Batgirl #13 and #14 - DC

Unfortunately #15 didn't come out yet, or I'd have included that here also. The Batman cross-over did . . for the Return of Batman, but . . I want to try to do those books together, so I'm not going to include it here. But since that book ties into the overall theme of the Bat-books that month, these stories are both one shots. In issue #13 Bryan Q Miller and Pere Perez bring us a story of Batgirl and Clayface. Obviously, from the cover. This is a typical Clayface story, so I think the important part of this issue is Bryan's character development of Stephanie. We get a glimpse of her life as a college student, but I think the most important insight we get is into that of the relationship between her, as Batgirl, and Det. Gage, of the GCPD. They've come into contact more than once, so there's a report that's starting to develop between them. In the end, they actually kind of help each other take Clayface down. Plus we get a little interaction between Steph and Proxy, Wendy Harris. She fills in for Babs when she's out doing 'Birds' stuff. And since she and Steph are similar in age, they also seem to have a report. Not to mention her mom, with whom she's trying to rebuild their relationship. All in all, it was kind of an upbeat fun issue. Bryan also writes issue #14, with Lee Garbett doing the art. In that issue there's an experiment that goes awry at the University and while Steph and Kara are watching an old vampire movie . . it's main character is turned into a hard light projection. Actually, there's 24 of them because the energy burst lasts for about a second, and in the old films, the frame rate is 24 per second. So, obviously, Batgirl and Supergirl have to scour the campus and find the 24 black & white vampire menaces. Again, I think the important part of this issue is the character development between Steph and Kara. They're both kind of going at life from opposite directions, and it becomes obvious this issue that they both want what the other has. As well as Kara gets along with Stephanie, I'm surprised that they haven't gotten together with Cassie, Wonder Girl. They seem like their characters would play off of each other well. Anyways, it was another fun story, and a quick read before we get into the whole Return of Batman thing. After that . . who knows how Batgirl's role in Gotham will be changed. Both beautiful covers are by Stanley Lau. I really like this series, and Stephanie's character. I'm really glad she's found her own home.

Birds of Prey #4 and #5 - DC

Ok . . I was completely wrong about this one. I thought maybe this White Canary was associated, or even was, Sin or Cassandra. Somehow! But this actually goes back a few years to another one of Gail Simone's storylines. In issue #81, of the first series, these fighters appeared . . Twelve Brothers in Silk. There was a legendary fighter, Huang, who realized that he would eventually die . . or be killed. So he birthed 12 perfect sons and began training them with his mastery. We find out this issue that during the course of the creation of this tribe, one of the children was born a girl. Huang wanted 12 perfect sons, for the 12 signs of the Zodiac, so any that didn't fit his strict criteria, or were born female, were killed. However, on the way to the lake with this child, the mid-wife was struck down by lightning. Seeing this as a sign that someone, or something, very angry wanted her alive, Huang chose one of his sons to begin training her. Thus was born . . Sister in Silk. Anyways, Dinah and some of her friends had beaten the Brothers in Silk . . actually, more like they fought them to a stand-still. But this was outside of the Sister in Silks code of honor. So . . she hunted them down . . her brothers . . and, one by one she killed them. Now that she's the only one left . . her honor dictates that she take down Siu Jerk Jai . . Dinah. Which is why she's called her out. While this is going on, Babs is also dealing with Savant and Creote. They're the ones that are threatening to expose the 'super-hero' club with all of the information that they gathered while working for Barbara. Anyways, what happened is . . 2 years ago Savant was taken captive by the Calculator's henchmen and tortured for 2 days while trying to get information about Oracle. The problem is . . besides getting tortured . . Savant is so brilliant that the concept of time escapes him. What happened to him only lasted for 2 days . . 2 years ago. But because, in his mind, he relives it every day . . he thinks that he was tortured for 2 years. Anyways, Babs ends up talking him down . . he really wanted to kill her, and Creote finally admits that he loves Savant. Babs vows to try to get him the help he needs to get past this. And, Zindy and Helena are fighting with the Penguin. It seems that he was in on this whole thing with the Sister in Silk. He was promised the information for his involvment. So he's very eager to take down these members of the 'Birds'. With Zindy hurt, Dove is the one that ends up getting pissed off enough to punch him in the nose. Anyways, issue #5 is spent basically cleaning up the mess. Huntress wants to kill Penguin, but . . Oracle talks her down. Babs, Savant and Creote have tried to begin the next chapter of their lives. And it appears that Dinah has also beaten this Sibling in Silk. That or . . she may have just let her win. Dinah finds out from her that it was Shiva who set her up back in Finland. And she agrees to go to Bangkok with Sister in Silk to take care of her. The problem is . . in order to do so . . Dinah has to leave the 'Birds', and leave Gotham. Because of what she's agreeing to do . . she realizes that she'll probably never return. So she says goodbye to Babs and Helena. But Helena and Zindy decide that they aren't just going to let Dinah quit, so . . they head off to Bangkok after her. However once reaching there, they're told in no uncertain terms that they're not wanted in this city. And the enforcer kicking them out is . . Dinah, dressed in the White Canary outfit. We also get a little glimpse of the stuff that Hawk and Dove are dealing with. There should be a storyline revolving around them coming up pretty soon. Gail Simone, I think, does a fantastic job with this series . . and these characters. I love the group that she's got together right now. And it looks like they aren't going to go down . . or split up, without a fight. Ed Benes and Adriana Melo do the art for issue #4. With Adriana probably doing most of it. But . . it still looked good. However, Alvin Ledd takes on a more active role in #5. The pages that I see were Adriana's looked pretty good. However Alvin's stuff seemed a little to cartoonish for me. It's a shame Ed Benes can't stick on a book for more than a few issues. Art wise . . this book started out really great. But now . . I'm still holding out hope. Alvin will be around for the next issue. But after that . . Adrian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes will be taking on the next chapter. Plus . . there may be a shake-up in this book with Batman returning. We'll have to wait and see what happens with that. Anyways . . I love this book. I love these characters. And I can't wait to see more.

