Week 86 (April 24, 2013)

• Batman Inc #10 enters into its endgame.  After this issue, Grant Morrison only has three more issues before reaching what hopefully will be the meteoric conclusion of an eight year, continuous run on the character.  There is a lot of pressure, but it seems like he’s had the end in sight the whole time and doubtless has been building toward and accentuating the events leading to his final goal.  So far, Talia Al-Ghul has Gotham as well as the world in her grasp with her criminal organization and their meta-bomb ring that will encircle the world in destruction.  Batman and his allies have once again been outlawed in Gotham, but when you take away everything from someone you also remove many of their inhibitions, and considering what Batman is capable of, that is a very dangerous prospect.  Perhaps the greatest moment in the issue comes when Talia goes to visit her father, Ra’s Al-Ghul, in his Alpine prison to gloat about her genius in doing what he never could: conquering the Bat.  Truly, to the casual observer Talia is in a very advantageous position.  Ra’s is aptly playing chess as this conversation proceeds and while applauding his daughter’s plan, he cryptically hints that she has overlooked a key factor.  Though haughty and convinced of her plan’s perfection, Ra’s doesn’t reveal what he means.  The chink in her perfect plot begins to show, and with three more issues it is probable that we will watch as the crack begins to run until the plan it mars shatters entirely.  With Morrison at the helm I am a’quiver with anticipation.  One also has to acknowledge the incredible artwork of Chris Burnham that brings this series to beauteous life.
  

  Endgame

• Red Lanterns #19 is the final stepping stone to Green Lantern #20 that promises to end the Green Lantern Universe as we know it.  Three long weeks from now we will be seeing the end of Geoff Johns’ run on the title he literally brought back from the dead eight years ago and the putting down of the last and greatest of his villains, Volthoom the First Lantern.  In this issue bridging Red Lanterns #1-18 to the conclusion of Green Lantern Atrocitus has hit perhaps the greatest existential dilemma.  His entire life thus far since the destruction of his space sector and the murder of his family has been lived with one singular purpose: vengeance.  He has lived specifically to kill those who wronged him and the hundreds of billions of innocents throughout Space Sector 666.  His rage was so great that he founded a lantern corps to spread his doctrine of revenge to the four corners of the universe.  Every step of the way he has been robbed of his ultimate aims, i.e. the death of Sinestro, who escaped and thrived as both a Green and Yellow Lantern, and Krona who fell at the hands of Hal Jordan.  When fighting Volthoom, he was given the choice to save his sector and become a tyrant, or let his sector be destroyed by Krona and the Manhunters and become that which he currently is.  Seeing his death in the first alternative at the hands of his son, as well as his murder of his beloved wife, he chooses to let his world and family be destroyed.  Afterwards, he finds nothing but self-recrimination and orders his faithful Red Lanterns to kill him for his crime of genocide by cowardice.  The Red Lanterns find themselves in a conundrum as Atrocitus is the one who saved them and gave them the power to avenge the great wrongs done to them in their previous lives.  At the same time they also swore obedience to him and he is telling them to kill him for the honor of their corps.  Something of a Catch-22.  They go through with it, but in the moment of their convergence on him to take his life, something interesting happens.  Their attacks do not kill him, but rather give him a universal awareness of their combined suffering, rejuvenating in him the need and savory of vengeance he had begun to lose touch with in the first issue.  Full circle, he is now once again the Regent of Rage and attempts to get vengeance on the one remaining enemy of his that remains to be conquered: the Guardians of the Universe.  That said, the full might of the Red Lantern Corps are headed to Oa.  Peter Milligan is a maestro, writing this series philosophically to a tee.  Joining him on art is Will Conrad, whose art is light-years above that of regular series artist Miguel Sepulveda.  The next issue will be both men’s swansong on the title following the aftermath of Green Lantern #20.  I can barely wait.
• Flash #19 features Barry Allen in Iron Heights prison, playing a balancing act.  One one side he’s attempting to keep the Trickster’s acolytes, the Outlanders, from storming the city and the prison to release their leader.  On the other hand, he’s also trying to prove Trickster’s innocence on the murder rap he was sent up on.  If that wasn’t enough, his powers are mysteriously sucked out of him in a very unlikely crossover with the series Dial H.  Though linked to a very weak series, this mishap provides a golden opportunity for Barry Allen, not the Flash, to shine.  Somehow, Barry pulls off a miracle, but in doing so unravels some mysteries about the Speed Force and his connection to it, as well as others’.  The most intriguing of which comes at the end of the book with he entrance of the Reverse Flash.  Brian Buccellato writes this issue exquisitely with the help of Marcio Takara on art.  Francis Manapul returns as artist and cowriter on the last two pages introducing Reverse Flash.  The future of the Flash shines bright in the hands of two writer/artists who get it.  The Flash is a title to get for the foreseeable future as a result.
• Superman #19 is literally comic book legend in the making.  The main plot follows Clark being invited to a housewarming party for Lois Lane and Jonathan Carroll.  This may seem awkward for poor old Clark, but for the fact that while he is tying up a loose end in his super-heroics as Superman his girlfriend, Diana Prince, arrives before him and literally stuns everyone there: Lois, Perry, and especially Jimmy.  Clark does eventually get to the party and when he gets there he notices discernible peculiarities in the words and actions of those present.  Superman may have super-speed, super-strength, super-vision, heat-vision, freezing breath, etc, but Clark Kent has the hyper acute intuition and attention to detail of a trained journalist.  Tying it to the same phenomenon he witnessed last issue at the midtown club where dozens of young women attempted to mindlessly plummet to their doom.  All of this ties enigmatically to Hector Hammond, kept in a comatose state at S.T.A.R. Labs, and the New God, Orion, dispatched to Earth in order to save the universe from an up and coming threat originating on Earth.  Writer Scott Lobdell GETS Superman not unlike the team of Buccellato and Manapul get the Flash.  The core story of this issue as I’ve related it is what gives the series structure, but the strength of Lobdell’s writing is the strange and fantastic events that surround the main story, accentuating the world in which Superman exists.  Case in point, Clark is late to the house warming party.  He’s late because of an invasion of radiant Roman-eque legions of beings called Sunturnians from a placed called Neo Sol.  Superman is brought before their “Solaratrix”, Allysun, and made to kneel before her.  The look of the Sunturnians, the concept behind them, and everything elicited by this short episode of the story harkens to the Silver Age spectacle in Superman comics in which the Man of Steel we know to today first began to emerge.  Grant Morrison is the maestro of resurrecting these Silver Age plot devices, but Scott Lobdell is no slouch.  His Superman rings true to the character and innovates it constantly.  Also adding to the incomparable quality is the out of the park artwork by returning series artist, Kenneth Rocafort.  Superman is a title that also is not to be missed.
  

