Ratings and Rantings

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly, Jason Todd is here with another edition of your favorite weekly comic content comments, Ratings and Rantings! This week is a pretty busy one as we've got Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgin's Gates of Gotham series continuing on, we're gonna see Matthew Sturges take over the second to last issue of Power Girl, we've got the beginning to the War of the Green Lantern Aftermath by Peter Tomasi and a look at Deathstroke and his Titans. So, lets get things started with the Green Lantern Corps!

War of the Green Lantern Aftermath #1 of 2

We start things off shortly after Hal Jordan has been banished from the Green Lantern Corps and the planet of Oa, with the Guardians saying how he should have never been able to kill a Guardian and wondering if the rings are still compromised. Guy gets upset that the Guardians are crying over Krona, and Kilowog says he did they right thing and they banned him, and next they'll let the traitor (Sinestro) keep his ring. Sinestro says he doesn't want the ring and tells them to get it off, but one of the Guardians says the ring chose Sinestro and they will discover why, until then outbursts will not be tolerated. The Corps continue to yell out responses until the Guardian yells, but that doesn't scare Kilowog one bit. Kilowog says remove Sinestro's ring or he's done, and when the Guardians don;t reply, Kilowog takes his ring off and throws it to the Guardians, saying he resigns but Salaak catches it. He tells Kilowog he's received over 300 resignations and none will be honored today. How can you tell someone they can't quit? Anyway, the Guardians tells Sinestro he's coming with them, and he refuses. Soranik Natu gets upset and says there shouldn't be a debate, and when Kyle tries to calm her down she snaps on him, telling him to butt out. Salaak scans the corps and many of the members have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, so he tells them to not make any rash decisions until everyone is checked out and they bury their dead. The Guardians leave and Sinestro goes with them, with hopes of them removing his ring. We then see Ganthet, missing the hand which wore his Green Lantern ring thanks to Krona, as he says he's ashamed to face the Corps, and doesn't know if he's a Lantern without his ring or if the Guardians would even take him back. Well considering their all distraught over Krona with all the crazy shit he did, I'd say yes. Saint Walker shows up and makes a construct of Sayd for Ganthet, and it heals his hand as he talks to the construct, while in reality Sayd is still in the position of Larfleeze. We then see John Stewart and some GL's going to rebuild stuff on Oa, but they try to attack him for killing Mogo, until Kyle shows up and stops them. By the way, for some odd reason, one of the Lanterns looks EXACTLY like Green Arrow... I'll chalk it up to this issue not having the best art ever. Kyle explains that John channeled Black Lantern power using his Indigo ring to kill Mogo, but John says he knew what he was doing, and he'd do it again to trade one life for billions. Kyle says he could've found a way and John says that's because he's a dreamer, and he gets to be one because guys like John have to make all the tough decisions and live with them. He tells Kyle if he can't understand that then don't pretend he's his friend, and Kyle says he won't and flies off. Over with Soranik Natu, Hannu guides her to a group that includes a telepathic Green Lantern, he says that he saw the Guardians emotions and he knows they're afraid that a GL can kill them as easily as Hal killed Krona, so he thinks their so desperate they've run to Sinestro for help. They then ask Soranik to help them break into the Citadel and execute Sinestro as this issue ends. So this was a fine issue, I wish we'd gotten more info on Hal, but the stuff with Kyle and John, the Guardians and the stuff with Kilowog was interesting. It also sucked that Guy was in like one panel for the entire issue. The art REALLY hurt this comic in my opinion, Sinestro looked more like a red cartoon devil than the pink, smug villain we're used to. Hell, Soranik barely looked like herself, I'll give this issue a 7/10.

John Stewart: I traded one life for billions. There were no other options.

Power Girl #26

The second to last issue of Peej is being written by Mr. Matthew Sturges, I'm not familiar with his work outside of Salvation Run, but I'm hoping he can keep Power Girl as good as Judd has for these final two issues. We start things off with a really good speech by Power Girl, delivered to a ton of women dressed as Power Girl, a few as other heroes, and a few guys dressed as Bats and Superman. We then see a bunch of women in line to see and speak to Power Girl, one even cuts and says she's a student and her studies have shown that Power Girl is the most powerful female hero, and somewhere Wonder Woman the Teenage Amazon is talking to her black cat. Peej says she can't verify that information or people may try to use it against her so the student gets all huffy and walks away. There's a funny moment where a little girl says she wants to touch Peej and get super powers, so she pokes Power Girl while saying "I'm poking you", so of course when the little girl starts to float seconds later, she thinks that's why. Turns out the student, Rana, is actually a super villain and is trying to abduct Peej to study her, so she had the building where the Power Girl meeting was, lifted into space in a tractor beam. Well... that's persistence!Rana gets Power Girl subdued by using some magic creatures and tells Power Girl her planet needs a hero and names some reasons why. Peej says they could've had the JLA come, but she says they need heroes and not quickie police action. She says Earth has hundreds of heroes and her planet has four, haha, it's funny cause it's true. When Power Girl says she can't help, Rana says she'll just use this tube she stole, which will copy Power Girl's molecular structure and give it to Rana. Rana climbs in and starts to get some of Peej's power but surprisingly it's interrupted by the young girls and women Power Girl gave her speech to. They release Power Girl but Rana attacks her, clearly having gained some power. Power Girl tells her she isn't trying to save her people, she just wants power herself, and that makes her a villain. Rana manages to knock Power Girl down but she's then attacked by the young women from earlier, they mention Rana left her machine on. They use their new powers to help Power Girl dispose of Rana. The issue ends soon after with the two girls, no longer with powers, hang out with Power Girl, as their unaware the small girl still has the powers of my favorite Kryptonian. Well this was a pretty good issue, I loved the beginning of the comic and I liked that the girl was trying to "save her world" and Peej compared her to Lex Luthor, excellent point. Overall I liked this issue and it makes me want to read the final one knowing that Power Girl was left in good hands, so thanks Matthew Sturges. I'll give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Power Girl: And what I want to talk to you about is not Power Girl, but rather, Girl Power.
and
Margot: And I hate wearing pants. If you're a superhero, you don't have to wear pants.

