Ratings and Rantings featuring Morning Glories #14

Hey Todd Squad, it's time once again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! We've got a pretty big post ahead of us with a whopping 10 books?! So needless to say these reviews will be much more abbreviated than my usual reviews. So let's jump into the swing of things and get to it, as we start things off with Catwoman #3, and keep in mind that for the rest of this month, books still may be dropped if I don't feel confident in them after the third issue, so hopefully nothing else is added to the chopping block.

Catwoman #3

After seeing a quick flashback of her friendship with Lola, we open to see Catwoman tied to a chair being yelled at by a pissed off mobster by the name of Bone. He tells her she made a mistake by stealing from him and leaves as he tells his guys to work her over then dump the bodies. Catwoman quickly escapes and makes the goons tell her where Bone is, and she makes her way over to meet him. Catwoman then takes Bone to a secluded place, pulls out a bat and beats him to pebbles before preparing to kick him off of a room, until Batman shows up and stops her, or so it seems. As Bats and Catwoman kiss, she knocks Bone off the roof with her whip, causing Bats to save him while Selina escapes. The issue ends soon after, as Selina is burning evidence of her friendship and links to Lola in her apartment and crying over Lola's body as the GCPD shows up. Okay, I really liked this issue, we got to see a darker side of Catwoman, and let's not forget Catwoman did kill Black Mask in the former DCU so she does have a dark side, so I really enjoyed that, I also enjoyed that she can't make things easy for her and Bats so she did what she had to do to escape. A lot of people have been mixed on this comic but I love it, and I love what one of my favorite writers, Judd Winick, is doing with Catwoman. Also, the art by Guillem March has been great, and as a guy who doesn't mention artwork unless it's bad, that shows you how much I enjoy March's work. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Batman: Listen to me... Don't do it. Killing him... that's not who you are.

Catwoman: You don't know who I am. Anymore than I know who you are.

Nightwing #3

We kick things off at the funeral of Mr. Haly, the former owner of Haly's circus before handing it over to Dick Grayson on his deathbed. Needless to say this decision doesn't sit well with some people, especially Haly's son, who makes a spectacle at the funeral. After the funeral, Dick talks with Raya and learns their former friend, Zane, that worked for the circus is now living in Chicago and handling contracts for killers. Nightwing then heads to Chicago and questions Zane but suddenly Nightwing falls to his knees seeing a bunch of visions where he's failed. He manages to escape but runs into a vision of his parents falling and dives to save them but doesn't make it in time. During these hallucinations, Zane pistol whips Nightwing around before Nightwing figures out a way to cause feedback to the transmitters Zane is using to subdue Nightwing and turn it back on Zane. He asks him who hired Saiko but he says he doesn't know, if he did he'd kill them himself. Nightwing advises Zane to take up a new profession before leaving Chicago and heading to Pennsylvania to tell Raya that Mr. Haly gave him the circus and he's staying with it until they figure out who killed Haly and why they did it. The issue comes to a close as we see Haly's son talking about killing Dick with none other than Saiko! This was an alright issue, the stuff with Zane seemed like filler, and it wasn't bad by any means, but I couldn't get fully invested. I'll give this issue a 6.5/10 rating but it's safe for now.

Mr. Haly: Hey, you know I'm always looking out for you, kiddo...

Batman #3

Things start off with a flashback to Alan Wayne saying that people are after him and their nests are all around the city, which I'd assume means The Owl people they mentioned in issue #2. Back in the present we see Batman interrogating a criminal before being attacked by The Whisper gang and taking them down in a really cool way that I wouldn't be able to explain if I tried. Well I could, but I choose not to so maybe you'll go enjoy the coolness for yourself. Anyway, after discussing The Talon and the Owls with Alfred, Bruce discovers that his great, great, Grandfather had senility and was obsessed with owls. Bruce then goes to talk to Lincoln about the Owls and the myths before hearing something that sends him looking for answers. Batman then investigates the Wayne Tower and finds that on the thirteenth floor The Talon had a nest of his own, which was a genius idea by Snyder. The issue ends as Batman goes to numerous Wayne buildings, each housing a nest for The Owls, when suddenly he mistakenly trips a wire that causes the entire floor to explode as The Talon looks on. Man, Snyder knows how to tell a story, everything flowed well, the stuff about the Owls and the nests was perfect, there was nothing I didn't enjoy about this issue, I have to give this a solid 10/10 rating.

Batman: About the owl nests.

Alfred: What about them? Sir?

Batman: They're in our homes.

Justice League #3

We start things off with a stunningly drawn Wonder Woman (props to Jim Lee) walking around looking for a Harpy that was reportedly attacking while various news outlets talk about how this Wonder Woman causes so much collateral damage and how she believes in Zeus and Gods and whatnot. While looking, Wonder Woman has Ice Cream with a little girl that seems to look up to the Amazon. Suddenly, a portal opens and out comes a bunch of Parademons, which excites Diana because she gets to fight. We also see the Parademons pop up in Detroit (where Vic Stone is) and take Doctor Ivo and in Metropolis, where Superman, Batman, Flash and Green Lantern take them on. As they fight the Parademons, Superman notices they aren't killing anyone but they are taking people, when Wonder Woman shows up to join the fight. We also see Vic's dad using the equipment from Star Labs to save his son, thus turning him into Cyborg. Suddenly a giant beam hits the sea and causes something to emerge, and while this happens a Parademon lands in front of Wonder Woman as Aquaman steps out of the water and asks who's in charge, before voting for himself as this issue ends. Man, that was a great way to introduce Aquaman, and I'm really enjoying this comic. I like the new origin for Cyborg, I like how Wonder Woman was ready for a fight but still carefree like she used to be, and I love how she's drawn by Jim Lee, I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Wonder Woman: Hm. Ice cream is wonderful. You should be very proud of this achievement!

Ice Cream Man: Um... Thanks.

Supergirl #3

We start things off with Kal-El telling Kara about Krypton and all the things she's missed, but Kara doesn't believe him and flies off. Superman knows she can still hear him so he tells her that she's not ready for this world and her powers make her a danger to everyone around her, but he can't go after her since someone is in trouble and needs his help. Kara goes back to find her pod but finds a hologram of a man who says he has it and basically lures Kara to him by having her follow an orb that leads her to a space station. While in the station, the man, Mr. Tycho, puts Supergirl through a bunch of tests while studying the Kryptonian Native. Kara eventually topples the tests and finds her way to the pod she arrived in when she suddenly drops to the ground, having come in contact with Kryptonite, which apparently fueled her pod. The issue ends as Tycho stands over a fallen Supergirl and vows to take care of her, and states he only has her best interests in mind while flashing an evil grin. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but still a perfectly acceptable comic as my good buddy X would say, I'll give this issue of Supergirl a 7/10 rating.

Supergirl: But there's something in his voice. Like he can only ever tell the truth. (Very different Superman from the one in Justice League then...)

Red Hood and The Outlaws #3

Things kick off with The Outlaws going after The All Caste, but first they have to give up their most cherished memories to the Protector known as S'aru, someone that's apparently four millenia old but looks like Aang The Avatar. Upon giving up their cherished memories, they enter a room that would make M.C. Escher dizzy. As they follow on the trail of the clan known as The Unwritten, we see the Protector looking at our crews memories, including Kori killing a slaver that was nice to her, Roy taking a beating from Killer Croc and trying to use Crock to kill him but getting a pep talk from him (boy was that odd...) and lastly, Jason's memory which involves him being too sick to go out on patrol, and surprisingly Bruce stays home with him and watches TV with a sick Jason. I liked that, it shows that deep down Jason does still care about Bruce and Bruce clearly cared about Jason. Meanwhile, The Outlaws run into a gigantic green monster that eats Starfire while Jason and Roy fight a futile battle, that is until Starfire fries her way out of the beasts stomach and escapes with Jason and Roy, as Jason grabs the clue that will lead him to the Unwritten, a snow globe that says Colorado. Upon leaving the chamber, S'aru returns the memories to Roy and Starfire, but Jason walks off and tells him to keep it as the issue ends. This issue was weird, some of it I thought was odd like Croc giving a pep talk, but the new background with Ollie and Roy I liked, the weird morals of Starfire adds more to her, and the stuff with Jason's memory involving Bruce and him not wanting it back made perfect sense for his character. I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating as well.

Arsenal: He's so gonna shoot that kid. You watch. (I swear I was thinking the same thing...)

Venom #9

We start things off with Venom desperately looking for Betty, all the while thinking about how his father's death hadn't set in yet and how he didn't want to be the one to have to tell his mother and sister. While searching Venom runs into a nut job in an impenetrable tank that's been robbing banks and running over people with no regard for anyone's safety. Venom tries to stop the tank but he can't, nor does he have time to save a woman and her son who are run over by the tank in front of his eyes. He snaps and the suit takes over and follows the tank to it's hideout and when the criminal steps out Venom attacks and bites the villains head off and spots it out before walking away. Later, Betty arrives home and Flash asks if she turned like he did, or so he claims, into a spider, but Betty says she locked herself into a utility closet and was safe until it was over. She then asks if Flash has told he mom but he says he can't do it. As he sits with Betty he mentions he never got to read his Dad's letter, but she says he had her take down a copy and the one Flash got was a cleaned up version, so she reads him the original draft of his father's not as Flash lies his head in Betty's lap and this issue comes to a close. Alright, I'll say it, Venom is the best series since Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl run, each issue is great in it's own way and I love seeing Flash's scales of good and evil weighed in front of us. Rick Remender has done a remarkable job with Flash and making him my favorite Venom, a title which Eddie Brock held for quite a while. I'll give this issue a 9.5/10 rating.

Venom: BBEGG UUSSS..... (I love Venom, especially when his dialogue is like that.)

Deadpool #46

After surviving an airplane being crashed near him, Deadpool goes to get some Chimichangas and runs into Evil Deadpool. This of course leads to Deadpool running over Evil Deadpool with a garbage truck which doesn't work because Evil Deadpool somehow is in the passenger seat afterwards. What then ensues is so much hilarity that explaining it would besmirch all the work Dan Way has put into it, so I'll simply recommend you read it. Anyway, The hilarity comes to an end soon after, as does the issue, when Evil Deadpool leaves and Deadpool is confronted by Captain America! God I love funny comics, and that's what this was. This comic made me laugh all the way through and seeing Cap deal with two Deadpool's will be even more fun, I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Deadpool: Dude! This was my all-time favorite place to go for chimichangas!