  Wondering at Wonder Woman

• Talon #7 picks up after writers James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder dropped a bombshell on the Talon and his readers last issue.  Almost simultaneously, Calvin Rose, in the heart of the Court of Owls’ information digital fortress, and Casey Washington, in the secret lair of Calvin and his associate Sebastian Clark, find out that Clark is in fact the deposed Grandmaster of the Court of Owls.  Under his administration of the shadowy cabal Calvin was chosen as Talon and Casey and her daughter were marked for death by him.  So in their struggle to fight the Owls and punish those responsible for the destruction of both their lives they were in fact a stone’s throw away from the chief architect of their misery the entire time!  Both characters begin the issue in nightmarish, seemingly intractable situations in the heart of danger.  The Owls’ information superfortress was designed to keep the wrong people out and therefore also to keep them in as well.  With the Owls inside aware of his presence getting out alive is nigh impossible.  Likewise, Sebastian Clark engineered his “home” to be his own fortress and upon the discovery that Casey has stumbled upon his secret, she is also seemingly trapped in a lion’s den of peril.  Right from the get-go the question of these two survivors’ ability to surmount the insurmountable is put to the test.  Can they survive?  The answer is waiting at the end of this issue and the answers could shock you.  The issue also segues a plotpoint introduced by Tynion in Detective Comics #19 (#900) into the main story.  Synder, Tynion, and artist Guillem March make this series a must read for any Batman fan, or just a fan of GOOD comics.
• Teen Titans #19 is the start of this rebooted series transitioning from very innovative, new terrain as conceived by maestro Scott Lobdell  and entering into familiar terrain drawn from the seminal New Teen Titans series of the early to mid 80’s that made people actually care about the concept of the Teen Titans and want to read about teenaged superheroes.  Keyed into that is the entrance of two characters created for New Teen Titans and almost synonymous with them now: the demon god Trigon and his empath daughter, Raven.  As of the final page of last month’s issue Trigon has entered into our reality on his three headed horse and begun his plan to subdue our world.  The four-eyed, crimson skinned, elk horned monster retains all his ominousness that he has ever possessed, but Lobdell has added some darkness to Raven in his interpretation.  Last seen seated in a bone strewn, subterranean lair, holding what looks to be a chalice of blood and manipulating the current Titans’ actions like a puppeteer, the gentle, though still slightly manipulative Raven from New Teen Titans is replaced with a very fresh take on the character.  The longevity of this version is subjective, however, because Raven’s New 52 debut was in Phantom Stranger #1 where she was a normal teen trying desperately to evade her father and live a normal life.  She may simply be under his thrall at present.  However, both her amazingly awesome new costume and her darker portrayal make me giddy for her part in the future of this title.  Also coming into the fold from New Teen, restoring the feel of the 80’s title, is Beast Boy, a refugee from the cancelled Ravagers series.  His appearance is premature, as the final issue of Ravagers revealing the fate of him and his fellows has yet to be released.  However, much like she did with Kid Flash in the 80’s series, Raven latches onto him and manipulates his mind to get his help in the current situation unfolding.  Jury’s out on whether that includes backing the Titans or backing her “dear” old dad.  In the realm of the current roster of Titans, Trigon’s entrance foreshadows great revelation.  When looking at Cassie he cryptically mentions that she would have turned out quite different if she had been raised by her father and “if [she] only knew her true lineage.”  When looking at Kid Flash he hints again at Kid Flash’s crimes in the future that the young speedster has forgotten.  And he also reveals that the silver haired youth that has been killing people in the past two issue, is in fact the psychicly psycho Psymon.  So much awesome is happening in this issue.  The darkness of New Teen Titans was what galvanized DC into more serious, stark portrayals of its characters by virtue of the phenomenal storytelling of its younger heroes in those hallowed pages.  Scott Lobdell is doing that yet again in the new millennium with powerful storytelling and amazing art from Brett Booth, Ale Garza, and lately with the incredible Eddy Barrows.
  

  The Return of the old “New Teen Titans”