Red Hood: the Lost Days #3 and #4 - DC

So far, I really like the story that Judd Winick is crafting here. Basically, he's filling in the questions as to how, and when, Jason came back. And what did he do to prepare himself for when he finally revealed his return to Batman. All of which . . Talia is playing a large part of. I think she originally brought Jason back, with one of the Lazarus pits, to try to ease some of the pain and burden of the man she loves. Obviously she didn't think this all the way through, but . . I think it was as simple as bringing him back, returning him to Bruce, and hoping that in return pledge his undying love. Yeah!! Like that was going to happen. She didn't listen to a word her father told her. He's been doing this a lot longer than her. He certainly knows the risks and side-effects, but . . I think she was blinded by love . . or romance. Well, you know . . the kind of romance where 2 people try to kill each other as foreplay. Anyways, once she realized that he was psychotic . . although I'm not sure if that was a side-effect of the Lazarus pit, or window into Jason's actual personality . . but when she realized that, she knew that she was going to have to stall him. So she sets him up with teachers of the 'Dark Killing Arts' all over the globe . . weapons, espionage, chemists, close combat experts, bomb makers . . etc, etc. She sells it as her concern over his facing his former mentor. The element of surprise will only carry him so far. If he wants to best him . . he's going to have to be better than him. I think she's also hoping that over the course of this, maybe . . just maybe, Jason will develop a conscience or a heart. And surprisingly . . he does. In a way. After about 10 or 12 'teachers', she finds that he's already killed about half of them. But the reasons he's giving himself seem legitimate . . pedophile, murder, sex-slaves, mercenaries . . he seems to be willing to siphon their information, but not let them continue to pursue their 'hobbies'. I believe he thinks he's actually saving people, or . . making the world a better place for the ones that are left. Anyways, by the end of issue #4, Jason is knee deep in the scheme of the Russian Mob, in London. They've got MI5, Interpol and Police so far up their ass that it's hurting their business. They haven't really been able to pin anything on them, but . . they've created enough of a wake that other gangs, and criminals, don't want to do business with them. So . . they've hired a bomb expert . . the one who's currently teaching Jason, to set off a series of explosions around London and make it look like it's the work of terrorists. Once everybody gets aboard that wagon, the crime files will become second shelf. The problem Jason has with all this? In order to sell this, they're going to have to kill about 700 people in one afternoon. So Jason's trying to mess with their plan, without exposing himself. But he's making a lot of rookie mistakes. The issue ends with him starring down the barrel of the Russian mob boss's gun. 'I don't care who he is! Just kill him!' Like I said, so far it's been a pretty cool story. But Judd always does a good job with this type of theme. Jeremy Haun is doing the art, and his style is fitting perfectly with this story. And don't forget the beautiful covers by Billy Tucci. If you aren't buying this one . . you're missing a good story.

Red Robin #15 and #16 - DC

So, while Tim is out trying to check off this 'hit-list' of his . . it seems that Vicki Vale has been gathering information of her own. She's been trying to prove that Tim is either Red Robin, or Robin, and thereby who the identities are of the rest of the Bat-family. She doesn't really have any solid evidence, but . . she is making some pretty educated guesses. In fact, she's surprisingly close. So Tim sets himself up as a target. He was planning on 'outing' the 2 bad cops anyways, Cavallo and Wise, so he just does so in a manner that opens himself up as a target. He knows that someone will want to take him down, so he has M'gann pose as him, while he waits on the rooftops for the assassin . . Scarab. But he doesn't go after her until after she shoots Tim / M'gann. Then he takes down Scarab . . another one on his list, and switches places with M'gann and poses as a young man who had some serious spinal damage done. To really sell it, he makes a public statement saying that he's going to have to walk with canes, and assistance for at least the next year. That's the length that he's willing to go to try to protect everyone else. So hopefully that'll alleviate Vicki's interest . . at least for a while. But, it seems that Tim is of interest on someone else's list . . Anarky. Anarky has been mad at Robin ever since his brother and sister got killed. Yes it was Anarky's own bombs that killed them, but . . he doesn't' see it that way. Robin was trying to bring Anarky in, and he was using his siblings as leverage. But they weren't supposed to be at that place, at that time. Anyways, Anarky has been working off a list of possible Robin targets, and after eliminating the first couple, Tim Drake / Wayne is now at the top of his list. But with the recent events of his shooting, he's decided to skip him and move on to the next. Anarky is now Ulysses Armstrong. He originally came into Robin's sites as the General. But along the line he usurped Lonnie Machlin as Anarky, and is now using that identity for his own. But he's also got Lonnie in a chemical induced coma and is using him to get information on Robin. Apparently what he doesn't know though it that Lonnie has somehow connected with his computer, and has been communicating through it back and forth with Red Robin. Anyways, Tim is able to get the identity of Ulysses' next target and is there to stop Anarky. But before he can bring him in he activates a bomb back in his penthouse . . where he's keeping Lonnie. Tim has to leave him in order to save Lonnie. Fabian Nicieza has been doing a great job with Tim's character. He's got some great interactions between Tim and Stephanie, as well as his supposed fiance, Tamara. I also liked that little conversation between Tim and Digger Harkness when he goes to see him in jail. Basically he just wants him to know that . . now that he's back, he's going to need to pay for his father's death. And then there's the relation ship between him and Leslie Thompkins . . his personal physician. Without whom he wouldn't have been able to sell this whole plan. I think Fabian has a great handle on this character. And Marcus To's art gets better and better with every issue. The final page of issue #16, where Tim is visiting Digger in jail is awesome. Anyways, over all . . I'm very pleased with this book. Next month this title, as well as the rest of the Bat-titles will be skipping an issue for the Return of Bruce Wayne. There will be an issue next month . . The Road Home: Red Robin #1. But issue #17 won't be out until the month after that. But that's ok, because next month is going to be a really busy month in the Bat-family of books. Epic . . even!! I can't wait.

