Doc Savage #5, #6 and #7 - DC

As with the last few issues of this series, I thought issue #5 was kind of boring. Sure it had that pulp/crime drama kind of feel to it. But I guess I expected much more from such an iconic character. Doc and his team are still on the run. With the lightning strikes on them and their assets by Tom Shaw, back in New York City, plus he's being blamed for a politician's murder and the bomb that went off in the Empire State building . . Doc and his team have decided to skip the country and try to regroup. Although to me, that doesn't seem like the best course of action. Especially for a man who's not guilty. But, I'm not the writer, so . . whatever. Anyways, they end up in Greece and Clark decides to call in a few favors. He gets ahold of an old friend . . Nikos Eurystheus. He's a 'businessman' in Greece, with enough holdings and pull that he should be able afford Clark and his men a brief respite. The problem is, his is an organization that is also in disarray. Mostly from internal strife, but . . Tom and his team get mixed up right in the middle of it. Long story short, these are some problems that they don't really have the time or inclination to deal with right now. So they move on. This issues was brought to us by B Clay Moore and Howard Porter. It was an 'ok' issues. But like I said, I think I just expected more. Anyways, with issues #6 and #7 we get a new creative team. Ivan Brandon and Brian Azzarello do the story, while Nic Klein does the art. Right off the bat we really get sucked into this story. Being on the lamb in this part of the world, Clark is pulled into all the political drama that engulfs this region. Right from the very first page, with the image of the war-torn orphans, Siamese twins, that are pleading for the release, and freedom of their country, you can just tell that this is going to be a haunting tale. Basically this is a story about a very small country that has been built on the rubble of the past, literally . . with pieces and parts of whatever they could find, this city has been literally scrapped together from refuse of the past. It really is a disturbing image. But, in the process, they've also accumulated all the weapons of mass destruction that have littered the secret hiding holes and burrows of this land. Growing up on a farm, as a kid I saw every day as a discovery. Our farm had many buildings, so as a child it seemed like every day I discovered a new place, or cubbyhole, that I hadn't seen before. Growing up in the mid-west there weren't any caves or anything, but . . with the size and amount of the buildings, especially to a young child, I always approached the farm as an explorer. Plus there were woods to go through. Anyways, my point is . . I couldn't imagine growing up in a place where that exploration and discovery would be impeded by the threat and climate of it's political and social-economic influence. There . . kids can't be kids. They're utilized in the schemes of men at such an early age, they don't get the opportunity to see the world with a child's imagination. To me . . that's the saddest part of this story. And for Ivan and Brian to construct such a tale . . making the reader feel the torment and frustration of the people just trying to make a place in the world . . it really is a testament of their ability and brilliance. The other thing I liked about their story was the way they described Clark's abilities, and perception of his foreboding presence from those around him. Most of this world knows Clark to be a hero. But to those in his immediate vicinity, especially to those that may have to come into conflict with him . . his presence is just as large but equally scary. Also, I'd never even heard of Nic Klein before, but . . his style of art, along with the haunting influence he portrays with the colors and shadow, really serves to enhance the feeling of this story. Issue #7 ends with a disturbing image of this country, from Clark's and the twin's eyes, as the horizon of this country literally burns. 'Our god made a river of oil that flows beneath us. But now our god is angry.' I thought issues #6 & #7 were fantastic. I can't wait to see where they go from here. As a side note . . I haven't been paying that much attention to the Justice Inc story in the back. It's by Jason Starr and Scott Hampton. I'm just not that interested in it. Sorry!

Smallville - Harvest - Season 10 - Episode 6 - CW

This episode is basically done in two parts. Lois and Clark are on a trip in the county . . covering the Cherry Festival, because Clark wants to keep Lois away from Cat's anti-hero demonstration. But instead he ends up landing her in the middle of a 'Children of the Corn' scenario. As they're driving down the road their tires get flattened. Clark fixes one, but has to rush off to the nearest filling station to fix the other. While he's gone, an unassuming little country girl takes Lois in her horse and buggy, promising to take her to the train station. However, she soon finds herself captive in this little community. It appears that some 20 years ago, the meteors rained down on this town, and killed the town leader's daughter. However, because their water has been infused with blue meteor rock, their crops have been plentiful, and no one gets sick. So naturally they assume that it was because of their daughter's sacrifice. So, they've been sacrificing someone every year, at their 'Harvest Festival', to appease the gods. This year . . it's Lois' turn. Clark eventually finds her, but the problem he's having is that . . since the townsfolk have been consuming this blue meteor water for so many years, it's abundant in their system. And anytime a few of them get near Clark . . he loses his powers. But they make the mistake of burying him outside of town, while they all head back for the sacrifice. This gives Clark enough power to get out of the predicament, and go back and save Lois. The other part of the story is about Tess and Lex. Lex has aged some more and is now a teenager. He's also starting to show more signs that he's becoming more and more like the real Lex. He becomes obsessed with Clark, and the 'S' emblem, because he's convinced that he's trying to kill him. He even escapes from the castle and goes to Clark's barn because he has memories of him and Clark there. Then, once he gets back home, he shaves his head so he even starts to look like Lex. I have a feeling that Tess is going to be putting this kid in lock-down real soon. To me though, the best part of the story is all the questions that Lois is asking Clark. It's not like reporter questions. It's more like questions anyone would ask their spouse if they had just found out that they're from another planet. Lois is hilarious. Eventually Clark gives her his journal from the barn so that she can get caught up on everything. I thought it was an ok episode. I didn't really buy the whole 'Stepford Wives' thing, but . . it was interesting. And I'm intrigued about what's going to happen with Lex. We're almost half way through the final season, so . . we don't have much to go. I have to enjoy them while I can.