• Before Watchmen: The Comedian #6 was disappointing.  It started out amazing in the first three issues, but then in the last three totally lost any depth or sense of direction.  The narrative seemed aimless and the ambling path it took didn’t take the reader, even accidentally, anywhere interesting.  J.G. Jones’ art was really good, but Azzarello’s script fell flat.  The Comedian comes home stateside and is an embarrassment to a lot of top government people, including his old friend Robert Kennedy.  Kennedy is at the time making his bid for the presidency and is planning to hang the Comedian out to dry.  Despite that, Eddie Blake outwardly doesn’t seem to bear Bobbie any ill will.  However, when one of his agency buddies tells him that there is going to be an attempt on Bobbie’s life and when it is going to happen, Eddie either lets it happen or kills Bobbie himself.  Its really hard to say.  There is the possibility that I am missing something deeper, but I highly doubt it.  Its worth reading the first half of this series.  Skip the second, and your imagination can do a much better job of concluding it.
• Batman: The Dark Knight #19 was underwhelming across the board.  Arc artist Ethan Van Sciver, for whom I stayed on this title despite my waning interest, is absent this issue being replaced by Szymon Kudranski.  Kudranski’s art is good and fits the tone of this book, but like other artist switch-ups DC has been throwing out, it jars the reader s who’ve seen Van Sciver’s artwork up until this point, which is nowhere near similar to Kudranski’s.  In it we see a further account of the Mad Hatter’s descent into madness as an adolescent on testosterone pills and his insane plan in the present that will cost hundreds of lives.  Also returning is the followup to Bruce Wayne’s revelation to his Ukraining piano prodigy girlfriend that he is in fact the Batman.  Mad Hatter sees her at a concert she puts on and immediately falls for her psychotically.  Nothing but bad is on the horizon.  On paper the plot sounds interesting, but draw out it is a little lacking.
• All-Star Western #19 finds Jonah panning for gold out West after his departure from Gotham last issue.  He’s looking for gold when the issue opens, but Gold finds him!  Booster Gold, time travelling superhero.  Gold hasn’t been seen in the New DCU since the conclusion of of the Justice League International Annual about a year ago.  That apocalyptic moment portended something major in the offings, most likely the hinted at Trinity War this July.  So far Gold hasn’t mentioned the how or why of his being in the Old West, but shows up here as the sheriff of a town called Red River Junction.  This town that he’s become lawman of is brutally massacred by a gang of cutthroats on Jonah Hex’s axe list.  Thus a shaky alliance is formed between the quintessential Western anti-hero and the time travelling buffoon that Hex refuses to believe comes from the far future.  Intriguing plot to say the least and one that could eventually shed some light on larger events brewing in DC’s future storylines throughout the New 52.  Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray continue to rock the title with Moritat’s art characterizing it brilliantly.
• Arrow #6 features a trinity of excellent storytelling.  Leading the pack is a story scripted by Emilio Aldritch and drawn by Green Arrow royalty, Mike Grell.  In it Oliver intercepts a drug shipment from South America to Starling  City.  In the process he meets a young boy who is plagued in much the same way as him by the sins of a father.  The next has Oliver attending a football game with Tommy only to be caught in the middle of an insane ex-player’s suicide plot that will take out most of the fans in the stadium at halftime.  The final story showcases Det. Quinton Lance and the sacrifices he makes in his personal life to do his job to the best of his abilities.  Honestly, hard-edged as he is, he is a man of honor that is dealt a hard hand by life while simply trying to be the best cop he can be.  Three really excellent stories in the Arrow line, accentuating the inherent gems of the television show.
• Jupiter’s Legacy #1 is a meteoric first installment to what promises to be an incredible series from creators Mark Millar and Frank Quitely.  Starting in 1932, the narrative follows a team of young explorers led by a clairvoyant, handsome gentleman by the name of Sheldon Sampson as they seek an island that has called to him in his dreams.  The story splits as the island comes into sight, cutting to 2013 when this group has obviously gotten older and, as we see, attained super powers that they have used to defend America and lead it back to prosperity after the Great Depression that led them to seek out the island in the first place.  Their children are in their early to late 20’s and are indolent, debauch party animals, lacking a cause to fight for or believe in.  On the surface one would think that they are disappointments to their parents and not worth a damn, but if one takes a closer look there are some very deep, philosophical and sociological implications beneath who these young men and women have become and why.  The scenes, dialogue, and expressions of the characters are so well choreographed as to each be infinitely telling.  A picture is worth a thousand words?  Millar’s scripting and artist Frank Quitely’s visual renderings prove this adage and the merit of comics inherently because of it.  Admittedly, Millar is a writer of great merit, but Frank Quitely’s artwork was what got me to pick this series up in the first place.  There is an otherworldly, sensual beauty to his art and he delivers that in spades with this first issue.  The promise of where these two paragons of comic writing can take us is literally infinite.
  

  The Old Guard

• The Unwritten #48 opens after last issue’s revelation that Wilson Taylor is trapped in the underworld after his death at the hands of Pullman two years ago after unveiling the last Tommy Taylor book.  As the plot progresses we see that Tom is beginning to remember who he is and why he chose to come to Hades.  These emergent memories terrify him because of the importance of them.  The importance of finding a woman (we know he’s talking about Lizzy Hexam) who was very special to him and whom he is afraid to fail.  She is somewhere in the underworld, which was the reason for his going there in the first place, and we find out just where she has been.  Also of great importance is the appearance of a golden pillar in Pauly Buckner’s kingdom that is slowly expanding outward.  His servants tell him that it is a portal, but to where they do not know.  This issue has many small revelations that have resonating importance throughout the whole of The Unwritten.  I very much look forward to the next installment that has infinite promise considering the last panel of this issue.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman Inc #10: Art by Chris Burnham, colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Superman #19: Art by Kenneth Rocafort, Colored by Blond

Teen Titans #19: Drawn by Eddy Barrows, Colored by Alex Sinclair, Inked by Eber Ferreira

Jupiter’s Legacy #1: Art by Frank Quitely, Colored by Peter Doherty

Week 82 (March 27, 2013)

This week features some really incredible issues. Batman Inc brings us to the direct aftermath of the slaying of Robin, Damian Wayne, and what that portends for the overall Batman universe.  Joe Kubert Presents concludes its six issue run.  And so many other books of merit, there’s no point in prefacing them.  Here they are:

• Batman Inc #9 represents a turning point in the title.  The forces of Leviathan continue to press their advantage upon the Batman Incorporated lines.  However, following the deaths of several Batman Inc agents, not least of which Batman’s son, Damian, the forces of the Batman begin to rally against the oppressive foe with renewed vigor.  If the state of affairs as of this issue’s ending had to be boiled down to one sentence it be simply be: “It is ON!”  Batman is ANGRY and his inner circle of allies are champing at the bit as well.  Talia’s plan is a well oiled machine, but her cloned son going off script and murdering his “twin” was perhaps the chink in the chain that will break her dreams of revenge on the Dark Knight and his legacy.  Though in the end, after killing their child, how much lower can she bring Batman?  With the terror she has inflicted on Gotham and the political pressure from above to acquiesce to her demands, Batman Inc is outlawed and driven back into the shadows of Gotham.  However, where do bats do their best hunting?  Grant Morrison is writing an opera and each issue is a well orchestrated movement.  Chris Burnham’s art, however, is the orchestra that brings it all to vibrant life.  He takes the beautifully poignant scripts and brings them to brutal, bone wrenching realization.  There are only a few artists whose work can pair perfectly with Morrison’s stories and Burnham is one of them.  What little is left of this meteoric run is going to be nothing short of magical.
  

