot and helped Batman loosen up. And how the change in Batman allowed him to accept more allies like Catwoman, Huntress, and the like. And once things seemed to be perfect, Batman "died" but upon his return he saw that the original Robin was Batman and Bruce's son with Robin, and he was proud so he gave them Gotham City to protect. We see that being Batman was a new adventure for Dick to take on, and Robin, who was always too stiff and strict had been warming up to Grayson and learning to have fun, we also see that although Damian would never admit it, he thought being friends with Dick was an honor. As the issue comes to a close we find out this whole recap was a story that Damian was telling to a young group of survivors, basically telling them there's always lessons to learn and to view everything optimistically, or at least that;s what I got from it. After talking to the kids we see Damian leave with Dick as the Bat Signal lights up the sky, and the Dynamic Duo swing off into the night. This was a cool issue, it was basically just a big recap issue but it was done pretty well, but it didn't deliver what I was led to believe. The synopsis for this issue said "Over the years, Dick Grayson has worn several guises: First, he was Robin the Boy Wonder, then Nightwing, and finally Batman. But now that Bruce Wayne has donned the cape and cowl once again, Dick finds himself at an identity crossroads." But we got none of that, we didn't see Dick feel conflicted or hint at going back to Nightwing, which annoyed me since that's what I expected to read about, so for that reason I'd give this a 6/10.

Dick: We need something that changes our clothes automatically, like a pole or something.

Damian: That is ridiculous.

Teen Titans #38

We start things out in the final issue of Titans seeing Ryan Choi's son and the mother of his son arrive at his funeral. We then cut over to see the Titans fighting amongst themselves over the machine that brought Joseph back from the brink of death. Roy eventually releases DJ Molecule, and since his power was running the machine, he's needlessly pissed, and sides with Roy and Cinder, before blasting Osiris. Jericho is eventually taken down and Roy prepares to leave, but is told by Slade to leave Jericho with him. Roy asks why Slade called them Titans, and Deathstroke says the Titans ruined his son, so he had to take their name and make it a disgrace. Well.. that seems like too much work. Roy realizes that Dick was right, the Titans were an ideal and thanks to Slade they'll be known as the Team that killed Ryan Choi, so Roy takes this time to deck Slade with a punch from his robotic arm, before bringing the fight to Slade like never before, before telling him the Titans are an ideal that won't be corrupted, so Roy will lead the team from now on. Slade tells him he's a little late (read my mind) but Roy says it;s never too late, and that Slade is fired. Cinder takes this time to meld herself with the Methuselah machine, causing it to explode as everyone runs, and Roy tries to get Jade to come with him since she doesn't want to live without Lian. Meanwhile, Osiris and Sivana escape together as the Doctor promises Osiris to rebuild the machine and bring back Black Adam if Osiris kills the Wizard Shazam, which he agrees to do. Isn't it a little late to start new storylines?! After the explosion, Ink and Jade tell Roy they're going their separate ways and Jericho says he'll follow Roy's new leadership. We then cut over to Ryan's funeral which seems pointless since he's The Atom in the DCnU apparently, and after we see Palmer give a speech we cut over to Deathstroke as he vows to throw out the rulebook as this issue ends. Well this was a lackluster ending. This started storylines which made no sense since this is the end for now, I mean why have Roy start a new group of Titans when we know he's going to be in Outlaws? Also, since her inception we still barely know ANYTHING about Cinder, so yeah this was all over the place, also Roy was magically no longer a junkie... I'll give this a 2/10 rating.

Deathstroke: Next Stop? Crazy Town. (That is the least Deathstroke sounding thing I have ever read.)

Power Girl #27

Nice cover Peej, very nice cover. :P We start things off with Peej taking on some robots, after finishing them she see's a message that says she has sixty seconds to save people in three life-threatening situations, but she only has time to save one. She has to choose between saving a friend, Cyclone, who is at gunpoint, saving a young girl fishing, or saving a bunch of old people in the leaning tower of Pisa. The first thing we do is see Peej pick up a giant boulder and throw it into the sea for some reason, next we see Peej save Cyclone with forty seconds left to spare. After she saves her, Peej writes the coordinates to somewhere and a note that says be there in twenty-five seconds, you'll know what to do, with her heat vision on the floor, out of view of a camera that was watching Cyclone. Peej then jets to the Leaning Tower of Pisa and stops the super-powered villain from pushing it over before heading to the young girl on the boat with twenty seconds left. In the midst of the first two missions, Peej snatches a bunch of guns from guys having a war and saves a cat from a tree. Peej arrives at the young girl in the boat just as she's about to be killed by Typhoon, when a giant wave throws her out of the boat, and she's caught by Power Girl. It turns out Peej threw the rock to buy her some time to catch the girl in the air, just in case she was late. Cyclone arrives a second later to help Power Girl stop the waves from destroying a nearby city. As Power Girl finishes up with seconds to spare, she then triangulates the signal of the cameras to find out who's been testing her, as we find out it was the Calculator, who's not even there. Power Girl grabs the guys who are there and tells them to explain what happened, as she has all the time in the world. This was a fun issue that I enjoyed, it was action packed, made sense, and it showcased Peej's strength and intelligence, which I always like. It sucks that this is the end of Peej's solo run, but I hope she's used well in the new DCnU, because she's a hell of a hero. I'll give this issue a 8.5/10.

Power Girl: Thanks to very much for their help, old man! (Peej speaking another language, she's almost as bad as Peggy Hill.)

Venom #6

Things get started right in the fray of things as Venom is deployed to deal with the mass panic caused by Spider-Island. Before Venom heads into the field, Flash gets a call from Betty, basically saying his Dad won't be aloive for much longer and to get there as soon as possible to say goodbye. Flash has that flying around his head as he takes on a big Spider-Monster, I believe one of The Jackal's henchmen, as Venom's leaders have told him to bring the monster in alive. He's getting the better of Agent Venom, until Venom grabs Gravity and tosses him into the sky, he falls down with extra weight onto the Spider-Monster and gets knocked out cold. Back at the secret base, Flash talks to his commanders about the monster he brought in, as the monster starts throwing up a bunch of tiny spiders. They figure he was sent into the city to infect more people with powers, but before anyone can react, the monster erupts from his cell, as Flash and the rest of the employees try to escape. The monster and it's spiders are between Flash and the holding cell with the symbiote, leaving him helpless. Flash speaks up with false courage that they have to take the monster and the spiders out, even if it means blowing up the base, and everyone else reluctantly agree and decide to arm themselves and try to reach the control panel that has the self destruct button. As they head out for the panel, the monster attacks and knocks Flash out of his chair, when suddenly it's attacked by the symbiote, which has formed like a black dog. Once the monster is distracted by one of Flash's teammates shooting at it, Flash suits up with the Symbiote and Agent Venom takes on the monster, but this time he intends to kill it, so you can imagine Flash's surprise, and my own, when one of the Doctor's runs the blood sample from the monster and finds out it's actually Captain America! The issue ends soon after with Flash taking down the Cap Monster, and being told by his commander to mimic the monster, take his spot, find out who did this to Cap, and snap their neck as Flash obliges. Meanwhile, Betty Brant is trying to call Flash so he can say goodbye to his dying father as we come to a close. Damn that was a good issue, the swerve with that being Cap was crazy, I didn't see that coming at all. This is going to be very interesting, I'll give this issue of Venom a 9/10.

Venom: Hello, is it me you're looking for? (Flash Thompson, Number one Spidey fan, number two Lionel Richie fan.)

X-Men: Schism #3

Things start with Cyclops talking to Emma Frost telepathically about the big gala, before there's some telepathic backlash which cuts their conversation short. Emma notifies the fellow mutants on the scene Iceman, Magneto, Namor and Colossus that either Utopia is under attack or they are, and a quick cut to Logan shows him at a bar when news breaks out that there's a disturbance at the Mutant Museum, which leads to him heading there in a hurry. We also get a  quick flashback to Kade Kilgore putting together his adolescent society of murderous geniuses, as well as some insight into each of their lives before jumping back to the present to see the Pre-Teen Scream Team (Yes, I named them that) blowing down a wall and crashing the Mutant Museum Gala. The kids demand the X-Men, so the X-Men deliver, and surprisingly the treacherous little tykes manage to take down Namor, Emma, Colossus, Iceman and Magneto. In the midst of that there's some awesome things like Emma Frost breaking a kid's finger with no remorse (I like her now...) and a kid calling Magneto a old bastard and a withered old fart. Meanwhile, Idie is still in the building, hiding and watching as she speaks to both Cyclops and Wolverine through telepathy, as both men are on their way. Idie tells Scott and Logan that the kids are taking the X-Men and leaving a briefcase, that may be a bomb. Logan keeps telling Cyclops to tell Idie to get the hell out of there, as Idie asks if she should try to stop them. Logan repeatedly tells her he'll be there soon and for her to run, but Cyclops tells her they won't make it there in time and to do what she feels she has to. Idie steps out and apparently saves the X-Men and the civilians but kills twelve men in the process. Logan says that's on Scott's head now, but Scott stands by his choice and said Wolverine should've been there and not at some bar. Wolverine's claws pop out but it turns out the bomb is some type of magnet that draws metal towards it, and it's drawing all the metal to form a giant Sentinel. Man, this was a good issue, since we KNOW the rift between Scott and Logan is coming we keep thinking it's one thing then we find out it's not, which keeps me drawn in even more. I really liked this issue, my only problem is we didn't see Idie's attack, because it happened in Generation Hope, and also we didn't see Colossus get beaten, but I enjoyed this issue, I'd give it a 9/10 as well.

