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

Ratings and Rantings

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

Green Lantern #67

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

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

Deadpool #40

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

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

Batgirl #23

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

Batgirl: SHAZAM!

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

Red Robin #25

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

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

Green Lantern Corps #61

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

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

Amazing Spider-Man #665

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

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

X-Men: Schism #1

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

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

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

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

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

Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, it's that time again for your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings. I'm your host, the incomparable Jason Todd, here to review comics for you guys and gals. Before I get started I'd like to mention a few of DC's new reboots that have interested me so far, besides JLI and possibly JLA,  Nightwing and Red Hood and the Outlaws, I'm also now interested in the new Teen Titans and the new Static Shock series. So, five or six outta 52 eventual titles so far I guess isn't a bad start... Anyway enough about the future, let's get to the present comics, because we've got five to run through today, and since I didn't know Invincible #80 dropped this week, it's been subbed in and Superman/Batman has been pushed back a week by DC, and lastly, my shop didn't have Morning Glories this week (boo) so I'll review that next week.

Red Robin #24

We start things off with Red Robin taking on the Scarab and her fellow Scarab's. but the fight doesn't last long because Tim and Lonnie had already worked up a virus for the armor that was stolen from the GCPD, which quickly takes care of everyone except Scarab, who wasn't wearing armor. She somehow manages to escape from Red Robin so Tim asks Lonnie to see if he could find any information on this tournament of death that Tim's life is the prize of. It turns out that killing a CEO was a ruse, and that was used to throw people off the trail so they wouldn't know the real target was Viktor Mikalek, so four hours later, Red Robin arrives in Samara with the intent on saving Mikalek. Once Tim gets past his security, he asks Viktor why they were after him, and who shot him. Mikalek mentions that he was shot by the woman Red Robin helped escape a few issues ago, Promise. He also mentions that thanks to Red Star, he's pretty much going to be ousted by Russia, to which Red Robin doesn't care, until Mikalek mentions that if he is ousted, where else would he go but the city where he recently purchased a hockey team, Gotham City. Red Robin then decides to try to find Promise before she can finish the job of killing Mikalek, but by the time he finds her "crow's nest" as it were, it's been abandoned. Surprisingly he's attacked by a GIANT member of the tournament that is beating Tim senseless, until Promise shows up and blasts him in the back with rubber bullets. Tim is then attacked by Promise of all people, who can make her hands look like Venom's for some reason, and knocks Tim out. He awakens chained up underground, with his Red Robin suit on but his cowl off. He's introduced to Promise's sister, a.k.a. the woman we've seen with Ra's Al Ghul, and she intends on killing Tim, but not before his legacy lives on by giving her a child, and the mystery woman disrobes as this issue ends. I couldn't get into this for some reason, obviously it's being rushed do to the reboot, I mean we went from Tim being cornered by a ton of guys to him beating them in three pages, to chasing Scarab, meeting Mikalek, fighting a big guy, then this Ra's mystery lady just being related to Promise, out of nowhere. But I couldn't get into it, it wasn't bad, but things jumped around too much and seemed really rushed, I'll give this a 6/10 rating.

Me: So wait...that dude...on the cover is Promise?

