Hey Todd Squad, Jason Todd here with more of those comic reviews you crave oh-so-much. This week we've got a nice haul of comics, more than I expected but first I want to mention Free Comic Boom Month.
For the last few years, a very nice comic fan has started Free Comic Boom Month, so if you email him and let him know some of your favorite comics, he'll mail you a comic he thinks you may enjoy from his personal stash for free, which is really awesome. So feel free to check out his FCBM post as well as his blog by clicking here.
So, I had a nice post typed up that I finished last night with reviews of everything except Amazing Spider-Man which I didn't pick up due to it being a FF comic (Isn't there already one of those?) and Morning Glories #9 since I let Lisha borrow it. So I woke up today before work and decided I'd post and suddenly my net craps out on me.. so I figure I'll post it from my phone, and I do but it leads to only posting the first two or three paragraphs. Needless to say that pissed me off, and after completing the post last night I copied over the copy I saved in Word, probably because I'm an idiot. Anyway, I'm very upset that this happened since I wasted my time typing up and completing a review, plus I'm upset you guys don't get to read it, that's what makes me the most angry. So, to make it up to you guys, next week I'll be posting 5 Reasons why you should read Invincible, What I Learned from Brightest Day, AND Ratings and Rantings featuring Morning Glories #9, Batman Beyond #5, and Deadpool Annual #1 which continues the Identity Wars story arc. See, I love the Todd Squad, Three posts in one week is a lot for my lazy ass, so enjoy it guys! Anyway some quick review scores that I recall
Action Comics #900 - N/A, horrible ending to one of the best Luthor stories ever. I couldn't even finish it as I only planned on reviewing the main story. See more on it here at Paul C's blog.
Emerald Warriors #9 - Great ending, very well writing and another good issue in War of the Green Lanterns, got a 7/10 Rating.
Brightest Day #24- Plain stupid, I'll speak on it more next week in my Brightest Day post but read about it here at X's blog. I gave it a 1/10 because it's finally over.
Venom #2 - Another great issue in what is making Flash Thompson become my favorite Venom besides Eddie Brock, I gave this a 9/10.
JL Generation Lost #24 - Great ending which will be spawning it's own JLI series which I love, I gave this a 8/10 rating.
Deadpool #36 - Amazing issue, great appearances from the Deadpool cast and just overall fun and funny, I gave this a 9.5/10.
So, that's it guys. As for the poll results of which GL you think is gonna lose their ring, John Stewart came in first place, Guy Gardner in second, Kyle in third (my pick) and lastly Hal Jordan. But that's all for me guys, I'm gonna go drown my sorrows in some Faygo Cola and get these posts ready for next week until next time, Stay Classy Todd Squad!
Showing posts with label JL Generation Lost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JL Generation Lost. Show all posts
Friday, April 29, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Ratings and Rantings
Alright Todd Squad let's try this again, This is Jason Todd welcoming you once again to your weekly dose of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Last week's post was derailed by the "Brightest Day Debacle", so this week's post is gonna be packed to the brim with comic reviews and rants. By the way, I skipped Deadpool last time and have yet to read it so I'm dropping the Deadpool review from this week, sorry DP fans.So, let's jump right into this with our first comic, Batgirl.
We start things off seeing a quick look into the past year of Slipstream, a college student that's pretty much lazy as hell and doesn't care about doing anything other than sitting around. We then see he was recruited to the Order of the Scythe and is now Slipstream. He complains about his suit having a kill-switch and the rest of the Order explain they all have a fail-safe in their suits. Once they finish up talking they all get ready to get back to work so they can get whatever payment they were promised. We then see Batgirl and Proxy at Bagirl's new base, playing around with the tons of new tech they have due to Batman Inc. including a car that Batgirl's calling "The Compact." From there Steph goes to see Babs and they discuss how the money that Slipstream tagged is going out to be replaced by new bills since those bills are now defunct, to which Slipstream will follow to find a vast fortune and then steal, which is pretty damn genius. After some encouraging words from Babs and an awkward moment between the two Batgirl's, Steph heads to class. While in class she happens to be sitting right next to Slipstream but she doesn't know it of course. Slipstream gets the call that the money is on the move, and right after he leaves the classroom Steph gets the same call from Proxy. Steph then looks over where the guy was sitting to see a sketched map of Gotham, which causes her to realize she was sitting right next to Slipstream. Steph heads out to The Compact and hops in to follow after Slipstream. While trying to beat Slipstream to the punch and save the armored cars, they open fire on Batgirl, thinking her to be a threat to them for some reason. While their distracted Slipstream comes through and knocks all the guards out, leaving only Slipstream vs. Batgirl. Batgirl uses her smarts to take the faux-Speedster down with some electro-magnetic-Gooparangs as she refers to them. Batgirl later explains to Detective Gage that she knew Slipstream would rush at her and not dodge because unlike Speedsters his brain isn't fast enough to keep up with his super speed so he had to think out routes beforehand and memorize them which makes perfect sense. When asked why he'd ever join with them, Gage comments they probably made him a great offer and says that he used to be a member of the Order of The Scythe himself, but he doesn't elaborate while Batgirl looks at him with a surprised face. The issue ends with the Order of the Scythe mentioning how the plan is going accordingly before introducing another Batgirl Baddie by the name of Harmony. This was a really good issue, I loved the reasoning for Batgirl being able to take down a super speed villain as well as the Batgirl charm that always flows from these pages so well, I'd give this issue a 8.5/10.
We start things off with Max Lord on his knees with blood pouring from his nose as he successfully turns millions of people into OMAC's. How someone who uses mind control on people can turn them into robots perplexes me, but whatever. The JLI along with Batman realize that Max is searching for them with the OMAC's to find Wonder Woman since only they remember her, and they try to fight off the OMAC's for as long as they can. The team is soon overrun and Wonder Woman, Booster, Beetle, Rocket Red, Fire and Ice are transported away via a teleporter, leaving Batman, Power Girl and Captain Atom behind as the OMAC's disperse. The teleported team of six arrive in L.A. as Max's Checkmate Rook ship arrives, and drops a big threat for our team, OMAC Prime. The gigantic OMAC can talk apparently and has Max's voice, but wastes no time in trying to kill Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman dhishes out some big shots and the team backs her up with multiple blasts but they do nothing against OMAC Prime. Booster then takes off to go confront Max while the team takes on Prime. Booster then blasts a hole in Max's ship and demands he shuts it down, which leads to our long awaited Booster/Max confrontation. We then check in with the team and see that they're being destroyed due to Prime having their powers and using them against them. The issue ends with our team being decimated, Bats, Cap Atom and Peej being taken outta the equation, and the showdown between Max and Booster coming full speed. I think was was a great issue for setting up the finale and that's what it did, so I'll give it a 7.5, a great issue but it didn't do much but set the stage for other things to happen. Also, I hated Jaime and Gavril just talking while the three women got kicked around by Prime... Chivalry IS dead.
Booster Gold: I was hoping I'd have to beat you like a damn dog first.
Wooo Red Robin with no Unternet, sign me up baby! We get underway with Tim at the graves of his parents, thing back on their deaths and how he had stopped believing in God because he didn't thing a God would allow their deaths to happen the way they did. We then see that he's facing the Crusader who is basically a zealot who decided to team with Azrael and go all Sodom and Gomorrah as Tim states on Gotham. The only way to spare their wrath is for Red Robin, Batman and Catwoman to be judged worthy by them. Red Robin's test is he has one hour to save Mayor Hady from Azrael while dealing with physical and moral tests on the way. He manages to save a literal busload of civilians on his way and checks in with Batman who confirms that the two zealots are only testing them once at a time like they said they would and to play along. Red Robin then calls Lonnie and has him patch through some info on Azrael, and then has him call Azrael's wife I believe. He tells her that their going to fail these tests and it'll be up to her to stop Azrael and save Gotham. Damn Tim, that's a lot of pressure to put on one woman. Red Robin continues on, saving people everywhere that Crusader starts trouble including a church. As time dials down, Crazy ass Azrael is getting ready to slice and dice the Mayor, Red Robin shows up with two minutes to spare. Azrael then stabs Tim with his magical sword that makes people confess their sins, and Tim confesses nothing so Azrael proclaims him worthy. Suddenly the Crusader shows up and says that Red Robin has no faith as he didn't bow to God when he entered the Church and says he doesn't believe. Azrael asks Red Robin if this is true to which Tim admits it is, and Azrael says he feels sorry for Gotham but feels sorrier for Red Robin. They leave as Tim wonder is he should have lied, and states that he has no faith, he wants to but he doesn't. From there we see Ra's who gets word that Tim has failed, as Ra's says that Gotham lost their best hope, and with their fate on the shoulders of Catwoman and Grayson, they appear to be doomed. The issue ends as Ra's refers to Crusader and Azrael as the Angels of Death, and he proclaims that Gotham will be dead at Dawn. Now THIS is the Red Robin I love, I really enjoyed this issue and it made sense that Tim, a man of science would have lost faith, especially with all the deaths he's endured. Hell even the returns of Superboy, Steph and Bruce can all be explained by science... so this was great, I'd give this issue a 9/10, just because of the weird technicality Tim was caught with. I can't wait to see how this story progresses in Gotham City Sirens next week.
Azrael: I am sorry for Gotham... But I am sorrier for you.
Things start with the White Knight having a ton of civilians jump off of building, when Alfred interrupts the signal to incapacitate anyone with an earpiece that allows them to hear White Light's orders. Everyone already in the process of falling are saved by Batman and Robin, except for a select few that can't be saved by the Dynamic Duo. Back at the Bat Bunker, Dick and Damian discuss how White Knight went after everyone related to people in Arkham by blood or marriage and they then discuss nature vs. nurture. Dick says he doesn't believe in either as Damian recently turned his back on Talia and made a choice to leave the Al Ghul name. They then figure that the White Knight wants to kill all these relatives to stop the tainted blood that runs through them that's also in their Arkham inmate relatives. Alfred let's the Duo know that Arkham is lit up like a Christmas tree, which springs Batman and Robin into action. Once there they see a bunch of bright rods sticking out of the ground which emit a blinding light and has incapacitated Commissioner Gordon and his men. Batman and Robin head inside as we see the White Knight drowning all the inmates with his light or something, and most are freaking out except for The Joker, whose showering in the light. The White Knight then walks over to Dr. Phosphorous and reveals that as a kid he went to work with his father (who worked as a security guard at Arkham Asylum) and a riot broke out and his father was killed by the good Doc, who burned his palms into his back in the process and gave him "wings." Of course while this flashback is going on Batman and Robin show up and attack the White Knight. Zsasz is freed in the fray but Robin stops him as Batman pursues the White Knight. During their fight Batman shoots the ears off of his cowl into White Knights face when he gets too close, that's right, he SHOT THE EARS OFF OF HIS COWL... it was the most stupid yet most hilariously cool thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Batman manages to destroy his White Light gun thing which explodes and knocks out the White Knight. We later see him in Arkham and it's explained the blast fused his wings to his back, and Robin comments that the White Knight is now a White Angel. The issue ends with the White Angel (?) staring at two makeshift Batman and Robin logos as the lights go out. This was a fine issue, some small stuff in the background like with Joker and Zsasz were really good, but White Knight was never really made to be a threat so that made the end kinda lackluster, anyway I'd give this issue a 7/10.
Zsasz: Nobody gets to kill my family but me. (Oh Zsasz, you so crazy!)
It's a Huntress issue Ladies and Gents, as she goes on a date with Catman, which annoys me because Huntress + Jason = perfect Batfamily couple. Anyway we start things off with Huntress chasing after a jewel thief in the streets of Gotham. While following and fighting the thief, Oracle let's Huntress know that the thief's buddy has a hostage, a woman with asthma who lost her inhaler in the struggle. Huntress doesn't seem like she'll be able to help though since the thief has her at gunpoint, but Catman shows up and grabs the guy by the throat. He threatens to drop him off the edge of the building their on as Huntress notes to herself how much Catman has changed lately. After Catman scares the answers, and probably some other things out of the thief he knocks him out, and when Huntress asks what happened to Catman he pulls her close and kisses her. She then slaps the taste out of his mouth, because she may have had sex with Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, and Josh the Parking guy to name a few, but she's not easy! Huntress asks why Blake is in town and he simply says business and that he wanted to see her, so they decide to team up to free the asthmatic hostage. Meanwhile, Oracle has the flu so Dinah drops by to bring her some of her famous...er..infamous chili. Back with the new couple, Catman and Huntress find the guy's house thanks to Oracle and burst through the window. The criminal's woman tries to claw Catman's eyes out so he just punches her in the face, to Huntress's surprise and my joy. Huntress get's all bent outta shape because the woman was pregnant, and of course I sound like an ass for saying it but A.) she shouldn't have been attacking him if she's pregnant and B.) He hit her in the nose, he didn't slam her or anything... Anyway, after getting the information from that crook that his cousin Markie was with them and probably has the hostage so they head after him. While patching up Catman before they move to the next target, Huntress gives him her crucifix and tells him to pick a side, good or evil, and get out of the gray area in the middle like she's trying to. They then track down Markie and rush in to see he has the hostage tied up. Catman goes to check on the hostage since Huntress calls dibs on the big man known as Markie. After taking down Markie she turns her crossbow on Catman and lists off reasons how she figured out that he was one of the people behind the heist, which I didn't see coming. She tells him tyo leave and never cross her path again before slapping him. He then admits that he has a son by a very bad woman and that he was kidnapped and asks for Huntress's help. Surprisingly Huntress tells Catman that he lied to her and he can help himself, before walking away with the hostage. As she walks away, Deadshot steps out of the shadows and we see this was all a plan to make Huntress dislike Catman because he didn't want her to waste her time on him, which is pretty selfless, but I've seen Huntress so I'm gonna just say he's an idiot. Anyway, this issue was pretty good, not the date issue I expected but that's a good thing, I'll give this a 7/10.
Deadshot: She's just a woman, Blake. There are a couple billion more out there, I'm told.
Identity Wars part one of three starts here, that's right, a three issue story with Spidey, Deadpool and The Hulk?! Sign me up baby! (Yeah, that's my new catchphrase I guess.) We start things off with Spider-Man (sporting a snazzy cape) taking down Doctor Octopus and posing in front of the Spider-Man statue as J. Jonah Jameson is overheard telling Robbie to make the front page "The Amazing Spider saves the city...again!" We soon find out that these isn't the world we know and Spidey is playing Spidey in another universe. We go back to see how we got here and we see Peter Parker celebrating how happy he is to work at Horizon labs instead of taking pics for Jameson and barely making rent like he was not so long ago. After Peter and a co-worker leave the lab, Deadpool drops in and checks in with his people via an earpiece, and we find out that he's not using a walkie-talkie, they're just standing behind him. He comments how he had to do a ton of stuff to get in there like scale lectric fences and stuff and his cohorts mention they came in a back door after bribing a janitor. They then find an inter-dimensional transporter and explain how only someone with a special brain (example, Deadpool's regeneration) would be able to use the transporter, so they knock Deadpool out so they can use him as a guinea pig. They then find Dr. Bruce Banner hiding behind the machine so they decide to shoot him since they don't want hostages. This of course leads to him becoming the Hulk and breaking stuff which led to Spidey coming to check it out and one explosion later, Deadpool, Hulk and Spidey are in another world, and instead of Horizon labs the trio are in Parker Technologies. And also there are another Spider-Man that passes out due to pain and a green Deadpool, yet no alternate Hulk. Spidey takes Alternate-Spidey to his lair known as "The Web." Fast forward to now as our Spidey masquerades as The Amazing Spider and takes down The Rhino. After he does, The Rhino gets up and turns himself in because he's afraid of Spidey because he took down Thanos. Eventually our Spidey is ready to go back to his own world, but The Amazing Spider is still healing and there are no other heroes to help considering Reed Richards is just a Doctor in this world and Tony Stark is a lot..heavier than the athletic Tony of our world. While pretending to be their Peter Parker, Pete soon learns that in this world Gwen Stacey is still alive but before he can do anything like go see her he finds out that Deadpool and his Green alter-ego, Deathwish are causing havoc. Peter then goes to look on "new desk" and finds out that this Peter was aware of other Spider-Men including our Peter, but he then see's a picture on his desk of Uncle Ben and wastes no time going to see him. Uncle Ben knows that he's not his Peter because that universe's Pete already called him but he's still happy to see our Peter. It turns out this world's Ben Parker was shot too, but he lived and went on to train Peter to use his powers and become the Amazing Spider. While the bonding is fun it soon makes a turn for the worse as he's told by Uncle Ben that Aunt May is afraid of Peter because of his Spider-Powers for some reason. When Pete asks Ben who he thinks his alternate self will end up with, Gwen or MJ, Ben snaps and says they're both money-grubbing tramps. Peter then sips his tea and asks how The Amazing Spider got so powerful, and suddenly falls out, his tea obviously being drugged, as Ben says that he and his world's Peter are ready to show him. Peter awakens later and says that he understands what's happened, that he was brought there, why the Amazing Spider was hurt after the feedback from the machine, and that they are using multiple Spider-Men to steal their powers and put them into The Amazing Spider. Spidey tricks The Amazing Spider into punching him which knocks him free from his constraints, and Uncle Ben says that he's week and needs to feed, even though Spidey says he hits like a freight train. Spidey realizes he can't beat him so he starts to try to talk to him as only he can, trying to help him realize this isn't a heroes way. While Peter tries to talk down The Amazing Spider, Ben grabs the energy sucking things and rushes Spidey but The Amazing Spider pushes him out of the way and takes the hit, almost killing him. As the issue ends Peter walks away, trying to forget about that evil, bitter Ben Parker, continues to play the role of alternate Peter until he could find a way home and hired Bruce Banner to work on a new transporter, but Ben tells Peter he's not going back because in this world he can't turn into The Hulk for some reason. So it ends with Spidey living a life that's not his, ready to go back to his universe. Man, I LOVED this issue. I love Elseworld/What If stories so this is right up my alley, and I really really enjoyed this especially with the twists, and I can't wait to see what else is coming in the Deadpool and Hulk annuals. I'll give this a solid 10/10.
