Ratings and Rantings

Hello Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd, welcoming you to another edition of Ratings and Rantings! This week's Ratings and Rantings should be an interesting one with the prelude to War of the Green Lanterns, one of the last few issues of Brightest Day plus Batman Beyond and Deadpool.

For those of you looking forward to a Streets of Gotham review, all one-to-none of you, there won't be one because of my decision to drop that comic.When I mentioned that to my buddy X-Man75, he informed me there were only two issues left of the series since it's currently cancelled, and I still decided not to pick up the final two issues. Streets of Gotham had a lot of potential with the great use of Zsasz, the debut of Gotham vigilante ABUSE and the chance to have a storyline that could take Hush from the D-Lister he is now to the A-Lister he should've stayed after the wonderfully written Hush storyline. Instead we get the debut of Bedbug, which is something a five-year old would probably come up with, a horrible story that focuses less on Hush and more on John Zatara, The Elliots and The Waynes, yes, more on five dead people than on Hush who had endless potential as a great villain. But yeah, that's my short rant on that series, which I'm glad is ending, now let's get to the reviews.

Green Lantern #53

First things first, I really like this cover, but I'm wondering why all the entities are based off of animals... Anyway, we start things off with Ganthet talking to Krona, if you've read at least one DC comic in the last week or two, you already know what happens in this scene. Basically, an unusually tall Krona basically can't become a Guardian because he's not able to get rid of his emotions, he still wants to feel love and rage and fear and things that make life worth living and he's currently close to unlocking the secrets of the emotional spectrum. We then see that Ganthet has turned him in and Krona vows to make Ganthet pay. From there we see the Color Corps leaders, with the exception of Sinestro and Carol Ferris, in deep space after Hal's talk with Batman, Flash and Superman. Hal admits that maybe the Guardians are right and emotions should be controlled because they are dangerous. Well okay then Hal... the Color Corps then decide to go find Carol Ferris since the Star Sapphire entity, The Predator, is the only one not currently in Krona's possession. Indigo-1 tries to transport everyone to Zamaron but can't due to interference, then somehow Sinestro and Carol suddenly appear. Carol makes it known that Krona took her entity as well which happened in Brightest Day about two issues ago, and Sinestro mentions he was running an errand, which refers to his appearances in Green Lantern Corps. Sinestro hears that they have lost all the entities so says if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Meanwhile The Guardians have found Hal's signal at the behest of Salaak, so they send him and a squad of Green Lanterns to ambush Jordan and bring him back so he can face charges of treason. While Hal and the other color corp leaders travel to Ryut, the homeworld of Atrocitus, to confront Krona they discover seven pillars, each with a lantern symbol as well as The Book of The Black in the center. Hal, being an idiot, doesn't know what that is so Sinestro explains that it contains the secret chapters that had been ripped from the book of Oa. The book then realizes the New Guardians are there and opens itself, scaring everyone. Yep, they got scared by a book, that really hurts the rep of Atrocitus and Sinestro. It tells them about the history of Krona, and we see that he defeated Manhunters then reversed their programming which caused the slaughter of an entire sector, just to prove that even an emotionless police force has flaws. The issue ends with the book accessing a new Chapter called "There will be only three" as we see Hal, Guy, Kyle and John reaching for one of three Green Lantern rings. This issue was just building up the War of the Green Lanterns and gave us a few peeks at Krona's past. It wasn't bad but it was far from mandatory to read, it was more of a filler than anything. I'll give it a 5/10 rating.

Larfleeze: Krona! He has all of our entities! Where is his HUGE HEAD going?!

Brightest Day #21

Oh God, it's a Martian Manhunter issue. The last one had everyone on the JLA dying including Wonder Woman being hung with her own Lasso. This issue starts off with The Atom at The Hawks house, investigating their ashes, meanwhile I'm wondering who the hell noticed they were missing and even CALLED him to do it. He also says he doesn't know where Aquaman is, and we see his hand lying on the beach, which I could hilarious. From there we see the beach Aquaman got vaporized on and an overabundance of heroes helping civilians including Superman, Superboy, Batman, Cyborg, Metamorpho..., Hawk, Dove, Jade, Congrorilla, Flash, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Star Girl, Alan Scott, Mister Terrific, Doctor Mid-Nite and Atom Smasher. Mera explains how Deadman blasted Aquaman into aqua-dust and Hawk wonders if Deadman is coming after them next. Hawk says they should strike first, but JAde recommends checking on the other White Light returnees, and since Osiris, Max, Boomer and Reverse Flash are Bad guys, that leaves them with the missing Firestorm and Martian Manhunter. Their interrupted by Cyborg saying that h recently intercepted thousands of distress calls for earthquakes and volcanoes erupting and Wildcat notices there are Black clouds in the sky. We then jump over to see Martian Manhunter fighting D'Kay. During the fight D'Kay mentions she's pregnant... due to them sleeping together when she confused J'onn... he then looks inside of her and says the baby is a lie and she's barren. Are you KIDDING ME?! Did I REALLY just read someone playing the pregnancy card in the middle of a fight? YOU HAVE GOT to be kidding me. I defend Geoff a lot, but that's probably one of the single most dumb things I've ever read. I'm done with this review, I'm not finishing this comic, I may pick up the next one if I don't have to deal with this dumbass Martian story. This issue gets a N/A.

Me: Next time I'll save myself time and just light the money on fire instead.

Deadpool #33.1

Okay, something that will hopefully be good, Dan Way, don't let me down buddy! We start off with a recap page that only Deadpool could do, before jumping into the main story. We see Deadpool in a Godfather-like office, petting a cat and surprisingly not wearing a hoody and talking to someone who wants him to do his job. After the man lists all of Deadpool's accomplishments we discover the man wants to hire Deadpool to evict a tenant from his apartment building. Deadpool seems angry until he see's how much he'll be getting paid and proclaims that "The Price is Right"! We then see that the person the owners want evicted is The Wrecker, and as a supplemental note points out, he once faught the Avengers to a standstill, all of them vs. him at once. Deadpool goes to confront The Wrecker and the next day goes back to the owners in a wheel chair, a cast, holding a crutch and still smoking from a hellacious butt-kicking that was so violent we didn't even see it. He demands more money for this job and after proving that if the landlord doesn't comply he'll be legally screwed he tells them he now wants triple for the job. After receiving his cash and removing his leg cast with a chainsaw, Deadpool calls up The Wrecker to let him know that now that his leg's all better he's gonna use it to kick his ass. From there we see an awesome splash-page that can only be described by saying Deadpool, Wrecker, fire, chaos and billions upon billions of bullets. Deadpool and The Wrecker's fight then collides into the building, much to the chagrin of the owners. Deadpool then realizes his arm is broken in two places and he has a broken rib stabbing him in the lung, so he decides to hide out in an old ladies apartment and let his body heal. Deadpool takes advantage of the old lady's hospitality and eats her food and whatnot, then asks how long she thinks she'll live since she's so old. He mentions how he's taking out The Wrecker to help her and the other tenants, when she mentions that the Wrecker living there is the only thing stopping the owners from selling the building and ut being knocked down to make condominiums. She then mentions The Wrecker was hired by the owners to intimidate everyone into signing papers to terminate their leases. Deadpool is shocked at this realization and even more shocked with The Wrecker shows up to eat Flaki soup with Deadpool and the old woman, which is apparently a weekly tradition between the two. We then see that this was actually a flashback to the first time the two fought. Damn, fooled me. Back in the present, Deadpool and The Wrecker take a break and get some water before continuing their earth-shattering fight. During the fight the owners get a call from the buyer who says he's definitely not interested after seeing a super-human fight outside of and in the building. The fight ends soon after as we see that Deadpool took the money the people paid him and gave it to the old woman who then bought the deed to the apartment on discount, all because Deadpool had a change of heart. She then gives Deadpool two gallons of Flaki as agreed on and he does one last thing for the old woman as this issue ends. Man, this was great Deadpool fun. I loved the swerve and seeing Deadpool still has his hero ways as well as a good heart. The fight with Wrecker was awesome and put over both him and Deadpool, and the stuff with the old woman was classically hilarious, I'll give this issue a 8.5/10.

Deadpool: You're a nice Old Lady.

Old Lady: Is not nice to call lady "old".

Deadpool: Even if they are old?

Old Lady: Especially if they are old.

Deadpool: Oh. Are you this wise because you're so old?

Old Lady: Yes.

Batman Beyond #3

This issue of Batman Beyond starts off with Terry, shocked to see that his mother and little bro have been turned into metal by the Matter Master. He's more relaxed when he finds out from Bruce via comm link that they aren't dead, as they are transmuted to, but not encased in metal. Bruce tells Terry to worry about the hostages instead of rushing Matter Master like the rest of the JLA. Matter Master then lays the smackdown on the JLA one by one while Batman gets the hostages away to safety. While Terry's trying to save the hostages, Bruce overhears that Richard Grayson is being pursued for the Hush killings in a throwback to the Batman Beyond Mini of last year, which distracts Bruce momentarily. Matter Master finished up the JLA when Batman jumps back into the fray. He attacks the dastardly villain and he starts to explode with energy. We then see Terry's girlfriend Dana at home, upset that she was stood up by Terry, but she seems to have a look of concern when her mother tells Dana that her brother is getting out next week. Meanwhile, Batman with the help of Bruce uses the JLA to his advantage like chess pieces and successfully contains a nuclear explosion that was going to be caused by a malfunctioning Matter Master. As he's defeated he transmutes into copper or something, as Batman tells him he could have used his powers for good and helped people, he replies with a faint, "look who's talking." Oh Snap! You tell him Matter Master. After defeating Matter Master, The league once again asks Batman to join, and after some consideration and a few conditions he names, Batman agrees to join the Justice League of America as this issue ends. This was another good issue of Batman Beyond, and I loved seeing him coached by Bruce so well yet making his own decisions since he is his own man. I'll give this issue a 8/10 rating.

Batman: One, if you need me for something, it better be big, because for me this city is job one. Two, if you're going on a mission and I say I'm busy, I'm busy, three, Gotham's off-limits unless I ask for your help.

Bruce: Actually, those are pretty good conditions.

And that's all I have for this week guys and gals. Thanks for reading and be sure to comment and vote on this week's poll. The results from last week's poll are below as always, and until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which of these characters do you currently like the most?"

Last place with 17.6% - Arsenal, one arm, a heel turn and no daughter makes for dislike, DC!
Second Place with 23.5% - Black Cat, Bad luck keeps Felicia Hardy in second place.
Winner with 29.4% - Tie between Booster Gold and the new Venom, Flash Thompson!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batgirl #19, Batman & Robin #21, Birds of Prey #10, JL Generation Lost #21, The Outsiders #37,  and Venom #1

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, I'm your host as always for this weekly cavalcade of comic content comments, Jason Todd! This week we've only got five comics to run through but hopefully we have as interesting a week as we did for the last edition of Ratings and Rantings. Last week nothing scored lower than an 8/10, so hopefully this week can replicate that awesomeness. But enough stalling, let's kick things off with the 2010 Red Hood award winner for Hero of the Year, Amazing Spider-Man!