Batman: Arkham City #2

This cover is epic, one of my favorites of the year so far. We start things off with Vicki Vale and Jack Ryder outside of the future Arkham City, doing a live report on the future prison , or as Mayor Sharp refers to it, a "Quarantine Zone". As Sharp speaks, we see someone else is saying words and Sharp is merely parroting them. During this, Bruce Wayne arrives, and Vicki asks his thoughts, considering he's a member of the parole board, Bruce mentions he has a wait and see approach, but he does want to know who is in charge of releasing criminals, sense Sharp has suspended the parole board. But Sharp dances around the subject and never gives Bruce an answer. From there we see Batman, as he mentions to Alfred that he is convinced Sharp's strings are being pulled by someone else, so he goes to try to find Mayor/Warden Sharp's file at his home. Batman gets past Sharp's rent-a-cops without anyone noticing him, and finds his file which says that due to Sharp's past, he's a prime candidate for Schizophrenia. That explains why he believed himself to be the spirit of Amadeus Arkham. While Batman gathers files, a computer turns on and we see a shadowed figure that tells Batman welcome and that he can take the files, but they have something for him. A small Gatling gun descends from the ceiling and starts shooting Bats with rubber bullets, which barely sting due to his suits armor. Sleeping gas is then released, as well as other nuisances, which Batman deals with quickly because he realizes this is being done so they can study his fighting style. We then see Aaron Cash is doing his job of sedating criminals for their movement to Arkham City, even a guy named Jimmy Briggs, who's a small fish that won't survive in Arkham, I hope Jimmy Briggs is addressed in the game. We then see The Joker being moved, and he can't wait to get to Arkham City, he even plans on running for Mayor, which made me laugh. As he's wheeled away, he realizes he isn't being taken to be sedated, and is instead being taken to a guard room, where a bunch of pissed off guards plan on killing Joker over what happened to their friends during the events of "Batman: Arkham Asylum" That's an awesome callback, and I loved seeing Joker's thoughts during this, as he knew he was in trouble but played his Joker persona up the whole time. Surprisingly, Joker is saved when one of the guards turns on the others, even more surprisingly, the guard is revealed to be Harley Quinn, who does some pretty vicious attacks in order to save Mistah J, and the two escape by boat. Batman has apparently planned for this after the last events of Arkham, and knows when someone leaves Arkham without clearance, and he's also installed cameras in the boats, and see's Joker and Harley escaping. He goes after them with the Bat-Boat, and Batman blasts their boat with a missile. He tells them to surrender but they don't, so he blasts them again which blows the boat up. Well damn Bats... anyway he doesn't find any survivors, which lets him know Joker and Harley escaped. When Joker and Harley wash ashore, they find their way into none other than Arkham City, and no one knows their there. So Joker and Harley proclaim themselves Mayor and Mayoress of Arkham City as this issue ends. Man... I LOVED this comic. I mean, the last two years have been hit or miss for me with Dini's work, but this comic was great, everything had a pace, we saw Joker and Batman take center stage, we even got to see Harley kick some ass and show us why she's one of the baddest women in Gotham. I'll give this a perfect 10/10 rating, bring on more Arkham City!

The Joker: There are hands to shake, babies to kick, no one puts the "pain" in "campaign" like yours truly!

Deadpool #38

We start things off with an enraged Hulk asking Deadpool where the nukes are, but Deadpool won't spill the beans, especially since he doesn't have anymore nukes, but doesn't want the big green wrecking machine to know about that. DP tells Hulk that he has a small transmitter in his body that's powered by the electrical current in his body which will detonate a randomly placed nuke all over the city each hour, which is an excellent lie that he made up on the spot. He then taunts the Hulk, asking "What the hell are you gonna do about it?" Which makes the Hulk even MORE angry and causes him to grow in size/ Hulk calls Deadpool a monster, to which DP replies, takes one to know one. He then punches Deadpool SO far that he goes through numerous buildings and backgrounds and momentarily dies. Goddamn... that's just awesome. Deadpool soon awakes from death but not before promising his angel of death that he was gonna get Hulk to kill him. When Hulk lands where he knocked Deadpool, Deadpool manages to use a wrecking ball wire, get it ties around the Hulks legs, and use him as a wrecking ball, until Hulk gets even larger and more angry. Deadpool, proud of himself for finally enraging The Hulk so much that he KNOWS he's gonna smash him into dust, he realizes that Hulk will not only destroy him but probably everything within a Hundred feet. The issue ends as Hulk rushes towards Deadpool, who realizes that he's right next to a children's daycare. Man, this issue FLEW by as you can tell from the short review, but there was so much action that I loved it. I mean, I'm not a Hulk fan but he's been really impressive in these issues and as always, Daniel Way writes a fun Deadpool. This issue was really funny and now that DP has pissed off Hulk to the max, he has to get him away from innocent kids? Genius twist Dan Way, THAT's how you do it, M. Night! This issue of Deadpool gets a 9/10 rating from me.

Deadpool: He's gonna mega smash us into, like, sub-atomic particles!