Wilhemina: Mr. Farnesworthe (a cat) didn't like to be tickled, so I made his head all squishy, now he doesn't mind. (That's so damn insane that it scares me.)


And that's all for this week guys and gals. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment and let me know what you guys think. But that's it for me everyone, be sure to come back next week for more Ratings, Rantings, and the last few issues of the DC Universe before the DCnU starts! And remember to vote on this week's newest poll and check out the results of last week's poll as well, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which comic movie are you looking forward to the most?"

Last place with 7.7% - The Amazing Spider-Man, swings into last place.
Third place with 15.4% - The Man of Steel wins the bronze in this poll.
Second place with 30.8% - The Avengers, which I'm definitely looking forward to.
Winner with 46.2% - The Dark Knight Rises to first place.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman: Arkham City #5, Batman: Gates of Gotham #5, Gotham City Sirens #26, Teen Titans #100, Deadpool #42, and Superman: Beyond #0

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here with eight hopefully awesome comics for this weeks Ratings and Rantings! I'm not feeling the long introduction thing, partly because I'm watching All That on Teen Nick's The 90's are All That! and the other reason is because we've got a lot comics to get to, so let's get this party started!

Gotham City Sirens #25

We start things off with a scorned Poison Ivy, escaping from Arkham Asylum with the help of her plants. We see that she was approached by a man disguised as a guard who told her if she got out and tried to kill Catwoman, his employer would help her, since the employer also has a grudge with our favorite feline. The only thing is, the trap is in motion so Ivy has a time limit. She immediately heads out to find Harley, and she plans on killing her but when she see's Harley has scrawled pictures of The Joker all over her cell, she realizes that Harley is addicted to him, and she still wants to help Harley, probably because she does in fact love her. She offers Harley to help her kill Catwoman, and two thirds of the Sirens flee Arkham Asylum to find and kill Selina Kyle. It turns out that the employer is Penguin, who has a bone to pick with Catwoman after she stole money from him. The issue ends soon after with Ivy approaching Catwoman as they get ready for a fight, with Catwoman unaware that Harley is behind her ready to strike. Well that was a really quick issue. This was pretty much a segue issue to get Harley and Ivy outta Arkham and ready to get revenge on Catwoman, which will undoubtedly fail. But this was a fine transitional issue, I'll give it a 7/10 rating.

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

Teen Titans #98

Supah Boy Prime returns! I love SBP, he's probably my second favorite Kryptonian after Power Girl to be honest. Anyway, things start off with a Black Hole almost taking Superboy in the middle of a battle, he escapes but the black hole somehow brings Superboy Prime back to our world. Upset that this is a world where he's a villain and has no family and no Laurie (his girlfriend) he vows to kill all of the Titans, just because I guess. We then jump over to see Kid Flash taking on three of the Rogues, he defeats them but Inertia (!) runs in for an attack, Kid Flash, angrily grabs Inertia and runs so fast that his skin peels away. We then see that Bart was in a "X-Men Danger Room" if you will but Red Robin is worried that Bart is using the room too much and it isn't safe for him. We then see Superboy and Wonder Girl break up, and she gives Connor a box back but we don't see what it is. Ravager see's this (and looks smoking hot...) and hits on Connor, even though she's surprised those two have finally broken up. She asks whats in the box and he says maybe he'll show her one day. Over with Raven we see that she feels like she's being phased out, her darkness being enlightened by Solstice's bright aura. Suddenly, trouble breaks out in the town and the Teen Titans head over to find none other than Superboy Prime with his Teen Titans, Headcase, The Persuader, Indigo (?!), Sun Girl, Zookeeper, and Inertia!!!! They split up and fight with Red Robin facing the former Titan, Indigo. Sun Girl takes on Solstice, Beast Boy and Zookeeper fight, Kid Flash takes on Inertia which according to Red Robin isn't the same one that was killed (Booo!), Ravager taking on The Persuader, Headcase faces off with Raven and Wonder Girl and Superboy taking on Superboy Prime...Superboy (Bald), Superboy (crew-cut) and another Superboy?! The issue ends with Prime, his Titans and three more evil Superboys getting ready to take on the Teen Titans. This was a pretty good issue. I love the though put into the choices, since Ravager and the Persuader do have a past as well as the rest. I also like the curiosity of what's in SB's box (Kryptonie I'd guess), and Raven's thoughts on Solstice. Really good issue that I enjoyed, I hope the next two are this good. I'll give this one a 8.5/10.

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

Green Lantern Corps #62

We start off with a look at the past, where thanks to a Star Sapphire, Soranik Natu and Kyle Rayner were shown their true loves in the confines of their minds. Soranik saw Kyle, but Kyle apparently saw the then-deceased Jade. He lies and tells her he see's her as well, and they went on with their relationship. We then catch up to the present where Kyle is morning Green Lantern Mogo. He's told not to take things so hard by Tomar-Tu, the replacement for Tomar-Re. Kyle thanks him and says that Soranik is really taking things hard and blaming him due to problems they had before the stuff with Krona happened, but Tomar seems to be there for Kyle. When Kyle's emotional tether with the Star Sapphire from earlier is connected, he see's her attacking a bunch of seemingly innocent people. He's sucked into a pink abyss and Tomar grabs his hand which brings him with Kyle. Kyle and Tomar-Tu land on a desolate planet, and Soranik lands soon after. It turns out Star Sapphire Miri has brought Kyle and Soranik there to have them try to stop her from taking over the planet. Tomar-Tu quickly realizes there have been no deaths, only collateral damage, and wonders why Miri has done all of this. Miri attacks Tomar and Kyle and Sora team up to save him, they then take on Miri's constructs and take out Miri. She then admits that she orchestrated all of this to get Kyle and Sora back together. Well duh. Kyle, ever the idiot blurts out in rage that he didn't see Soranik in the crystal which just pisses Soranik off even more. He explains that he saw Jade, but she was dead and he never expected to see her again, and he chose life by choosing Sora. She tells him to stay away from her and never come to her sector again as this issue comes to a close. Aww poor Kyle, well at least she got out before she died. This was another good issue, It broke up Sora and Kyle though, who were one of my favorite comic couples. So hopefully they meet up more in the new DCnU since the GL stuff is pretty much staying the same. But I enjoyed this issue, the introduction of Tomar-Tu and everything, but the ending was obvious when we found out tat Kyle lied about seeing Soranik in the love crystal, I'll give this a 8/10.

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

Detective Comics #880

That cover is creepy as hell. We start out with Gordon calling a woman named Barbara Gordon, not that one, this is Barbara Gordon Sr., and warning her to stay put and be safe because The Joker is free and he's probably coming for her to get at Jim. She wonders why he would come after her and when she opens the door expecting the hotel security that Jim had them send, she instead is confronted by the Joker and Jim hears her screams. He pulls up to the hotel and runs upstairs to find her naked in the shower, rocking back and forth with a smile that shows she got some Joker Toxin. It turns out that the Joker was eating the Joker Toxin since it was being put into his food for him, and since he's immune, he ate enough to the point it secreted from his pores, giving him a deadly touch. That's pretty freaking genius. Batman then follows after The Joker, as Babs waits for him to come to her, since she's ready for him this time. Tim calls Babs to tell her that Barbara is doing better and Commissioner Gordon is still with her. Batman goes under the sewers to find The Joker and finds him, waiting for Bats. He takes advantage of Batman's night vision and shines a huge spotlight which disorients Batman. The Joker gets close enough to smell Batman and determines that it isn't his Batman, but one with feathers that will have to do. The Joker attacks while telling Batman that Gotham means a safe place for Goats, which are fed on by Bats and he isn't his Bat so he can't hurt him. Batman tells Joker that maybe that's right, but he's gonna get an "A" for effort, before decking The Joker. When Batman tells Joker to leave the Gordon's alone, Joker calls him an idiot and says his Batman would know that he didn't attack old lady Gordon, he's just waiting on his Batman to come out and play. The issue ends with the realization that the attacker was none other than James Gordon, Jim Gordon's son, and he attacks Babs Gordon (former and future Batgirl) as this issue comes to a close. This was a DAMN good issue. I didn't see the swerve coming which is weird because I should've after the last few issues, I loved the stuff with Joker, knowing his Batman as always, knowing that Batman was actually a former Robin, and probably even knew he was Nightwing. This was just a great issue, and Snyder can write the hell out of The Joker. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