Uncle Ben: They're both money-grubbing TRAMPS!!! (There's the Uncle Ben we all know and love!)
We start things out with Maxine Gibson, the best friend of Batman a.k.a. Terry McGinnis who also knows his secret Identity. I've never heard of this chica so if someone can tell me if she's from one of the past Batman Beyond series or a episode of the show I never saw, please let me know. Anyway, Maxine is kind of his Oracle in a sense, so she's shocked when she turns around to see Nightwing. Well actually it's the current Batman and just as talented Terry McGinnis rocking the Nightwing costume. It seems that Nightwing's Secret Identity of Dick Grayson was leaked by a reporter so Terry plans on pulling the old same place, same time scenario, with Grayson not knowing beforehand because he thinks he'd be against it. Later we see Max trying to cover for Terry in class and with his girlfriend, which comes with the sidekick schtick. So Nightwing (Terry) goes to grab the reporter that leaked the story and takes him where Grayson is but stops some criminals on the way. Meanwhile, Max heads home to see her computer's being hacked by someone, so she tracks them down and heads to confront them. On the monorail thing that clearly shows this is the future, because when I think future, I think Monorails... Max is attacked by a group of Jokerz but holds her own and escapes. Back with Nightwing, he tries to convince the reporter he's the real Nightwing and Grayson is innocent but this cover is blown when an annoyed Grayson jumps from a building and lands flawlessly, then admits that he was the first Nightwing. He says he never saw Batman unmask and he was paid for his services in what would become Batman Inc., and was carefully choreographed when he joined the Teen Titans, Outsiders and etc. and his announcement shocks Terry and Bruce. When asked by a reporter if he fears reprisal from his former enemies, he states that he was trained to be the best and toughest and he hasn't forgotten a thing. Over with Maxine, she tracks down the hacker and fins a computer with a camera on her, who basically knows she knows something but doesn't know she knows who Batman is. The issue ends with the Hacker asking Max to join them and blackmailing her, so Max decides not to tell Terry. This was a weird issue, I'd never heard of Max but I loved the stuff with Terry as Nightwing (I missed that costume...) and Grayson admitting but changing the facts on his past. But the Max stuff was kinda meh when compared to that, I'll give this issue a 7/10.
Terry McGinnis: Maxine Gibson, Friend of Batman, Prepare to bear witness... as Nightwing flies again!
I bought Spider-Man and got a Future Foundation story instead, let's see how it turns out shall we? We start off with Peter Parker and his girlfriend, Carlie Cooper, about to go ALL the way when he see's the FF signal, and luckily she's called away for work so he has an excuse. Peter then has to catch a taxi to his job where he keeps his Spidey gear since he can't keep it in his apartment due to him dating someone that happens to be a member of the C.S.I. Spidey finally arrives at the Baxter Building, decked out in a Blue and Black suit with a number "4" in the middle of his Spider logo, insignia, whatever you wanna call it, I won't get angry. Anyway, Ben gets pissed because they retired that number and those colors, and tells Spidey he can make him black and blue. Reed, the person who has manners, gives Spidey his new costume (he's got about 7 in the last ten issues of this series...) Spidey then puts on the costume and says that he looks like Anti-Venom (lmao, he DOES) and he pretty much feels like he looks like a villain. Anyway, Spidey ignores the suit long enough to go defeat some baddies with his new team and enjoy some ice cream when a mean Mime comes over and makes fun of Ben, making The Blue-Eyed Ever Lovin' Thing run off in a huff. Oh Thing, you have skin like a boulder but you weep easily, kinda like Supergirl. This leads to Sue trapping the mime in an invisible box which scares him, which I LOVED. Man, Dan Slott is making Sue one hell of a laugh riot. The issue continues on with Spidey and the FF fighting people, learning and bonding. The issue ends with Carlie Cooper going to Pete's job and finding out he lied about having to do something for work while he's actually with the FF. Now I enjoyed this issue but not as much as the last few issues, I don't know If I would rather not read about the FF or if I'm just tired from so many other comics or what the deal is, but I couldn't get into this like the last few issues, so I'll give this a 6/10 rating, a rare low for Spidey comics.
The Thing: We retired the number an' the colors outta respect for Johnny and what he done! But if you wanna be covered in Black n' Blue I can make that happen!
Okay, quick rant. Halfway through this Spidey comic there was a solicit for Daredevil number one which pisses me off. Matt hasn't been gone for a YEAR and there's already a damn Daredevil series? Why start it over again yet give Black Panther DD's series? That makes NO goddamn sense... but whatever. Anyway that's all for me guys and gals, be sure to vote on the new weekly poll (Thanks to Falisha Ann of Gotham City Girls Corner for the pictures.) and comment with your thoughts or discrepancies. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off and sign me up baby!
Gotham City Sirens #22, Green Lantern #65, Green Lantern Corps #59, Teen Titans #94, and Power Girl #23
Batgirl #20
We start things off seeing a quick look into the past year of Slipstream, a college student that's pretty much lazy as hell and doesn't care about doing anything other than sitting around. We then see he was recruited to the Order of the Scythe and is now Slipstream. He complains about his suit having a kill-switch and the rest of the Order explain they all have a fail-safe in their suits. Once they finish up talking they all get ready to get back to work so they can get whatever payment they were promised. We then see Batgirl and Proxy at Bagirl's new base, playing around with the tons of new tech they have due to Batman Inc. including a car that Batgirl's calling "The Compact." From there Steph goes to see Babs and they discuss how the money that Slipstream tagged is going out to be replaced by new bills since those bills are now defunct, to which Slipstream will follow to find a vast fortune and then steal, which is pretty damn genius. After some encouraging words from Babs and an awkward moment between the two Batgirl's, Steph heads to class. While in class she happens to be sitting right next to Slipstream but she doesn't know it of course. Slipstream gets the call that the money is on the move, and right after he leaves the classroom Steph gets the same call from Proxy. Steph then looks over where the guy was sitting to see a sketched map of Gotham, which causes her to realize she was sitting right next to Slipstream. Steph heads out to The Compact and hops in to follow after Slipstream. While trying to beat Slipstream to the punch and save the armored cars, they open fire on Batgirl, thinking her to be a threat to them for some reason. While their distracted Slipstream comes through and knocks all the guards out, leaving only Slipstream vs. Batgirl. Batgirl uses her smarts to take the faux-Speedster down with some electro-magnetic-Gooparangs as she refers to them. Batgirl later explains to Detective Gage that she knew Slipstream would rush at her and not dodge because unlike Speedsters his brain isn't fast enough to keep up with his super speed so he had to think out routes beforehand and memorize them which makes perfect sense. When asked why he'd ever join with them, Gage comments they probably made him a great offer and says that he used to be a member of the Order of The Scythe himself, but he doesn't elaborate while Batgirl looks at him with a surprised face. The issue ends with the Order of the Scythe mentioning how the plan is going accordingly before introducing another Batgirl Baddie by the name of Harmony. This was a really good issue, I loved the reasoning for Batgirl being able to take down a super speed villain as well as the Batgirl charm that always flows from these pages so well, I'd give this issue a 8.5/10.
Stephanie: I am dealing with the matter at hand... by using the most bad assingest not-tortilla press batarang-maker that ever was! And I can combine cartridges?!
JL Generation Lost #23
We start things off with Max Lord on his knees with blood pouring from his nose as he successfully turns millions of people into OMAC's. How someone who uses mind control on people can turn them into robots perplexes me, but whatever. The JLI along with Batman realize that Max is searching for them with the OMAC's to find Wonder Woman since only they remember her, and they try to fight off the OMAC's for as long as they can. The team is soon overrun and Wonder Woman, Booster, Beetle, Rocket Red, Fire and Ice are transported away via a teleporter, leaving Batman, Power Girl and Captain Atom behind as the OMAC's disperse. The teleported team of six arrive in L.A. as Max's Checkmate Rook ship arrives, and drops a big threat for our team, OMAC Prime. The gigantic OMAC can talk apparently and has Max's voice, but wastes no time in trying to kill Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman dhishes out some big shots and the team backs her up with multiple blasts but they do nothing against OMAC Prime. Booster then takes off to go confront Max while the team takes on Prime. Booster then blasts a hole in Max's ship and demands he shuts it down, which leads to our long awaited Booster/Max confrontation. We then check in with the team and see that they're being destroyed due to Prime having their powers and using them against them. The issue ends with our team being decimated, Bats, Cap Atom and Peej being taken outta the equation, and the showdown between Max and Booster coming full speed. I think was was a great issue for setting up the finale and that's what it did, so I'll give it a 7.5, a great issue but it didn't do much but set the stage for other things to happen. Also, I hated Jaime and Gavril just talking while the three women got kicked around by Prime... Chivalry IS dead.
Red Robin #22
Wooo Red Robin with no Unternet, sign me up baby! We get underway with Tim at the graves of his parents, thing back on their deaths and how he had stopped believing in God because he didn't thing a God would allow their deaths to happen the way they did. We then see that he's facing the Crusader who is basically a zealot who decided to team with Azrael and go all Sodom and Gomorrah as Tim states on Gotham. The only way to spare their wrath is for Red Robin, Batman and Catwoman to be judged worthy by them. Red Robin's test is he has one hour to save Mayor Hady from Azrael while dealing with physical and moral tests on the way. He manages to save a literal busload of civilians on his way and checks in with Batman who confirms that the two zealots are only testing them once at a time like they said they would and to play along. Red Robin then calls Lonnie and has him patch through some info on Azrael, and then has him call Azrael's wife I believe. He tells her that their going to fail these tests and it'll be up to her to stop Azrael and save Gotham. Damn Tim, that's a lot of pressure to put on one woman. Red Robin continues on, saving people everywhere that Crusader starts trouble including a church. As time dials down, Crazy ass Azrael is getting ready to slice and dice the Mayor, Red Robin shows up with two minutes to spare. Azrael then stabs Tim with his magical sword that makes people confess their sins, and Tim confesses nothing so Azrael proclaims him worthy. Suddenly the Crusader shows up and says that Red Robin has no faith as he didn't bow to God when he entered the Church and says he doesn't believe. Azrael asks Red Robin if this is true to which Tim admits it is, and Azrael says he feels sorry for Gotham but feels sorrier for Red Robin. They leave as Tim wonder is he should have lied, and states that he has no faith, he wants to but he doesn't. From there we see Ra's who gets word that Tim has failed, as Ra's says that Gotham lost their best hope, and with their fate on the shoulders of Catwoman and Grayson, they appear to be doomed. The issue ends as Ra's refers to Crusader and Azrael as the Angels of Death, and he proclaims that Gotham will be dead at Dawn. Now THIS is the Red Robin I love, I really enjoyed this issue and it made sense that Tim, a man of science would have lost faith, especially with all the deaths he's endured. Hell even the returns of Superboy, Steph and Bruce can all be explained by science... so this was great, I'd give this issue a 9/10, just because of the weird technicality Tim was caught with. I can't wait to see how this story progresses in Gotham City Sirens next week.
Azrael: I am sorry for Gotham... But I am sorrier for you.
Batman & Robin #22
Things start with the White Knight having a ton of civilians jump off of building, when Alfred interrupts the signal to incapacitate anyone with an earpiece that allows them to hear White Light's orders. Everyone already in the process of falling are saved by Batman and Robin, except for a select few that can't be saved by the Dynamic Duo. Back at the Bat Bunker, Dick and Damian discuss how White Knight went after everyone related to people in Arkham by blood or marriage and they then discuss nature vs. nurture. Dick says he doesn't believe in either as Damian recently turned his back on Talia and made a choice to leave the Al Ghul name. They then figure that the White Knight wants to kill all these relatives to stop the tainted blood that runs through them that's also in their Arkham inmate relatives. Alfred let's the Duo know that Arkham is lit up like a Christmas tree, which springs Batman and Robin into action. Once there they see a bunch of bright rods sticking out of the ground which emit a blinding light and has incapacitated Commissioner Gordon and his men. Batman and Robin head inside as we see the White Knight drowning all the inmates with his light or something, and most are freaking out except for The Joker, whose showering in the light. The White Knight then walks over to Dr. Phosphorous and reveals that as a kid he went to work with his father (who worked as a security guard at Arkham Asylum) and a riot broke out and his father was killed by the good Doc, who burned his palms into his back in the process and gave him "wings." Of course while this flashback is going on Batman and Robin show up and attack the White Knight. Zsasz is freed in the fray but Robin stops him as Batman pursues the White Knight. During their fight Batman shoots the ears off of his cowl into White Knights face when he gets too close, that's right, he SHOT THE EARS OFF OF HIS COWL... it was the most stupid yet most hilariously cool thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Batman manages to destroy his White Light gun thing which explodes and knocks out the White Knight. We later see him in Arkham and it's explained the blast fused his wings to his back, and Robin comments that the White Knight is now a White Angel. The issue ends with the White Angel (?) staring at two makeshift Batman and Robin logos as the lights go out. This was a fine issue, some small stuff in the background like with Joker and Zsasz were really good, but White Knight was never really made to be a threat so that made the end kinda lackluster, anyway I'd give this issue a 7/10.
Zsasz: Nobody gets to kill my family but me. (Oh Zsasz, you so crazy!)
Birds of Prey #11
It's a Huntress issue Ladies and Gents, as she goes on a date with Catman, which annoys me because Huntress + Jason = perfect Batfamily couple. Anyway we start things off with Huntress chasing after a jewel thief in the streets of Gotham. While following and fighting the thief, Oracle let's Huntress know that the thief's buddy has a hostage, a woman with asthma who lost her inhaler in the struggle. Huntress doesn't seem like she'll be able to help though since the thief has her at gunpoint, but Catman shows up and grabs the guy by the throat. He threatens to drop him off the edge of the building their on as Huntress notes to herself how much Catman has changed lately. After Catman scares the answers, and probably some other things out of the thief he knocks him out, and when Huntress asks what happened to Catman he pulls her close and kisses her. She then slaps the taste out of his mouth, because she may have had sex with Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, and Josh the Parking guy to name a few, but she's not easy! Huntress asks why Blake is in town and he simply says business and that he wanted to see her, so they decide to team up to free the asthmatic hostage. Meanwhile, Oracle has the flu so Dinah drops by to bring her some of her famous...er..infamous chili. Back with the new couple, Catman and Huntress find the guy's house thanks to Oracle and burst through the window. The criminal's woman tries to claw Catman's eyes out so he just punches her in the face, to Huntress's surprise and my joy. Huntress get's all bent outta shape because the woman was pregnant, and of course I sound like an ass for saying it but A.) she shouldn't have been attacking him if she's pregnant and B.) He hit her in the nose, he didn't slam her or anything... Anyway, after getting the information from that crook that his cousin Markie was with them and probably has the hostage so they head after him. While patching up Catman before they move to the next target, Huntress gives him her crucifix and tells him to pick a side, good or evil, and get out of the gray area in the middle like she's trying to. They then track down Markie and rush in to see he has the hostage tied up. Catman goes to check on the hostage since Huntress calls dibs on the big man known as Markie. After taking down Markie she turns her crossbow on Catman and lists off reasons how she figured out that he was one of the people behind the heist, which I didn't see coming. She tells him tyo leave and never cross her path again before slapping him. He then admits that he has a son by a very bad woman and that he was kidnapped and asks for Huntress's help. Surprisingly Huntress tells Catman that he lied to her and he can help himself, before walking away with the hostage. As she walks away, Deadshot steps out of the shadows and we see this was all a plan to make Huntress dislike Catman because he didn't want her to waste her time on him, which is pretty selfless, but I've seen Huntress so I'm gonna just say he's an idiot. Anyway, this issue was pretty good, not the date issue I expected but that's a good thing, I'll give this a 7/10.