Batman and Robin #24

We kick things off with a flashback, to Jason's time as Robin, and Batman telling him when things go wrong, not to just act cool and stay level headed, but to take control of the situation. We then flash forward to see Jason and his anamorphic rescuers who just saved him from being shipped back to Arkham, the Menagerie. The chained Jason asks for answers, but his saviors aren't at liberty to say who sent them or why, so Jason decides to take matters into his own hands, and beat the hell out of them. The artwork in this issue has fallen DRAMATICALLY since the last issue, I mean... I'm not trying to be a jerk but in comparison it looks horrible. Anyway, Jason takes down one of them but is soon overcome considering it's four on three and they have the strength and speed of their animal counterparts. They catch Jason and plan on taking him in alive, but considering he can't help but be an ass, he kicks one of them in the head, which makes him angry enough to want to bring Jason in as "Alive but broken". Before he can attack Jason, Batman and Robin show up to the party. Batman and Robin take on the Menagerie along with Jason, and Dick even saves Jason's skin (literally) but once Jason gets a gun the tone changes. Jason takes the reptilian member of the Menagerie hostage and shoots him in the foot, then holds a gun to his head and prepares to leave when he gets a call on a phone one of the Menagerie members has. Jason answers and we see him talking to some mysterious woman, who tells Jason to surrender or they'll kill the only person he cares about, his former partner, Scarlet. I guess this is enough of a reason for Jason to team up with Batman and Robin, which is a decision Damian is not a fan of.  Damian wants to leave Jason, tied up, and take Scarlet to Juvie. Dick says no, Jason is coming to willingly turn himself in, but won't go unarmed. Damian mentions that Jason will probably turn on them, and he'd prefer a plan, but Dick says they'll adapt if they have to, which is what Bruce told Jason as Robin. Dick also notes that if they make a plan, Jason will hear them since he probably has the building wired, and Dick mentions that's what he'd do anyway. Jason chimes in that Dick is right, and sometimes "You've gotta lie down with dogs and wake up with fleas." as Jason walks out wearing his costume from Grant's run, except without the cape and pill helmet, he has a leather jacket and his classic Red Hood helmet as the issue ends. This was a nice issue, I expected it to be dumb with the animals from the last issue, but the callback to Scarlet as well as Jason's new costume made me really enjoy this issue. I'll give it a 8.5/10, as I'm not a big fan of the artwork.

Jason Todd: Thank God. Batman and Robin are here. (This comment just OOZED of sarcasm.)

Invincible #80

We start things off with a huge bomb dropped on Mark, just minutes after finding out the news that Eve was pregnant while he was away, his parents tell them their getting back together, but since Nolan can't stay on Earth, both of Mark's parents are going to Talescira, plus his mom wants to go see Oliver. They also waste no time leaving, as they leave only minutes later. With the house to themselves, Eve tells Mark she's moving in, due to all the drama that goes on at her parents house. The next day, Mark goes to see William and explain how he and Eve are moving in due to his parents moving to an alien world. While they talk, Rick walks in with dinner and kisses William, his boyfriend, on the cheek, which of course, surprises the hell out of Mark. After talking about it, Mark thinks back to all the times they changed in gym and he says he's glad William wasn't attracted to him, and in a moment of pure hilarity, William says he's always been attracted to Mark a little, to which even Rick agrees. Lmao, that's so damn awkward. Anyway, Mark, embarrassed leaves and William wishes they had handled it better, because he doesn't think Mark will take him flying again. Man... this series is so awesome. The fact that that's what worries him the most is hilarious. From there we see Invincible flying when he spots a criminal, the criminal instantly gives up, knowing he can't take on Invincible. When Invincible asks why he ran away on the side of a building with gravity boots and such when he could've just escaped with what he stole (bonds from a bank) with normal clothes and he would've never noticed him. The criminal seems nice and we find out he stole the bonds so he could buy his girlfriend a wedding ring, he starts crying when he realizes he's going to jail, so Invincible tells him he'll return the bonds for him and let him go free. He then goes to return the bonds for him before getting out of his Superhero gear and hitting a comic shop. While there, Mark manages to take a few shots at his own writer and DC Comics for restarting ALL their series at #1! Haha, God this is great, go Kirkman! Afterwards, we see Mark and his newer, thicker, more bootylicious (lol) version of Eve cleaning the master bedroom, and she even cleanses the sheets, which only slightly changes Mark's mind about sleeping in a bed where his parents had sex. They get a call at Invincible Inc. a.k.a. a cell phone that Eve has, and she tells him there's a big red guy attacking a client's building in Vegas. Mark gets dressed as Invincible and heads to Vegas to take on The Velociraptor. When the dinosaur-man announces that Vegas is full of bombs that will explode any second, Mark tries to figure out how to stop him, but surprisingly runs out of time, and Las Vegas is wiped off the map, the blast is so huge it obliterates everything, turns the ground to glass from the heat, and manages to turn Mark's suit into dust, leaving him nude in a desolate land as this issue ends. Man, that was wild, I didn't expect that ending at all, and this was a good issue with a lot of action, and since I can't think of one thing I didn't like, I'll give this a 10/10 rating.