Amazing Spider-Man #652

This issue starts off as we see Alistair Smythe, The Spider-Slayer, is back and plans on getting revenge on J. Jonah Jameson. We also see Alistair isn't alone, as he's brought an Insect Army (?) with him as well as the Scorpion-turned-Venom-turned-Scorpion, Mac Gargan. Talk about being demoted. We then see Peter, J. Jonah Sr. and Aunt May watching Pete's new girlfriend, Carlie, playing Roller Derby. Aunt May, although well into her mid-hundreds by now, is cheering for Carlie like a teenage Twilight fan meeting whoever the hell of the star of the Twilight movie is. We see some of Pete's other friends are there as well, including Mary Jane, Flash Gordon and Betty Brant. We see Pete is happy and tends to enjoy the moment, and surprisingly Mary Jane is jealous. She wishes she was in Carlie's spot, which I find weird since she kinda just turned down the Web-Slinging Genius. After Carlie lands in MJ's lap she changes her tune and realizes how childish she's being. She then delivers the classic "Go get em, Tiger" line to Carlie as she gets back in the game. Let that be a lesson folks, when a hot girl in skimpy shorts lands in your lap, you're gonna change your tune about them. From there we see the Insect Army staking out Mayor Jameson as he meets with his son, Astronaut John Jameson at the site where his newest rocket will be taking off in under 24 hours. When Jonah hears that this rocket is experimental he blows a gasket until creator Max Modell says he'll bring his top man to oversee it, someone Jonah is familiar with, Peter Parker. Pete finds out from his uncle Jay (man that sounds odd...) and is stoked about the news. Pete then decides to hang around with Carlie after her Roller Derby game and get some skating lessons, and of course, he's horrible. That's right, he can web-sling through Manhattan at break-neck speeds, yet he can't skate on eight wheels. Or at least that's what Pete wants Carlie to think, playing the spaz as always eh, Peter? Once Carlie hits the showers, Pete shows off with his Spidey moves, and is surprised that Mary Jane stuck around and caught his performance. She basically tells Pete to tell his new woman that he's Spider-Man. It's a secret identity MJ, he can't tell EVERYONE. If he did he'd have to make a deal with the devil so everyone would forget, and that would be stupid right? Oh..wait. Anyway, Carlie comes back and MJ takes off after telling Carlie they should chat. While talking, Carlie suggests that she and Peter should hook up his best friend, Mary Jane, with her best friend, Spider-Man. Peter is so surprised by this that he runs in to a door, and now has to deal with a broken nose on his big day. As time gets closer to the launch, Pete's Spider-Sense goes off full blast, and he runs off but asks Mr. Modell not to start the launch without him, and Modell complies, obviously he completely trusts Pete, and may be aware that he's Spider-Man. Sadly for them, the rocket takes off early due to an infiltration by the Insect Army. As the Insect Army gloats about their first prize being Colonel John Jameson, John recognizes Smythe's voice, and soon finds out his controls in the rocket are unresponsive. Smythe sens his insect goons to take out the elder Jameson's as well but Spidey shows up in the nick of time like always. Jonah runs over to Spidey and tells him that his men have this taken care of and to go save his son. Surprisingly Spidey agrees and goes to try to save John Jameson Spidey's confronted by a former enemy as this issue ends. I really enjoyed this issue, I don't care much for the insect army, and MJ being jealous seemed weird, but she IS a woman, so there's your logic. I still see this as a major downgrade for Mac Gargan, and in my opinion if he's going back to the Scorpion just make Brock Venom again. He's the best Venom and this Anti-Venom thing has gotten him nowhere. As for this issue I enjoyed it but it's not on par with the recent Hobgoblin stuff, I'll give it an 8/10.

Max Modell: Your honor I'm Max Modell, I'm sure your wife's mentioned...

J. Jonah Jameson: Yes,Yes. Big man at Horizon Labs. If your company's so great, why's my VCR keep blinking twelve?

Max Modell: We don't make VCR's.... (Does ANYONE still make VCR's?!)

Brightest Day #18

We kick things off with one of my favorite rogues, Captain Cold, beating the hell out of Captain Boomerang. And here I thought you needed a boat or something to be Captain. Someone better tell Jack Sparrow. Anywho, Cold asks Boomer why the hell he released Thawne, to which Boomer replies that he's the only other Bad guy the white light brought back (Everyone's forgotten Max, remember?) and he's from the future so Boomer had questions. He then tells Cold that teh White Light told him to throw a boomerang at Dove, but he just doesn't know why. Um... because it said so. It brought your sorry ass back to life, gave you new powers, you like throwing Boomerangs, so throw one at her! What's complicated about that? From there we see Mera asking Aquagirl for her help, that's interesting. We then see Deadman call Dove because he's afraid since his ring is charging itself, and he's wondering what's wrong, and says it feels like the day he died except he doesn't think it's im that's gonna die. Hide ya kids, hide ya Wives, and hide ya Grandpa Deadman, cause they killing everybody out there! (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.) After that we see Deathstorm and the Black Lanterns he resurrected delivering the White Lantern to someone. Over on Zamaron, Carol Ferris tells the Love-Hawks that to get the entity out of Hawkmom then they'll have to get her to feel love. What? Hawkmom gets tired of Carol's nonsense, much like I did, and freezes her in pink carbonite for all you Star Wars geeks. Hawkman and Hawkmom fight as she pretty much dominates him, she asks why he's smiling since now if he dies he'll die for good due to Hath-Set's curse. He tells her because it's her last life too as Hawkgirl drives a sword through Hawkmom's back. The bones from the gate then come alive and take Hawkmom away into a bright pink light... well that was kinda lame. The White Light then grants them their life after following orders since Hawkgirl didn't let Hath-Set kill Hawkman, and Hawkman stopped Hawkmom. So that's Max, the Hawks, and Reverse Flash that have earned life. Jade may have, I don't read JLA. Carol then uses her power of love to transport the Hawks to anywhere on Earth they want to go to be alone. Um... okay then. Dove comes to meet Deadman as the ring charge equals 99% and he tells her when the Black Ring got to 100% Nekron came back (No...cause we all forgot that HUGE event happened less than a year ago.) so what happens when the White Ring charge hits 100? He's about to find out as it hits 100% and says "They have returned" before he's surrounded by a white light and whisked away in front of Dove's eyes. Back with the Hawks, they obviously wanted to be alone so they went home...duh. The Hawks make out and stuff and Hawkman says "I love you more than life itself" and the ring says "What a strange thing to say" as Deadman appears in their room. HA! I know where this is going. Deadman points his ring at the Hawks and tells them he's not in control of his actions. The White Light then says Carter and Shiera must live separately to live stronger. The Hawks protest saying they aren't splitting up and the ring says it's apart of the plan and the champion-to-be's needs outweigh everyone's. Hawkman says their not living life apart again ever and the ring says "So be it." A white light flashes as Carter and Shiera fade away and Deadman is standing there grasping at dust. What...just happened? Well I hated all the stuff with the Hawks, and if it ends with them dead it really was pointless, so I hope it just split them up so they forgot one another. Everything else was pretty quick, but I am loving how evil this ring is becoming, that's interesting. I'm also still wondering who the champion is and who Deathstorm gave the White Lantern to. As for this issue, it surprised me how much I was interested, it had it's faults but I'm more interested than I was, I'll give it a 6/10.

White Lantern Ring: So be it. (That one line was so awesome it raised the rating of this issue a full number. You are one cold blooded S.O.B., Ring.)

Power Girl #20

This issue of Power Girl starts with Karen Starr's lawyer and her Executive Assistant to Starrware talking as the lawyer repeatedly asks where Karen is. After saying she's busy with important stuff, the lawyer chews out the Exec. and says they aren't earning any favors with the judge by postponing so many times. We see why Karen is so busy, because she has her hands full as Power Girl fighting an Albino, Four-Armed King Kong and a Dragon. Nicco offers to call in the JLA, JSA or even the Doom Patrol to help out Peej but she says she's far from needing help while taking out her gigantic enemies. Professor Ivo watches and studies PG as she continues to take down each of his creations back to back, before Power Girl just flies through the wall of Cadmus labs to find answers herself. Nicco directs Peej to plug in a USB transmitter he gave her, and once she does he notes that none of the files are encrypted and he starts to download them all. Power Girl looks around and finds more of Ivo's creations, but she's also sucker punched by the gigantic four armed ape that Ivo has named Caspian much to Power Girl's delight. Power Girl is surprised when she's hit with heat vision and turns around to see she's being attacked by a clone of Krypto, or at least she was until he smells her and recognizes her. This causes a Power Girl/Cloneto team up, and as our heroes take on Ivo's creations, Nicco tries to ask PG something but she's too busy and tells him he's on his own. He decides he can't store it on their servers so he asks Batman, who obliges. I'm assuming it's Dick even though he has the yellow crest Bruce wears. Power Girl and her cloned dog continue to kick butt until he's zapped by something, and suddenly Power Girl can't move. We soon find out she's standing across from Max Lord. Max rips into Ivo for cloning Krypto after he told him not to since his physiology wouldn't work the way they wanted for cloning the human Kryptonians. Max then walks up to Power Girl and tells her she has a job, to get revenge on someone who murdered one of her teammates and killed thousands of people, and anyone who reads Gen Lost knows he means Captain Atom. This issue ends but will continue in Generation Lost #18! I loved this issue, I had no problems with it at all, besides the boring into but that only lasted two pages. I like that Karen may have her own Krypto, I like the way Max uses PG to attack the JLI, and I really like the way Batman is being included into this. So I'll give this issue of Power Girl a 9/10 rating. Great issue, but not something that's completely memorable.

