Reign in Hell #8 - DC

Well, this is the final issue of this book, and it really was . . pardon the pun . . one hell of a book. Keith Giffen has basically taken every mystical character in the DC Universe and set them all upon a new path. The irony of this whole thing is that just when Lord Satanus had thought he had won . . he was the new emperor . . Black Alice shows up and tries to do her little leaching bit on him. He steps up and lets her do it. After all, how can this little neophyte of a human hurt him . . Lord Satanus. Well maybe she couldn't but . . Lady Blaze new that at the moment of contact his soul would be laid bare . . so she pounced. She seized the opportunity. And in the moment that Alice was driven insane with the information that she siphoned . . Lady Blaze took out Lord Satanus. So now she's the high mucky-muck. But shortly before that happened, Satanus tricked Lobo into swearing his allegiance to him. So with Blaze's subterfuge . . where does that leave Lobo? Like I said, all of the mystical characters have a place to start anew here. It looks like the only ones that got left behind are Lobo and Sargon. Although, Ralph and Sue still seem to be wandering around. But on the ground below their feet, there's a message . . 'You can leave whenever you want.' It appears that they're not very welcome there. I thought this was a fantastic series. Keith Giffen did a great job of mapping out all of the terrain here. And Tom Derenick and Bill Sienkiewicz's art was incredible. Together they brought a great look to this book. This book really opens a whole bunch of doorways in the DC Universe. Heck, Shadowpact may even be back. Dr Occult says they are, but they've all come back changed so . .it'll be interesting to see where they go from here. And now that all of these characters have been brought into the light . . as it were . . hopefully we'll see more of them in the future, around the DC Universe.

Superman #685 - DC

This one, was 100% better than the last book I read . . the Gotham after Midnight mini. This one actually had a story with some meaning and emotion behind it. I think James Robinson is doing a nice job here. I think he's finding his groove also. Javier Pina does the art, but . . he inks his own pencils here, and it didn't come across very well. I've seen much better work from him. But, it wasn't bad. Anyways, Superman has just released Mon-el from the Phantom Zone. He didn't have much of a choice as the Zone collapse behind him. But now he has to deal with his weakness to lead. If he doesn't do something, Mon-el could die. This is the first time that Superman realizes that there's something wrong with the future. He tries to use his Legion ring to go to the future to get a anti-dote, but . . there's no response. Apparently though . . lucky for Mon-el . . Brainiac 5 thought ahead and left the anti-dote out for Superman. I hope sometime along the line there's an explanation as to how that happened. Anyways, Superman returns home only to find out that the UN has banned all Kryptonians from Earth . . except for him. He probably wouldn't be overly concerned about it except Alura just asked him to come live with them on New Krypton. However she has a contingency, he has to renounce all of his ties to Earth. Which really has him torn. Obviously if he does it, it'll be a ruse. Sooner or later, he'll be back. But he doesn't know how the people of Earth will take it. Will they think he's abandoning them? But on the same token, Zod is on New Krypton. If he doesn't go there, how can he keep an eye on what's going on. So he's decided to fake it. He explains everything to Ma Kent and Lois, and he asks his colleagues to watch things in his absence . . Mon-el, Steel, Jimmy, the Guardian, etc. . . but he's asked Mon-el to keep an eye specifically on Metropolis while he's gone. And then on the top of a building . . he says good-bye to Lois. It really is rather touching. So next month, Mon-el will be in this title, and Superman will be in his new title . . . Superman: World of New Krypton. Unfortunately, I really don't think this decision is going to work out very well for him, but . . I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Batman: Gotham after Midnight #10 - DC

After 10 issues . . I have no idea who Midnight could be. Every time you think it's somebody . . they end up dead. And they're really dead, because he takes their hearts. So now, there's not much of a list to choose from. Anyways, the streets of Gotham are clear. Midnight has been able to do something that even Batman couldn't, he's got everybody so scared they won't even leave their house. So now that he's got all the criminals running with their tails between their legs . . he's decided to go after the corporate pirates. Guess who his first target is? Yep, none other that ol' Bruce Wayne. And, he's decided to give Batman a chance to join him. He doesn't think that he'll actually agree to it, but . . he wants to make the attempt. And, when he says no, he's got control of all of Batman's rogues gallery, and he figures he can just use all of them to finally get rid of the Batman once and for all. However, Batman hasn't just been sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He's been setting his own plans into motion. He's figured out an anti-dote to whatever it is that Midnight is using to control the villains. He figures that Midnight is setting a trap for him, so when Midnight springs it . . and all the villains are poised ready to attack, Batman will administer the anti-dote and he figures most of the villains will turn on their captor just for the sheer principal of the thing. When Batman say no, Midnight replies . . "Very well. I anticipated such a response. I offered you everything. I could've made your world into heaven. Instead, you've chosen to live in hell. So be it, then. KILL HIM!" And with all the villains behind him ready to attack, Batman says . ."No. I've got you right where I want you . . ." I know. Kind of corny dialogue. But, it's a monster book. Right? I don't know. It's ok. I expected more suspense from Steve Niles, but . . there's probably only so much he's allowed to do. It's a good thing Kelley Jones is pencilling this because, if not? . . . there really wouldn't be much redeeming value to this book. The story isn't really that suspenseful . . or violent . . and it's dragged out for way to long. Sorry, but I think it's time just to get this one over with. Say goodnight Batman!

Batman: the Brave and the Bold #2 - DC

This was an ok book. It really was in the exact same genre as the cartoon. Reading it . . I have to keep telling myself that this isn't part of the regular DC Universe. And . . it's written for kids. If I didn't keep thinking about that . . this book would probably drive me crazy. At the end, after Blue Beetle and Batman have beaten the Thinker, they're sitting down to dinner at Jamie's house and Batman's sucking on a chicken bone. Besides that . . he's the only one at the table in costume. A little weird . . maybe? Plus when this whole thing first started, with the avatar characters, Batman thinks of Jaime . . teen-ager, video-games . . so he goes knocking on his door. On one hand, how cool would that be? You open your door to find Batman standing there. But then I'm thinking . . no way! Anyways, for the kids, it was probably a fun book. I'm all for anything that introduces the younger audience to some of my favorite characters. But it really is written, probably for the 8 to 10 year old audience. Which is fine. It could've drove me crazy, but . . I didn't let it.