Chuck vs the Aisle of Terror - Season 4 - Episode 6 - NBC

In typical Halloween fashion, this episode guest stars Robert Englund as the evil scientist working for Volkoff, that has developed a terror spray. It also guest stars Linda Hamilton as Chuck's mom, and Morgan Fairchild as Awesome's mom. At the end of the last episode Chuck's mom had called him and wanted to meet. Apparently this mad-scientist had developed this fear-agent, but 'Frost' felt that it was to dangerous to fall into just anyone's hands. So she wants to turn it over to the CIA. At first she sets it up as a sale, with Charles Carmichael being Chuck's cover. But when 'Frost' shows up and ends up shooting him, they know that somethings wrong. Apparently Chuck's digging had set off some alarms in the Volkoff organization, so she had to show Volkoff that Carmichael was dead, and that she had taken care of it. This would also take Chuck and Elle out of harms way, as Volkoff would think that he was dead. Anyways, she ends up turning this scientist and his weapon over to Chuck, with this story about how she had gotten involved in project Isis, some 20 years ago. She says that when that happened her files were expunged from the CIA files. Of course Casey has someone that can look into that, and . . what he gets shows that she's lying. About everything. So, at the end of the episode, when she agrees to meet with Elle, Sarah and Casey abduct her. Leaving Elle heartbroken, and Chuck left to try and explain things. 'Frost' decided to meet up with her, partly because she found out she was going to becoming a grandmother. But also, I think, because when she watches Elle from a distance, she sees how Lovely, Awesome's mom, is interacting with her. She picks up a teddy-bear to give to her, which she doesn't . . because she drops it when she's abducted, but . . I think there's something in there for Elle. But right now . . it looks like the bear is lost. Anyways, back at the Buy More, Grimes is caught up in decorating for Halloween, but he's overwhelmed. He's trying to balance his work with being there for Chuck. Plus, with the events of the last episode, he and Casey seem to be getting closer. At least Casey seems to be trying to involve him more in what's going on. Anyways, since he can't do everything he delegates the transformation of the store to Jeff and Lester. What they do is hilarious, and part of the events that lead up to the demise of the mad-scientist. Anyways, I think these 2 are a great comic-relief option for this show. True, sometimes they are more than a little creepy, but . . I still think they're funny. And why does Jeff end up shirtless in at least one scene of every episode? Anyways . . I think this show is great. And it's great fun. It also has a great cast of characters.

the Mighty Crusaders #2, #3 and #4 - DC

Theoretically, this should be a great story. The teams have just been put together, and they're thrown into the middle of something that could end up having a huge affect on the DC Universe. The Durlans have brought their conflict to Earth. Generations ago there was a war . . a kind of civil-war, I guess, that was fought on between the Durlans. It's called 'the Six-Minute War'. Anyways, that war reduced their planet, and civilization, to a near-barbaric state. Since then, they've divided into 2 factions . . the Futurist Durlans, and the Purist Durlans. 'The Futurists and Purists are fighting to gain control of the nanotech core. It carries within it the baseline genome of our race. From before we were forever altered by our 'Six-Minute War'. Sheba and her Purist followers are a cult of lunatics. They envision a new golden age, built on ancestral worship. We call ourselves Futurists because we believe in progress. The purists seek to reset the genetic makeup of our people. They want to force us to devolve! If the core is activated here, it will read every genome on the planet and adjust accordingly. There is a genetic time bomb hidden on the planet Earth, and it is ticking away.' This 'nanotech core' apparently was hidden somewhere on Earth ages ago by their ancestors. Anyways, this really is the crux of the story. However, along the way, we're getting lots of references and cross-overs into the DC Universe. Which, I think, is the real purpose of this story . . to immerse these characters in with the existing throng on 'heroes'. I think it also serves to define them as a team. They aren't the typical 'save the Earth, and avoid collateral damage' type of heroes . . like the Justice League. These guys are basically a government run group of 'heroes'. Actually, calling them 'heroes' would probably be a bit of a stretch. They're more like government agents, who happen to have powers. And while they are out to save the world, they're still operating on the government's agenda. Which translates . . 'the results outweigh the means'. Or . . 'do whatever is necessary to complete the mission'. They've even got this group divided up into 2 teams. The Web, the Shield, Fly-Girl, War Eagle and Inferno are the 'road-team'. They're the face of the Crusaders . . who the public sees when they're fighting crime. While the Hangman, Black Hood and Jaguar are they're shadow-team. They're the team that does the dirty work . . the stuff the public doesn't want to see. And of course we still have the Comet and the Fox running around out there. Currently they're in Japan. And they're being folded into the story, gradually, from the outside. But they're working their way in . . whether they want to or not. Along the way, there's been a ton of references and glimpse of the DC Universe. As I said, I think this is to show how immersed these characters have actually become. They overlap with the DMA, King Farraday and Wayne-Tech . . to name a few. They even overlap with the Super Young Team, from Crisis Aftermath, when someone sees the Comet in Japan and thinks that he looks like Most Excellent Super-bat. There also have been other occurrences of this Durlan threat in the DC Universe. In the recent Great Ten storyline it's hinted that some of their powers come from Durlan technology, or genetics. And there was a Durlan threat seen in Superman/Batman #68 and #69. As I said in the very beginning . . this should be a great story. I mean . . Eric S Trautmann is writing it. And as we've seen from the recent Shield series, the guy writes a great story and seems to have the whole government / tactical mission part down to a 't'. His stories are very intricate and involved, but flow and make a kind of sense that someone without his obvious knowledge couldn't achieve. My problem, I think, comes on 2 fronts. First of all . . I don't really have an investment in these characters. I know that's what the individual series were about . . getting the reader to know the characters. But I don't think that they achieved that. So, to me, the best part of this book is the story, and not necessarily the characters involved in said story. Does that make sense? Anyways, I'm approaching it from an interest in what happens in the DC Universe, more than from an interest in what actually happens to these characters. Secondly, the artwork doesn't really thrill me. And it's not consistent. Julian Lopez and Carlos Rodriguez does issue #2. While #3 is done by Carlos and Sergio Arino. And finally in #4 Carlos takes on the work himself. But none of them really thrill me. Now the covers . . the covers are by Stanley Lau, and they look incredible. As you can see. Anyways, we still have 2 issues to go. So it could end up having a thrilling ending. I don't know. But if you're only marginally interested in this book . . I'd wait for the TPB. Read it all in one sitting . . and don't spend as much money.