Max Lord: Go take down the Justice League International.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #19

Streets of Gotham kicks things off with Hush, face wrapped and all, quoting Aristotle and threatening Dr. Death as Hush's associates hold him over a banister. After getting Death to cut off the toxic gas in his lair, Dr. Death and Judson Pierce speak as only men with a history can. They go somewhere to talk as Hush and his goons follow. Hush then talks to one of the goons who seems unnerved and he tells a story about how he worked with the Joker when Joker first started showing up. Really? This story about Hush is turning into a story about The Joker? Basically Joker and this goons Uncle Sal got into it, Sal called his nephew, who was no older than sixteen at the time to come get him and he drove to get his uncle Sal. He gets caught by Joker's henchmen and ends up face to face with the Joker, who bashes him on the head with a cane and tells him he must be "this tall" to ride the roller coaster. I'll admit I chuckled at that. The Joker threatens to kill the kid but says you can't build a rep if there's no one around to talk you up. He asks the kids name and he says "Anthony Marchetti, remember it." Joker leads Anthony into a tent where his Uncle Sal is tie up and naked as hyena nibble at his fingers. Joker then ejects a blade out the bottom of his cane and quickly slices Sal up from the bottom of his stomach to his chest. Anthony then blacks out, and when he wakes up he's in the car he drove there with, with his Uncle Sal's head propped up in the back of the car. Hush laughs and says he's suffered a similar fate with the Joker and promises to take out The Joker after the Wayne Family. He says he'll destroy the only thing that gives Joker's life meaning, Batman. He then mentions how Wayne has announced he's been funding Batman, while not letting them know that Bruce is Batman. He devises a plan to lure Bruce in trouble so Batman or his allies will come after him. Hush takes advantage of looking like Bruce Wayne to go visit someone named Carter, possibly planning on kidnapping the young man. From there we see Batman talking to someone in the shadows, more than likely Catwoman. He talks about a story with his parents Alfred told him, possibly the same story Hush read about except greatly differing, with Bruce's father not looking like a drunken idiot. This leads to Bruce and Selina talking then kissing and being watched by Bedbug.... What?! What the hell just happened. I thought this was about HUSH. Why the hell is he sharing valuable page time with Dr. Death, The Joker, and some loser named Bedbug. I really don't get HOW this is supposed to make Hush formidable, It's all been downhill since his debut. Someone call Jeph Loeb and have him save Hush, PLEASE. This gets a 4/10.

The Joker: I'm sorry big man, but you must be this tall to ride.

Green Lantern Corps #57

This issue starts off awesome, as the entire Sinestro Corps meets at the big Yellow Battery on Korugar after being summoned by Sinestro himself. He asks the Corp what the punishment is for stealing from him and they all chant death! Sinestro shows them a construct of The Weaponer and tells them he's trying to take something sacred to him, his dignity, and tells his Corps to come down on him with the fury of a thousand suns!!!!! Nah, he didn't say that exactly, but I like my line better. We then see the Sinestro Corps descend upon Qward and tell the Weaponer to release the Green Lanterns due to the truce between the Corps. The Weaponer says to himself that Sinestro sent his lackeys to remind him that he's not worth Sinestro's time, and seems to be hurt by the realization. He returns the Honor Guards rings and tells them to save his people. Ganthet quickly reminds the Lanterns they can't fight the the Sinestro Corps. The Sinestro Corps attack the Qwardians, whiletrying to provoke the Green lanterns to break the truce. The Green Lanterns construct shields to try to protect the Qwardians without having to return fire on their yellow nemeses. The Weaponer tells the GL's to protect the Thunderers as they get to his castle which is reinforced and has tons of deadly weapons, and the two teams agree. Once they get to the Weaponer's weapons, the Thunderer's start to take out the Sinestro Corps. Kyle then remembers that when he and Sinestro fought without rings it didn't violate the truce. Of course Hannu is all for this since he doesn't use a ring and attacks the Sinestro Corps members. Kyle tells Boodikka to sit things out since she's basically a Green Ring of her own. And Kyle is attacked by the gigantic Sinestro Corp member Bur'Gunza who says he likes Kyle's new rules of engagement, prompting Sinestro to appear and say they're his rules. He commands his Corpsmen to go after the Qwardians and ignore the Lanterns. The Weaponer is surprised Sinestro has showed up, but Sinestro said he did what any good general would and sent his troops first. Good thinking Sinestro. Sinestro says the Weaponer is his, but the Weaponer uses his shield to configure a weapon and tries to blast Sinestro, but the wielder of the yellow ring has come prepared and blocks his attack. The Weaponer uses his next weapon on Sinestro but it hits him and breaks upon impact. Damn, he beat four Lanterns and a Guardian but his weapon can't even touch Sinestro? I'm starting to think Sinestro may have "Triple H syndrome." Sinestro then destroys the Weaponer and is about to kill him, Soranik and Kyle try to save him but one of his Sinestro Corps members stops them in their tracks. This issue ends as some unexpected reinforcements show up to try to save the Weaponer. This was a GREAT issue. Sinestro is one of my favorite characters and he was utilized greatly here, as was the rest of the Sinestro Corps. I didn't like how easily Sinestro beat the Weaponer after they built him up for three issues, but it did make Sinestro look larger than life, which he should. I'll give this issue a 10/10, it captivated me from beginning to ending, and more Sinestro is always better.

Sinestro: Impressive. I can see how you got the drop on these Green Lanterns. But now you face Sinestro.

So this was a surprisingly good week. I'm kinda shocked that Streets of Gotham got a lower score than Brightest Day this week. As always Power Girl, GLC and Spidey were awesome. But that's it for this week. Below are last week's poll results, and as always a new poll is up and waiting for your votes. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last Week's poll asked "Which upcoming DC Crossover are you looking forward to the most?"

Last place with 16.7% - Titans/Captain Marvel, even Freddy Freeman can't make Titans bearable?
Second place with 33.3% - Power Girl/Gen Lost, the reformation of the JLI comes in second to...
Winner with 50% - Red Robin/Teen Titans, the fans have spoken DC, put Red Robin back with his team!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Lex Luthor's Action Comics #897 featuring The Joker!, JL Generation Lost #18, Deadpool #32 and SHAZAM!

Ratings and Rantings

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone! Once again time for that weekly cavalcade of comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! I'm your host, your ally, your friend, and your king, Jason Todd, although I also answer to J.T., Captain Awesome, or "Hey You!" As you guys may be able to tell I'm particularly amped up because this is the second to last Ratings and Rantings of 2010, as well as the second to last post before the first ever annual "Red Hood Awards", who will leave with a coveted Hot Toddy? Lol, only time will tell. But enough about that, today we've got some last minute entrants trying to make their presence felt in 2010, so let's kick things off with a comic I didn't get to review last week, Amazing Spider-Man!

Amazing Spider-Man #650

We start things off with the usual Spidey recap, only this time it's from the point of view of one of Peter Parker's newest co-workers, Bella Fishbach. I wonder how long it takes Pete to make a lame joke about her last name. Anyway, Spidey is about to get decapitated by the Hobgoblin when he's saved due to Bella's quick thinking, and a little help from Lady Gaga. That's a name I never wanted to have to type on my blog, yet here we are. Gobby takes this as his cue to leave (They're playing Gaga, I would've left too!) and Spidey follows suit, even though he thinks his new boss is beginning to piece together his secret identity, after less than a day on the job. Spidey tries to stop Hobby from stealing what he came for, Reverbium, a very powerful type of metal, but our Amazing Arachnid is laid out by this impressively insane Hobgoblin. He's like a Joker and Deadpool hybrid. As Hobby leaves with the Reverbium, the co-workers do a head count and notice Peter isn't there. They head back in looking for the newest employee as Peter is trying to get changed to his civilian clothes, but Pete runs out of time. They walk in and see Peter, in his boxers as he's listening to music really loud with headphones and doing science equations. He tells them that's how he thinks, and surprisingly they believe him. Meanwhile, at the Fisk Building, Hobgoblin brings what Fisk asked for, the Reverbium, although he isn't the Hobgoblin that Kingpin sent. Hobby asks if he has the job, and Kingpin sics The Hand on him, asking where Kingsley is. Hobby replies that he's in "Hobgoblin Heaven", a.k.a. the dumpster behind the iHOP. I love this dude already. Back at Pete's new job, they destroy the rest of the Reverbium, using Antarctic Vibranium, which apparently is like anti-metal. Someone better run to DC and tell the Metal Men. Pete's boss, Max, tells him he'll put some samples aside for Peter to study, but he wishes he had a way to steal the Reverbium back. This leads Pete to calling Felicia Hardy, a.k.a. Black Cat, who we see in a bathtub...filled with milk...as cats lick at the milk. This wins Hot Toddy for scene of the year! I'm kidding... for now. Felicia agrees to help Spidey steal back the Reverbium (God, I hate this word.) and he tells her that he's gonna bring some new gadgets to help tackle this new Hobgoblin. Over at the Daily Bugle, Ben Urich's nephew (Uncle Ben? Weird.) brings him some video and tells him he wants to be a web reporter, and also gets Norah Winters to come watch too. He shows his video and it's the Hobgoblin break in. This of course backfires for Phil Urich, and ends with Norah making out with her boyfriend, Randy to celebrate. Sucks to be you, eh Phil? Back at his new job, Peter is creating a brand new Spidey suit to help him combat this new Hobgoblin. He's interrupted when MJ and Carlie, his past and present girlfriend's show up with donuts and lunch. Man, Peter always gets the hotties. Peter talks to the girls about his job and after some nerd talk between Pete and Carlie, MJ leaves. Soon as one Hottie McHotstuff leaves, another arrives, as Black Cat hits Pete up via some secret line they have. She tells Spidey that she just caught a guy and got some info out of him about Kingpin being the buyer for the metal that I hate to talk about now. Spidey says he'll meet her soon, and as Cat leaves her pidgeon tied up, Hobgoblin shows up, and we see that he told the guy everything to say. He then kills the guy, so no one knows he ratted out Kingpin. Back on the rooftops, Cat has grown antsy waiting for Spider-Man, when a box shows up next to her. She opens it and pulls out goggles with a note that says wear these, she puts on the goggles and see's that Spidey is standing right in front of her. He tells her how his new suit can make him invisible and impervious to sonic attacks, since it warps light and sound. That's pretty freaking cool. The issue ends soon after with Spidey and Black Cat getting ready to go get back that dreaded Reverbium! This was a really fun issue, I enjoyed everything about it, and seeing Spidey's Angel's was cool as well. I thought this was another solid issue in a line of damn good issues as of late, I'll give this one a 9/10. I would've given it a 10, but I really hate Lady Gaga.

Spider-Man: D-Did I really just get saved by Lady Gaga? No offense... But can I have the nausea-inducing laughter back?