Teen Titans #68 - DC

I thought this was an interesting issue. Basically what we have left of the Titans right now are Eddie, who is powerless, Jamie, who's pretty new to his powers and the Titans, and Cassie. Bombshell is still around. She has nowhere else to go, and her father asked them to take care of her. And Kid Eternity. He broke out of hell recently, during the war, and showed up on the Titans doorstep, literally, asking for asylum. I know it's not the best team, or hardly a team at all right now, but . . the kids still have heart. And with all the victims that recently broke out of the Dark Side Club, I think their roster issues are about to become a thing of the past. But this issue? This issue isn't about any of that. This issue is all about trying to figure out Eddie. He, with Kid Eternity's help, are trying to figure out where he stands with the team and with his powers. They were recently stolen from him by Brother Blood. But, that may not necessarily be a bad thing. As per his contract with Neron he, and his soul would become Neron's property when he turned 20. So this may have happened at the most appropriate time. But now Eddie feels lost without them. So he and Kid Eternity go back down to hell to take a look at Eddie's actual contract. They find that it's not signed. Either he never did it at all, or it all changed when Brother Blood took the powers. So will that mean the Brother Blood is beholden to Neron? That's a story for the future, I think. Anyways, Kid Eternity gets distracted by the Lords of Order and Blaze shows up to make Eddie a similar deal. And the idiot is about to sign it when Kid Eternity stops him. By reading the contract though, Eddie does learn something. "Says here all Neron actually did was unlock my already-existing metagene. I guess that makes sense. Dr Caulder said my powers weren't mystical . . ." So I'm wondering if Eddie may find a different way to unlock his powers. Basically, what I think Sean McKeever is doing here is rebuilding the team from the ground up. Yes it sucks that Robin left. And there's no Superboy or Kid Flash. But, I think that's what this is all about. This team has always been a younger version of the Justice League. Roster and everything. But I think Sean is trying to make them into something different. He has to have something to anchor them with the past, which is why I think Cassie is so adamant about sticking around, but other than that? Other than that, it's all up in the air. And from this point? We really have nowhere to go but up. I'm also more and more impressed with Eddy Barrows pencils every issue. This guy is really coming into his own, and developing his own style. I think he's got a great future ahead of him. Next issue? We finally see some new members.

Green Lantern #38 - DC

This was another fantastic issue in this series. First of all . . look at that incredible Shane Davis cover. Is the guy talented or what? We start out this issue with Hal under the control of Atrocitus. At the end of the last issue, Atrocitus turned him into a Red Lantern. However, the Blue Lanterns, and Sinestro, learn a secret about Atrocitus this issue. He's talking to Sinestro and says, "You taught him poorly. The Red Ring has taken him without a fight. He has no coping skills when it comes to his anger." Which then makes the Blue Lanterns realize, "Nor do any of your Red Lanterns, Atrocitus. You have clearly chosen them for a reason . . they can be controlled." But Atrocitus also learns a secret about the Blue Lanterns, in order for their power to work they have to be in the proximity or a Green aura. They are all-powerful, but . . that's where they draw their power from. So, when Hal is a Red Lantern, the 2 Blue Lanterns are much weaker. But they have a plan for that also. They make their way to Hal and slide a Blue ring onto his finger. Somehow the combination of the Green and the Blue serve to wash the Red out of his system. Something Atrocitus didn't think was possible. But, it's also done something to Hal. It's changed him. Hopefully it's for the better. He asks the Blue Lanterns what they did to him, but there reply is simple . . "I . . do not know." Meanwhile on the other color fronts, we see that Carol is becoming ripe for the picking of the Zamarons. She's about to become a Star-Sapphire. Meanwhile, when Sinestro escaped he went to Qward. There's a few of his Corps that are still loyal to him . . that didn't defect to Mongul. So he knows that he has to go to Daxam to deal with him, but his first priority is to return to Korugar . . fully recharged. "Thanks to Atrocitus . . I have a family matter to attend to. Ring. Return me to Korugar." And, in the Vega system we see the Controllers about to discover the last color . . Orange. The war of light is about to erupt, which will lead us into Blackest Night. This was another stellar issue by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. These 2 have really taken this title, and these characters, to an all new level. This is without a doubt one of the most exciting books on the shelves right now. I can't wait to read this, or the Corps, every single month. Whodathunkit?

Wonder Woman #29 - DC

I appreciate everything that Wonder Woman is going through. All the twists and turns that are happening in her life right now. But, I really don't think this story is necessarily about her . . or Genocide. The Rise of the Olympian theme that's been present in this book is all about something completely different. What's going on with Genocide, as well as the Cheetah and Dr Psycho is all just a symptom of what's really going on in the realm of the gods . . the Pantheon. It appears that Zeus is not happy with the Amazons and their agent of hope, Wonder Woman. He thinks the world has not been made better by their presence. So first he created the Manazons . . for lack of a better phrase. For all intents and purposes they are male amazons. And now . . . now he's trying to create the Olympian to lead them and guide them. I think Athena's death has something to do with this, and . . when Zeus rips the heart out of Kane Milohai, that is for his creation. "Our history is written in blood. And now my son, my final legacy. He will have the heart of a god!" I think Zeus may be going mad. Or, he's smarter than we all thought. However, after being captured and held prisoner by Darksied . . something he never thought he'd have to endure, I'm going with the madness theorem. By the way, we also see the arrival of Steve Trevor this issue. He's taking control of the DEO from Sgt. Steel. Which is a good thing. If he knew that Dr Psycho was inhabiting Steel's body he'd be even more thrilled. This should put a little crimp in the Cheetah's and the Dr's plans. I thought this was a fantastic issue and I think Gail Simone and Aaron Lopresti are doing a bang-up job. Right now . . this book is fantastic. Thanks!

Justice Society of America #24 - DC

I liked this issue. Of course I think that Geoff Johns has done a terrific job with this story. And I was very impressed by Jerry Ordways artwork. It really looked fantastic. I'm a fan of Jerry's but he's not one of my favorites. However, the way this book was finished, I was really impressed with the overall look. This issue is really kind of an in-between issue. It still perpetuates the Family Ties story-line, but it's main purpose is to fill in all the readers on Billy Batson's story. Well, that and the Rock of Eternity also. This one actually goes back to before the time of Captain Marvel and gives us a little insight into his parents also. And, as it turns out, his father's spirit is still around and trying to help Billy out of this whole mess. We also see that it's not necessarily Black Adam who is the protagonist of this story. It seems that Isis, in her death and resurrection, has come back with a little more spite and malice in her heart. She wants the world to pay for what's been done to her, her family, and her brother, Osiris. We also see that there's some changes going on within the ranks of the Justice Society. They seem to be recruiting even younger members. I'm guessing that there may be another Young Justice . . completely different from the first . . I'll think they'll be putting together a younger division here soon. I'm just guessing, but that's what it looks like to me. Also, some of the older members . . they seem to have some questions running through their heads. Questions about their future and the future of the Society. I think this story is just as much about the Justice Society family as it is about the SHAZAM! family. I think both will be coming out of this different, and changed.