Gen13 #37 and #38 - WildStorm

In this issue Pathcutter and the rest of the Gen13/Gen14 find their hidden oasis . . Pocatello. Or, I guess I should say, rather . . the city finds them. They're traveling through the wasteland, when all of the sudden . . they're in the city. Well . . it wasn't exactly that fast. They thought they had found a sheltered area and set up camp for the night. When they woke up . . they were in the middle of the city . . surrounded by armed citizens. And seeing as how the 'post-humans' were responsible for the fate of the rest of the world . . these townsfolk don't really extend the hand of friendship. Anyways, as it turns out . . Pathcutter's whole motive for coming here was that he was looking for his sister. Before the world ended, they were a super-hero team by the name of Hide & Seek. Apparently his sister's powers are cloaking in nature. When she gets hurt, or passes out, she goes into defensive mode and her body cloaks everything within a few mile radius. Which is how Pocatello has stayed off of everyone's radar. They've been keeping her in a medical coma, forcing her powers to work. So while Caitlan and the rest of the team are trying to sort things out with the Mayor and Sheriff . . they're the 2 people that seem to be the most in charge, Pathcutter heads off to find his sister. They end up offering the team a home here, but in exchange they need their help protecting them and their citizens from a nuclear testing facility in the nearby town of Idaho Falls. One of it's scientists have made it to Pocatello, and he's very mutated from the radiation he's had to absorb. He's been trying to contain the facility and prevent meltdown, but . . it got to be more than he could handle. So when the team takes off to go take care of this problem, Pathcutter steals his sister and tries to bring her back to consciousness. Of course in doing so he opens up the town to outside threats. The Mad-Max group of characters that Kaizen-X was leading is there ready and waiting. Apparently Pathcutter was working with them. We don't really know that yet, but . . there's not really any other explanation. So Bobby ends up looking like a flaming skeleton, when the reactor blows. And the rest of the team, after coming across Pathcutter . . or rather, Hide & Seek trying to make a getaway with his sister, ends up heading back to Pocatello and right into the fight with Kaizen-X. I thought this story was ok. Phil Hester did a decent job with it. I don't suppose there's much he could do, as he doesn't really have much to work with here. With Bobby probably out of the picture now, Caitlan is really the only one of the original Gen13's left. And while these other characters are interesting, there hasn't really been a whole lot of development on their part. And we kind of know right up front that some of them are just cannon fodder. To me it's just sad because these were a bunch of characters that I really liked in the beginning . . back in the day. But now they seem miles away from there. Anyways, Cruddie Torian does the art. His style of art fits this book perfectly. To bad it's probably too little . . too late!

Booster Gold #35, #36 and #37 - DC

In this story-line, Michael has gone back in time to help out his buddy Ted, as well as Mister Miracle and Barda. They're on a mystical planet trying to recover a book . . the almost-but-not-quite Book of Destiny. We were first introduce to it in the new Brave and the Bold series a few years ago. But apparently it's made it's way here. Anyways, on this little trip, things just seem to keep going from bad to worse. They end up on this mystical planet because one of the Queen's stalkers . . Hieronymous the Underachiever . . is the person who has the book. He has enough knowledge, and foresight, to use it to take over this planet. But not enough to actually change reality. Lucky for us . . and the planet, of course. Anyways, long story short, they end up with the book, but . . before getting it, Hieronymous had swiped a Planet-Pounder from the Darkstars and was planning on using it to black-mail the Queen. With this new threat to his recently acquired kingdom, he activates it and teleports away. Which leaves our group of heroes left to try to stop it. Of course when they try to do so the Darkstars arrive and assume that they're the ones that stole it. And believe me, issue #36 isn't any less complicated. Ted ends up sleeping with the Queen . . rejects her, and then is turned into a chipmunk. Michael . . who had gone back to Earth when he escaped from the Darkstars . . remember, he's still trying to get information to prove Max's existence . . he comes back for his buddy and is immediately arrested once again. They take him to the Starlag . . an intergalactic prison. There he finds Vril Dox, before he founded LEGION, and he realizes that the Dominators, the Khunds and Okaarans are all working together. That's when he realizes that he's in the days shortly before 'Invasion!' If you don't remember, that was a storyline in the early 90's. Anyways, he's stuck in here with his best buddy, Ted the chipmunk, when they come across a woman trying to break out . . Estrogina. She's Zamaron and commands a group of female Zamaron pirates. In issue #37, they're the ones that are going to help her make her final escape. Basically this issue is a stream of mayhem has Estrogina works he way top-side, where her friends are scheduled to pick her up. And of course she takes Booster along for the ride because she's decided that he's to be her man-toy. They indeed make it out, and back onto her ship. Michael is just stalling for time because he'd gone back to Earth to ask Ted how they got out of this situation. Basically he has to wait for the spell to wear off. When he goes back to being normal, Estrogina will regurgitate him. Not the best plan, but . . I guess it works. They go back to Earth to clean up. Michael wants to give up and head home, but Ted reminds him that they still need to retrieve the book because now it's in the hands of the Darkstars. Which sets us up for the next issue . . 'Assault on (Darkstar) Precinct 2460!' Like I said . . it just keeps going from bad to worse. I really like this book. I find it very entertaining. Much improved from it's first incarnation, back in the 80's. However, having said that . . I do think that it's lost a little something with Dan Jurgens departure. I thought he really put a lot into this book, and now . . a little bit of the 'heart' is missing. Don't get me wrong. I think Keith Giffen and JM DeMatteis are doing a good job. I guess I'm just not a big fan of all this wacky humor. And when those two get together . . it definitely gets piled on. Like I said, I still like it. It just seems like there's a lot of minutia right now. Maybe once Michael gets back to the present, and away from Ted, some of this will quiet down. We'll see. Anyways, I think Chris Batista is doing a good job with the art. And I think Michael is a great character. If he's going to turn in to Rip's father . . and turn him into the man he is today, then I guess there's still a lot of stories ahead of him. Plus, he still has a lot of growing up to do. That's what I think I liked so much about Dan's re-imagining. It really gave Booster a lot more potential than he ever had before. I guess I just can't wait to see that realized. Anyways, overall I think it's a good book. I'm not thrilled with this story-line, but . . I love this character.