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

Invincible #81

Things start off with Mark and Samantha watching the news as they report on the new land of glass that lies where Las Vegas once was, thanks to what happened in the last issue. When news breaks that the hero who tried to stop Dinosaurus was Invincible, Powerplex almost snaps. It turns out he's apart of a "Suicide Squad" like team of former criminals that were put together by Cecil Stedman, but Powerplex still shows that he may not be able to hold his anger at Invincible due to their past run-ins.We then see that Invincible has met with the Pentagon and feels that they feel he's to blame. In actuality they don't blame him, but they do realize things within the organization need to change, and Cecil also believes that Dinosaurus may have survived that explosion. We soon see that Cecil is right, as we see Dinosaurus' alter-ego hiding from the police after they find his armor. On the way home, Invincible and Atom Eve encounter a criminal named The Gravitator who uses a powerful Gravity Gun. Invincible makes short work of him and demands to know where he got his tech. It turns out the inventor-turned criminal from the last issue sold his tech to a criminal, and he's shocked when Invincible turns up at his doorstep. Invincible contemplates taking the guy to jail, but when he meets his fiancee, Hanna, he decides to take him to go see someone that will buy his tech instead. After dropping the inventor off, Invincible heads home when he's randomly attacked by Powerplex. Powerplex asks how long it'll take for Invincible to realize he's causing destruction and deaths, and surprisingly Invincible admits that he's aware and he thinks about all the people he hasn't been able to save everyday. Invincible refuses to fight Powerplex, but explains how each time people died, more would've died had he not been there to save them. He also says that he can't be blamed for killing Powerplex's wife and kid, he didn't bring them there nor did he blast them with electricity inadvertently,  Powerplex is the one who did it. Powerplex agrees and breaks down crying, and is soon captured by his former teammates. The issue ends soon after with Invincible explaining to Atom Eve that as a hero he's done his fair share of bad by making mistakes, and he starts to wonder if he should continue on as a hero. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but far from bad. It was a little slow in my opinion, I'd give it a 7.5/10.

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

Venom #5

Things start with a villain known as "The Human Fly" that's kidnapping a bunch of people and saving them for lunch. It turns out his most recent kidnapping was of the Senator's daughter, which springs Venom into action. Sadly, the Human Fly takes his meals to a bell tower, so when he attacks Venom and knocks him into the bell, his suit starts to react to the sonic impact. Venom recovers and throws the bell at the Human Fly and manages to web up him and the bell before they hit the public below. Turns out he did the whole mission in less than a minute but was scolded because Agent Venom made the news. While at home, Flash thinks about his father and how much he hates him, and how he worked his whole life for his respect and never got a thing but insults and beatings. Flash then makes his way to go meet with his girlfriend, Betty Brant. They talk about her recently being saved by Spider-Man, and Flash being sorry for having to leave so much (to secretly operate as Agent Venom) and the two finally seem to be at a good place, until Flash's phone rings. It's his mom and she tells him his dad may be drinking again, and Flash vowed long ago that if he did start drinking again he wanted nothing to do with him. Flash doesn't want to go look for his dad but when his mom starts crying he feels obligated, and tells Betty he has to leave. Flash calls Peter to help him go find his dad, and after checking a ton of places, they still can't find Flash's dad. Flash gets a call and it turns out his dad is drunk at the police department, so Flash shows up to get his dad. Flash tells him let's go, because he promised his mom he'd bring him home, and his dad says he couldn't take him when he had legs, so he should think twice before talking to him like that. He continues to pressure Flash and tries to attack him while saying he has a weak cripple for a kid, but Flash simply lets him fall instead of giving him the beating he wants to. We then see that his dad has been drinking because he knows he's going to die soon since he has cirrhosis of the liver and has known for a year. It's because of this, and his father's disregard to those that love him, Flash decides not to see his dad again, and leaves the hospital. He runs into Betty outside and hugs her, and his phone rings, he accepts another mission as Agent Venom as this issue ends. This was another very good issue of Venom. It dealt more with Flash, substance abuse, and child abuse and it was written damn well by Rick Remender. If there's one thing I didn't care for it was how quick we were introduced to the Human Fly and he was defeated, I would've rather he escaped since at the moment Flash only has like two rogues. I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating as well.

Flash: No, SORRY, Pete! After the son of a bitch would lose his mind and beat me, I didn't ask what bat he'd be hitting up next!

X-Men Schism #2

That's quite a busty Rogue on the cover of this issue... anyway, things start with a Middle-Eastern leader speaking to his people about how the mutants want to control them, as he cites how he was controlled by Quentin Quire. He says this time is over as he shows gestures to a Sentinel as his people cheer, but when they fire it up, the Sentinel goes wild and starts blasting everything and killing the civilians. We then see Wolverine walking the halls of the base on Utopia when he runs into some of the Mutant Students. Idie says everyone is afraid of mutants because their monsters, Wolverine tries to tell Idie she's no monster but she says she's made peace with what she is... interesting. From there we see that nearly 75% of the sentinels around the globe are defective, per Kade Kilgore's orders. We then see that Kade has even more plans, as he tells the Hellfire Club he needs four billion dollars and ten of their most violent men, which they give Kade, who then puts his next set of plans into motion. Back with the X-Men, Wolverine tells Cyclops to send him into the field so he can help take down Sentinels with Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Domino and the rest, but Cyclops says he needs Logan there in case the non-defective Sentinels attack. Surprisingly their argument is interrupted by the appearance of Quentin Quire, in the flesh. Quentin asks for Sanctuary on Utopia since that's what all mutants are offered, but Wolverine grabs him by the hair and asks what button calls Steve Rogers. Lol, that was hilarious. Cyclops says they aren't turning him in, he'll be tried right there by his own peers, but Logan says their harboring a fugitive, luckily their argument is interrupted again because Steve Rogers actually calls The X-Men. During the video-call, Logan keeps Quire quiet and Cyclops lies, saying he has no idea where Quentin is at the moment. Afterwards, Wolverine pushes Quire to Cyclops and says he isn't happy about this situation. After Wolverine leaves, Cyclops goes off on Quentin and banishes him to his quarters, when Emma Frost tells him the Mayor has moved up the opening of the Mutant History museum in hopes of easing the tensions between humans and mutants. Cyclops quickly realizes things won't bode well for the mutants if something happens at this event because it will be televised. He sends some of the X-men, Colossus, Magneto, Namor, Iceman and Emma Frost, as well as the students, including a worried looking Idie. The issue ends soon after with the building about to be invaded by a fully equipped for war Kade Kilgore and his goons.I really like how they keep teasing arguments between Logan and Scott because we know they are going to have a falling out, it's just a matter of where and when. This was a fine issue, but nothing spectacular. It was more of a prep for issue three and the fallout from issue one, so for that reason alone I'd rate this about a 7/10.

Cyclops: And if I ever, ever, hear of you belittling Wolverine again, I will personally break you in half! Pray everyday, Quentin, That you will someday be even half the man he is! Because as It stands now, I wouldn't take six of you on your best day for one of him on his worst! (Dayum!)

The Amazing Spider-Man #666

Spider-Island starts here! We kick things off with a rejuvenated Spidey catching a few crooks and being thanks by the citizens and and few police officers. After that, Spidey even manages to help the Young Allies take down Hydro-Man, and even more surprisingly he doesn't make any puns! Afterwards he has back to work and we see he genius Peter Parker has even made an invention that allows him to change his Spidey costume to look like normal clothes, man this guy is getting more and more awesome. After showing an invention to Max Modell and his colleagues that allows you to freeze things cryogenically then thaw them at will, perfectly unharmed, Pete gets a call from his girlfriend, Carlie. When Peter answers Carlie says something weird is going on, and we see one of the criminals Spidey webbed up recently break out of the webbing, he tries to run away but Carlie backhands him and he's out cold. After hearing that Carlie wants to talk with him, Peter heads to his apartment, but forgets to look both ways since he's relied on Spider-Sense so long and almost gets hit by a bus, but he's saved by Phil "Hobgoblin" Urich, along with Norah. They mention that there have been a bunch of Spidey sightings, and sometimes three places at once, so Pete makes an excuse so he can go check things out, but first he has to stop to check with the FF While at the Baxter Building, Mary Jane calls to remind Pete that it's his Aunt and Uncle-In-Law's last night in the Big Apple, she also reminds him to check on Betty in the hospital since Flash got called out of town again. From there we see Flash kicking butt as Agent Venom before calling Betty himself. Betty answers her cell phone in the hospital (which is damn near impossible to get reception in in my experience) and she happens to encounter the story of a lifetime (she's a blogger, like myself except people read her stuff... badum tsh!) when she stumbles onto a ton of patients that are exhibiting the powers of a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Meanwhile, Spidey goes to an Avengers card game, then goes to do more martial arts training with Shang-Chi. While training with Shang-Chi, Peter faces off with Julia Carpenter, the new Madame Web, as she informs him that they've been getting him ready for a new challenge, and he'll have to use a killing blow, which Peter refuses to do, since he vowed no one would die around him. She continues to tell Peter it's mandatory but he claims he'll find another way, and he finally heads home to meet with Carlie, whom he'd forgotten about. When she asks if they can talk he says he's been swamped and asks if it can wait until morning, and Carlie looks disappointed but says yes. The issue ends soon after, as we find out the man people behind this mystery phenomenon of spider-powers are a mystery woman and none other than Miles Warren, a.k.a. The Jackal! Now this was a pretty good issue, it set the stage and got a lot of questions started, I'm wondering what happens from here and who will be the first major heroes and villains to get arachnid powers, since I already know Carlie and Mary Jane will have them. But this was a nice start to Spider-Island, I'd give this issue an 8/10 rating.