The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38
Identity Wars part one of three starts here, that's right, a three issue story with Spidey, Deadpool and The Hulk?! Sign me up baby! (Yeah, that's my new catchphrase I guess.) We start things off with Spider-Man (sporting a snazzy cape) taking down Doctor Octopus and posing in front of the Spider-Man statue as J. Jonah Jameson is overheard telling Robbie to make the front page "The Amazing Spider saves the city...again!" We soon find out that these isn't the world we know and Spidey is playing Spidey in another universe. We go back to see how we got here and we see Peter Parker celebrating how happy he is to work at Horizon labs instead of taking pics for Jameson and barely making rent like he was not so long ago. After Peter and a co-worker leave the lab, Deadpool drops in and checks in with his people via an earpiece, and we find out that he's not using a walkie-talkie, they're just standing behind him. He comments how he had to do a ton of stuff to get in there like scale lectric fences and stuff and his cohorts mention they came in a back door after bribing a janitor. They then find an inter-dimensional transporter and explain how only someone with a special brain (example, Deadpool's regeneration) would be able to use the transporter, so they knock Deadpool out so they can use him as a guinea pig. They then find Dr. Bruce Banner hiding behind the machine so they decide to shoot him since they don't want hostages. This of course leads to him becoming the Hulk and breaking stuff which led to Spidey coming to check it out and one explosion later, Deadpool, Hulk and Spidey are in another world, and instead of Horizon labs the trio are in Parker Technologies. And also there are another Spider-Man that passes out due to pain and a green Deadpool, yet no alternate Hulk. Spidey takes Alternate-Spidey to his lair known as "The Web." Fast forward to now as our Spidey masquerades as The Amazing Spider and takes down The Rhino. After he does, The Rhino gets up and turns himself in because he's afraid of Spidey because he took down Thanos. Eventually our Spidey is ready to go back to his own world, but The Amazing Spider is still healing and there are no other heroes to help considering Reed Richards is just a Doctor in this world and Tony Stark is a lot..heavier than the athletic Tony of our world. While pretending to be their Peter Parker, Pete soon learns that in this world Gwen Stacey is still alive but before he can do anything like go see her he finds out that Deadpool and his Green alter-ego, Deathwish are causing havoc. Peter then goes to look on "new desk" and finds out that this Peter was aware of other Spider-Men including our Peter, but he then see's a picture on his desk of Uncle Ben and wastes no time going to see him. Uncle Ben knows that he's not his Peter because that universe's Pete already called him but he's still happy to see our Peter. It turns out this world's Ben Parker was shot too, but he lived and went on to train Peter to use his powers and become the Amazing Spider. While the bonding is fun it soon makes a turn for the worse as he's told by Uncle Ben that Aunt May is afraid of Peter because of his Spider-Powers for some reason. When Pete asks Ben who he thinks his alternate self will end up with, Gwen or MJ, Ben snaps and says they're both money-grubbing tramps. Peter then sips his tea and asks how The Amazing Spider got so powerful, and suddenly falls out, his tea obviously being drugged, as Ben says that he and his world's Peter are ready to show him. Peter awakens later and says that he understands what's happened, that he was brought there, why the Amazing Spider was hurt after the feedback from the machine, and that they are using multiple Spider-Men to steal their powers and put them into The Amazing Spider. Spidey tricks The Amazing Spider into punching him which knocks him free from his constraints, and Uncle Ben says that he's week and needs to feed, even though Spidey says he hits like a freight train. Spidey realizes he can't beat him so he starts to try to talk to him as only he can, trying to help him realize this isn't a heroes way. While Peter tries to talk down The Amazing Spider, Ben grabs the energy sucking things and rushes Spidey but The Amazing Spider pushes him out of the way and takes the hit, almost killing him. As the issue ends Peter walks away, trying to forget about that evil, bitter Ben Parker, continues to play the role of alternate Peter until he could find a way home and hired Bruce Banner to work on a new transporter, but Ben tells Peter he's not going back because in this world he can't turn into The Hulk for some reason. So it ends with Spidey living a life that's not his, ready to go back to his universe. Man, I LOVED this issue. I love Elseworld/What If stories so this is right up my alley, and I really really enjoyed this especially with the twists, and I can't wait to see what else is coming in the Deadpool and Hulk annuals. I'll give this a solid 10/10.
Uncle Ben: They're both money-grubbing TRAMPS!!! (There's the Uncle Ben we all know and love!)
Batman Beyond #4
We start things out with Maxine Gibson, the best friend of Batman a.k.a. Terry McGinnis who also knows his secret Identity. I've never heard of this chica so if someone can tell me if she's from one of the past Batman Beyond series or a episode of the show I never saw, please let me know. Anyway, Maxine is kind of his Oracle in a sense, so she's shocked when she turns around to see Nightwing. Well actually it's the current Batman and just as talented Terry McGinnis rocking the Nightwing costume. It seems that Nightwing's Secret Identity of Dick Grayson was leaked by a reporter so Terry plans on pulling the old same place, same time scenario, with Grayson not knowing beforehand because he thinks he'd be against it. Later we see Max trying to cover for Terry in class and with his girlfriend, which comes with the sidekick schtick. So Nightwing (Terry) goes to grab the reporter that leaked the story and takes him where Grayson is but stops some criminals on the way. Meanwhile, Max heads home to see her computer's being hacked by someone, so she tracks them down and heads to confront them. On the monorail thing that clearly shows this is the future, because when I think future, I think Monorails... Max is attacked by a group of Jokerz but holds her own and escapes. Back with Nightwing, he tries to convince the reporter he's the real Nightwing and Grayson is innocent but this cover is blown when an annoyed Grayson jumps from a building and lands flawlessly, then admits that he was the first Nightwing. He says he never saw Batman unmask and he was paid for his services in what would become Batman Inc., and was carefully choreographed when he joined the Teen Titans, Outsiders and etc. and his announcement shocks Terry and Bruce. When asked by a reporter if he fears reprisal from his former enemies, he states that he was trained to be the best and toughest and he hasn't forgotten a thing. Over with Maxine, she tracks down the hacker and fins a computer with a camera on her, who basically knows she knows something but doesn't know she knows who Batman is. The issue ends with the Hacker asking Max to join them and blackmailing her, so Max decides not to tell Terry. This was a weird issue, I'd never heard of Max but I loved the stuff with Terry as Nightwing (I missed that costume...) and Grayson admitting but changing the facts on his past. But the Max stuff was kinda meh when compared to that, I'll give this issue a 7/10.
The Amazing Spider-Man #658
I bought Spider-Man and got a Future Foundation story instead, let's see how it turns out shall we? We start off with Peter Parker and his girlfriend, Carlie Cooper, about to go ALL the way when he see's the FF signal, and luckily she's called away for work so he has an excuse. Peter then has to catch a taxi to his job where he keeps his Spidey gear since he can't keep it in his apartment due to him dating someone that happens to be a member of the C.S.I. Spidey finally arrives at the Baxter Building, decked out in a Blue and Black suit with a number "4" in the middle of his Spider logo, insignia, whatever you wanna call it, I won't get angry. Anyway, Ben gets pissed because they retired that number and those colors, and tells Spidey he can make him black and blue. Reed, the person who has manners, gives Spidey his new costume (he's got about 7 in the last ten issues of this series...) Spidey then puts on the costume and says that he looks like Anti-Venom (lmao, he DOES) and he pretty much feels like he looks like a villain. Anyway, Spidey ignores the suit long enough to go defeat some baddies with his new team and enjoy some ice cream when a mean Mime comes over and makes fun of Ben, making The Blue-Eyed Ever Lovin' Thing run off in a huff. Oh Thing, you have skin like a boulder but you weep easily, kinda like Supergirl. This leads to Sue trapping the mime in an invisible box which scares him, which I LOVED. Man, Dan Slott is making Sue one hell of a laugh riot. The issue continues on with Spidey and the FF fighting people, learning and bonding. The issue ends with Carlie Cooper going to Pete's job and finding out he lied about having to do something for work while he's actually with the FF. Now I enjoyed this issue but not as much as the last few issues, I don't know If I would rather not read about the FF or if I'm just tired from so many other comics or what the deal is, but I couldn't get into this like the last few issues, so I'll give this a 6/10 rating, a rare low for Spidey comics.
Okay, quick rant. Halfway through this Spidey comic there was a solicit for Daredevil number one which pisses me off. Matt hasn't been gone for a YEAR and there's already a damn Daredevil series? Why start it over again yet give Black Panther DD's series? That makes NO goddamn sense... but whatever. Anyway that's all for me guys and gals, be sure to vote on the new weekly poll (Thanks to Falisha Ann of Gotham City Girls Corner for the pictures.) and comment with your thoughts or discrepancies. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off and sign me up baby!
Next Time on Ratings and Rantings
Gotham City Sirens #22, Green Lantern #65, Green Lantern Corps #59, Teen Titans #94, and Power Girl #23
Friday, March 25, 2011
Ratings and Rantings
Hello everyone, once again it's time for your weekly dose of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings. As always I'm your dashing, enjoyable and just plain awesome host, Jason Todd.This week we get the start of the War of Green Lanterns arc, we slowly make our way to the end of Generation Lost, and some crazy comedy with our favorite Masked Merc, Deadpool. But before we jump into that, I got some comments on next week's Brightest Day cover.
Really? REALLY?! Okay, now when Brightest Day started I know a lot of people didn't have faith in it. I did, I thought it could be something as good as 52, but it's been almost as bad as Countdown to Final Crisis. I mean really, from people being told they accomplished their goals when they didn't (Firestorm, Martian Manhunter) to people who STILL haven't accomplished the most simple goals like Boomerang who had a WHOLE GODDAMN YEAR TO THROW ONE BOOMERANG AT ONE SPECIFIC PERSON, to the fact that most of the issues have been so stupid they made no sense and starred no one in particular that could be considered an A-Lister except maybe Aquaman. And that's a BIG maybe. But this farce REALLY pissed me off. I mean come on. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and what, Heart?! Is the goddamn White Lantern Champion Captain Planet?! I mean this has got to be one of the more annoying things I've read in a while just because we're being fed this paint by numbers lame ass story, and then we aren't gonna see how it even makes any ripples since we're jumping to Flashpoint. Which basically means over a two year span we go Blackest Night/Brightest Day/Flashpoint with NO gap in between. So yeah, I won't be following with any Flashpoint stuff because none of it interests me, I guess I'll be reading at IGN or um... probably somewhere reputable to see if anything significant happens. But whatever, enough of that, let's get to the reviews.
We start out with a confused Blue Beetle as the JLI is ecstatic that he's fine. He doesn't even remember being dead apparently, because he never was. He explains some well thought out thing that I'll dumb down buy saying the bullet was blocked by the armor and Hai-Me was knocked out. We all good? Awesome. He then mentions that he hacked Max's files and he knows Max's plans. From there he explains how Max manipulated them to make Checkmate look bush league which led to him taking control of Checkmate, thanks to the JLI. When Hai-me mentions the other part of Max's plan, Batman (Bruce) and Power Girl show up at the JLI headquarters, ready to help the team. We then see Max putting on a headset to try to do something like what he did when he made everyone forget. It seems to go haywire but he demands Ivo not to shut it off. Back at the JLI they realize that Max is building a powerful Android to kill Wonder Woman. Just when everything seems to be going well, Power Girl doesn't remember who Wonder Woman is. Batman does remember though, since his brief time wearing the White Lantern ring restored all of his memories. They head to New York since someone has been killing Amazon's, and find Wonder Woman on a rooftop. They talk to Wonder Woman and warn her of danger but the headstrong Amazon won't back down from a fight. At that moment we see Max and his helmet and we see people around the world spaz out and of course turn into OMAC's. The issue ends with the OMAC's heading for Wonder Woman as the JLI gets ready to jump into battle. This was a fine issue, nothing wrong with it, although I wish Jaime's death meant something but hey, he never died, so those last two issues were kinda pointless eh? I wondered if they would explain the difference in WW's look considering her and Batman haven't seen each other since like Final Crisis but whatever. I'll give this a 7.5/10 rating.
Part one of the War of The Green Lanterns is finally here. We start off with a brief synopsis of Hal's life, him getting the ring from Abin Sur, the Parallax ordeal and how he now runs rogue with the other Color Corp Commanders. We then see that Salaak along with a crew of Green Lanterns have been tasked with arresting Hal Jordan. We then see the Color Corps on Krona looking into the giant book Krona left behind. They wonder why he's left it behind when the Book spits out Larfleeze's Lantern. Larfleeze grabs it and chains try to pull him into the book, proclaiming he now belongs to the book of the black, and it's story vampire, Lyssa Drak. So yeah, he has that going for him I guess. Back on Oa the Guardians discuss how the most prominent Lanterns have fallen from grace, mentioning The first Lantern whoever that may be, then Krona, Sinestro and Hal. As the Guardians talk bright colors explode everywhere and Krona appears with all seven Entities in tow. Sinestro demands she back down as a sworn member of the Sinestro Corps, but she reminds him she was imprisoned by the Black Book during Blackest Night and forgotten by the Corps, but was freed by Krona. The book manages to pull in Atrocitus, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1 as the rest of the Corps try to fight it. Over on Oa Krona makes his dominance established by killing a Guardian then telling the entities to pick their host. Over with the book Carol is about to be added to the pages when Sinestro says that Hal and he should combine their rings as it's the only way, Hal does as he's told and the two touch their rings which causes a huge Green and Yellow explosion. It causes the book to explode and drops the rings of Larfleeze, Sinestro, Carol, Walker, Indigo and Atrocitus to the ground. Hal reaches for their rings but is told to put his hands in the air by Salaak and his Lantern team. They tell him to remove his ring and come with them but he tries to plead with them. Some of them want to hear Hal out but at that moment we see Krona, he says that the Guardians are now infused with the six entities, and he then puts Parallax back in the Green Lantern battery. The Green Lanterns that confronted Hal immediately attack him due to Parallax's impurity. Hal, having seen a flash of Parallax when he jumps into the rings knows that Parallax has taken over the rings again. He quickly grabs the other color corp rings and flies off looking for help for anyone not infected by Parallax. Well this was a pretty good issue. The idea of giving the Guardians entities so they now have emotions was just genius, and makes for a good idea. I'm also wondering where the hell Sinestro went, I'll give this issue a 8/10.
Krona: I told you long ago. Beware my power.
We start this issue with a quick rundown on Kyle Rayner, how he got his ring, defeated Parallax, and how many people in the Corps thing he didn't earn his ring and was in the right place at the right time. He mentions that some people think of him as a skirt-chaser and how often his relationships were real and ended with death. After that we get one on John Stewart, about how John doesn't hide his identity as a Lantern, how he's an architecture since DC loves to mention that, and his past as a member of the armed forces. He notes how he and John are Ying and Yang but work well together because of their differences. After he snaps out of it, The Honor Guard step through a portal Ganthet made and end up in space for some reason. They see Boodikka and the Alpha-Lanterns are all deactivated for some reason, and suddenly the impurity of Parallax affects the Honor Guard. Sora and Hannu appear to be in the same trance Salaak and his crew were and head to Oa as Kyle, John and Ganthet follow hastily after them. John tells Kyle to slow down because this is obviously a trap, but Kyle can't hear him over the sound of Parallax which commands him to attack John. John tries to defend himself until Parallax kicks in for him and he attacks Kyle. While they fight, Parallax takes of Ganthet and he calls them both a disgrace to the Corps, and demands they turn in their rings, but he quickly realizes Parallax is controlling him. Ganthet tells John and Kyle to remove their rings but they refuse, Kyle because he wants to save Soranik and John because he doesn't wanna be left defenseless. He removes their rings which causes John and Kyle to drop from the sky, he then tries to crush their rings but it causes Ganthet's hand to explode, which looked AWESOME. The three fall to the ground but are apparently fine, and John starts to wrap Ganthet's ring with some fabric he tears off of Ganthet's robe. While he does so we can see the residual energy fade away from the Lanterns as they are now wearing street clothes. Ganthet explains how it took everything to fight back Parallax's influence, and how they were able to resist him at first because they'd been infected before, so everyone besides them, Guy, Hal and Kilowog would have fallen under his control immediately. Kyle and John try to get Ganthet to come with them to avoid Krona's search party but he notes they will be after him since he's a Guardian, and tells them to try to find help in Guy, Hal or even Sinestro. As the issue ends Jyle and John leave as the search party makes it's way to Ganthet. Damn this was good, two issues in and this is better than everything Brightest Day has had in the last year. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating and I'll definitely be picking up part three in Emerald Warriors.
Kyle: Well I'm not letting another girlfriend die! Never again!! Do you even understand?! Or did you forget what it felt like when your wife got murdered?!
I was going to review Deadpool but on Thursday I started to have trouble with my internet and it's still not been resolved. I'm actually typing THIS from Falisha's house right now letting you guys know so hopefully this is resolved soon, so I'll review DP another day, or not. But until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd.
Action Comics #899, Detective Comics #895, Gotham City Sirens #21, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8, Teen Titans #93, Amazing Spider-Man #657 and Kick-Ass 2 #2.