Green Lantern Corps #55

GLC kicks off things on Planet Qward as the Thunderer's all head towards the Weaponer's castle, to give that troublemaker what-for! Over at the castle, Kyle tries to go free Soranik, as John Stewart, Hannu, Ganthet and Boodikka go after the powerful Weaponer. Sadly, the Green Lantern's have no chance, considering the Weaponer's shield ranks his opponents by threat level, then formulates a weapon to dispatch each personal threat. He dispatches of the biggest threat first, Ganthet, before taking out Boodikka and then John Stewart with a blast to the eyes. Hannu attacks the Weaponer and tells him to try to find a weakness in him. Inside, Kyle finds Soranik, but she still can't get to her ring. They go to the Weaponer's weapon cache, and they each grab something to try to help them combat the Weaponer. Back outside, The Weaponer has defeated every one of the Green Lanterns that opposed him and taken each of their rings. Ganthet is tied up but sits up, complaining he's going to be sick, before throwing up blood, much like a Red Lantern. Atrocitus' face appears in the blood and tells Ganthet their enemy is on earth and has already captured the Fear and Willpower entities. Ganthet then explains to John Stewart how the robed man is trying to capture and enslave all the entities, and how he, Guy, and Atrocitus' all had a vision of the future and teamed up in order to stop the man from getting all the entities. The Weaponer laughs at the story, but his fun is soon cut short by Soranik, brandishing an enormous gun against his head. She threatens him but The Weaponer doesn't seem afraid, and the Thunderer's show up soon after, telling her to do it, since he's pretty much ruined their planet. The Weaponer says if Sinestro had just come they could've ended this, now he'll have to dispose of the Thunderer's as well, but a surprise arrival seems to change everything as this issue ends, and it's not Sinestro. This was a solid issue, I enjoyed finding out about Ganthet and Guy's secret pact with Atrocitus, as well as seeing The Weaponer dominate, as I really like his character. I'm wondering where the next issue will take things though, as for this one I'll give it an 8.5/10.

The Weaponer: Five Green Lanterns against one man. Perhaps I should be flattered. But even if there were ten of them, I would still prevail.

Deadpool #30

The Merc with a Mouth starts things off with a bang, as he wakes up surrounded by vampires, so promptly fills them all with lead. The Vampires try to tell DP to stop shooting them but he's all gun happy so he keeps blasting them until they tell him they came to hire him, not kill him. After thinking over a decision to meet with the Vampires (or as Deadpool refers to them, Dracula's) and a small conversation with his brain, he decides to hear them out. After a hilarious conversation, Deadpool is asked to help protect those Dracula's from a group of rival Dracula's, known as the Claw Sect. The actual Dracula's son, Xarus has staged a coup against the other Dracula's and his Dracula's can walk in the day due to some magical amulet, so the "good" Dracula's need Deadpool to guard them during the day. Deadpool tells the Dracula's he's not helping, because they're Dracula's. The main Dracula of that group of Dracula's that aren't REALLY Dracula (confusing?) tells Deadpool that a hundred years ago those good vampire guys put their money together to open a hospital, and now that hospital is one of the best in the nation, and they don't turn away any patients and basically their saints. Deadpool agrees to help after hearing this, being a Hero and all. Meanwhile, above the Dracula's base is their hospital, and the Claw Sect has started to invade it, but the Regeneratin' Degenerate shows up just in time to save the day. The Hot Doctor that Deadpool saves wants to go warn everyone in the hospital but DP doesn't wanna make a panic so tells her not to, so she shoots Deadpool in the leg. Deadpool takes this as a sign that she loves him, so seconds later, Deadpool is back up and shoots her in the leg to show his love. He carries her to safety, and then drops her because he's got more Dracula's to kill baby! The issue ends soon after with Deadpool going to kill the rest of the Claw Sect Dracula's. This was a fun issue, just solid Deadpool fun. Nothing amazing happened, and there was no Doctor Bong, but as always I was interested and I laughed my butt off. I can't wait to see how Deadpool handles the rest of those dastardly "Dracula's!" I'll give this issue a 10/10.

Deadpool: Soooo... I am really surrounded by Dracula's?

Vampire: We're not... We're not all named "Dracula." The proper term is--

Deadpool: (after shooting the Vampires) Save it for somebody who wants to learn. Dracula.

Power Girl #19

This begins the four issue cross over between Power Girl and Generation Lost, I'm eager to see two of Judd Winick's current ongoing comics collide as well as seeing Power Girl meet up with her old JLI teammates. We start off with a flashback as we see the JLI consisting of Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord), Power Girl, Fire and Ice taking on the Royal Flush Gang! Man.. have they ever been a threat? Apparently Ace was cause the huge ten-ton robot apparent cleaned Peej's clock with a solid right hand. This leads to Power Girl delivering the groin kick from hell, causing Ace's Ken-Doll-like lower extremities to explode. Apparently that's where they kept his energy cells, which Booster, Beetle, and myself find HILARIOUS. We then see Power Girl, Booster, and Beetle laughing over the story with a younger Max Lord. We then see Power Girl in the J.S.A. All-Star Headquarters with pictures of Max plastered on all the monitors and telling the All-Stars about Max, but like usual, no one remembers Max or even see's him on the monitors. He's either not in any of the pictures or he's replaced with someone else like a random black guy or even Parasite. Peej tells the All-Stars how Max has stolen her company, how he's made a clone of her, and everything else he's done, including killing Ted Kord. Unsurprisingly no one believes her, except Batman?! He's there? And he tells Peej they've had this conversation before, and they convince the All-Stars to act. They don't get far before everyone forgets who Max Lord is again, even Peej and Batman. Back at Starrware, Karen is trying to get her stuff together with the company when Nicco tries to get her attention. She finally looks up to see her clone, Divine, standing next to Nicco, and snaps his neck. Karen attacks Divine and she's interrupted when she hears Max Lord, she looks up at her and he tells her it's all smoke and mirrors, just a distraction, before shooting her in the head, causing her to wake up from an apparent dream. Nicco explains to Peej that he's found out where Divine and CRASH are, due to one of Peej's earrings falling off in her fight with her clone, and inadvertently stuck between Divine's shoe and is now tracking her. Peej follows the trail that leads her to Vietnam, and finds a shed. She goes inside and see's a JLI teleporter, but the entire shed then disappears, but Power Girl can still hear the energy. Using her Ice Breath, she uncovers a secret base by overpowering it's temperature cloaking camouflage. Surprisingly, Dr. Ivo steps out and after some creepy small talk, introduces PG to the new Project Cadmus. The issue ends soon after as it looks like Peej is gonna have her hands full. This was another good issue in a line of good issues so far this week, and Power Girl's crossover is so well done that it doesn't make you have to buy Gen Lost, but still seems to add more if you're reading both series. I'll give this issue an 8/10, I would've given it a nine but I'm getting frustrated with everyone remembering then forgetting Max. It's like Groundhog day!

Power Girl: This is what I think of when I remember back. I remember laughing a lot. Sure. There was danger. We fought hard battles. We were constantly putting our lives on the line. But, All told, it was fun.

Streets of Gotham #18

First things first, awesome cover by Dustin Nguyen, I really like the half Bruce Wayne, half Hush cover. Out Batman in this issue is Bruce Wayne, which I gotta admit, makes me happy for the obvious meeting with Hush. We see that Batman is investigating a group of people that are apparently robbing stores while sleepwalking, courtesy of Bedbug. Still a very lame villain, but oh well. Batman watches as the people loot and even see's the Penguin looting a cash register in his sleep, causing Batman to take a picture on his camera phone for his trophy room. Um...sure. When Commissioner Gordon shows up with some frequency device Batman requested, he punches in an override code that cancels out the messages from Bedbug's bugs. Batman then finds Bedbug since he's nearby to watch his handiwork. Bedbug hops around like a flea but Bats knocks him loopy with a Batarang. Bats tries to remove Bedbug's mask, but he has bugs under it which infect Batman, making him one of the people who Bedbug can control once he goes to sleep. Over with Hush, he's questioning Pierce about what happened on the missing pages from his Mother's diary. Pierce tells him how Thomas Wayne had grown up and started to fund Leslie's clinic and had also taken a shine to Martha Kane. He's then cut off by Hush, (what a jerk, ask a question then interrupt?) The issue ends as Hush and his new allies go to see Dr. Death. Okay, well, this was bad. Sorry but when I'm told there's a six issue arc on Hush, I expect it to be MORE ABOUT HUSH. Not his parents, not Bruce's parents, not some old mobster, not a stupid character like Bedbug, but about HUSH. Hush was a freaking force to be reckoned with in his debut, now he's reading diary's and swapping stories with old men. What the hell is happening?! Oh, and did I mention this was about 12-pages long because the rest is a Ragman co-feature? Oh, and the Ragman story is over TWENTY pages long. I'll give this a 2/10.

Penguin: You can't hold me! I'm innocent!

EMS Guy: We know, Mr. Cobblepot. Go home.

JL Generation Lost #16

We start things off with our newest JLI incarnate being attacked by the Creature Commando's, which are pretty much like an army version of 70's horror movies. Over with the females of the JLI, Ice is trying to find something to help Fire after being shot in the chest and stomach. Fire starts to talk about her past as well as her parents, and how she believes she's going to hell when she dies for all the people she killed when she worked for Checkmate. From there we see Power Girl and Batman in the Bat Bunker. They receive a transmission from the Black and White Kings of Checkmate, telling them they think Captain Atom is innocent due to them finding an encrypted message that apparently told Magog that Checkmate wanted him to kill Captain Atom. Back with the guys of the JLI, after trying to fight off the Creature Commandos in a non-lethal way, Booster decides to have everyone retreat, and sends Beetle to go find out where Fire and Ice are. He finds them but Bea is on her way out of the land of the living. Ice pleads with him to do something but Beetle can't really do anything to help, and as Fire prepares to take her last few breaths, Jamie remembers something and flies off like a rocket. He grabs one of the Creature Commandos, their apparent medic since he's been healing the injured commandos. They rip the Mummy Medic's bandages off and place them on Bea, but are interrupted by an attack by more of the Commando's, led by Medusa. Medusa uses her um... "Medusa Hair (?) to incapacitate Ice. Fire recovers quickly and tries to gain her composure, causing Beetle to get distracted and blasted into a wall. We then see that one of the Creature Commando's is actually Maxwell Lord in disguise. The issue ends with Max taking one of the JLI members away via teleporter. This issue was kinda bland, I didn't get into it like the others, maybe because I don't see the Commando's as a threat? Either way this issue bored me more than it should've. I still love the series but I never felt anyone was in danger here besides Bea. I'll give this issue a 6/10.

Fire: When I die... I'm going to hell.

Well that's it for me everyone, for the most part this was a pretty good week for comics. Join me next week for the final Ratings and Rantings of 2010 as well as the first annual Red Hood Awards. Also, last week's poll results are below and feel free to vote on this week's poll as well. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "Which Comic Character had the worst year?"

Last Place with 0% - Wally West, Coming in last wins this race for Wally West.
Second Place with 12.5% - Tie between Green Arrow and Superman.
Winner with 75.0% - Arsenal, that's right, the former Red Arrow had the worst year in 2010. Congrats...I guess.