Eve: We can move into the master bedroom.

Mark: No Way. My parents have had sex in there.

Eve: From what your mom told me, if that'll keep you out of a room we should probably just stay outside.

And that's it for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone. As always, thanks for reading and feel free to comment below. That's it for me, and the results for last week's poll is below so be sure to vote on this week's new poll as well. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off. Until next time, you stay classy, Todd Squad.

Last week's poll asked "What are your thoughts on the DC Reboot?"

Last place with 11.8% - "I hate it, I'm done with DC", good thing that's the minority eh?
Second place with 17.6% - "I love the idea, can't wait", we've got a few fans that can't wait.
Winner with 70.6% - "I'll wait and see before I decide", my personal pick, and a few series I can't wait for, but others should've never been more than an idea.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batgirl #22, Power Girl #25, Morning Glories #10 and Superman/Batman #85

Ratings and Rantings

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

Batman: Arkham City #1

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

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

Red Robin #23

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

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

Batgirl # 21

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

Batgirl: What the hell, Clancy?

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

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

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

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

Ratings and Rantings

Alright Todd Squad let's try this again, This is Jason Todd welcoming you once again to your weekly dose of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! Last week's post was derailed by the "Brightest Day Debacle",  so this week's post is gonna be packed to the brim with comic reviews and rants. By the way, I skipped Deadpool last time and have yet to read it so I'm dropping the Deadpool review from this week, sorry DP fans.So, let's jump right into this with our first comic, Batgirl.

Batgirl #20

We start things off seeing a quick look into the past year of Slipstream, a college student that's pretty much lazy as hell and doesn't care about doing anything other than sitting around. We then see he was recruited to the Order of the Scythe and is now Slipstream. He complains about his suit having a kill-switch and the rest of the Order explain they all have a fail-safe in their suits. Once they finish up talking they all get ready to get back to work so they can get whatever payment they were promised. We then see Batgirl and Proxy at Bagirl's new base, playing around with the tons of new tech they have due to Batman Inc. including a car that Batgirl's calling "The Compact." From there Steph goes to see Babs and they discuss how the money that Slipstream tagged is going out to be replaced by new bills since those bills are now defunct, to which Slipstream will follow to find a vast fortune and then steal, which is pretty damn genius. After some encouraging words from Babs and an awkward moment between the two Batgirl's, Steph heads to class. While in class she happens to be sitting right next to Slipstream but she doesn't know it of course. Slipstream gets the call that the money is on the move, and right after he leaves the classroom Steph gets the same call from Proxy. Steph then looks over where the guy was sitting to see a sketched map of Gotham, which causes her to realize she was sitting right next to Slipstream. Steph heads out to The Compact and hops in to follow after Slipstream. While trying to beat Slipstream to the punch and save the armored cars, they open fire on Batgirl, thinking her to be a threat to them for some reason. While their distracted Slipstream comes through  and knocks all the guards out, leaving only Slipstream vs. Batgirl. Batgirl uses her smarts to take the faux-Speedster down with some electro-magnetic-Gooparangs as she refers to them. Batgirl later explains to Detective Gage that she knew Slipstream would rush at her and not dodge because unlike Speedsters his brain isn't fast enough to keep up with his super speed so he had to think out routes beforehand and memorize them which makes perfect sense. When asked why he'd ever join with them, Gage comments they probably made him a great offer and says that he used to be a member of the Order of The Scythe himself, but he doesn't elaborate while Batgirl looks at him with a surprised face. The issue ends with the Order of the Scythe mentioning how the plan is going accordingly before introducing another Batgirl Baddie by the name of Harmony. This was a really good issue, I loved the reasoning for Batgirl being able to take down a super speed villain as well as the Batgirl charm that always flows from these pages so well, I'd give this issue a 8.5/10.

Stephanie: I am dealing with the matter at hand... by using the most bad assingest not-tortilla press batarang-maker that ever was! And I can combine cartridges?!