Smallville - Isis - Season 10 - Episode 5 - CW

In this episode Lois is put at risk because . . when she was in Africa, and was looking through the stuff at Carter's dig, she somehow ended up with the Amulet of Isis in her purse. Now the rest of that expedition has been brought to Metropolis because Ollie is throwing a big gala at the museum. Anyways, one things leads to another and . . a beam of sunlight flows through the gem in the amulet and . . ta-da . . Lois is inhabited by the spirit of Isis. From there it's a bit predictable. Clark and Ollie have to save her. But in the process Clark realizes how much he loves her. Obviously they pull it off, and Lois is returned to Clark's loving arms. But there were lots of other little tidbits that served to move the other various story-threads along. First . . Cat Grant is back. And she's still on the hero-bashing crusade. In fact when she sees Lois/Isis perform some superhuman feats . . she's convinced that Lois is the Blur. During all of this, Clark and Ollie end up soliciting Tess' help in figuring out how to beat the amulet. Because of that, they end up asking her to join their team and take Chloe's place at the helm of the Watchtower. I'm not sure how that's going to work out though, because . . she's still keeping a secret from them. They don't know that she's in possession of Alexander . . Lex's 6 year old clone. We also find out that Alexander's IQ has increased dramatically. And . . he's growing at an accelerated rate. He's grow about 4 inches in as many weeks. But, because of the recent events, Tess has decided to take a more nurturing, and loving role with Alexander. Although I'm sure it's . . too little, too late. Also Ollie is changed by these events, and the support from Clark and Tess. He's gone public now with his identity, but . . he's still trying to sort out how to balance it all. He was starting to head off into the 'glam and showbiz' aspect of it all, but . . these recent events have convinced him to get back to basics . . being the 'hero' that he wants to be for the city and it's people. And finally . . with much hesitation, Clark confides his secret to Lois. Her response? 'What took you so long?' I thought it was a great ending. This season definitely seems more upbeat than the last. Like I've said before, that whole Zod thing was really a downer. I know it was a necessary storyline for these characters to go through. But personally, I thought it played out way to long. Anyways, I haven't heard any news as to a new series after the completion of this one, but . . there's just so many different ways they could go. I hope they have something in the works.

Chuck vs the Couch Lock - Season 4 - Episode 5 - NBC

This episode actually seemed to be more about Casey and Grimes, rather than Chuck and Sarah. The back story is . . in 1999, John Casey and his troop were in Iraq. There they found a bunker that housed the gold bullion that they were using to back their government . . or terrorists . . or whatever. Anyways, his comrades in arms got a little greedy and decided that it wouldn't be necessary to hide something that nobody even knew existed. Basically . . they wanted to keep it for themselves. Well Casey couldn't let that happen, so he takes out his own guys, buries the bunker, and then takes his former teammates to be court-martialed. Anyways, now that Chuck and Sarah are looking for his mother, and they know that she's being held by Volkoff . . they decided that the only way to find her, after a fruitless search through all of the files that they got from Coasta Gravos on Volkoff, was to search his worldwide network of prisons. Which leads them to Casey's old team, whom apparently went to work for Volkoff after they escaped federal custody. So, in order to draw them out of hiding, they decide to fake Casey's death. But, of course, things don't go as planned. They take off with Casey's body, but . . the drugs that he took to fake his death finally wear off. He makes his escape, but in their haste to rescue their fallen partner, Chuck and Sarah are captured instead. Anyways, the other subplot of this story is . . now that Grimes and Alex have decided to advance their relationship, Grimes knows that eventually he's going to have to tell her father, John Casey. But he keeps chickening out. However, in John's escape his old partners stab him with his back-up vial of the poison. After Jeff and Lester rescue him he's got couch-lock from over-medicating. So, in order to get his pulse racing and pull him out of this . . Grimes goes ahead and gives him all the sordid details. Needless to say it works, and . . it's hilarious. And then, in the end, when they all seem to be captured in Iraq, Grimes performs a selfless act and takes down the bad-guys, with a jolt of electricity. Even though its at a risk to his own personal safety. Which finally endears him to John . . and he gives their relationship his blessing. During all of this, Elle decides that she wants to know what has happened to their mother. And Chuck finds out from John's old team that Frost isn't a prisoner of Volkoff, but rather . . a partner. She's this mercenaries teams boss. And she's also Volkoff's right hand. Chuck admits to Sarah that he's starting to think that his mom may be one of the 'bad-guys'. I like the spy-theme of this show. But it's the humor that's mixed in that really sells it for me. I also like the music.

Zatanna #4, #5 and #6 - DC

Stephane Roux is still doing the covers for these books. But apparently she's given it a rest at doing the interior art. Issue #4 and #5 are done by Chad Hardin and Wayne Faucher. But they still have pretty much the same feel as Stephane's stuff. Overall I like the feel of these books. I'm just not sold on Zatanna being a lead character. Yes she's a of the normal super-hero genre. She's got the whole magical/mystical thing going for her. But . . to me, she's just nowhere close to being in the company of somebody like Dr Fate, or Doctor Strange. I mean, sure she can pretty much do whatever she wants just by saying things backwards, but . . that just seems kind of limited to me. Can she do spells and incantations? Or has she just never really thought about it because of the way her powers work? I guess, to me, the fault of this character lies in that she's never really been fully explored. To my knowledge, no writer has really dug in to what exactly it is that Zee can and can't do. What are her limits? Sure she's a pretty face, and apparently someone who can think pretty fast on their feet. But it just seems like there could be so much more to her. Anyways, in these issues, Mammon is after Zee's soul. There's this guy who pretty much runs Vegas . . Sonny Raymond. Apparently he made a deal with Mammon, many years ago . . 1947, specifically . . where if he keeps feeding Mammon souls, his life, power, and wealth will be extended. So he's been giving him wives, business partners, co-workers, employees . . pretty much anybody he can get his hands on, and feeds them to Mammon. So, apparently, Mammon has seen Zee . . and seen what a pure soul she has, and tries to up his deal with Sonny. He offers him immortality, and release from his contract, for her soul. Of course Zee has other plans for her soul. And she's not going down without a fight. We also get the reintroduction of Zee's cousin in these issues, Zachary. We haven't really seen much of his character, since he made his brief stint in Teen Titans. Well . . I take that back. I think he's one of the characters in the 'Coven of Three' back-up story that's been running in Teen Titans. Anyways . . he's probably the least explored character of this family. And given the least attention. Which he's more than willing to point out to Zee. So, to make a long story short, of course Zee beats Mammon, and Sonny ends up losing his soul. But not in the way we expect. He'd rather be a soulless object than to be tortured for eternity in hell, so he convinces Zee to give him just that. She turns him in to a giant brick of gold. Mammon loses his soul. But Zee convinces him that this is even better, because . . being a demon-lord of Avarice, displaying this large hunk of metal in Vegas is only going to appeal to the masses sense of greed and lust. Which feeds right into the emotions that Mammon desires. So he gives up on Zee. For now. But I'm sure she hasn't seen the last of him. Anyways, I thought Paul Dini introduced a couple of neat ideas during this story. First we see the Royal Flush Gang re-imagined. Seeing that they're in Vegas, they take on the persona's of the Rat Pack, rather than their usual motif. Also, when Zee's voice is disabled, we see that she can use her powers by writing down her words, rather than saying them. If that's true then she should also be able to cast her spells by thinking them. Right? I think that's something that Paul could explore. Then, I think I like the introduction of Zachary to this series. Face it, solo books aren't really solo books anymore. Batman has his bat-family. Superman has his family and loved ones. Heck, even Wonder Woman has a huge supporting cast now. So let's give Zee one. All she really has is her father, Zatarra, and Zachary. But neither of them are around very much. I think Paul should explore those family ties a little more. And overall I think we should explore Zatanna's character much more. What makes her tick? What are her limits? How do her powers really work, and is the backwards thing just for show, or is that really the only way she can make her spells work? There's just so much more we can explore here, and so much more possibility. To me, this would be an exciting character to write. Nothings ever really been done with her. Her story is pretty much an open book. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how far Paul takes that. By the way, Jesus Saiz does the art for issue #6. And Brian Bolland does the variant covers.