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #896, Green Lantern #61, Detective Comics #872, Carnage #2

Ratings and Rantings

Welcome everyone, to another edition of Jason Todd's weekly dose of comic content, Ratings and Rantings! I'm a little late this week due to not having internet access and work kicking my butt, but I'm back with a slew of reviews to brighten up your weekend. But before we do, I have a little news, courtesy of Judd Winick, "Yes, we're going to do more Jason Todd/Red Hood. And yes, I'll be writing it. I can't tell you in what manner. Or what we're doing exactly, but we'll be announcing it soon. There will be some Jason Todd stuff coming out." Man, I couldn't be happier about reading that! So, we've got nine issues to jump into (Batman Inc sold out) and four include Batman, so we're gonna get things started off with Brightest Day!

Brightest Day #14

Brightest Day # 14 starts off with Dove and Deadman on the rooftops of Gotham City, the ring whisks Deadman away and tells him "A Replacement has been chosen." Deadman jumps off of a building and uses his acrobatic skills to end up right in the middle of a crew of villains that must be working for Mr. Freeze. They attack Deadman, and Geoff Johns even has one utter the hilarious line (sarcasm), "You're Dead, Man." Deadman makes sure to note that the ring brought back the White Lantern's at the physical peak of their lives, I guess to shut up all of the Captain Boomerang questions. Deadman takes care of the henchmen, but when Freeze gets the drop on him it seems like Brightest Day will end early, until Batman makes the save. From there, Deadman and Batman catch up, and Dove arrives to the party as well. Deadman tries to give Batman the ring, but it stays on his finger, until he yells at it to go to Batman. From there the ring jumps onto Bruce's finger, turns his costume white and names all of the twelve resurrected heroes and villains. The ring takes over Bruce and makes him extremely out of character, and he starts talking about how life is connected and other hippie crap. The ring, through Batman, then tells Boston that wearing the ring should be an honor and Boston saw it as a chore. After he finishes his sentence, one of the Freeze thugs wakes up and shoots Boston Brand through the chest. Sucks to be you eh? Deadman then see's a point of his life when he was a child talking to his Grandpa who gives Boston great advice about growing old, but he brushes him off like a kid would to go watch TV. He then see's that he's been a jerk to other people as well and relives those moments, up until when he's shot and killed while performing at the circus. Boston then has a "What a wonderful life" moment and wishes he wasn't dead, so the Ring brings him back again. The ring flies off of Batman's hand, hits the shooting thug in the head, knocking him out, then flies onto Boston's finger. The issue ends soon after with a moment between Dove and Deadman and
with Batman wanting to talk to someone about Max Lord. This issue was kinda bleh, as usual. I like that it focused on one story and we knew Batman wasn't the White Lantern due to it being WAY too obvious. Also, who the hell killed Deadman, Claw from Inspector Gadget?! Anyway, the only thing this issue really did was make Bruce aware of Max Lord, which I've been calling for a while, so I'm happy that'll work out. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 3/10.

Batman: It's Batman. We need to talk about Maxwell Lord.

Streets of Gotham #17

Streets of Gotham starts off with Harley Quinn, with a little blood trickling from her head, driving home, repeating "It's only a dream..." over and over. She grabs a bazooka or something, and when Selina tries to stop her she knocks her out. From there, She gets ready to blast a door or something but Batman swoops in and catches her. Selina tries to tell Dick she doesn't know why Harley is acting like a Zombie, and Bruce tells her it's him and they kiss. Really? She can't tell the difference between the man she supposedly loves and his "son" when they have completely different costumes as well? Really? From there we find out that Harley was being controlled due to bug bites from bugs sent by a villain named Bedbug. REALLY?! Like...really? Did Dini write this or did Grant Morrison?! Bruce explains the way Harley was controlled and Selina asks how long he's been back as himself and not The Insider. Bruce replies by saying a few of days, they then talk about what he's done since being back and their relationship. Bruce also tells Selina that Hush has escaped, and that he'll do his best to find him. Meanwhile, Hush awakens with blood dripping down his face from the bullet grazing him in the last issue. When his shooter, Judson Pierce, enters the room, Hush decides to play dumb and see what Pierce wants with Bruce Wayne. We soon find out that Pierce swindled Bruce's mother, Martha Kane, and her family out of the Kane family fortune. Pierce continues and even manages to insult Hush's mom too, which was inadvertently funny. We then see an interesting scene with a young Thomas Wayne, Martha Kane, Leslie Thompson and Alfred (hook those two up!) all at Leslie's clinic. Meanwhile, Pierce sent in his goons to kill them all and ruin Leslie's clinic, but Alfred saves the day and defeats his thugs. Hush continues to try to stall, and when they get ready to kill the faux-billionaire, Hush uses that opportunity to fight back. Hush kicks ass in a manner that shows he should definitely be higher on the villain totem pole, I wouldn't mind Hush becoming the new Prometheus. Hush holds Pierce at gunpoint and pulls him close, telling him to note the stitch marks on his face, and his green eyes, making Pierce realize that he isn't Bruce Wayne. The issue ends soon after with Hush making some demands of his own. This was a fine issue but the art is always annoying me. Harley, Selina and other people really don't look like themselves and that annoys me. The fact that Selina didn't recognize her man also annoyed the hell out of me, and of course the ultimate annoyance, why the hell did this issue start with nothing from the last issue being handled?! I thought I skipped an issue by mistake, also, Bedbug is a horrible villain. Anyway, moving on, besides those, this was an alright issue. I'll give it a 6/10.

Pierce: I figured your ma could just spread her legs for some wealthy sap and be in the green again. That worked out for her pal, Marla What's-her-name. (Elliot, Marla Elliot.)

Power Girl #18

Cover of the year for four reasons.... okay, I'm joking. So this issue of PG starts off with Maxwell Lord and the evil Dr. Sivana meeting up at a secret location. After some talking and a failed mind control attempt due to Sivana having planned for it, Max tells the good doctor that he wants to replicate a Kryptoinian, leading us to Divine, a black haired, leather clad, Power Girl clone. Divine tries to hit Power Girl with her heat vision, but instead of a beam, it's the size of one of Cyclops' optic blasts. When Nicco asks what's going on because he has two readings of PG on his monitors, he asks if she has any weaknesses they can use against her, but PG won't say since Divine can hear the conversation due to super hearing. The busty hero and busty villain fly at one another at mach speed and cause a huge sonic boom when they collide. Peej realizes she can't have a straight up fight with herself so she grabs Divine around the waist and flies into the air, hoping Divine doesn't know how to use her powers too well. Sadly, Divine copes with them just fine and knocks PG deep underground, but luckily right into the lair she was searching for. Peej is shocked when she looks around and see's more clones of her in tanks, but this is cut short when Divine prolongs her attack. The two Kryptonians slug it out before the fight is stopped by Max Lord using a "high-intensity red solar energy blast." Divine is pulled out of it by our big Purple Hulk wanna-be from a few issues ago, Crash, as Max Lord explains why having Divine will help them replicate the powers of more metahumans. Power Girl see's Max's face but can't remember who he is or why his name is so important. Max decides to leave Power Girl there, and when Crash asks why they are leaving the equipment behind, Max says they don't need it. Power Girl looks over at the equipment and reads "Kord Industries" and immediately remembers Ted Kord, thinking he shot himself in the head, but when Max teleports away with Divine and Crash, she remembers that Max Lord killed Ted, but as she stands up she notices that the room is powering up, and it soon explodes. The issue ends on the page after that with Power Girl remembering who Max Lord is. I loved this issue, it was great, we continue to see Power Girl get her on Rogues Gallery, now adding Crash and Divine to the mix. We also got to see another hero remember Max, now with Bruce, possibly Dick, and the rest of the Gen Lost crew, we can add Power Girl to the group as well. I found nothing wrong with this issue at all, and really enjoy Judd's writing on it so far, I'll give this issue a solid 9/10.

Power Girl: His name is Max Lord. And I remember.

The Flash #6

Flash gets things off to a start with Barry Allen in future court with the Renegades, with Barry on trial for murdering the Mirror Monarch. Flash tells the Renegades that he was fooled by The Top, and that they need to catch him before it leads to bad things, especially for Flash's wife, Iris. We then see Top trying to take the box of evidence from Iris, so he can keep his reputation as a police officer in the future. Alrighty then. Back in the court, the Renegades realize that Flash may be right, and the information they got from Top could in fact be fabricated. Flash gets tired of waiting some he breaks out of the cuffs and tries to escape, which he succeeds in doing, and stops Top before he can suck the air out of Iris' lungs with his spinning top powers or whatever. Top flees but Flash follows after him, asking why he killed the Mirror Monarch, and Top tells him he's only dead for now, and that everything will reset and history will change when he's done. We find out that Top did this because if your ancestors were arrested then you can't be a police officer in the 25th century, so he doesn't want Flash to reopen that case because it would convict a family ancestor. Really? When Flash tells Top he's a criminal and had blood on his hands, Top snaps and tries to take down Barry, but fails when Barry uses his speed to go inside of Top and reverse the spinning and stop his speed....um....okay. After Top is knocked down and defeated, the Renegades show up to arrest him and then they leave. Cool, I guess. From there Barry gets the real criminal arrested, free's the kid who was mistakenly arrested, and we see the Rogues say that whatever happened with the Mirror they broke instill doubt in The Flash. Back with the Renegades, they note the multiple paradoxes with the 21's century, including Wonder Woman's classic and new look, Deadman and his White Ring, Batman back in time, and Luthor talking to Death. The issue soon ends after with someone on a motorcycle saying they hope Barry finds Flashpoint soon. So, with this issue I constantly found myself wondering what the hell was going on. I'm, thinking this may be my last issue of Flash, I'll see how I feel next month, but don't be surprised if this get's dropped relatively soon. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 4.5/10.

Renegade guy: Something's wrong with history. (Well when ya fix it, give Wondy her old costume, Roy his arm back, and make Wally West important again.)

Superman/Batman #78

Okay, so a Joe Kelly issue of Superman/Batman, with everyone from Mongul to the Scarecrow on the cover plus the promise of a Power Girl/Huntress team up? Excellent. The issue starts with Batman and Superman having a brutal fight as Batman thrusts a Kryptonite sword into Superman's chest, immediately making me think this is a game or something between two kids or nerds. So the nerds make rules about how they can't use Kryptonite, No killing, and a reason for Superman and Batman to fight. Yep, it's kids. They also add the rules of no Bat-Mite and Mxyzptlk, and no magic. They then try to decide what Superman and Batman would fight about, ruling out girls (Wonder Woman), a dead Robin (lmao), and membership in the league. They skip a reason and have Batman and Superman argue, leading into a big fight, and Superman punches Baman and takes his utility belt. Batman utters the code, Damocles, causing the belt to explode, blasting Superman away. The explosion temporarily blinds Superman so Batman can escape, but Superman listens to his heartbeat and tracks down the Dark Knight. The two then fight everywhere, even in space, with Batman and Superman constantly one-upping one another and leading to some great comedic moments, especially when Batman attacks Superman with the big Superman/Batman composite robot. Superman destroys the robot but it releases a giant Bat Shadow that blocks out the sun causing Superman to lose his powers as he and Batman fall to the earth, inevitably going to die because neither of them would give up. The two kids realize how the game is stupid because they'd never fight one another because their friends, and we see that Batman and Superman were above them, listening in. Superman enjoyed it but Batman feels like he wasted five minutes of his time, before telling Superman he could beat him, even without Kryptonite. The story ends with Batman telling Supes that the kid was right about a lot of Bruce's techniques, and when Supeman asks which ones, Batman stays silent and Superman wonders confused. I loved this, I mean LOVED it. It was a bunch of fun, a great story, and the humor that only Kelly can bring. If this was in the 75th issue of Superman/Batman I would've rated it MUCH higher, because this story was one of my favorites. The Huntress/Power Girl story was just okay, but the main story definitely picked up the slack. I'd recommend this to anyone who loves comics, humor, and is a big fan of Batman and Superman. I'll give this issue a 10/10. Also, this issue was so good it has TWO lines of the issue.