Batman Odyssey #2 and #3 - DC

Once again, I can't over emphasis how thrilled I am that not only is Neal Adams back . . not only is he doing the character he's probably most famous for, besides Superman, but . . he's also doing the story and art here. What more could we ask for? I liked the first book, but . . I thought it was a little bit confusing. However, the second issue helped to clear that up immensely. Bruce was telling Dick the story of one of his very first outings. It's a time when he was experimenting and trying out . . well, pretty much everything. He was working on his image, his delivery, his impact, his methods and his choice of weapons. Which is really what I think that first story stemmed from . . I think he was trying to explain to Dick why he'd decided to go with the 'no-guns' policy. Also, in the present, the case they're working on is closely related because a lot of what he'd learned in the past has led to his preparedness in the present. In his current case, Batman has 2 fronts to choose from. The Riddler is going after something at the mint, while his clues . . his riddles, has lead Batman to believe that there's also something going down on the docks. And it may be more important. While any attempt at the mint is important, I think Batman believes that it's more of a diversion than anything. Which lead Batman and Robin into a fire-fight at the docks and trying to protect a Professor and his daughter, whom have come to see off his latest endeavor . . a hydrogen based car. The heist is made to look like they're after a shipment of antiquities, but actually I think they're here to destroy the car. Although, even they don't know why. And were never really given a full explanation on how to do it. The issue ends with Batman making a misstep and going down in a tornado of bullets. Obviously though, this can't be the end of the Batman as he's still telling the story. We find out later, in his conversation with Alfred, that everything is an act. Not only did he line his suit with Kevlar and try to limit the impact and damage from such a deluge. But he's also equipped the suit to spurt fake blood out through the bullet-holes. It's all for effect. He wants to give the criminals the illusion that they've taken him down, while amping the impact when he rises again to finish the job. We spend a lot of this issue learning about a lot of Batman's techniques for fighting and overcoming the less experienced criminals that he faces. It was actually really interesting. But I think the main focus of this issue was the Batman trying to figure out what's going on here at the docks. They know that they couldn't really have been after the antiquities. First of all, after Talia's arrival, they find out that they belong to Ra's al Ghul. And anybody who'd try to steal from him would have to be insane. Also, these are pretty large pieces. It would be difficult for them to fence them, let alone move them. So he's left believing that they're after the car. But he can't figure out why. The issue ends with Batman thinking that this all doesn't fit together. 'It doesn't fit. This is a puppet show and all our strings have been yanked . . and we're dangling like fools. This man . . or men behind all this haven't even made their first move. This is just the setup. The first question to which is WHO IS THIS MAN?!' I like the way that Neal is constructing this story. He's using past and prologue the emphasis the important connections to everything. We just have to figure out how the pieces all fit together. And the art? The artwork is amazing. But we knew that was going to be the case. Really, my only complaint about this issue is that the variant cover is simply an uncolored version of the main cover. It's tauted as being a sketch cover, but really . . it's just an uncolored version. It's an 'ok' concept. Really it is. And I think my complaint comes more out of greediness than anything. We have the opportunity for a variant cover here . . a chance to see some more great Neal Adams art. But instead we get the same picture in a different format. Don't get me wrong. I'll probably buy them all. But . . I just think it'd be a little more cool if we could get a different picture. I know. I'm just being greedy. Anyways, I think it's a great series and I can't wait to see more.