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

And just like that, this week's comics have been read, reviewed and ranted. So feel free to leave a comment and vote for this week's newest poll. Last week's poll barely had any votes so no use in posting the results, the clear winner with 80% was Justice League International. And that's it for me, so until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger man, signing off!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

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

Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with a big week for Ratings and Rantings. We've got seven hopefully awesome comics, including the first issue of Schism, the last issue of War of the Green Lanterns, the prelude to Spider-Island, one of the last issues of Stephanie Brown as Batgirl, and SO much more. So enough of this lead-in, let's get to the meat and potatoes of the post, the reviews!

Green Lantern #67

We start off with action as Hal, Kyle, John, Guy, and the rest of the Green Lantern Corps charge the Guardians that are possessed by the color corp entities. They quickly realize they have to get the entities to make an emotional contact so Hal heads to the Book of the Black to free Sinestro, Atrocitus and the rest. Kyle draws them escaping from the book in one of the pages and it happens because that's how the book works. Once their free, the respective rings go to each of the Corp Leaders but before they can put them on their overridden and the rings all go to Krona. Krona uses his power to knock Ganthet away and then tries to kill Hal. Hal mentions that Krona's rage is wrong because the Guardians made a mistake and everyone is flawed. Sinestro overhears Hal's speech and before Krona can kill Hal, Sinestro interjects and says that Hal would die for the Corps (he already has...) and Sinestro said he would as well. By standing up to Krona, Sinestro is deemed worthy of a Green Lantern Corp ring, which even shocks him, and he and Hal team up to blast Krona. Krona says he's defeated Hundreds on Lanterns and they aren't turning the tide, and Hal somehow inexplicably uses his ring to kill Krona, who has the power of six rings, but whatever. Atrocitus oversees the killing blow and yells that Atrocitus was his to kill, meanwhile I yell that he should put on some damn pants. When Krona explodes, because that's what happens when you die via ring apparently, the rings fly free to their owners. Interesting enough, Indigo-1 yells asking where Abin Sur is, and Larfleeze yells "Keep the orange one away from me." yet both seem unaware of their actions after they get their rings. After the fight is over, Sinestro is still wearing the GL ring, whereas his Sinestro ring has went to someone else. (Maybe the Weaponer can take over his Corps?) The Guardians note that no Ring should've been powerful enough to kill a Guardian, referring to Krona being killed by Hal, and also note that they will decide what to do with Sinestro and his new ring. The Guardians then determine that Hal Jordan is dangerous, he hid his actions before Krona's attack and killed a Guardian, and they dishonorably discharge him from the Corps and take his Green Lantern ring! The issue ends with Hal being transported from Oa to a random spot on Earth, saying "This isn't how it was supposed to end." I figured with the Sinestro news, that Hal would lose his ring but that was shocking... I wonder what happens now and how he gets it back. I'm also curious as to how Hal killed Krona and where Sinestro's ring went, I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

Guardian: In the past, we may have considered Hal Jordan the greatest Green Lantern, but now... he is the most dangerous.

Deadpool #40

Things start with the Merc with a Mouth being locked in an asylum, screaming that he's not crazy. We then jump to seeing that his defense attorney is none-other than Jessica "She-Hulk" Walters, and she kept him out of "The Raft", a prison for criminals with super-powers, but since Deadpool is Super-Human, he doesn't fit the criteria, and therefore belongs in a normal asylum. We then see Deadpool apparently has a friend in a Dr. Whitby. Deadpool tries to break out and Whitby allows him to use her as a hostage, but when DP finds out he's in England, he's a bit shocked and manages to get shot in the face, which knocks him unconscious for thirteen minutes. Whitby gets upset, saying Deadpool isn't crazy, if anything he's a troubled man, and it's a wonder he can move or speak. When DP wakes up thirteen minutes later in a glass cell, he tries to break out of the room and fails. Meanwhile, we see Dr. Whitby making an inmate do a puzzle, the inmate is in for committing Mass Murder, and the puzzle she's making him do apparently is a puzzle version of a picture of his murdering spree. Interesting that she'd take that approach to make him feel bad about the murders, and he replies that he doesn't like the puzzles, as Whitby walks away with a smirk. She then walks over to Deadpool, and he tries to chat her up so she'll free him, but when she comments on his scars, Deadpool realizes he doesn't have on his costume, and starts to get upset and claims people are laughing at him. He gets enraged, but Whitby tells him that his cell is unlocked. Deadpool takes this time to leave his cell and apparently injures ten other inmates so bad they needed to be hospitalized. Whitby takes this time to try to psycho-analyze Deadpool before we then cut over to one of the guys DP attacked, who wants to get back to the asylum for revenge, as this issue ends. Well... I couldn't get into that issue, not enough laughs, very slow story, unnecessary She-Hulk appearance. So yeah, this wasn't the best issue of Deadpool I've read, I'll give this one a 4/10.

Deadpool: Hey, didja see it when I stabbed that dude with his own femur?

Batgirl #23

Things start off with the GCPD being ransacked by three of the five Order of the Scythe members. They manage to get back the suits of the two members Batgirl defeated recently. Batgirl, recently back from her trip to the U.K., finds out that her former unwanted sidekick, the Grey Ghost, has been killed in her absence. Batgirl then gets some info from Detective Nick Gage about his past as a Reaper. We find out that when he was a Reaper, a heist went wrong and it lead to his fiance getting killed. Gage then tells Batgirl that Grey Ghost's dying words were "find Batgirl" and gives her a recording he left for her, explaining the Scythe's plans. I can't help but feel Clancy was killed here because of the reboot, and had it not happened he would've been around much longer. When Batgirl finds out that the two former super-powered suits she took down are being broken out of prison, she heads there. After calling Batman and Robin, and finding out the Dynamic Duo and the Birds of Prey are all busy, so Batgirl decides to go in alone, against the five super-powered villains. Before she goes in, she tells Gage to give Babs Gordon a call, because although she'd never say it, she digs Detective Gage, as Batgirl drops into the prison as Gage looks confused. Batgirl takes a beating but finds out Order of the Scythe Suits are there to keep everyone busy and murder their client, so Batgirl yells out "SHAZAM!" Surprisingly this brings her allies, in the form of Supergirl. Stargirl, Bombshell and Miss Martian. Now that's a Teen Dream Team if I've ever seen one, just add Ravager. The Furious Female Heroines take it to the Reapers and quickly dispose of all of them. Supergirl mentions making this team-up a regular thing, that I hope alludes to a future comic, which I doubt. The second to last issue ends as Batgirl goes to find out who the "client" is, as we see it's none other than her father, the Cluemaster. Well that was a surprising swerve, I'm wondering how the final issue of Stephanie and Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl series will end, but it's going to be bitter sweet. This was a fine issue, but of course it seemed rushed for obvious reasons, I'll give this issue a 8/10.

Batgirl: SHAZAM!

Jabberwock: Wait... Guys, she isn't magic, right?