  Don’t Mess With the Batman

• Red Lanterns #18 brings the Regent of Rage, Atrocitus, under the thumb of Volthoom.  This horrific monstrosity plays people’s painful emotions like a violin and what can be rawer than someone whose very existence is a result of catastrophic loss.  Atros of Ryutt not only lost his family the day the Manhunters went berserk in Space Sector 666, he lost his entire race.  What would have happened if that genocide hadn’t occurred.  As ever, Volthoom is eager to show what might have been, and as ever, it is absolutely awful.  According to him, hatred and rage would have been Atrocitus’ destiny no matter what occurred or didn’t occur that day and if the Manhunters did annihilate his people as they did, so much innocent blood would never be on his hands and his crusade could be termed righteous thereafter.  On Earth, John Moore, aka Rankorr, attempts to find happiness with a young woman he saved in the streets of his old town.  However, Bleez might have something to say about it. Series writer Peter Milligan nails this plotline with his characteristic wit, brilliance, and sadistic charm.  What becomes all too apparent as the issue reaches its conclusion is that when the red ring slips on your finger you may find temporary satisfaction through vengeance, but you will never find happiness.  Atrocitus truly is a Greek tragedy personified and this  issue proves that as he give the Red Lanterns one last order in the final panel.  This issue was ridiculously good.  The only thing I that could have been better was the art.  Sorry, Miguel Sepulveda, but your art just doesn’t fit what I feel the tone of the book requires.
  

  Hell Hath No Fury

• Superman #18 comes fresh off of “H’el on Earth” with great skill and style.  In my review of last week’s Supergirl #18 I mentioned the danger inherent with coming off of a large event like this the Super-titles have, providing a jumping off point for readers unless a hook is sunk to keep them buying.  Supergirl sunk a hook and Scott Lobdell BURIED one with this issue.  Three major things occurred in this issue and each was drawn by a different artist along the lines of Green Lantern: New Guardians #18, also from last week’s releases.  Apropos New Guardians, the departing artist of that title, Aaron Kuder, provides art on the parts of the issue that usher in Orion of the New Gods into the plot.  For anyone that knows me or has read my posts with some frequency it is an understatement to say that I enjoy anything involving Jack Kirby’s Fourth World.  So far Geoff Johns has bungled magnificently the introduction of Apokalips and its leader Great Darkseid into the New 52 continuity, but Brian Azzarello’s intro of Orion hasn’t been terrible.  If I trusted anyone in DC’s current stable of creators with the Fourth World, it would be this series’ writer, Scott Lobdell.  Here he beings the pitting of noble Orion against the Man of Steel.  In the mean time, however, Superman has other more immediate worries on his mind.  Tyler Kirkham (*ahem* Also a New Guardians artist) draws a segment of the story in which the United States government summons Superman to a Congressional  hearing in which the Fortress of Solitude’s purpose is questioned and an inspection by International representatives is demanded.  In his civilian identity of Clark Kent has to deal with unemployment and Cat Grant, who quit the Daily Planet shortly after Clark and who has big plans for their collective future.  Cat Grant has always been portrayed as really callow and something of a bimbo.  She’s fairly superficial in this representation on the outside, but I applaud Lobdell for giving her some substance deep down.  I mean, she quit the Planet when Clark was forced to resign for journalistic integrity.  She didn’t have to.  She had a sweet gig as a popular trends journalist and was one of the voices of fashion and culture.  Regardless of how vapid she may be, that shows really character.  Scott Lobdell constantly astounds me at the amazing stories he’s telling at DC.  Superman continues to be one of the must read titles.
  

  Orion

• Flash #18 features a story written exclusively by series cowriter and colorist Brian Buccellato and with art by guest artist Marcio Takara in which Barry Allen and the Flash try to pick up the pieces after the conclusion of the Gorilla Invasion of the Gem Cities and Barry’s civilian identity is brought back from the “dead.”  In the wake of these events a whole new status quo has been established.  Two men caught in Speed Force, following the Flash’s tearing the fabric of space and time with his speed, gain Flash-like abilities, albeit of a lesser caliber.  Also the Trickster is framed for murder and the Flash sets out to prove one of his archenemies’ innocence.  The story is very compelling, humorous, and engaging.  I do not know how large a part series artist and cowriter Francis Manapul is, but in his absence Brian Buccellato has scripted an incredible issue.  Marcio Takara’s art is different from the usual Manapul style, but closer than usual fill in artist, Marcus To.  Altogether an incredible issue.
• Talon #6 is hands down one of the most important issues that has come out.  This series spins off of a major plot point of the Bat-books and takes it into its own right.  Writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV brings the title to a crescendo.  When last we left Calvin Rose he was infiltrating an impregnable fortress off the coast of New York.  The prize within is the Grand Master of the Court of Owls and his most sensitive documents.  However, the Court aren’t easily assailed.  The genius of the issue lies in its complete turn around of everything we’ve come to understand about the series, but also in the way it plays into a major mystery left by the end of the “Court of Owls” plot line in Batman. Guillem March’s artwork ties it all together.  Simply genius.
• Teen Titans #18 is the final “Requiem” issue of the Bat-books in memoriam of Damian, giving us Tim Drake’s reaction to his “little brother’s” death.  Damian managed to piss off every member of the Bat family, but Tim was the one who received the lion’s share of antagonism with the young Wayne.  In fact, though it was pre-Reboot, the first time Damian met Tim he tried and almost succeeded in killing him. Needless to say, there is no love lost between them.  But despite all that, they were very similar and Tim wanted him and all young heroes to be safe.  His speech to the ghost of Damian, product of his grief, about why he set out to create the Teen Titans for kids like him to keep them safe was truly moving.  From there Tim takes the Titans to Belle Reve prison in Louisiana for a toe-to-toe with Amanda Waller’s Suicide Squad.  The rationale is not revealed, but knowing writer Scott Lobdell, it will be crucial to something incredible over the horizon.  Lobdell is another master of spreading seeds throughout his issues that later grow into substantial plot points.  Doctor Light is seen in the shadows following a lead on the disappearance of a young Indian girl, Kiran Singh, whom we know to be Solstice, and a psychotic teen with super powers we met briefly last issue makes another cryptic appearance this issue.  The true draw to any reader of Teen Titans past or present is the surprise appearance in the last panel of a VERY big player in the DCU pantheon.  In summation, Scott Lobdell and Eddy Barrows knock it out of the park.
  