Batman Confidential #47 and #48 - DC

Batman and Superman are at a complete disadvantage this issue. First of all, neither of them even believe in all this 'hoo-doo' crap. But . . they also can't deny that Superman's powers are a detriment for whatever forces they are facing. Somehow this Mama Elizi, with the help of Professor Combs, is bringing back to life some very powerful shaman, a black magician, that was killed in Corto Maltese. Somehow he's going to help Mama Elizi create an army of zombies. And in return he wants his own vampire. Which is where Dimeter comes in. Last issue they took off for the little island with Olivia, Dimeter's girlfriend, knowing that the 'heroes', and the vampire would have no other choice than to follow. So far our 'heroes' have been doing nothing but reacting to Mama Elizi and Combs' plan. Somehow they need to get on the offensive. But, that may be hard. At the end of this issue, the zombie hordes overpower Batman and they shove him into a hole in the ground. This is where they cultivate their live followers by subjugating them to snake bites, and venom, and powerful hallucinogens. In the last panel of this book, Batman appears much as he does on the cover. Issue #48 is called 'the Waking Dead'. In the next issue we start out with Batman appearing to be one of Mama Elizi's undead zombies. But somehow he breaks the hold the drugs have on him. It's never really explained but I would guess that it's because of all the preparedness that he takes to deal with the likes of the Scarecrow or Poison Ivy. I would imagine that his system has built up a kind of immunity. Anyways, the Werewolf, Janko, takes out Mama Elizi's son, who is also a zombie. And after Superman tries unsuccessfully to use brute strength against the magic, Dimeter helps out the situation by taking him to one of his local contacts. Sister Geneva is a practitioner of white magic. She tips the scale in the 'heroes' favor, as she's better prepared to counter Mama Elizi's spells and potions. She also replaces Superman's body with that of the 100 year old dead murderer that she's trying to resurrect. In the end, the team of 'heroes' beat the team of bad-guys. Combs is taken back to Arkham. And Mama Elizi puts a curse on Superman and Batman for taking her son away from her. Olivia runs away from Dimeter because of what he's turned her in to. And Janko goes off with Geneva. I guess she's going to teach him how to control his affliction. Overall I enjoyed this issue, and story-line, but . . I'm just not real big on these monster/zombie/vampire story-lines. They're ok. But they don't thrill me. I thought Kevin VanHook did a decent job though. And, although I'm not a huge fan, Tom Mandrake's art definitely fits this type of story-line. The way the story is set up, I'm sure it'll be out in TPB before to long. It was ok. Just not my cup of tea.

First Wave #3 - DC

Overall, I like the concept here . . and the story. But for some reason I'm just having a hard time figuring out what this is all about. I think it's cool that we have this world where Doc Savage, the Spirit and Batman all exist in tandem. And the Batman here is one in the very early stages of his career. He's trying stuff out as he goes, and he makes mistakes. But the part that I think I'm confused about it the other 2 First Wave books . . the Spirit and Doc Savage's solo books. The worlds that those characters inhabit don't seem the same as this one. I could be wrong, but to me it seems like the world portrayed in this book is different from the one portrayed in either one of their solo books. So I don't really know if this is a different reality, or just a different time. I know it doesn't really matter, but . . I thought these 3 titles were connected. But they don't feel like it. Anyways, the Blackhawks are also a part of this world. But they seem like a group that plays both sides of the fence. And most of the drama seems to circle around Clark Savage Sr, the Doc's father. We have hints that he's not whom he appears to be. He's supposed to be dead, afterall. And we see that he can change his shape. But we don't know yet just exactly what he is. At first guess I'd say a Durlan. But that's just because of the other DC stories I've read recently. We still have 3 issues left in this series so I'm sure it'll all be sorted out for us . . in time. This issue ends with Clark Sr taking the Batman. Although I'm not sure if he's his hostage, or if Clark Sr is saving him. That part we'll have to wait and see. Also the Spirit is on the lamb. And Doc, who spent most of this issue in jail, gets busted out . . big time, at the end. Either that or they were trying to kill him . . the Blackhawk's that is. Brian Azzarello has weaved a very intricate story here. Right now . . it's also a little confusing. But that's how he usually plays it. Things don't sort themselves out until the end. It's definitely interesting and exciting. Rags Morales is doing a terrific job with the art. Another artist whom I think is hugely underrated. And our beautiful covers are by JG Jones and Lee Bermejo. I really like this book . . the concept and the story . . not to mention the characters, but . . it's not all cohesive to me. Just yet. But I have faith in Brian's talent, so . .