Trinity #39 - DC

Our Trinity of power . . the 'good guys' . . finally make their presence known in the real world. Finally! But not until the final page. The whole battle . . the control of the Earth that Le Fey is looking for . . the whole battle comes down to Metropolis. Which really doesn't surprise me because Superman is obviously the brightest beacon of them all. Last issue the JSI went into this battle, with all of their comrades and friends, knowing that they really didn't have any chance of winning this. I mean, Le Fey controls all the rest of the Earth. All of it except for Metropolis. But . . Tarot has told them that a miracle is about to happen. The problem is . . it needs time to happen. So, knowing that they have no chance to win they fight anyways. They fight because they're trying to buy time for a miracle. Which is what they get on the final page of the book. Our trio of heroes show up in the sky . . in a crack of lightning, and their presence overwhelming them all they ask "So. What have we here?" Next issue the battle's really going to get big. Also, during this story, we see that Konvict, one of the 'evil' Trinity, is having a crisis of faith. Or conscious, I'm not sure which. He joined this whole battle to restore his honor. The honor he lost when he struck down a non-combatant. However, as he's watching the results of this conflict, and the casualties that are being heaped upon him, he begins to realize that this is not restoring his honor. Le Fey has told him that when he gathers the power due to him, he'll be able to remake the world however he sees fit. But, he's beginning to realize that she may have fooled him. As he stops fighting, and watches what's going on around him . . . he doesn't feel very honorable. And when Le Fey blasts Graak, the chattering little monkey, off his shoulders . . I think his mind is really made up. Now the question lies . . what's he going to do about it? This series is really hitting a fever pitch and I can't wait to see how we get out of all of this mess. I still think Enigma is going to play a role in it. But, we'll see. Great job by Kurt Busiek, Mark Bagley, Fabian Nicieza and Tom Derenick. Don't worry, you're vacation time will be coming up soon.

Nyx: No Way Home #6 - Marvel

I read through this whole book last night . . parts of it twice even, but at the end . . . I was rather confused. This is the last issue of this series, and really it answers no questions. We know that this lady, with the red streak in her hair, has captured the kids. And we know that she has Cameron, so she's the one who set up this whole business right from the beginning. And for some reason, Kiden's dead father has joined this group. I thought Kiden was the only one that could see him, but apparently so can the woman with the red streak. Anyways, the lady is trying to brain-wash them all through drugs and some kind of cerebral power. Anyways, her father switches sides and helps them all escape. Well, so does Tatiana. The lady is immune to Kiden's power but not Tatiana's. Somehow Tatiana comes into contact with her blood and then becomes her. Powers and all. So they end up breaking free. But, by the time they find Cameron, she's so brain-washed that she's scared to death of the kids. So all they can do is free her. But there's not a lot of satisfaction in it. So they get out of the mess, they're in the free world and they ask themselves 'What do we do?'. To which Kiden replies, 'We keep surviving.' That's it. End of story. We don't know what this lady wanted, who she was working for, or why she wanted these kids. I mean, the lady failed, but I would think whomever she's working for would keep trying. Like I said, a whole bunch of questions and no answers. But then . . . then I read the recap in the front of the book. It turns out after Kiden's father died he saw that she had no future. She was going to end up dead. So he searched, and this story . . this engagement . . was the only scenario he could find where her and her friends survived. She, and her friends, had to go through hell. But, on the other side . . . they all came out alive. I guess in the end, that's all he wanted. Honestly, I thought that Marjorie Liu and Kalman Andrasorszky did an ok job with this series, but . . . I liked the first one better. After reading the re-cap, I understand the motivation behind the whole thing. But, without that . . . I'd have been completely lost. Really, I would not have been able to make sense of it at all.

Moon Knight #27 & #28 - Marvel

I went ahead and put #28 in here also. It's another one I just picked up this week. I like this story the Mike Benson has put together here. I wasn't sure about Jefte Palo's art last issue, but after reading these 2 I really think he has just the right feel for this story. Marc Spector is dead. Or, at least, that's what the rest of the world thinks. However, we know that he's actually gone down to Mexico and resumed his Jake Lockley identity. He's been doing some cage fighting and he's come to the attention of a Mr Alcantara. He says his daughter has been illegally incarcerated and he want to pay Jake to get her out. Which he does, but in doing so . . he finds out that the daughter, Carmen, was actually turning state's evidence on her father's illegal dealings. So she disappeared about a month ago. Her father is getting ready to broker a deal with the Russians, so he wants her back to tie up the loose end. Also, he wants to shoot her in front of them to show them what kind of man he is. So, once Jake kills Alcantara's men that were helping him . . but then wanted to shoot him in the head . . Alcantara hires the Zapato brothers to bring Carmen and Jake both in. By the way the Punisher is also in town and he's seen Jake's/Marc's face. "Guess who isn't dead." Anyways, in issue #28 Jake goes back and forth with the Zapato's a couple of time. There's also someone out there with an Aztec theme that's taking down the 'family' members also, Toltec. But he's doing it by butchering them with huge knives. Jake's managed to stay out of his way, but Toltec takes out a couple more members when they see Jake and try to give chase. Anyways, the issue ends with the Zapato's striking a deal with Alcantara. They're going to take care of all of his problems, for a price of course. But they really just plan on killing him when they're all done. But as they go out on the streets to start searching for their prey, unsuspectingly they are also being followed. If they saw their followers they might not be so openly gallivanting around town. We see the Punisher, Moon Knight and Toltec all hiding in the shadows following their only leads to Alcantara. All in all I thought it was a pretty decent story-line. It's nice to see Jake back in the mix of things again.