Really? REALLY?! Okay, now when Brightest Day started I know a lot of people didn't have faith in it. I did, I thought it could be something as good as 52, but it's been almost as bad as Countdown to Final Crisis. I mean really, from people being told they accomplished their goals when they didn't (Firestorm, Martian Manhunter) to people who STILL haven't accomplished the most simple goals like Boomerang who had a WHOLE GODDAMN YEAR TO THROW ONE BOOMERANG AT ONE SPECIFIC PERSON, to the fact that most of the issues have been so stupid they made no sense and starred no one in particular that could be considered an A-Lister except maybe Aquaman. And that's a BIG maybe. But this farce REALLY pissed me off. I mean come on. Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and what, Heart?! Is the goddamn White Lantern Champion Captain Planet?! I mean this has got to be one of the more annoying things I've read in a while just because we're being fed this paint by numbers lame ass story, and then we aren't gonna see how it even makes any ripples since we're jumping to Flashpoint. Which basically means over a two year span we go Blackest Night/Brightest Day/Flashpoint with NO gap in between. So yeah, I won't be following with any Flashpoint stuff because none of it interests me, I guess I'll be reading at IGN or um... probably somewhere reputable to see if anything significant happens. But whatever, enough of that, let's get to the reviews.
Justice League: Generation Lost #22
We start out with a confused Blue Beetle as the JLI is ecstatic that he's fine. He doesn't even remember being dead apparently, because he never was. He explains some well thought out thing that I'll dumb down buy saying the bullet was blocked by the armor and Hai-Me was knocked out. We all good? Awesome. He then mentions that he hacked Max's files and he knows Max's plans. From there he explains how Max manipulated them to make Checkmate look bush league which led to him taking control of Checkmate, thanks to the JLI. When Hai-me mentions the other part of Max's plan, Batman (Bruce) and Power Girl show up at the JLI headquarters, ready to help the team. We then see Max putting on a headset to try to do something like what he did when he made everyone forget. It seems to go haywire but he demands Ivo not to shut it off. Back at the JLI they realize that Max is building a powerful Android to kill Wonder Woman. Just when everything seems to be going well, Power Girl doesn't remember who Wonder Woman is. Batman does remember though, since his brief time wearing the White Lantern ring restored all of his memories. They head to New York since someone has been killing Amazon's, and find Wonder Woman on a rooftop. They talk to Wonder Woman and warn her of danger but the headstrong Amazon won't back down from a fight. At that moment we see Max and his helmet and we see people around the world spaz out and of course turn into OMAC's. The issue ends with the OMAC's heading for Wonder Woman as the JLI gets ready to jump into battle. This was a fine issue, nothing wrong with it, although I wish Jaime's death meant something but hey, he never died, so those last two issues were kinda pointless eh? I wondered if they would explain the difference in WW's look considering her and Batman haven't seen each other since like Final Crisis but whatever. I'll give this a 7.5/10 rating.
Ice: You look like a taller Angelina Jolie.
Rocket Red: Da. In gold tube top and flag hot pants.Green Lantern #64
Part one of the War of The Green Lanterns is finally here. We start off with a brief synopsis of Hal's life, him getting the ring from Abin Sur, the Parallax ordeal and how he now runs rogue with the other Color Corp Commanders. We then see that Salaak along with a crew of Green Lanterns have been tasked with arresting Hal Jordan. We then see the Color Corps on Krona looking into the giant book Krona left behind. They wonder why he's left it behind when the Book spits out Larfleeze's Lantern. Larfleeze grabs it and chains try to pull him into the book, proclaiming he now belongs to the book of the black, and it's story vampire, Lyssa Drak. So yeah, he has that going for him I guess. Back on Oa the Guardians discuss how the most prominent Lanterns have fallen from grace, mentioning The first Lantern whoever that may be, then Krona, Sinestro and Hal. As the Guardians talk bright colors explode everywhere and Krona appears with all seven Entities in tow. Sinestro demands she back down as a sworn member of the Sinestro Corps, but she reminds him she was imprisoned by the Black Book during Blackest Night and forgotten by the Corps, but was freed by Krona. The book manages to pull in Atrocitus, Saint Walker, and Indigo-1 as the rest of the Corps try to fight it. Over on Oa Krona makes his dominance established by killing a Guardian then telling the entities to pick their host. Over with the book Carol is about to be added to the pages when Sinestro says that Hal and he should combine their rings as it's the only way, Hal does as he's told and the two touch their rings which causes a huge Green and Yellow explosion. It causes the book to explode and drops the rings of Larfleeze, Sinestro, Carol, Walker, Indigo and Atrocitus to the ground. Hal reaches for their rings but is told to put his hands in the air by Salaak and his Lantern team. They tell him to remove his ring and come with them but he tries to plead with them. Some of them want to hear Hal out but at that moment we see Krona, he says that the Guardians are now infused with the six entities, and he then puts Parallax back in the Green Lantern battery. The Green Lanterns that confronted Hal immediately attack him due to Parallax's impurity. Hal, having seen a flash of Parallax when he jumps into the rings knows that Parallax has taken over the rings again. He quickly grabs the other color corp rings and flies off looking for help for anyone not infected by Parallax. Well this was a pretty good issue. The idea of giving the Guardians entities so they now have emotions was just genius, and makes for a good idea. I'm also wondering where the hell Sinestro went, I'll give this issue a 8/10.
Green Lantern Corps #58
We start this issue with a quick rundown on Kyle Rayner, how he got his ring, defeated Parallax, and how many people in the Corps thing he didn't earn his ring and was in the right place at the right time. He mentions that some people think of him as a skirt-chaser and how often his relationships were real and ended with death. After that we get one on John Stewart, about how John doesn't hide his identity as a Lantern, how he's an architecture since DC loves to mention that, and his past as a member of the armed forces. He notes how he and John are Ying and Yang but work well together because of their differences. After he snaps out of it, The Honor Guard step through a portal Ganthet made and end up in space for some reason. They see Boodikka and the Alpha-Lanterns are all deactivated for some reason, and suddenly the impurity of Parallax affects the Honor Guard. Sora and Hannu appear to be in the same trance Salaak and his crew were and head to Oa as Kyle, John and Ganthet follow hastily after them. John tells Kyle to slow down because this is obviously a trap, but Kyle can't hear him over the sound of Parallax which commands him to attack John. John tries to defend himself until Parallax kicks in for him and he attacks Kyle. While they fight, Parallax takes of Ganthet and he calls them both a disgrace to the Corps, and demands they turn in their rings, but he quickly realizes Parallax is controlling him. Ganthet tells John and Kyle to remove their rings but they refuse, Kyle because he wants to save Soranik and John because he doesn't wanna be left defenseless. He removes their rings which causes John and Kyle to drop from the sky, he then tries to crush their rings but it causes Ganthet's hand to explode, which looked AWESOME. The three fall to the ground but are apparently fine, and John starts to wrap Ganthet's ring with some fabric he tears off of Ganthet's robe. While he does so we can see the residual energy fade away from the Lanterns as they are now wearing street clothes. Ganthet explains how it took everything to fight back Parallax's influence, and how they were able to resist him at first because they'd been infected before, so everyone besides them, Guy, Hal and Kilowog would have fallen under his control immediately. Kyle and John try to get Ganthet to come with them to avoid Krona's search party but he notes they will be after him since he's a Guardian, and tells them to try to find help in Guy, Hal or even Sinestro. As the issue ends Jyle and John leave as the search party makes it's way to Ganthet. Damn this was good, two issues in and this is better than everything Brightest Day has had in the last year. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating and I'll definitely be picking up part three in Emerald Warriors.
I was going to review Deadpool but on Thursday I started to have trouble with my internet and it's still not been resolved. I'm actually typing THIS from Falisha's house right now letting you guys know so hopefully this is resolved soon, so I'll review DP another day, or not. But until next time this is your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd.
Next Time on Ratings and Rantings
Action Comics #899, Detective Comics #895, Gotham City Sirens #21, Green Lantern: Emerald Warriors #8, Teen Titans #93, Amazing Spider-Man #657 and Kick-Ass 2 #2.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Ratings and Rantings
Hey Todd Squad, I'm your host Jason Todd, here with another edition of the greatest weekly assortment or reviews, rants and ratings that you've never heard of, Ratings and Rantings! In the midst of a very busy week that included days off, 120 miles to and from seeing Falisha twice this week and both Dragon Age Origins II and Childish Gambino/Donald Glover's EP dropping this week (download here) as well as me turning twenty one on March 11th, this has been a pretty busy week, so instead of the generic intro I type, I decided to just borrow one from X-Man75. "Anyway, I'm now fully engrossed by Dragon Age 2(for my PS3, naturally), so I really don't feel like doing a long intro. All you really need to know is that there are reviews here and the longer the intro, the less time I have for my new game, so let's just get to the reviews!" (Edit: No Outsiders, I couldn't bring myself to buy that series, even if it did have the Reign of Doomsday story.)
I know I sound like a broken record but that is a beautiful cover, over ten people are on this cover and they all fit and each have their own space while no one is really overshadowed. Excellent work by Stanley Lau. We start things off with Helena "Huntress" Bertinelli, enraged at Calculator for apparently killing Oracle by blowing up her helicopter. Huntress rushes Calculator and attacks by scratching his face. This causes Calculator to whine like a bitch for lack of a better term, and he instantly loses the respect of all his henchmen. Huntress then uses her skills of intimidation to convince Calc that he made a major mistake by taking out the personal information broker of everyone from the Doom Patrol to the JLA. Calc tells his men to kill Huntress, Dove and Lady Blackhawk but Huntress says why won't he do it himself, which causes his men to doubt him even more. Calc calls her bluff and shoots at Huntress but Dove steps in and takes the bullet. Dove is laid out, but not hurt due to her tough skin when powered up. Calc threatens to shoot more of them when Mortis wakes up and tells him Canary found a way out and they need to run. Well... just shoot them and run.... Too late Mortis woke up about forty seconds late because now Canary is standing behind Calculator. Canary then plants a huge right hook across the face of our favorite evil Nerd, knocking one of his teeth out in the process. After she decks him he tells the henchmen to shoot him, instead of, ya know, before she got close enough to punch him, and they acquiesce to his request. Canary then flips around and fights crime "JLA style" as Huntress calls it, before getting caught by the giant Mammoth. She's quickly released when Hawk emerges from the shadows and takes down the big man with some help from Canary. We then see that Hawk was the one in the chopper and Oracle was flying it remotely. From there Calc and one of his men try to escape but Huntress relentlessly pursues them. She catches them and tells Calc that Oracle is dead but she has a thousand ghosts that will watch him relentlessly, and she lets him go for the plan to work, well alright. We then see Booster, Beetle and Manhunter each calling on Oracle but she ignores them all, causing Stephanie to question her. She announces to Batman (Bruce), Batman (Dick), Red Robin, Batgirl and Misfit (Woooo!) that Oracle is going back to operating in the shadows, and proxy can take over as the Superhero Info Hub. The issue ends with Oracle watching over everyone. Well, that was pretty lame. This arc had a lot of promise, I at least expected her to change names, but since we KNEW Babs wasn't dying it was super boring in that sense, the art appears amateurish throughout, especially after having the great Ed Benes work on this series, in some scenes Canary looks like a thirteen year old. Oh and it was never explained why the hell Misfit was there but Robin wasn't... This issue was alright but the predictability and the art gave it a big hit, I'll give this a 5/10.
Huntress: Now we're Birds. And he's our prey. (Really Gail..... really? I expect this from Devin Grayson, not you. You're better than that Gail.)
We get things underway with the Langstrom family, minus Kirk, jumping off of a building because they heard voices in their head. Alrighty, ever heard of Randy Orton? Anyway, Batman and Robin make the timely save and tell Kick's wife that he attacked them, also due to the voices. Batman and Robin try to get to the bottom of it when a bright shining guy with a white aura I guess who claims to be Gotham's White Knight is introduced. Sure, cause introducing the White Knight in an arc about him in the third of three issues makes perfect sense. Bats and Robin try to pursue the new "hero" but he shoots a hole in the Gotham Water source or something. Batman and Robin finally get on stable ground but lose track of the mysterious White Knight. From there we see Damian, Dick and Alfred in the Bat Bunker using some good old fashioned Detective Skills to try to find a lead on the White Knight. I enjoyed this, as we don't see a ton of detective work, especially from Dick since that's more of Bruce and Tim's forte. We then find out the first Fallen Angel victim was Douglas Zsasz, the brother of Victor Zsasz, whom I always swore didn't have family but I could be wrong. Batman notes that their attacking relatives of people who are in Arkham. Someone hide Gilda Dent... Oh wait. The Batsignal then shines through the sky and Batman and Robin go meet with Gordon at the scene of another murder, this time the Tetches, Mad Hatter's parents and brother and sister. The issue ends with Batman and Robin trying to save the relatives of more Arkham Inmates. This was an odd issue, the story was pretty weird but I'm somewhat curious to see why these people are being attacked and who the White Knight is, I'll give this a 6.5/10.
We start off with Booster recapping all the lives that have been taken so far in the series due to Maxwell Lord. We then see Booster sitting next to the lifeless body of Blue Beetle, saying that he can't get his suit off. When Skeets asks if he wants to contact the Reyes family, a grief stricken Booster cries that he's not calling them to tell them their son died, he's taking his body to them, but not in that armor. We then see Captain Atom watching the news and hearing about all the people who died when he confronted Magog, and how he's still believed to be responsible for their deaths. Ice comes to talk to him about it but a angry Captain Atom wants to hear her say I told you so, since she wanted to stay home and not chase after Max. He continues to lay into her until she swings on him. She apologizes but Nate states that he's not human anymore and all he's bringing is death, as he seems to wonder what his purpose is. We then check in with Rocket Red and Fire as they discuss how young Beetle was, as Gavril had no idea he was only seventeen. From there they talk about emotions which leads to Bea kissing Gavril. It's about time, hope that wasn't a metaphorical kiss of death for Gavril though. Back with Tora and Captain Atom, he mentions how he doesn't eat, sleep, feel heat or cold, and how he doesn't think he can die. He asks if it's fair that he causes so much death and doesn't have to pay for it, and Tora siad he makes himself pay with his own guilt. She then says she likes that he can't die because she can always trust they'll be someone to save the world ven after their gone. Back with Booster and Skeets, Booster says he knows this isn't his faul but he feels like he helped Max along the way. Booster talks about how it was his idea to continue after Max and how he got Beetle killed because he wants to stop Max and prove he's a hero, and if he keeps leading everyone will be dead, but the JLI who have overheard tell him he's wrong and they tell him to lead them. The issue ends with a pretty expected thing happening and the team ready to go after Max one last time. This was a good issue, I enjoyed seeing the one on one conversations between all the teammates and seeing Booster show his emotions and how hard he tries. The ending was obvious due to solicitations, but I still enjoyed this issue, I'd give it an 7/10.
The Venom series gets underway with some people in Eastern Europe being attacked by what looks like flying hellfire and brimstone. When all hope seems to be gone, the U.N. sends in their peace keepers, who look like an Iron Man/Iron Giant hybrid. They last a mere seconds when we see who the villain is, I'd have to describe him as Pumpkin head plus the Green Goblin. Pumpkin head then communicates with one of his cohorts, discussing how they need to find some genius their looking for that helped invent the same weapon their using to cause all this havoc. Play time soon ends when the new Venom, Flash Thompson drops from a helicopter and takes down quite a few baddies before he even lands. Venom has been sent to guard the target, Dr. Ekmecic, but he decides to save civilians first. While saving them a live grenade is thrown, and considering Flash has had his legs blown off twice, he quickly pins the grenade with his symbiote and saves it inside the suit for now. Venom saves the innocents then finds the "good" Doctor and even manages to say a cheesy one-liner, Spidey would be SO proud. Venom doesn't get a chance to enjoy the glory when our Harlequin of Halloween attacks him outta nowhere. The Doctor is then snatched up and we finally get a name, our villain is Jack O'Lantern, which is not bad all things considered. Venom, angered by the attack almost snaps and let's the symbiote take over but he's able to calm himself. He then decides to take the civilians to safety first before pursuing The Doctor and Jack, to the annoyance of his verbal handler. Jack then hits Venom with another suckerpunch which causes Venom to fall to the ground and almost kills the civilians in his protection. Venom continues to get enraged and starts to grow a little in size and build. The symbiote claims to be in control but Flash keeps it from killing Jack O'Lantern. When Jack gets the upper hand, the grenade from earlier comes back into play as Flash puts it into Jack's pumpkin head and it explodes, but of course doesn't kill Jack. Jack tries to fly off and takes the Doc with him but Venom, still a bit hulked out for lack of a better term, webs the Doctor's face and snaps his neck, so his secrets can't get out and help anyone else that's evil and deranged. Venom starts to calm down as Katherine tells him the mission is a bust, but he notes that the civilians he saved think otherwise. Back at the base, the suit is removed from Flash, and he's questioned about his decisions. The General tells Flash he was seconds away from hitting the killswitch when Flash wigged out, and how he needs to bury that highschool jock and bring out Corporal Thompson. Um... he did save the civilians but whatever. Flash then goes to see Betty, who he forgot he had a date with and stood her up, she says that Flash is keeping secrets and suspects him of drinking again before slamming the door in his face. The issue ends with Flash, seemingly trapped between secrets, Venom, and being an alcoholic. This was a very good start to this series, I loved seeing them address Flash letting the Venom run wild right off the bat, as well as showing a bit more of his wanting to be Spider-Man, even with him making a crappy joke. This series has a lot of potential and It seems to have started out on the right foot, I'll give this an 8/10.