Red Robin #25

Tim Drake's getting raped, or that's how we start anyway. More and more like Dick Grayson each day, eh Timothy? Anyway, he's "saved" from being raped by the half-sister of Ra's Al Ghul, by Cassandra Cain. Cass manages to subdue both Promise and the younger Al Ghul. Cassandra then frees Tim and stabs him in the back with a sword that protrudes through his chest. Once his blood pours onto the floor, it's confirmed as his and a door opens, allowing Cass to be immortalized among the past Assassination Tournament winners. As Cass takes her place, a laser takes a shot at her but she's tacked out of the way by Tim, who faked his death with the help of Cassandra, a collapsible katana, and a blood pack that contained a pint of Tim's blood mixed with glycerin water. Pretty damn clever, Timmy. Tim talks to the mysterious man that's lived for centuries and apparently wanted him dead, and he asks where Tim see's himself in twenty years. We see images of his grave, a futuristic Batman in Red and Black, and Tim sitting at a Giant computer, which all seem viable. Tim claims he doesn't plan that far ahead, but the mysterious voice says Tim has likely just thought of three scenarios, but Tim will actually be by his side. Tim then realizes that the base their in is going to explode soon, so he and Cassandra high-tail it out of there as it explodes. After realizing he has no answers and a ton of questions, Tim tells Cassandra thanks for helping, and she asks if he'll help with Cricket, to which he replies that he will after tying up some loose ends. We then see Tam Fox slap the taste out of his mouth after finding out her father's death was a ruse constructed by him to help find a criminal. She says she fell in love with Red Robin because he was cool, but the man under the mask is just cold. We then see Red Robin and Black Bat get their asses handed to them by Cricket in Hong Kong, a ten-year-old kid who is fast enough to seem as if he has power from the Speed Force, and is one of the deadliest fighters on the planet. Tim uses the six weeks healing from his dislocated shoulder and jaw, and three broken ribs, courtesy of Cricket, by getting a new apartment with his own base, and of course, "assassinating Captain Boomerang"?! as this issue ends. This was another good issue, I like how the loose ends are tying up, but the Cricket ass-whooping didn't help him or Cass.. so that was weird to just throw in there. Anyway, the next issue of Red Robin is the last one, and we finally get to see Tim get revenge on the man that killed his father, so that alone should be worth the price of admission, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

Red Robin: He left Cass with something worse: the promise that he'd fight her "for real" next time. (Dayum, burn by Cricket!)

Green Lantern Corps #61

John Stewart, taking angry black man to a whole new level. (That's what they SHOULD'VE put on the cover.) We start off seeing thousands of Green Lantern rookies taking their rings off one by one and throwing them into a gigantic green hill of rings. One rookie thinks she deserves it, so she flies off with it. We see that her name is Qurina Vint, and she's the first person from her planet to be inducted into the Green Lantern Corps. She's a cop who got her ring during the Mogo fiasco, even though she was in the middle of a drug bust gone bad. Qurina flies off and finds John, who still feels bad about killing Mogo, and she says maybe he can relate since he's the only person who feels less welcome there than her. John agrees, and she explains how she was a cop on her planet and she feels she can do it on a cosmic scale. John tells her if she wants to prove her worth to veterans and such then she should report to basic training with Stel. She agrees but she gets a message on her ring that says she has an emergency in her sector, and since she's the only Lantern for that sector now, she goes to help, and John follows after her. When they arrive to the planet, they realize it's pretty much a civil war, so the first thing Qurina does is remove the weapons from both sides. That causes them to send airships for attacks instead, so John has Qurina keep everyone from killing with each other and heads to talk to the leaders of the two factions. Of course John solves everything and by the end of the mission, tells Qurina to remember that her ring isn't the only weapon she has, her brain should always be used just as much as the ring. The issue ends with Qurina saying she plans on attending Stel's training and she notes that she plans on telling anyone who will listen that John Stewart mourns what he did to Mogo more than anyone will ever know. Well this was a find issue, nothing happened of course, because it's the second to last issue before the reboot, but it was fine for what it was, I'd give it a 7/10.

John Stewart: When your only tool is a hammer, everything starts looking like a nail. Don't ever forget that this weapon on your hand is only as good as the one between your ears.

Amazing Spider-Man #665

We kick things off with Peter Parker and his former-crush turned one of his best friends, Betty Brant, and how they always try to hang out the first Friday of each month for movie night. But in typical Spider-Man fashion, he has to break off the monthly movie date with Betty due to always being busy, between working at Horizon Labs, being a member of both the Avengers and the FF, and his original Spider-Man duties, he's pretty damn busy. Betty gets upset at Pete standing her up and says that she misses back when he was a struggling photographer, which upsets Peter since Betty has been on him for years to make something of himself, so he kind of snaps on her and hangs up. Betty's boyfriend, Flash Thompson (secretly Agent Venom), then comes to check on her before he leaves for a secret Venom assignment. He promises her he'll take her to see her movie when she comes back, but sadly it's only going to be playing today, (it was in theaters for ever but Pete kept standing her up), and Flash remarks that it's in the worst part of town but if that place is still standing, he'll taker her when he gets back. Betty decides she can take care of herself, and after Flash leaves she heads out to see the movie. On the way to the theater, she of course manages to get grabbed, and the next thing wee see is Glory Grant running through a hospital saying she's there to see Betty. Glory calls Pete and tells him what happened and he immediately thinks of the time he let a criminal run past him and that led to Uncle Ben's death, as he puts on his Spider-Man suit and goes to look for whoever hurt Betty. In the waiting room we see Robbie Robertson, Glory Grant, Mary Jane, Carlie Cooper and more of Pete's friends, even J. Jonah Jameson shows up. We see that Flash has been contacted and is on the way back to New York and Aunt May and Jay Jameson are waiting for him at the airport. Betty apparently wasn't sexually assaulted but has a cracked rib, head trauma and swelling on her brain. Jonah has brought a neurosurgeon from Mount Sinai, and he notes that he's lost Marla, he refuses to lose Betty, who is like a daughter to him. He says if you think he's been tough on crime before, wait until now. We then see Spider-Man, beating a small-time crook senseless, looking for answers of Betty's attacker, and he finds her pendant that her mother gave her. Spider-Man demands a name from the crook and finds out the guy who attacked Betty's name is Harlan Finch. We see Spider-Man beat the hell out of a ton of criminals, all the while demanding leads on Finch. Flash finally shows up at the hospital, and is upset he wasn't there and was on a mission as Venom. May eventually notices Peter isn't there yet, MJ tries to cover for him since she knows he's Spider-Man, but Aunt May says to stop making excuses for him because this is too much. Peter finally finds Harlan but before he can get him, Aunt May calls and dishes a guilt trip, saying she hasn't been this disappointed in him since the night Ben died. She says how he disappeared the night Ben died instead of staying with her, of course she doesn't know he went after Ben's killer, but Peter apologizes. Peter abandons his chase for Harlan and manages to make it to the hospital before Betty wakes up. When Betty wakes up, Peter returns her locket which makes her quite happy, and the two finally enjoy their movie night, as Peter sits next to Betty in her hospital bed as this issue ends. Now this was a great issue, Dan Slott usually brings it and this was no different. Everything about this comic was great, you felt Peter's rage, Betty's disappointment, Flash's guilt, everything worked here, I'll give this a 10/10.

Spier-Man: Who sold you this?! HIS NAME! NOW!

X-Men: Schism #1

We start things off with Wolverine arriving home, with spears and ninja stars (shurikens) sticking out of his chest. He finds out he apparently has a combat class to teach, per Cyclops' orders, but Wolverine is sleepy and tired so he dismisses the class. He goes to finally catch some Z's, but Cyclops tells him he has a speech to deliver in Switzerland, and for some reason Wolverine needs to be there, so he agrees to come with Scott says he can sleep on the plane. They arrive at the Conference and they talk about Scott's speech, all the while making jokes at one another's expense and showing that their relationship has come a long way, which makes the impending break up more meaningful, so nice work Mr. Aaron. Scott's speech is apparently to get everyone to deactivate their Sentinels, considering they've claimed the lives of so many mutants and humans alike. During his speech, someone walks in and interrupts, and that someone is Quentin Quire a.k.a. Kid Omega. Quire uses his psychic powers to make every politician there speak out their horrible deeds, including someone beating their children because they enjoy it and a man cheating on his wife of thirty-five years as she low dies from Leukemia. Everyone blames the X-Men for what's going on since Quire referred to himself as the future leader of the X-Men before committing his deed and disappearing. This leads to at least six Sentinels being activated and told to attack any male mutants, which includes Wolverine and Cyclops. They dispose of the Sentinels and manage to catch Quentin pop up on television, saying how he singlehandedly made the Earth's leaders into puppets and he did it for mutantkind. Afterwards, we see Mr. Kilgore announce that due to the recent developments, Kilgore Brand Small Arms are now half-priced. As Kilgore leaves, he see's his son, Kade Kilgore, is in his car with him and has a gun pointed at the elder Kilgore. He mentions how he's slowly taken over the company, being a child prodigy and all, and has even taken Kilgore's driver and bodyguard Bessy from him. Kade then shoots his father and lets him fall from the hover-car as he remarks that he just killed his father and took his company and feels no remorse, before telling Bessy to take him to the clubhouse to meet with the others. Back on Utopia, while Cyclops, Emma Frost, Namor and Magneto discuss the current news, Wolverine drifts away and gets a box from Kitty Pryde. He then takes it to a teenage mutant, a young fourteen year old named Idie that was going to be in his combat class. He gives her a doll, which relates to earlier when he said a girl her age should be playing with dolls, and she remarked that she had one once but it was burned when she was accused of being a witch. It seems Wolverine has taken a shine to the young woman, the same paternal shine he took to both Jubilee and Kitty. So Wolverine and Idie eat ice cream together and bond a bit. This is interrupted when the news reports that many countries have started to build even larger, more powerful Sentinels. Cyclops tells Emma to get on Cerebra and tell everyone with an X-Gene whats going on, Storm thinks he's acting too fast but Cyclops says he wants to be prepared. We then see Kade Kilgore at his clubhouse meeting with a bunch of hooded figures, as he mentions how he's the one who freed Quentin Quire, although Quentin is unaware. The issue ends as the twelve year old Kade Kilgore takes his spot as the new Black King of the Hellfire Club. Now this was a really good issue, I'm new to the X-Men comics but I never felt lost or unaware of what I was reading, which is good. I'm wondering how the actual Schism between the team will start, as I know it will now include Kilgore, Quire and a bunch of Sentinels, but this was a great start, I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Wolverine's sign: Logan's quarters, Warning: trespassers will be stabbed repeatedly.