Batman - the Widening Gyre #6 - DC

It's been 4 months since the last issue of this title came out. And . . almost a year since this 6-issue series first started. And the worst part of all this? Well . . I can't tell you that part until the end. And don't jump ahead. Do you do that with your books? Yeah? Well . . sometimes I do to. I can't help it. Anyways, this was another great issue by Kevin Smith and Walter Flanagan. Although I think with Art Thibert doing the inks, it appears that Water's style has changed a bit. To me, this issue seemed a bit more 'artsy' than some of the other issues. But, it's been 4 months. Maybe that's just my memory playing with me. And as always, a beautiful cover by Bill Sienkiewicz. He had some help from Gene Ha this time. As I'm reading this issue, I almost expected, at some time, to find out that this was either all a dream or an elseworld's story. Bruce proposes to Silver this issue. In fact he pretty much shows her every secret he's ever held in his life. She already knows about the Batman part so he shows her Superman's fortress, and the JLA satellite. Which is where he pops the question. It was interesting, shortly after that, when Selena decides to use Deadshot to draw out Batman. She wants to tell him how he's making a mistake, but he hasn't been returning her calls. Anyways, with the flood gates opening he decides to trust in his new partner Baphomet a bit more also. He opens up to him about one of his first adventures . . without revealing to much. They begin teaming up a bit more. And one night . . he takes decides to take him to the Bat-cave. Batman already knows pretty much everything about Baphomet, so he decides to reciprocate. He not only shows him his identity, but then also that of his girlfriend, Silver St Cloud. Do you remember a short time ago when Batman was fighting that guy . . I can't remember his name . . but he almost killed the Joker? He wore a black mask with a white circle on it. I really can't remember his name. But at the end of their battle he had to choose between saving the Joker or going after the bad-guy. Well, when Batman turns around to take off his utility belt he hears a noise. He turns around to find out that Baphomet is really that guy in the black mask, and . . he's just slit Silver's throat. Now . . the worst part of this story . . the part I eluded to in the very beginning . . I know it's hard to believe it gets worse than Silver dying, but . . the worst part of the story is that . . this is the end. That's the end of the book. It's a 6 issue mini-series, and that's the final issue? Aaarrrghh! But, in the bottom corner of the final page, it says . . 'End of Volume 1'. I can't believe they're going to leave us hanging like that. Well . . obviously there's going to have to be a part 2 to all of this. It's just a question of when and where. Plus, what about this guy? He knows Batman's identity now. Something has to be done. Damn you Kevin Smith. Hurry up and get this story written so that we can see what's going to happen. Please!

Gotham City Sirens #14 - DC

This issue we start to deal with some of the repercussions of Ivy's little encroachment into the corporate landscape. We saw last issue how she made her mark on STAR Labs, well . . it seems that STAR Labs has a few secrets of their own. It seems that Ivy's interest in STAR Labs wasn't entirely altruistic. She had heard of a project that Dr Simmons was in charge of. It had to do with Re-Foinants . . a way of regrow, literally overnight, lost rain-forests. Although Dr Simmons was intelligent, she knew he wasn't capable of something on this scale. Ivy's new assistant, Ms Adams shows he something that they have locked in the basement. First she shows her the plants that they created. They're completely alien in nature. Ivy can't even talk to them. Then, in the morgue, she shows he the guy that was helping Dr Simmons. There's 2 problems here. First, he's an alien. Secondly, he's actually a plant. Apparently he's from a planet where the plants dominated the world. In coming here he was supposed to be the herald for an alien invasion. And then his ship crashed. Ivy, knowing plants, brings him back to life. Unfortunately, in doing so . . he also takes control of her. Catwoman and Harley show up just as they break out of STAR Labs . . together. Now they have to stop them before they convert the entire planet. I thought it was an interesting story by Tony Bedard. I love all of these characters so it's nice to see each of them take their turn in the spotlight. Andres Guinaldo does the art. I thought it looked pretty good. Overall I enjoyed the book, and I'm interested to see how it concludes.

Outsiders #31 - DC

This is another series that I definitely don't think gets the credit that it deserves. Especially now with Phillip Tan doing the art. I mean, look at that cover. He does a fantastic job with this book. The splash page alone, with Rex immersed in Chemo's bodily fluids, is worth the price of admission. Anyways, right now the team is kind of split up . . not broken up, just in different parts of the globe. A few have stayed behind in Markovia with Brion . . Rex, Owlman and their new team-mate, Freight Train (?) going after Simon Stagg . .and Black Lightning off on his own. We don't know where just yet, but Rex and Freight Train are going after him next issue. So Rex gets immersed inside of Chemo . . thanks to Simian, and when their chemicals mix he kind of has control over him. I think Rex is driving, but his last thoughts are of rage over losing Sapphire forever, so . . they're kind of stuck in that mode. Which seems to be the frame of mind that Chemo is usually in anyways. Which leaves it up to Owlman and Freight Train to stop him before he lumbers into a residential area or city. Of course they do, and shortly after Chemo pukes up Rex another player shows up . . the Ray. I may be missing something, but I thought he was a part of the Freedom Fighters. Meanwhile, in Markovia, Brion is doing some kind of 'Weird Science' thing and has gotten Katana a gift . . somehow he's brought Halo's energy together and has returned her to the physical world. But right now . . that's really all we know about it. And in Washington DC, the Creeper, or rather Jack Ryder, has been approached by someone calling herself Serene. From her actions I assume that she's some kind of chaos goddess, or something. Anyways, she captures Jack because she says that she needs his 'seed', and . . 'You're the last of your breed and I mean to change that. Now let's go make some babies.' That's a little strange. So far I've been impressed with Dan Didio's work here. I'm not sure why he has everyone taking separate paths right now, but . . hopefully, overall, this is all part of a big plan. Even though this book, and team, has been around for quite a while I think this is an 'up and comer'. I think it's just going to keep getting better, so now is a good time to get on board. But that's just my opinion.

Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne #4 - DC

I really hate to complain about a Batman book, but . . I didn't really like this one. That, or I just didn't get it. I'm not sure what it was. It might have been the way the story was set up, or . . it might have been the dialogue. But there was just something about it that just seemed . . 'off'. Basically, Batman has ended up in the Wild West. Or, well . . the wild west of Gotham. Also Vandal Savage is here. I think he's starting to recognize this 'bat-themed' character as someone he's faced before . . in the past. Anyways, Bruce doesn't really talk to any one, and he seems to be after a specific family. A family that's been tasked with keeping the secret of the 'bat-people'. They have some kind of secret box, that can only be opened with a special code. Any other attempt to open it with completely destroy the contents of whatever is inside of it. When Batman comes to this family's home, they immediately recognize him for who he is, so . . they get the box. They open it, and Batman sees what's inside, but we don't know what it is . . yet. There's also a doctor that's helping Vandal try to torture the information out of this family . . a Dr Thomas. Although at one point it seems that he's an Indian. So I'm not sure what that's all about. At first I thought it was one of the Waynes from the past, but . . I don't think it was connected to that. Although we do see the Waynes beginning to build the manor. And he talks about the special garden that he's going to build because of the 'bat-people', and the box that reminded him of a casket. I think he's calling it a 'death-garden'. But again, if he wasn't the guy with Vandal then how did he see the box? I don't know, there's just a couple of things that happened during this issue that aren't really explained very well. Anyways, at the end of this issue Batman is shot by Jonah Hex, but then he disappears. That's when he's transported farther into the future . . our past. He ends up wandering the streets of Gotham in what looks like the 50's or 60's. He's wounded and very disoriented. Anyways, overall I liked the book. As I do with any Batman book. But . . I just wasn't all that thrilled with it. It just seems like this stop along Bruce's bus-tour of the DC Universe could've been a little more impactful. But then again . . maybe it was. We just don't know it yet. Since we don't know what was actually in the box. As usual, this book is brought to us by Grant Morrison. Georges Jeanty and Walden Wong do the art for this issue. There's only 2 issues left, so . . I would imagine that the story will move along pretty rapidly in those issues. And then we'll have the return of the king. 'The King is dead. Long live the King.'

Birds of Prey #3 - DC

Well . . we get a little further in our story this issue. We find out that Savant and Creote aren't really dead. They seem to be the ones behind all the information that's being threatened to be turned over to the news media. You know, all the files that basically dump any and all information on a whole host of heroes? Somehow they're tied in with this White Canary, but . . we don't really know how yet. Also, as far as the White Canary goes . . we don't know who she is either . . yet. However, we do know that she's not Cassandra or Shiva. As she's fighting her, near the end of the book, Black Canary seems to have a revelation about who she is, but . . she's not telling. I'm guessing, but . . I think it's Sin. Something has been done to her . . experiments . . surgery, I'm not sure what . . but that's my guess. There's also that whole murder charge that's hanging over Diana's head. Remember at the end of the last issue when the White Canary attacked Oswald? Well they're back at his lounge in the beginning of this issue, and he's having a fever dream about his guardian angels. It's hilarious. Dove asks, 'Is Mr Cobblepot all right?', to which Diana replies, 'Well, he was never 'all right', but . . I'd say he's happier in his dreams than his reality right now. Let him dream. Unless he starts fondling the furniture.' Anyways, Gail Simone writes a brilliant book. It's seems that the focus of this first story-arc is to show us that the team can't operate as it has before. Oracle is going to have to amp up her security, and her paranoia. It's a different world now . . from the one they previously operated in. Hell, they might even have Penguin as a team-member. Who knows how that situation is going to turn out? And I'm really enjoying Ed Benes art. My only concern is . . how long will he be on this series? The next story-arc, which begins with issue #5, they have Alvin Lee listed as the artist. I don't know his stuff, so I can't complain. But . . I will miss Ed. And the cover is by Cliff Chiang. I really like these characters, and I'm glad the series is back. No matter who does the art.

Time Masters - Vanishing Point #1 - DC

Since I've been following Booster Gold since the beginning . . and Dan Jurgens started off on the writing and art of that book . . as well as this . . this one, to me, seemed like an obvious extension of the Booster Gold story-line. Basically, Rip and Booster have gone off in search of Batman. Rip knows that Superman and Hal Jordan will attempt the same thing, so . . he gets them involved so that they don't upset the time-stream in their fumbling efforts. But it's an uneasy alliance. Rip and Booster already know that some things can't be changed. No matter how much you don't like the events. And even with all their might and power, some things are just meant to be. Booster learned that the hard way when he tried to help out Barbara Gordon. But it's just not in Clark or Hal's nature to sit by idly, watching an obvious injustice, and not try to do something to help. Anyways, they're going back into the past to look for Bruce. Supernova is trying to get to Vanishing Point, but he's discovered that it's been destroyed. Everyone is assuming that Supernova is Daniel Carter, but . . I'm not so sure. Per Degaton and Despero don't know that Vanishing Point is gone yet, but they do know that they're having some trouble navigating the time-stream. Michael's sister Michelle is also involved in all of this. And on the final page, when Rip tries to send everybody back, he finds that he's be shunted to a different era. The book ends with him coming face to face with Claw, the unconquered. Like I said, to me, this seems like just another issue of Booster Gold. But . . there's the whole tie-in with Bruce's return in October. So that's the draw. But I think the purpose of this series is more to define the players and teams in this whole time-travel business. We even get some time with Rip when he was a kid. Time he's spending with his father . . Michael. I'm sure this story-line will play a part in Batman's return, but . . I think it's really just an excuse for this series to happen. As usual, a tremendous job by Dan Jurgens. I don't think Dan gets enough credit for everything that he's done for the DC Universe. And it's been quite a lot. I don't have time to list it all here . . look it up sometime. Suffice it to say, he's been an invaluable asset. This should be an exciting series as well.