JL Generation Lost #23

We start things off with Max Lord on his knees with blood pouring from his nose as he successfully turns millions of people into OMAC's. How someone who uses mind control on people can turn them into robots perplexes me, but whatever. The JLI along with Batman realize that Max is searching for them with the OMAC's to find Wonder Woman since only they remember her, and they try to fight off the OMAC's for as long as they can. The team is soon overrun and Wonder Woman, Booster, Beetle, Rocket Red, Fire and Ice are transported away via a teleporter, leaving Batman, Power Girl and Captain Atom behind as the OMAC's disperse. The teleported team of six arrive in L.A. as Max's Checkmate Rook ship arrives, and drops a big threat for our team, OMAC Prime. The gigantic OMAC can talk apparently and has Max's voice, but wastes no time in trying to kill Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman dhishes out some big shots and the team backs her up with multiple blasts but they do nothing against OMAC Prime. Booster then takes off to go confront Max while the team takes on Prime. Booster then blasts a hole in Max's ship and demands he shuts it down, which leads to our long awaited Booster/Max confrontation. We then check in with the team and see that they're being destroyed due to Prime having their powers and using them against them. The issue ends with our team being decimated, Bats, Cap Atom and Peej being taken outta the equation, and the showdown between Max and Booster coming full speed. I think was was a great issue for setting up the finale and that's what it did, so I'll give it a 7.5, a great issue but it didn't do much but set the stage for other things to happen. Also, I hated Jaime and Gavril just talking while the three women got kicked around by Prime... Chivalry IS dead.

Booster Gold: I was hoping I'd have to beat you like a damn dog first.

Red Robin #22

Wooo Red Robin with no Unternet, sign me up baby! We get underway with Tim at the graves of his parents, thing back on their deaths and how he had stopped believing in God because he didn't thing a God would allow their deaths to happen the way they did. We then see that he's facing the Crusader who is basically a zealot who decided to team with Azrael and go all Sodom and Gomorrah as Tim states on Gotham. The only way to spare their wrath is for Red Robin, Batman and Catwoman to be judged worthy by them. Red Robin's test is he has one hour to save Mayor Hady from Azrael while dealing with physical and moral tests on the way. He manages to save a literal busload of civilians on his way and checks in with Batman who confirms that the two zealots are only testing them once at a time like they said they would and to play along. Red Robin then calls Lonnie and has him patch through some info on Azrael, and then has him call Azrael's wife I believe. He tells her that their going to fail these tests and it'll be up to her to stop Azrael and save Gotham. Damn Tim, that's a lot of pressure to put on one woman. Red Robin continues on, saving people everywhere that Crusader starts trouble including a church. As time dials down, Crazy ass Azrael is getting ready to slice and dice the Mayor, Red Robin shows up with two minutes to spare. Azrael then stabs Tim with his magical sword that makes people confess their sins, and Tim confesses nothing so Azrael proclaims him worthy. Suddenly the Crusader shows up and says that Red Robin has no faith as he didn't bow to God when he entered the Church and says he doesn't believe. Azrael asks Red Robin if this is true to which Tim admits it is, and Azrael says he feels sorry for Gotham but feels sorrier for Red Robin. They leave as Tim wonder is he should have lied, and states that he has no faith, he wants to but he doesn't. From there we see Ra's who gets word that Tim has failed, as Ra's says that Gotham lost their best hope, and with their fate on the shoulders of Catwoman and Grayson, they appear to be doomed. The issue ends as Ra's refers to Crusader and Azrael as the Angels of Death, and he proclaims that Gotham will be dead at Dawn. Now THIS is the Red Robin I love, I really enjoyed this issue and it made sense that Tim, a man of science would have lost faith, especially with all the deaths he's endured. Hell even the returns of Superboy, Steph and Bruce can all be explained by science... so this was great, I'd give this issue a 9/10, just because of the weird technicality Tim was caught with. I can't wait to see how this story progresses in Gotham City Sirens next week.

Azrael: I am sorry for Gotham... But I am sorrier for you.