Batman: Gates of Gotham #3

We start off with Batman (Dick) standing in the debris of Wayne Tower, as Hush laughs at him for allowing this to happen. Dick delivers a punch across Hush's face but realizes that he's going to have to solve this because Hush won't help him, and neither can Bruce. Batman goes to meet up with Robin and Black Bat, and Penguin notes how four generations walked through the doors of the Iceberg Lounge, and how the rumors must be true, Batman is indeed slipping. As that happens we get random flashbacks to the Gates family, and Bradley tells his brother that the Waynes, Elliots and Cobblepots are using them until they have what they need, and then they'll be brushed aside and forgotten. Back at the Bat-Bunker, Tim tells everyone how the suit was created by the Gates of Gotham, Bradley and Nicholas Gates. They also discover that Dillon May was the last known owner of the suit, and it was stolen from him six months ago. Dick then decides he's going to go question Hush some more on the Gates, and tells Tim and Damian to go check with Dillion May and see if he knows anything about the suit. We then see that Dick has Cassandra read Tommy's body language when he's with the Architect, and she discovers that he wasn't afraid when he was with him which may be important. We quickly discover that Red Robin and Robin, while looking for clues have stumbled into the Architect's trap, and the issue ends soon after we find out that Nicholas Gates' brother was killed due to the drama that escalated between the Waynes, Cobblepots, Elliot's and the Kane's. This was a good issue, I hate the font they use for the flashbacks because it's harder to read in my opinion, but this was a fine issue, I'd give it a 7.5/10.

Red Robin: Well, deny it all you want, But I think we both know the real reason you don't like her... (Cass), is that she's just one more person your father picked over you. (BURN!!!)

Titans # 37

We start things off with Deathstroke explaining how this whole team was apart of his bland to get blood cells from Supergirl and build a machine that would help stabilize his son Jericho's cells and keep him from dying. The reason they broke into Arkham was even to free the Mad Hatter so he could help Slade come up with painkillers for Jericho, which are now starting not to be much help. They then put Jericho inside the machine and he comes out completely healed surprisingly. If there wasn't a reboot coming I'd say toss Roy in there and give him a damn arm. Once this is done, Slade tells his Titans they were all chosen for a reason, and that's because now he can bring back Lian, Black Adam and the rest of their loved ones, all he needs is the bodies. The Titans agree, with the exception of Cinder who doesn't want to bring her loved ones back to this world. Jade steps up to her and says she's not letting her get in the way of bringing back Lian, so Cinder clocks her then tries to destroy the machine. Osiris tries to stop her but Tattooed Man talks her down, saying if he can bring back his son he will and she's not going to ruin that. Roy then tells Jade he thinks Cinder is right, and he's been hiding from the fact that Lian's gone with drugs, but now he knows she's in a better place, and he wants to walk away from it all, the Titans, the machine, everything. Jade attacks Roy, saying she needs her daughter back. Which splits the team with Cinder and Arsenal vs. Cheshire, Ink and Osiris. The issue ends as Jericho, realizing he indirectly caused all of this, turns on Slade and says Slade and Jericho will both pay for their crimes as he uses his powers to take control of Slade. This was a pretty good issue, the stuff with Superman and Palmer was boring so I omitted it, but the rest was kinda interesting, plus I like stories where everything gels together and this one did, so I'll give this issue a 7/10 rating.

Dr. Sivana: Osiris, kill that bitch. (The best thing he's ever said...ever.)

And that's it for me everyone, just four comics this week, with pretty average scores for the most part. Next week should be a big week, which I'll be looking forward to. So, that's enough for me everyone, feel free to comment and let me know what you guys think. Also, don't forget to vote on this week's new poll and check out the results to last week's poll below. So until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood blogger-man, Jason Todd, saying, Stay cool my babies!

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

Last place with 7.7% - Spider-Island swings into last place.
Second place with 15.4% - X-Men Schism falls into second place and...
Winner with 76.9% - The DCnU Reboot, proving that this blog has a lot more DC than Marvel readers.