  A Little Brother’s Plea

• Aquaman #18 for the most part is an exploration of the new status quo in the title.  Aquaman has supplanted his brother, Orm, as king of Atlantis, leaving his wife, Mera, stranded on land.  Despite his best efforts to do what is right for his people, he seems to be doing what is wrong for those closest to him.  He has estranged himself from his wife whose people are hereditary enemies of Atlantis.  He has sold out his brother to surface dwellers, when in all reality Orm was only acting in defense of their people using battle plans they came up with TOGETHER.  Heavy weighs the crown it would seem, but I still am uneasy in my feelings for Aquaman.  His quest to rid the surface does represent an altruistic attempt to gently normalize relations between the worlds above and below the waves, giving him some pathos with the reader.  This quest also led to the introduction the classic Aquaman villain the Scavenger as well as Tula, here a half sister to Orm, but unrelated to Arthur, as he and Orm share a mother and Tula and Orm share a father.  What this issue does do which really makes it worthwhile is the appearance of an ancient evil that promises to turn this series on its head.  Geoff Johns is hit or miss lately and this one rides the edge.
• Batman: The Dark Knight #18 has Batman continuing on the trail of Mad Hatter.  The actual pursuit clearly isn’t important to the writer, Gregg Hurwitz, as it is fairly uninspired and lackluster.  In my opinion it seems only to be a mode of facilitating an examination of the Mad Hatter’s obsessive nature and a rationale behind why he is so violently insane.  Jervis Tetch has always been rather short, just like his Lewis Carroll namesake, and while taking a testosterone booster gets an irreversible rage issue compounded with delusional obsessions.  Hurwitz is more setting up the character for future exploration rather than focusing on an engaging tale.  He also seems to be developing a trope of juxtaposing the villain de jour with Batman, showing the overlapping similarities Batman shares with his icon nemeses.  After exploring the relationship between the damaged Mad Hatter and his loving parents, Hurwitz shows the relationship between the very damaged Batman and his parents, both sets of which want their sons to be happy, but the world contrevening against those wishes.  The story itself isn’t enjoyable per se, but analyzing it does yield some interesting material.
• Justice League Dark #18, while long and drawn out, is extremely simple.  Last issue, Dr. Peril of A.R.G.U.S. revealed that the magic world  the JLD traveled to as well as our world bleed magic through various locations and arcane persons.  The Magic World, taken over by scientists that banned all magic and enforce its suppression with super-science, is like a stopped up boiler.  Unless the magic can leech out in some manner the entire reality will be engulfed in the exploding energies built up over centuries.  This issue has Timothy Hunter’s father going to the Magic World and helping him leech those energies from the Earth and channel them into the Heavens.  After that the JLD exit the Magic World and return home.  Constantine, after he regains his ability to lie and mislead, postures a bit to make up for the fact that he was completely worthless for the past few issues (and pretty much is ALL the TIME) and officially tells Col. Steve Trevor of A.R.G.U.S. that his Justice League Dark are no longer under governmental oversight. This past arc wasn’t exactly anything that I was interested in and time will tell if I continue to read it.  The art by Mikel Janin is gorgeous and perhaps its only selling point at his juncture.  Jeff Lemire is a decent writer, but a lot of the “magic” has gone out of it with the departure of Peter Milligan and the convergence that seems to be going towards Geoff Johns’ imminent “Trinity War.” We’ll just have to see.
• All-Star Western #18 concludes what was begun last issue with the entrance of Vandal Savage to Gotham and the outbreak of what was thought to be a cholera epidemic in the poorer sections of Gotham.  In fact it was a disease Vandal had carried with him over the past several hundred years, dormant in his system.  All of it was for Vandal to get his hands on Catherine Wayne to force Alan Wayne into forfeiting his vast holdings in Gotham to Savage.  Jonah and Jeremiah come to her aid just in time to put Savage down for the time being.  But with the immortal despot, he will rise again and continue his mad plots.  After this, Jonah collects his bounty and heads out of Gotham once again.  The question remains as to whether or not he will be able to stay away.  Though he is a man of the West and has always been characterized as such, writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray always seem to bring him back to Gotham.  This two-parter seemed to not really have a solid point to it and ends anticlimactically, but does have some poignant moments that are very interesting if not arbitrary, such as the scene where Hex and Arkham take refuge from the hordes above in a storm cellar populated by a dwarf smuggler (that is to say a smuggler who is a little person) and a grief stricken mother with a doll surrogate for her disease-killed baby.  It facilitates next to nothing to the resolution or build up of the plot, but gives exceptional characterization and ambiance to the overall narrative.  The Palmiotti/Gray/Moritat creative team on this book is rock solid, making this title a must read.  In the backup feature, Palmiotti and Gray return to the character of Dr. Terrence Thirteen, scientific detective and debunker of superstition.  Done under the auspice of “Stormwatch” this one was palatable, because it had next to nothing to do with that BS title or its history.  Thirteen goes to a community of spiritualist mediums to catch a killer who masquerades as a giant pigman.  Precise in his observations, his intellect is inversely proportioned to his social ineptitude, making him a Wild West version of Sherlock Holmes, minus the Watson.  They bring it around to the Stormwatch concept at the end, but up until that point its quite enjoyable.