Batman & Robin #22

Things start with the White Knight having a ton of civilians jump off of building, when Alfred interrupts the signal to incapacitate anyone with an earpiece that allows them to hear White Light's orders. Everyone already in the process of falling are saved by Batman and Robin, except for a select few that can't be saved by the Dynamic Duo. Back at the Bat Bunker, Dick and Damian discuss how White Knight went after everyone related to people in Arkham by blood or marriage and they then discuss nature vs. nurture. Dick says he doesn't believe in either as Damian recently turned his back on Talia and made a choice to leave the Al Ghul name. They then figure that the White Knight wants to kill all these relatives to stop the tainted blood that runs through them that's also in their Arkham inmate relatives. Alfred let's the Duo know that Arkham is lit up like a Christmas tree, which springs Batman and Robin into action. Once there they see a bunch of bright rods sticking out of the ground which emit a blinding light and has incapacitated Commissioner Gordon and his men. Batman and Robin head inside as we see the White Knight drowning all the inmates with his light or something, and most are freaking out except for The Joker, whose showering in the light. The White Knight then walks over to Dr. Phosphorous and reveals that as a kid he went to work with his father (who worked as a security guard at Arkham Asylum) and a riot broke out and his father was killed by the good Doc, who burned his palms into his back in the process and gave him "wings." Of course while this flashback is going on Batman and Robin show up and attack the White Knight. Zsasz is freed in the fray but Robin stops him as Batman pursues the White Knight. During their fight Batman shoots the ears off of his cowl into White Knights face when he gets too close, that's right, he SHOT THE EARS OFF OF HIS COWL... it was the most stupid yet most hilariously cool thing I've ever seen. Anyway, Batman manages to destroy his White Light gun thing which explodes and knocks out the White Knight. We later see him in Arkham and it's explained the blast fused his wings to his back, and Robin comments that the White Knight is now a White Angel. The issue ends with the White Angel (?) staring at two makeshift Batman and Robin logos as the lights go out. This was a fine issue, some small stuff in the background like with Joker and Zsasz were really good, but White Knight was never really made to be a threat so that made the end kinda lackluster, anyway I'd give this issue a 7/10.

Zsasz: Nobody gets to kill my family but me. (Oh Zsasz, you so crazy!)

Birds of Prey #11

It's a Huntress issue Ladies and Gents, as she goes on a date with Catman, which annoys me because Huntress + Jason = perfect Batfamily couple. Anyway we start things off with Huntress chasing after a jewel thief in the streets of Gotham. While following and fighting the thief, Oracle let's Huntress know that the thief's buddy has a hostage, a woman with asthma who lost her inhaler in the struggle. Huntress doesn't seem like she'll be able to help though since the thief has her at gunpoint, but Catman shows up and grabs the guy by the throat. He threatens to drop him off the edge of the building their on as Huntress notes to herself how much Catman has changed lately. After Catman scares the answers, and probably some other things out of the thief he knocks him out, and when Huntress asks what happened to Catman he pulls her close and kisses her. She then slaps the taste out of his mouth, because she may have had sex with Dick Grayson, Roy Harper, and Josh the Parking guy to name a few, but she's not easy! Huntress asks why Blake is in town and he simply says business and that he wanted to see her, so they decide to team up to free the asthmatic hostage. Meanwhile, Oracle has the flu so Dinah drops by to bring her some of her famous...er..infamous chili. Back with the new couple, Catman and Huntress find the guy's house thanks to Oracle and burst through the window. The criminal's woman tries to claw Catman's eyes out so he just punches her in the face, to Huntress's surprise and my joy. Huntress get's all bent outta shape because the woman was pregnant, and of course I sound like an ass for saying it but A.) she shouldn't have been attacking him if she's pregnant and B.) He hit her in the nose, he didn't slam her or anything... Anyway, after getting the information from that crook that his cousin Markie was with them and probably has the hostage so they head after him. While patching up Catman before they move to the next target, Huntress gives him her crucifix and tells him to pick a side, good or evil, and get out of the gray area in the middle like she's trying to. They then track down Markie and rush in to see he has the hostage tied up. Catman goes to check on the hostage since Huntress calls dibs on the big man known as Markie. After taking down Markie she turns her crossbow on Catman and lists off reasons how she figured out that he was one of the people behind the heist, which I didn't see coming. She tells him tyo leave and never cross her path again before slapping him. He then admits that he has a son by a very bad woman and that he was kidnapped and asks for Huntress's help. Surprisingly Huntress tells Catman that he lied to her and he can help himself, before walking away with the hostage. As she walks away, Deadshot steps out of the shadows and we see this was all a plan to make Huntress dislike Catman because he didn't want her to waste her time on him, which is pretty selfless, but I've seen Huntress so I'm gonna just say he's an idiot. Anyway, this issue was pretty good, not the date issue I expected but that's a good thing, I'll give this a 7/10.

Deadshot: She's just a woman, Blake. There are a couple billion more out there, I'm told.