Batgirl, my favorite female superhero not named Power Girl, starts off with Steph and her mother at the breakfast table, as Steph eats some waffles as her mom mentions another bank robbery from the night before. This prompts Steph to throw on her Batgirl costume and head to the bank to investigate. While there Batgirl talks to Detective Nick Gage and we find out that some type of Speedster is responsible for the crime, but he's only taking a couple thousand but leaving the millions in the safe untouched. As they talk, Steph discovers that Gage has a very high dislike for the Reapers, but he won't say why. The two decide to split so Batgirl can get to her "day job", but it's overheard by the Grey Ghost, who appears to be stalking our Blonde Bat. We then see the first and the present Batgirl's, Babs and Stephanie. Steph mentions that Babs has "quit" and Babs notes that Oracle is dead, and Bruce has her building a new internet, whatever the hell that means. Stephanie tells Babs she should shoot Proxy a visit and make sure she feels like a team member, since she already has abandonment issues and is now pretty much the new Oracle and Babs says she'll see what she can do. Babs does in fact go visit Wendy, and tells her in no uncertain terms that she needs to decide if she wants to use that anger to become a better hero before leaving Wendy there to think. We then see The Grey Ghost looking for Batgirl on the rooftops of Gotham, and she pops up behind him. She tells him he needs help and she knows he's been following her, but she does it with the grace and concern that only she can, instead of just breaking his jaw, a la Huntress. During the conversation, Proxy chimes in and warns Batgirl that some type of speedster just robbed a bank then ran nineteen red lights in succession within five seconds. What Batgirl doesn't know is Grey Ghost also intercepts the frequency on his phone I guess, and disappears before Batgirl turns around. The Grey Ghost confronts our evil speedster and gets thrown out of a window for his trouble, nice job buddy. Batgirl confronts our villain and we find out his name is Slipstream, and that Batgirl can't touch him, physically or with gadgets due to his speed. Slipstream claims that he's about to kill Batgirl when his suit is overridden and he's electrocuted, he then leaves the scene as Batgirl, Grey Ghost and Proxy are confused about what actually happened. Batgirl then heads to meet Wendy and discovers her base has had a HUGE upgrade thanks to a donation by Bruce Wayne due to Batgirl's involvement in Batman Inc. The issue ends with Batgirl and Proxy ready to strike back at Slipstream. This was a great issue, the classic Batgirl humor, more villains joining Batgirl's Rogues galllery, what can you not like about this issue? I'll give it a solid 9/10.
Thanks for reading everyone, now I gotta get back to Dragon Age II, so this'll be brief. Feel free to comment and vote on this weeks new poll, the results to last week's poll are below. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!
Last week's poll asked "Which of the following would win in a four-way throwdown?"
Last place with 10.5% - Daken, I can honestly say I did not expect that.
Third place with 15.8% - Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier took more than a mother from Daken.
Second Place with 21.1% - Wolverine, He gains a measure of revenge over Bucky
Winner with 52.6% - Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth prevails over all.
Power Girl #22, Red Robin #21, Morning Glories #8, Amazing Spider-Man #656 and Brightest Day #22 where Firestorm dies, I'm guessing...
Birds of Prey #10
I know I sound like a broken record but that is a beautiful cover, over ten people are on this cover and they all fit and each have their own space while no one is really overshadowed. Excellent work by Stanley Lau. We start things off with Helena "Huntress" Bertinelli, enraged at Calculator for apparently killing Oracle by blowing up her helicopter. Huntress rushes Calculator and attacks by scratching his face. This causes Calculator to whine like a bitch for lack of a better term, and he instantly loses the respect of all his henchmen. Huntress then uses her skills of intimidation to convince Calc that he made a major mistake by taking out the personal information broker of everyone from the Doom Patrol to the JLA. Calc tells his men to kill Huntress, Dove and Lady Blackhawk but Huntress says why won't he do it himself, which causes his men to doubt him even more. Calc calls her bluff and shoots at Huntress but Dove steps in and takes the bullet. Dove is laid out, but not hurt due to her tough skin when powered up. Calc threatens to shoot more of them when Mortis wakes up and tells him Canary found a way out and they need to run. Well... just shoot them and run.... Too late Mortis woke up about forty seconds late because now Canary is standing behind Calculator. Canary then plants a huge right hook across the face of our favorite evil Nerd, knocking one of his teeth out in the process. After she decks him he tells the henchmen to shoot him, instead of, ya know, before she got close enough to punch him, and they acquiesce to his request. Canary then flips around and fights crime "JLA style" as Huntress calls it, before getting caught by the giant Mammoth. She's quickly released when Hawk emerges from the shadows and takes down the big man with some help from Canary. We then see that Hawk was the one in the chopper and Oracle was flying it remotely. From there Calc and one of his men try to escape but Huntress relentlessly pursues them. She catches them and tells Calc that Oracle is dead but she has a thousand ghosts that will watch him relentlessly, and she lets him go for the plan to work, well alright. We then see Booster, Beetle and Manhunter each calling on Oracle but she ignores them all, causing Stephanie to question her. She announces to Batman (Bruce), Batman (Dick), Red Robin, Batgirl and Misfit (Woooo!) that Oracle is going back to operating in the shadows, and proxy can take over as the Superhero Info Hub. The issue ends with Oracle watching over everyone. Well, that was pretty lame. This arc had a lot of promise, I at least expected her to change names, but since we KNEW Babs wasn't dying it was super boring in that sense, the art appears amateurish throughout, especially after having the great Ed Benes work on this series, in some scenes Canary looks like a thirteen year old. Oh and it was never explained why the hell Misfit was there but Robin wasn't... This issue was alright but the predictability and the art gave it a big hit, I'll give this a 5/10.
Huntress: Now we're Birds. And he's our prey. (Really Gail..... really? I expect this from Devin Grayson, not you. You're better than that Gail.)
Batman & Robin #21
We get things underway with the Langstrom family, minus Kirk, jumping off of a building because they heard voices in their head. Alrighty, ever heard of Randy Orton? Anyway, Batman and Robin make the timely save and tell Kick's wife that he attacked them, also due to the voices. Batman and Robin try to get to the bottom of it when a bright shining guy with a white aura I guess who claims to be Gotham's White Knight is introduced. Sure, cause introducing the White Knight in an arc about him in the third of three issues makes perfect sense. Bats and Robin try to pursue the new "hero" but he shoots a hole in the Gotham Water source or something. Batman and Robin finally get on stable ground but lose track of the mysterious White Knight. From there we see Damian, Dick and Alfred in the Bat Bunker using some good old fashioned Detective Skills to try to find a lead on the White Knight. I enjoyed this, as we don't see a ton of detective work, especially from Dick since that's more of Bruce and Tim's forte. We then find out the first Fallen Angel victim was Douglas Zsasz, the brother of Victor Zsasz, whom I always swore didn't have family but I could be wrong. Batman notes that their attacking relatives of people who are in Arkham. Someone hide Gilda Dent... Oh wait. The Batsignal then shines through the sky and Batman and Robin go meet with Gordon at the scene of another murder, this time the Tetches, Mad Hatter's parents and brother and sister. The issue ends with Batman and Robin trying to save the relatives of more Arkham Inmates. This was an odd issue, the story was pretty weird but I'm somewhat curious to see why these people are being attacked and who the White Knight is, I'll give this a 6.5/10.
Batman: Falcons are EPA protected. That's why we're not infested with pigeons like London and Paris.
Robin: That's soooo incredibly interesting, I can't wait to tweet it. (Sarcasm strikes again!)JL Generation Lost #21
We start off with Booster recapping all the lives that have been taken so far in the series due to Maxwell Lord. We then see Booster sitting next to the lifeless body of Blue Beetle, saying that he can't get his suit off. When Skeets asks if he wants to contact the Reyes family, a grief stricken Booster cries that he's not calling them to tell them their son died, he's taking his body to them, but not in that armor. We then see Captain Atom watching the news and hearing about all the people who died when he confronted Magog, and how he's still believed to be responsible for their deaths. Ice comes to talk to him about it but a angry Captain Atom wants to hear her say I told you so, since she wanted to stay home and not chase after Max. He continues to lay into her until she swings on him. She apologizes but Nate states that he's not human anymore and all he's bringing is death, as he seems to wonder what his purpose is. We then check in with Rocket Red and Fire as they discuss how young Beetle was, as Gavril had no idea he was only seventeen. From there they talk about emotions which leads to Bea kissing Gavril. It's about time, hope that wasn't a metaphorical kiss of death for Gavril though. Back with Tora and Captain Atom, he mentions how he doesn't eat, sleep, feel heat or cold, and how he doesn't think he can die. He asks if it's fair that he causes so much death and doesn't have to pay for it, and Tora siad he makes himself pay with his own guilt. She then says she likes that he can't die because she can always trust they'll be someone to save the world ven after their gone. Back with Booster and Skeets, Booster says he knows this isn't his faul but he feels like he helped Max along the way. Booster talks about how it was his idea to continue after Max and how he got Beetle killed because he wants to stop Max and prove he's a hero, and if he keeps leading everyone will be dead, but the JLI who have overheard tell him he's wrong and they tell him to lead them. The issue ends with a pretty expected thing happening and the team ready to go after Max one last time. This was a good issue, I enjoyed seeing the one on one conversations between all the teammates and seeing Booster show his emotions and how hard he tries. The ending was obvious due to solicitations, but I still enjoyed this issue, I'd give it an 7/10.
Booster Gold: I devote everything I have to trying to help. But... I'm vain. I know that. I want people to know what I do. How hard I try. That... I'm a hero.
Venom #1
The Venom series gets underway with some people in Eastern Europe being attacked by what looks like flying hellfire and brimstone. When all hope seems to be gone, the U.N. sends in their peace keepers, who look like an Iron Man/Iron Giant hybrid. They last a mere seconds when we see who the villain is, I'd have to describe him as Pumpkin head plus the Green Goblin. Pumpkin head then communicates with one of his cohorts, discussing how they need to find some genius their looking for that helped invent the same weapon their using to cause all this havoc. Play time soon ends when the new Venom, Flash Thompson drops from a helicopter and takes down quite a few baddies before he even lands. Venom has been sent to guard the target, Dr. Ekmecic, but he decides to save civilians first. While saving them a live grenade is thrown, and considering Flash has had his legs blown off twice, he quickly pins the grenade with his symbiote and saves it inside the suit for now. Venom saves the innocents then finds the "good" Doctor and even manages to say a cheesy one-liner, Spidey would be SO proud. Venom doesn't get a chance to enjoy the glory when our Harlequin of Halloween attacks him outta nowhere. The Doctor is then snatched up and we finally get a name, our villain is Jack O'Lantern, which is not bad all things considered. Venom, angered by the attack almost snaps and let's the symbiote take over but he's able to calm himself. He then decides to take the civilians to safety first before pursuing The Doctor and Jack, to the annoyance of his verbal handler. Jack then hits Venom with another suckerpunch which causes Venom to fall to the ground and almost kills the civilians in his protection. Venom continues to get enraged and starts to grow a little in size and build. The symbiote claims to be in control but Flash keeps it from killing Jack O'Lantern. When Jack gets the upper hand, the grenade from earlier comes back into play as Flash puts it into Jack's pumpkin head and it explodes, but of course doesn't kill Jack. Jack tries to fly off and takes the Doc with him but Venom, still a bit hulked out for lack of a better term, webs the Doctor's face and snaps his neck, so his secrets can't get out and help anyone else that's evil and deranged. Venom starts to calm down as Katherine tells him the mission is a bust, but he notes that the civilians he saved think otherwise. Back at the base, the suit is removed from Flash, and he's questioned about his decisions. The General tells Flash he was seconds away from hitting the killswitch when Flash wigged out, and how he needs to bury that highschool jock and bring out Corporal Thompson. Um... he did save the civilians but whatever. Flash then goes to see Betty, who he forgot he had a date with and stood her up, she says that Flash is keeping secrets and suspects him of drinking again before slamming the door in his face. The issue ends with Flash, seemingly trapped between secrets, Venom, and being an alcoholic. This was a very good start to this series, I loved seeing them address Flash letting the Venom run wild right off the bat, as well as showing a bit more of his wanting to be Spider-Man, even with him making a crappy joke. This series has a lot of potential and It seems to have started out on the right foot, I'll give this an 8/10.
Dr. Ekmecic: Erik! Respond! What has gotten into you?!
Venom: He caught a dose of Venom, Doctor Eckmecic.
Venom Inner Monologue: I'm embarrassed as soon as it comes out of my mouth. (Spidey 101.)Batgirl #19
Batgirl, my favorite female superhero not named Power Girl, starts off with Steph and her mother at the breakfast table, as Steph eats some waffles as her mom mentions another bank robbery from the night before. This prompts Steph to throw on her Batgirl costume and head to the bank to investigate. While there Batgirl talks to Detective Nick Gage and we find out that some type of Speedster is responsible for the crime, but he's only taking a couple thousand but leaving the millions in the safe untouched. As they talk, Steph discovers that Gage has a very high dislike for the Reapers, but he won't say why. The two decide to split so Batgirl can get to her "day job", but it's overheard by the Grey Ghost, who appears to be stalking our Blonde Bat. We then see the first and the present Batgirl's, Babs and Stephanie. Steph mentions that Babs has "quit" and Babs notes that Oracle is dead, and Bruce has her building a new internet, whatever the hell that means. Stephanie tells Babs she should shoot Proxy a visit and make sure she feels like a team member, since she already has abandonment issues and is now pretty much the new Oracle and Babs says she'll see what she can do. Babs does in fact go visit Wendy, and tells her in no uncertain terms that she needs to decide if she wants to use that anger to become a better hero before leaving Wendy there to think. We then see The Grey Ghost looking for Batgirl on the rooftops of Gotham, and she pops up behind him. She tells him he needs help and she knows he's been following her, but she does it with the grace and concern that only she can, instead of just breaking his jaw, a la Huntress. During the conversation, Proxy chimes in and warns Batgirl that some type of speedster just robbed a bank then ran nineteen red lights in succession within five seconds. What Batgirl doesn't know is Grey Ghost also intercepts the frequency on his phone I guess, and disappears before Batgirl turns around. The Grey Ghost confronts our evil speedster and gets thrown out of a window for his trouble, nice job buddy. Batgirl confronts our villain and we find out his name is Slipstream, and that Batgirl can't touch him, physically or with gadgets due to his speed. Slipstream claims that he's about to kill Batgirl when his suit is overridden and he's electrocuted, he then leaves the scene as Batgirl, Grey Ghost and Proxy are confused about what actually happened. Batgirl then heads to meet Wendy and discovers her base has had a HUGE upgrade thanks to a donation by Bruce Wayne due to Batgirl's involvement in Batman Inc. The issue ends with Batgirl and Proxy ready to strike back at Slipstream. This was a great issue, the classic Batgirl humor, more villains joining Batgirl's Rogues galllery, what can you not like about this issue? I'll give it a solid 9/10.
Slipstream: The name's Slipstream. Remember that for your tombstone.
Batgirl: Okay, First things first, You really think your name is the one they'll put on my tombstone?Thanks for reading everyone, now I gotta get back to Dragon Age II, so this'll be brief. Feel free to comment and vote on this weeks new poll, the results to last week's poll are below. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!
Last week's poll asked "Which of the following would win in a four-way throwdown?"
Last place with 10.5% - Daken, I can honestly say I did not expect that.
Third place with 15.8% - Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier took more than a mother from Daken.
Second Place with 21.1% - Wolverine, He gains a measure of revenge over Bucky
Winner with 52.6% - Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth prevails over all.
Next Time on Ratings and Rantings
Power Girl #22, Red Robin #21, Morning Glories #8, Amazing Spider-Man #656 and Brightest Day #22 where Firestorm dies, I'm guessing...
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Ratings and Rantings
Welcome Todd Squad to your favorite weekly comic content comments, the former review a few, the post that's better than the Best of The Rest (Yeah, I said it X.) and the ONLY place where you can get my thoughts and ramblings on comics, because who doesn't want that... Ratings and Rantings! I'm your part host, Jason Todd, and this is a gargantuan week where we have a total of nine, count em, nine reviews. We've got comics from Marvel and DC this week, and also the first ever JTCS review of the critically acclaimed Morning Glories ongoing series, add that with a brand new Weekly Poll to vote on and you've got the making of one hell of a post. So, let's kick things off with one of my favorites, Generation Lost.