Evil Deadpool: Heh. Mine, too.

Deadpool: Then why'd you blow it up?!

Evil Deadpool: I dunno... just seemed like the evil thing to do. I guess.

Amazing Spider-Man #674

We start things off seeing someone fall from the sky wearing wings and we later see that the police force thinks it's related to people trying to jump and be like Spidey after Spider Island, except Carlie doesn't believe that. From there we see Spider-Man found by the Anti-Spider patrol unit, and he's found over a dead body, so they shoot first and ask questions later as Spidey escapes. We also see Kingpin has bought the blueprints to the Spider-Jammers from a mole in Horizon Labs, to which he can use to repel or contain Spider-Man. From there we see a bunch of people with wings flying around and robbing houses, obviously working for The Vulture....or Icarus. And after running into a wall on both fronts, Peter and Carlie decide to call a truce after their recent break up and work together on the case of the robberies and dying teens in wings. The issue ends soon after as we see The Teens in wings delivering the stuff they stole to the Vulture. Well... this issue of Spidey was a bit odd for me, it was good but I expected more and the Vulture reveal is obvious when you see the cover. But I guess this was a transitioning issue so I'll give it that, and this this issue a 7/10 rating.

The Vulture: I'm not getting any younger. (Ha! I get it...)

Morning Glories #14

We start things off with a weird flashback where a woman is watching someone she loves be tortured by having a ton of heavy rocks placed on a board that lays on him, saying all they need is her to speak for him to be released. We then cut over to seeing Ms. Hodge run into a room where she's met by Gribbs and Ms. Daramount. They discuss the Woodrun, all the while the sisters, Daramount and Hodge, take shots at one another. From there we cut over to Zoe going to her lock and the lock has been broken open, she opens the locker to see a "In Loving Memory" picture of the same girl she killed, and looks around wondering who knows that Zoe's the one that did it. We then see her walk off and bump into Hunter like in the last issue, but now it's from her point of view instead of his. After being told off by Hunter, Zoe goes to the restroom and sits in a stall, as two girls come in and talk about her, unknowing that Zoe's there. After hearing them insult her, and claim she "blew" or "stabbed" her way through the application process to get into the school. A crying Zoe wipes her face and storms out, alerting the girls of her presence before going to Ms. Hodge's office, but finding no one in there. After quickly cutting back to the flashback where the woman says she'll tell them whatever they want to know if they don't kill her...husband I'm guessing, we cut back to the present and we see Zoe walk up to Hunter during the Woodrun. She ignores the fact it was him who told her off and says they should be friends because she can help him out, and mentions being told off earlier by some asshole. Hm... I wonder what she's planning... Anyway, she quickly tells us as she hints that being a "highly wanted woman" there are advantages, like being able to flirt with a jock to have them beat up someone that pisses her off, so she advises Hunter that they should be friends, and friends often help out friends by cleaning up after them and doing their homework. Before Hunter can get away from his new best frenemy, he, Zoe and Jun are teamed up for the Woodrun. Hunter wants to escape during the Woodrun but Jun and Zoe don't plan on it, and Zoe wants to win, and says they'll her her because "That's what fucking friends are for." While we see the gang participating, we see the woman from earlier explaining what we see to her captors, and when she says everything went dark, it suddenly becomes night for the gang, but Zoe brushes it off as an eclipse, and doesn't want to go back, nor does she when it rains. We then see Miss Daramount freaking out, wondering where her sister is, obvious aware that Hodge has something to do with this. Daramount is then confronted by Gribbs who says she needs to go tell the Headmaster that she has lost all the children at the school! Wow... that was... a hell of an ending. Now I'm wondering where the kids are and how they'll return, as well as where Casey and Hodge are. I'll give this book a 9/10, only because I had so many questions about the flashbacks and got no answers, but Zoe was BAD ASS, her and Ike may be my favorites.

Zoe: Who wants to shake a hand with that much semen residue on it, right? (Lmao, BURN!)

And that's it for me everyone. You can't really do a condensed review for Morning Glories, hence the length but I doubt anyone minds. But I'm outta here, feel free to comment and I'll do my best to get back to you as soon as possible, and be sure to vote on the weekly poll that finally makes it's return! So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Teen Titans #3, Invincible #85, and Kick-Ass 2 #5

Ratings and Rantings Featuring Red Hood and The Outlaws #2

Hey Todd Squad, it's that time once again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! This is a busy week for me, because while I only have a few books books, I also have the greatness that is Batman: Arkham City sitting in my PS3. So let's see which of these seven comics delivered and which failed to keep up the momentum of their prior number one issues. But before we get into the DC deuces, let's hop into issue number thirteen of Morning Glories!

Morning Glories #13

We start things off with a flashback as we see Casey's dad teaching her how to box. Her mother seems to worry that he's turning her into a tomboy, as he's teaching her boxing, hiking, hunting and whatnot, but he maintains that he just wants her to be able to take care of herself, since they won't be around forever. From there we see the scene we saw a few issues ago, where Casey tells Hunter she thinks they'd fare better if they weren't in a relationship, except this time we follow Hunter out and see him bump into Zoe while turning a corner, and she accuses him of trying to cop a feel. She continues to demean Hunter until he snaps and tells her she's not hot and anyone who thinks she is hot is an idiot, He says the only people that pretend to care about her are guys that want to use her, and proceeds to call her a stuck-up skank and a bitch. Well damn... that seemed odd for Hunter but after being jumped, missing his date with Casey and being turned down by her, I can see where the rage came from. Hunter heads to his dorm to see Ike is moving back in, and begrudgingly unpacking his things, which seems to give a bit of enjoyment to Hunter and Jun. Back in her dorm, Casey gets a letter delivered to her by a student from Ms. Hodge, we don't see what it says but Casey drags Jade along with her, yelling for Hunter. Before she can talk to Hunter, Casey runs into Ike and before she can manage to beat the hell out of him, Casey, Ike and Jade are partnered up for a Woodrun. What is a Woodrun you ask? Apparently it's...something that never gets explained. Jun, Zoe and Hunter also happen to be in a group together but rather than go find them, Casey takes this as a chance for her and her team to escape. Casey eventually leads them to an escape that was in the letter she got from Ms. Hodge, and the three are then confronted by Ms. Hodge. Hodge is upset that Hunter isn't there and Ike is, saying she gave Casey specific instructions, but Casey says he'd already left. Hodge plans on getting them out of there, but she tells Jade she can't come since that was never in the plans. Casey says she isn't leading Jade, but Jade gives Casey her blessing and says she knows Casey will return for her. Ms. Hodge gives Jade and Ike orders to stay up on a ledge their on while Casey and Hodge sit in chairs, and they can't leave until they disappear from the chairs they're in. While Hodge and Casey sit there,something happens and we see a bunch of different eras of time, before we see Ms. Hodge and Casey appear outside of a fence and approached by army men with guns yelling for them to get on the ground. The issue closes as Casey realizes one of the men is actually her father. Man, what a reveal that was. I really liked this issue, from the beginning to ending, and the Back to the Future and Star Wars references they threw in that Hunter missed out on. Everything just gelled, and sure there are more questions than answers as always, but I'm in for the long haul and issues like this really help. I'd give this issue a 10/10 rating.

Casey: My knuckles haven't healed up, but my knee's just fine.

Ike: Well, that's a pity. I'd like to see those knees reddened up somehow... (Lmao... I love Ike.)

Nightwing #2

Things get started quickly as Nightwing defends himself against the attacker that's after Dick Grayson. When the attacker endangers some civilians, Nightwing has to allow him to get away to save them. After arriving home, Raya (Dick's old friend from the circus) begs him to drive her to Atlantic city on her two days off so she can see Bryan. On the way there, via jet, she reveals this was a ploy and Mr. Haly wants to see Dick tonight because he's dying. Haly meets with Dick and hints that he knows Dick is Nightwing through his mannerisms, and he says that's not what Dick was supposed to be, as he hands him the deed to Haly's Circus, saying he owes it to Dick. After getting the deed and doing the deed with Raya on the jet on the way back, Dick gets a phonecall from the killer, going by the name of Saiko. He reveals that he knows Dick is Nightwing after torturing old man Haly. Dick has the jet turn around and goes back to save Haly, and has a big fight with Saiko before making the building cave him. Nightwing escapes with Mr. Haly who soon dies from blood loss due to being tortured by Saiko, but not before he tells Dick that the reason people are after Dick is about the circus...and the answers are in the heart of the circus, as this issue ends. Well this was interesting, I'm wondering what comes from Dick getting the Circus, but Haly knowing Dick was Nightwing pretty much all this time, then ratting him out via torture even though he's ALREADY DYING just annoyed me. I'd give this issue a 7.5/10 rating.

Mr. Haly: I watched you grow up and learn how to fly, kiddo. The others may not know what you do now, but I always have. (I wonder how long he considered blackmail...)

Batman #2

We start off with Batman taking down some criminals before using his virtual reality technology to meet Gordon after an autopsy is done at the morgue. They discuss how the murdered man in the last issue has no identity and paid all of his bills with cash. I enjoyed the autopsy because they used a lot of Bruce's detective knowledge, so I can't give that scene the description it deserves, other than the fact it showed why Batman is the world's greatest detective. After that, he meets with Nightwing, to question why the dead man has Dick's skin under his fingernails. He explains that a week ago the John Doe approached him at a Wayne function and grabbed Dick's arm and said "they're real, and they're sending them for you all" before security dragged him away. The next day, Bruce meets with Lincoln March at Wayne Tower, when suddenly a masked man enters the room and throws a knife into the stomach of March. Bruce attacks the masked man but for some reason he can't stop him, and suddenly Bruce is kicked out of the window of his office and falls towards the ground below, but luckily lands on a gargoyle instead of falling to his death. The issue ends as we see the mysterious man is far from done with his rampage. This was a pretty good issue, it caused a lot of questions although I was a bit peeved that Bruce doesn't trust Dick, even after all of his Batman Inc. stuff. That aside, this was another good issue by Snyder, I'll give it a 9/10.