Ghost Rider #32 - Marvel

This issue wraps up the Last Stand of the Spirits of Vengeance story-line. I have to say, I have some suspicions about what's going to happen. Basically . . . Zadkiel wins. With Danny's help, he's knocked over the walls of Heaven. So now what supposed to happen? Johnny's power has been taken from him, but Danny said he came back with whatever he could keep. I'm guessing that Johnny's going to have to sell his soul again in order to get enough power back to make a difference in all of this. I could be wrong, but that's what I think is going to happen. But next issue, as we wait for the end of the world, they're getting ready to start a new story-line . . 'Trials & Tribulations, a little walk through the history of the Ghost Rider in America'. That should be interesting. We start out with a story about Sister Sara. We also get a new artist next issue . . . Tony Moore. I guess he's new to the business, but they're really hyping him up. We'll have to wait and see. This was Tan Eng Huat's last issue. I thought Jason Aaron did a pretty decent job with this story-line. Everything came together in the end. I just thought it was weird that Zadkiel actually won. I thought for sure Johnny would get through to Danny. Of course it didn't help that Kowalski shot Johnny with the hell-fire gun. So everything is kind of up in the air right now. Obviously the book will be continuing. It's just not obvious in which direction or how it's gonna' get there. It should be an interesting ride.

the Amazing Spider-man #587 - Marvel

This is another story by Marc Guggenheim that I really liked. Everything is starting to come to a head here, and . . it doesn't look good for 'ol Spidey. First of all, it turns out that Harry's girlfriend, Lily, is actually Menace. She beat up Spider-man last issue, and while unconscious he got arrested. Not to mention, when Harry finds out about Lily, it sends him to a whole 'nother place. I think he might finally be off the wagon. Secondly, Carlie finds out that Vin and his partner are in on the Spider-tracer killings. So she goes to the Chief to report it. However, it looks like he's in on it also because next thing we know Vin and Carlie are getting arrested for conspiracy. Whoever else is in on it is trying to lay the whole thing on them. Matt comes to Peter's aid as his attorney. And brings him a web-shooter so that he can help protect Vin when he gets sent to prison. As I said with issue #545 . . #546 was basically a fill-in issue . . this title is starting to seem more like the good 'ol Spidey books of old. It seems like we're finally getting a feel back to this title that is hasn't had ever since A Brand New Day started. Don't get me wrong, there's been a few good issues during that time period. But really . . no consistency. By the way I loved John Romita Jr's pencils in this issue also. Spot on!

Dark Avengers #2 - Marvel

This book was . . to say the least, interesting. I'm not sure if it's suitable for it to carry the 'Avengers' title, but . . I guess that's the point. They aren't really the Avengers, but Norman doesn't care. He's trying to throw everything he can in the face of those who oppose him, and this is just one more way for him to give them all the big 'F#$% You!'. For me, the best part of the book, without a doubt, was Mike Deodato's art. It was fantastic . . through and through. But, I do have to give some credit to Brian Bendis for the story. It was kind of like 'the A-Team' meets the 'Avengers'. I guess that dates me a little. And, to look back at the 'A-Team' they probably seem kind of lame. But, at the time . . they were the coolest thing on TV. The thing I kind of like about this title is that Norman actually thinks he can hold the reigns on all of these guys. I mean, 1 or 2 maybe. But this group? There's just no way that he's going to be able to keep them all in check. I think it's only a matter of time before 1 or 2 of them start formulating their own agendas. This issue he tells them he wants to start making a list of the targets they're going after. How skewed is that list gonna' be? I don't know, I just can't see him holding all of this together for that long. HAMMER, maybe. But that's a police and political organization. Although he has recruited members of SHIELD and HYDRA. He could be stirring the soup a little bit there, also. Anyways, their first battle comes when Morgana Le Fay attacks Dr Doom in Latveria. Norman doesn't really want it to be their first mission, but . . they have to do something. They strike hard, and look like they get the advantage. However, by the end of the issue Morgana has used her mystic arts to seize control of a few of their members. This is going to turn ugly before it gets better. Overall, I like the issue. I thought it was interesting, and neat in a few spots. It's only issue #2. So I'll give it a chance and see where Brian goes with all of this. It could work . . or not.

Ultimate Fantastic Four #60 - Marvel

For being the final issue of this title, this book certainly didn't tie up any of it's outstanding story-threads. Sue and Ben are still looking for Johnny. They're concerned for Reed also, but he took off after Namor because he thought he was responsible for the tidal-wave. It's a natural assumption. Anyways, Sue got the help of the Mole-man and her mother also. They figured out that all of them are carrying Reed's nanobots inside of them, so now they just need an antenna large enough to get a fix on the signals. Which means they have to go to Atlantis. Long story short, they find their Sue and Ben's signals on Earth, but no others. Then Sue gets the idea of overlaying Reeds dimensional maps on top of the Earths. They find Reeds signal in the Squadron Supreme's dimension. But Johnny's signal? It's in a dimension that they have no idea where it is. We see it, and it looks like Hell. But I could be wrong. But with this being the final issue of the book . . how are we supposed to get any answers. Well, it turns out some of them will come from the Ultimatum mini-series. However, I'm guessing, most will come afterwards from Ultimatum: Fantastic Four Requiem. I imagine there will be on of these for each of the Ultimate titles. And from there . . hopefully, we'll find out what the future of these characters actually is. I thought Joe Pokaski and Tyler Kirkham did a pretty decent job with this book. I just don't like all these unanswered questions. But that's how they build suspense. Right? Anyways, it looks like were down to the Ultimatum title, and then . . . whatever mini's follow it up. I sincerely hope this isn't the end. For any of the titles.