• The Unwritten #47 returns the narrative back to where we left Tom Taylor three months ago.  He had descended into the Underworld to get back the soul of his lost lover, Lizzy Hexam, and in the process lost all memory of who and what he was before his entrance into the realm of Hades.  Meeting up with the  slain children of the French prison warden in the first arc of the series, he attempts to find his way out by visiting the king.  The cliffhanger we left off on in issue #44 was the discovery that Pauly Buckner had become the king of the Underworld.  This issue fills us in on how Pauly went from facing oblivion at the beginning of the “Wound” arc (at the time in his human form) to being stuck as a rabbit again and presiding over the realm of the dead.  Pauly is the worst kind of “person” and of course he’s going to do something nasty when given the chance to sadistically toy with someone.  He commands his masked guardsman of the dead to imprison Tom in the dungeons.  In Hades, as in Hell, you are imprisoned by your crime.  With no memory Tom can’t rightly confess his crime, even were he to want to.  There is a holding area for others, victims of the Wound, who have no crimes to repent for.  On the way down one of the masked guardsman tells Tom the basics of why he in fact came down into the Underworld and bids him look upon something that he is meant to see.  Here we see a very existentialist dilemma in Tom.  After being without knowledge for a decent amount of time and then given the chance at regaining it, he is terrified.  Knowledge is a weight we carry and the hints at the return of who he was and what he did are terrifying to him.  It is one of the key facts of human existence.  Like Adam and Eve who ate the fruit, they gained vast knowledge but also inherited great evil as well.  Tom is left to determine whether he will take the road towards “something” or remain in a state of “nothing[ness].”  What lies behind the door that the guardsman bids him enter is something that all readers of the series are going to wish a great deal to read more about.  I love this series.  Mike Carey and Peter Gross are geniuses and this series shines forth that genius with luminous glory.  If you haven’t read the series so far, pick up the graphic novels, gorge yourself in their magnificence so you can get to this issue and enjoy it with all the Unwritten faithful.
• Joe Kubert Presents #6 is the final issue created by and now in memoriam to one of the greats of the comic medium, bearing his name proudly in the title.  This issue starts off with the final chapter of the “Spit” feature, written, drawn, and colored by Kubert.  It is precisely the coloring that is so perplexing and has made me rack my brain over.  The other three episodes were all done in the grey tone black and white pencil medium that Kubert is renown for.  He briefly goes back to it for several panels as the ships cook relates the tale of how he lost his leg, but most of the story is depicted in pastel-like splendor.  I think it would have been more apt, if the point was demarcating the past from present, to have the flashback in vibrant color, but then again I am not Kubert and perhaps lack the insight he employed in his storycraft.  This last segment shows with great visual detail and narrative skill the method of hunting, killing, and rendering the whales into the oil that fueled Western civilization before the advent of petroleum.  Only Joe Kubert.  “Spit” was a seminal work of short fiction, and with no solid ending it is obvious Kubert wasn’t done with the poor lad yet.  Too bad.  He was a bright boy who sailed over the horizon and now we’ll never see where he went or who he became.  Again, too bad.  The next feature, written by Kubert and Pete Carlsson and entitled “Ruby”, takes the reader to the orient in a bygone era as bandits invade a Himalayan monastery.  Inside a young brother and sister try to evade the bandits, but instead run into a monk who gives them a great treasure. Guess what that treasure happens to be.  Holding the ruby, the boy realizes it has strange powers that grant both children the means to escape.  It is brief and engaging, having all the hallmarks of the old serial anthology books of the 50’s and 60’s and one thinks that that is the end of the story.  The final sentence of the narrattion turns it all around.  “The boy clasping his small sister’s hand will be known in time as . . . Sargon the Sorcerer.”  Sargon is one of the lesser known, but immensely powerful and infinitely mysterious magic users of the DCU and in his last days on Earth Joe Kubert gave us a brief yet authentic feeling origin for the mighty magician.  It should be noted that although the panels on this feature bear a striking resemblance to Kubert’s style, it is actually drawn by Henrik Jonsson.  Next the book turns to the “U.S.S. Stevens” feature.  As he did in the last issue, Sam Glanzman eschews personal reminiscences in lieu of a point by point history lesson on the high points of the final days of the War in the Pacific.  This description of his final segment in the feature recounting the service of his Destroyer and its crew during WWII is deceptively unfair considering how engaging and compelling it is.  Though its a history lesson, its a history lesson from the coolest teacher you ever had.  The one that knew what you wanted to hear and related from someone who was there.  A vibrant voice of a dying generation of men and women, Sam Glanzman has recorded his story in the medium that has been his life since the war ended: pen, paper, and panel.  The “Angel and the Ape” feature also, obviously, comes to its final chapter.  Writer/artist Brian Buniak continues his lighthearted, satirical farce with the tale of how Angel and Sam Simeon came to found their detective agency.  Buniak’s work is laden with witticism, obvious corny jokes, and some really veiled jokes that take a trained eye.  I have to admit that I was really proud of myself when I picked up on one specific one.  The raven haired reporter interviewing the duo’s name is Noel.  Now at the end of the issue when she goes back to the newspaper office there is a dark haired handsome male reporter with black hair and glasses.  She calls him “George.”  Thinking he looked like Superman and his name being George, I realized that while George Reeves portrayed Superman in the 50’s television show, Noel Neill portrayed Lois Lane.  You are a sharp one, Mr. Buniak.  The final feature to cap the series off was a one shot story of “Kamandi: Last Boy on Earth” cowritten by Kubert and Brandon Vietti, the latter of which also provided art.  Kamandi attempts to raise men up from their savage state after a cataclysm that left humans de-evolved and raised animal tribes to the dominant species of the planet.  The series was originally written by comics god Jack Kirby and in this issue Kubert resurrects the Demon Etrigan to contend with Kamandi’s efforts.  Again, I am at a loss for what Kubert meant to say with the story, but trust that there is some meaning.  If there isn’t, well then it was an interesting meeting of two of Jack’s greatest creations.  I hope Kirby and Kubert are both in Heaven talking about what Joe did right or very, very wrong.  In any event, Joe Kubert was a testament to what the comics medium once was, what is has become, and what it has the possibility to be as we grow with it, just like he did, starting in the industry at 17 and dying at his drawing board at 82.  One last time I will say it: Rest in Peace, Joe!  If anyone’s earned some rest, it’s you.
  