Narrator: Of Course! I mean... they wouldn't fight over a chick-- 

*Supes, Bats and Wonder Woman are shown*

Batman: So long as there is crime in the streets, I have no time for nooky. 

Batman: I work better alone... If you don't count Robin, Batgirl, Batwoman, Azrael, The other Robins, Nightwing, Oracle, and The Outsiders.

Batman: The Return - One-Shot

We start off with a lesson on Bats, and see the travel of a wounded bat, the same bat that would make his way into Bruce Wayne's study, and inspire Bruce Wayne to become Batman. From there we see Bruce Wayne, in his new Batman costume, as he saves a kid, thwarts a criminal, and tells another criminal that he's next, after returning his son. From there we see an awesome page with the Batcave, as Bruce has assembled Batman, Robin, Oracle, Batgirl and Red Robin. Bruce tells his team that due to his recent experiences he has big plans and they start with them, and has given them envelopes with special assignments. Bruce tells Babs that next spring Waynetech will start Internet 3.0, and he wants her to be his ghost in the machine, giving her access to cheat codes, vehicles and weapons no one else has. Is this a video game or something? He also wants Steph to enroll in finishing school in England for some reason. That should be easy to explain to Mrs. Brown, right? hen Damian asks what about Batman and Robin, referring to himself and Dick, but we don't get an answer. From there we see Bruce, with Damian and Lucius Fox go on a spending spree of equipment for Batman, including some Jet suits that increase strength, endurance and have short-range flight. Bruce tells Lucius to fix two and make them look like Batman and Robin. From there, he and Damian go on a mission that's so absurd I can't even try to explain it, basically a bunch of mutated things that failed are there, and Batman is attacked by some freaky looking big baddie. He keeps calling for Robin who doesn't come for some reason, and Robin stumbles onto some mysterious guy that flies away.... yeah. I read that part four times and I'm still confused. Bruce finally finds Robin and yells at him, and back at the Batcave, Damian tells Bruce to find himself a new Robin, and quits. Bruce tells Damian that the chances of them working together as Batman and Robin are zero. When Dick tries to talk to Bruce about how he didn't follow orders much as Robin, he tells them that Damian will be Robin, just the Robin to Dick's Batman. We then see Bruce and Alfred talking, and Bruce tells Alfred they need more Batcave's across the world, to which Alfred tells him not to worry. They bond, and afterwards, Bruce calls Selina and asks her to steal him a weapon from a criminal mastermind.... um...okay. The issue ends soon after with some more confusing Grant Morrison stuff that makes me wanna not read Batman Inc., I'll give this a 2/10.

Batman: Selina! I just got back from the dead and thought of you.

Deadpool MAX #2

Deadpool MAX gets things started with the Crimson Comedian in therapy, with his psychiatrist, Inez. We know her as Outlaw, or if you have the guts to call her that, Crazy Inez. Deadpool keeps hearing things the way he wants to, and most of them involve Inez saying how much she wants to do certain things with DP. When she asks about Deadpool's childhood, we see his Dad beating him with a bat while his mother nonchalantly irons, and replies that his father was a big Baseball fan. The session is interrupted when Bob bursts into the room, and tells Deadpool that a white Supremacist named Zemo is in Wisconsin, vowing to kill almost every person of every race, except using a bunch of racial slurs. Deadpool tells Bob he can't go because he has to go away do to being schizotypal, paranoid, antisocial and more. She pulls Deadpool away as Bob grabs his gun to go after them and finds out that all Inez has been writing for the entire session is "Inez loves Deadpool!" Bob tries to chase after them but Deadpool trips him and he falls face first into a cactus. We see another Deadpool flashback after he leaves with Inez, this time with him trying to get an orange, but having his hand smacked away by his mother. She then tells him if he wants an orange he'll have to do something for her, but we then cut-away to see the nursing home where Inez has taken Wade. He takes off his mask and tells her he won't mind if she runs off screaming, but she tells him he's gorgeous, before having a quick flashback of her own and remembering being attacked by her dad, who apparently looks like/may be Cable. She then tackles Deadpool and plants a huge kiss on him, and we find out that this whole time she actually WAS saying the stuff that Deadpool thought he was imagining, which was pretty funny. And from the bra we see fly off in the panel, we can only imagine what happens next. We then see Bob trying to get to Wade but he can't get into the building unless he offers sex to the very old woman working the door at the building, which he thankfully refuses. Next we see another Deadpool Flashback, with his father calling his mother a whore, and implying that to get the orange she made Deadpool have sex with her... man, no wonder he's so screwed up. Deadpool's dad gets upset and takes a boiling teapot and either beats him with it or pours the scalding hot tea all over Wade's face. From there we find out Inez is actually a patient at the hospital, and that she's told in nurses that the Doctor in charge can have Deqadpool's organs after DP's scratched the itch Inez has. DP then finds out how infatuated Inez is with him and that Dr. Harry has been making her lure people back so they could sell their organs on the black market. From there we see another flashback, now in the hospital, and that Wade's Mom actually slept with a man named Jakub, and Wade covered for her, which led to him being beaten by his father. She thanks Wade and tells him she's leaving forever, and gives Wade a box of oranges before leaving. When Dr. Harry finds Inez and DP he pulls out a gun, but unlucky for him, due to Deadpool's revelations, he was no longer insane, he'd become sane due to remembering his past, and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of Dr. Harry before killing him. He then has the orderlies put Inez in a straight jacket, because he can't be with her insane ass now that he's sane. This was a great issue, I loved the flashbacks and how Inez was written. I was wondering what to think of this series after the first issue but after really enjoying this one I know I'll continue to read it. I liked how Inez was written and hope she returns soon, also I'm interested to see how Zemo is written since they've made Zemo into a woman in this universe. But this was a solid issue in a new series that cemented Deadpool as a real threat, I'll give it an 8.5/10.

Inex: Come, Mr. Wilson. I need to get you into bed and screw your brains out before my head explodes.

Green Lantern Corps #54

Beautiful cover, Sinestro vs. Rayner. Those two have so much history, sometimes it seems like they have more than Sinestro and Jordan. Anyway, the issue starts off with Sinestro's ring construct choking Kyle, asking him if he's trying to shatter the truce after punching Sinestro. Kyle says he just wanted Sinestro's attention, to which Sinestro replies "Mission accomplished, alley rat!" before slamming Kyle into the ground. Sinestro removes his ring, as to not violate the truce, and fights Kyle one on one. By the way, when he removed it, the ring said "Fisticuffs enabled" which made me laugh so damn hard. Kyle and Sinestro duke it out, and after knocking Kyle down three times, Sinestro invokes the Mercy rule. After the fight ends, Kyle asks Sinestro to help him save Soranik again, and Sinestro tells him to do it himself. Kyle tells him that if Sinestro doesn't go, The Weaponer will kill Soranik, and Sinestro tells him he'd better figure out a new plan then. We then see Soranik, she wakes up on a couch and see's the Weaponer who is working not far from her. She tries to arrest him but he's already confiscated her ring. He tells her that he doesn't want to hurt her, she is merely bait for Sinestro. We soon see that the people of Qward were once the seat of power to the Anti-Monitor, and he had people who fought for him, and the people who made their weapons, were called the weaponers. He then talks about how Sinestro came to him to make a replacement power ring after losing his Green Lantern ring, and how he expected a Hero's reward for helping Sinestro. But Sinestro just brought war to the anti-monitor and the people of Qward. Years later Sinestro returned to Qward and enslaved it's people to make him more Yellow Rings for the Sinestro Corps. Since someone had to bear the blame and the Weaponer made the first ever yellow ring, he was exiled from his people. He finally was able to bring the fight to Sinestro after finding a mysterious white Net, the same recently created by Deadman with his White lantern ring, the net allows him to conjure any weapon he can imagine. Back with Kyle, he goes to Oa to recruit help from fellow Lanterns to save Soranik. Back with Soranik she tells The Weaponer she doubts Sinestro will come but he's adamant that he will. When his machines announce someone is coming, Soranik tries to grab her ring from where it's being kept but takes a huge shock for her troubles, knocking her unconscious. The Weaponer runs out to fight expecting to see Sinestro but is greeted by Kyle, John Stewart. Ganthet, Boodikka and Hannu. The issue ends as The Weaponer gets ready to take on the five Green Lanterns. This was another solid issue, I'm sure Sinestro will show up but I'm wondering if it will lead to a team up with him and Kyle or what will happen. As always the story was cool and the art was beautiful, but not much happened between this issue and the last. I'll give this issue an 8/10.

Sinestro's Ring: Fisticuffs Engaged. (Why...is that even a setting?)