X-Factor #40 & #41 - Marvel

Wow! Issue #40 was really powerful. I wasn't going to add #41 to this post, but when I got done reading the issue, I just had to read the next. Especially since I just picked it up Wednesday. In issue #40 Jamie has basically given up. After what happened with Theresa's birth last issue, he just doesn't feel like he can go on. He feels like 'god's whipping boy'. So he goes to visit John. That's the dupe that, basically, created a life for himself. He's a minister, married and has a son. Jamie feels he needs to warn him about that. So he tells him what happened between he and Theresa, and surprisingly . . John already knew. I think he just likes this idea of having a family so much that he's not going to let anything come in the way. I was wondering why John could hold his son but Jamie couldn't. And then it dawned on me, it's not that John can't but Jamie can't. If Jamie were to even touch him he would be absorbed right away. The baby of a 'dupe', is still a 'dupe'. Anyways, Jamie lays it all out on the line for him, and really he's ready to just shoot himself in the head. But then a beacon of hope comes walking through the door. It's the nun that was supposed to meet John earlier that day. But she's not a nun, she's . . . . Layla. Layla? But I thought . . . . well, we find out in issue #41 that it's not really Layla either. Well . . it is, but it isn't. Actually it's a hard-light construct of herself that she's sent back from the future. She says she's come back to save Jamie's life, but in order to do so he has to come back with her. Ironically, in saving his life, they find themselves face to face with a Sentinel in that same future. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang, XF Investigations, back in Detroit are taking on a new case of someone that seems to be murdering former mutants. The case is just starting, so we really don't know all of the specifics yet. And, as soon as Jamie disappeared someone else came in . . . and started shooting at John. Luckily he misses and before John can start shooting back . . . the guy shoots himself in the head. The only thing he says the whole time before he shoots himself is 'cortex . .'. Whatever that means. It seems that Peter David is on a mission with this book. Basically, he wants to make it better and he wants the sales to triple over the course of the next year. I . . believe he can do it. This book has really been intense. Peter has really been outdoing himself with each and every issue. Not to mention that the pencils of Valentine De Landro have been outstanding. The thing I like the best about Peter's attempt here is that he's doing it with the characters in the book. He's not bringing in any 'ringers' or 'favorites' to try to boost sales for a few issues. He's trying to make this book better through good solid story telling. And for that . . I'd like to say thanks. Thanks for sticking with the characters we've got and the ones we've come to love. And thanks for telling good solid stories through characterization and fantastic relationships. I'm behind you 100%. For what it's worth. And anyone who isn't picking up this book definitely should. You won't be sorry.

New Exiles #18 - Marvel

Well this is is. The final issue of this series. Again! Although, actually, I think this time it's simply because of the creative change. Well, that and the line-up is going to be changing to, but . . that happens all the time in this book. Chris Claremont and Tim Seeley are the current creative force behind this title. But, when it comes back, it'll be Jeff Parker and Salvador Espin. And, to start out the series, the new line-up will be Beast, the Witch, Panther, Forge, Polaris and surprisingly . . Blink. Yay! I'm glad she's back. Actually it'll be really sad to see Morph go though. Especially, now that we know he's back to normal. But, I think, the book should be pretty upbeat with Jeff writing it. That is if he writes it anything like the X-Men: First Class books. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. It should be out in a couple of weeks. Anyways, with this book . . . I know it sounds strange but, it didn't really seem like an ending. At first it did, because Rogue and Morph want to stay behind on this world they'd been visiting the last couple of issues, and Sage has become one with the Palace. So I imagine she's going to have to be in the new series. But then the group goes on 6 or 7 missions . . they're recapped briefly on each page, and they pick up a new recruit along the way, Valeria Richards. I'm kind of confused actually. I'm wondering how they're going to explain the cross-over to the new team, when it doesn't seem like the old team is really done. Now I'm really wondering what the next issue is going to be like. Anyways, the important thing to me is that the book will keep going. I've been with it since the beginning . . over in Ultraverse, remember them? . . and the thing I like the most about this book is that it constantly changes and, really, almost anything goes. Thanks for the run on the book Chris. I guess it's time for someone else to give it a shot.

X-Men: Legacy #221 - Marvel

As Charles is digging through his past, trying to rebuild memories . . he realizes that quite a long time ago he made a promise to Rogue that he would find a way to cure her. Now, apparently, he can't do anything else until he confronts that memory. So, he goes and gathers up Remy and they head off for the Australian Outback. Unfortunately, before they can get there, she has another visitor. It's Danger, the X-Men's Danger-room brought to life. Well . . as close to life as a sentient robot can be. We're not exactly sure why she's after Rogue, but . . I'm guessing it has something to do with Mystique. Rogue has all of these personalities stuck in her head and Mystique keeps trying to gain control. It seems like Danger is trying to push her to the point where she has no other option . . in order to survive she'll has to relinquish control over to her mother. At the end of the book, it looks like the scenario where she confronts the Marauders in the sewers may be the point where she has no option. Meanwhile, Charles, with Remy's help, is trying to pin-point the other 4 life-signs that he's been able to read. When he finally finds them, they turn out to be the Shi'ar salvage crew that came down when they got the energy reading off of Danger. Basically they want to salvage her. They think she may be worth something. I'm thinking that these 4 are going to have to work with Charles and Remy if any of them are to have any hope of finding Rogue or making it out of this. Mike Carey is doing a great job with the story in this book. But I think the real star is Scot Eaton who has been turning in some amazing art. All in all, I think this book is very strong right now. I'm not sure what all's going to be resolved or changed by Charles little trip through the past, but . . that's what the journey's for. I don't think it'll be over any time soon.

Uncanny X-Men #506 - Marvel

Well, even if Greg Land couldn't stick around that long, I'm glad that Terry Dodson is here for the art now. He draws some incredible characters, and I've never seen Emma look more sexy. Meeooww! Really, the only question I have about this issue is the dream that Emma has right in the very beginning. I'm assuming that it has something to do with Dark Reign, but . . since there's no banner on the cover, I'm wondering? Anyways, it's really not that important . . to this issue. This issue is all about the X-Men following through on their commitment to be a sanctuary. When they came to San Francisco they said they'd be a sanctuary to all mutants . . current, former, whatever? But nobody, except for some old X-Men, have really taken them up on the offer. That is until this issue. Now they're showing up in droves. I assume it has to do with the leaked footage of the Alaskan massacre, and the renewed vigor to pass anti-mutant laws in some states. They're scared. Peter even shows up with a herd of Russian immigrants. He had joined the gang for the Russian that persecuted his family back home, hoping to bring him down. But on his very first mission, they open up a dock container of Russian women that are being brought here for prostitution, slavery or just to be sold. Peter can't stand it so he knocks out the gang and then takes the women back to the X-Men headquarters. It's not exactly what Scott meant by refugees, but . . they also can't really turn them away. Oh yeah, also Hank and Warren are still on their mission to gather up all the world's leading scientists. This time they end up in Japan, Kunashir Island. Hank's looking for Yuriko Takiguchi. The problem is . . he doesn't really know if he's alive or dead. They find out he is alive, but . . he's got an island full of 'movie monsters' protecting him. When he accidentally initiated the destruction event . . he thought the X-Men were the Russians coming to get him . . they soon find themselves under the threat of a giant Godzilla looking monster. I really like the stories that Matt Fraction is filling this book with. This story-line with Hank and Warren, I think, is going to pan out into something unique and original. I can't wait to see where it's all going. Coupled with Terry's pencils, this really is a fantastic book . . . again.