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Gotham City Sirens #25, Green Lantern Corps #62, Detective Comics #880, Teen Titans #98 (RETURN OF SUPERBOY PRIME!!!),  Invincible #81, Amazing Spider-Man #666, Venom #5, and X-Men Schism #2! (Eight books, next week is gonna be VERY interesting.)

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, JT here with another edition of Ratings and Rantings! Now before I jump into the reviews, I wanna mention that my good buddy X-Man75 has opened a forum for comic book fans to discuss comics, TV shows, Movies and everything in between. It's a forum for us to discuss everything from our favorite comics, our least favorite storylines, and of course, the DCnU Reboot/Relaunch. So come join us at this comic forum and let us know what you think. And, you can even discuss the comics I'm going to review now. (Yep, I'm a master of the segue!)

Superman/Batman #85

We start things off with Jimmy Olsen finding a dead man with a newspaper stuffed in his mouth that washed ashore. We then find out that the man was the editor of the Gotham Gazette and had claimed to crack the case on who Batman was. When Perry White delegates this task to Clark Kent, Clark tries to tell Perry that he thinks Batman is a good guy that wouldn't do this, but Perry replied that good guys don't need masks. Ever heard of Zorro, Perry? When Clark finally arrives in Gotham by train (gives him time to start his article) he meets up with Batman in an alley. Clark offers his services but Bruce said he doesn't need them, this is his city and he can take care of it. Bruce leaves and goes to investigate and look for clues like only the World's Greatest Detective can, But when Batman stumbles onto a room with tons of Bruce Wayne articles plastered on the walls, with Cowl's drawn on them, he realizes this may be a bigger problem than he expected. While looking this over, Bat's notices the doorknob jiggling, and we see the deceased Editor's co-worker was coming with the police to check out his apartment. Batman decides to burn the evidence...and the apartment and manages to get seen escaping by the police. That's REALLY sloppy, Batman. Supes soon finds out about the arson when it's reported on the police scanner, and flies there just in time to see everyone is safe. Commissioner Gordon shows up and tells Superman they don't need this getting out of hand and don't need Superman's help. He says that Batman started the fire and then put it out with a special retardant, which sounds like Batman. Superman then goes to find Batman, and asks him what the deal was with him lighting an apartment on fire. Batman explains he used a retardant but Superman says it was stupid and sloppy. Hey, I said that! While they talk, Batman opens a safe-box he got from the editor's house, he opens it and says that he made a mistake, and forgot to file off the patent number on one of the pieces he used from Waynetech to make a Batarang, and that's what Remington (the editor) had, one from a mistake that Bats made during his first year as Batman. And Remington had created a paper trail to prove Bats had been getting tech from Waynetech (kinda really makes you appreciate the whole thing Grant did with Bruce announcing he funds Bats, that would REALLY help in this situation.) and Bruce mentions since they were a publicly traded company at the time, he was defrauding stockholders, which is something that needed to be done. Clark mentions that he has to finish this story, but he'll prove Batman isn't a murderer. The issue ends Bats telling Superman he doesn't need his help, as Superman mentions that Bruce is wrong, and he does in fact need the Man of Steel's assistance. This was a fine issue, nothing amazing but it was far from bad. Bruce made a few mistakes, one was explained as a rookie mistake but the other seemed kinda weird for him to make, but the guy is human. But this issue was fine enough, I enjoyed it and I'll give it a 7/10.

Perry White: Good guys don't need masks, Kent.

Batgirl #22

We start things off with Steph finding out she;s been activated for her Batman Inc. mission. Next she's in foggy ol' London town with twenty minutes to meet up with someone across town in a place she's never been. She even mentions spending ten hours in coach, and attributes that as her punishment for slapping Bruce in The Road Home. I love callbacks, so that automatically bumps this score up by one. Steph is soon picked up by Squire, who says she was sent by Knight, but uses the pointy ear thing which of course made Steph think she meant Bats. Man, why is this the first time these two are interacting? Cause it seems to be golden already. After yanking Steph's chain a bit, the Blonde Bat-Babe and London's Lady Liberty take off across the town. On the way, Squire asks Steph when was then last time she left the states, and Steph thinks of Africa, after her "illustrious year of dying". God, Bryan Q. Miller deserves SO much more credit than he gets... the guy has been writing Steph for less than two years and is already one of my three favorite writers. Steph and Squire's Excellent Adventure even has them pass Abbey Road while four guys who look oddly like the Beetles are crossing the street. While heading to their destination, our two ladies overhear an alarm and go investigate what turns out to be a robbery. It turns out the robbery is by a thug who calls himself the Orphan, and he's after The Mean, which is apparently a sword that has control over time. He beats Batgirl and Squire to it and manages to freeze time for everyone around except the three, who were nullified from the exposure since they were in the room with him. The girls try to figure out what Orphan would want to do with time frozen, and immediately set out to find Knight, just as the frozen in time Knight is about to be beaten to death by The Orphan and his Urchins. Batgirl and Squire figure that the Urchins can move due to the temporal clocks their wearing and target those, and Squire attacks The Orphan, but she's starting to sink back into real world time and slows down. Just as The Orphan prepares to finish her off, Batgirl tackles him and manages to steal his temporal clock and tosses it to Squire. The girls then manage to save the day and replace the sword, and all before dinner time. As Steph finishes up in London, she and Squire have a talk about their respective mentors and just as Steph says she's jealous, Squire says she's jealous of Steph, because she certainly isn't a sidekick. The issue ends as Steph finally gets home and Batman appears in the shadows, asking why she's late, which will be continued in Batman Inc. #9. I really enjoyed this issue, it was fun, funny and showed that Batgirl has REALLY come a long way in the last two years, it sucks that it all comes to an end in a few months, because in that short time, Stephanie has managed to become my favorite Batgirl, and I owe that to the amazing writing of Bryan Q. Miller. So thanks Bryan for this issue and all the rest. Anyway, I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating, it's bittersweet to know there's only a few more of these left.