  Sargon the Sorcerer

  
  

• Time Warp #1 is yet another of Vertigo’s anthology collections based upon a theme.  Obviously with Time Warp, time and its manipulation are the basis of the collected stories.  In some cases time travel is utilized, but that isn’t the only facet of time explored.  In others memory is revealed to be the surest and perhaps only means of manipulating time.  The creative voices lending their thoughts and yarns here include Damon Lindelof (Lost), Jeff Lemire, Gail Simone, Mark Buckingham, Peter Milligan, M.K. Perker, Matt Kindt, as well as several others. I will say that these stories, or at least the ones I will write about, are so good I am going to spoil them, so if you want to read them fresh please stop here. SPOILER ALERT!!!  The first story, drawn by Jeff Lemire and written by Damon Lindelof, follows DC’s own time-master, Rip Hunter, as he gets stranded in prehistory.  There is legitimately no way for him to get back.  As the story opens he is being chased by a T-Rex and relates that in the second grade he had said getting eaten by a dinosaur would be the best way to die.  Apparently he should be careful what he wishes for.  However, through the chase three versions of himself give him clues as to what he needs to do next to stay alive, as two versions of him going back in one time sphere would corrupt time.  However, a VERY old Rip, the third to appear, lets the Rip whose progress we’ve been following use his sphere.  When asked about being left behind, old Rip simply says that in second grade he’d figured that being eaten by a dinosaur was the best way to go.  Our Rip leaves and old Rip looks up at the dinosaur and says, “I’m ready now.”  His resolve at the end to face death with calm and courage registers true, but also is poignant because he chose his death after a long journey.  It wasn’t an enemy, but a friend.  Well done, Messrs. Lindelof and Lemire.  The next story, entitled “It’s Full of Demons,” begins in 1901 with a girl and her brother playing in the mountains when a strange visitor wearing what appears to be a futuristic deep sea diver’s suit appears out of nowhere and kills the girl’s brother with a ray gun.  She tries to tell people what happened, but is deemed insane and sent in and out of insane asylums over the next fifty-five years.  What’s even stranger is that after WWI the world takes a very different course and a unifty commonwealth of nation emerges.  Eventually, the woman hangs herself when world peace is finally realized by this world confederacy.  At that moment in the last panel someone FINALLY calls her by her name, or at least her maiden name: Miss Hitler.  Her little brother “Addy” who was murdered was Adolf Hitler and his absence led to a unifying of the world in a lasting peace.   The last piece that struck me in this anthology was written by Gail Simone about a candy shop whose owner has a sweet that can make you relive the best moment of your life.  For a very ill little boy with a very serious condition the candy takes him to a skiing trip that he took with his parents before the onset of his disease.  For a man who lost his wife, he is back with her on a beautiful tropical beach.  However, a murder comes in wishing to relive the night he murdered his wife, a crime for which he was acquitted.  There is a twist ending to this one, but I won’t spoil it this time.  There are many other excellent stories in this collection, but those three stood out as the true masterworks.  It is solicited that the next anthology they are going to put out is called “The Witching Hour.”  I very much look forward to reading that one as well, considering the level of quality that Vertigo has put in their previous collections.
  

  Rest In Peace, RIP.

So ends a REALLY excellent week of comics.  The two anthology books, Joe Kubert Presents and Time Warp, kind of make me nostalgic for when such titles were more common place.  Next week we enter into a new month of comics excellent story lines.  Hope to see you there.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman Inc #9: Art by Chris Burnham, colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Red Lanterns #18: Art by Miguel Sepulveda, Colored by Rain Beredo

Superman #18: Art by Aaron Kuder, Colored by Sunny Gho

Teen Titans #18: Drawn by Eddy Barrows, Colored by Alex Sinclair, Inked by Eber Ferreira

Joe Kubert Presents #6: Art by Henrik Jonsson, Colored by Joe Panico

Time Warp #1: Art by Jeff Lemire, Colored by Jose Villarrubia

Week 78 (Feb. 27, 2013)

This week and probably from now on I am going to only review the comics I read with which I have a strong opinion.  I have been bogged down the past several weeks trying to review everything and I think that that has been a lose/lose situation, holding up my postings and also cluttering them with uninspired, uninteresting nonsense from me.  So there may be gaps in my postings where I will review a series out of the blue or skip a month or two.  If there is a series you want to see reviewed, feel free to message me at any time and I will try to include the series you are interested in.  That said, let’s get to it:   