Batgirl #13 and #14 - DC

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

Adventure Comics #517, 518 and #519 - DC

I think Paul Levitz is trying to reintroduce a new generation, and perhaps some of the old, to the Legion again. Obviously, in order to tell current stories of the Legion, he's going to have to show things from the past as a sort of prologue. And I assume, since the Legion of 3 Worlds combined a lot of the most recent story-lines, and teams, that Paul has a bit of artistic license when it comes to showing us the past. The Legion's past. Our future. You know what I mean. Anyways, my point is, in issue #517 we're shown a story from the very early days of the Legion. Irma, Garth and Rokk have just barely gotten together, and they're still trying to figure out not only their own relationships, but the Legion's with other entities, such as the Science Police. Irma is still at the point where she feels like she has to prove herself . . constantly. We're also introduced to a new threat . . a techno-pirate named Zaryan, who's going around and stealing robot parts from many different manufacturing plants, and various planets. Although, after looking it up, Zaryan's first appearance was back in Jan. of 1963. In a battle with the Legion . . he was then called Zaryan the Conqueror . . he ended up killing Lightning Lad. Which kind of shows how Paul is tweaking things, just a bit. Anyways, this is one of their very first missions, and they're doing it in tandem with the Science Police. Specifically a Sgt. Esquivel. Whom, although she doesn't like the access that's been given to Brande, simply because of his money, is still a believer in the Legion and what it hopes to stand for. Through the course of the mission, and Irma's training, she and the Sgt becomes friends. So on one of the raids when one of Zaryan's men take out the Sgt, Irma is especially vulnerable. Which leads her to sleeping with Rokk. Luckily, for her, it follows a night of drinking, so she can make him forget and blame it on the booze. We also see in this part of the story how these first 3 Legionnaires come to the conclusion that they need to expand their ranks. The issue ends with their new friend Brainy planning a trip back to the past so that they can meet their idol . . Superboy. RJ Brands actually wants them to meet Superman, but . . Brainy has other plans. The next issue goes into the present of the Legion and we see Superboy in the future visiting his friends. This issue is kind of told from Clark's perspective, in that he doesn't always like what he finds in the future, especially when he starts to see glimpses of his own. There's lots of things that happen to him, as Superman, that he's in no way prepared to face yet. Which is part of the reason why Irma insists on mind-sweeping him before he returns to his own time. The information, and feelings, that he experiences while in the future can't be carried back into the past with him. He can't face the threats he destined to face with any prior knowledge. In order to now affect the future, he has to handle them in the way that he originally did . . good or bad. But while in the future . . it's a heavy burden for him to bear. There's also a mystery going on, in that the Legion Headquarters seems to be haunted. Phantom girl tries to give Superboy the tour, but she's kind of distracted by the other things going on. And Clark actually hears the supposed phantom's voice while in the Superman museum. The next issue takes place about a year after the Legion's formation, and . . the Legion has grown tremendously. But something that is constant is that they're still chasing after this Zaryan guy. Irma is especially hell-bent on capturing him because of what happened to her friend. But she's temporarily pulled off the mission so that she, Rokk and Garth can go back to meet Superboy. Brainy supposedly has a list of the things he wants the team to do with the young Clark Kent, but the real point of their mission is to intercept a Brainiac droid that is sent to Earth to scout out their technology. We also see the first glimpse of the Legion Espionage Squad this issue . . Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet and Invisible Kid. Anyways, the Legionnaires have fun in the past up until they realize why they're really there. And why Brainy brought them to Smallville in the first place, instead of Metropolis to meet Superman like RJ wanted. He knows that Superboy isn't prepared to face Brainiac, and if they could defeat the droid and make it disappear . . it would be consistent with what the future records show. Of the three, I especially liked this issue because it came the closest to giving me the feeling that I used to get when I read those old Legion stories . . the ones from Superboy and Adventure, back in the 60's and 70's. Overall, I think Paul is doing a great job and, I think, is trying to bring the Legion into the future, without rewriting to much of the past. But like I said, there are some subtle tweaks here and there. Kevin Sharpe and Marlo Alquiza provide the art for the first 2 issues, with Eduardo Pansica filling in on #519. I thought they all did a good job, and gave their books a really good feel. I'm also enjoying the Atom back-up story by Jeff Lemire and Mahmud Asrar. Someone is after Ray's technology. And it appears to be the Colony. We find out later, from Ray's uncle, that the Colony started out as a government think tank . . Project Colony. But when their governmental funding was pulled, they decided to carry on under their own direction. They felt that the work they were doing was to important to the future of the nation and the world. Anyways, for some reason they're after Ray's White Dwarf Star. They've been able to copy his technology, but . . without the star, it's unstable . . at best. And somehow Ray's uncle Dave is involved in all of this. Dave shows Ray his life's work . . the Ant-Farm. It's a microscopic world that he's created should the need arise for humankind to vacate the planet . . 'pandemics, nuclear or biological war, natural disasters, overpopulation, famine, even meteorites that may collide with Earth one day. We need a backup plan . . this . . this is a microscopic panic room for humankind.' But even though Dave created it, he's never been inside of it, because . . he doesn't have the technology. Only Ray does. So I think, for some reason, Dave's tricked him into coming here. Anyways, through the course of these stories, I thought Jeff Lemire did a fantastic job of reintroducing us to Ray's character, and that of the Atom's. He does a little bit to update him . . without changing him, and does a good job of explaining why he's always had such a hard time of fitting in with the Justice League. He's always wanted to help, but . . he approaches things . . problems, a different way than is usually their method. I thought it was good insight into the character and made us really think about who he is. This is another book that I'm glad is back on the shelf. I'm thrilled to read every issue of it.