Masked Man: Bruce Wayne. The court of owls has sentenced you to die.

Justice League #2

We start things off with Superman and Green Lantern fighting as Batman tries to calm them down, but when Hal feels he's in trouble he calls for back-up in the form of The Flash. Flash shows up after some begging from Hal, and dodges Supes for a while before he gets thumped by Superman and knocked off of his feet. Batman interjects himself and explains about the alien they saw and asks Superman if he knows anything about it, which he doesn't. The military then shows up and Flash, Batman, Superman and Green Lantern all leave together for some reason. We then cut over to see Victor Stone's dad, Silas, and a team of people investigating the box that one of the alien's left behind. Vic shows up to meet with his dad and after arguing about how his Dad never has and never will come to one of his games, Vic's dad is called away, so Vic follows. Meanwhile, the four heroes discuss what to do, in a pretty funny scene including Hal being dumb enough to call Barry by his name after he reveals he's a cop, Flash asking Batman what he can do, and Bats saying Supes apparently has no identity to protect since he doesn't wear as mask. Suddenly, the box Bats has been carrying around starts to beep before a ton of parademons come out of it and attack while yelling "For Darkseid!" Meanwhile, the box that the scientists has shoots a beam that pretty much incinerates everyone and blasts Victor away as his father is laying on the ground, barely missing the beam and yells for Victor. We start to see Victor mutate into metal as the issue closes. I really enjoyed this issue, It was surprisingly good and I liked seeing the four heroes interact, it felt oddly new yet similar, plus the next issue has Wonder Woman. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10, there was nothing about it I didn't enjoy.

The Flash: Batman's real?

Green Lantern: Yeah, and he's a total tool.

Catwoman #2

We start things off with Batman and Catwoman having sex, cause if that doesn't get you interested I don't know what will. They talk for a bit and he asks if she's okay with the fact her apartment got blown up and someone may be after her, but she doesn't seem to be worried. From there, Catwoman steals a valuable painting and offers it to the people she stole it from as well as the opposing mob that wants it, including Renald, the guy who's eye she clawed out the night before. They meet at some big fancy Wayne function, as Bruce also noticed Selina, even though she has a blonde wig and a dress that shows more than it covers. Bruce walks up to her, playing the drunken playboy act he's perfected, as Selina flirts with him, unknowing he's Batman. Meanwhile, she has both groups leave payments in different places, as she turns down Bruce's charm. Bruce apparently had Alfred intercept her texts and see's that she has drops planned at the party, and goes to investigate when suddenly Catwoman drops onto his shoulders and plants a kiss on him, before throwing a firecracker into a room with the mobsters fighting over the painting, which of course leads to a shootout, which Selina hopes will also kill Renald. Catwoman then grabs both money-drops before escaping, as Bruce runs off to change into Batman. As Catwoman arrives home to celebrate with Lola, she finds her tied up with a bullet in her head! Suddenly, Selina is attacked and beat bloody by the guys that blew up her apartment, when she's approached by their leader, a man known as Bone who has white, bone-like skin. (Picture a white version of The Thing.) Say what you want but I loved this issue, I'm annoyed Lola got killed off so quickly but it showed things get real fast, and there's been a lot of death around Catwoman this issue. And of course, things are going to get interesting when Batman comes after her as well, I'll give this issue a 9/10.

Catwoman: C'mon, there's a whole lotta dirty money we need to roll around naked in!

Supergirl #2

To start things off we see a flashback to three days ago (as far as Kara's concerned) and she's babysitting her little cousin Kal-El, but now she's looking at an adult version of him, asking who she is. She wonders what's going on and why this man is wearing their family crest, and he explains that he's Kal-El, and they are apparently cousins. She calls him a liar and punches him, and surprisingly we actually see something that's on the cover of a comic... crazy right?! She continues to beat the hell out of Superman, but while she does, she mistakenly triggers her powers and is able to see through him, from veins, to muscles to bones. Superman tries to explain to her about her powers but she attacks again, which causes him to go on the defensive. The entire fight is littered with Kara finding out she has random powers, including flight, which is an interesting way of approaching the subject, which i enjoyed. Every time Kara gets herself in trouble (like falling out of the sky) Superman is there to save her, and gets walloped in the face for his troubles. Eventually, Kara realizes that this fight could hurt innocents, so she calms down and allows Superman to explain about Earth, the Yellow sun and how it gives them the power of Worldkillers, whatever those may be. When she asks why Superman doesn't just return to Krypton, he has the unfortunate honor of telling her that Krypton is gone. The issue ends soon after as a crystal of knowledge from Kara's pod falls into the hands of a mystery man. This was a good issue as well, I enjoyed the fight and felt how confused Kara would be on this new world, I also felt Kal's frustration of her not listening and punching him across the planet like forty times. I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Superman: Because Krypton... is gone. (I love that he paused for dramatic effect....I really do.)

Red Hood and the Outlaws #2

We start off with a flashback to a year ago, seeing Jason a year ago, still in his training to become The Red Hood. He was introduced to the ancient trainer, Ducra by Talia Al Ghul, and after disrespecting the old woman, he wasquickly shown not to judge a book by it's cover. She manages to knock Jason out after he upset her after only six seconds, and she states that she can train him to be the most skilled assassin in the world (Please gimme Jason vs. Deathstroke, or even a team-up.) She then tells Talia she will train Jason, because she doesn't want the world at his mercy. We then jump forward to three hours ago and see Roy and Jason on a plane, with Roy trying to apologize for sleeping with Jason's girl, which Jason claims he doesn't care about since she isn't his girl. On the plane, a flight attendant asks what is Jason's reason for attending China, and he replies "A death in the family." which I loved. Jason also manages to get the number of said flight attendant before he and Roy arrive in China and are greeted by a limo, which has Starfire, looking like an orange skinned, six-foot tall Beyonce sitting in the back. Roy mentions how great a team they are already, but Jason says there is no team, even though Kori and Roy are clearly growing on him. While going to his safe pad to grab his mask and weapons, Jason is ambushed by a rather large woman named Suzie Su and her guards, but Jason defends himself by killing them all, and Suzie Su says wait until her daddy finds out, and Jason replies he'll kill him too. From there we see Jason return to avenge Ducra, where we left off in the last issue, except now Starfire and Roy are with him, I could complain but Lobdell worked around the inconsistencies so at least he did that. As Jasonm Roy and Starfire defeat the reanimated corpses of people that helped train Jason's body and mind, the issue comes to a close as Jason goes to avenge them, and tells his "team" to get ready to kick some ass. Alright, I know I sound like a broken record, but I enjoyed this. Why Lobdell decided to make it so Star and Roy were with Jason when they weren't in the last issue, I don't know, but whatever, he worked around it and I enjoyed it all, from the plane ride to them rolling in style to Jason's past with Ducra. I hope we get to see more into Roy and Kori's pasts too, but I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Talia Al Ghul: Before he was murdered, Jason has the potential to be a great man. I believe with the proper guidance, he could still be the case. I believe he deserves a second chance.

and as a bonus Line of the issue...

Roy: Look at you, Todd! You put the move in smove. (Yes, s-m-o-v-e.)

Jason: I'm gonna put the you in traction if you don't shut up.

And that's it for me everyone, now I gotta go play Arkham City. Be sure to vote on this week's newest poll and until next time,I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Teen Titans #2, Amazing Spider-Man #672, Deadpool #45, Incredible Hulk #1, Venom #8, Wolverine and The X-Men #1

Ratings and Rantings featuring X-Men Regenesis

Note: Halfway through this post, my computer crapped out on me so I drove over Falisha's to post this. Long story short, I was tired and didn't feel up to reviewing Morning Glories this week as well so It will be in next week's R&R, if my computer is fixed by then. Thanks for reading.

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly hear again with a huge week of Ratings and Rantings. This is actually my 160th post, shocking enough. A pretty odd milestone to celebrate but I just happened to realize that when I started typing this. So congrats to me, haha. Well this week I've got ten issues to review, and my more detailed style would make this one LONG, monotonous post, so instead I've decided to borrow a format from my good buddy X-Man75, in which I'll basically give a quick overview over the comic, then give my thoughts. Again, this won't be my usual style of reviews but this is a big pull week for me, so bare with me. FYI, expect the same next week since I'll be enthralled with Batman: Arkham City!

Deadpool #44

This is last week's issue which I never got to review. Over the course of this issue, Deadpool tries to stop his crazy stalker, Dr. Ella Whitby from killing The Warden of the prison he recently inhabited. While trying to save the Warden, Deadpool confronts Ella and they share a laugh or two, before she blows the place to high hell, seemingly killing herself in the process, as Deadpool simply gets up and walks away. Later on, Whitby returns to Deadpool, burned up looking like a small, chubby version of Wade. He tells her he's in love with someone else, but doesn't state who, so a heartbroken Whitby puts a gun in her mouth and pulls the trigger, killing herself before Deadpool can stop her. Also, in this issue, Deadpool found a bunch of his body parts in Whitby's fridge and threw them away, and at the end of the issue it seems they all reformed to make an evil Deadpool. Well this was weird, I expected a more delightful romp, not to see a kamikaze and a suicide. I guess I like the idea of Deadpool vs. Deadpool though, but this issue fell flat, which is sad because I like Dan Way, and I figured once Deadpool had his full attention it would get even better, but that hasn't been the case. I'll give this a 5/10 rating.

Deadpol: She's gonna be copying me, so... how would I do this? Ah-Ha! I'd teabag him! (I'm giving you no context here...)