The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #38

Identity Wars part one of three starts here, that's right, a three issue story with Spidey, Deadpool and The Hulk?! Sign me up baby! (Yeah, that's my new catchphrase I guess.) We start things off with Spider-Man (sporting a snazzy cape) taking down Doctor Octopus and posing in front of the Spider-Man statue as J. Jonah Jameson is overheard telling Robbie to make the front page "The Amazing Spider saves the city...again!" We soon find out that these isn't the world we know and Spidey is playing Spidey in another universe. We go back to see how we got here and we see Peter Parker celebrating how happy he is to work at Horizon labs instead of taking pics for Jameson and barely making rent like he was not so long ago. After Peter and a co-worker leave the lab, Deadpool drops in and checks in with his people via an earpiece, and we find out that he's not using a walkie-talkie, they're just standing behind him. He comments how he had to do a ton of stuff to get in there like scale lectric fences and stuff and his cohorts mention they came in a back door after bribing a janitor. They then find an inter-dimensional transporter and explain how only someone with a special brain (example, Deadpool's regeneration) would be able to use the transporter, so they knock Deadpool out so they can use him as a guinea pig. They then find Dr. Bruce Banner hiding behind the machine so they decide to shoot him since they don't want hostages. This of course leads to him becoming the Hulk and breaking stuff which led to Spidey coming to check it out and one explosion later, Deadpool, Hulk and Spidey are in another world, and instead of Horizon labs the trio are in Parker Technologies. And also there are another Spider-Man that passes out due to pain and a green Deadpool, yet no alternate Hulk. Spidey takes Alternate-Spidey to his lair known as "The Web." Fast forward to now as our Spidey masquerades as The Amazing Spider and takes down The Rhino. After he does, The Rhino gets up and turns himself in because he's afraid of Spidey because he took down Thanos. Eventually our Spidey is ready to go back to his own world, but The Amazing Spider is still healing and there are no other heroes to help considering Reed Richards is just a Doctor in this world and Tony Stark is a lot..heavier than the athletic Tony of our world. While pretending to be their Peter Parker, Pete soon learns that in this world Gwen Stacey is still alive but before he can do anything like go see her he finds out that Deadpool and his Green alter-ego, Deathwish are causing havoc. Peter then goes to look on "new desk" and finds out that this Peter was aware of other Spider-Men including our Peter, but he then see's a picture on his desk of Uncle Ben and wastes no time going to see him. Uncle Ben knows that he's not his Peter because that universe's Pete already called him but he's still happy to see our Peter. It turns out this world's Ben Parker was shot too, but he lived and went on to train Peter to use his powers and become the Amazing Spider. While the bonding is fun it soon makes a turn for the worse as he's told by Uncle Ben that Aunt May is afraid of Peter because of his Spider-Powers for some reason. When Pete asks Ben who he thinks his alternate self will end up with, Gwen or MJ, Ben snaps and says they're both money-grubbing tramps. Peter then sips his tea and asks how The Amazing Spider got so powerful, and suddenly falls out, his tea obviously being drugged, as Ben says that he and his world's Peter are ready to show him. Peter awakens later and says that he understands what's happened, that he was brought there, why the Amazing Spider was hurt after the feedback from the machine, and that they are using multiple Spider-Men to steal their powers and put them into The Amazing Spider. Spidey tricks The Amazing Spider into punching him which knocks him free from his constraints, and Uncle Ben says that he's week and needs to feed, even though Spidey says he hits like a freight train. Spidey realizes he can't beat him so he starts to try to talk to him as only he can, trying to help him realize this isn't a heroes way. While Peter tries to talk down The Amazing Spider, Ben grabs the energy sucking things and rushes Spidey but The Amazing Spider pushes him out of the way and takes the hit, almost killing him. As the issue ends Peter walks away, trying to forget about that evil, bitter Ben Parker, continues to play the role of alternate Peter until he could find a way home and hired Bruce Banner to work on a new transporter, but Ben tells Peter he's not going back because in this world he can't turn into The Hulk for some reason. So it ends with Spidey living a life that's not his, ready to go back to his universe. Man, I LOVED this issue. I love Elseworld/What If stories so this is right up my alley, and I really really enjoyed this especially with the twists, and I can't wait to see what else is coming in the Deadpool and Hulk annuals. I'll give this a solid 10/10.

Uncle Ben: They're both money-grubbing TRAMPS!!! (There's the Uncle Ben we all know and love!)