And just like that, that's all for this week's edition of Ratings and Rantings. I had a pretty good week with Schism and Spidey especially, and DC's bittersweet since Batgirl and Red Robin are ending soon, but all in all this was a nice week for comics. But I'm outta here, thanks for reading and be sure to vote on this week's weekly poll. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, until next time, Keep Cool my babies!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman: Gates of Gotham #3, Power Girl #26, Superman/Batman #86, Titans #37, and War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #1,

Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd here with another edition of your favorite weekly feature of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Thanks for coming through and we've got a nice amount of content today, with four DC comics and two Marvel comics. We've also got a new poll and last week's poll results. We've got a lot of stuff to get through, so let's get things started with our first comic.

Gotham City Sirens #23

Man, with the crazy look on her face and the gymnast like butt on Harley, I almost didn't even notice Catwoman and Poison Ivy in the background. We start things off with Catwoman noting how everything on this night is making this the right time to separate a million dollars from a fat man, and we see her target is none other than Oswald Cobblepot, better known as the Penguin. Catwoman takes out Penguin's guards and takes his diamonds while remarking how she missed being on her own, when Batman drops in to tell Catwoman about Arkham. He pretty much tells her that he has some other business but once he takes care of that, he's going to Arkham and anyone he finds there is going to stay there, which is code for, go save Harley and Ivy before I make sure they stay there. Catwoman tells Batman she's done with his schemes, saying she knows what he did before he won the cowl (anyone wanna explain that?), and Batman remarks that Cats were never known for their loyalty, before disappearing into the night. We then jump over to a hectic Arkham with guards and everyone else running amuck and in the middle we see Harley kissing a gun-wielding Joker. The Joker and Harley decide they want to have a game night so they go off to find some "volunteers". We then see Aaron Cash calling Commissioner Gordon to tell him they need help at the Asylum, and Gordon says their on the way. We soon find out that Arkham Director Alice Sinner is still in Arkham and is being protected from inmates, including Dr.Arkham. When the inmates come to attack Sinner, Arkham uses his crazy mind and his knowledge of the human body to scare the guards into surrendering, then he has them killed anyway. Arkham walks over to Alice Sinner who is happy he came for her, and opens a wall safe to give Arkham another Black mask skull. God I hate that Arkham is black mask... He puts the mask on and he and Sinner kiss while inmates beat a guard to death behind them. Catwoman arrives at one of her secret caches and is still upset that Batman tried to manipulate her, she says she doesn't owe Harley and Ivy anything, even if they helped her when she was down, then she thinks for a minute and realizes she owes them, so heads out to help. We then see Arkham and Sinner realize they can't escape due to the GCPD being at Arkham now, and the guards he's spent time blackmailing could be killed in the riots, so there's only one thing they can do if they hope to escape anytime soon. We then see Black Mask and Sinner along with some inmates confront the Joker and tell him to give up the Guards he was torturing, because Black Mask and his men outnumber Joker, but Harley pulls out the debilitator which shocks and subdues all of Arkham's men. After arguing over the guards being bargaining chips and saying that Batman is on the way and they could've used them, Arkham yells that this isn't a game, to which Joker tells him everything is a game. Their fight is then interrupted by Poison Ivy who erupts through the ground and tells Harley she's tired of saving Harley from The Joker, and now she has to pick, once and for all, Ivy or Joker. The issue ends with Batman (Bruce) and Catwoman heading to Arkham to stop the chaos as Ivy waits for an answer from Harley. I liked this issue, and while I didn't care much for the Black Mask stuff, I did like the fact we get a Harley/Mr. J, Catwoman/Batman battle in the next issue, as well as the first face to face Batman (Bruce) Joker meeting since Bruce returned from his trip through time. I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating and I hope the next issue is at least this good.


The Joker: I was going to take the opportunity to place your face in the fryer. Make it so you don't need that ridiculous mask.

Deadpool #37

We start things off with Deadpool in what can only be described as "his crazy ass heaven", before we see him in a kiddie pool bleeding with a gun in his head. We jump back nine days with Deadpool asking Wolverine how he can die due to their healing factor, but Wolverine doesn't wanna help Deadpool off himself. Deadpool mentions how Wolverine used him to help him find Daken (in Wolverine Origins) and that Wolverine owes him, but he still doesn't help, but Deadpool seems to have figured out what Wolverine doesn't want to tell him. We see four days later, Deadpool stops in Russia and pays a TON of money for the Russians to get him something, but we don't see what it is he wants. We then see today, as Deadpool waits on Bruce Banner and drives after him. He asks Bruce if he's having a party and if The Hulk will be there, but Bruce says he isn't having a party and leaves, but Deadpool says there will be a party. As Banner drives away he wonders why Deadpool confronted him just to talk, and we see Deadpool press a button which explodes a nuke on the bottom of Bruce's car, which obviously causes The Hulk to emerge from the wreckage. Deadpool and Hulk have a huge fight in the middle of nowhere, so no one else gets hurt, see Deadpool is still quite heroic! Deadpool tries his best to piss off Hulk even more, so he jams two swords in his nostrils and fills his mouth with C4 and dynamite, which is just plain awesome. But surprisingly, Hulk responds and says Deadpool won't drive him mad, and to go back to whoever hired him but Deadpool says no one hired him, causing Hulk to say that should make it easier for Deadpool to walk away. Deadpool tells Hulk he won't stop until Hulk does what he wants him to do, but Hulk says he does what he wants to do, before flicking Deadpool away. Deadpool presses a button when he lands which lights up a backpack by Hulk which causes it to blow him up again. An enraged Hulk jumps over to Deadpool as the issue ends. Now this was fun, I loved seeing Deadpool try to irritate Hulk as well as his quick confrontation with Wolverine. Now that Bruce doesn't seem to be in control of the enraged Hulk, things are gonna get even more crazy, I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Hulk: I'm a 2,000 pound radioactive monster. I only do what I want to do.

Green Lantern #66

We start of learning that Mogo's role as moral compass is what guides the Green Lantern rings when searching for recruits, and an infected Mogo finds mindless and violent recruits and makes them Green Lanterns. We then see Guy and Hal being overwhelmed by the Guardians who are fused with the entities, minus Parallax. Guy wants to leave and regroup but Hal is positive their close to Parallax and starts to drill at the battery while Guy tries to hold back the Guardians. Guy realizes his red ring isn't doing much against the Guardians so he uses Krona's Gauntlet instead. He says that it feels like he's wearing twelve Green Lantern rings at once (something Hal would know about), but before he can strike, both Guy and Hal or blasted by Krona with the power of all seven entities, and for the record, it looked pretty damn cool. We then see Sinestro as a Green Lantern fighting Manhunters, when he radios to Abin Sur and doesn't get an answer, he remembers that Abin is dead, and that he's no longer a Green Lantern and sheds a tear. Aww, isn't that sweet. Anyway, he realizes he's in the pages of the Black Book and yells at the top of his lungs to Lyssa Drak that he knows she's hiding within the pages. As we see Sinestro looking for Lyssa we see other trapped people's memories in the background, including Saint Walker with his kid, Larfleeze and Atrocitus. We also see Indigo-1 locked in a cell, she attacks Sinestro and asks where did Abin Sur imprison her... before Sinestro frees himself and looks through more pages. That's interesting, I wonder how Abid Sur and Indigo connect. Sinestro finally escapes the book but as he does, Krona puts him back into it, telling him the Green Lantern Corps no longer needs him, as it has the Earthmen. He then tells Hal and Guy that the Guardians are unable to do their jobs due to having emotions, but Hal and Guy will no replace them, as he has them wrapped in the same bandages that turned him into one of them, and now Hal and Guy will rule next to him, as the new Guardians as this issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, It looks like Sinestro may become a GL again at some point which would be interesting, we also saw that Indigo used to be a criminal or something which was a shocker, as well that someone can become a Guardian since I figured they were born that way. Either way, great issue and I hope the other two are this good, I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating.