We start off things in Gen Lost with a Flashback to seeing a sixteen year old Max Lord, sneaking a girl into his house. She's worried they'll get caught but he's positive his parents will be in a deep sleep due to how late it is, and they head inside. While walking to the basement Max walked into the kitchen to see his father dead, with a chunk of his head blown out, blood everywhere, holding a gun. We learned that Max's dad Arthur Lord was a good man who'd found out his company was doing bad things, and when he tried to take those things public, he was silenced. At his funeral, Max's mother cries as she angrily tells Max she doesn't believe what anyone said, and she knows Arthur didn't commit suicide and he was murdered. She tells Max to never underestimate powerful people, and when going up against them, plan every step and remember, when fighting bad people, good people are always going to get hurt. From there we jump to present day and we see Max Lord standing over the recently shot-in-the-head Blue Beetle. Booster and the rest of the JLI looked shocked and Booster screams out that Max is a dead man and he'll pay for what he's done. The JLI break through the almost unbreakable walls thanks to Captain Atom and pursue Max as we see another flashback. We see Max apologizing to his mother because his hostile takeover on Chemtech failed. She tells him that Chemtech didn't kill his dad, the men who ran it did, and Max has already dealt with them, but he says he hates seeing the name as a constant reminder of what led to his father's death, and we see it's been bought out by none-other than Lex Luthor. Max mentions that Lex doesn't play by the rules, leading his mother to ask him why he continues to allow evil men who hide behind their businesses when he could be stopping them with his. From there we see Max paid terrorists to take over the United Nations and the Royal Flush Gang to attack the League's headquarters, just so he could manipulate the heroes and form a team with them, the Justice League International. From there we see Max talking to his mother, telling her about his mind control powers that happened as a result of an alien invasion, which I wasn't aware of. He says he's like the league now and how having powers scares him, and his mother tells him it shouldn't scare him, and he's always been able to make people do what he wants, now fate has made it easier. She tells him never forget that he's one of them, and from there we see him drinking in a room. Booster walks in and asks if there are any survivors, and he tells him no, that Coast City is gone. The two talk and Max says he understands that people die and it's God's will and such, but he tells Booster what makes him sick is win the deaths are caused by one of "you" people. He mentions how when Joker shot Babs Gordon that Joker killed sixteen people before Joker locked him up, or how John Stewart's arrogance caused billions to die when Xanshi blew up. He asks Booster if they cause more harm than good by being around. Booster tries to tell Max not to give up hope when Max says that his Mother lived in Coast City. A surprised Booster asks if there's anything he can do and Max says, forget we had this conversation, before making Booster forget. From there we see Max's life from the OMAC's, to killing Ted Kord, to being killed by Wonder Woman, becoming a Black Lantern, and his return. We see how he came back more powerful than ever and made everyone forget, and planned everything, step by step until now. We see him at the present day, telling Booster he's sorry it's come to this but maybe one day he'll understand that he's just trying to help. The issue ends as Max escapes and the JLI try to save Beetle, but appear to be too late. This was a great issue, I loved to see Max's horrible actions being humanized, and showing us why he changed from the fun old Max to the supposed villain he is now. We saw that he had remorse for everything he did, but believed he was doing the greater good, much like Lex. This issue was very well written and one of my favorite so far, definitely my favorite Max-centric issue. I'll give this a solid 10/10.
Max Lord: I am sorry that it's come to this. I hope some day you'll understand, I'm just trying to help.
Teen Titans and Red Robin continues here! We start things off with Tim and Damian, Red Robin and Robin, The Wonder Boy and The Boy Wonder laying into the Calculator Robots while thinking to themselves how annoyed they both are with the other one. Right off the bat we get the obligatory guy love thing between Tim and Connor, as Conner tells Tim he'll always be his Robin and Tim says Connor will always be his clone boy. Who do they think they are, X and I? I kid, I kid.... Anyway... As the Teen Titans take care of the Calc Robots, we see the real Calculator watching them on a giant monitor. He mentions how the Teen Titans are pretty much responsible for the death of his son Marvin, and how it happened over Cassie's leadership and how it's time to return the favor. Kill Beast Boy Calc, Please!!!! From there the Teen Titans enter a club while trying to find Calculator's signal and find out their above him, so Superboy shoots a hole in the floor, cause I'm sure there aren't any stairs or a more stealthy way to do that. JT Krul then shows his amazing writing abilities by having Ravager and Beast Boy say damn near the same thing in the same panel. Nice work, Krul. And, I spoke too soon, because Superboy then drops the horrible line "Now this is what I call Underground." Oh god, is this Teen Titans or Teen Cliche's? Then... Calculator, who's been watching them the entire time, so HAS to know their right above them, says out loud, "Where did they go?" as his camera's just show a hole in the club's floor that's right above his hideout. Really? He's THAT stupid? The Teen Titans break through his wall as he activates more robots, leaving Bart to say "Great, more robots." My sentiments exactly Bart. As the Teen Titans deal with his Robots, one grabs Cassie and Calculator talks about how the Titans don't let anything get in their way, not even the bodies of fellow Titans, and he tells her how basically used Kid Eternity as a phone to call up Marvin from the dead and after it stopped working he killed him. Cassie starts crying for her fallen teammate that was only on the team for like twelve issues. (Looked it up, fourteen issues.) Not long after that the entire team is subdued by the robots, but Robin throws his very sharp version of a Batarang and breaks the mainframe, taking out the robots. Cassie wants to kill Calc for killing Kid Eternity, but Red Robin reminds her thats not who they are. After she tosses him away, Robin goes over and stabs him in the stomach, shocking everyone except Tim, showing that Robin and Red Robin knew Calculator was a robot, but no one else did, not even Calc himself. Also Superboy didn't, even though he should be able to hear heartbeats, see through people and whatnot. Afterwards, Red Robin says something about the team and refers to himself, and Robin gets upset and says he's ready to go back to Gotham, especially since the Teen Titans already have a "Robin". Later, Tim asks Robin if he wants to stay, and Robin says he can't deal with them AND him, and they'd obviously rather have Tim around. When Damian goes back to join Dick, we see him comment on how Damian is more patient, how he's picked up new moves and hasn't used his blades to harm anyone. The issue ends with Damian saying he didn't need the Teen Titans and telling Dick he already had one friend in Gotham and one is more than enough. I enjoyed this issue for the Red Robin/Robin interaction, the swerve ending, the character development with Damian, and Tim rejoining the team apparently. What I didn't like was the way Calculator was made to look like a fool, especially after Tim put him over so much, like Catman in Red Robin, only for him to come out looking like a dud. Also I didn't like a lot of the dialogue, it seemed like some stuff a drunken Chris Yost would write, and Krul is much better than that. But with those as my only gripes I guess I'd give this issue a 6.5/10 rating.
Superboy: I don't care what your costume your or him wears. As far as I'm concerned, you're my Robin, always will be. (More ammo for me and X-Man's Tim/Kon-El wanna date each other theory.)
My favorite female Kryptonian kicks things off in this month's issue of Power Girl as she speaks about how we all make mistakes, from the putting your foot in your mouth mistake of congratulating someone on being pregnant when they aren't, or her undressing while the window washers happen to be outside her window, or ripping doors of the hinges with her super strength. We then see she means the recent mistake of beating the crap out of Captain Atom because she thought he was a evil Superman thanks to being mind-controlled by Maxwell Lord. After she's snapped out of it, Power Girl is told she should leave by Booster, which is actually him telling her she should try to find some help in the form of Batman, Superman and some more heavy hitters. From there we see her trying to tell Batman about Max Lord and how he keeps forgetting him. For the record, I'd recommend the comic just on this conversation alone because it was hilarious. After not being able to convince Dick Grayson who Max Lord is, Power Girl says she;s going to find a way to make him believe. From there we see Peej thinking about Ted Kord, and she says how she never took him seriously due to him being so goofy. We see a flashback that someone had broken into a Kord Universal warehouse and stolen some things, and left two dead guards in their wake. So Ted had called in Nightwing, Power Girl, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Green Arrow and Wonder Girl to investigate. Power Girl tells Ted that this is a team for Darkseid, not to investigate murders the police could do, but Ted remained adamant that he felt there was something bigger going on. He tells her about the mysterious name O.M.A.C. popping up during his search for answers and she said that he should be the one trying to find answers, not calling on everyone else. She and the team of heroes then left, and she said that was the last time she saw Ted, and he was right in his suspicions and it got him killed. So Power Girl goes to Ted's grave and digs up his casket, she takes it to Dick and tells him to scientifically prove that Ted shot himself. Dick starts to say how crazy she is and he won't play along with her game when Batman (Bruce) walks in and says Dick won't do it because Max Lord shy's everyone away from remembering the truth. Power Girl is shocked Bruce remembers and Bruce said so will Dick, and Bruce starts to do the autopsy on Ted. Once the autopsy gets underway, Dick has no choice but to conclude Ted Kord was murdered and instantly remembers what happened. Dick says he'll contact the JLA and Oracle as Bruce and Power Girl head to find the JLI, which will continue in Gen Lost #22. This was a great issue, I loved seeing Power Girl try to prove everything, and so obsessed that she got Ted's body, which was a great touch at how badly she needed Dick to believe her. I also loved that I as right in my speculation months back that Bruce would remember Max since he was away when Max did his worldwide mind-wipe. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the stuff about Starrware, so much so I even omitted it from this issue, since it almost ruined the flow of it, so that aside I'd give this an 8.5/10.
Lex Luthor's Action Comics starts off with Lex, still after the mysterious black orbs, as he's told one is wildly moving around space. While planning on going to get the orb, he's attacked by Larfleeze and his Orange construct, Glomulus. Lex notices that the orb is in Glomus' stomach, and Larfleeze explains that he found it and wants Lex to tell him how to use it so he can get more stuff. Ah, the wonderful gift of greed. Lex plays it cool and says he'll gladly help, telling the only Orange Lantern to hand over Glomulus, but Larfleeze doesn't fall for it, and figures out that Lex's Lo-bot activates the orbs and quickly figures out Lex is on a quest for power. Lex then explains that Larfleeze should be worried because after having a taste of that power he had while being an Orange Lantern. he wants the power back. He then launches a sneak attack on Larfleeze and tells one of his people to start a force field to keep Larfleeze there. An enraged Larfleeze yells that this is his attack and blasts Lex to the ground. Lex sends his Lo-bot to get something from Lab 8, and Larfleeze demands Lex have her come back, and grabs one of Lex's employees. He threatens to kill Lex's "construct" is Lex doesn't comply, and Lex, not wanting Larfleeze to think he cares about any of those people, just shoots the poor man square in the head, killing him instantly. Lex then surprises Larfleeze and pushes him into the sphere he got from The Joker, causing him to disappear. Larfleeze comes out of the orb somewhere in the Antarctic, and keeps shooting at the orb, telling whatever's inside to get back. He says Luthor must be mistaken to want that and no one would want that, even Larfleeze doesn't. which shocks him since he usually wants everything. The issue ends with the robot Lois talking to her boss as she leads Lex towards doom. Well this was an alright issue, I couldn't really get into it though, and I didn't care much about the reveal of Lo-bot's boss, what I did like is the mystery of what scared off both The Joker and Larfleeze, but I'll give this issue a 5/10.
Larfleeze: Hairless Lex Luthor!!! (Oh Larfleeze, always stating the obvious.)
We get things started as we see a very upset Harley Quinn, she explains how she has a quiet rage inside her that she hides behind her happy-go-lucky personality. How that rage only wants one thing, revenge for all the things she's been put through by a certain Clown Prince of Crime. She vows that she's gonna do what no one else has been able to, to kill The Joker. She uses four items to break into Arkham, because she claims that's all she needs. First while breaking in, she encounters an Arkham guard named Officer Hendricks. She remembers how she noticed he admired marbles, and used her fantastic psychiatrist skills to discover that as a kid he loved playing with them, and how he used them to escape and wished there were worlds inside them he could escape away to from his abusive father. So Harley throws marbles his way, and when he picks one up to inspect it, they explode. Harley claims she always liked Hendricks, but her rage won't allow for distractions, because they aren't enough. Harley starts to hallucinate and see's The Joker, she throws a crowbar but it fades through where she thought she saw him. From there, Harley recounts her meetings with Alice Sinner, the current head Director of Arkham Asylum, and how everyone knew that Alice's parents were apart of a mass-suicide cult. We see that Alice once loved a boy who loved her back, and he made her a flower out of fabric, and once they fell in love and were caught, he was forced to repent and act like Alice didn't exist. So she took her revenge and thirty-seven bodies were found at the crime scene, and a fabric-made flower. Harley said she had known Alice murdered those people, but recommended her to be hired at Arkham anyway, because of a request by The Joker, and notes that people with trauma are easier to manipulate. She then drops a flower made of fabric from an above vent onto Sinner's desk, and when she reaches for it, some knock out gas expels from the flower. From there Harley breaks out Basil Karlo a.k.a. Clayface with a crowbar, and we see how he goes crazy when a remake of his classic horror film is changed, and the weapon used to murder his character is changed from a Crowbar to a shoe. Clayface reacts by killing the director with a crowbar as Harley states to Clayface a crowbar represents failure. Clayface, once loose, starts attacking guards due to his anger. The issue ends as Harley heads on her way to kill The Joker and is confronted by her final challenge, Aaron Cash. Man, this was a great issue, it was great to see a new side of Harley, especially one that shows why she's such a damn good threat. Harley has so much talent and ability and I love seeing it utilized, although that Clayface explanation was pretty lame, I'll give this a 7/10.
Harley Quinn: It is a talent I've had my entire life. It's what made me a skilled therapist. I can find the weak spot. The one everyone has. Then I push.
This issue of ASM is titled "In Memory of Marla Jameson", and starts off very interesting. For the first ten pages or so there are no words, thought boxes or any text. We see J. Jonah Jameson wake up in bed alone, and shower and shave, and we see he's still wearing his wedding ring. We then jump over to see Peter Parker finishing up shaving, he puts on his Spider-Man suit and gets dressed over it then seems to think while closing his eyes tight, and ends up leaving his Spidey costume on his bed and leaves for Marla's funeral. We see everyone from Betty Brant to Glory Grant showing up at Marla's funeral. We see as Jonah stands over Marla's grave and doesn't shed a tear, all the while with an emotionless face. These pages were done amazingly, they done so little in terms of words but they really hit home, the visuals are what sold it and that was a bold move that really worked out, so kudos to the ASM team. From there we see Peter lie down to bed later that night, as he finally drifts off to sleep he dreams of the night Uncle Ben was killed. This time Peter tries to stop the robber but can't catch him, as we see Uncle Ben in a blood-soaked shirt telling Peter to let it go. He tell's Peter he's at peace, and he's with family and points over to Peter's parents. Peter runs over to them and they turn around, only to see they have no faces. They say that Peter doesn't even remember them, that he thinks of Ben and May as his parents and his actual parents mean nothing to him anymore. From there Peter's family are boarding a plane to the great beyond and he see's Aunt May boarding, when he tries to grab her arm she morphs into Marla, and asks if she was Aunt May would he have found a way to save her. As Marla walks away she says don't worry, she'll be back, she used to build Spider-Slayer's and that makes her a super villain, and super villains always come back. Peter says she wasn't a villain, she was a good person, and she replies, never mind then. I loved that line so much because it really is true in the comic world. Villains come back every day but Uncle Ben or Batman's parents never will. From there we see Peter running around a Topsy-turvy New York that's full of people that have died in his life including Ben Reilly, Kaine, Gwen Stacy and Captain Stacy, and so many more people. He then see's Kraven, Green Goblin, Mysterio and the other villains that have returned from the dead, while his love one's haven't. He then sees vigilante's like Socurge, Punisher and even Wolverine killing off his rogue's gallery since Spidey wont take that step, and even has Captain America tell him to wake up and smell the coffee, even Cap killed Nazi's back in the day. Spidey then has the chance to stop the man who would go on to kill Uncle Ben once again, Spidey catches him and beats him to a bloody pulp, before realizing he was attacking Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben tells Peter that by crossing that line, that's how he'd be responsible, for the death of everything he's given him, and Peter promises he won't. He wakes up in a cold sweat and we later see him vow that from now on, whenever he's around, no one will die on his watch. The issue ends as we see a super villain with hostages, kill a hostage for no reason after making no demands because he can. This was an amazing issue, no pun intended. The look on JJJ's face never changing, Spidey's demons of his past and all the death's that are on his hands. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating for one hell of a great story.
