Batgirl #10 - DC

This is just my humble opinion, but . . I really think that this series gets better and better with every issues. First of all . . these Stanley Lau covers have been nothing short of tremendous. I really, really like his stuff. Next, I think that Bryan Q Miller is doing a great job of integrating all the various aspects of these stories, and characters. We got the whole thing with Babs and Stephanie going on, but then he's gradually bringing Wendy into the Bat-circle . . more and more with every issue. This issue, apparently, Babs has left a trail of bread-crumbs leading Wendy right into the heart of their operations . . the Bat-cave. Wendy seems to be following her own path, but . . I would think that Oracle would've expected that. Especially with Wendy's proficiency with computers. But rather than convincing her to join them, or trying to hard to get her out of her shell, she lets Wendy make the choice, and the move to find out what's really going on, seemingly on her own. I think it's the perfect way to approach this. Anyways, meanwhile the Calculator is obsessed with trying to bring Marvin back to life. Somehow he got his hands on one of the Justifier Helmets. Now all he has to do is lock into one of the Apocalyptic energy pulses that are still floating around out there, to get the thing to work. Which he does, and . . everyone within a certain radius of his signal transmitter, and close to a piece of technology, comes under his control. Babs is smart enough to turn off all of the technology at the Bat-cave ahead of time . . as well as going radio silent. But they don't have enough time to warn the rest of Gotham. And it isn't long before they're both attacked by . . well, everyone in Gotham. Basically. There's a couple of problems here. The Calculator knows what Babs looks like. He doesn't know who she really is, but . . he has seen her. So she's the main target. They encase her in some kind of . . well, something. I'm guessing nanites, but . . I don't know for sure. And the issue ends with Batgirl getting ready to face off against a mind-controlled Man-Bat, Catwoman and Huntress. Stephanie has gotten a lot better, but . . even I don't think she has a chance of handling all of this. And this is just part 2 of 4. There's still a lot more of this story coming. Anyways, the other part of this book that looks great is the art. Lee Garbett has been on board since the beginning, but now Pere Perez is giving him a hand. And the results are really nice looking. Overall, I liked everything about this issue. I'd still like to find out what Cassandra is up to, but . . I think Stephanie has done a terrific job of filling her shoes. But who knows what the future holds.

Batman #699 - DC

To be perfectly honest, the first part of this story by Tony Daniel was a little bit hard to follow. But, I guess, he had to be that way. If he had given us any more information it wouldn't have been to hard to figure out what was going on. Anyways, this issue . . everything comes together. Although, I have to say, when we find out that the Riddler had been given a very diluted dose of Joker venom . . I kind of figured that somehow he was behind all of this. As it turns out, after Batman confronts Firefly in his Arkham cell . . there was a group, several years ago, that this Blackspell magician had set up. He had some kind of idea to skim millions of dollars from the various crime organizations in Gotham. Monies that they wouldn't even notice were missing. Anyways, Firefly and the Riddler were part of this group. And they were successful. For a while. Until Riddler went through his bout of amnesia and switched over to the side of angels. When that happened, Edward started digging into the mystery that was Blackspell. That's when Blackspell decided to call it quits. He dissolved the group and took off with the money. Now, for some reason, he's decided to come back and take out the rest of the group. But we find out that this whole scheme . . the entire thing, group and all, was actually the Riddler's idea. For some reason he decided to have Blackspell be his front-man. And he assumed the role of an active participant. Which I assume is why Blackspell got spooked and pulled up stakes when the reformed Eddie started investigating him. He probably didn't know if that was all part of the Riddler's plan, or if Eddie's amnesia was for real. But rather than face the wrath of those they had ripped off, he left. But as we've seen from the previous issues here, as well as Streets of Gotham, Eddie seems to be getting his memory back. So he faked his own attack to throw off Batman, and then systematically destroyed anything or anyone that could connect things to him. Then, before Batman could put it all together and come after him, Eddie recovered from his venom attack and made his escape. As well as pulling $10 million out of one of Blackspell's dummy accounts. Now he's in the wind. Waiting to cause trouble for Batman again, sometime in the future. I thought it was a pretty cool story. I'm glad it all came together this issue, as the previous ones were a bit of an . . enigma. Pun intended. Guillem March did a great job with the art. As always. Now . . now we're on to issue #700. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us. Here's a tease of the cover. It should be great.

Superman: War of the Superman #2 - DC

Stuff is coming at us pretty fast and furious with this series. It's 4 issues done during May and June. That's why, overall, it's called the 100 Minute War. Although this issue is titled, the Battle for Mars. So there's not going to be a lot of slow spots during this series. We start out with Superwoman smashing into the Daily Planet and snatching up her sister, Lois. Lois is on a vendetta to stop her father, and apparently Lucy is pretty upset with her. She takes her straight to her father. Meanwhile, Superman has to catch up with Kara because she fuming mad. She was in the room with her mother when something happened to Reactron and he blew up the planet . . as well as her mother. Superman calms her down and convinces her that the only way they're going to stop this, and save both the Earthlings and the Kryptonians, is to work together. Meanwhile, Nightwing & Flamebird, Jimmy, Steel, the Guardian and Connor, as well as Krypto, have gone straight to the source . . General Lane's hidden base. Apparently it's hidden under Mt Rushmore. And this group is getting ready to storm it. Also meanwhile . . I guess General Lane has also taken control of the Human Defense Corps. And he launched it's entire arsenal, which is on Mars, directly at the approaching Kryptonians, and their fleet. But Zod expected this and has sent half their force to Mars to stop their intervention. This is where Superman and Kara end up . . trying to break up the battle with minimum casualties. While the other half of Zod's forces are rapidly approaching Earth. But General Lane still has a trick or two up his sleeve. With Lex's help, they launch a rocket at the sun . . and turn it red. Which catches all the Kryptonians flying through space completely off guard. The Kryptonian fleet will be fine. But Zod's got a lot of his army flying straight at Earth, and Mars, under their own power. It appears that Clark and Kara will also be caught in this 'loss of power'. So far, I think this series is much more exciting than the previous one. But . . it is shorter, and coming out much more frequently. It's brought to us by Sterling Gates, James Robinson, and Eduardo Pansica. With covers by Eddy Barrows and Aaron Lopresti. I can't wait to see what happens next. But don't worry . . if you're not following it . . I'm sure it'll be out in TPB before August. You should at least check it out there.

Birds of Prey #1 - DC

Barbara is putting the gang back together again. Finally! But to be honest, they never really went away. Barbara is still Oracle, afterall. So she's constantly in contact with them . . in one form or another. They just haven't 'officially' been a group . . for a while. But now something has come up and she's calling all the hens back to the coop. Of course Dinah, Helena and Zindy are there to back Babs up, but this time she also calls in Hawk & Dove . . Hank Hall and Dawn Granger. We don't really get the reason for their inclusion, but . . I kind of think that Babs thinks that she needs to keep an eye on them. I'm not sure why she feels that it's her responsibility, but . . whatever. What would comics be without a few leaps in logic. Right? Hank seems to be right back to his overbearing self. He and Dove take out a group of young 'wannabe' gangsters, the Sick Cheerleaders, and at one point Hawk is holding one of the girls over the edge of the building. Afterwards when Dove asks him about it, he replys . .'I was dead. You understand that? And I know why I'm back. It's the only thing that makes any sense. God wants a soldier.' So . . I wish Babs good luck with those two. She's gonna need it. Anyways, the reason she's calling everybody back together . . 'I received a dozen thick files, good guys and bad guys both. Each file contained a terrifying amount of data, this is just the harmless stuff, and . . even I don't keep files like these. It's names, addresses, secret identities . . secret everything. If any of these got out . . that's it. It's over for that person. They'd be dead or in jail in hours. Whoever did this wanted us involved. And yes, there's a file for each of us. He knows more about us than we do. He says he's going to make us pay. Says he's going to kill one of the names on these files every hour until we stop him. He says if we refuse to play, all the files go online immediately. Starting at midnight.' Anyways, Babs tells them that Zindy is support and that she's also brought in back-up. Is that what Hawk & Dove are? But then she makes a few guesses as to who might be behind this . . Blockbuster, Spy Smasher and Savant. Really? She went with these 3, and not Ra's, the Calculator or the Riddler? But it's all moot because shortly after they find out who the real culprit is . . the White Canary. Although . . I'm not really sure who she is. But she does seem formidable. She calls out the girls while confronting her first target . . the Penguin. She confronts Cobblepot before Dinah and Helena can show up. And when they do . . she stabs him in the neck. 'The fat one is dying, from her weapon . . come save him. If you can'. It's never good when a villainess refers to herself in the third person. I really enjoyed this issue. The villainess kind of reminds me of Shiva. Except, you know . . in a white costume. Hence the name. But she's got that Asian, ass-kicking kind of vibe going. I'm glad that Gail Simone is back on the scripts. I really enjoyed her last 60 or so issues of the previous series. But the icing on the cake this time is that Ed Benes is doing the art. At least for the foreseeable future. The art in this issue looks fantastic. This was always one of my favorite team books, and I think it's going to be right back at the top of my list very shortly. 'The Birds are Back in Town!'