Deathstroke #2

We started things off with Deathstroke meeting with Mikel at a bar, When things get heavy the man turns to the patrons and asks how many of them he's paid to kill Deathstroke if he needed them to. A bunch of people pull out their weapons and the brash Deathstroke murders them all with ease and pure awesomeness before killing Mikel as well. Mikel's reinforcements show up late, including a big metal juggernaut (not that one) by the name of Road Rage. After killing about fifty people, including civilians and innocent bystanders, a camera crew runs up to Slade...for some reason... and tapes him as he says that all of this is nothing but fun for him. This of course makes worldwide news and Deathstroke is content since this was all a plan to get him more mercenary work. Well... that was something. I couldn't get into this issue, it rushed by and nothing really made me care, I liked seeing Deathstroke kill a bunch of people, that was fun, but I doubt I'll remember this issue thirty minutes from now, which is not a good thing. I'll give this a 6/10 rating.

Deathstroke: ...This is nothing but fun.

Batgirl #2

We start things off with Batgirl pursuing The Mirror, and she inadvertently kicks him off a ledge too hard, almost killing him in the process, but he grabs a gargoyle. Batgirl tries to help him and is thrown off the ledge for her trouble, considering she's "on the list". Batgirl manages to stop herself from hitting the ground but crashes into a taxicab rib first instead, so.. kudos on that Babs. Meanwhile, Commissioner Gordon soon learns from Detective McKenna that Batgirl is back, and his eyes bug out as he's surprised, suggesting he may know that Babs is Batgirl. Batgirl eventually catches up with The Mirror, who beats the crap out of her, but she manages to steal his list of names, and when the cops come, he hightails it. When Babs eventually finds The Mirror's base, she discovers that he's someone who watched his family die as he was saved, and now he just wants to die, but he's taking out people that should have died but also lived. So yeah, very convoluted. Anyway, the issue ends as he states there's a bomb on a train so.. there's your cliffhanger I guess. There was also a VERY boring storyline in this where Babs went on a date with some guy, so boring I didn't even thing it was worth reviewing. This issue was the opposite of Deathstroke, it seemed to drag on and on with Babs getting beat up by the Mirror and the basic theme is that she's not 100% yet, I'd give this issue about a 6/10 rating, as it was pretty slow and I just didn't enjoy it as much as Batgirl #1.

Cab Driver: Hey, look what you did to my cab!

Batgirl: Yeah, but look what your cab did to my ribs.

Green Lantern #2

In one of the best verbal smackdowns ever, Sinestro lays into Jordan before making a Green Lantern ring and giving one to Hal. The ring allows him to have all the power that Sinestro designates and Sinestro can turn the power off and on at will, thus making Hal his slave. Sinestro then one-ups Hal, as Hal tries to save a woman that fell off a hole in a bridge, but Sinestro saves the woman, everyone else, and manages to fix the bridge, as he tells Jordan he should've been using his ring to fix society, not to be a glorified cop, but to bring change. He then kills a member of the Sinestro Corps, the one that apparently ruined the bridge. After killing the rogue Corpsman, Sinestro tells Hal that the Sinestro Corps have ruined Korugar and that Hal is going to help him destroy them all. Now this was a good issue, Sinestro had plenty of zingers, Hal was made to look like even more of a chump, and we got to see why prior to Hal, Sinestro was the greatest Green Lantern, for good reason. And those two teamed up taking on the entire Sinestro Corps should be fun, I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

Sinestro: The Corps didn't simply give you a ring that could let you fly and create airplanes. The corps offered you a chance to improve the universe. (Preach it, Sinestro!)

Grifter #2

Things start off with Cole meeting his girlfriend, Gretchen, in a bar, trying to explain to her how he actually killed two aliens/monsters/demons on that flight (last issue) and how he would never do anything like that. While they talk, one of the possessed things strolls into the siner`, and Cole confronts and attacks him before setting him ablaze using a cigarette and a pan of flour...yes, it was as awesome as it sounds. From there, Gretchen thinks Cole is insane, and she tells him not to follow her. Cole then leaves the diner but doesn't make it too far before he's confronted by someone looking for him, his brother, Max Cash. Max Cash is an awesome name, anyway I enjoyed this issue. I like that Cole is pretty much on his own against an enemy no one else believes exists, I also like that he dropped the huge sideburns as well. And the fact that Gretchen was shown possibly going to Gotham City opens a ton of Batman/Nightwing vs. Grifter possibilities. But yeah, things heated up and I'm interested in where we go next, I'll give this issue an 7/10 rating.

Demon: You bring a fist to a gunfight? How human of you. (Well I guess I'll put my hands back in my pockets.

Batman and Robin #2

Things start off with Bruce explaining to Alfred how he's worried about Damian and what would happen to Damian without Bruce around. Well... you were missing for a while and he listens to Dick more than he does to you now, but whatever you say Bruce. Batman and Robin go out and stop some criminals from trafficking guns and leave them hanging for the cops, when suddenly Nobody shows up and slits their throats, unbeknownst to Batman and Robin. Afterwards, Damian takes out his rage of not being able to kill and maim on the training dummies in the Batcave, as Alfred also seems to worry about Damian and his rage issues. Also, we see Batman buy a Great Dane, which is cool because he has one in Batman Beyond, so that's some nice continuity. The issue ends as Batman is confronted by a man named Morgan, a mutual acquaintance of Ducard, and it seems Morgan is Nobody, and Bruce knows, just as Morgan knows Bruce is Batman and vows to save Bruce from himself. This was interesting, I was surprised at how nonchalant the Morgan/Bruce conversation seemed, and Bruce randomly getting a dog, although that may be to calm Damian, but I loved the stuff with Damian and his rage. I'd give this issue a 8/10 rating.

Bruce: I'm a billionaire, Damian, not a trillionaire. (And you never will be with that attitude, Bruce!)

Ultimate Spider-Man #3

Curious about Miles' spider-powers and the mysterious spider that bit him, Miles let's Ganke talk him into going to talk to his Uncle Aaron. They arrive at Aaron's house to find it completely empty, as he's apparently moved away in the span of one day. On the way home a building catches on fire, which is excellent timing I guess. After some prodding from Ganke, Miles saves the day without a mask before fleeing the scene. Afterwards, he tells Ganke that he's done doing that, and there's already a Spider-Man, plus Miles feels that he isn't cut out for the job. Miles then moves on with his life and attends his new highschool, where he rooms with Ganke and another kid. The issue ends soon after with the kids being called to the auditorium, and told by the faculty (for some reason) that Spider-Man had been shot. I really enjoyed this issue, I loved seeing Miles save the day and as always he comes off really likable. If I had any problems, it's why they felt the need to wake up a bunch of kids and call them to the auditorium to tell them Spider-Man had been shot, I know he's a hero but that still seems rather excessive. But besides that, this was another issue I enjoyed in the brief run of Miles Morales, I'll give this a 9/10 rating.

Ganke: Show Me!!!

Miles: Shut the door. (I'm once again giving you no context here, except that Miles had a sly grin as he spoke.)

Ultimate X-Men #2

We start things off with a captured Jimmy Hudson being thrown into a room with Reverend Stryker. From there we saw Rogue saved by Iceman, Human Torch and The Shroud (Kitty Pryde) but run into a little trouble in the process, including Iceman getting his arm broken off, which was pretty damn awesome. After being saved, Rogue explains that she was told to incite the robots and that she'd be saved, and she was told this by God. Next we see a woman named Elise Cartwright chained up, as she's approached by Reverend Stryker. We find out that Elise has been opening her home to orphaned mutants, and Stryker takes this as an opportunity for her to confess her sins, before he kills the woman in gold blood, then states that he's doing God's will, as the issue comes to an end. This issue was interesting, I like that both Rogue and Stryker believe they are being led by God, so when they confront one another it will be interested, I also enjoy the playful banter between Johnny (Torch) and Bobby (Iceman), but what annoyed me is how we started out with Jimmy being thrown in a room and we don't see how he was caught. Not only that but we don't see him again for the rest of the issue, but that aside I enjoyed this. I'll give this an 8.5/10.

Human Torch: Ha! Bobby dated a crazy chick.

Amazing Spider-Man #671

Over the course of this issue we see that Mary Jane has finally developed her spider powers and is using them to save herself as well as other civilians. Meanwhile, Jameson is subdued by Spidey, but not before he bites Spider-Man on the arm. Medics then try to keep Smythe alive as he mutters about them having all the Spider-Slayers they need. Also, the Spider-Queen finds out about the Anti-Venom cure and has Jackal send Tarantula to Horizon Labs to contaminate the cure. Surprisingly, we find out that the secret "Number Six" at Horizon is none other than Michael Morbius! Interesting. When he arrives at Horizon, Spidey is shocked tom see Peter Parker is already logged in, and he's attacked by Tarantula, when Jackal tells him via satellite that Tarantula is none other than Kaine?! Meanwhile, Madame Web tells the people at Horizon that the Spider-Jammers have cut off her link to the web and to fix them now, and with the help of Reed Richards, they change the frequency so it not only allows her to see the web, but gives Spidey his Spider-Sense back! Using his Kung-Fu and Spider-Sense combo, Spidey knocks Tarantula into the Anti-Venom cure which cures him of his giant spider look, but allows Kaine to crawl out looking normal, and still apparently with his Spider-Powers. Kaine mentions to Spidey that The Queen is the mastermind behind this and he can take him to her, as The Queen snaps at The Jackal and screams at him with a scream so powerful it incinerates him. The issue ends soon after, while Madame Web notes that by interfering she's inadvertently caused the Spider-Jammers to give The Queen "God-like" powers. Okay, I loved this issue, a ton happened and it sucks that Brock may not be Anti-Venom anymore after giving up his powers to cure people, but I love the idea of Spider-Man, Kaine, Venom, Mary Jane and the recently cured Captain America all teaming up to go after The Queen. I'll give this issue a solid 10/10 rating.

Soldier: Commander Grimm... you stand relieved! Take a Clobberin' Time-Out! (Lmao... that is genius.)