Azrael #10 - DC

I love Fabian Nicieza's work, but . . I'm equally as thrilled to see that David Hine is writing this next story-arc. I'm not sure if he'll be taking over the creative reigns of this book, but . . he'll at least be here for this part of it. Also Guillem March is doing the pencils. Anyways, we start out this chapter by finding out that the Order of Purity is under attack again. Michael thinks that it might still be La Saligia, but Father Day know that the person responsible is a guy who seems very similar to Michael Lane's Azrael. But he's called the Crusader. It appears that Father Day, as well as 4 other people in the Order, are privy to a secret. The Crusader goes after Jean-Claude Dupuy first. But he obviously doesn't give up the secret because he then goes after Carolyne Vega. And then he goes to see Reverend Morrisey. He's traversing the globe in this endeavor . . first Paris, then California, then London. Besides Father Day, the last of the five is in Somalia . . his name is Khalid. Anyways, the secret is a name. I'm not sure what the relevance, or importance is, but . . the Crusader seems intent on moving Heaven and Earth to get it. And apparently it's important enough the these five are willing to die to protect it. But . . it's only the first chapter. So this issue is really just stacking up the players and the settings. From this issue, this looks to be a very interesting story. And hopefully we'll get the story behind this Crusader fella also. I've liked this book so far. And with David doing the scripts . . we could get a whole different feel for this character. I'm excited to see what's going to happen. By the way, once again . . the beautiful cover is by Francesco Mattina. This might be a book to keep an eye on. I'll let you know.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #14 - DC

I wasn't thrilled with this issue, but . . it does get us back into the Hush story-line. Obviously, with Bruce coming back soon . . something is going to have to be done about Tommy. I don't necessarily mean from like the JLA's point-of-view. I mean as far as DC is concerned. Right now Tommy is posing as Bruce, while being kept under a very, very tight leash. And his jail is the Elliott family manor. The one interesting thing I found in this story is that Tommy is reading some of his late-mother's letters and journals. He's starting to get more of a feeling for how the Elliott's and Wayne's are connected. This issue we see one of the very first instances where Martha meets Thomas Wayne. Needless to say . . it didn't go well. Anyways, like I said . . something is going to have to be done about Tommy because they can't have 2 Bruce's running around. Right? I'm not sure what will happen, but . . in the meantime he's still trying to use the Wayne name. This time he's trying to use his perceived influence, and position on the Board of Arkham, to get more killers released out into the wild of Gotham. Right now . . he's trying to work on Jane Doe. Obviously it's a hopeless cause, but . . stranger things have happened. And plus . . it's really only one more in what I'm sure is ultimately his end-game. It'll be interesting to see what his real goals are. Anyways, like I said, I wasn't overly thrilled with it, but . . I do want to see what happens with Tommy. The story was brought to us by Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen. For the back-up, we got the first part of a Two-Face story. Basically it's about the vacuum of power created by the Black Mask's incarceration. Two-Face wants to take over the Gotham underworld, but . . the Falcone's are ready to give up that easily. Plus, no matter what he does, he's going to have Batman to deal with. And now, apparently, the FBI. The second story was by Ivan Brandon and Ramon Bachs. Overall . . I thought it was just an average issue.

Superman / Batman #74 - DC

I definitely enjoyed Paul Levitz's story here. And I thought Jerry Ordway did a great job with this painted style of art. Not to mention the great cover by Adrian Syaf. However, my problem came with the way this story was wrapped up. I don't necessarily think that it was Paul or Jerry's fault. But next issue is the 75th issue in this series, as well as the 75 anniversary of DC Comics, so . . I think they were kind of forced to wrap it up to make way for that book. To me, the problem is . . there was just so much potential with this story-line. Luthor has created this Superman cult on Earth to feed into Superman's guilt. While at the same time, had found this planet that Superman had accidentally slighted during one of his space brawls. By the time Superman got back to check up on them, and fix his mistake . . Luthor had already starting feeding them technology and prophecies making Superman out to be the bad guy. He's brainwashed them into thinking that should Superman ever return that he would be the destruction of their world. Anyways, Superman intercepts one of Luthor's deliveries . . unfortunately he's already made more that a few . . so when he finds out about it he goes back to Lex to give him a warning. And, I guess . . that's it. Now, I'm sure we'll see the ramifications of all this further on down the line . . somewhere in the future, but for now . . it's been addressed, and shut down. Like I said, there was a lot of potential here, but to me it just seemed to fall kind of short in this particular story-line. But that's not to say that I didn't enjoy the book . . I did. I love this series. But . . sometimes . . we get what we get. Hopefully this won't be lost and never thought about again. I don't think it will, but . . you never know.