Titans - Villains for Hire Special #1 - DC

It appears that Slade has decided to put together a team of his own. And he's decided to call them . . the Titans. He doesn't say why. Just that . . 'It's personal'. His team includes the Tattooed Man, Cheshire, Osiris and a newcomer . . Cinder. This is how the credits read . . 'From the hope of a brighter day, the mercenary Deathstroke has lured four lost souls for a mission only he knows. Villains for hire. This lethal strike team tackles the most Volatile and profitable jobs in the world. These are the all new, all dangerous . . Titans!' Maybe Slade has a grander mission, but this time . . this time he's been hired by Rundine, Dwarfstar, to take out Ryan Choi . . the all new Atom. The funny thing about Slade is that no matter what he's doing, he always follows his strict code of ethics. While they're all fighting in Ryan's house, his girlfriend Amanda stops by. Slade order everyone to stand down and tells Ryan to take care of it. After Ryan talks to her and sends her away, he asks Slade why. 'She's not the mission. The mission is . . killing you.' Anyways, in order to get this band of wandering souls together, he has to promise each of them something. I just think that some of these promises are things that he's not going to be able to deliver upon. Cheshire has gotten sloppy ever since Lian died. Because of that, she screwed up her last mission. And now the target is hunting her. 'Join us and I'll make sure you're problem is taken care of. Permanently!' That one I don't have any doubt he can do. The Tattooed Man's son was killed because of the recent events in the Ink mini-series. 'Leon's murderer has gone underground. But I know where. Join us, Mark, and I'll deliver his head on a platter.' I'm sure he can deliver on that one also. However, Cinder seems to be someone that's come into her powers recently. And she appears to have suffered abuse in her life. She's been hurt enough that she's using her powers to burn away the bad men that like to hurt women. No matter what she has to do to do it. 'I'll deliver the monsters you can' t reach. Politicians. Cardinals. Kings. All you have to do is join me. You can't burn them away, Carla. No matter how hard you try.' To me, that one seems a little vague. I think he just sees her as a weapon with which all he has to do is point. Finally Osiris . . he's having trouble bringing Black Adam and Isis back to life. He's been recently brought back, so he doesn't understand why he can't return the favor. After all, both of them deserve a chance much more than he does. Slade promises him, 'I can make it so your sister and Adam live again. I have friends.' That one I have a little bit of a problem believing that he can pull off. Plus, now that they've come together and helped him kill Ryan . . Oh Yeah! Sorry! Spoiler alert! Ryan Choi is dead!, but I'll get to that in a minute . . now that they've helped him complete their first mission, he doesn't really have any incentive to actually follow through with those promises. Right now he's holding that over their heads, and using it to coerce them into staying. 'You're free to go at any time, Richards. The same goes for any one of you. Any more questions?' Of course if they do leave, then they have no hope of finding the answers they seek. Anyways, yes . . at the end of this story, Slade runs his blade through Ryan and kills him. He then delivers the body to Rundine in a matchstick box. I thought it was a great issue. The only question I had was how Ryan lasted as long as he did against these guys. According to powers and experience, these guys had Ryan trumped . . big time. And it was finally Slade that took him down. I thought Eric Wallace did a terrific job with this story. This issue he showed us how Slade brought everyone together. Even if we don't know why . . yet. The art was done by a team of talent. It includes Fabrizio Fiorentino, Mike Mayhew, Sergio Arino and Walden Wong. But when this story carries over into the Titans monthly title . . starting with issue #24, Eric and Fabrizio with be taking care of the talent. And there's some neat stuff lined up for that book, already. The Titans next target is . . Lex Luthor. And it looks like in issue #26 . . Arsenal will be joining the team. I think this is going to be an exciting series. I can't wait to see what happens.

Justice League: Generation Lost #1 - DC

My only question about this book was Booster Gold's role in it. I know that he was a big part of the Justice League International, but . . I thought that he was pretty much working behind the scenes right now. You know, with Rip Hunter and all. However, other than that one minor question . . I really enjoyed this book. This book basically brings our main group of characters together and shows us what Max Lord does to deserve this attention. The way it's setup, it seems like the rest of the world is surprised that Max is back. However, at the end of Blackest Night we see that he's one of the 12 people brought back from beyond. We saw it. So . . nobody else did? Anyways, they catch Max's visage on a security camera someplace and the whole meta-human community is brought up to red-alert. Basically there's a world-wide manhunt for this guy. The Justice League is coordinating the effort, and have people running all over the glove following up on whatever lead they can find. But it ends up being Booster Gold that uses his deductive reasoning to figure out that Max is hiding in plain sight. Max had shows himself in New York City because that's the first place he wanted everyone to look. But when they clear it, and move on to other points of interest around the world . . he strolls back in and sets up his base of operations in the old JLI headquarters. Making Booster the first on the scene. Max goes through this big speech about how he's attempting to make the world a better place. He's so impassioned that I almost believe him. But then I remember what's really going on. First of all, shortly before this confrontation Max made 2 police officers, that had stumbled upon him, shoot and kill each other. Add to that, while he's giving Michael his speech, he's also beating the crap out of him with a cement block. So, while Max may have himself convinced, I think he's going to have a hard time getting anyone else to buy his supposed altruism. Anyways, we don't know what Max's plans are, but . . it appears that he's having a hard time getting things rolling with all of this attention. So he uses his influence powers to basically cast a spell over the whole world. He makes everybody in the world forget about him. There's only one problem . . it appears that he was casting such a wide web of influence that it didn't affect the people in his immediate vicinity. This includes Fire, Ice, Captain Atom and Booster Gold. The energy wave did knock them out. So Max had time to escape. However, once they come to, they're ready to continue hunting him down. Which I don't think Max will anticipate. The problem for our heroes is, when someone finally answers their alert . . in this case, Superman . . he doesn't know what they're talking about . . or even remember who Max Lord is. The other question I have is . . from the beginning of the story it appears that Power Girl will also be a part of this unencumbered group. But when everything comes down, she's not there. That's to bad. I think she would've made a good addition to this group. Anyways . . I thought Keith Giffen and Judd Winick did a great job with this story. I know this was only the opening chapter, but . . I can't wait to see where we go from here. I think we have a great cast of characters here. Also Aaron Lopresti is doing the art. This issue we get covers from Tony Harris and Kevin Maguire. The only problem I ever had with the JLI was that sometimes I thought they were just a little to corny. Luckily, it doesn't appear that this series is going in that direction. It's a bit more serious, this time.