Batgirl: You know this guy?

Squire: Calls himself the Orphan, always wants some more. (See... that's just plain genius.)

Power Girl #25

We start things off with the last issue of Judd's amazing Power Girl run with a thirteen year-old Rayhan Mazin, telling his father how much he hates it in America. He says how his father was an engineer and now he has to drive a taxi, and how people yell at his mother because she doesn't have a good grasp of English, and how he's been beaten up at school. His father tells him how his mother isn't bothered by rude people, how he's taking night classes and will be accredited in two years, and how America is better than where they came from. How they don't have to worry about bombings, militias or being drafted. How they can speak their minds and live how they want and love who they want, and how it's up to them to show Americans that Arabs are no different from them and how it won't be easy, but nothing worth it is ever easy. (This was brilliantly written by Judd.) We then jump to the present with Batman (Bruce) and Power Girl confronting an enraged Rayhan. They tell him to stand down and Rayhan notes he's done that all of his life, and Power Girl replies until he tried to bring down that plane. Rayhan tells her he was saving that plane, but Power Girl believes that she and Bats saved the plane, so of course she doesn't believe Rayhan. Batman says this is not the time and place for a debate and Rayhan agrees and tries to strike Batman, who dodges the lighting blast. Rayhan manages to blast Power Girl, which doesn't hurt her but manages to daze the Kryptonian powerhouse while he escapes. He leaves the raging storm behind so Peej tries to figure out a way to stop the storm from causing any collateral damage. We then see inside the hospital and see Rayhan looking for his father. He asks a nurse but she says he can't see him during an emergency, as their trying to accommodate all the patients due to the flooding caused by Rayhan's storm. Rayhan gets upset once again and powers up but he's suddenly shot in the neck with a syringe from afar by Batman, who tells him to relax and let the drugs do their job. Batman thinks to himself how his dart should've knocked Rayhan out, as it can knock out a man three times his size. Bats is then hit with a giant wave of water from Rayhan. Meanwhile, Power Girl uses her X-Ray vision to blast all the rain and make it evaporate, she then attacks the lighting blasts to make sure no one gets hit by them, and the storm quickly disappears, which lets Peej know that something must be going on with Rayhan. We see the reason it stopped is because he's calm, as he's finally found his father's room. Rayhan finally talks to his father, he lies and says they let him go, and his father says he tried to get Rayhan free, he got a lawyer, started petitions, and says he knew Rayhan was trying to save those people in the plane. He tells Rayhan that he's glad he got to come see him, as he passes away and Rayhan cries at his fathers deathbed. In the hallway, Batman tells the officers to leave him be, since all he did was cause a flood and no one got hurt, and that he and Power Girl will handle it from here. We then see Power Girl tell Rayhan she's sorry about his father, and he thanks her for her condolences. She also apologizes for getting him arrested, and says that Batman checked and saw there were discrepancies with the black box, and that Rayhan did save the plane before they actually did and some people knew but kept Rayhan locked up in order to create an incident and fear in people. Peej asks what they can do to make it up to him, and Rayhan says nothing will be necessary, so she asks something of him. We then see her telling Batman that Rayhan agreed to meet with the J.S.A. who have talked about bringing in new blood. Bats says that's good, and he's going to make sure the people that kept Rayhan locked up when they knew he were innocent will pay for their misdeeds as well. Before Batman leaves, Power Girl tells Bruce she missed him and she's glad he's back, and the best ones do always make their way back. Bats replies that Kara is among the best as well. The issue ends with a confident Power Girl flying off, stating that she is, one of the best. I loved the story with Rayhan, the motivation he had and I'd love if he became one of the first (?) Arab superheroes in DC. I loved this issue, and I've loved Judd's run on Power Girl. I believe this is is last issue and I've enjoyed every one up until this, and since it doesn't look like Peej has a place in this new DCU, I wanna thank Judd for making me a big fan of her, making her one of my favorite female characters, and making her my second favorite Kryptonian, right behind big blue. This issue was gonna get a 9, but since I enjoyed it so much, since it's Judd's last one, since it might be the last we see of Power Girl for a while after this reboot, and since it's my blog, I'll give it a solid 10/10.

Power Girl: I am one of the best. (That you are Peej.)