X-Men: Regenesis One-Shot

I love how this issue was done, basically we saw Wolverine and Cyclops draw a line in the sand for the most part and recruit people to either side with Wolverine or Cyclops. We started off seeing Wolverine go to Iceman, and basically tell him he needed him, and Bobby obliged and teamed up with Wolverine. Wolverine also tries to recruit Psylocke but she refuses and decides to stay with Cyclops.The thing I love is each time someone picks, we see a tribal version of them basically standing behind a tribal version of Cyclops or Wolverine, which was a great touch.We also see Kitty decide to go to Wolverine's team as Colossus believes he shouldn't be at a school with everything he has inside him now, so he stays in Utopia. For the rest of the issue we see everyone from Magneto to Storm choose sides, some are surprising and some are pretty obvious, but at the end of the issue we see the two teams head off on their own ways for the foreseeable future. This was a pretty good issue, a few of the characters I didn't know about, being new to the X-Men books, but I'm excited about this split. Instead of a line of the issue, I'll give you the team picks. And I'll give this issue an 8.5/10 rating. The final tally seemed to be

Team Wolverine: Iceman, Kitty Pryde, Beast, Rogue, Idie, X-23, Rachel Summers, Quentin Quire (against his will), Gambit, Frenzy, Toad, X-Man75.

Team Cyclops: Psyclocke, Colossus, Magneto, Hope, Dazzler, Namor, Doctor Nemesis, Danger, Magick, The Cuckoo's, Avalanche, Emma Frost, Storm, Me.

And just like that, 10 books have come and gone. Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of this condensed style I stole from X. And as always, be sure to check out the surprising results from last week's poll. But that's it for me, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Who are you the most excited to play as in Batman: Arkham City?"

Last place with 0% - Catwoman, I gotta that, that shocked me, especially since she's in the main game.
Third place with 7.7% - Robin, the third Robin, Tim Drake, comes in behind two other Bat-Boys.
Second place with 38.5% - The title character, Batman.
Winner with 53.8% - The recently announced, fourth playable character, Nightwing! (Info here)

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Morning Glories #13, Batman #2, Catwoman #2, Justice League #2, Nightwing #2, Red Hood and The Outlaws #2, and Supergirl #2.

Ratings and Rantings featuring Batgirl #1

Hey Todd Squad, hot off the heels of the debut of the "new" DC Universe, we've got quite a few books to get to, so no time for a long-winded intro. So let's get things kicked off with two books I missed last week so I could get the review for Justice League #1 up.

Invincible #82

That is one upset green chick on this cover, she makes She-Hulk look like a pacifist. We start things off seeing that "Rex" has returned, and after a few space years on another planet, he's ready to get back into the swing of things on Earth. Surprisingly, Cecil Steadman offers the man formerly known as Robot to pretty much lead every team and hero that Cecil has contact with, and Rex says he'll do the job since he has nothing else to do, pretty much hinting that something happened to his relationship with Monster Girl. From there we see Invincible go meet with our cover girl, who blames him and Eve for the death of countless innocents while Invincible tries to apologize, until he gets her to shut up long enough for him to talk. Before we can see what he says, we jump over to see Eve and Kate eat salads together, and Kate keeps taking shots at Eve's weight, although she's slowly starting to lose weight due to using her powers which burn calories. Back at the Pentagon, Cecil is alerted that Dinosaurus is not only alive but also in the building, but in his human form to turn himself in. Over with Invincible, he talks to our Green Queen Killing Machine, and tells her he understands that she was there to save her own people and was desperate, so he's going to try to get them to release her, and after she agrees not to hurt anyone, she is in fact freed thanks to Invincible. She vows to repay Invincible for his kindness one day as she heads off to her home planet. Back at the Pentagon, Cecil asks Invincible if he can count on him when he needs him, Invincible says yes but he may be done crime fighting in the near future. After a quick talk, Cecil tells Mark he hasn't been all that truthful with him, as he shows Mark the Reanimen he and D.A. Sinclair have created as this issue comes to a close. This was an alright issue, nothing really happened though. It was more verbal problem solving like the last few issues, and although we saw Robot return with a smoking hot Monster Girl, and we know Universa will be back but that's about it. I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating.

Eve: Actually, Mark likes me the say I am.

Kate: He does? Really? Weird.

The Amazing Spider-Man #668

We pick up where things left off with Spidey being helped up by Shang Chi, who recognizes it's actually him, and this is confirmed by Wolverine. Spidey wants to join the fray but Luke Cage tells him to leave since there's so many Spider-Men and they don't want to risk caving his head in by mistake.. again. While Pete sulks and changes outta his Spidey costume, he runs into MJ who tells him to get back in the game, as she points out Carlie who's using her powers for good to help people, and seems to be the only civilian doing so. Realizing MJ is right, Peter hijacks a camera from Norah and proclaims he's a New Yorker who also developed powers today, and that everyone should use their powers to help save the city. Surprisingly, Pete's crusade works as he leads a group of New Yorkers to the fight to stand alongside the Avengers and the other NY based heroes. After a battle, the New Yorkers and Heroes take down the rogue Spider-men. Soon after, Mayor Jameson announces that everyone who helped has been deputized as Spider-Island is quarantined, and he's counting on them to help keep the city safe. We also see Mary Jane may be jealous of Carlie, considering Pete's former beau doesn't have Spider-Powers. Over at Horizon Labs, Peter discovers there's someone working on a cure with Reed Richards, someone only known as Number Six to keep their identity a secret. Reed asks Peter for a DNA sample to help out. Next we see Eddie Brock as Anti-Venom healing someone against their will of their Spider-Powers, as he proclaims he's going to help everyone, Madame Web steps out of the shadows behind him, saying to herself that both Anti-Venom and Venom are needed, but this is also where the story ends for one of them. Interesting. Back with Pete, we see that he's been sent by Max to work at Carlie's department and help fix tech for Jameson's Anti-Spider patrol, but after a quick talk with Carlie, she reveals she has a lead with The Jackal, Miles Warren. Pete kicks himself for not thinking of that sooner, and heads out with Carlie to follow up on it. As they arrive at Jackal's last known base, it looks as if Peter and Carlie may be walking into a trap as this issue closes. Now this was a pretty fun issue, I like that Peter gets to be Spider-Man without being Spider-Man, and fighting crime with Carlie is new and fresh and also pretty fun. I'm just wondering how long it takes for someone to mess up, since I'm pretty sure no one else has Spider-Sense either, but I'll give this issue an 8.5/10.

J. Jonah Jameson: Why in all my years in this city, I never thought I'd... Parker?! With Spider-powers?! Now I have seen everything.

Static Shock #1

We start tings off with S.T.A.R. Labs newest employee, Virgil Hawkins fighting crime as his alter ego, Static Shock. Static is now in New York and his first job is stopping Sunspot from attacking his new job. After a bunch of bad jokes and some trial and error, Static takes down Sunspot, but also manages to disable a bunch of cars, cell phones and other electronic devices, which pisses off the ungrateful New Yorkers. Once Sunspot realizes his force field has been taking down, he says he has to escape because some people are going to kill him, but before he can finish his sentence he's shot dead, which doesn't seem to bother Static at all as he traces the bullets kinetic energy back to the gunman. Well that annoys me, Static was a teenager who seemed to care about others, the fact this dude died while Static basically held him there would've at least bothered him. Plus all these bad jokes and electricity quips sound like Mr. Freeze in the Batman and Robin movie. Static's view of the kinetic energy gets messed up by the sun setting (damn Sun!) so he leaves, unaware five people on hover-bikes are watching him. He then talks to some guy named Hardware that I guess is his younger more active, African-American Alfred. He tells Static to head home because his parents are probably worried since they know his job was attacked. Meanwhile we see the hover bikers who are known as the Slate Gang at a base explaining to villain known as Piranha who Static is and how he was stationed in Dakota.They decide Static is one hero too many in New York so they send a hulking brute by the name of Virule. Well alrighty then. After showing a run-in with his family, we see Virgil go to his secret base which apparently is courtesy of Hardware. As Static flies around New York he's attacked covertly by the Slate Gang, who shoot at him and apparently shoot his arm off as this issue ends....What? Okay, first things first, if DC is trying to gain new readers by rebooting they have truly fucked up. I'm a pretty hardcore reader, I read some of Static's older comics, I read all of his DC stuff up to this point, and I watched his show, and the ONLY person in this comic I recognized besides his family WAS Static. Nothing was introduced, if you knew nothing of Static beforehand you're only going to be more confused now, and the reboot was supposed to kill the confusion right? Also, if Virgil loses his hand, on one page, while the page on the left shows a solicit for Aquaman it's quite possibly the most unintentionally funny thing I've seen. Anyway, this issue was pretty convoluted and the cliffhanger seems pretty unnecessary one issue in, I guess I'll give this a 4/10.

Static: Arrest me? You got it all wrong! They were just eager, real eager to get my autograph and my fingerprints.

Justice League International #1

We start things off with the Government deciding they need a team they can control, they can take credit for if they succeed and blame if they fail. After deliberation and passing on certain heroes like Green Arrow (who would be too unruly), Blue Beetle (because he's a rookie), Batman (he'd be harder to lead) and Plastic Man (who would be insane), they decide on a Booster Gold led team, featuring Fire, Ice, Vixen, Rocket Red, August General in Iron, Guy Gardner and Lady Godiva, a character introduced in Flashpoint. After that we see a team of researchers vanish due to some weird earthquake that swallows them whole... interesting. Later we see Booster Gold arrive at the Hall of Justice, wondering where Superman and Wonder Woman are before finding out this is a different Justice League. This Booster is apparently the version that loves being the center of attention so I REALLY hope this is an act and he's still the hero we've read about since 52. When Booster meets the rest of the team, everyone seems up for the task except for Gardner, who refuses to let Booster lead the team, and storms out. Booster refuses to go after him and says he has to come back on his own or he won't respect Booster at all. We also see Lady Godiva apparently has a crush on Booster as she keeps hitting on him. As Gardner leaves he's stopped by Batman, who says he believes in Booster and he knows he can do this. Gardner says he refuses to follow his orders why Bats, Supes and Hal are on the main squad. He tells Bats if Booster is as capable as he thinks he is, they'll do fine without him. Later, the newly formed team are giving a Jet by Queen Industries just to spite the X-Men I guess..., also, August General and Rocket Red argue because apparently Russians and Chinese people don't get along. As the team goes to look for the missing researchers, Booster tries to make it to the cockpit, before he wonders who's flying the jet, he arrives to find out it's Batman, who wanted to lend a hand to our Golden Boy. Booster thinks that Bats doesn't believe he can lead the team, but Batman says it's because the JLI is short-handed, and the JLA thinks it;s good to have a link between the two teams. As the JLI searches for the missing researchers, we see two rogue civilians blow up the Hall of Justice because they don't like the U.N. "buying off" their heroes. Back with the JLI, they're suddenly attacked by some rock monsters that climb up from underground, the JLI fight them and make the rock monsters retreat, but suddenly a giant robot shoots forth from the ground as the JLI go on the defensive and this issue ends. Now THIS was a good issue. It shows Booster has still grown up, and clearly he and Bats prior conversations happened because Bats believes in Booster. I like that the team has a dynamic where everyone is still feeling one another out and there are really no set friendships besides Fire and Ice and Bats and Booster. This was a good start, and although we don't know a lot about each character yet, it definitely set some storylines into motion, I'd give this an 8.5/10 rating.