Batman: the Return of Bruce Wayne #1 - DC

I thought we'd get some more information on Bruce this issue . . how did he get here . . what's he remember . . how's his mind working . . but, we really don't. Remember in one of those Final Crisis cross-overs where we see the back of Bruce's head, and he's kneeling next to a cave wall chalking pictures onto the stone? Well this issue picks up, basically, right after that. He's apparently been back in this time . . the time of cavemen, for a little while. He's set up shelter in a cave and has already established a bit of a myth about him. There's also a spaceship. We don't really know what the relationship is, but Bruce finds a Batman symbol on it, and . . Superman's cape. But I don't think he really knows what either of these really mean. His mind seems to be jumbled, or in shock, or something. But he does fight for a tribe against Vandal Savage and his 'Blood Tribe'. Not that he knows who Vandal is. He just happens to be the leader of this other tribe's oppressors. He ends up being with them just long enough for a young boy to become enthralled with him, and don himself in homage to this 'man of bat' myth. And that's how legends are born. However, at the end of this issue, after diving off a cliff into a pond, Bruce emerges in what looks like the time of the early settlers of America. Shortly after leaving, Superman arrives in one of Booster's time spheres. Along with Green Lantern. Superman is concerned. 'Surviving is what he does. But if he survives this, if he does the impossible again . . if Batman makes it back to the 21st century on his own . . everyone dies.' I'm assuming that he's talking about the Omega radiation that he was dosed with. But I'm sure that part of the story will develop more as the series progresses. As with most Grant Morrison stories, this one seems a little oblique and vague. Obviously he doesn't want to give us all of the answers to soon. So in his usual style, he gives us just enough information to make our minds start asking a hundred questions. Most of which, I'm sure, are false leads or feints. I'm guessing it's going to be at least 3 or 4 issues before we start to get any kind of picture as to what's really going on here. But, in the meantime . . I'm sure it'll be an interesting ride. Also, with this series, I guess there's going to be a different artist each issue, as well as the cover art. Chris Sprouse provides the art this issue. As well as the variant cover. While Andy Kubert provides the other cover. Overall, I thought it was a very intriguing start to this series. Like I said, we aren't going to get very many answers right off. So, for now . . enjoy the ride. Information will be building as we go along. It's a Batman story . . it's all about the mystery and detective work.

Smallville - Hostage - Season 9 Episode 20 - CW

This was a rather revealing episode . . just before the season finale. Speaking of which . . we have one episode to go this year, and already they're announcing that next season, season 10, will be starting on Sept. 24th, and . . it's scheduled to be the final season. I haven't heard yet if there's going to be a spin-off, or new series. I'll relay any information that I find. But the one thing I have seen is the preview trailer, and in it . . Clark opens a present that looks to contain his new costume. We don't know for sure, but we see the flash of blue & red in his eyes. Anyways, this episode, everyone is looking for the book of Rao. It's the Kryptonian bible, and it's said to contain immeasurable power. The last time Clark saw it was when he saw Chloe hide it in the farm house. But when they're looking for it, it's no where to be found. Shortly after, Martha returns home with Perry White attached to her arm. It seems there's something romantic abrew. Anyways, Lois is thrilled to see Perry, and after exchanging a few hints, they find out that they're both actually onto the same story . . also looking for the book of Rao. And they know that somehow the Red Queen . . the mysterious figure that's been giving Checkmate such fits, has something to do with it. We don't see the Red Queen . . not right away, but she's got Maxwell Lord doing a little psychic manipulation on her to try to figure out where she may have the book hidden. But he overplays his hand when, in her vision, he has Ollie declare his love for her. And once she realizes that she's being played, it's pretty easy for her to slip his grip. But even her escape was a manipulation, as the Red Queen knew that if she did indeed have the book, she would most likely head straight to it to ensure it's safety. Anyways, long story short on all of this . . it turns out that the Red Queen is actually . . Martha Kent. While in Washington, Martha starting hearing chatter about Checkmate and what they were after. She knew that if she was going to protect Clark that she'd have to find a way to manipulate Checkmate and stay one step ahead of them . . misdirection and slight of hand. So she was doing all of this to try to throw them off of Clark's trail, as well as his fellow adventurers. So now Clark has the book of Rao. The question is . . is he going to use it to get Zod and the other Kryptonians off Earth . . or is he going to do something different? Apparently if he uses the book to banish them, then he banishes all Kryptonians. Including himself. I still see the Phantom Zone as the only way out of this, but . . we'll have to wait until the next episode to find out exactly what'll happen. I can't believe this season is almost over. Man, that went fast.

X-Men: Second Coming Revelations - Hellbound #1 - Marvel

Since this is the opening chapter of this miniseries we don't even see Illyana this time. But . . most of our time is spent with Sam as he puts his team together to go after her. Even though he's the leader of the New Mutants, he doesn't really use any of those team-mates. As with the first trip into this realm, most of the team is made up of the Young X-Men . . the kids. First of all they want the heavy hitters left on Utopia, just in case Bastion does attack. And secondly, I think . . these kids were actually successful the first time. Yeah they took a few hits, but overall they made it through relatively unscathed. Maybe Sam is hoping that they'll get just as lucky the second time. But just in case, he's bringing Gambit along. 'I need someone to keep their eye on the prize, no matter what happens down there. I need a thief. She could be hurt, Remy. She could be dying.' So they finally enter the realm. And they're pretty much overwhelmed by what they're faced with. This is a dimension that is constantly in change. It's basically at the whim of it's master. But apparently Belasco and S'ym also doesn't know where Illyana is located. However, Belasco seems happy when S'ym tells him that the X-Men have come looking for their team-mate. Especially when he finds out that Pixie is among them. 'She will lead me to Magik. And then Magik will die. And Limbo will be mine, forever. The rest of the mutants . . kill them!' I'm guessing whatever it was that Bastion's men hit her with . . trying to stop her teleportation powers, also affected her magic. Because that's when the hole between her and Limbo opened and she was snatched. She seemed just as surprised about it as everybody else. And a little bit afraid. Because she knew where she was heading. We've had a couple of mini-series about Illyana in the past. I'm interested to see how Chris Yost is going to make this one different. Harvey Tolibao did a good job with the art. Well . . we're off on another excursion to Limbo. And it looks like Remy is going to be the first one affected. 'Remy's not home right now.'

Uncanny X-Men #524 - Marvel

This issue is spent mostly with the X-Men trying to come to grips with the loss of Kurt. Bastion fatally wounded him last issue as Kurt grabbed Hope and made one last leap for Utopia. My only question is . . I assume that every part of Bastion contains his techno-organic virus. Right? Even his arm. So, if that's what Bastion left him with, doesn't it make sense that he could manipulate the virus to bring Kurt back to life and control him? But the part of the story I liked was the way that Hope is dealing with everybody else's expectations of her. At one point one of the X-Men even ask her to bring him back. As if she could just resurrect him. I know she's supposed to be the X-Men's savior, but . . we don't' know exactly, yet, how she's supposed to do that. Maybe it's not with powers. Maybe she saves the X-Men by sacrificing herself. The point is . . we don't know yet. And neither do the X-Men. But Logan tells her in no uncertain terms . . 'You better be worth this. I swear to god!' Anyways, now that Bastion has crippled the X-Men with communications, now he's going after their transportation. He's starting out with the teleporters, and then he's moving on to hardware such as planes and boats. All so he can kill them in one swift stroke . . now that he's got them corralled onto a small island. Also Donald Pierce has fooled Damage into thinking that he's still under restraints. While he's actually running about the island mucking with the X-Men. Scott has put the X-Club onto the mystery of Bastion's towers. And he's got Sam putting together a team to head into Limbo to get Illyana back. Meanwhile, Magneto and Kitty are back. And the X-Men hold a funeral for Kurt. All in all, Matt Fraction made this a pretty full issue. Yes everything is revolving around Hope right now, but . . he still has the time to perpetuate the rest of the plot-threads floating around out there. This issue was both entertaining and informational. And Terry Dodson, as usual, did a terrific job with the art.