Morning Glories #10

We start things off with Jade walking down a hallway and being approached by a female student with a bald head that would make Lex Luthor jealous. She leads Jade somewhere while some pictures float magically out of lockers and they pass a that shows rubble of buildings and a bunch of dead bodies. She leads Jade to a lab and the scientist tells Jade to take a seat. Jade tells him nothing she does is ever good enough and she can't make herself or anyone else happy. The scientist says, "What about her?" and gestures over to a red headed woman who asks Jade if she's ready to go home and gets in a car. Jade says yes and hops in and as they leave the scientist tells Jade to make sure she tells Oliver Simon that he was right. This is trippy, I feel like I'm on LSD or something. Anyway, they leave and drive past a bunch of rubble and destruction, Jade's mom asked how she's doing. Jade tells her how no one remembered her at home and everyone was trying to kill her at the school, and her mom asks did Joshua ask her to the dance. Just as I wondered what the hell was going on, Jade's mom crashes into something and we see Jade was dreaming, as she wakes up screaming in her bed. Casey asks Jade if she was having nightmares again, and some guards rush in, obviously having gone through this before. They ask if maybe she needs to return to the nurse, and Casey tells them to try it if they dare. The Guards say if they want to they will, to which she replies that if they could they would've, and obviously can't, most likely due to headmaster's orders. The guard looks as if the cat has his tongue, and says if it happens again their taking Jade, and he and his guards leave. After all the hooplah dies down, Jade goes back to sleep and wakes up to a wall with the scribblings "The hour of our release draws near" over and over, and she walks into a room and see's some mysterious guy. Jade mentions she remembers him, and he asks if she remembers saying she'd never leave, no matter what, and she says yes. He then asks if she remembers him cutting her open and rings a bell which causes Jade to wake up in her bed. What? She awakens to Casey who tells her to get ready for class. While getting ready, Jade overhears Hunter telling Casey about what happened and why he never made it to their date. She believes him but tells him maybe they shouldn't be dating and maybe they should just be friends. Jade walks in and Hunter quickly leaves and tells Casey he'll see her around, and Jade shoots Casey a look and Casey says she knows. While on the way to class, Jade encounters Ike but Casey tells him to back off or she'll kick his ass again. Well, feisty aren't we? In class, the teacher shows them how to make a noose, then asks if anyone wants to test the noose. Really? Anyway, Jade volunteers and Casey tries to stop her but some students hold her back. Jade goes up and puts the noose on the steps off of the desk. When she does, we see an older version of Jade in an office, and she cuts young Jade free. Older Jade then asks Young Jade about Casey, Hunter and the rest of the MG Cast, and Young Jade tells her what she knows. She asks about Ike as well, which makes me think those two are going to get together. She then asks about her dreams and she mentions the lab and the cutting guy, but forgets to mention Oliver Simon. Older Jade then has Young Jade look up at the sky and describe what she see's as everything fades and she wakes up in the nurses office as this issue ends. Okay, well this confused the hell out of me. Maybe I need to re-read it a few times but it was all over the place and left me very confused, so for that I gotta give this issue a lower score than usual. I understand that the reason Jade always wants to die is so she can apparently talk to her future self, so that explains why people at the school want to kill her I guess. So I did understand some things but most went over my head, so I hope it's explained later, but this issue gets a 5/10.

Older Jade: Ha. You see him again, you should tell him you remember how shit he was in bed. (That made me chuckle.)

And that's all for me guys and gals! Thanks again for joining us on this week's Ratings and Rantings and feel free to comment and let e know what you guys think. And be sure to vote on the new weekly poll and check out the results for last week's poll below. Until next time, I'm your friendly neighborhood Blogger-Man, Jason Todd, signing off!

Last week's poll asked "How do you feel about Babs Gordon being Batgirl again?"

Last place with 8.3% - I love her as Batgirl!
Second Place with 25.0% - I'm indifferent. (My personal pick, I like them both for different reasons.)
Winner with 66.7% - I loved her as Oracle!

Next Week on Ratings and Rantings

Batman: Gates of Gotham #2 and Deadpool #39... Really? That's it?!

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,

Ratings and Rantings

Hey everyone, JT here, welcoming back to my Red Hood for another edition of Ratings and Rantings! Last week's was a little late, but we're back on schedule this week. I was gonna review Dark Wolverine #90 but I didn't know Time Masters came out this week so I picked that up instead. I'll review Dark Wolverine's final issue next week though. Other than that, I'm not gonna stall or keep you guys bored because I know ya come here for reviews, yes I know where my bread is buttered. But I do wanna ask anyone who isn't to follow the new blog started by myself and X-Man75 of X-Man's Comic Blog dedicated to Saint Barry Allen. So make sure you check out our fun little blog and be sure to follow it and get all the Saint Barry Allen-Goodness at the All Hail Saint Barry Allen blog!