Indigo-1: Where did Abin Sur imprison me? Tell me before I tear your throat out.

Green Lantern Corps #60

We start things off with temporary Indigo Lantern John Stewart and Blue Lantern Kyle Rayner, encountering the rings Mogo is sending to new Green Lantern recruits thanks to Krona. They encounter over 10,000 rings according to John's ring, and Kyle's Blue Lantern ring proves to be useless again when he can't even stop the rings and shut them down. John is able to latch onto the rings power and makes a giant dome to contain the rings from getting out and pushes them down to a cave on Mogo, but he can't hold the rings down and they explode through the dome. Kyle figures is Blue Rings can heal, maybe he can get to Mogo's mind and heal him so he can recall the rings. As they travel to Mogo's brain John tells Kyle to remember Mogo is psychic and he's gonna try to hit them with their deepest fears. Surprisingly their attacked by some more Green Lanterns, as Krona sent them to Mogo to go after Kyle and John. Kyle is boosting their ring power just by being a Blue Lantern but he also uses his ring to remove the impurity from a few of the Lanterns while he and John fly further into Mogo. They finally encounter Mogo's brain, which is a giant GL Ring encased in a circle of green. Kyle tries his ring and makes a construct of Mogo's former partner, Green Lantern Bzzd (?) but the impurity stays, because Mogo also had the Black Lanterns inside him as well. Kyle tries to purge them from Mogo but Mogo blasts Kyle, knocking him out, as Hundreds of GL's head towards Mogo to come after John and Kyle. John decides he'll tap into Mogo's GL power to defend himself and an unconscious Kyle but Krona tells Kyle telepathically there's nothing he can do, because as each second passes more and more GL's are recruited and being sent to Oa. Kyle regains consciousness and John says Mogo is too far gone, but he can do one thing. He grabs the Black Lantern element into his ring and makes a portal for himself and Kyle. John says billions will die unless he does this, and infused with the Black Lantern power, he creates a sniper and shoots Mogo's core, causing Mogo to explode as the issue ends. Once again, another great issue in "War of the Green Lanterns". John did what he had to do, and I think he made the right decision, but of course they'll be a huge fallout from this. Anyway, this issue was great, but the one problem I had is with Kyle, who was the main GL ten years ago, looking weak and worthless, I'm sure there's something coming from that eventually but it still bothers me, but I'll give this a 9/10 rating.

John Stewart: Katma Tui is dead!!!! (Out of context I find this hilarious... you tell em John.)

Green Lantern Emerald Warriors #10

Things start with Krona about to turn Hal and Guy into Guardians, but suddenly Krona, the Guardians and all the Green Lanterns hear a screech and drop to the ground. We then see Kyle and John arguing about John killing Mogo, to which John says he had no choice and Kyle says he shouldn't have given up hope. John tells Kyle he didn't wanna have to do this, he has enough guilt in his life with what happened to Xanshi but he did this because he had no other choice. Kyle, still upset, tells John to leave him alone, and starts trying to pull enough of Mogo's pieces together to restart his core. Kyle fails of course, and John drags him away, saying that Hal and Guy need his help. Over on Oa, Kyle and Hal finally break free from Krona's chains as he and everyone else convulse on the ground. As Guy and Hal leave they grab Ganthet and the Book of Black, and Guy or course socks Krona in the face on the way out. As Hal and Guy leave they literally run into Kyle and Guy, and after explaining what the two teams have been up to, John teleports them to the battery so they can free Parallax from it. While they try to release Parallax, our guys can't make a scratch on the Lantern, but Ganthet regains consciousness and tells them the reason why they can't tap into the battery is because they need all of the emotional spectrum, and they still have two unused rings, the Orange and Sapphire rings. Ganthet has Guy put on the Sapphire ring with his Red Lantern ring, and Hal put on both the Sinestro and Orange Lantern rings. The four Lanterns use the power of six to blast the Lantern but before they can release Parallax their attacked by the entire GL Corps. Ganthet tells Guy to go try since he wields the two extreme rings, while they all hold back the GLC, so Guy goes but can't work both rings at once. Ganthet tells him to look into his sole and thing of who he loves and who he hates the most to make the rings work. Guy reveals that the thing he loves most is his ring and the Green Lantern Corps, because the Corps is his life, he hates being filled with the Rage of the Red Lantern Corps. Guy yells that over and over and breaks a hole in the battery which releases Parallax, causing the Corpsmen to drop once again. Under Ganthet's orders they all zap Parallax as the Green Rings return to Hal, Guy, John and Kyle. Guy notes that Mogo purged the red from him last time and now that Mogo's dead, if he takes that red ring off, he'll die too. Kyle mentions that he can heal him, as a Blue Lantern, and convinces Guy that he can do it. He does in fact heal Guy as the two rings leave Guy's finger and Kyle, John and Hal remove their rings and put on their Green Lantern rings again. The issue ends with Krona, the Entity-infected-Guardians, and Parallax getting ready to take on the entire Green Lantern Corps. This was another great issue, it was full of action and set the story for the final chapter of the War of The Green Lanterns in next month's Green Lantern comic. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating.

Guy Gardner: This ring feels weird, makes my mouth feel like it's got sugar and blood in it now.

Venom #3

We start things off with Jack O'Lantern appearing in the bedroom of Betty Brant, the girlfriend of Flash Thompson, the current Venom. We then see the place that started the Venom project as they tell one of the directors that Venom has been radio silent for three days, well over the 48 hours that he's able to wear the Symbiote for. The director tells them not to detonate the fail-safe, as just in case Flash doesn't still have control over the Venom symbiote, he needs to take out the shipment of Antarctic Vibranium that he set out to destroy in the first place. We then see Venom taking on a bunch of the employees that are moving this shipment, and he's started to unleash the Venom we all know and is losing control. As Venom attacks, one of the Henchmen get a hit on him with a flaming sword, which causes Venom to get angry, and in a Hulk like moment, the symbiote takes over as Flash just has to watch it destroy them. After the symbiote disposes of the last few henchmen, Flash gives himself a shot of a sedative, that allows him another hour in control before he has to give in to the suit. Flash makes his way to the shipment of Vibranium and soon enough he's piloting it when the helicopter radio asks for Corporal Thompson. Flash plays dumb, but the shrouded figure tells him to bring him the Vibranium in New York, or his girlfriend will get it, as she's currently strapped to a comically huge bomb by Jack O'Lantern. We then see Peter going to check on Betty when he notices her apartment has been trashed and she's missing, he calls Glory Grant and asks if she's talked to Betty, and she says Betty said she was gonna sleep in today, so Pete tells Glory to call the police and send them to their apartment as he web-slings away as Spider-Man. Venom finally lands the shipment in New York for the Crime Master and meets him face to face, along with his henchmen. Flash thinks to himself how the suit is in control but it's playing along with Flash, as he asks where Betty is. Crime Master tells him where Betty is and says he has five minutes, and not to tell his superiors what happened. He notes that since he knows Venom's identity and he also knows that being Venom must feel like a thrill to Flash since he's legless without him, he's sure he'll omit that Crime Master knows who he is and he won't tell them that or they'll take the suit from him. Flash remarks to himself that it takes everything he has to focus on Betty and keep the symbiote from eating CM's face. As Venom goes to save Betty he's attacked by Spider-Man, who thinks he kidnapped Betty, and is using things it remembers to go after his friends. Flash keeps trying to take control but the symbiote is too busy trying to kill Spider-Man. The issue ends as the bomb tied to Betty is getting ready to explode, Venom is trying to murder Spider-Man in the middle of New York, and they finally decide to hit the Fail-Safe on Venom. This was an excellent issue, action-packed, great story, and finally some Spidey/Venom interaction, with Venom facing the guy that Flash has idolized since he was a teenager. I can't wait for the next issue of Venom now, I'll give this a 10/10 rating.

Venom: KKILL SPPIDDER-MMAN!!! (Can't beat the classics!)

And that's it for this week's reviews. Six great issues, this was a pretty good week for comics in my opinion. Now with those reviews done, I wanna thank you guys for reading and welcome any comments or criticisms you may have. Below are the results to last week's poll, and thanks to that, be sure to vote on this week's poll as well. So that done, I wanna say thanks for reading and be sure to join us next week for more Ratings and Ratings, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. You stay classy, Todd Squad!

Last week's poll question asked "What do you think I should do with the weekly polls?"