the Amazing Spider-man #630 - Marvel

There's just something about Chris Bachalo's art that makes a book fun to read. Especially in the beginning of this issue when Spider-man is out fighting some crime with Black Cat, and . . flirting at the same time. I think Peter really likes her, but . . she's made it known in no uncertain terms . . 'You're cute, Spider. But this is big boy talk, we're not a couple. If something better comes along, don't let us get in the way. Believe me . . I don't.' But . . Peter has to remember, if he really wants a girl . . he has to fight for her a bit . . show her that he cares . . show her some of his passion. Anyways, while this story revolves around the state of mind of Curt Connors, we actually see a lot of the Spidey supporting cast this issue. Peter has a heart to heart with Harry. He gets dissed by Aunt May. 'That's a whole other thing . . which might involve hormones.' But remember . . she's still under the influence of Mr Negative. And he kind of has a date with Carlie . . finally. Meanwhile, we see that Madame Web is still keeping an eye on things. Even though she still a hostage of the Kravens. And they are still trying to 'manipulate the players on the board'. But what really sets Curt over the edge is the overtures his boss, Mr King, makes towards his lab assistant Marissa. Curt doesn't necessarily feel attracted to Marissa, but . . the result of Mr King making a move is that it's left Curt feeling like his 'territory' is being invaded. He's starts having reptilian kinds of thoughts and reactions. And when he tries to get the serum to abate the process . . Mr King thinks he's going for his formula and stops him. Much to his regret . . later . . after the Lizard has torn him apart. I thought Zeb Wells did a great job with this issue. We got the story about Curt, but . . we finally get some more info on the rest of the characters of this little soap-opera. It's about time. And like I said . . Chris' art just made it a fun read. This was the best issue of this series in a while . . for me. I can't wait to read part 2.

Vengeance of the Moon Knight #8 - Marvel

Last issue we saw that Moon Knight had accidentally saved the life of Herman Goncharenko. Accidentally because . . well, he didn't know who he really was. Apparently he's some Russian mob boss. Anyways, afterwards, he finds out that Goncharenko's men have a young boy that they took hostage. Without being able to contact their boss, they aren't going to know what to do. This issue Moon Knight makes it there and saves him. However, Deadpool still has a job to finish. He was hired by a woman who's family Goncharenko assassinated, to kill him. Which puts him at odds with Moon Knight. As usual, Deadpool's characterization and dialogue is hilarious. But the funniest part of this issue, to me, is when Moon Knight realizes that Deadpool can't be killed. 'Hel-lo! Healing factor! If you'd taken your time to Wikipedia me, you'd already know . . GLP!' That was all Moon Knight needed to hear. He goes after Deadpool with all the frustration that's been building up in him over the months . . and gets it all out. 'Man . . I needed that.' However, at the end of the story, it seems that Jake is being controlled by Khonshu. He gets out of bed and goes to the hospital where Goncharenko is being kept. It looks like he's going to kill him. But the woman who hired Deadpool got there first. Instead of doing the deed himself, he just watches from outside the window as she does it . . not interfering. So even though he didn't actually kill him himself, you'd think that this would still weigh on his conscious . . if he was truly reformed. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what kind of affect this has on him. I thought the story by Gregg Hurwitz was . . ok. It was fantastic. And it wasn't overly complicated. But it did give us a little more insight into Jake's character. Tan Eng Haut does the art. Again . . I just thought it was ok. Some panels were inked way to heavy. And some were a little hard to follow the flow, with the way that they were set up. Although there were some panels that looked fantastic. It just wasn't consistent. Overall I enjoyed the book. But I've seen better issues.

Ultimate Comics - New Ultimates #2 - Marvel

So, while the Ultimates are fighting a legion . . seemingly from Asgard, Loki is busy manipulating things from behind the scenes. Well, he and the Enchantress. At least that's who I think she is. Right now it seems like all the women on this team are being abused in some way or another. Captain America is giving the Valkyrie the third degree. He wants to know what she's up to, her relationship with these Defenders, and how she got her powers. But she's still mourning over the loss of Thor. So one more person yelling at her isn't helping her mood at all. And she bolts. Zarda is still feeling like she's not getting the appreciation that she deserves. Afterall, on her home world she's a Goddess. And Carol Danvers? Well it seems that Carol is just looking to get burnt. She's in an intimate relationship with Tony right now . . a discreet one, until Clint accidentally walks in on them. But we all know how Tony's relationships end. As I'm sure does Carol. So to be involved like this, she's either mucking about as much as he does, or . . she's looking for a reason to hate Tony even more. Anyways, the Enchantress catches them at these weakest moments and convinces them to turn on their teammates. Valkyrie is especially easy as it seems that Loki is whom actually provided her with powers. I'm sure she feels that if she doesn't do what he asks she'll have to go back to being an average teen-aged 'Barbie'. Anyways, the rest of the team is engaged in battle when these 3 'team-mates' show up and basically catch them with their pants down. Zarda takes out Iron Man, Valkyrie takes out Captain America, and Carol appears to shoot Clint right between the eyes. The issue ends with them standing upon a pile of their fallen 'team-mates' . . the hordes of Asgard behind them. Jeph Loeb did a fantastic job with the story. I thought the characterization and manipulation were perfect. I know Mark Millar is writing the Ultimate Avengers, but it's going to be hard for him to keep up with the level of intensity in this book. I've been a fan of this team ever since the first issue . . of the first series. Some what . . like 4 series ago? Anyways, I really like the approach that they've taken here. And it appears that this incarnation with definitely live up to the previous ones. Especially with Frank Cho on the art this time. I can't wait to see what happens next.

Spawn #197 - Image

I kind of feel like I'm a 'nagging-Nancy' right now. It seems like I've been griping about a lot of little things in my reviews lately. Some of them may seem inconsequential, but . . when you've been reading comics as long as I have it's hard sometimes not to notice inconsistencies. And that's just the stuff actually in the books. On top of that we have to live with the decisions and choices that the companies and creators come up with. Take this book for instance. I thought it was fantastic when Whilce Portacio came on board as the artist. His style seemed to mesh perfectly with this character, and the theme and feel of the book. However, since coming on board . . Spawn #180 . . the schedule seems to have fallen farther and farther behind. All 12 issues came out the first year, but . . there's barely been 6 for this past one. I'm not saying that it's all Whilce's fault. He may be waiting for scripts. I don't know. I just know that it's hard to follow a book when you don't know when the issues are going to be coming out. There were 2 months between this issue and the last . . 5 months before that . . and 3 months before that. As a reader . . that gets frustrating. You have 2 choices . . you either wait, or quit buying the book. Obviously . . I came back. Anyways, having said that . . in this issue Jim is caught between the struggle of the Clown and the Redeemer. Both sides wants him, but the Redeemer is consumed by another emotion . . love, and loss. It appears that the Angel that Jim stuck to the wall in the alley, and then the Clown later came along and killed, was the Redeemer's wife. So even though he's following orders, he wants to know what's happened to her. So, while he's coming at Jim out of frustration, the Clown has been manipulating his emotions by appealing to his loss of memory and self. He's approaching Jim by acting like he's trying to help him . . trying to be a friend. So it isn't to much of a surprise when, on the final page, Jim tells the Clown . .'I've got your back from now on. You seem to be the only one I can trust these days.' That's going to come back to bite him in the ass. And that really was the extent of Todd McFarlane's story this issue. Some good news . . I guess. It looks like Khary Randolph will be stepping in to take over the pencilling chores. At least for next issue. Which will hopefully put it back on schedule. And then in #201, Szymon Kudranski will be taking over on the art with a photo-realistic style. I think that'll look neat on this book. So I'm not entirely negative. I still love this book, and this character. It's just a frustrating title to follow . . sometimes.