Batman #702

The second issue in the two-part mini where we see what happened to Batman between the events of Batman R.I.P. and Final Crisis has finally arrived. As you guys and gals may or may not remember, I enjoyed the last issue, but with Grant Morrison stuff is either hit or miss with me, so hopefully I'll have good things to say about this issue. We start off with Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman updating the JLA on the seriousness of the fact that a New God has been killed and how dangerous whatever and whoever killed him must be. They put the JLA on condition Amber. The little things, like Batman calling Wally West "Wallace" are things that help you remember that this is Bruce and not Dick Grayson after a year of him under the cowl. We see things that we've seen clips of in the past like Batman talking to Superman about the time traveling bullet, and when he confronted Alpha Lantern Kraken in Final Crisis. All the while we see excerpts from his diary or a note he's writing, discussing how he's a man who tries to fight against Aliens and Gods. We also find the back story between the Batman that was resurrected in the Lazarus Pits in Batman and Robin a few months ago. We also see the huge scene where Batman stands face to face with Darkseid before taking him out with the Radion bullet. This issue was really well done so I've gotta commend Grant, I may not like some of his work but I do love some of his other comics, and this is a great one. Although he just showed us scenes we've seen already from Batman's point-of-view it was still interesting and kept me wanting to know more. I'm sure it also unlocked some secrets for Return of Bruce Wayne readers but I'm not following that series, anyway this was a really good comic, nothing epic or mind-blowing but a good solid comic. I'd give this issue an 8.5/10.

Batman: I made a very solemn vow about firearms. But for you, I'm making a once-in-a-lifetime exception.

Justice League Generation Lost #8

Generation Lost, my favorite Bi-Weekly comic right now, picks up where issue seven left off with our heroes, Booster Gold, Rocket Red, Blue Beetle, Fire and Ice, dressed up in their Rocket Red attires surrounded by a bunch of armed Checkmate guards. Booster takes control and has Skeets patch the Checkmate computers to find Maxwell Lord's location, then has Rocket Red talk some communist stuff at Checkmate to stall them, but sadly they discover that Max isn't in the building. Our heroes, stuck in a stalemate with Checkmate decide to resign from the game. (I love Chess lingo :P ) Anyway, during their escape from Checkmate, Rocket Red takes some office via some type of electric scrambler that was placed on his suit. Fire gets angry and causes her suit to explode off of her, so the rest of the team decides to stop hiding and use their powers to subdue the Checkmate guards. With a little help from Captain Atom, the former JLI make their way back to their base. While there, Ice talks about how she never asked to be apart of any of this and doesn't want to do it anymore. We also see a nice moment between Fire and Rocket Red, who I think may become the resident couple, if Red isn't killed or something, which I hope he isn't since I'm starting to like him. The ending caught me by surprise, a common theme in this series, as I gotta say I didn't expect what happened to happen this soon, but I'll be waiting for the next issue to see how this goes from there. I'd give this issue an 8/10 rating.

Rocket Red: I love this woman! I know vhy she is called Fire!

Action Comics #892

This issue starts off with Lex, Lois and Slade Wilson getting off of Lex's personal Jet in Antarctica. It's said that Lex has brought Deathstroke to help him find a remaining Black Lantern Ring, as they are near the residual energy source. They eventually find the black source of the ring. Slade goes first to check out the energy because he has a bad feeling about it, as he should. While he's by the power source, Lex starts talking about how great an accomplishment this is, and Slade freaks out for some reason and rushes towards Lex. Lex has his people keep Slade occupied by being killed by him while Lex puts on his portable power suit. The former President of The United States takes on Deathstroke and sends his scientists to go scan the power source. Another one of his scientists succumbs to the power of the black sphere and it causes her to become homicidal as well. We also finally find out why Lex's head is unprotected when we see him in his power suit, because he has a force field surrounding it. Not the best explanation but it's better than him being so stupid that he leaves his head vulnerable. Our Bald Genius also figures out that strong emotions cause you to lose control quicker. The ending of this issue leads us to a showdown of the minds for the next issue that should be pretty good. This wasn't a bad comic, the pacing just seemed kinda slow and hard stay interested in so I'll give this issue a 6.5/10. Oh, and the Superboy Co-Feature made me 100% that I have no interest in reading the series now... man that was bad.

Lex Luthor: I'll deal with Deathstroke.

Time Masters: Vanishing Point #2

I wasn't aware this came out this week until I saw it in the store so this was a pleasant surprise. We kick things off with a young Rip Hunter and his father watching a great moment in time. They're watching the moment Superman's rocket lands on the planet earth. Rip's father tells him that he has to protect moments like this in the time stream to make sure no one ever ruins them and changes history or the future, and that one day it will be Rip's job. We then jump up to present time, whenever that may be, and see Rip fighting some type of savage man that thinks Rip is a murderer. With some help from Skeets, Rip subdues the Savage and talks to him, telling him he's not the man he's looking to kill. Rip decides to help the savage known as Claw on his mission, due to there being a stream of chronal energy, and maybe it will lead him back to Booster Gold, Green Lantern and Superman. From there we see Black Beetle (whose red for some reason) and a team he's put together consisting of Despero, Degaton and Ultra-Humanite from different moments in time so they can work together and get control over time. We then catch up with Green, Gold and Big Blue, in the middle of a war zone where some armed guys are shooting at unarmed humans, so Supes decides to jump in, even though Booster reminds him Rip said not to. They help and Superman and Green Lantern, like the arrogant jerks they are take shots at Booster for being a glory hound and such. Then like the hero he is, Booster saves GL. We then see Rip and Claw heading forward to find this evil wizard when they are attacked by some tentacles that pull them under water, when they arise, Rip see's that he can see various moments in time in the water. We then jump to Booster's sister Michelle (Goldstar) and his cousin Daniel (Super Nova) in Rip's lab. The ending of this issue was a bit surprising, but the comic overall was a good read, nice pacing and a really well done story. I'd give this issue a 9/10.