Young X-Men #11 - Marvel

I really like this title. I think Marc Guggenheim is doing a pretty decent job with the stories. However, I think, what really draws me to this book is the characters. I love this group of kids. I also think it's cool the Dani and Sunspot are involved with this cast also. Although we don't see much of Sunspot. I really feel bad for what's happening to Dust. Although I'm beginning to wonder if this wasn't all actually instigated by Donald Pierce. He enlists Dust's help to get him out of the cell that the X-Men are holding him in. But she won't betray her friends and ends up turning on him rather than fight her own family. But, in the end, it appears that she dies. Hmmm. All of that for nothing. Now I can't wait for next issue. However, besides all of that, we get a story from the future . . 'End of Days' actually. There's an island . . the nation of Xaviera . . that was created as a place for the last of the remaining mutants to live. However, as the population diminished, it was invaded and taken over. We come in at a time when there's only 4 mutants left . . . Wolverine, Graymalkin, Anole and Diamondheart (Emma). There's actually another surviving member, but he's not a mutant, so I think it's Ink. I'm not sure what the point of all of this is, unless . . . it's the same future that we see over in Cable. I guess this could all be part of the Mutant Messiah War. But there is also someone powerful there. Powerful and mysterious . . we don't learn her identity. In the end she takes out Wolverine. Although, we've seen him flayed to the bones before so . . who knows? Rafa Sandoval does the art for the present day scenes. I think his stuff is getting better. And then Daniel Acuna does the future stuff. His work is awesome. The cover by Pasqual Ferry is incredible. One of the best covers I've seen in a while. Like I said, I really like this book and I enjoy reading it every month.

Noble Causes #39 - Image

How far behind are they on this book if the cover says 'Oct. 08'? That was almost 6 months ago. Was this a mistake, or was that when this book was supposed to come out? I'm just wondering. Anyways, this issue, Jae Faerber takes us back into the past and tells us the story of Celeste's and Colonel Comet's romance. It happened during the five year gap that took place between issues #31 & #32. Not literally, but . . the story jumped forward. Apparently there was some super-villain in the past , Epoch, that creates and then feeds off of time anomaly's. One was affecting the present and when Doc Noble and company went to investigate Celeste ended up getting sucked in. She got pulled back to somewhere in probably the late 40's to early 50's. That's where she met Comet. They ended up teaming up, fell in love, and then got married. It's all seems kind of 'wham-bam-thank you m'am' to me, but . . I guess that's just the kind of girl Celeste is. Anyways, she ends up spending almost 4 years there before Doc finally finds her. But eventually he does. She doesn't really want to leave but the displacement in time is starting to affect her body and the cellular level. Really, she has to leave . . or die. So, when she returns to the future, she finds Comet living in a nursing home and decides to take care of him herself. He's in his 80's or so, after-all. Later we find out that this whole story is being relayed to Hunter Blackthorne by her because she know that he was behind the woman who impersonated Amy Wells, and infiltrated their home. It seems that this woman, who was Epoch's hostage in the past, got sent to the present instead of her when Epoch was defeated. She blamed the Noble's for what happened to her and because of that . . . and Hunter's anger over Celeste killing his wife . . he ended up helping her. Basically she's trying to explain to him that what she did she did out of love. Much as what he did, traveling to a cross-reality to find another version of his wife, he also did out of love. And when she killed her, she did so because she begged her to do so. She was in a lot of pain and her transformations were out of control. She wants Hunter to back off, and he tells her he will do so. Shortly afterwards we see the Gaia Noble gets granted an early parole. Her first act upon release? To lay a lip-lock on Doc, right in front of Olympia. That should prove interesting next issue. Anyways, Yildiray Cinar is still the artist on this title. I think his stuff is getting better. In the flash-back scenes he uses a different style that's kind of reminiscent of the 'King'. A bit. Overall, I thought it was an interesting book. Really though, it's just a big soap-opera. But that's ok.

the Death-Defying 'Devil #3 - Dynamite Entertainment

This book was ok. But as I stated with the Masquerade title, it seems like the purpose of most of these books are to introduce us to other characters. The titled character is prominent in the first, and maybe the second issue. However, after that, it's all about the group, or the rest of the characters that he/she is hanging out with. This issue we get a lot of the background on the Ghost. We also see the Fighting Yank and Silver-Streak. We also see more of the spy, Justine, whom I think is going to have a prominent role in this whole 'project'. Basically they're trying to stop a plan of the Claw's. He's your usual 'super-hero' type villain with dreams of world domination. Currently he wants to blow up an experimental Particle Accelerator in Hong Kong. It's destruction will serve 2 purposes. First it will kill a lot of people. Always high on the 'to-do' lists of these megalomaniacs. Secondly it will take out most of the power of the city. Other than that, I'm not sure what the Claw will gain, but . . that's his current plan. There's a couple of action pages where the Ghost comes flying in on the tower that the Claw is going to strike. The 'Devil does some pretty neat acrobatics to land on and then enter the building. However, in the end, the Claw completes his plans and the 'heroes' intervention accomplishes nothing. They barely escape with their lives. I like the concept of these books here. And there's a great cast of characters. To me it seems as if they're purposefully trying to keep the stories in the look and feel of similar books in the 50's or 60's. I know that's when these characters are originally from, but . . it's the future now. The 22nd (?) century. The stories are fun and adventurous, but . . I just think they need to be more current. Alex Ross and Joe Casey write this one. And Edgar Salazar does the art. I think Edgar gets better every month with his craft. However, I've seen better stories from Joe Casey. I'll continue buying these books. I want to see what's going to happen. I just hope that sooner or later they bring the style and theme of the stories a bit more up to date.