Green Lantern #59

Green Lantern, featuring The Flash. Somewhere in the world, X-Man75 just got heartburn. Anyway, GL starts off with with two injured men being tended two by two paramedics in the back of an ambulance, the ambulance crashes and as one paramedics tries to climb out of the wreckage, he's met by the Indigo Tribe and Black Hand, who speaks on their behalf. The paramedic, Shane Thompson, is then chosen by the Indigo Entity, Proselyte. Over in Livonia, Michigan, Hal tells Barry he has everything under control, and Barry disagrees since a young teenage girl has been possessed by an Alien entity. Barry complains that Hal has been running with Sinestro and not him, I guess he's jealous. When Hal plays the Parallax card and tells Barry he wasn't there to see him when Parallax took over and made him kill his fellow Lanterns and friends, and that this is his responsibility. Over on Oa, Salaak is snitching on Hal because he believes he's up to something, and he may be possessed by Parallax again. The Guardians tell him to send the Alpha-Lanterns to Earth to investigate what Hal Jordan has been up to. Salaak tells them that the Alpha-Lanterns are still recovering from their run-in with Cyborg-Superman in Green lantern Corps' last arc, so Salaak recommends sending someone from outside of the Corps to track Hal. Back on Earth, Barry keeps acting like Hal's wife and nagging him, until Hal brings up Green Arrow. Barry says that's the last person he should look for approval from since he's a murderer. From there he says he didn't like Ollie because he changed Hal, so yeah, in other words he was jealous. Flash then says he's not the only one that thinks Hal is making a mistake, he's just the first on there cause he's the fastest. Saint Walker tells Barry that he should wear the Blue Ring again so he can understand where their coming from. Soon after that, the Indigo Tribe shows up with their entity in their new host, and also have Black Hand, who they claim to have reformed by giving him compassion. Barry interrupts and tells Hal to stop teaming with Villains and team with him, Batman and Superman, and that they're on the way. Oh no, the heroes are on the way, you're in trouble now Hal! Hal ignores Barry and asks if the rings make them feel compassion, if they were all murderers before they put on the rings. The entity Adara looks inside and notices the Indigo rings make them feel emotions and they don't have their own. The Indigo Lanterns get upset and threaten to take all the entities themselves if they won't team up with them. Their interrupted by the mysterious figure and Parallax, who takes control of one of the bystanders, I won't say who, but the next issue should be interesting. This was an alright issue, I really only cared for the ending and that's about it. I'll give this issue a 6/10 rating, here's hoping the next issue goes all out and has a hell of a fight.

The Flash: Once again Hal, stop digging yourself into this hole. It's going to turn into a grave.

Well everyone one, that's it for me. Hopefully next week's Ratings and Rantings will be done before the weekend. I work this week from 7-3, including Thanksgiving so if it's late, that's my excuse haha. But I'll try my best, also an early Happy Thanksgiving from me to you guys. And lastly, don't forget to vote on the new weekly poll. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Next Time on Ratings and Ratings

Action Comics #893, Batman Beyond #6, Gotham City Sirens #17, Generation Lost #14, Amazing Spider-Man #649 and Deadpool #29.

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, Jason Todd here with your weekly dose of Comic Content Comments, that's right baby, Ratings and Rantings! We've got a nice pull this week so hopefully I'll be saying good things about these comics. I actually forgot to put up a new poll last weekend, so my apologies. I'll have a new poll this weekend as well as the Top Five 5. So near the end of the article you can see the five topics and hopefully you guys will participate. So, let's get this party started.

Superman/Batman #76

Superman/Batman #76 is written by Judd Winnick, and as some of you know I'm a big fan of Judd due to his fantastic work with Jason Todd. We start things off with Lois Lane, awaiting Clark after the battle that we know as Final Crisis. Superman arrives home so quickly and silently that Lois doesn't realize it first, but she sees the Man of Steel, obviously sad and starts to try to comfort him. On the next page we see Superman tell Lois that Bruce is dead. From there we see Robin and Nightwing, that's right, Tim Drake and Dick Grayson trying to keep things stable while awaiting Bruce's return when we see Superman and Wonder Woman show up, with Supes holding what we believed to be Bruce's bones in his arms. We see Dick break down, and demand to see the body, which we would later find out isn't Bruce's body and Dick was right. Meanwhile, Tim didn't say a word which I found odd considering he's been the advocate for believing Bruce is alive for the last year. We then see Doctor Mid-Nite explaining how it's Bruce's body and the Omega Beam killed him... WRONG. Man, he thought that was Ollie's corpse that one time, now he's wrong about Bruce's corpse... someone revoke that man's license. From there we see Superman staring at the body and thinking back to the funeral of his own adoptive Father, Johnathan Kent. After the autopsy Grayson says he wants to take the body home for a funeral as Tim cries in the background, still not saying a word. We then see Clark dressing for the funeral, telling Lois that hes going to Bruce's funeral, and that it's core members of the league only, and no uniforms because that's what Dick wanted. One of my favorite parts was when Clark went to leave he left his glasses behind, and Lois reminded him, and he said he didn't leave forget them, it's no uniforms. That was a great moment because we often forget that Superman is who he is and Clark is his facade. At the funeral we see the speech Dick made originally about letting the legacy of Batman and the fear he's instilled live on. We also see Superman think about how things went when he met Batman for the first time. As the funeral ends we fast forward to seeing Superman in space, listening to all the news reports of the world with his super-hearing, and catching wins that Scarecrow was caught in Gotham by Batman. Next we see Superman with Wonder Woman, she guesses that Batman is Dick, which Supes confirms. When he looks uneasy she asks what's wrong and Superman replies "All of it. All of it is wrong." Next we see Superman confront Dick, basically telling him to honor his legacy but not as Batman, to which Dick says he doesn't want to be Batman but the world needs a Batman. Superman gets REALLY upset at Batman and gives the line of the issue which you can read below the review for it's full impact. The rest of this issue was great, It was nice to see the other side of what happens, and Judd wrote Superman fantastically. Every decision, everything about it made sense for Superman. I can honestly say that if Judd Winnick wrote Superman I'd be on board. As for this issue, this is definitely one of my favorites. I'd say it may be my second favorite issue of Superman/Batman right behind issue #26 which was dedicated to Sam Loeb and Starred Superboy and Robin. But I'm getting off track, this issue deserves a 10/10, outside of Tim not saying anything after Bruce died this comic was perfect, and it wasn't about Tim so I can't fault them for that. Also I'd recommend this issue to anyone, whether they love the series or not.

Superman: You knew him. Better than anyone. Better than me. And you know... his disguise was Bruce Wayne. He was Batman. You're parading around in his skin. You're going to take it off.

Power Girl #16

Our issue starts with our heroine Power Girl being beaten up by a gloved figure. PG tells us about all ther powers she has a a Kryptonian and how she's STACKED (No pun intended...well okay, pun intended) with Super Powers. She then wonders why she keeps getting her butt kicked, which is a damn good question. PG keeps fighting the scuba suit wearing foe, but can't seem to shift the tide of the fight in her favor. She eventually goes from Power to Pissed Girl and just starts beating the hell of the guy. She eventually pulls the guy's mask off but we don't get to see his face before we switch over to seeing Karen Starr, PG's alter ego. We see her employee Nicco accusing her of being Power Girl, well hell she's either PG or Pamela Anderson is... Karen laughs in his face and tries to play it off, but Nicco pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot on three. He gets the "Thr" out before Karen changes into her PG costume and takes the gun away from him at lightning speed. She takes the gun and he reveals it's a Vacuum Cleaner for the most part, and he pulled a fast on on Peej. They argue and judge one another, Nicco for saying PG was a fraud and PG bringing up Nicco's past as a cyber thief. He eventually walks away, and when Peej calls out to him as Nicco he says it's Nicholas, seemingly saying they're no longer friends. Next we see PG and Batman (Dick Grayson) as he tries to find the woman that embezzled from Karen's company. Due to Dick's technical expertise due to all his years learning from Bruce, he quickly helps put Power Girl on the trail of her embezzler, Donna Anderson. Donna is found on the floor in her bra (who could give Peej a run for her money, okay I'm done.) and has overdosed on drugs. Power Girl realizes that Donna didn't do it because the facts don't add up, and she expects foul play. She asks Nicholas for help, and after some hesitation he agrees. She takes him to a new lab she had made, and tells him it's his. He asks why can't Batman help, and she says who do you think built the place, then replies that he's busy and she needs someone full-time. The issue soon ends after that, giving us a hint that we may find out who scuba suit man is next issue. This was another solid issue of Power Girl. and helped further some storylines, It was a good read, nothing amazing but far from bad, I'll give it an 8/10.

Batman: Did you have any indication that she might try to pull something like this?

Power Girl: Of course, Dick. She kept going on and on about her plans to embezzle millions of dollars from my company but I never put it together.

Titans #27

This cover is very simple but very well done, and Cheshire has some damn sharp nails... Anyway, the issue starts with the team that took care of the Titans in the last issue being introduced by their boss. Deathstroke goes after the biggest guy first but can't take him down as easily as he planned. Next we see Roy Harper as he thinks to himself how Speedy, Arsenal, and Red Arrow are just names and masks he used and they all covered the same lying face, and the biggest lie was him being a hero. He even says he's a Titan again, something he swore he'd never do, all because of Cheshire, because he owes her for what happened to Lian, even though we all know it's not his fault. He then thinks about how much he's gonna enjoy helping Cheshire murder Slade. Roy then finds the place where kids are being harvested in pods for energy like something out of The Matrix. He tries to break one out but the kid gets zapped and cooked or something. Ever the drug addict, Roy then wonders what the drug the kids are being made into tastes like. Oh Roy, you love your drugs don't you! Anyway, Roy is attacked from behind by a furry villain, imagine a gray version of Beast from the X-Men. Meanwhile, Orisis sees a vision of his sister since one of the villains shot him up with Bliss in the last issue. In his vision he learns he has to do things to bring back his sister, which we already knew due to Brightest Day. They alluded the rest of the Marvels and Black Adam family may have to as well, so that's cool. Then his sister turned into a blackened evil version of herself, and Osiris attacks it, not knowing it was Slade. Slade then passes the buck onto one of the enemies and Osiris kills him, since he's an idiot and stuff. Back with Roy, Gray Beast is kicking the crap out of him, Roy says he's moving in slow motion because he needs a fix but he can't allow another child to die. Roy subdues Gray Beast and knocks him into a power generator, which knocks off the power, allowing him to save the kids. About time you got priorities Roy. Meanwhile the rest of the Titans kill the other enemies, as Roy comes out with the kids. They leave and Roy is visibly shaking due to his addiction, Jade is surprised that Slade wanted to save kids until she sees him carrying out a body and realizes it was all about him getting what he came for. Osiris later sees that Isis' statue has more cracks and realizes that he has to kill people to bring her back, he doesn't want to but he seems to be thinking about it. We then see some guy and his son sitting on the couch, I'd guess that's one of the kids Deathstroke and the Titans saved or something but to be honest I don't know. We then see Roy looking for his drugs which are gone, we see Cheshire walk in holding them and tells Roy don't let the drugs control him. Roy replies they don't and she says she has something to satisfy his hunger and drops the sheet wrapped around her body. So... the issue ends on the next page, and we see Slade has a plan as well. Well this was pretty crappy, Roy wants drugs, Jade obviously wants another kid by Roy, and Slade has plans to control Roy. Big whoop, the only interesting thing was Osiris having to kill people and that's not all that interesting. This was a pretty lackluster issue so I may drop this series if the next arc isn't good, I'll give it a 4/10.

Cheshire: It's really killing you, isn't it? The hunger? Something's gotta satisfy it. I've got something... far more addictive. (She means SEX, Roy... well she means something else but I'll just say sex...)