Booster Gold: Does the U.N. know you're here?

Batman: I've always enjoyed your sense of humor, Booster.

Batgirl #1

We start things off with a villain named The Mirror, he has a list of people and he walks up to a man named Graham Carter, who survived a sinking ship when twenty-seven of his fellow sailors did not, the mirror then takes a water hose from Mr. Graham and puts it in his mouth until he drowns. Well I like this guy already, he's killing people in ironic ways where they "cheated death". It's like someone took the plot for Final Destination and instead of making like eighty movies they just made him a supervillain. Anyway, we see Barbara Gordon is next on his list. From there we see a Red-Headed Batgirl (Sorry Stephanie...) dropping in to stop a bunch of criminals that break into homes and murder parents for fun, known as the Brisby Killers. Batgirl takes them down left and right, and knocks one of them out cold, which she attributes to "having arm strength like a mother" now. After a stand off, Batgirl manages to save the family and take down the criminals, but she thinks to herself how rusty and scare she was during it all. We then see Babs in bed, having a nightmare of when The Joker shot her, which was three years ago for those interested. We see Babs get out of bed and walk to the kitchen where her father is sitting as Babs explains to us that she was shot through the gut with a spinal cord injury and how she couldn't use her legs for three years until a miracle happened which allows her to walk, but we get no insight on what exactly happened. We then see her talk to her dad and she explains it's time for her to move out. We then see Babs moving into her new apartment, where she has a roommate named Alysia that works nights, which works for her Babs' alter-ego. Meanwhile, we see one of the criminals Babs thwarted is in the hospital, and The Mirror has found his way inside and killed a guard. Babs gets a police report text since she's wired her phone to get her dad's police messages. She gets her Batgirl costume on and pulls out her Bat-Cycle (memories) and heads to the hospital. As she arrives, The Mirror finds the criminal from earlier and states that he should've fell and died during his fight with Batgirl. Batgirl arrives to stop the Mirror but he pulls a gun on her and she freezes, which is expected given her past. The Mirror then grabs the criminal's bed and runs him towards the window (I always wondered why they have those huge window-walls at hospitals...) and pushes him out before turning a gun back on Batgirl, as a downed police officer calls Batgirl a murderer for letting him kill the criminal as the issue comes to a close. First things first, that dude isn't dead, I'd bet anything that Batman, Robin, or Nightwing caught him. Secondly, how is Batgirl a murderer for not doing anything... meanwhile the woman accusing her also did nothing. Anyway, this was a good issue, there's still a lot of questions but after reading JLI and Static, I's say this was closer to JLI in terms of being a good reboot story, so I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

(Edit: In the scene where the guy is pushed out of the window, he has one eye... so..yeah.)

Civilian: Bless you. Bless you Batwoman.

Batgirl: Well, close, I guess, and you're welcome. And the name's Batgirl.

Morning Glories #12

We start thing off seeing a character named Miss Hodge return to Morning Glories academy. Interestingly enough, to get to the Academy you apparently have to take a elevator then a vehicle through a huge underground radioactive cellar until you get to the school... that's pretty wild. Apparently the MG students love Miss Hodge as she's joking and laughing and giving advice before she finally gets to her office. As she looks through some papers she notices something and heads to see a student that was murdered, looks to be the one Zoe killed a few issues back. After seeing the bodies of other dead students in the morgue, Miss Hodge pulls Miss Daramount out of her classroom and questions her about the bodies and if "he" knows, to which Daramount says the Headmaster knows. Hodge then pulls Daramount's sleeves up as we see she has all types of cuts and marks on her arms, courtesy of the Headmaster. Hodge then says she needs to spend time with these new kids and she already has permission slips signed. When Miss Daramount asks Hodge what she's going to do, Hodge says the same thing she always does, bail out out of trouble with dad. What? Apparently Hodge and Daramount are sisters and the Headmaster is their dad. Miss Hodge quickly finds Zoe and has her come to her office and gives Zoe a gun, she tells her to keep it close and make sure she doesn't get searched. She tells her that her records show she's going to need it. Interesting... after that Miss Hodge meets with Jun, their conversation is brief but we see she basically helped him get into Morning Glories, obviously to save his brother. During her chat with Jade she gives her some pills that should help her stop having nightmares and throwing up, that is if she wants to stop having the nightmares. During her meeting with Hunter, she mentions him having a problem with time and how he always see's the same time. She then says that his files have everything he's done and ever will do, including him having a crush on a certain classmate, but when she shows them to him they show that the files are blank, as she asks how he suppose that works. After that Miss Hodge goes to meet with Ike but walks away and mumbles "not yet" to herself. Lastly, we see Casey go back to the site where she last saw her parents in issue one, as Miss Lara Hodge introduces herself and asks if her friends know yet about Casey's parents. She says that she's being held there too, even as a faculty member she's still stuck at MGA. She also says Casey's file says she goes there everyday, which is how she new where Casey was, and her parents loved her very much, which annoys Casey so she socks Miss Hodge in the mouth and says she doesn't trust her one bit. Miss Hodge tells her she could never escape Morning Glories Academy but now she can with the help of Casey, and she can help her burn Morning Glories to the ground, when Case asks why she would ever believe this, Miss Hodge says what if she said she could bring Casey's parents back, as the issue ends on a huge cliffhanger. Now this was a great issue, I really like Miss Hodge, she may or may not be trustworthy but I like the character as of right now and this issue was informative and set a lot of things into motion, it answered questions but started new ones as well. I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating.

Zoe: Who in the hell are you, anyway? And why are you dressed like a zookeeper?

Miss Hodge: I'm your guidance counselor, Bitch. Now get in the goddamned office. (Awww snap!)

And that's it for this week everyone, thanks for reading and be sure to check out the results for last week's poll. Even more important, be sure to vote on this week's poll, because depending on the results, next week may be the last Ratings and Rantings! So vote and let me know how you feel about that. Anyway, that's it for me, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

The last poll asked "Which DC Comics are you picking up this week?"

Last place with 0% - Flashpoint #5... I'm not even going to make a joke.
Third place with 10% - No DC Comics for me this week
Second Place with 30% - Justice League #1, This was me as well..
Winner with 60% - Justice League and Flashpoint #5, So... learn anything about the DCnU?

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman and Robin #1, Deathstroke #1, Green Lantern #1, Grifter #1, Amazing Spider-Man #669, Ultimate Spider-Man #1, and Deadpool #43.

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, thanks again for stopping by for another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This is a big week for comics as Spider-Island part one officially starts, and awesome comics like Fabian Nicieza's Red Robin and Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl sadly end. But we've got a lot to get through today so enough with the introductions, let's jump into things with the aftermath of the War of the Green Lanterns!

War of the Green Lanterns: Aftermath #2

We start things off with Soranik being asked to help assassinate Sinestro, and after hesitation she agrees to help. From there we see Kilowog, Kyle and Guy discussing Kyle's rift with Soranik, John not showing any remorse for killing Mogo, and the fact their rings won't show them where Hal is. Suddenly, Morro shows up and tells the GL's that the Guardians wish to bury Krona with their fallen Green Lantern members, which riles up Kyle, Guy and Kilowog so they go to see Salaak. They tell him they don't want Krona buried there, but Salaak says he's following orders. When Kyle stands up to him, Salaak accuses him of mutiny and he's threatened by Guy. Salaak then leaves, saying he has to take care of some errands, which prompts Kyle to realize how divided the Corps are thanks to this mess which was caused by Krona. He says he's going to apologize to Soranik and asks his ring where she is, but it replies that she's blocked tracking of her ring. He immediately realizes she must be up to something no good, involving her father, Sinestro, so he flies off, leaving Kilowog and Guy confused. Hannu, Soranik and the other members of the squad that wants to kill Sinestro subdue the Guardians' security but Kyle shows up before they can get inside. He tells everyone to relax and tries to talk to his girlfriend, which Soranik says she isn't and attacks Kyle. Kyle manages to knock Sora out and turns his attention on everyone else, and they blast at him but he moves out of the way. Their blasts rip open the Guardians door to reveal they have Sienstro in some sort of torture device trying to force the ring off of his finger. They give up and decide to address the Lanterns soon after as a group, and the Guardians say they will forgive most misdeeds of late, but one thing they will no longer tolerate is to have their judgement questioned. They don't know why the ring chose Sinestro but it must have something planned for the future they can't foresee, so they command everyone to return to guarding their sectors. The issue ends soon after with the Lanterns giving Mogo a proper send-off, us never seeing Hal in this issue, and the Guardians approaching Ganthet like zombies. Well this was weird. I find it odd we never saw Hal in this issue, Sinestro was just allowed to keep his ring, Kyle and Soranik and Kyle and John seem to have grudges, and Guy is just Guy. Oh, and Atrocitus has Krona's corpse thanks to Ganthet. Anyway, most of this issue seemed like filler in my opinion, I'd give it a 6/10.

Sinestro: Surely, they came to kill me. It's what I would do.