the Authority #22 - WildStorm

Before I get started . . I just want to say that I did enjoy Tom Taylor's story here. The content seemed a little . . sparse, to me. But I enjoyed the way he handled the characters . . both interaction and dialogue. Mike S Miller does the art, and . . I think that was the best part of the book. There's a few little things . . picky things, that I could comment on, but overall . . I think this guy shows some great talent and potential. He definitely has an Image style to him. Anyways, having said that . . this book really boils down to 2 things. First there's the infestation of the Carrier by the Night Tribes. Apparently some of them had been holed up in the bowels of the ship, and the recent insurrection and fighting amongst it's passengers have stirred them up. Christine has sent some of her finest fighters to try and quell the uprising, but 3 against a tribe doesn't stand much of a chance. Meanwhile, Angie has been looking into her own way of purging the problem. Also, Angie seems to be having a problem of her own. Her personality seems to be more that of the Carrier's than her own. So her thinking isn't carrying much emotion. Her first idea is to vent all the compartments carrying these vermin into space. Of course that means that any of the passengers in those areas will also be dumped into space. She does this a couple of times, to Christine's chagrin, but finally comes up with the solution to make herself, and the Carrier, crystalline. Thereby allowing the light of a nearby star to pass through the ship. And we all know what sunlight does to vampires. Anyways, during the course of all this, they discover that River, the soul of the new Millennium, is hiding down there somewhere and masking his presence. Because she's afraid that he'll be caught up in all the purging, Christine begs John, the High, to let her reactivate his powers. Eventually she does, and he then goes in to save the boy. Which is the second important thing that happened this issue. My only problem with all of this is . . why didn't Angie think of the crystalline idea in the first place? I guess maybe it was a way to show us the struggle between her own personality and that of the Carrier. Plus, I guess, they weren't actually in the star system at the time. And during this flip-flopping, Jack implies that he has the power to stand up against Angie . . thinking of the box he has hidden on the Carrier. But we still don't know what it is or how he's going to use it. Anyways, I thought it was an ok book, but . . it was a little disappointing to me. I just don't feel like we made much progress in the story. They took care of the Night Tribes . . which just popped up last issue, and John was reactivated. That was about the extent of it. Maybe that was just some loose ends that needed to be tied up. Hopefully we'll get more substance next issue.

the Boys #42 - Dynamite Entertainment

We don't make much progress in the story this issue. Hughie is still sitting on the worst super-team ever, Super-Duper. They're so dumb, they don't even know that Hughie is watching them. Even though he just happened to be there to save one of their lives last issue, and this issue . . after one of them accidentally lands on his car, they invite him in for tea. Anyways, Butcher is punishing him because he spotted him with Annie . . the Starlighter. Butcher knows she's with the Seven, but Hughie doesn't. Hell, Hughie doesn't even know she's a 'super'. However . . Butcher is naturally suspicious. And even thought Hughie has been with them all this time, he still thinks that he might be a plant by Vought-American. Apparently he's just one of those conspiracy nuts. Or in this case, someone who believes in long drawn out plot-lines. Anyways, Mother's Milk doesn't know what Butcher is up to, but he doesn't like the way he's treating Hughie. And, seeing as how they're not getting all the same information that Butcher is . . he's starting to think that Butcher may be up to something. If they'd all just sit down and talk, they could get this all sorted out. But that's not going to happen. They're all to hard-headed. Plus their ego far outweighs their intelligence. Anyways, the only thing that really happens this issue is that Annie continues to write her letter to Hughie. She wants to come clean about everything, and . . she wants to quit the Seven. Both of which I think are going to be harder than she expects. And, Malchemical, after getting into an argument with Auntie Sis and with Hughie, decides to use his powers to start mucking with the team a bit. We see him get a deep dark secret out of Auntie Sis this issue, but I'm just wondering what he's going to do to mess with Hughie. Oh yeah, and out of frustration, it looks like Mother's Milk is going straight to the horse's mouth, as it were, to get some answers . . that guy from Vought-American. So . . even though this particular issue was a bit boring, I'm still in the league of fans that feels that this book is fantastic. I love the way that Garth Ennis pokes fun at the traditional super-hero genre. And now it feels like he's starting to explore the psychological make-up of this team and just what exactly all of this cloak and dagger stuff can do to one's perspective. Hughie actually seems the most balanced of them all. While Butcher seems to be starting to fray around the edges. But if you deal with liars, and cheats, and thieves, and whores every day . . I'd imagine that's what you'd start to think about everyone around you. Who do you trust? And who helps to keep you grounded? 42 issues later and I still enjoy every installment of this series. Of course, Darick Robertson's art doesn't hurt either. This story-arc wraps up next issue. I can't wait to see what happens.

Nemesis - the Impostors #3 - DC

Tom Tresser is a fantastic character. If, albeit . . a little strange. At least he is right now. Ever since the Escape mini-series, where he was a prisoner in Electric City . . a prisoner of Brother Eye, Tom is having more than a few problems with his mental acuity. He still doesn't know exactly what it was he was supposed to have learned, or why he was being tested. But now he's having problems telling dreams from reality. And he's having problems with losing time. All of this has made him seem kind of dangerous and paranoid to his peers . . specifically Batman and Wonder Woman. Through all of this though, he's pursuing something called the Council. He's figured out who some of it's members are, but he's not having any luck gathering any information. As soon as he brings up the name Andrew Bell . . they shut down. One of them even ends up committing suicide. 'Believe it or not, I'm kind of at peace. The minute you mentioned his name, I knew I was already dead.' Which is how the issue ends. Apparently, somehow, Tom has figured out the location of Mr Bell, probably through list last guy's resources, and has taken his helicopter to go after him. But Mr Bell knows he's coming and has an army waiting. Anyways, through all of this Tom is still getting his visions of Brother Eye. Batman and Wonder Woman have found Tom's base. But, as usual he's one step ahead of them. And while he's doing all of this, I believe Tom is being watched by this same Council. There is an observation that Tom makes that I think his interesting. While posing as one of the Council members he thinks, 'Wearing someone else's face can be disorienting. Wearing ten, the edges of their personalities start to blur.' I'm not sure what that has to do with the story, but I think it's a big key. I guess we'll have to wait until next issue to find out as this mini-series wraps up. I think Ivan Brandon is doing an interesting job here. I think he's got all the pieces laying out in front of us . . right now. He's just not showing us how they're all fitting together. Like I said, I think Tom is a terrific character and I much prefer him in this role than that of Wonder Woman's boyfriend. Cliff Richards does a great job with the art. And this issue sports another fantastic cover by Daniel Luvisi.

Jonah Hex #55 - DC

This story was interesting, although . . a little confusing at first. It's starts out 5 years ago when this little town is bullied by a gang of outlaws. Or course Jonah shows up shortly after the festivities begin, but he's not in time to save a saloon owner and his wife. It turns out that their 5 year old son is also there at the time and witness' everything. The funny part is . .this kid is every bit as lethal and dangerous as is Jonah. In his rage he kicks one of the gang to death. And then he steals Jonah's gun and shoots 3 more. The story then picks up 5 years later when we find that Billy has remained as the proprietor of his family's saloon, and is using his fierce reputation to keep the town safe and clean. But it's only a matter of time before someone bigger, and stronger, and meaner comes after him. And when they do they tie up Billy with dynamite and throw him into the burning building. When this happens, one of the townsfolk comes after Jonah. It seems that one of the women remember Jonah saying, the first time, that he was a little late arriving. She surmises that he was drunk and was waiting to sober up before engaging the gang. She uses this guilt that she assumes that he feels to goad him into a response. Which he does. I thought it was an interesting story by Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti showing a hard lesson for Jonah to learn. His actions always have consequences. Even something as silly as being drunk and late to a gun-fight. But I'm sure Jonah feels all the guilt from these various encounters with the nefarious people that he always seems to be running in to. And I'm sure he feels the weight of all his actions. It's probably why he drinks so much. He's probably just trying to dull the roar that's been building in his head over the years. And even when he does get payback, it has to weigh on him because of the extent and extreme measures that he sometimes has to go to when exacting that retribution. Anyways, enough heavy stuff. It was an interesting tail about a short lived western personality . . Billy Dynamite. After I understood the jumping around in the time-line, I thought the story was interesting and come together nicely. I also enjoyed Vicente Alcazar's art. It was actually pretty cool looking. Also, there's some other Jonah Hex news. As well as the movie due out this summer, it appears that there's some stop-motion comics out there on the web. They're at the WB website. It says to go to www.theWB.com/JonahHex. It's 3 new tales told in 7 episodes. I'm sorry . . the trailer is on the WB. You have to download the episodes from iTunes. Anyways, if somebody checks them out, let me know if they're any good. Ok? Also . . this is the shortcut for the movie trailer http://thewb.com/shows/jonahhex/jonah-hex-theatrical-trailer/0c1bc479-502d-4601-ba0d-f4e04223a070. Enjoy!