the X Files #4 - WildStorm

I'm not quite sure why, but . . this issue actually had a better feel to it, for me. I want to credit it to Marv Wolfman's story, but he wrote last issue . . I wasn't all that thrilled. Maybe it's just because he got to follow through with his story-line this issue. I'm not sure. But, I did like it better. Brian Denham continues to do the art for this series. It's ok. It gives the book a good feel, and Scully and Mulder look close enough to their real selves. The story behind these matching Chinese men was explained this issue. "Forty-nine years ago my parents joined with more than five dozen others in the ceremony of simultaneous impregnation. One seed replicated in 60 wombs. More than forty-two identical children. We were taught that our lives were to be focused on a single goal: return the Binggong Tang to it's former glory." Ceremony of simultaneous impregnation? It sounds like a hell of a way to spend your New Years Eve. Anyways, there's only 3 left. Basically, one of them is calling the shots while the other 2 do the dirty work. But, since the one's legit and always has an air-tight alibi . . there's nothing the police agencies can do about it. Long story short, Scully and Mulder shoot the other 2 leaving only 1 left. But, since he still has an alibi . . they can't arrest him. But, Mulder has other plans. He can make his life miserable without arresting him. "The other Tong leaders are now aware of your plans to kill them. I'd be surprised if they haven't alerted other Tongs across the country. But I wouldn't be all that worried if I were you. After all, you said yourself, the Tong's now legitimate. Isn't it? No longer involved in crime or murder. Of course, if you want you can turn yourself in, admit to your crimes . . . testify against the others and the government will protect you . . behind bars. But then again, as honest, law-abiding men, I'm certain they will let bygones be bygones. Don't you think?" I swear I could hear David Duchovny's voice in my head as Mulder's character in this book says that. I really want to like this book. I do. This issue was really better than the rest. However . . there's only 1 issue left in this mini. So I guess I'll just be filing these in my box with the rest of the Topp's series. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

StormWatch - Post Earth Division #19 - WildStorm

I'm a little frustrated with StormWatch and the Authority right now. They're crossing over into each other's books and . . it's not coming across very well. It's not really the story . . per se. It's the way they're handling it. You know how when a story goes back and forth between book, there's always a little recap before you get to the new information. Just in case there's a reader that's not picking up both books. This is the part that gets me to. The cross the story over because the want the reader to pick up both book. They want to sell more books. Right? But, they write the story so that if you're not picking up both books . . you won't miss anything. What the hell's the purpose of that? Either you're going to do a cross-over and have the readers pick up the book, or not. You can't have it both ways. Most of this issue I felt like I already read it. Why? Because I did. It's almost the exact same story that ran through the last issue of the Authority. The only difference is they show the story from some of StormWatch's characters perspectives instead of from the Authority. But really, it's the exact same story. We learn a little bit more about Fuji's condition in this issue. And that King's got Link and Hellstrike working on helping to get him 'fixed'. But that's about it. Oh yeah, there's 2 pages at the end where the High takes some more refugees to the camp where they have the masking wall so 'supers' can't get in. I mean, they caused the end of the world. Nobody really trusts them. Anyways, a friend of his, Ava, a child, comes out to see him. She says she misses him. They have a moment and then she goes back into the camp, and he flies away. But as he's flying away he finds a piece of crumpled up paper in his hand that Ava put there. All it says is "Help us". So other than those few pieces of information . . that's the only thing that was really 'new' this issue. Why didn't they just send us a panthlet? They could've save a lot of paper. Whatever!

Hellblazer #252 - Vertigo

I love Peter Milligan's stories. They always end up being fantastic. The only thing is, in the middle . . sometimes it's hard to tell what's really going on. That's the way I'm seeing this story-arc. John is covered with scabs and lesions. And they seem to be affecting the people around him. As does the rest of his 'magic' . . . most of the time. But this time it's affecting a woman that he's trying to have a normal relationship with. Yeah . . right. Somehow the scabs that flaked off of him when he was at Pheeb's apartment have come into a life of their own. I assume, 5 or 6 years ago, Pheeb had an abortion. The scabs that John left behind, by accident, have grown into a child that now wants to see it's mother. It tells John . . "I . . I'd like to build some kind of relationship with her. Get to know her. I might not be normal but I'm still a person, with rights. I have memories. I feel emotions." However, I think all of this revolves around a man named Lawrence . . actually Sir Lawrence. It has to do with someone he had dealings with in the past, Mal Brady. Red Mal. A Docker's union negotiator. Something happened during this business, or transaction, and now it's coming back. I don't know the 'hows' or 'whys' yet, but . . that's my best guess. Now I just have to wait for the story to progress a little farther and all the pieces to start coming together. And somewhere along the line I'll have an epiphany and think . . "Of course! I should've known it all along." In the meantime . . John's heading to Liverpool. Giuseppe Camuncoli does the art for this issue. I think this is a great book and a fantastic character. It's one of those books that leaves you thinking about things. Usually things you'd probably rather not be thinking about.

Tangent: Superman's Reign #12 - DC

Finally . . the last issue of this series. This one dragged a little bit in the middle also. I'm telling you, I'm a firm believer that the 12 issue story-line is simply to long. I understand the marketing aspect of it, they're trying to sell more books. But from the readers point of view . . there's a lot of wasted space in the middle. And we all know that creators occasionally have deadline problems. It just seems that with a 12 issue series that something always pops up. There's more of a possibility that things could go wrong. And there's more time for things to go wrong. You know Murphy's law. Anyways, Dan Jurgens wraps up his cross-dimensional story-line this issue with the help of Carlos Magno on the pencils. Dan really throws everything the DC universe has to offer at Harvey, the Tangent Superman. I mean, we're talking heroes, villains, and anybody else who can pitch in and lend a hand. Batman's got this plan. Doesn't he always? They're going to do multiple attacks on Harvey, wearing him down, forcing him to expend energy. Then when he's at his lowest level, they send Lola in, Harvey's wife, to push Harvey even more and to release our Superman from his powers. Thereby allowing Superman to finish it off. Also they're attacking Harvey's links back to the Tangent Earth, the Ultra-Humanite, Orion and Power-girl. If they can get them to retreat . . they'll take Harvey with them. Long story short, they defeat him and all the Green Lanterns work in unison to send the Tangent characters home. But really, this just opens up a whole new story-line for this Universe. I mean, they've been under the thumb of Superman for so long . . . how are they going adjust that rapidly going from a tyrant's rule to democracy? I have a feeling the story of these Tangent characters is far from over. But the question is . . who's going to step up to tell the story? And when? I guess we'll just have to wait and see. But I really hope they don't squander all of these fantastic characters. It'd be a shame for them to all sit up on a shelf and get dusty.