Teen Titans #99

We start things off seeing that Superboy Prime had himself cloned pretty much to bring along three other Superboy's to deal with Superboy and the Teen Titans. As the Teen Titans take on their enemies, we see into the thoughts of Red Robin, dealing with fighting his best friend, Wonder Girl fighting her now ex-boyfriend's clone, and Kid Flash taking on a carbon copy of Inertia. Meanwhile, we see Beast Boy, Solstice, Raven and Ravager fight their counterparts, Ravager even takes on the Persuader AND Indigo. Woo, you go Rose! Prime then leads his Titans after Titan Tower to finish the onslaught, even having Headcase use the Golden Gate bridge to turn it into a gigantic robot-like monster. The Teen Titans are busy saving civilians and manage as Prime sits back admiring the handiwork and says he's about to end the Titans legacy, when he's confronted by Bombshell, Zatara, Aquagirl, Speedy, Blue Beetle, Miss Martian, Supergirl and a very tall Damian Wayne as this issue ends. Well, that issue flew by, it was basically a fight stretched out over twenty or so pages with some needless dialogue to get us to the final issue, #100. This was alright, nothing amazing, and I would've preferred to see more Titans of the past, maybe Dick, Roy, Donna, Starfire and such, but ah well. Also, why is Prime just standing around watching, he could kill ALL of them. ALL OF THEM! Even the other Superboys!!!! Anyway I'd give this issue a 6.5/10.

Robin: Legends are a thing of the past.

Speedy: Legacies last Forever. (First thing she's said since Lian's funeral in Rise and Fall of Arsenal...)

Deadpool #41

We start things off with Deadpool, once again wearing his trademark mask, welcoming back the fellow inmates he beat the hell out of. We see that Deadpool has progressed since getting his mask back, and sense everyone's afraid of him and giving him their fruit cocktail (THAT IS NOT A EUPHEMISM!), Deadpool's on top of the world. One person who hasn't been allowed out to play or get any fruit cocktail is the Fool Killer, who wants revenge against a certain Deadfool, er, um, Deadpool. Meanwhile, we see Deadpool talking to the Doctor that'd taken an interest to him, when he realizes the boxes in which he converses with the voices in his head no longer show up, he asks her how she stopped them. Deadpool asks what she did to him and his brain, but she says she's not that kind of doctor. When an inmate says maybe she should tell DP what kind of Doctor she is, she has the inmate escorted away by security, before giving Deadpool one of her "specially made puzzles" to do. Deadpool immediately recognizes the picture from the scattered pieces, a job he'd completed in the past, as he notes they left out all the good stuff, all they left was the bodies. The Doctor said she wants Deadpool to see the bodies, but he says those are boring, and when she asks if murder is boring, Deadpool replies that he's a Mercenary, not a murderer, and he does it for money, but the doc doesn't believe Wade. Deadpool then notes that when he was a kid he saw a grown man slip off his porch and die, and that everyone in the neighborhood was shocked... but Deadpool never finishes the story because he apparently forgets he started it... that was interesting. Deadpool then says he's sleepy and wants to take a nap, but the doctor says he has to finish his puzzle first. Ten days later we see the doctor and her supervisor talking about how Deadpool has been sleeping so much and is sparingly leaving his cell, the soctor realizes she's losing Deadpool on her road to trying to cure him. We then cut to Deadpool, sleeping, when he's hesitantly awoken by a fellow inmate, who asks if Deadpool ever got any of Siryn's fruit cocktail (That IS a euphemism.), to which Deadpool replies he doesn't remember, he's done tons of things he no longer remembers. He then gets a letter from the daily mail distribution and it turns out he sent it to himself before he was committed and didn't remember that either. The letter contains a picture of Charlie Chaplin, which confuses Deadpool, we then see that the Foolkiller got a letter too, that enrages him, but we don't see what it is. The issue ends soon after with The Foolkiller being released from his cell as a sleeping Deadpool catches up on some rest. Now this was a pretty good issue, I couldn't get into the last one as much but this one was interesting, Deadpool seems to be somewhat cure, and he even started a story and didn't finish for some reason... I'd give this issue an 8/10.

Deadpool: What's so bad about puzzles? Puzzles are rad! (People still say rad?)

Red Robin #26

The final issue of Red Robin finally arrives, as a series I've followed since Fabian took over, I'm sad to see it go. There's been tons of women vying after your Timmy Drake/Wayne, and the final issue is Tim Drake finally going after the man who killed his father, so let's get to it. We start off with Red Robin facing off with Digger Harkness, a.k.a. Captain Boomerang. We get a quick recap to see that Tim planted seeds to lead Boomer to this trap, and that if he would've made one right choice in this cycle, he'd have never ended up in Red Robin's trap. We see that he had Digger steal what he thought was Black Lantern energy, and it eventually led him to Mr., Freeze because it needed to be opened by him due to being cryogenically sealed. Boomer bribed Freeze into helping him by saying he could use the power to resurrect his wife but when Freeze tells him it doesn't work, Boomer thinks he's lying and wants the power to himself. Red Robin intended this, so when Freeze killed Boomerang, Tim would feel no guilt, but at the last second he set off an explosion and took out Freeze before Digger knew what happened. But Timcouldn't allow Boomer to kill himself, nor would it allow anyone else to, so he decided he'd kill Boomerang himself. During their fight, Boomerang is hit and stumbles off a ledge, falling to his death, but Tim's conscience makes him save Boomer. Batman and Robin show up as the GCPD arrest Captain Boomerang, and Dick tells Tim he made the right choice saving him. After Dick and Damian leave, Tim says he knows Bruce is in the shadows, and Batman steps out, telling him he knows Tim made all the wrong choices that led Digger there, and regardless of how many options he gave Boomerang, Tim knew he'd pick the ones that would lead to him. Tim says this is him, and these are his decisions, as Batman leaves Tim standing on the rooftop, Tim says that this is his city if he wants it to be. Not Dick's or Bruce's, but his. This was a pretty good issue, we all knew Tim wouldn't kill Boomerang, nor allow him to die, but the planning that went into everything shows why Tim is Tim. This was a nice end to a great run of Tim as Red Robin under Fabian's watch, I'd give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Batman: You saved him tonight, Tim... But what about tomorrow... ? (Like you'd continually save Joe Chill...)

Batgirl #24

Batgirl, I've called one of the best series going for the last two years, with good reason. Bryan Q. Miller took a plucky character named Stephanie Brown, and made us care about her, he even made her become my favorite Batgirl, and yes I do mean over Barbara Gordon. So I'm sad to see this series end, but I do want to thank Bryan Q. Miller for the great issues, the tons of laugh of out loud moments, and being one of the first writers to actually make me like Damian Wayne. Thanks Bryan Q. Miller. So let's get to the finale of Stephanie Brown's run as the Blonde Bomber, Batgirl! We start off with Batgirl, Stephanie Brown, confronting her father, the former Cluemaster. It turns out not only was he behind everything that led Stephanie here, he also has been growing a powerful hallucinogen plant known as Black mercy. He blows the aroma at Stephanie which causes her to fall out and start hallucinating, and he gets ready to leave, saying he wonders what Steph's mom is up to. Before he can go, Batgirl throws one of her patented Goop-a-rangs, which explodes on her dad's hand, causing him to get stuck to the wall. Batgirl wakes up in the hospital with a nurse sitting next to her, the nurse is none other than her mom. After a few words back and forth, we discover that Batgirl got a blood transfusion to clear the spores from her body by her mom, and she's aware Stephanie is Batgirl and is very proud of all the good she's done. From there we see Batgirl leave her hospital room and she's surrounded by Nell and a bunch of the kids Batgirl and Robin helped save earlier in the series, we even see Robin through a window salute Batgirl from afar. That was a really great moment considering how critical Damian has been of Stephanie. From there we see Stephanie and Babs talking on the rooftop, and Babs asks Steph what she saw while under the spell of Black Mercy, as we see Steph beating up goons as Batgirl, Damian giving her the cold shoulder, and a mosaic of Babs, Wendy and Steph, a scene with Batgirl, Supergirl, Star Girl, Bombshell and Miss Martian in olden times fighting a dragon and dwarves, and even get the uber-awesome scene of a blue lantern Batgirl, Green Lantern Oracle and Red Lantern Damian Wayne (Awesome!) taking on a bunch of black lanterns. We also see a picture from 1944 with three Batgirl's (Steph, Babs and Cass) standing with the Blackhawks, as we even see Skeets in the picture, insinuating Booster Gold took it and finally we see an adult Stephanie with her son, and on the next page we see the adult Stephanie Brown as a futuristic Batwoman fighting crime alongside a future Batgirl. The issue ends soon after with Batgirl being optimistic about the future, and claiming this moment as her own, before swinging off into the city. This was an excellent issue, I loved the way Steph had things wrapped up with Babs, kind of passing the torch in a way. I loved the little what-if photos we got to see due to Steph's hallucinations, and I really loved the way Bryan showed how proud Mrs. Brown was of Stephanie. This has been a great run, damn near perfect in my opinion and I'm really sad to see Steph's run as Batgirl end. So thanks again to Bryan Q. Miller for giving us a hell of a book and a hell of a hero, Steph may be the "forgotten Robin" but she'll always be my favorite Batgirl. I'll give this issue of Batgirl a 10/10 rating.

Batgirl: It's only the end if you want it to be.