the Warlord #14 - DC

Well . . no sooner does Joshua take on the mantle of his father than . . he's thrown right into battle. And it could be that the entirety of Skartaris rests in his hands. Not too much to throw at a young pup on his first trip out. Anyways, there's reports of a dragon in the outer lands that is terrorizing the people. Joshua and company arrive just in time to find that they're even offering it sacrifices to try to stay it's hand. Anyways, Joshua decides to face it head on, but soon runs away with his tail between his legs. Well, actually . . it's his hand. During the heat of battle the fiery breath of the dragon nearly burns his hand to cinder. But there's a couple of things at play here. First of all . . when this happens with Joshua, Tara's baby begins to . . well, er . . act up. Jennifer quickly comes to her side, but she finds out that Tara's little baby girl is full of power. And she seems to be sensing her brother's distress. Later we see that the baby is using her powers to help him heal. Secondly, after having a special sword forged from the metallic meteorite, as well as a gauntlet and shield, Joshua and company have to once again go and face the creature as one of the townspeople have offered Alysha as a sacrifice, after there's was interrupted. So now, even though they're not ready, they have to go and try to save Alysha. I don't know if they come if from a different entrance this time, or what, but . . when they enter the cave they can tell that this is actually a ship. And when they get a better look at the dragon, they find out that it's actually an alien. With some kind of laser device mounted to it's forehead. Joshua ends up seriously hurting it, but before it dies it sends off a message to Orion. And he talks about these people being some kid of accidental experiment. It seems to have originated from something they left here eons ago. Anyways, it seems that Mike Grell is mixing a little science fiction in with his usual sword and sorcery here. We've seen Skartaris affected before by the outside world. But I don't know that they've ever been affected by something from outside the universe. It'll be interesting to see how this all comes out, and if it has anything to do with the recent revelation of Shamballah being part of the city of Atlantis. And if that's so . . I'm surprised that we haven't seen Orion here before. The mage . . not the constellation. I thought it was an interesting book. It's a little hard to tell right now though because this is just the opening salvo of this story-arc. But I am excited to see that the book is still going strong. Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher are doing the art now. It's . . ok. It's going to be hard to hold a candle to Mike's work. But . . change is ok. You just have to accept it.

Doom Patrol #10 - DC

This book was more than a little strange. But . . that's what we should expect from the Doom Patrol. I know the first part of this series, while interesting and entertaining seemed like a tamed down version of our band of misfits. At least to me it did. I've enjoyed everything that this team has been through so far. But . . the Grant Morrison chapter of this team, to me, is what really defined them. Everything else was just a prequel. Grant was the one that really took this team places and explored just exactly what they were all capable of. As well as introducing us to a plethora of unique and interesting characters. Such as Danny the Street and Crazy Jane, who have recently joined our little dinner party here. I have to say, at first I thought that the addition of these characters was a ploy to pull in some of the readers who loved Grant's version of this team. And maybe it was. But after reading the last few issues of Keith Giffen's story telling . . I have to think that this guy is Grant's illegitimate love-child or something. A big part of this issue felt like it could've been plucked right out of the middle of Grant's run. And I'm sorry that I keep going on about Grant. But you have to admit, he did have a great run here. Anyways, the reason I'm bringing all of that up is because I'm trying to pay Keith a compliment. In a round-about way . . I guess. What I'm trying to say is that Keith has that same unique perspective and approach to these characters. I guess he just needed the first few issues of this title to get warmed up. But now? Now it feels like he's taken all the safety features off the ride. This issue we get a new villain . . or, villainess. We don't know what her name is, but . . she seems to be made of glass, or nanites, and can make pretty quick work of anybody she comes across. We don't really know what's going on yet, or who sent her, but she arrives on Oolong island this issue with nothing but malevolence in her china heart. Also there's a group that seems to be targeting the members of the Doom Patrol. It seems like they want them eliminated, and are starting with Garfield. They send in an assassin, Dr Larsen, to take him out. However, they abort at the last minute. I'm guessing it's because they realize that he's associated with the Teen Titans now. To take on one would be to take on them all. Anyways, it appears that these guys are called the Front Men. I really enjoyed this book. Yes it was a bit confusing, but . . it'll all come together in the end. It always does. You just have to have faith. I feel like Keith has really kicked it into gear now. And I'm loving Matthew Clark and Ron Randall's art. If you ever got into Grant's version of these characters, then I think you'll enjoy where this book's at right now.

Secret Six #21 - DC

Well . . Blake is still on the trail of the guys who kidnapped his son. I think he's given up hope that he's still alive, but . . he's still going to make the guys pay who did this. And maybe, somewhere deep down . . as a father, he does have some hope that he can save him. But if so . . he's hiding it very well. He's focused on one thing only . . stalking and hunting his prey. This issue we actually get a little glimpse of Tom as a child. His mother cares for him deeply, but his father is a narcissistic bastard who thinks of everything, including his wife and son, as his possession . . or trophy. Depending on how good of a mood he's in. Basically we get the picture that his father is the one who shaped him into the man he is today. I actually feel sorry for the guy. Anyways, from the last issue he's picked up a lead. He's looking for a guy . . 'Big guy. Near seven feet. Speaks Afrikaans. Goes by the name of Loki.' He's goes to South Africa to warn one of the low-lifes that he knows. He wants him to warn Loki. He wants Loki to know that he's on his trail. For some reason this Loki guy has himself deluded that Blake is going to fight him with honor. That he'll come at him like a lion. But, I think, what he fails to take into account is that in Blake's eyes . . there's no honor in what these guys did to his son. All sense of honor was thrown out the window when his helpless, infant son was dragged into whatever beef they had with him. Plus . . Blake really isn't a nice guy. And he's definitely not one of the 'good guys'. And like the cats that are his namesake, when his family is threatened . . he will attack . . fiercely. Which he does. He sneaks up on Loki by jumping in the back of his truck when he's leaving a bar. In the garbage back there, he finds one of his sons stuffed animals . . the one you see on the cover. Blake takes him apart piece by piece. But the only information he gets from him, before turning him over the his lion friends is that his son is still alive . . and waiting for him. Next issue should wrap up this story-arc with all the ferociousness that is in Blake's heart. The other part of this story that I liked was the teams use of Black Alice. Well not the whole team, just Scandal, Deadshot and Ragdoll. They have no idea how to keep up with Blake, so they're relying on Alice to use her supernatural powers to assist in the tracking. She starts out by borrowing Dr Occult's powers. But she has no idea how to use them. And later for some reason . . some how, she taps into Jason Blood's powers and turns into a female version of Etrigan. I'm not really sure what the Etrigan part of all of that was about, but . . it was interesting. And amusing. And Jeanette and Bane have put together their own team to aid in the search. They've gathered up Giganta, Dwarfstar, Lady Vic and King Shark. We don't get to see them in action. They're just making their acquaintances for now. I know we're on a serious story-arc right now, but . . I love the way that Gail Simone can still write some subtle humor into her stories. And while doing that, keep the Blake part of the story so intense. I continue to be impressed by Gail's talent every month. I also thought that J Calafiore did a great job with the art. This book continues to be one of my favorite team-books out there. It's a great bunch of characters and I really like the dynamics and relationships between them. By the way . . another great cover by Daniel Luvisi.