Titans #26, #27 and #28 - DC

Issues #26 and #27 deals with Roy's reacquainting with Jade. She's trying to deal with the loss of Lian . . as is Roy, so they've kind of reached out to each other. Roy is also dealing with the loss of his arm, and because of all that has gone back to using. I have to say, I'm glad that Eric Wallace is focusing more on these two dealing with their loss than necessarily Roy's addictions. I know that it is an issue that Eric's going to have to deal with eventually, but . . I think if he focused on it right now it would take away from other parts of the storyline. Plus, when Eric does finally deal with it, I think he should do so in another mini-series. Obviously Roy's actions and frame of mind have an effect on the people he's around, and working with, but . . I think the heart of that story should be explored in it's own format. Anyways, it seems like Jade wants Roy to suffer a little bit. She hasn't come right out and said so, but . . I think, and it seems only natural, that she would hold him accountable for her loss. That is as well as herself. But, the person that she's really mad at right now is Slade. Which is the reason that she's asked Roy to join up with these new 'Titans'. She wants to kill Slade, but she knows that she's probably not going to be able to do that by herself. These two issues show us the beginning of their plan . . getting Roy into the mix. And in doing so, Slade has accepted a job of retrieving a rich man's son who was taken. What they find is that there's this guy named Elijah . . he kind of looks like Brick from Star City, who's got this new drug on the street called Bliss. When they go to his facility they find that the main ingredient of this drug is some kind of hormone that occurs naturally in children. Which is why this kid was really taken . . not for the ransom. And Elijah has his own group of 'metas' . . the Dominators. Of course there's a big fight, and in the end the 'Titans' win, but . . what have they really won? Roy ends up being the one that actually sets all these kids free. Which is good for him. I guess. But Jade is disillusioned even more about Slade because she thinks that their assignment was to come here, shut down this operation, and liberate all of these captured children. However, in the end, she finds out that Slade was only ever really after the one kid . . the rich kid . . the $10 million payday. And he looks like he couldn't care less what happens to anything, or anyone else. But this also had something to do with one of Elijah's men . . DJ Molecule. But I'm not sure what. Earlier Slade is thinking about the Deftech schematics that Jade and Richards had gotten him. He's thinking about how he's 'one step closer to achieving his true objective. Cheating death itself.' So I'm not sure if DJ Molecule is another component of that plan or not. Anyways, we got a little glimpse into Cinder's mind. And Amon Tomaz, Osiris, is contacted by the White Light. He's told . .'Your sister is needed. Help Isis break free.' Which then leads later on, during the fight with Elijah, where he's accidentally given a dose of Bliss. While he's hallucinating, he thinks he sees his sister. It's through this vision that he makes the connection that the cracks in her statue . . he assumes the rock trying to break free . . occurs whenever he kills someone. So now, his justification for killing is that he's trying to save his sister. Anyways, issue #28 starts out a new storyline where the 'Titans' have been hired to break someone out of Arkham Asylum. But there's lots of reasons for this plan to go bad. First of all, they use a corrupt, greedy guard to get into the facility. That plan always works out. Then, during the course of their infiltration, Jade discovers that Roy is high. Amon is wresting with what he's discovered during his recent 'vision'. And because of that decides that he's going to kill this guard, since he's already a 'bad-guy'. And when the alarm is sounded . . a product of the guards death, Batman is entered into the mix and the issue ends with him face to face with Slade. We also find out that this was all apparently to break out the Mad Hatter. And also for a girl . . Allegra Garcia. Although I'm not really sure who she is. In the beginning of the story we get a glimpse of Ivy Town, where Ray Palmer is starting to look into Ryan Choi's disappearance. I'm not sure what that has to do with this storyline, but it's titled . . 'Family Reunions'. I'm not sure if it's going to be connected to the back-up story in Adventure Comics or not. But I have to say . . so far, I like the way that Eric is handling this team, and these characters. The focus for the most part right now is on Jade and Roy. But we are getting glimpses of Amon, Cinder and Richards. As well as whatever this plan is that Slade is trying to put together. I think he's got a good mix here, and there's a lot of potential. But that's the way this book has always been . . lots of potential, but short on the payoff. I guess we'll have to wait and see if Eric can get a different result. So far . . I think he's on the right path. I'm also enjoying Fabrizio Fiorentino and Cliff Richards' art. I think they give the book a good feel that's similar, but different . . from what we've seen before. Of course, I'm also thrilled to death that this book wasn't cancelled like I thought it was going to be. 'Long Live the Titans!' Or Legion. Whatever!