the Brave and the Bold #35 - DC

Last issue the Legion and the Doom Patrol got together to stop a primordial black-hole from destroying the Earth. However, in the process there was a bunch of . . 'things' that happened, for which nobody really knew why. But in the end, they accomplished their mission and everybody went home. So they figured it was over. Well this issue, when the Legion of Substitute-heroes hears about what the Legion did, they figure that they can get their own time-bubble and go back to before the Legion saved the day, and do so themselves. They figure that they'll get the chance to be the heroes. However, as was expected . . it's a cluster, a real FUBAR, right from the beginning. In fact when they go back in time to get the Doom Patrol, before the Legion contacts them, they instead end up with the Inferior Five. Both groups together, I thought, were hilarious. So after going through this whole issue, and their attempt to become heroes . . by the end they're just trying to get everything back to the way it's supposed to be. Which they do, but . . they leave the Inferior Five in 2010, instead of 1972. It seems to me that this was really all just an experiment by J Michael Straczynski. I'm guessing that somebody added all that 'other stuff' to the last issue . . the things that couldn't be explained, and JMS used his incredible writing talents to put together a story that wrote his way out of all of it. I could be wrong. But that's what it seemed like to me. Either way . . I thought it was great. We don't get to see these characters very often. And I liked the way that everything fell together for this story . . literally. Jesus Siaz also did a great job with the art and cover. I'm not sure what the future holds for this book . . there's only 1 more issue listed between now and November. But I hope we see some more. I really like what they've done here.

Batgirl #12 - DC

I have to say, I've really been impressed with Bryan Q Miller's first story-arc on this book. Something had to be done about the Calculator, and with this story-line Barbara, Stephanie and Wendy have done just that. Last issue ended with the Calculator having captured Babs. He connected their brains together hoping to siphon off her knowledge before killing her. However, with experience, Babs turns the situation around and instead they end up in the Calculator's head fighting. During this we find out a lot about his early life. It looks like Babs has the situation pretty well in hand, but then Steph and Wendy show up and pull her butt out of the fire. She knew they'd show up, even though she told them not to. They're just not the type to listen. Also this little adventure has served to cement Wendy into the ranks of their little group. Apparently now she'll be monitoring the web, when Oracle is busy. And has taken up the avatar of 'Proxy'. Overall I thought it was a good issue. With a lot of exciting stuff going on. However, the story-line, Batgirl Rising isn't quite over yet as next issue she faces Clay-face. Like I said, I really think Brian is doing a great job here. And I've really been enjoying Lee Garbett's and Pere Perez' pencils. They've really brought a neat feel to this book. Not to mention Stanley Lau's beautiful covers. Personally, I loved Cassandra's character as Batgirl. So I'm really surprised that I've come to like this one so much. In some ways I think Stephanie is even better.

Batman #701 - DC

This issue starts to fill us in on the story . . the missing chapter of the RIP story-line, that we've had yet to see. It's the part that we've been missing between when Dr Hurt sent Batman off crashing into the Gotham River. You know, where Dick found his cape and cowl and thought that he might be dead? Well, it fills us in on what was going through Bruce's mind between that and when he was called into the case, by Superman, of Orion's death. Hurt's words keep running through his head. First about his cowl, 'The next time you wear it will be the last.' And later also about his profession when he told Batman that his next case would be his last unless he gave up and joined him. And now, as we know this all leads to his capture and erasure by Darkseid, he has indeed begun to investigate his final case. This story will wrap up next issue, which leads directly into Octobers books where Bruce Wayne will finally return from his trip through time. I gotta say, from the previews I've been looking at, October and November look to be a pretty exciting, and overflowing months for the Batman family of books. Rest assured that Grant Morrison will still be chronicling Batman's adventures. But not necessarily in this title. It appears that Tony Daniel will once again take on the scripting and pencilling of this series. All I can say is . . if Grant can't be here . . I can't think of anyone who would do a better job than Tony. And that's really just the tip of the iceberg. There's going to be a lot of news coming out in the next couple of months about all the shake-ups and reformation in the Batman line of books. It's going to be an exciting couple of months to be a Bat-follower.

Batman Confidential #46 - DC

I was pretty hard on the beginning of this story. I really didn't care for the way it started out. However, with this issue . . things have got a little more interesting. Of course they had to bring in Superman, Dr Fate and hints of the Swamp Thing to pique my interests. I'm just kidding. This issue actually did flow a little better than the last one. Superman, and Batman have been following this Combs character, which is what brought them to New Orleans. While there, Batman came into contact with Dimeter, a vampire, and his girlfriend Liv. They've interacted with Batman before. Dimeter also has an agent of his own here, Janko, a werewolf. Anyways, they're all going after Combs, but he sends an army of zombies to stop him. They aren't actually zombies. He controls the dead, so . . they're more like his puppets. It turns out that he's just trying to stall the whole bunch of them while he makes his escape to Corto Maltese. Supposedly there's a magician there that will help Comb's complete his training. However, first . . he has to bring him back to life. Which is why I think he's taken Liv captive. She's probably going to be some type of sacrifice or something. I thought Kevin Van Hook did a pretty good job with the story this issue. Although he did drag it out for a bit. Dimeter ends up taking care of the horde of corpses, by using some voodoo magic. He could've done it all along, but . . he says he didn't know if it was going to work. Also, I'm not a huge fan of Tom Mandrake's work, but . . this is definitely the type of story that fits his style. So overall . . I thought it was ok. Not great . . just ok.