Vigilante #3 - DC

This is what I've got figured out so far. First and foremost, this is definitely not Adrian Chase. But . . this guy knew Adrian. He stops at his grave to talk to him. Also he's got JJ helping him, who also helped Adrian. This guy doesn't think of himself as a hero. He's not out to stop crime, or round up petty criminals. His targets are all mobs and mob related people. And he's doing it because he's trying to make up for his own past. So either he was in the mob, worked for the mob, or maybe his family was just hurt by the mob because of something that he did. Right now he's posing as Joe Flynn. But that's not who he really is. JJ has this whole elaborate thing set up where he inserts the Vigilante into the life of probably someone that he's killed. They cover it up so no one knows they're dead, and then he puts this guy into their lives with skin-grafts, and finger-prints, and everything . . . so their family wouldn't even be able to tell the difference. He's also after Jericho, which is why he's popped up on Nightwing's radar so much. But he's not looking to punish Joey, he wants to find out who in the mob he was working with. And then on top of that, they've got these Cross-Dress Murders going on right around them that neither Vigilante or Nightwing are currently involved with. I'm pretty sure we're going to see more on that though. The issue ends with Nightwing heading back to Gotham and Vigilante heading over to the Titans compound to try to question Joey. Next issue we'll see how that works out for him. I thought this was a pretty decent story by Marv Wolfman. I also liked Rick Leonardi's pencils. I'm glad to see him doing some regular work again. I like his style. We're only on issue #3, so it's a little early to make to much of a judgement on this series, but . . it's interesting. So far it's kept me intrigued.

Supergirl #38 - DC

First of all, I want to say, I thought Jamel Igle turned in a fantastic issue here. The pages looked great and I thought he had some fantastic panels here. Now the story, by Sterling Gates . . . had me a bit confused. We start out with Superwoman beating the crap out of Kara. She's trying to get her to go back to New Krypton, but Kara doesn't want to go. I don't really think that it's that she doesn't want to go, I think she just doesn't want to go right now. But Superwoman is pretty adamant. I don't think she's necessarily trying to corral her for Alura, or anything. I actually think she's trying to protect her. The question is . . what is she protecting her from? The UN just issued their decree saying that all Kryptonians are banned from Earth . . except Superman. So that might be it. But . . I think there's more to it. We know that secretly she's working for General Lane . . or maybe Luthor. So I'm thinking that she's trying to protect her from them. If they're monitoring her she can't tell Kara why she wants her to leave. But then . . out of the blue she's ordered to cut off all contact and retrieve Reactron. Which she does. So obviously they've got her on a pretty tight leash. There's also something going on with Agent Liberty. The police are trying to get his suit off so they can download his previous actions from it, but then the Government steps in and demands the return of his body. They're trying to cover something up. And Cat gets an odd package at her desk. But really, the whole issue boils down to the confrontation between Superwoman and Reactron. He doesn't like being corralled like a stray dog so he whips out some gold Kryptonite on her. To his surprise . . it has no effect. As she's choking him, she says . . "Why Reactron . . whoever said I was Kryptonian?" That's an interesting clue. And it opens a whole slew of new possibilities. Overall, I liked the story. It just left me with a few questions. Which hopefully, we'll get some of the answers to next issue. I'm glad this book is doing well. I like this character. I hope this run lasts longer than the last one.

Justice League of America #30 - DC

I thought this was a pretty decent book. I was really impressed with Jose Luis' pencils. I was a little disappointed at first with Ed Benes not being listed in the credits, but . . overall I really liked Jose's stuff. Also a nice cover by Shane Davis. The story? I thought the story was . . ok. At the first read . . it was fine. But after reading it, when you start to think about it . . you find some holes. Basically what we have is the Shadow Thief is attacking the JLA. Again. However, this time, he's tapped into a pretty unlimited power source so . . he's a lot more powerful. Duh. Now . . here's the part that I'm questioning a bit. Apparently his source of power is the Shadow-Cabinet's teleportation system. So . . why couldn't they just tell the JLA that? I know they were after something in the Hall of Justice, but . . they couldn't open up a dialogue? So, in the end, they have to pool their resources to get out of this pickle. Hardware makes a new suit for Kimiyo. So now she's Dr. Light again. Later we find out that this whole thing was orchestrated by by Dharma back at Shadowspire. Apparently everything that's happened these last couple of issue were his doing and following his plans. But, we don't really know what those plans are. All we know for sure is that he has something in mind for Dr. Light. And he's been manipulating the League this whole time. "I've prodded the League towards their imminent discovery of the true threat to the Earth. They are my pawns. You are very intelligent, Icon. You already suspect the true nature of my mission, and therefore, like it or not, you will aid me whenever I ask. And you'll do far worse before you're through." Very cryptic of him. Anyways, the Shadow-Cabinet and all of it's characters look interesting, but . . this issues story by Dwayne McDuffie just left to many unanswered questions. Maybe I'm trying to read to much into it. Or maybe . . I'm not reading enough. I like the book. I like the characters. But it just kind of leaves me saying, "What the . . . . ."

Superman / Batman #55 & #56 - DC

I thought this was a pretty decent story. It turns out that it wasn't actually Silver Banshee that switched the powers of Superman and Batman. It was the Cawdor Amulet. You know, the one that Silver Banshee was trying to steal when all of this happened. Well anyways, it appears that is has 2 spells on it. One is to grant the wearer their deepest desire. But the other? The other is a leeching spell. It takes something away from the recipient. A form of payment if you will. So when the dynamic duo switched powers, actually . . it was their desires that came to fruition. Deep down Bruce wants to save the world. And deep down he feels that if he had Clark's powers he would be able to do so. Clark on the other hand . . . all Clark wants it to be a normal human being with all of their wants and desires . . family, children, etc.. So they both got what they wanted. Unfortunately, with Bruce it took away his rationality. He became overcome with his desire and his quest. And anybody who tried to stop him? Well, that wasn't acceptable. Clark on the other hand, Clark was given humanity only to be shot, and for it all to be taken away. He was supposed to die. Luckily . . he's got quite a few friends that don't want to let that happen. And, they can do something about it. Anyways, long story short, Clark, with Zatanna's help, gets Bruce into Crime Alley where they know they can distract him for a little bit. Once they do that, it's only a matter of getting them both together in close proximity of the amulet. Of course Zatanna did her part also. I think that Michael Green and Mike Johnson are doing a great job on this series. I really like the stories that they're developing. This particular arc is drawn by Rags Morales. Personally . . I think he's fantastic. The guy definitely doesn't get enough credit. The whole book looks great, but there were some panels that really looked awesome. I really hope this book survives all of the Batman turmoil. I know whomever takes over could jump into these stories, but . . . this book should really be called Clark Kent / Bruce Wayne, because really . . it's about those 2 specific characters. So, I really hope this book survives, but . . I guess I'd understand if it didn't. But I'd really hate it. I guess that's my vote. If it counts.