James Gordon starts this issue off, as he's face to face with his son, James Gordon Jr. Commissioner Gordon doesn't look happy to see his son, but after James tries to get his dad to listen for two minutes, he finally complies. He tells his dad he's sorry for all the trouble he's caused him, his mom, Sarah and Barbara over the years. Gordon doesn't believe James, and recounts many times that James has hurt and tortured people over the years from Jocks that teased him to a girl when he was a kid named Bess Keller. James says he's not a good man but he's never killed anyone. He tells his dad about how he left Gotham thinking he'd be able to get away from who he is, and after being hassled in Texas, he wanted to go find the person who did it and hurt him and his family and friends, but stopped himself and checked into a psych center. He says what he found out there is that he is a psychopath, and he's fine with that. He shows his dad that he's in a drug trial that pretty much tames his psychosis, and he says he wants to help people like him. He says he's applied to work with Leslie Thompkins and she knows the truth about him, he just wants his dad to speak to someone at the Wayne Foundation, namely Dick Grayson, and make sure they don't say anything to block him from being considered by Leslie as well. Gordon doesn't answer as James gets up and walks away while telling his dad it's good to see him. Next we see Batman and Red Robin, since he's in everything this month, on stakeout. Tim doesn't think Dick should be on control after what happened with him being poisoned by The Dealer, but Dick, just like Bruce, is too hard-headed to ever take a personal day. While getting the drop on some criminals, the toxin comes back to bite Batman, causing him to make mistakes and get caught slipping by a few criminals. After the assist by Red Robin, they search the criminal area and find a bunch of endangered animals, they try to figure out who's behind it before figuring it was someone new. The issue ends with Commissioner Gordon thinking of his son and their recent encounter. Well this was an alright comic, I feel like signs point at it being James as the culprit and that seems to obvious. I liked the stuff with him and Gordon but the Batman stuff seemed filler and Red Robin was pretty pointless in this, his role could have easily been filled by Robin or even Oracle verbally. I'll give this issue a 7/10 because I'm enjoying the way James Jr. has been portrayed so far.
The Merc with a Mouth is back doing what he does best, finishing up with the Hero lifestyle, DP now plans on getting paid, getting laid, and blood getting sprayed. And yes, I did just make that up. He starts his intergalactic voyage going to the planet Ongulia, or what's left of it after it's nuked by it's enemies and goes the way of Krypton. The remaining Ongulians seek help in the Red and Black form of the Regeneratin Degenerate himself, Deadpool. But before that, Deadpool must confront the widow of Macho Gomez, after killing him last issue. She threatens to chomp off DP's stupid head, so he plants one on the big hippopotamus resembling woman, and finds out that he's now married to her through that kiss. Surprisingly, Deadpool is fine with that, but he does have a thing for big chicks and old women, so maybe we should've seen this coming. After a honeymoon, Deadpool joins the family business of towing and recovery, and heads out on his first run, and after a bunch of bloodshed and calling himself Fatty a few times, Deadpool proves to be successful, which proves he's awesome at mostly everything he does. While doing this, he pisses off his boss, who happens to be his wife's brother. While talking about Deadpool with an employee, the employee suggests they bump off Deadpool, and says Deadpool's wife could do better, considering the guy is obviously in love with her. They make a few calls and we come full circle as the Ongulians ask Deadpool to get revenge for them by killing Id, who happens to be a moon. So yeah, Deadpool has to kill a living moon. It's the kind of wackyness that's so stupid that it's hilarious. The issue ends with Deadpool, eager to take on a living moon, accepting the job. This was a stupid, fun comic, nothing more, nothing less. It was perfectly acceptable and fun, I'll give it a 7.5/10.
This issue of Morning Glories starts things off with a flashback to Mumbai, India, thirteen years ago. We see a man named Abraham, as his guide warns him that people in this area have proved to be liars and charlatans to see special. Abraham asks questions and we discover that the young woman their going to see is an orphan, due to her father murdering her mother. Abraham believes this young woman is the one he's looking for, solely based on faith. When Abraham and his guide walk into the room, the young woman finishes Abraham's sentence and greets him by name which shocks the guide, not only because she knew his name, but because she responded to Abraham in English, which is a language she had never even heard before. He tells the guide that this is the young woman their looking for, and that she is to be given to an adoptive family and her new name will be Zoe. We then fast forward to Zoe at Morning Glory academy talking to Casey, but she seems to be in her own world.When Casey acts what the problem is, Zoe goes off on her, asking why she wasn't made aware of their plan to save Jade. When Casey says she wasn't sure she could trust Zoe prior to that, Zoe tells her now she knows she can't trust her at all. Zoe storms out and walks past the gym and runs notices the cheerleader squad working out, after practice ends she confronts a cheerleader. Zoe, shocked the school even has a cheer team asks about it, and when the young woman asks if Zoe cheers, she takes great offense to it, implying that she's pretty much the Muhammad Ali of cheering all through the facial expressions she gives. (Kudos to Joe Eisma.) We then get another flashback, this time to last year, and we see Zoe on the cheer squad. She and a friend are talking about how they probably won't promote Zoe to Junior Varsity Cheer Captain unless she's dating a popular guy, or at least someone. Zoe makes up the lame excuse of the guy her friend recommends as being too tall, so her friend says maybe she'll date him, and calls Zoe a V-Tard, which just made it's way to my vocabulary. (Kudos to Nick Spencer.) The Cheerleader chatter is cut short when a teacher interrupts and says he hasn't gotten Zoe's friend's paper and she has until five to get it turned in, so she takes off to go finish her paper as Zoe looks on. Back in the present, the Morning Glory squad cheerleader tries to convince Zoe to join, saying she wouldn't even have to try out, but she'd have to pass a initiation ritual. Before she can explain she has to run, but asks Zoe to meet her on the soccer field at ten if she's interested, and she promises the sprinkler's full of hydrochloric acid won't go off then, which I loved because I honestly expected that... well minus the acid part. After she leaves Hunter comes over to say he thinks Zoe was right but she quickly brushes off his sympathy and says she has to trade up on the friend food chain. We then get another quick flashback as Zoe's leaving the gym at her old school she walks past a room and hears her friend crying out, she looks inside and see's the teacher trying to force himself on her, and Zoe clocks him in the back of the head with a book, causing him to fall forward and hit his chin on the desk, pushing back and breaking his neck. Back in the present, Zoe heads to the soccer field (which has goal posts, so I'm assuming that's a slip or they multitask on that field.) Zoe walks up and see's the cheerleaders with a ram, and she quickly announces she's not killing or having sex with it to join the squad. They laugh and tell her it's their team mascot and hand her something. They say what she has is basically a lie detector test and their gonna ask her three questions, two standard and one specifically for her, and if she lies she can't join the squad. They ask her earliest memory and we see Zoe's father strangling her mother while she watches from another room. The next question is what is the worst thing she's ever done, and we see that after she knocked out that teacher and mistakenly killed him her friend admitted the sex was consensual and they were playing a game that was her idea, for her to pretend he was forcing himself on her. After finding that out, Zoe decides they have to get rid of the body, and do so by putting his body in the school furnace. The final question is who is David, which refers to something in an earlier issue. Zoe doesn't ask, and instead runs off. We then see the main cheerleader reports this news to Miss Daramont who seems pleased with the information. The issue ends soon after with Zoe exacting revenge on the cheerleader, but I won't ruin it by saying how. Man, this issue was amazing. It started out great with a piece Zoe's past, then we saw her anger at being excluded, and the swerve with the teacher and the girl really caught me by surprise and the ending was shocking yet satisfying. Now I'm wondering what caused the change from sweet little girl to the "Mean Girl" that Zoe is now. If all comics were this good I'd never stop reviewing, I'll give this issue a perfect 10/10 rating.
Zoe: You know what's funny? I can't even remember your name. I wonder if it's because there's nothing interesting or attractive or useful about you? (In the words of Michael Kelso... BURN!)
Well, this was a long post but I definitely saved the best for last. Here's hoping you all enjoyed my reviews and rantings, and as always week free to comment. Be sure to vote on the new weekly poll as well, and check out the results of the last poll below. Well that's it for me guys and gals, until next time I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd!
Last week's poll asked "Which Bat-family member should have a solo ongoing comic series?"
Last Place with 9.1% - Alfred Pennyworth, but he still makes a mean cup of tea!
Third Place with 18.2% - Cassandra Cain, Well I'm not opposed to her joining the Birds of Prey. ;-)
Second Place with 31.8% - The heir to the Wayne Fortune falls short to his "brother"...
Winner with 40.9% - Jason Todd returns from the grave and gets a series? I wish!
Batman Beyond #3, Streets of Gotham #20, Brightest Day #21, and Green Lantern #63.
JL Generation Lost #20
We start off things in Gen Lost with a Flashback to seeing a sixteen year old Max Lord, sneaking a girl into his house. She's worried they'll get caught but he's positive his parents will be in a deep sleep due to how late it is, and they head inside. While walking to the basement Max walked into the kitchen to see his father dead, with a chunk of his head blown out, blood everywhere, holding a gun. We learned that Max's dad Arthur Lord was a good man who'd found out his company was doing bad things, and when he tried to take those things public, he was silenced. At his funeral, Max's mother cries as she angrily tells Max she doesn't believe what anyone said, and she knows Arthur didn't commit suicide and he was murdered. She tells Max to never underestimate powerful people, and when going up against them, plan every step and remember, when fighting bad people, good people are always going to get hurt. From there we jump to present day and we see Max Lord standing over the recently shot-in-the-head Blue Beetle. Booster and the rest of the JLI looked shocked and Booster screams out that Max is a dead man and he'll pay for what he's done. The JLI break through the almost unbreakable walls thanks to Captain Atom and pursue Max as we see another flashback. We see Max apologizing to his mother because his hostile takeover on Chemtech failed. She tells him that Chemtech didn't kill his dad, the men who ran it did, and Max has already dealt with them, but he says he hates seeing the name as a constant reminder of what led to his father's death, and we see it's been bought out by none-other than Lex Luthor. Max mentions that Lex doesn't play by the rules, leading his mother to ask him why he continues to allow evil men who hide behind their businesses when he could be stopping them with his. From there we see Max paid terrorists to take over the United Nations and the Royal Flush Gang to attack the League's headquarters, just so he could manipulate the heroes and form a team with them, the Justice League International. From there we see Max talking to his mother, telling her about his mind control powers that happened as a result of an alien invasion, which I wasn't aware of. He says he's like the league now and how having powers scares him, and his mother tells him it shouldn't scare him, and he's always been able to make people do what he wants, now fate has made it easier. She tells him never forget that he's one of them, and from there we see him drinking in a room. Booster walks in and asks if there are any survivors, and he tells him no, that Coast City is gone. The two talk and Max says he understands that people die and it's God's will and such, but he tells Booster what makes him sick is win the deaths are caused by one of "you" people. He mentions how when Joker shot Babs Gordon that Joker killed sixteen people before Joker locked him up, or how John Stewart's arrogance caused billions to die when Xanshi blew up. He asks Booster if they cause more harm than good by being around. Booster tries to tell Max not to give up hope when Max says that his Mother lived in Coast City. A surprised Booster asks if there's anything he can do and Max says, forget we had this conversation, before making Booster forget. From there we see Max's life from the OMAC's, to killing Ted Kord, to being killed by Wonder Woman, becoming a Black Lantern, and his return. We see how he came back more powerful than ever and made everyone forget, and planned everything, step by step until now. We see him at the present day, telling Booster he's sorry it's come to this but maybe one day he'll understand that he's just trying to help. The issue ends as Max escapes and the JLI try to save Beetle, but appear to be too late. This was a great issue, I loved to see Max's horrible actions being humanized, and showing us why he changed from the fun old Max to the supposed villain he is now. We saw that he had remorse for everything he did, but believed he was doing the greater good, much like Lex. This issue was very well written and one of my favorite so far, definitely my favorite Max-centric issue. I'll give this a solid 10/10.
Teen Titans #92
Teen Titans and Red Robin continues here! We start things off with Tim and Damian, Red Robin and Robin, The Wonder Boy and The Boy Wonder laying into the Calculator Robots while thinking to themselves how annoyed they both are with the other one. Right off the bat we get the obligatory guy love thing between Tim and Connor, as Conner tells Tim he'll always be his Robin and Tim says Connor will always be his clone boy. Who do they think they are, X and I? I kid, I kid.... Anyway... As the Teen Titans take care of the Calc Robots, we see the real Calculator watching them on a giant monitor. He mentions how the Teen Titans are pretty much responsible for the death of his son Marvin, and how it happened over Cassie's leadership and how it's time to return the favor. Kill Beast Boy Calc, Please!!!! From there the Teen Titans enter a club while trying to find Calculator's signal and find out their above him, so Superboy shoots a hole in the floor, cause I'm sure there aren't any stairs or a more stealthy way to do that. JT Krul then shows his amazing writing abilities by having Ravager and Beast Boy say damn near the same thing in the same panel. Nice work, Krul. And, I spoke too soon, because Superboy then drops the horrible line "Now this is what I call Underground." Oh god, is this Teen Titans or Teen Cliche's? Then... Calculator, who's been watching them the entire time, so HAS to know their right above them, says out loud, "Where did they go?" as his camera's just show a hole in the club's floor that's right above his hideout. Really? He's THAT stupid? The Teen Titans break through his wall as he activates more robots, leaving Bart to say "Great, more robots." My sentiments exactly Bart. As the Teen Titans deal with his Robots, one grabs Cassie and Calculator talks about how the Titans don't let anything get in their way, not even the bodies of fellow Titans, and he tells her how basically used Kid Eternity as a phone to call up Marvin from the dead and after it stopped working he killed him. Cassie starts crying for her fallen teammate that was only on the team for like twelve issues. (Looked it up, fourteen issues.) Not long after that the entire team is subdued by the robots, but Robin throws his very sharp version of a Batarang and breaks the mainframe, taking out the robots. Cassie wants to kill Calc for killing Kid Eternity, but Red Robin reminds her thats not who they are. After she tosses him away, Robin goes over and stabs him in the stomach, shocking everyone except Tim, showing that Robin and Red Robin knew Calculator was a robot, but no one else did, not even Calc himself. Also Superboy didn't, even though he should be able to hear heartbeats, see through people and whatnot. Afterwards, Red Robin says something about the team and refers to himself, and Robin gets upset and says he's ready to go back to Gotham, especially since the Teen Titans already have a "Robin". Later, Tim asks Robin if he wants to stay, and Robin says he can't deal with them AND him, and they'd obviously rather have Tim around. When Damian goes back to join Dick, we see him comment on how Damian is more patient, how he's picked up new moves and hasn't used his blades to harm anyone. The issue ends with Damian saying he didn't need the Teen Titans and telling Dick he already had one friend in Gotham and one is more than enough. I enjoyed this issue for the Red Robin/Robin interaction, the swerve ending, the character development with Damian, and Tim rejoining the team apparently. What I didn't like was the way Calculator was made to look like a fool, especially after Tim put him over so much, like Catman in Red Robin, only for him to come out looking like a dud. Also I didn't like a lot of the dialogue, it seemed like some stuff a drunken Chris Yost would write, and Krul is much better than that. But with those as my only gripes I guess I'd give this issue a 6.5/10 rating.
Superboy: I don't care what your costume your or him wears. As far as I'm concerned, you're my Robin, always will be. (More ammo for me and X-Man's Tim/Kon-El wanna date each other theory.)
Power Girl #21
My favorite female Kryptonian kicks things off in this month's issue of Power Girl as she speaks about how we all make mistakes, from the putting your foot in your mouth mistake of congratulating someone on being pregnant when they aren't, or her undressing while the window washers happen to be outside her window, or ripping doors of the hinges with her super strength. We then see she means the recent mistake of beating the crap out of Captain Atom because she thought he was a evil Superman thanks to being mind-controlled by Maxwell Lord. After she's snapped out of it, Power Girl is told she should leave by Booster, which is actually him telling her she should try to find some help in the form of Batman, Superman and some more heavy hitters. From there we see her trying to tell Batman about Max Lord and how he keeps forgetting him. For the record, I'd recommend the comic just on this conversation alone because it was hilarious. After not being able to convince Dick Grayson who Max Lord is, Power Girl says she;s going to find a way to make him believe. From there we see Peej thinking about Ted Kord, and she says how she never took him seriously due to him being so goofy. We see a flashback that someone had broken into a Kord Universal warehouse and stolen some things, and left two dead guards in their wake. So Ted had called in Nightwing, Power Girl, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Green Arrow and Wonder Girl to investigate. Power Girl tells Ted that this is a team for Darkseid, not to investigate murders the police could do, but Ted remained adamant that he felt there was something bigger going on. He tells her about the mysterious name O.M.A.C. popping up during his search for answers and she said that he should be the one trying to find answers, not calling on everyone else. She and the team of heroes then left, and she said that was the last time she saw Ted, and he was right in his suspicions and it got him killed. So Power Girl goes to Ted's grave and digs up his casket, she takes it to Dick and tells him to scientifically prove that Ted shot himself. Dick starts to say how crazy she is and he won't play along with her game when Batman (Bruce) walks in and says Dick won't do it because Max Lord shy's everyone away from remembering the truth. Power Girl is shocked Bruce remembers and Bruce said so will Dick, and Bruce starts to do the autopsy on Ted. Once the autopsy gets underway, Dick has no choice but to conclude Ted Kord was murdered and instantly remembers what happened. Dick says he'll contact the JLA and Oracle as Bruce and Power Girl head to find the JLI, which will continue in Gen Lost #22. This was a great issue, I loved seeing Power Girl try to prove everything, and so obsessed that she got Ted's body, which was a great touch at how badly she needed Dick to believe her. I also loved that I as right in my speculation months back that Bruce would remember Max since he was away when Max did his worldwide mind-wipe. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the stuff about Starrware, so much so I even omitted it from this issue, since it almost ruined the flow of it, so that aside I'd give this an 8.5/10.