JSA All-Stars #6 - DC

The problem I have with this book is . . I really want to like it. I really do. But I'm having a hard time getting in to it. But I'm not exactly sure why. I mean . . I like the characters. And theoretically this team should be fantastic. I guess I'm kind of thinking that there's just to much going on. Ever since issue #1 this team has been pretty much at full tilt. So while they're technically a team . . and Karen is trying to push them like crazy to be a team . . I guess I just haven't really seen that cohesiveness or teamwork. You know what I mean? And I don't even want to get started about the whole Magog thing. Magog is a solo character. Period! He can do team-ups every now and then . . I like him and the Shield together, but generally . . Magog does not play well with others. And he doesn't even try. I think it was a huge waste of time to have him in the first couple issues of this book. And then this issue Karen tells him, 'I'm willing to give you another chance, you know.' Is she crazy? How many times does she have to get whacked up side the head before she learns? However, having said all of that . . I am looking forward to the next story-arc. Apparently these first 6 issues all took place before Blackest Night. So Damage has been in all of them, including this one. But next issue we'll see what happened to Damage from their point of view, and we'll find out what happens to him after Blackest Night. Yes, I know . . it seems a little late for a Blackest Night cross-over, but . . Damage is a . . well, damaged character. And I think that makes him interesting. I don't know. Like I said . . I want this book to work. And I want to like it. But . . I'm just not there yet. Maybe it's Matthew Sturges stories. I don't know. But I am enjoying Freddie Williams II's art. I really like the style that he's using on this book. And the back-up story has me a little confused also. I like it. It's interesting. I think Jan Van Meter has taken a little bit of a different approach to the story. But it feels like Liberty Belle and Hourman are going to be Icicle and Tigress' BFFs. They get more comfortable with each other every issue. I just seems a little strange to me. Travis Moore does the art for this part. I really hope this book gets some steam going. Right now it's just kind of boring. And predictable. Sorry!

Red Robin #12 - DC

I'm really enjoying Marcus To's art. He seems to be improving with every issue. And I love that cover. This issue wraps up the Ra's al Ghul story-line. After Tim's trip to Europe . . and his involvement with the League of Assassins, Ra's has vowed to destroy all that Bruce Wayne holds dear, and everything he's built. Last issue he came to Gotham, with a squad of assassins . . and a lawyer. He had an assassin target everyone that Bruce, or Tim held dear. And while he was keeping Tim busy with that, his plan was to use the fake Bruce Wayne, Thomas Elliot . . Hush, and have him sign over all of Bruce's holding to Ra's. But Tim had a plan also. First of all he didn't try to fight Ra's or fix this on his own. He called in his friends for help. So while Ra's is setting up the board, Tim is mirroring it with his own teammates. Also, he worked with Lucius to set himself up as an emancipated minor. Therefore he could have Bruce's holding transferred to him. Tim is now the majority shareholder of Wayne Enterprises. As well as it's CEO. Tim ended up blocking him at every turn. And finally . . he engages Ra's in some banter, and a personal fight. Tim knows he can't win. But he has to keep Ra's busy long enough for Lucius to get all the paperwork filed, and to make sure that Thomas Elliot can't do any more damage. In the end though, we find out that it's all been a test. Ra's is once again looking for a suitable heir. And apparently he's got his sights now set on Tim. He just had to make sure that he was worthy. I'm not sure who he'll be 'mating' with, but . . I'm sure we'll find out in the near future. Also, Vicki Vale is causing a stir. She's been looking into Tim's 'adventures', and has a story circulating that he's about to get married. To who? To Lucius' daughter, Tam. I don't know how she put that story together, but she seems to be positioning herself as a huge thorn in the Wayne back-side. I don't care who Tim dresses himself up as, I think he's a great character. I think Chris Yost is doing a good job of chronicling his adventures in this title. And, as I said, I'm loving Marcus' work.

Batman Confidential #44 - DC

This Batman story is going to be one with vampires and ghouls. Bruce is in New Orleans, shortly after Katrina, to offer his aid in rebuilding a children's hospital, and in donating some money to the reconstruction of the ninth ward. At least, that's his cover story. What he's really here doing is chasing down an inmate that was accidentally released from Arkham Asylum, Professor Combs. It appears that this museum in New Orleans is have a human corpse plasticized exhibit. Professor Combs was from the Superman / Batman storyline, Werewolves and Vampires. So naturally he's drawn to this type of event. Anyways, we find out that the Vampire, Dimeter is also here looking for Combs. So this is going to be a team-up . . of sorts. Not a whole lot happens this issue because this is the opening chapter of this storyline. Batman and Dimeter follow Combs to the museum, but he uses some voodoo, or something, to reanimate the corpses. The issue ends with them being attacked by a mob of plasticized attackers. Kind of silly . . really. Kevin VanHook writes the story. It's ok, I guess . . for what it is. I've just never really been a big fan of these 'Undead' story-lines. It's just not my cup of tea. Tom Mandrake does the art, which is obvious because he just has the perfect style for this type of story. His shadows and heavy lines fit the mood of this story to perfection. I'll read through this, but . . honestly, I'm not really looking forward to this story-line.

Superman: War of the Superman #0 and #1 - DC

I was actually surprised by the Free Comic Book Day Issue. I thought that it had given me almost as much information as issue #1. It's starts out going over all the stuff that lead to the current political climate on New Krypton. Superman had heard that Zod was ready to declare war on Earth, and he had come to stop him. But he should know that with a man like Zod, you're never going to be able to stop him with words. He doesn't put any value in them. There's also enough room here for a back-up story. In it, Lois is going over all her notes on the last year with Superman, New Krypton, the Kryptonians, Zod, General Lane her father, and project 7734. She's then pleasantly surprised when Jimmy shows up and reveals that he's been lying low and trying to put together information that Natasha Irons has been feeding him. That is . . until she disappeared. Now he wants Lois to help him find her. Then in issue #1, the Kryptonian army is on it's way to Earth. Zod has given the attack order. But while Zod and Superman are sorting all of this out, we find Alura in the basement interrogating Reactron, again. But this time Kara, her daughter, finds her. They argue, but while they're arguing it appears that when Luthor . .or the Luthor robot, came to visit Reactron he set him up to self destruct. In a selfless act Alura saves her daughter but gets herself caught in the explosion that ends up destroying New Krypton. So now Zod has one more motivation for his army . . they no longer have a home to return to. 'Our planet is lost. And I am certain that even as I speak our enemy proclaims it's victory over us. But Earth cannot conceive the strength of our will. New Krypton . . we the last of our race. The war goes on . . and we will win it.' No matter what Superman does, it's going to be hard to bring this army back from the precipice now. James Robinson and Sterling Gates is writing this story. I guess they're going to have different artists for each issue, since it's coming out weekly. Eddy Barrows does the story for issue #0. With a variety of artists doing various splashpages from different parts of this story to illustrate Lois' journal. Then for issue #1, Jamal Igle does the art. It looks like it's going to be an exciting story. I can't wait to see how Clark figures out to save both of his worlds. Can it even be done?