Batman Beyond #4

We start things out with Maxine Gibson, the best friend of Batman a.k.a. Terry McGinnis who also knows his secret Identity. I've never heard of this chica so if someone can tell me if she's from one of the past Batman Beyond series or a episode of the show I never saw, please let me know. Anyway, Maxine is kind of his Oracle in a sense, so she's shocked when she turns around to see Nightwing. Well actually it's the current Batman and just as talented Terry McGinnis rocking the Nightwing costume. It seems that Nightwing's Secret Identity of Dick Grayson was leaked by a reporter so Terry plans on pulling the old same place, same time scenario, with Grayson not knowing beforehand because he thinks he'd be against it. Later we see Max trying to cover for Terry in class and with his girlfriend, which comes with the sidekick schtick. So Nightwing (Terry) goes to grab the reporter that leaked the story and takes him where Grayson is but stops some criminals on the way. Meanwhile, Max heads home to see her computer's being hacked by someone, so she tracks them down and heads to confront them. On the monorail thing that clearly shows this is the future, because when I think future, I think Monorails... Max is attacked by a group of Jokerz but holds her own and escapes. Back with Nightwing, he tries to convince the reporter he's the real Nightwing and Grayson is innocent but this cover is blown when an annoyed Grayson jumps from a building and lands flawlessly, then admits that he was the first Nightwing. He says he never saw Batman unmask and he was paid for his services in what would become Batman Inc., and was carefully choreographed when he joined the Teen Titans, Outsiders and etc. and his announcement shocks Terry and Bruce. When asked by a reporter if he fears reprisal from his former enemies, he states that he was trained to be the best and toughest and he hasn't forgotten a thing. Over with Maxine, she tracks down the hacker and fins a computer with a camera on her, who basically knows she knows something but doesn't know she knows who Batman is. The issue ends with the Hacker asking Max to join them and blackmailing her, so Max decides not to tell Terry. This was a weird issue, I'd never heard of Max but I loved the stuff with Terry as Nightwing (I missed that costume...) and Grayson admitting but changing the facts on his past. But the Max stuff was kinda meh when compared to that, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

Terry McGinnis: Maxine Gibson, Friend of Batman, Prepare to bear witness... as Nightwing flies again!

The Amazing Spider-Man #658

I bought Spider-Man and got a Future Foundation story instead, let's see how it turns out shall we? We start off with Peter Parker and his girlfriend, Carlie Cooper, about to go ALL the way when he see's the FF signal, and luckily she's called away for work so he has an excuse. Peter then has to catch a taxi to his job where he keeps his Spidey gear since he can't keep it in his apartment due to him dating someone that happens to be a member of the C.S.I. Spidey finally arrives at the Baxter Building, decked out in a Blue and Black suit with a number "4" in the middle of his Spider logo, insignia, whatever you wanna call it, I won't get angry. Anyway, Ben gets pissed because they retired that number and those colors, and tells Spidey he can make him black and blue. Reed, the person who has manners, gives Spidey his new costume (he's got about 7 in the last ten issues of this series...) Spidey then puts on the costume and says that he looks like Anti-Venom (lmao, he DOES) and he pretty much feels like he looks like a villain. Anyway, Spidey ignores the suit long enough to go defeat some baddies with his new team and enjoy some ice cream when a mean Mime comes over and makes fun of Ben, making The Blue-Eyed Ever Lovin' Thing run off in a huff. Oh Thing, you have skin like a boulder but you weep easily, kinda like Supergirl. This leads to Sue trapping the mime in an invisible box which scares him, which I LOVED. Man, Dan Slott is making Sue one hell of a laugh riot. The issue continues on with Spidey and the FF fighting people, learning and bonding. The issue ends with Carlie Cooper going to Pete's job and finding out he lied about having to do something for work while he's actually with the FF. Now I enjoyed this issue but not as much as the last few issues, I don't know If I would rather not read about the FF or if I'm just tired from so many other comics or what the deal is, but I couldn't get into this like the last few issues, so I'll give this a 6/10 rating, a rare low for Spidey comics.

The Thing: We retired the number an' the colors outta respect  for Johnny and what he done! But if you wanna be covered in Black n' Blue I can make that happen!

Okay, quick rant. Halfway through this Spidey comic there was a solicit for Daredevil number one which pisses me off. Matt hasn't been gone for a YEAR and there's already a damn Daredevil series? Why start it over again yet give Black Panther DD's series? That makes NO goddamn sense... but whatever. Anyway that's all for me guys and gals, be sure to vote on the new weekly poll (Thanks to Falisha Ann of Gotham City Girls Corner for the pictures.) and comment with your thoughts or discrepancies. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off and sign me up baby!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Gotham City Sirens #22, Green Lantern #65, Green Lantern Corps #59, Teen Titans #94, and Power Girl #23