The Flash #5

I was gonna drop Flash from my comic list but after the last issue I changed my mind, so I'm hoping this issue wasn't a mistake in picking up. Things start off with Flash and Top discussing what they have to do to save Flash's wife and Top's teammate of the Renegades by stopping the Rogues from breaking the "In case of Flash Return, Break Glass" glass. Back at the glass, the Rogues our facing their Renegade counterparts, all except Captain Boomerang who has no counterpart considering how lame a Boomerang is as a weapon. Meanwhile, Mirror Master is about to break the glass and unleash the Mirror Lords, one of which will possess Isis and make her one of Barry's biggest enemies, when Flash swoops up and and punches him. Mirror Master breaks into a bunch of tiny pieces of glass then shows up on Flash's wingtips which he apparently keeps nice and shiny... okay then. Trickster uses his remote thing to turn up the police scanner Flash apparently has built into the wingtips to try to subdue Flash, who rips them out. He's then thrown around by Wind and tornadoes thanks to Weather Wizard. Top reverse the tornado to stop it and help Flash out, then falls to the ground. The Renegades move in to try to arrest Top and Flash, and on the other side toe Rogues move in to try to kill Top and The Flash. Captain Boomerang tries to walk up and do something but the White Lantern symbol shines on his chest and causes a bright flash. Digger's pupil turns into the white Lantern symbol and says if he wants to stay alive he has to throw the Boomerang at Dove, which we see, and it looks like it takes place in Green Arrow's Star-wood forest, then we see his pupil turn into the Black Lantern symbol. Interesting. Boomer then starts throwing Boomerangs everywhere as the Rogues and Renegades duck for cover. One of the Boomerangs causes a crack in the mirror, which shows something has changed since originally Mirror Master broke the mirror. Top tells Flash that Flash has the power to stop the Mirror Masters and to do so, while Top tries to hide Iris and keep her safe. Flash tries to hold hip but Top spins, and knocks Barry through the giant mirror. While in the mirror, Barry see's is mother but realizes it's all just reflections that aren't real and breaks away. He then sees that the Mirror Masters have gotten free and disappeared while he's been caught by the Renegades. The end of this issue was a nice swerve that I didn't expect. The issue was also pretty action packed and left me wondering how Flash will try to get away from the Renegades in the next issue. This was another solid issue although nothing really happened until the end, but it wasn't bad at all. I'd give this issue a 8/10.

Captain Cold: So you're The Top from the 25th century, huh? I killed The Top from this era. I can kill another.

Green Lantern Corps #52

Aww the tagline on this issue is Immortal Combat, isn't that cute. Things start off with Boodikka commenting about how there are no better comrades she's rather have at her funeral, referring to Hannu, John Stewart, Kyle Rayner, and Soranik Natu. She returns the three Lanterns that wear their rings powers and Soranik tells the others that Boodikka is dying and she can't do anything to help since Boodikka's all machine at this point. John steps up, since he's an architect he rigs up something to hold her together. There was a funny like where Hannu said he doesn't wear his ring but when he sees what John can do with his he thinks maybe he should. Meanwhile, Ganthet is trying to reverse the Alpha Lantern procedure of Horoq Nnot since he's being made to by Cyborg-Superman, aka Cyberman as I call him. The procedure works, she's still got a robot like shell but apparently she's back to her original state of mind. Cyberman is happy, but that angry happy that only a crazed Cyborg can have, and demands that Ganthet do the procedure on him next. A huge earthquake then occurs, and Cyberman tries to check in with Alpha Lantern Boodikka, when she doesn't reply he sends the rest of the Alpha Lanterns to find her. They soon see that One Billion Grendans are attacking, loyal to fellow Grendan and Green Lantern Stel, and the attack is being led by Hannu, Kyle, John and Soranik. Cyberman uses his influence and powers to stop all Billion of the Grendans since their robotic life forms, but it's taking a strain on his mind. Soranik heads on to find Stel and Ganthet as Hannu goes after the Alpha Lanterns. Soranik finds Ganthet, he's charging his ring and trying to reassemble Stel. Back outside Kyle and John attack Cyberman, but are fought off easily, until Stel, Ganthet and Soranik show up to help them out. They destroy Cyberman's body, and he tries to take another one, that of Boodikka. I loved this scene, and seeing Boodikka again, and not her robotic form. The ending of this issue was interesting, I'm wondering what happens to Hank Henshaw from here, as well as the rest of the Corps. This was a really great issue, probably the best since Tony Bedard has taken over. I'll give this issue a 10/10, it was great and I can't wait to see what's next for the Green Lantern Corps.

Boodikka: On the way here, John Stewart ordered him not to kill any Alpha's. Hannu just laughed. I, too, would laugh--If I still had a diaphragm.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #16

House of Hush starts with this issue and I couldn't be happier, I'm a big fan of Hush, Hush Vol. 1 and 2 are some of my favorite comics ever. We see Hush as Bruce Wayne, pleading Jane Doe's case to the Arkham Asylum board trying to get her freed from the asylum. Turns out the board denied his request, and Manhunter tells him he's lucky because if they had released Jane, she would have killed both Hush and Jane on the spot. We see that the Tweeds, Humpty Dumpty, and Lock-Up have all been freed thanks to Hush's actions while masquerading as Bruce Wayne. Hush realizes that he has to come up with a better plan now that he's failed in releasing Jane Doe from Arkham. We then see Jane and a guard that apparently connects with Jane, so this may translate to something later in the issue. We then see Mr. Pierce, the man from two issues ago that vowed to kill Bruce Wayne, eating at some restaurant. His goons ask him why he wants to kill Bruce, and we find out he wants to as revenge against his parents, Thomas and Martha Wayne. We see that he used to work with Martha's dad, after he died, Mr. Pierce tried to bribe Martha with sixty thousand dollars to walk away from the Thompkins Medical Clinic. She refuses, and he calls her out on being turned down by the Elliot's, and says maybe Thomas Wayne will by her sob story if he's sober long enough to listen. Martha then takes the money as a donation for the clinic, and gives Pierce a receipt before waking away. I liked this because Martha showed that Lois Lane-like personality of not being pushed around, even daring to take the money from the gangster, but as a donation and not a bribe, keeping her convictions. Meanwhile, Hush is made to appear at a party as Bruce Wayne, and this time he's being watched over by Zatanna who will act as his date. We got a very interesting back story on Bruce, Zatanna and Thomas Elliot since they all knew each other as kids. There was another scene where Hush pretty much mockingly professed his love as Bruce for Zatanna in an interview, just to bother Zatanna who we all know has a crush on Bruce. While passing a TV, Zee and Hush see that Jane Doe has caused a riot at Arkham while attempting to break out while wearing the guard she talked to earlier in the comic's skin. Alfred assures Zee that Dick and Damian are on their way to Arkham to stop the riot. Zee decides to go to help while Alfred drives Thomas home, but their limo is soon knocked into a light pole by another car. The issue ends soon after that but I'm sure you can guess who was in the other car if you think hard. Anyway, this issue was cool, but the art really hurt it. I couldn't tell what the hell the mobster guys were eating, I didn't even know who Zatanna was until they said her name, and from afar Jane Doe's head looks like an apple. Those are things that hurt the story for me, but besides that the issue was good. I'd give it a 7/10 rating.

Hush: We both know the only way for you and your pals to stop me for good is to kill me, and a big part of me wishes you would. I'd die happy knowing my murder was on your snow-white consciences.

Justice League: Generation Lost #10

This issue starts off with a view of the future courtesy of the White Lantern light, we see Magog as he hunts down an unwilling to fight Parasite. Magog is with a team known as the Magog's Justice Brigade, featuring Judomaster, a new Captain Atom I believe and some other very aggressive heroes. Magog continually bullies and pushes around Parasite until he attacks him back. Parasite attacks the Captain Atom and causes him to explode, killing millions in seconds. This then causes the war we know as Kingdom Come. We see that the White Lantern Light wants Max Lord to kill Magog, stopping the war that will one day start. From there we see Magog with Max, as Max is apparently giving Magog's lance an upgrade. Max has brought on Magog to try to kill Captain Atom, which confuses me because it seems like that would jump start the war, but maybe that's what Max wants. From there we see the JLI learning from Skeets that the day he returned Max relaunched four dormant Checkmate cells, so the gang thinks to check those. Skeets also reveals that he downloaded all of Checkmate's files, way to go Skeets! Later on, Fire confronts Ice about leaving the team. We see that Ice changed her mind because she wants to be around to help Fire since she can't live with herself if anything happened to Beatrice. I loved this because it was a nice moment between the only two that are friends outside of the team. Next up we see a fantastic scene with Batman, showing Alfred a picture of Max Lord's neck being snapped by Wonder Woman, Alfred only sees a bunch of pictures of people named Max Lord that aren't our Max, and that's what Batman sees too, although he doesn't believe that's what he should be seeing. Leave it to Batman to be a true genius. Power Girl surprisingly shows up and tells Batman that she saw a man named Max when she fought C.R.A.S.H. in the last Power Girl arc. (Not this weeks.) PG says that maybe Booster is telling the truth about Maxwell Lord, and Batman agrees. Batman goes to call in Martian Manhunter, The Green Lanterns, Superman and Flash but immediately forgets what he was doing, thanks to Max of course. PG then says she needs help finding one of her ex-employees (See Power Girl review above.) That was a fun moment because I found myself happy that the JLI had some help, then they lost all hope in a matter of seconds. We then see the team has split up with Fire, Ice and Rocket Red checking an "active" hideout in China, and Booster, Captain Atom and Beetle are in Chicago. Red feels through his Mecha Empathy that there are computers below the floor, so he lifts up a hatch and Red, Fire ad Ice head below.The end of the issue had a team pop up I did not expect, not the biggest threat but they can be if used right. I thought this was another well done issue of JL Gen Lost and I'll give it a 9/10 rating. Great issue, great appearances by PG and Batman and of course, the always needed continuity!

Max Lord: Batman is a lightning rod for psychotics. He's like a naked broad walking into a room full of rapists.

Magog: So you're not a fan.

Max Lord: Batman tries to contribute to the greater good, but his methods in the end cause much more harm.

Well that's all for today folks, but luckily we had a pretty good pull this week. I'm hoping you guys enjoyed my reviews as much as I enjoyed typing them up. For those that want to participate in the Top Five 5 this weekend, be sure to send me your top five picks for each category at KevinKavalier@gmail.com so send those in as soon as possible. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger man, Jason Todd!

Top Five Characters you wish would be Amalgam'd (for Paul)
Top Five Characters you'd like to see turn evil/good
Top Five Characters you'll never be a fan of
Top Five Characters that need their own Series
Top Five Characters you'd assemble for an all Female Team

 Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Action Comics #893, Gotham City Sirens #16, Green Arrow #4, Teen Titans #87, Time Masters: Vanishing Point #3,