Green Lantern: I can see why you'd like to help find Batman. A guy like you could parlay that into a million-dollar payday. Maybe even get your own Reality show.

Superman/Batman #75

It's the historic 75th issue of Superman/Batman! Who would've thought that by combining the two biggest names in DC Comics and you'd get a nice ongoing series? Well this big action packed issue kicks off with some dude who looks kinda like Lex but greenish in the future, fighting past the Legion of Superheroes and going back in time. Supes, in our present time is flying around relaxing and hears the time barrier cracking around his favorite tree (who the hell has a favorite tree?!) and heads there expecting the Legion. The Lex-look-alike pops out and socks Supes in the face, drawing blood. We then jump over to The Dark Knight in his Batcave, listening to the bats fly around as he stitches himself up. Suddenly, Dawnstar flies in with Superman cradled in her arm asking Batman to help him. We soon see Batman has been sent on some errand at Lexcorp and he's not too happy about it. Batman finally gets in and finds a Luthor cloning speciman which is in a tiny test tube. Shrinking Violet (Too many Legionnaires!) pops out of Bats' utility belt, drops something into the tube then they replace it and leave. We eventually find out that it was a Kryptonite powered Lex clone that poisoned Supes....well thanks for telling us now! After some arguing the Legionnaires go back in time while Batman takes care of Superman like a big burly nurse on Halloween. The Legion then go back and help Superboy beta the Kryptonite Lex clone...then end. well if that were the only story I'd give this issue a 1 because that was awfully boring. Then we see a two page story that was boring.... very boring. Then there was another two page story that took place at a comic-con where I chuckled. There was a nice little quick story where Tim Drake asks Dick Grayson if he should tell Superboy he kissed Wonder Girl, and SB asks Superman what he'd do it Bruce kissed Lois. There's also a funny page long story with Joker and Lex that's clearly channeling the old Calvin and Hobbes comic strips. Overall there was more bad than good in this 75th issue which is sad because I like most of the series so far, but this one doesn't keep up with the other issues. I'd give this issue a 2/10. I wanted to like it but I felt like I ended up wasting my money, so I wouldn't recommend it.

Dick Grayson: I can't believe you made out with Cassie... I'd never be stupid enough to make out with Selina.

Gotham City Sirens #15

It's that time of the month again, for the lovely ladies of Gotham's former crime elite, The Gotham City Sirens, take center stage. We start things off with Catwoman and Harley Quinn armed with two tanks of defoliant on their backs looking for Poison Ivy and her new "ally" from the last issue. Harls and Selina use the defoliant to clear a path from the many plants that have sprouted up due to some pollen being spread, if ya catch my drift. *wink wink* For the record, I don't even catch my drift, so if you don't that's fine. We finally see Poison Ivy and she's turning purple for some reason, but unlike Violet Beauregard I don't think she's eaten any Willy Wonka chewing gum. Oh yeah, I'm dropping all types of references today. Ivy tells the plant-alien how she used to be human until Jason Woodrue injected her with some compounds that changed her Dioxy-Ribonucleic Acid or DNA (Told ya I could use it in a review X!) and made her into a Plant-woman. Selina and Harley continue to burn down all the plants in their way until Ivy steps out of the plants. She confronts the other two Sirens about killing her plants and gets angry, as a fight breaks out between Catwoman and Harley versus Ivy and her new "boyfriend." The best part of this issue was Harley comparing Ivy and the plant guy to herself and The Joker, because it was a great comparison and a nice way to show that Harley is evolving from just being Joker's sidekick. The ending seemed kinda last minute, I would've liked something better but it was fine for what it was, as was this issue. The next issue is billed ad "The Return of Talia Al Ghul" so hopefully that should be the start of a good arc. I'll give this issue a 6.5/10.

Harley Quinn: He's using you... just like you use normal guys... like Mister J used Me...