Batman and Robin #12 - DC

First of all, Andy Clarke's pencils are amazing. I really like the way he's so detailed and crisp with his art. The splash page, with Robin attacking Batman, almost seems like it has a bit of a Brian Bolland influence to it. Anyways, we really don't dig to much into the whole Return of Bruce Wayne storyline here. We do get a few clues . . a few things in the mansion, and below it . . not to mention this death garden thing, which I don't really understand. But not a whole lot that we didn't already know. Most of this issue is spent with Damian and Dick dealing with the dirty hand that Talia has dealt him. It appears that when she operated on his spine that she also installed some neural receptors that allows her to use a harness that she has back at her lair to control Damian and his actions. The problem is, she offers to let Slade Wilson use it to get a little payback for Dick. And with him . . a little is never enough. He wants more control, and the ability to control his voice also. The problem is if you push the receptors to hard, they can burn out pretty easily. But he does do enough damage that it's pretty easy for Dick and Damian to figure out what his mother had done to him, and who was in the driver's seat. They then head to Talia's secret island to give her a little piece of both their minds. Talia is still convinced that Dick and Alfred are brainwashing her son, and trying to indoctrinate him into the way of the Bat. But Damian insists that he's staying with Dick of his own volition. So Talia disowns him. It appears that she's already began cloning another version of her son, 'Made from the same augmented DNA combinations. He'll be 10 years younger than you when he's born. I offer you one last chance to accept your destiny my darling.' Which of course he doesn't, so her reply is, 'Ill always love you in my own way. And I will permit you to leave with your circus boy in tow. But from now on, you are no longer welcome here. You may consider yourself an enemy of the House of Al Ghul.' To which Damian responds, 'Very well. I hope I can be a worthy one, mother.' So that's it? He's done with Talia? I don't think she's going to let him get off that easy. Plus, what happens if somethings wrong with the new child that she's birthing? No, I definitely don't think this is the last we've seen of Talia. Anyways, when they get back they once again find themselves dealing with the Cult of Barbatos. They took a casket out of the cemetery and Dick and Alfred think that it might be the key to figuring out this whole thing with Bruce. There also seems to be a new player in town. Or . . the return of an old one. It appears that the Doctor Hurt is back. Or is he really Thomas Wayne as he claimed to be? And we finally get to the bottom of the mystery about Oberon Sexton. On the final page of the issue it's revealed that he's actually . . the Joker. In my eyes, this title gets better and better with every issue. I think Grant Morrison is doing a tremendous job. And I think Andy's crisp art is the perfect contrast for the dark mood that Grant has set here. Together, it paints a rather eerie picture. But . . it's cool. Right now, this is my favorite Batman title.

Brightest Day #1 - DC

There's a whole lot of stuff happening in this issue, and since we're at the very beginning of this series, it's hard to see how it's all going to be connected. First of all there's the mystery of the White Lantern which fell to Earth. Several people have tried to pick it up, including Hal and Sinestro, but nobody seems to be able to. Hal likens it to the sword Excalibur. It'll only be made available to the one it deems worthy. It's a reference that's completely lost on Sinestro. Anyways, of all the people that were brought back by the White Light, it seems that only Boston Brand has been given a White Ring. He doesn't know what it's purpose is, but . . he seems to be pulled around by the light to view different events. Through this we see that those resurrected are having strange side-affects from their reincarnation. Aquaman has taken back to the seas with Mera, but . . when they're in trouble and he calls upon the sea-life for help, he's getting more immediate help from it's dead denizens. Kind of like he did when he was a Black Lantern. Also, it seems that news of his return has finally started to circulate around the globe. We see a man in a normal life going postal when he hears the news. Later he walks into the ocean and resurfaces as Black Manta. Meanwhile, Ronnie and Jason are trying to figure out how to get out of the predicament that they're stuck in. Jason is mad at Ronnie for killing Gen when he was a Black Lantern. Even though he knows that he wasn't really himself. And now they've reformed into the Firestorm matrix, but . . they're stuck. They can't separate. Professor Stein and Ray Palmer are looking into it, but . . they don't have any good news. On Mars, J'onn is trying to terra-form his once dead planet. He knows that it's a long shot, but . . he's really obsessed with it. But while doing that, he gets a psychic flash. It's of the scene when Professor Erdel first brought him to Earth. He sees a woman lying on the floor, who wasn't there the first time, so he surmises that is where the message came from. And we see the team that went after Carter and Sheira Hall's bones from their first incarnation . . Prince Khufu and Princess Chay-Ara. They don't know why they're after them, but . . they seem desperate. As the last guy grabs the bones, and jumps to make his getaway, he kills everybody else involved in the operation so that no one can talk. We see that Hath-Set seems to be involved. I thought this was a terrific start to this series. But like I said, we have no idea what the connection is with all of this . . or where the various players on this board are going to land. I think that Boston Brand is going to be playing a much larger role that we suspect, but . . again, we don't really know what that is, yet. Geoff Johns and Peter J Tomasi are writing our bi-weekly series here. And the art is provided by a plethora of talent. It includes Ivan Reis, Patrick Gleason, Ardian Syaf, Scott Clark and Joe Prada. I thought it was a great first issue. It served to whet our appetite, and intrigue our curiosity. In other words . . it did what it was supposed to. Personally . . I can't wait to see where this goes.

Smallville - Sacrifice - Season 9 Episode 19 - CW

This was a great episode. It was all about Zod, but . . at least the story is moving along and we should be getting pretty close to wrapping this thing up. I kind of got the 'it's always darkest before the light' kind of feeling this episode. We start out with Tess invading Watchtower because she wants to delete the files Chloe has on the Kandorians. But, it's not necessarily because she's in league with Zod. Actually, Waller and Checkmate are closing in on Watchtower, and Tess is just trying to keep them, and Clark, safe. At least that's what I think. Anyways, in the process Tess and Chloe get trapped inside of Watchtower when the security measures are breached. Tess has a tracking device that was put inside of her by Checkmate, but Chloe can't remove it because it's designed to burrow in deeper if it's presence is threatened. It's called a parasite tracker. Anyways, They have to figure out a way to get out, because Checkmate is closing in on them. And once they do that, Chloe has to figure out how to remove the device. Anyways, while this is going on, we find that when Zod gave some of the Kandorians their powers, he alienated the rest. They felt like they were left behind. And one of them, 'the future of the Kryptonian race', has been impregnated by Zod. Long story short, Clark tries to help them, but when Zod finds out he thinks that they are betraying him. So he kills the girl before he realizes that she's pregnant with his child. And of course he uses he death to unite the rest of the Kandorians when he blames her death on the humans. But before that, in his grief, he went out and destroyed Castle, and a few other Checkmate bases. I hate to say it, but I can see the writing on the wall already. The only way that Clark's going to be able to save the Earth, and his fellow Kryptonians is to put them all in the Phantom Zone. I don't know why he hasn't thought of this already, but . . that's really the only option he's going to have left. That, or turn the sun red so that they all lose their powers. But then . . so would he. Which would put them all at the mercy of Checkmate. In the process of all this, Ollie gets seriously hurt by Zod. Which moves Chloe's attention to him, in the hospital. And after removing the tracker, Tess is on the run from . . well, pretty much everybody. The only thing missing from this episode was Lois. She was nowhere to be found. We even see the Fortress as that's where Zod gathers his followers. There's only 1 episode left until the season finale. I think it's going to be a doozy.

Fall of the Hulks - Red Hulk #4 - Marvel

To me, this seemed like the most ingenious part of Bruce's plan. Back at the Leader's headquarters, Sam keeps going through scenario after scenario, but in each one of them, just when they think they've been assured victory, the Hulk comes back and kills him. He's gone through this over 400 times, and it happens each and every time. The systems seem to be working fine, but . . we don't know for sure, but it looks like the Red Hulk may have mucked with the programming. Anyways, without a clear outcome here, they decide to go in search of Lyra's time machine. You remember, the one hidden out in the desert. Well, the reason they want it is because they want to look a year into the future and see what the outcome of their struggle is. What they find is an image that's very thorough and convincing that they will achieve everything that they hope for. The world will truly be their oyster. However, what they don't know is that this whole thing was programmed by Bruce. He and the Red Hulk played them, knowing that they wouldn't enter into any battle without assurances that they would be successful. And the purpose of his little ruse . .'We just planted a self-destruct device . . overconfidence.' I thought it was brilliantly played by Bruce. I just got on Jeff Parker for his story in Hulked Out Heroes, but . . I thought he did a great job with this one. I liked the way he had Bruce, rather than attacking the Intelligencia head-on, picking away at them from the sides and the edges. Overall I thought it was a good issue, and an interesting part of this Fall of the Hulks story-line. I also enjoyed Carlos Rodriguez' art. Now I'm really looking forward to Hulk and Incredible Hulk in May.