Smallville - Homecoming - Season 10 - Episode 4 - CW

This was a great episode. As you can see from the picture . . Brainiac is back. But . . not in the way that you might've expected. This episode kind of reminded me of A Christmas Carol. Or rather . . A Smallville Christmas Carol. It seems that Brainiac has come back to help Clark get past this 'dark' part of his soul that everybody keeps talking about. The story is framed around Clark and Lois' return to Smallville. It seems it's time for a class reunion, and Lois thinks that the return to Smallville will help Clark get past whatever this funk is that he's been in lately. That's when Brainiac attacks. Or rather . . he shows up to help guide Clark along his destined path. What? Wait . . I thought Clark and Legion had destroyed Brainiac. Well . . except for that little black puddle that we saw oozing along after he was vanquished. It seems that what they really did was to cure Brainiac. Like Clark, he was created by Jor-El. And like Clark, Jor-El hoped that he would help to aid this alien race and prepare the world for Clark's ascension. But, somewhere along the way, he became corrupted. It seems whatever Clark and the Legion did to him, helped to cure him of that corruption. So now Brainiac is in the future and has joined up with the Legion. He even tells Clark that he's now known as Brainiac 5. Anyways, he's decided to help Clark, but in order to do so he has to get him to let go of his past. It seems that it's his 'second-guessing' and 'guilt' that's creating this dark cloud over Clark's head. And as Brainiac shows him, it all started when his father, Jonathan, died. Since then Clark has been questioning his 'path' and his 'destiny'. He then shows him that in the present he's become a pillar of strength to many people. Not just because of his abilities, but because of the way that he inspires them. Lois and Ollie are just two of the many to be affected by Clark. There's even one of the 'meteor-freaks' that Clark put away that shows up at the reunion. While viewing the world with Brainiac, Clark sees this guy approach Lois. He fears for her, and in his haste grabs ahold of Brainiac's Legion ring. That's when he's hurled into the future. In it he realizes that not only are he and Lois a couple . . there's hints of them being married, but we don't know that for sure . . but also Clark has confided his secret to Lois. And he now sees that she's become his staunchest supporter, and protector. Well . . protector of his secret. It seems that in the present, Clark's silence and distance that he's been putting between himself and those around him . . thinking that he's protecting them, is actually hurting them. Not physically, of course, but rather as far as potential. Without Clark's strength and friendship, neither Lois or Ollie are realizing their true potential. When they finally return to the present, Clark sees that this guy from his past is approaching Lois' because he wants to thank Clark. He wants to thank Clark for showing him that he didn't have to live the way he was. And for helping him get out of, and away from his destructive behavior. It seems that despite all of his powers, Clark's greatest strength lies in the way that he inspires and motivates others. He truly is a beacon that's only now beginning to shine on the world. He's a pebble, in a stream, who's ripples are only just beginning to reach out to others. He then goes on to inspire Ollie, a bit more. Ollie is holding a press conference on his latest revelation. Unfortunately he's feeling melancholy and distressed about Chloe . . as well as Clark, whom he hasn't heard from. But when Clark shows up . . Ollie instead express' his hopes for the future and what he wants his 'heroism' to inspire. He also tells the world . .'I'm not doing it alone.' Clark then goes to Lois to tell, and show her how he really feels about her. He hasn't revealed his secret . . yet. But . . I think it's only a matter of time. And in their embrace . . Clark begins to 'float' under his own power. It seems that this 'enlightenment' is fueling the emergence of the rest of Clark's powers. All in all I thought it was a very moving episode. I really liked the roles that Lois and Ollie played in this unfolding drama. And we even get a peak . . the slightest glimpse really, that Chloe is still out there. I can't wait to see what the rest of this season has in store for us.

Chuck vs the Coup d'Etat - Season 4 - Episode 4 - NBC

In this episode Costa Gravas, and General Alejandro Goya come back in to Elle and Devon's life. The General's chief of security, Turinni, shows up at Elle's house inviting them to come back to Costa Gravas. Since she and Awesome are having a hard time dealing with her pregnancy right now . . she's about 4 months along and Awesome pays more attention to her belly, and the baby, that he does to her, they decided to take him up on his offer. Besides, this will give them a chance to have a 'Baby-moon'. A honeymoon of sorts before the baby is born. Sarah and Chuck are also having relationship problems, because of the faux-proposal that accidentally occurred at the end of the last episode, so they decide to go along a get a little vacation to. Also Grimes is having some relationship problems, as he really likes Alex, Casey's daughter. But he's more afraid of him, than of missing out with Alex. Which is how he comes across the book, '101 Conversations Before 'I Do''. And, in trying to help Chuck, he also gives it to him. So anyways, of course in Costa Gravas things don't go as planned. The General's wife decides to have a Coup. And the Bartowski's are left having to shuttle him out of the country to safety. But the only person he feels safe with is the man's whose blood runs through his veins . . Col. John Casey. During the course of this Casey reveals to Goya that it's actually Turinni that's behind this. Turinni takes him back home, and Chuck, Sarah and Casey have to try to rescue him because of the nuclear control panel that they find in the castle. Anyways, Chuck ends up using the stuff he'd learned from the book and talks the General and his wife into finding and re-exploring their old feelings of love. Chuck finds out from Goya that the control panel also came from Volkoff. At the end Chuck tells Elle that he's looking for their mom. Grimes decides to make a move on Alex . . and kisses her. It looks like things are going to work out. But right now Casey's out of town, so . . they don't have to face that yet. And while Chuck's sleeping . . because of something that Chuck had told her earlier, Sarah decides to talk to him. She tells him that if he had actually been proposing, she would've said yes. It's hard to tell if Chuck is really sleeping, or if he's just faking it. Anyways, it looks like all the relationships on this show are going to be moving forward. Now they just need to find someone for Casey to become romantically involved with. I don't know though. That might take away his edge. I think this is a great show. It's got a cool comedic twist to everything. And it's kind of a spy / soap-opera rolled up into one.