Power Girl: We've been having this conversation for thirty minutes! I get you halfway down the field, boom, you fumble! Your forget again and we're back at home plate!
Batman: You really don't know anything about sports, do you? Action Comics #898
Lex Luthor's Action Comics starts off with Lex, still after the mysterious black orbs, as he's told one is wildly moving around space. While planning on going to get the orb, he's attacked by Larfleeze and his Orange construct, Glomulus. Lex notices that the orb is in Glomus' stomach, and Larfleeze explains that he found it and wants Lex to tell him how to use it so he can get more stuff. Ah, the wonderful gift of greed. Lex plays it cool and says he'll gladly help, telling the only Orange Lantern to hand over Glomulus, but Larfleeze doesn't fall for it, and figures out that Lex's Lo-bot activates the orbs and quickly figures out Lex is on a quest for power. Lex then explains that Larfleeze should be worried because after having a taste of that power he had while being an Orange Lantern. he wants the power back. He then launches a sneak attack on Larfleeze and tells one of his people to start a force field to keep Larfleeze there. An enraged Larfleeze yells that this is his attack and blasts Lex to the ground. Lex sends his Lo-bot to get something from Lab 8, and Larfleeze demands Lex have her come back, and grabs one of Lex's employees. He threatens to kill Lex's "construct" is Lex doesn't comply, and Lex, not wanting Larfleeze to think he cares about any of those people, just shoots the poor man square in the head, killing him instantly. Lex then surprises Larfleeze and pushes him into the sphere he got from The Joker, causing him to disappear. Larfleeze comes out of the orb somewhere in the Antarctic, and keeps shooting at the orb, telling whatever's inside to get back. He says Luthor must be mistaken to want that and no one would want that, even Larfleeze doesn't. which shocks him since he usually wants everything. The issue ends with the robot Lois talking to her boss as she leads Lex towards doom. Well this was an alright issue, I couldn't really get into it though, and I didn't care much about the reveal of Lo-bot's boss, what I did like is the mystery of what scared off both The Joker and Larfleeze, but I'll give this issue a 5/10.
Gotham City Sirens #20
We get things started as we see a very upset Harley Quinn, she explains how she has a quiet rage inside her that she hides behind her happy-go-lucky personality. How that rage only wants one thing, revenge for all the things she's been put through by a certain Clown Prince of Crime. She vows that she's gonna do what no one else has been able to, to kill The Joker. She uses four items to break into Arkham, because she claims that's all she needs. First while breaking in, she encounters an Arkham guard named Officer Hendricks. She remembers how she noticed he admired marbles, and used her fantastic psychiatrist skills to discover that as a kid he loved playing with them, and how he used them to escape and wished there were worlds inside them he could escape away to from his abusive father. So Harley throws marbles his way, and when he picks one up to inspect it, they explode. Harley claims she always liked Hendricks, but her rage won't allow for distractions, because they aren't enough. Harley starts to hallucinate and see's The Joker, she throws a crowbar but it fades through where she thought she saw him. From there, Harley recounts her meetings with Alice Sinner, the current head Director of Arkham Asylum, and how everyone knew that Alice's parents were apart of a mass-suicide cult. We see that Alice once loved a boy who loved her back, and he made her a flower out of fabric, and once they fell in love and were caught, he was forced to repent and act like Alice didn't exist. So she took her revenge and thirty-seven bodies were found at the crime scene, and a fabric-made flower. Harley said she had known Alice murdered those people, but recommended her to be hired at Arkham anyway, because of a request by The Joker, and notes that people with trauma are easier to manipulate. She then drops a flower made of fabric from an above vent onto Sinner's desk, and when she reaches for it, some knock out gas expels from the flower. From there Harley breaks out Basil Karlo a.k.a. Clayface with a crowbar, and we see how he goes crazy when a remake of his classic horror film is changed, and the weapon used to murder his character is changed from a Crowbar to a shoe. Clayface reacts by killing the director with a crowbar as Harley states to Clayface a crowbar represents failure. Clayface, once loose, starts attacking guards due to his anger. The issue ends as Harley heads on her way to kill The Joker and is confronted by her final challenge, Aaron Cash. Man, this was a great issue, it was great to see a new side of Harley, especially one that shows why she's such a damn good threat. Harley has so much talent and ability and I love seeing it utilized, although that Clayface explanation was pretty lame, I'll give this a 7/10.
Amazing Spider-Man #655
This issue of ASM is titled "In Memory of Marla Jameson", and starts off very interesting. For the first ten pages or so there are no words, thought boxes or any text. We see J. Jonah Jameson wake up in bed alone, and shower and shave, and we see he's still wearing his wedding ring. We then jump over to see Peter Parker finishing up shaving, he puts on his Spider-Man suit and gets dressed over it then seems to think while closing his eyes tight, and ends up leaving his Spidey costume on his bed and leaves for Marla's funeral. We see everyone from Betty Brant to Glory Grant showing up at Marla's funeral. We see as Jonah stands over Marla's grave and doesn't shed a tear, all the while with an emotionless face. These pages were done amazingly, they done so little in terms of words but they really hit home, the visuals are what sold it and that was a bold move that really worked out, so kudos to the ASM team. From there we see Peter lie down to bed later that night, as he finally drifts off to sleep he dreams of the night Uncle Ben was killed. This time Peter tries to stop the robber but can't catch him, as we see Uncle Ben in a blood-soaked shirt telling Peter to let it go. He tell's Peter he's at peace, and he's with family and points over to Peter's parents. Peter runs over to them and they turn around, only to see they have no faces. They say that Peter doesn't even remember them, that he thinks of Ben and May as his parents and his actual parents mean nothing to him anymore. From there Peter's family are boarding a plane to the great beyond and he see's Aunt May boarding, when he tries to grab her arm she morphs into Marla, and asks if she was Aunt May would he have found a way to save her. As Marla walks away she says don't worry, she'll be back, she used to build Spider-Slayer's and that makes her a super villain, and super villains always come back. Peter says she wasn't a villain, she was a good person, and she replies, never mind then. I loved that line so much because it really is true in the comic world. Villains come back every day but Uncle Ben or Batman's parents never will. From there we see Peter running around a Topsy-turvy New York that's full of people that have died in his life including Ben Reilly, Kaine, Gwen Stacy and Captain Stacy, and so many more people. He then see's Kraven, Green Goblin, Mysterio and the other villains that have returned from the dead, while his love one's haven't. He then sees vigilante's like Socurge, Punisher and even Wolverine killing off his rogue's gallery since Spidey wont take that step, and even has Captain America tell him to wake up and smell the coffee, even Cap killed Nazi's back in the day. Spidey then has the chance to stop the man who would go on to kill Uncle Ben once again, Spidey catches him and beats him to a bloody pulp, before realizing he was attacking Uncle Ben. Uncle Ben tells Peter that by crossing that line, that's how he'd be responsible, for the death of everything he's given him, and Peter promises he won't. He wakes up in a cold sweat and we later see him vow that from now on, whenever he's around, no one will die on his watch. The issue ends as we see a super villain with hostages, kill a hostage for no reason after making no demands because he can. This was an amazing issue, no pun intended. The look on JJJ's face never changing, Spidey's demons of his past and all the death's that are on his hands. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating for one hell of a great story.
Marla: I used to build Spider-Slayers. That makes me a super villain. And Super Villains always come back.
Peter: But Dr. Jameson, you're not... I know you. You're a good person.
Marla: Oh... well then... never mind.Detective Comics #874
James Gordon starts this issue off, as he's face to face with his son, James Gordon Jr. Commissioner Gordon doesn't look happy to see his son, but after James tries to get his dad to listen for two minutes, he finally complies. He tells his dad he's sorry for all the trouble he's caused him, his mom, Sarah and Barbara over the years. Gordon doesn't believe James, and recounts many times that James has hurt and tortured people over the years from Jocks that teased him to a girl when he was a kid named Bess Keller. James says he's not a good man but he's never killed anyone. He tells his dad about how he left Gotham thinking he'd be able to get away from who he is, and after being hassled in Texas, he wanted to go find the person who did it and hurt him and his family and friends, but stopped himself and checked into a psych center. He says what he found out there is that he is a psychopath, and he's fine with that. He shows his dad that he's in a drug trial that pretty much tames his psychosis, and he says he wants to help people like him. He says he's applied to work with Leslie Thompkins and she knows the truth about him, he just wants his dad to speak to someone at the Wayne Foundation, namely Dick Grayson, and make sure they don't say anything to block him from being considered by Leslie as well. Gordon doesn't answer as James gets up and walks away while telling his dad it's good to see him. Next we see Batman and Red Robin, since he's in everything this month, on stakeout. Tim doesn't think Dick should be on control after what happened with him being poisoned by The Dealer, but Dick, just like Bruce, is too hard-headed to ever take a personal day. While getting the drop on some criminals, the toxin comes back to bite Batman, causing him to make mistakes and get caught slipping by a few criminals. After the assist by Red Robin, they search the criminal area and find a bunch of endangered animals, they try to figure out who's behind it before figuring it was someone new. The issue ends with Commissioner Gordon thinking of his son and their recent encounter. Well this was an alright comic, I feel like signs point at it being James as the culprit and that seems to obvious. I liked the stuff with him and Gordon but the Batman stuff seemed filler and Red Robin was pretty pointless in this, his role could have easily been filled by Robin or even Oracle verbally. I'll give this issue a 7/10 because I'm enjoying the way James Jr. has been portrayed so far.
Gordon Sr.: What's that on your shirt?
Gordon Jr: It's blood, Dad. I killed a waitress while you were talking to Barbara. Her head is stuffed in the toilet of the Men's room... It's just ketchup, see? Deadpool #33
The Merc with a Mouth is back doing what he does best, finishing up with the Hero lifestyle, DP now plans on getting paid, getting laid, and blood getting sprayed. And yes, I did just make that up. He starts his intergalactic voyage going to the planet Ongulia, or what's left of it after it's nuked by it's enemies and goes the way of Krypton. The remaining Ongulians seek help in the Red and Black form of the Regeneratin Degenerate himself, Deadpool. But before that, Deadpool must confront the widow of Macho Gomez, after killing him last issue. She threatens to chomp off DP's stupid head, so he plants one on the big hippopotamus resembling woman, and finds out that he's now married to her through that kiss. Surprisingly, Deadpool is fine with that, but he does have a thing for big chicks and old women, so maybe we should've seen this coming. After a honeymoon, Deadpool joins the family business of towing and recovery, and heads out on his first run, and after a bunch of bloodshed and calling himself Fatty a few times, Deadpool proves to be successful, which proves he's awesome at mostly everything he does. While doing this, he pisses off his boss, who happens to be his wife's brother. While talking about Deadpool with an employee, the employee suggests they bump off Deadpool, and says Deadpool's wife could do better, considering the guy is obviously in love with her. They make a few calls and we come full circle as the Ongulians ask Deadpool to get revenge for them by killing Id, who happens to be a moon. So yeah, Deadpool has to kill a living moon. It's the kind of wackyness that's so stupid that it's hilarious. The issue ends with Deadpool, eager to take on a living moon, accepting the job. This was a stupid, fun comic, nothing more, nothing less. It was perfectly acceptable and fun, I'll give it a 7.5/10.
Deadpool: You want me to kill a planet...
Ongulian: Well, a moon...
Deadpool: You want me to kill a planet. Just say it.Morning Glories #7
This issue of Morning Glories starts things off with a flashback to Mumbai, India, thirteen years ago. We see a man named Abraham, as his guide warns him that people in this area have proved to be liars and charlatans to see special. Abraham asks questions and we discover that the young woman their going to see is an orphan, due to her father murdering her mother. Abraham believes this young woman is the one he's looking for, solely based on faith. When Abraham and his guide walk into the room, the young woman finishes Abraham's sentence and greets him by name which shocks the guide, not only because she knew his name, but because she responded to Abraham in English, which is a language she had never even heard before. He tells the guide that this is the young woman their looking for, and that she is to be given to an adoptive family and her new name will be Zoe. We then fast forward to Zoe at Morning Glory academy talking to Casey, but she seems to be in her own world.When Casey acts what the problem is, Zoe goes off on her, asking why she wasn't made aware of their plan to save Jade. When Casey says she wasn't sure she could trust Zoe prior to that, Zoe tells her now she knows she can't trust her at all. Zoe storms out and walks past the gym and runs notices the cheerleader squad working out, after practice ends she confronts a cheerleader. Zoe, shocked the school even has a cheer team asks about it, and when the young woman asks if Zoe cheers, she takes great offense to it, implying that she's pretty much the Muhammad Ali of cheering all through the facial expressions she gives. (Kudos to Joe Eisma.) We then get another flashback, this time to last year, and we see Zoe on the cheer squad. She and a friend are talking about how they probably won't promote Zoe to Junior Varsity Cheer Captain unless she's dating a popular guy, or at least someone. Zoe makes up the lame excuse of the guy her friend recommends as being too tall, so her friend says maybe she'll date him, and calls Zoe a V-Tard, which just made it's way to my vocabulary. (Kudos to Nick Spencer.) The Cheerleader chatter is cut short when a teacher interrupts and says he hasn't gotten Zoe's friend's paper and she has until five to get it turned in, so she takes off to go finish her paper as Zoe looks on. Back in the present, the Morning Glory squad cheerleader tries to convince Zoe to join, saying she wouldn't even have to try out, but she'd have to pass a initiation ritual. Before she can explain she has to run, but asks Zoe to meet her on the soccer field at ten if she's interested, and she promises the sprinkler's full of hydrochloric acid won't go off then, which I loved because I honestly expected that... well minus the acid part. After she leaves Hunter comes over to say he thinks Zoe was right but she quickly brushes off his sympathy and says she has to trade up on the friend food chain. We then get another quick flashback as Zoe's leaving the gym at her old school she walks past a room and hears her friend crying out, she looks inside and see's the teacher trying to force himself on her, and Zoe clocks him in the back of the head with a book, causing him to fall forward and hit his chin on the desk, pushing back and breaking his neck. Back in the present, Zoe heads to the soccer field (which has goal posts, so I'm assuming that's a slip or they multitask on that field.) Zoe walks up and see's the cheerleaders with a ram, and she quickly announces she's not killing or having sex with it to join the squad. They laugh and tell her it's their team mascot and hand her something. They say what she has is basically a lie detector test and their gonna ask her three questions, two standard and one specifically for her, and if she lies she can't join the squad. They ask her earliest memory and we see Zoe's father strangling her mother while she watches from another room. The next question is what is the worst thing she's ever done, and we see that after she knocked out that teacher and mistakenly killed him her friend admitted the sex was consensual and they were playing a game that was her idea, for her to pretend he was forcing himself on her. After finding that out, Zoe decides they have to get rid of the body, and do so by putting his body in the school furnace. The final question is who is David, which refers to something in an earlier issue. Zoe doesn't ask, and instead runs off. We then see the main cheerleader reports this news to Miss Daramont who seems pleased with the information. The issue ends soon after with Zoe exacting revenge on the cheerleader, but I won't ruin it by saying how. Man, this issue was amazing. It started out great with a piece Zoe's past, then we saw her anger at being excluded, and the swerve with the teacher and the girl really caught me by surprise and the ending was shocking yet satisfying. Now I'm wondering what caused the change from sweet little girl to the "Mean Girl" that Zoe is now. If all comics were this good I'd never stop reviewing, I'll give this issue a perfect 10/10 rating.
Well, this was a long post but I definitely saved the best for last. Here's hoping you all enjoyed my reviews and rantings, and as always week free to comment. Be sure to vote on the new weekly poll as well, and check out the results of the last poll below. Well that's it for me guys and gals, until next time I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd!
Last week's poll asked "Which Bat-family member should have a solo ongoing comic series?"
Last Place with 9.1% - Alfred Pennyworth, but he still makes a mean cup of tea!
Third Place with 18.2% - Cassandra Cain, Well I'm not opposed to her joining the Birds of Prey. ;-)
Second Place with 31.8% - The heir to the Wayne Fortune falls short to his "brother"...
Winner with 40.9% - Jason Todd returns from the grave and gets a series? I wish!
Next Time on Ratings and Rantings
Batman Beyond #3, Streets of Gotham #20, Brightest Day #21, and Green Lantern #63.
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