16.7% said Get rid of them.
And a shocking 83.3% said to keep them, I didn't even know anyone cared about them, so consider them here to stay for good.

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Batman Beyond #6, Static Shock Special, and Amazing Spider-Man #663

Ratings and Rantings

Woooo it's that time again everyone, time for your weekly cavalcade of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings. As always I'm your host JT, and we have a nice collection of comics this week. We've got the continuation of the War of the Green Lanterns, The fallout from The Return of The Joker in Gotham City Sirens as well as Hell's Angel, Azrael, testing Catwoman, as well as our favorite busty Kryptonian, Power Girl. So, with an all DC Comics edition of Ratings and Rantings, let's kick things off with The War of The Green Lanterns!

Green Lantern #65

Here we are with part four of...something of the War of the Green Lanterns. We kick things off on Oa with everyone under Krona's control with the exception of a beaten but still defiant Kilowog. Krona taps into Kilowog's mind to see the reason he can deny falling under control is due to himself, Ganthet and the four Earth GL's having been exposed to Parallax before. Krona forces Kilowog's ring back on him and gains another member to his brainwashed Green Lantern Corps. Over on an non-inhabited world known as the Green House, Hal and Guy are wondering around looking for what's basically a Green Lantern Batcave which has a Green Lantern spaceship... Yep. They use the ship, which Hal calls the fastest in the universe, and plan to go find Kyle and John since it can track their rings. They arrive on Oa and Kilowog welcomes them by smashing up this ship, meaning it lasted all of five pages, bravo! Hal and Guy jump into an escape pod which takes them to Kyle and John. Once the four team up they realize they need rings or they'll certainly get caught or get killed, so Hal whips out the Color rings of the people who got sucked into the black book. They each pick a ring, Guy picking Red of course, Hal takes Sinestro's ring, Kyle takes Hope (looking more like Nighwting everyday Rayner.) and John wants Orange but Hal advises against it so gives him the purple ring for compassion. The issue ends with an awesome shot of everyone with their new colors, especially John who has a makeshift army uniform. This issue was more of a set up than anything but I really loved the last page where we got so see everyone with their new rings. I'll give this issue a 7.5/10 only because nothing else really happened.

Hal: That better be your belt buckle.

Guy: Don't flatter yourself. (I had this same conversation with X a week ago...)

Green Lantern Corps #59

And we continue with part five of this big War of the Green Lanterns. This issue starts with Ganthet trying to fight off hundreds if not thousands of Green Lanterns while we hear John Stewart compare this to a war with his own soldiers. We then see John, Kyle, Hal and Guy all sporting their new colors trying to decide what to do next. John cites that he knows the Indigo Lanterns can tap into other emotions and tries to tap into Guy's rage but can't because he's using Willpower to do it. He tells Kyle to charge his ring but Hal tells him that only works for Green Lanterns. They ask why Kyle picked Blue since there are no Green Lanterns to feed off of and Kyle says he though Ganthet gave him a hint when he said he had hope in him and now he hopes he isn't useless. Just pick another ring Kyle, don't whine about it. Kyle then starts to glow brighter when more GL's get close. They attack our four Earth Lanterns and Kyle's blue ring just supercharges all the Green Lantern rings. Damn, that's bad luck. John saves Kyle from a grim fate before they escape to go find Ganthet. They finally find Ganthet who pretty much unleashed a huge Green Lantern bomb to subdue all of his attackers when he see's the Crayola Cavalry as Guy calls them. Ganthet is upset to say the least, saying the rings shouldn't be on them as they are ill-suited (John), Not ready (Kyle) or condemning themselves to death (Guy). Ganthet tears into Hal for his idea but more attackers show up, as well as Mogo who BLASTS Ganthet. The issue ends with our four lanterns and Ganthet outnumbered by many to continue in Emerald Warriors #9. This was another fine issue, our guys basically ran around but I'm interested to see how this turns out, I'll give this issue a 7.5/10 as well because nothing really happened from the last issue.

Guy Gardner: The Crayola Cavalry has arrived!

Gotham City Sirens #22

We start things off with Catwoman recapping her decision to leave Ivy to deal with Harley trying to kill the Joker and how she now has to deal with a test by Azrael and the Crusader, who are on the way after Red Robin has failed his test. As Catwoman searches for the Angels of Death (cool name from the Red Robin issue) when they happen to find her sister who says she's Catwoman's test, and tonight she (her sister) will die. Meanwhile, Catwoman breaks into Azrael's Sister-In-Law's house and ties her up, then claims that his sister-in-law is for the lack of a better or funnier word, boning Azrael. She then ties her up for no reason and leaves. Catwoman finds the Crusader and kicks him to the ground. When he gets ready to attack he's interrupted by Red Robin, who even though he failed his test, sticks around to help Catwoman. They fight for a while until Azrael shows up and asks Catwoman to confess to her one biggest sin, the one she's never forgiven herself for. He stabs her with his fiery hail sin-telling sword which prompts her to have flashbacks about herself and her sister Maggie as a kid up to their fight in Sirens about ten issues ago.When Selina comes to, Maggie is there. Maggie and the Angels of Death tell Selina that Gotham will live on if she sacrifices her sister in the name of God. Catwoman grabs the blade given to her and tries to stab The Crusader, but his armor doesn't give and he decks her with a punch. Maggie begs Selina to do it, send her to God, cleanse her soul and save Gotham but Catwoman just can't bring herself to kill her baby sister. The issue ends with Ra's Al Ghul saying that Dick Grayson is the only one who can now save Gotham, as a defeated Selina is shunned by her sister. Well this was... something. Red Robin kinda had no point here, we got none of the Joker/Harley stuff that had me interested in the first place, everything was a bust for me. Plus that chick being tied up for no reason was dumb, I hope it leads to something in Batman, but I'll give this a 4/10.

Catwoman: He's gone crazy.

Jenny Lane: Says the lady who broke into my house dressed in a skintight Cat costume.

Power Girl #23

Kryptonians visit Jurassic Park as this issue starts off with my two favorite Kryptonians, and Superman. Okay, I couldn't resist. But nah, really, my two favorite Kryptonians, Superman and Power Girl are taking on what can only be classified as Magical Dinosaurs. Some even have Machine Guns for arms or are wielding Axes, and I'm serious. They decide to call up my favorite Magician (Sorry Criss Angel, Penn and Teller) Zatanna, but sadly she's all tied up. Zee is literally all tied up by some dude in a hoody who has her subdued up with tape over her mouth. Luckily, Zee's message on her phone says if she hasn't picked up she's in trouble and tells the caller to track her G.P.S. to save her. Peej calls up Nicco and has him track the G.P.S. We then see Zatanna's captor, known as Siphon and find out that since he was a teenager he's been able to use magic, but he has to be in close proximity with another magician. If he's around a magician for three hours then he can use their powers permanently. He tells Zatanna he doesn't want to hurt her or steal her powers, he just wants to copy them. Would've been easier to just get a date with her, taker her to go see Avatar and go to dinner, boom, instant powers for life buddy. Anyway, Siphon only needs two more hours but Superman and Power Girl show up and free Zatanna. What ensues from there are some back and forth spell-throwing which includes Supes and Peej being attacked by magical Sasquatches, the trio being turned into giant rock people (Shout out to the Thing!) and more. When Siphon finally has Zee on the ropes, Power Girl shows up and whisks into the sky, which knocks him out due to the speed and lack of oxygen. After dealing with a now locked up Siphon, Power Girl tells Zatanna and Superman she has a press conference to get to, and tells Supes she intends on making Karen Starr a real person. As the issue ends we see Karen Starr at the Starrware conference sporting glasses and red hair! Somewhere Kello just said "Hubba, Hubba." Now THIS was a good issue, I loved the change to making Karen look less like Power Girl and giving Power Girl a life outside of the Cape. I also loved the duel with Zee and Siphon as well as Siphon as a character, he should be interesting. And lastly I loved how Superman was here but never made the women look second tier, everyone was on a nice equal playing field, so I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating. Keep it up Judd, you just made Power Girl my favorite female hero.

Superman: She's got a Magic line?

Power Girl: She's a magician. She's got magic everything. Dinnerware, car, washing machine, bras, magic out the wazoo!

And that's it for me everyone. I Hope you enjoyed this short edition of Ratings and Rantings. Feel free to comment and let me know what you think. And of course the results from last week's poll are below so be sure to vote on this week's newest poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off.

Last week's poll asked "Which comic couple would you like to see most?"
Last Place with 6.7% - Batman and Black Canary 
Third Place with 20%- She Hulk and Deadpool
Second Place with 3.33% - Booster Gold and Power Girl
Winner with 40% -Huntress and Jason Todd - Make it happen DC!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #900, Brightest Day #24, Generation Lost #24, Deadpool #36, Amazing Spider-Man #659, and Venom #2