Justice League: Generation Lost #7, #8 and #9 - DC

I get the distinct feeling that there's a plan going on here. Well . . with Judd Winick taking the helm of this book . . obviously there's a plan. What I mean is . . I think that the White Light, or White Entity . . what do we call this thing? . . I think that things are happening for a reason and that . . shudder the thought . . Max isn't as bad as he's being portrayed to be. Yes he's most likely working on his own agenda, but . . I'm thinking that the White Light, while giving it's operatives a certain latitude, is trying to keep things going in a distinct direction. Max seems to be using the JLA teleporters to hope all over the planet. He's going from base to base, and safe-house to safe-house. Which is why it seems like it's so hard for this group to catch up to him. They're literally chasing their own tail. So I'm thinking that they're going to have to stop chasing the man, and start chasing the plan. Max is trying to put something into place, but our team doesn't know what that is yet. However, if they keep wasting time chasing Max . . they never will find out. Because they'll never stop long enough to try to put the pieces together. Most of issues #7 and #8 are spent with our team trying to break in to Checkmate headquarters because Bea is convinced that Max is there. Which he is, but . . apparently he's disguising his appearance in some way. We see him as who he is . . as does the rest of the team, but . . I'm thinking that as far as the rest of the world is concerned . . and basically any monitoring technology such as Checkmate's 'nest' . . he's either cloaked, or appearing as another person entirely. And right now my guess is Alton Janus . . the new White King of Checkmate. I don't really have anything to support that supposition, but . . that's my guess. However, no matter who he is, our rag-tag group here isn't going to get anywhere until they know what he actually looks like. At least to the rest of the world. Which, to me, seems like Jaime might be the team's best bet. Jaime doesn't actually know Max, or believe that he's alive. But . . since he's still showing up in the Scarab's data-banks, he's siding with this group, I think, out of hope and faith. But that would also mean that he's someone who would be included with the masses of the rest of the world . . the people that Max has under his spell . . for lack of a better term. When he does come across him . . or the team has him in his sights, he may appear different than what everybody else sees. Anyways . . it's a thought. But as I was saying, the team poses as a rogue group of Rocket Reds and breaks in to Checkmate. Of course things go to hell pretty quickly, they don't find Max, and . . Bea, Jamie and Captain Atom are exposed. So at the very least Checkmate knows that this rogue group are still on some type of mission . . self imposed, but just as diligent. Also while in Checkmate, Max gets a flash from the White Light . . with a message. 'Maxwell Lord of Earth. Stop the war before it starts.' And he's shown a vision of him taking out Magog. Which is what lead me to the thought that while being misunderstood, Max may not necessarily be as bad as everyone thinks. That or he truly does think that he's doing the best things he can to make the world a better place. I don't know. Max is a tough one to figure out. I just don't think things are as 'black & white' as they appear. Anyways, after the cluster, they make it out of Checkmate, and it appears that for now they aren't going to be pursued. At least by Checkmate. But when they return to their decommissioned embassy in Germany, Bea is confronted by Max himself. Max tries to use Bea to take out the rest of the team, but . . Captain Atom saves the day. Not necessarily the building, but at least the rest of the team-members. Booster also comes across him, and Max temporarily takes control of him. However, Max knows that he needs to get out of here, and he quickly takes his leave via one of the teleporters. At the end we see him back at Checkmate recruiting Magog. Supposedly it's for that organization. But his enticement is . . he'll get to take out Captain Atom. Apparently Max wasn't listening to the warning from the White Light. Personally, I love this book. I think this is a great group of underutilized characters. With this pursuit of Max really drawing them all together. I think Judd is doing a fantastic job with the story and the overall plan being developed here. Also the art has been great. Joe Bennett does the art for issue #7, with Aaron Lopresti stepping in for #8. And #9 is done by Fernando Dagnino. And they all look great. I was under the assumption that this was going to be a 12 issue series, but . . so far the listings have it going up to #17. And it doesn't look like there's an end in sight. So now I'm guessing that it's going for a year, which would mean 24 issues. That's sad because I think that this could definitely blossom into an ongoing series. Why not? There's numerous Avengers books. Why not do the same thing with the Justice League? Anyways, in the meantime . . I'm diggin' this series, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Birds of Prey #4 and #5 - DC

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

Superman #702 and #703 - DC

While I enjoyed these 2 issues . . unfortunately, I

didn't think they were as good as #701. Don't get me wrong. I absolutely love J Michael Straczynski's work. And I think Eddy Barrows gets better and better with every issue of work that he does. These 2 issues were just a little more . . oblique. I guess that's the best word to describe it. There were parts that I really enjoyed, and I think served to further enhance the story. But then other parts? Come on . . Superman stopping to play a game of pick-up ball? Yes he ended up helping one of the kids that was being bullied. But . . it just didn't' seem that believable to me. But then some would argue that it's a comic and believability isn't really the point. But that's part of what I like about JMS's work. He puts ideas out there that maybe aren't mind-bending, but . . a lot of times it's stuff that seems like the natural course of events. We, as readers, just never thought about it that way. Then when he presents it, we think . . 'Oh yeah! I could see that happening.' Anyways, in #702 Superman is in Detroit. The point of the issue, mainly, is that he comes across a 'hive' of aliens living as human. They're just trying to blend in. And, of course, when Superman arrives to see what's going on, he's attacked. But that doesn't last very long. I thought the interesting part of the whole confrontation was when Superman is talking to them, and trying to reason. They just want to live in peace, and they're totally self-sufficient. But then Superman argues . . 'The point is, what are you giving back to your community? Every culture that's come through this country has added something to it. You have scientific advances here that could be helping people. If you don't let anyone know, then what are you giving back? What good are you doing here?' Later Superman comes across an old man in need of medical attention. He's got something or other that he knows that Earth science can't treat. So he takes him back to the aliens. They end up treating him, and then with Superman's encouragement, they decide to 'give back'. They buy up some of the abandoned factories and set up some medical facilities plants. Working some of their own technology into the designs. Yes it's a little far-fetched, but . . it's interesting. And in the end, Superman talks some aliens that were just trying to survive into 'giving back'. In #703, Superman ends up in Cincinnati. This issue ends up being about a debate between Superman and Batman. Batman has been watching Superman's progress. And while he doesn't believe in his overall methods, he is trying to give him his space. Batman's argument though is . . first of all he doesn't think that Superman is actually dealing with what's really bothering him . . the loss of his adopted planet. Secondly, by walking amongst the 'common-folk', he's actually putting the people he's trying to reach in danger. Superman is a magnet, as is anyone in their profession. If he puts himself out in the open like this . . trouble will follow. And while Superman can deal with pretty much anything, can the people he's putting in such close proximity? Of course something happens, and ironically it's caused by his recently lost adoptive planet. More specifically some kind of crystal's that reached Earth from it. Anyways, in his zeal to 'fix the problem', a large part of the city is destroyed. Superman immediately afterwards sets to fixing it, but . . the damage has already been done. While the physical damage can be fixed, the doubts among the people have been sowed. They have seen that while he walks amongst them, in truth . . he's not really one of them. And of course they, and the media turn against him immediately. Basically proving Batman's point. This has got to be hard on Dick. While he's been proven right, at the same time he probably hates to see Superman have to learn the hard truth this way. I think he may have been on to something when he warned Superman that he may be going through a mental breakdown . . or could be, if he doesn't deal with what's really bothering him. It's a side of Superman I don't think we've ever seen before. Anyways, I thought they were good issues. I like #701 better, but . . I still thought they were good. And I think JMS and Eddy are doing a fantastic job. If you've even only been marginally interested in Superman before . . this is a story-arc that I think can touch a lot of people. If you give it a chance. Believe me, you won't be sorry.