Superman: Secret Origins #6

And the comic with second longest wait of the year, hailing from DC Comics..... Superman: Secret Origins!!!! The first issue came out in September of 2009, this blog hadn't even debuted yet, now here I am reviewing issue number six. Things start off big with General Lane and his men commandeering the Daily Planet. When Lois confronts her father and claims Superman would never attack the U.S. Military without being attacked first, Gen. Lane asks his Lois trusts Superman. When she replies, "More than I trust you." he drops the bombshell and asks if Superman ever told her that he was an alien, leaving Lois, Perry and the rest of the D.P. staff shocked. Elsewhere we see Lex Luthor in a lab, operating on someone before breaking into a huge grin says "He's alive." From there we see some members of the military in the sewers looking for the Man of Steel, they stumble upon him but he uses his super speed to dodge their bullets, take their guns apart and then burst out of the sewer, and asks everyone to hold their fire so they don't harm innocents but they continue to bombard him with Rocket Launchers and bullets. Back in the Daily Planet, General Lane explains that Superman is an alien and they know his weakness, then plans to shut down the Daily Planet. Jimmy and Lois hatch a plan so she can get out of the office and to Superman. Back with Superman, he's trying to subdue the men and women of the military when he's attacked from behind by Sergeant Corben wearing a new suit. Lois warns Big Blue to leave the planet so they don't kill him with the meteorite, he doesn't back down and rushes towards Corben to fight him, punching off his helmet, revealing what's basically a corpse in a big metal suit, and starts calling himself Metallo. Eh, I like the other version better. I won't ruin the rest of the fight, but afterwards a very well-written (by Geoff not Supes) speech by The Man of Steel shows us why he is the embodiment of hope... and not Saint Barry Allen. :P Other great moments were the big Superman/Lex Luthor confrontation that was expected, and the Superman/Lois Lane confrontation the dialogue was very strong and seemed true to the characters. Overall I think this was a really good ending to the mini-series, there's not much you can deviate from with the history of Superman but Geoff did a fine job, I'd give this issue a 9/10.

Lex Luthor: You don't belong here! You never will! Why don't you go back to your own world? 

Superman: Because I can't. And even if I could, I wouldn't. This is my home. And I'm not going to let you ruin it anymore.

Green Arrow #3

This cover is so gruesome that it looks awesome. It's definitely one of my favorite covers this year, maybe ever. How fitting is it that Green Arrow gets "Prometheus'd." We start this issue off with Green Arrow lying there with an arrow in his skull, waiting to die, as he compares it to his days on the island, waiting to die until he found a reason to live. We even see a few panels that reminded me of the fantastic Green Arrow: Year One comics. He lies there, surprisingly not dead, while three big dogs run toward him, until he's saved by the big guy that X-Man called Thor over on his blog not too long ago. The man picks Ollie up and takes him to a part of the forest and holds him underwater in a lake, where it asks "Do you deserve to live?" In Ollie's thoughts, he mentions that he's abandoned his son, murdered, alienated everyone he loves and couldn't keep anyone safe, including Star City. We see flashbacks that show us Ollie as a kid, and his parents, who had problems of their own, as Mr. Queen was unfaithful and was suggested to have done things with his secretary. After this, we see Ollie rise out of the water, and the flying water makes the White Lantern symbol. Oliver, being the jerk he is, blames the man who saved his life for trying to kill him, but the Mystery Man deflects all of Ollie's attacks until he can convince him he didn't try to murder the Emerald Archer. We then jump to Mary, the chick Ollie saved in the forest in issue one, trying to help sick people, but not having the resources due to Queen Industries snatching up all the health contracts. Back with Green Arrow we see he was saved by someone who believes he's Knight Galahad, of King Arthur's Round table. After discussing why he's there, Oliver interrupts by saying he doesn't know what's more confusing, why the forest saved him, or who tried to kill him. With another flashback we see the life of a young woman who encountered Robert Queen back in the past, he was drawn to her and even called her "Pretty Bird." We come to find out that this is the woman that is currently the new owner of Queen Industries. Back with Oliver and Galahad, they discuss like in the forest before a blinding white light shines, and Oliver, looking for answers, runs into the light. While there he sees the forest go through all four seasons, in a matter of seconds while Star City remains unchanged, before the issue abruptly ends. I mean like, next page ends. I liked this comic but the ending was so random and abrupt that it threw me off guard. But the majority of this issue was damn good and interesting, I'll give this issue a 9/10 rating as well.

Green Arrow: As Green Arrow, I've stood up to every adversary to cross my path. But as Oliver Queen, it seems I'm my own worst enemy.

So that's all for this week's Ratings and Rantings everyone, as always thanks for reading and feel free to comment. Also, this weekend since I couldn't last week, we're going to have another Top 5 Five! Oh yeah, I can hear that excitement rumbling in the pit of your stomach, or it may just be gas. Either way, the categories are below, so make sure you send me your top five for each of the five topics at KevinKavalier@Gmail.com by Sunday Noon EST. Time and I'll make sure your picks are counted.

Top 5 Marvel/DC Team-Ups You'd like to see
Top 5 Marvel vs. DC Fights You'd like to see (for the first time or a rematch)
Top 5 Comic Characters who you wish had a TV Show, Cartoon or Movie
Top 5 Most Overrated Characters
Top 5 Five Characters you'd like to put on a team together

The sooner the better people so send those picks in! I'll make sure I post the results this weekend, until then, I'm your Neighborhood Blogger-man and Saint Barry Allen worshiper, JT!

Next Time on Ratings and Rantings

Brightest Day #9, Red Hood: Lost Days #4, Dark Wolverine #90 and Shadowland #3...That's it?! I guess so....