Detective Comics #881

This ends the over 50 year run of Detective Comics, and I can't think of too many other writers that deserve the honor more than Scott Snyder, who's crafted some of the best Batman related stories in recent memory. The last issue blew me away, and I know this one will as well. We start things off with Batman promising Commissioner Gordon that he'd fine Barbara, whose wheelchair was found outside with her blood stained on it. From there we see James and Babs, and Babs says that he's going to be found and he'll never see the light of day again. He says that may be true but it doesn't scare him, The only time he was really scared is when he first met Barbara, and the way she looked at him like she could tell there was something evil in him waiting to get out, but he was relieved because she saw it too. He asks when she first discovered he was "a psychopath" as Babs called him. Babs says when he retaliated at a bus driver for calling him four-eyes, and how he waited a year to get his revenge, as she was attacked in an alley and had her face slashed and disfigured. He asks how she knew it was him, and she says the weapon he used, a matchbox with razorblades tapes to both sides, so the cuts were too close to stitch, because if you stitch one side it pulls the other open. That sounds painful as hell... Snyder you're a sick man. Anyway, Babs says James did it for the sake of hurting her, and he wants people to pick on him, as it gives him an excuse to do what he already wants to do, torture them. He then tells Babs to look at her legs, she pulls away the cover that's over them to reveal two knives sticking out of her thighs above her knees. James says their stuck in her femoral arteries and if she pulls either one out she'll bleed to death in a matter of minutes. He then cites the time he was thrown in Arkham by Babs and their dad for a few nights to be scared straight, and how his cell was a few away from The Joker's. James said he actually ended up getting along with The Joker, and how Joker's a good listener, and he told Joker how Babs was always in a rush to grow up... and how he may have suggested maybe she should slow down and rest in a nice cozy chair. Holy shit... Scott Snyder is a goddamn genius. James Gordon... is the one to suggest The Joker paralyze Barbara Gordon?! Nope, he isn't as it turns out he never did say that, he's just tormenting Babs because he's an asshole. Well played good sir. Babs says she thought James was different, unlike the other criminals when he came from her, she figured when James came for her there wouldn't be any grandstanding, he'd just kill her, and before she can finish her sentence, James yanks the knife out of one of Babs legs. He says that Babs is right, but this isn't just about her, it's also about him, as we cut over to Batman trying to find Babs with the help of Red Robin via comm link. The link is interrupted by James Gordon who immediately outs Batman as being Dick Grayson. He recounts how basically while he was in a clinical trial, he saw that Batman had returned on the news and he was smiling, and how that reminded him of Dick from his childhood always being around Babs and how Dick always smiled and genuinely cared about people. He said at that moment he realized Dick was Batman, and it was no longer Bruce. He then reveals he's been around for most of the run Snyder has been doing, how he was there when Dick attended The Dealer's auction, and how this all led up to him getting alone time with Barbara for this moment. He then says they'll find Babs' body soon, and before he leaves town he's going to kill his father too, and he turns around and notices Babs has tries to escape. He turns a corner looking for her when Babs stabs him right to the side of his left eye with the knife that was in her other leg, but James recovers as if nothing happened. James gets up as Babs tries to crawl away, and as he finally reaches her, Batman appears and lays James out with one big punch, and tells Babs he's going to cauterize her wounds. Babs asks how he found them and he says when he met James for lunch he placed a tracer on him that works on a cellular platform, and how it just kicked in a few minutes ago. As Dick tries to cauterize Babs' wounds, she tells him not to let James get away. James gets outside and tries to get away when he's shot through the leg by his father, and then through the other leg as he continues his escape. He falls off a bridge but James is caught by his dad who says he's not letting him go. We later see Gordon thanking Dick, for everything, implying he knows he's Batman, and Dick tells him it was no problem. They ten talk about Gotham and how it seems to know everyone's nightmares and make them true. The issue ends soon after with both men vowing to stay in Gotham, ready for whatever the future brings. This was a wonderful issue, I'm looking forward to Snyder's Batman run even more now, and the character of James Gordon is so sick and sinister that he's a perfect villain. I would LOVE to see him return and become Babs' own Joker if you will. I'd give this issue a 10/10, especially due to the cliffhanger it left, an excellent end to the franchise of Detective Comics.

James Gordon: That's the spirit, sis! Hide and seek!

Morning Glories #11

We start thinks off with Ike sitting with a pool of blood pouring out of the body by his feet. He's stunned as he's told by Abraham to get out of here, and that everything will be taken care of by Abraham himself. Ike, seeming confused and still stunned leaves after thanking Abraham. From there we see Mr. Gribbs banging on a door and three women walk out, before finally Ike comes to the door. Gribbs tells Ike they finally have some use for him, and we see the two taking a walk. Gribbs basically says he figured Ike for the rich, prissy, smart ass type but after looking through his file he was surprised to see that Ike was wicked enough to kill his own father. We see a flashback of the media whirlwind that ensued once people thought Ike killed his billionaire father, but we see he was exonerated of all charges, and his lawyer wants to get him home after leaving court but Ike says he wants to stop at his father's funeral, but they must make another stop prior to that. From there we see Gribbs tell Ike he will let him free, let him out of Morning Glory Academy and allow him to go wherever he pleases without hearing from them again, if he kills for him. Ike is taken aback and says he needs time to mull it over, which Gribbs grants him. We then see a flashback to Ike's dad's funeral, where he brought a party bus and a bunch of dancer's, and even a banner that says "The Dick is Dead, Long live the Dick." He then drinks alcohol and insults his mother all while enjoying the death of his father. From there we jump back to present day and see Ike going to his former quarters where he's threatened by Jun for betraying the team, but Jun is calmed by Hunter. From there we see Hunter run into Jade, which we saw in Jade's issue, before being told to F*** off by Casey. He's then approached by Zoe, who states that as long as he keeps drawing their rage she coasts by. He says that if she were smart she would've cut the gang off a while ago, he did and pretty soon he'll be going home, to which Zoe replies that Ike doesn't seem like the type that has much to go home to. Burn! After that epic burn, we flashback to seeing a parking attendant that Ike is bribing, since he has tape of Ike leaving the building after his father was killed. Ike tells him he has to destroy the tape and forget he saw it but the guy plans on using it for more money because he's a greedy bastard. Ike warns him that it isn't safe and the money was to get his attention, the man starts coughing and clutching his chest before he falls over dead. Ike grabs the phone with the video from the mans hand and leaves as people come over to check on the man. Back in the present, Ike goes to see Gribbs and says he'll have to decline the offer, and Gribbs says that's fine but he can tell Ms. Daramount himself. He walks into her office and she tells him to call her Georgina, and she says if she had offered she would've been much less callous about it than Gribbs. What then follows is a bunch of words I didn't notice because Miss. Daramount took her hair down and removed her glasses and she is hawt! She basically offered to "thank Ike" if he did what she asks, probably with some fruit cocktail and the next page we see Ike walk out asking Gribbs where the guy is and how can he kill him. Well played Ike, well played. As Gribbs leads Ike to a basement room with the guy Ike is to kill, Ike is asked if he killed his own dad. Ike stumbles for a bit before saying yes, but they weren't that close. Gribbs says good news, before opening a door and revealing Ike's father, Abraham (?!), who says hey to Ike, as Ike, who doesn't even look surprised says hey back, as this issue ends. Now this was interesting, I loved seeing into Ike's past, as he's a smart ass and that's a fun character to read about (Jason Todd anyone?) and the stuff with him and Zoe as well as the scene with Miss Georgina Daramount made this issue interesting to say the least. Now I'm wondering why Ike's dad isn't really dead... and apparently is none other than Abraham. I'd give this issue a 9/10 rating only because we don't know why the guy in the bar died, that seemed very abrupt and I wish I had more insight on that.

Ike: Mummy! You know I applaud a woman who wears white to a wedding even though she's not a virgin, and wears black to a funeral even though she's not mourning.

The Amazing Spider-Man #667

We kick things off with Carlie Cooper showing Peter she has spider powers, which makes him wonder if he gave her a S.T.D., a Spidery Transmitted disease. Classic Slott. From there we see Madame Web and Shang-Chi on a rooftop, as they watch The Jackal and his guards show up at a meeting of thieves and mobsters from various crime families. Of course, they all end up fighting one another with their spider powers until the Jackal and his two goons, Spider-King and the Tarantula step in and put everyone in time-out. Jackal tells them thanks to him they have powers, and forget about what gangs they were in, they all have a new uniform, as he presents them with Spider-Man costumes, saying their going to break so many laws, and the most important one, Identity Theft. From there we see Peter and Carlie saying good bye to Jay and May at the airport, as Peter calls Aunt May "Mom" before they leave, and Carly for some reason yells she has Spider-Powers in the middle of her good-bye which cracks me up. Next we see a bunch of Spider-Men in different suits terrorizing New York, Mary Jane happens to see this and steps in, saving a kid from being crushed by something one of the bad guys threw. When a Spider-Man with the FF costume tells her quick thinking, she asks "Is that you, tiger?" to which he replies "Oh, I'l be your Tiger, pussycat." before he has his clock cleaned by The Thing! The Avengers join the fray and start taking on the phony Spidey's as MJ asks where Peter is. We then see Peter is stuck in traffic with Carlie as Jameson has ordered a lockdown on New York, due to a bunch of people developing spider powers. Before Pete can even react, Carlie web-slings off, saying this is a job for your friendly neighborhood Spidey-Cop. I'm really starting to like Carlie, plus she has a tattoo of Spidey's face on her pelvis apparently. Peter quickly changes into his Spidey gear and goes after Carlie, hoping he's able to dissuade her. Spidey arrives on the scene and manages to get beat up by Thing, Ms. Marvel and Iron Fist because they don't believe he's the real Spidey. Shang-Chi, unable to sit this one out like Madame Web instructed, joins the fight as Madame Web says Spidey has just learned the first lesson of Spider-Island, even though he has great responsibility, on Spider-Island his great powers are meaningless. We see Spider-Man laid out next to a bunch of other Spider-Men as this issue comes to a close. This was a fun issue, it jumped around a lot, I got a few laughs from Carlie and Ms. Marvel, and it was a great official start to Spider-Island. I'm wondering what Spidey can do to differentiate himself from these costumed villains as well. I'd give this first issue an 8.5/10 rating.

Mary-Jane: I swear, if we're doing the clone thing again, I'm going back to L.A.!

Whew, a pretty good week if I say so myself! The end of Batgirl, Red Robin and Detective Comics, the beginning of Spider Island. Well, that's all for this week guys and gals, until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, recklessly misusing my Spider-Powers to get a main event match against CM Punk and Wrestlemania. Anyway, I'm Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which Comic Character do you think should get a movie next?"

Last place with 0% - Venom, cause Sony and Topher Grace ruined him for us.
Third place with 9.1% - Teen Titans, cause we don't WANT it, but if it looks good, we'll see it.
Second place with 36.4% - The Flash, and 100% hope it's Wally and not Barry...
Winner with 54.5% - Invincible! Make it happen Kirkman!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman #713 (By Fabian Nicieza), Titans #38, Green Lantern Corps #63, Power Girl #27, Venom #6 and X-Men: Schism #3