• Flash #17 brings the gorilla invasion of the Gem Cities to its stunning conclusion.  Going through all possible outcomes to the intervention, Flash is unable to see a way in which he can attack Grodd and win.  Grodd’s victory is almost assured no matter what is done against him.  With his grasp on the Speed Force that he has stolen and his army behind him, his position is impregnable.  There is only one factor that Flash gambles on. Barry takes Grodd into the Speed Force where that very principle adjudicates the outcome.  On the outside Grodd is King and has immense physical strength, a technologically superior army, and an augmented grasp on the Speed Force.  Within the Speed Force, however, the Force itself determines its champion and Flash is the  that champion, nearly omnipotent within.  In this way, writers Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato firmly establish the core truths of the Flash.  He is the Chosen One of the Speed Force.  He is one of the most brilliant tacticians in the DCU, literally living infinite tangential realities in his mind, finding the one in which the day can be saved.  But most important of all, he is the Fastest Man Alive.  The art and writing of this series are at the top echelon of comics put out today, in a marriage that all should aspire to. My only fear is the hinting of a future relationship between Barry and Iris West.  Its bound to happen, but I would rather have it come much later, rather than sooner.  I’ve always been a proponent for Patty Spivot and considering how she turned on a dime in her opinion of the Flash, rallying to Barry’s side, I think she’s earned a place with him for a decent stretch of time.  Conversely, the way Iris attempted to manipulate Barry in last issue, I think she’s earned a place in the penalty box for an equivocal time period.
• Aquaman #17 provides an epilogue from the five part “Throne of Atlantis” crossover with Justice League.  In this respect it still had the pang of annoyance from the atrocious way that Geoff Johns writes the aforementioned team book.  After wresting the crown from his younger brother, Orm, Arthur has ascended the throne of Atlantis.  In the wake of his re-coronation those on land still blame him for the massive casualties of the attacks on Boston, Gotham, and Metropolis, and the Atlanteans don’t trust him because of his time living amongst the land dwellers and his leniency concerning their incursions upon the ocean.  While talking to Amanda Waller, he is told that Orm is facing the death penalty for his orchestration of the Boston attack, even though Aquaman turned him in under the agreement that his brother would only face imprisonment.  So in essence this issue picks up with Aquaman purchasing peace by offering up his younger brother as a scapegoat to slaughter, and is distrusted by both those he above and below the water.  So what all did he gain?  Who is Aquaman doing all of this for.  The answer is given in this issue and it validates him, in my opinion, as a character and raises this title once again above the putrescent stench of Justice League.  It also introduces the next arc of the series, hinted at in “Throne of Atlantis” and rife with possibilities.  If you don’t know who the Dead King is, you soon will.  Great issue by Geoff Johns following a mediocre crossover event
  

  King of the Seven Sea

• Batman Inc #8 left me at a bit of a loss.  Its a powerful issue, but one that makes the reader question what is real and what is only seemingly real.  Grant Morrison wrote a way for it to be true, but once again the master storyteller throws a curve ball at the reader, upping the ante and really making us wonder how this thing can possibly end.  Talia’s war with Batman is a war of attrition and as the dominoes fall even she is not fully prepared for the horrors she has invoked.  The kind of drama and true heartache that this issue elicits in its readers could only be cultivated over years and years of careful planning and composing, as Morrison has done since 2006.  Seven years building a beautifully intricate house of cards and now they fall in one swift stroke.  This is a Batman series that CANNOT, and MUST NOT be missed.
• Red Lanterns #17  takes Atrocitus and the Red Lanterns into the “Wrath of the First Lantern” storyline.  In the Green Lantern chapter we are introduced to the concept of the “Great Heart”, a device that houses the emotions of the Guardians of the Universe.  Penetrating this inner sanctum, robot watchmen accost Atrocitus offering to remove all emotion from him including his unquenchable rage and the anguish over the murder of his family and race that drove him to his current state.  Also interesting is his encounter of the soul of Krona, the architect of the genocide that resulted in the destruction of Atrocitus’ sector of space and his family.  On Earth, Rankorr attempts in his own way to purge his rage and live a normal life.  It seems possible in this issue, but will time say otherwise?  Peter Milligan truly shows his authorial mastery in this series, making monsters twisted by anger into relatable protagonists.
• Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #4 concludes this title with Dr. Manhattan altering all realities so that he will always become the entity that the intrinsic field generator forged him into.  Yet, still there is a blurriness that obscures his vision of his future, meaning that a large burst of tachyons will be emitted at a certain moment in his future.  His initial hypothesis is that this is caused by all out nuclear war at a scale that would annihilate all living things on Earth.  When he speaks to Ozymandias about this the latter tries to persuade him that this could be caused by his own self generating energy if it were used to solve the energy crisis on a global scale.  This seems logical to him.  Writer J. Michael Straczynski then flips the narrative (literally to the point where one flips the comic upside down to read it) and shows how the Smartest Man Alive tricks the omniscient Dr. Manhattan into not only allowing his genocidal plan, but fueling it.  Though his assertion of Dr. Manhattan altering ALL possible realities is laughable, J. Michael Straczynski ends the series quite well and perfectly aligns it with the spirit of the original Watchman series from the 80’s.
  

  The Moment

• Talon #5 keeps to its high octane pace, pitting Calvin Rose against the full might of the Court of Owls.  In the past he’s hit their money, he’s hit their symbology, but in this issue his target is the repository of their information located in a fortress built by his lover, Casey Washington’s, father.  Originally he was sent to kill Casey and her daughter Sarah so that the Court could take this building and control the most secure network known to man.  Now it comes full circle as he takes it back with the help of the woman he went AWOL to protect.  The importance of this building merits more than the usual muscle and Calvin may have gotten in over his head.  Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV write this series seamlessly and Guillem March takes that story and makes it visually beautiful with his luscious art.
• Teen Titans #17 is sort of an epilogue to “Death of the Family” but more so, it is a prologue to an event called “Light and Dark.”  Several things happen within.  First we are introduced to a doctor working with kids that have unwanted metagenes who is solicited as the new Doctor Light.  We also are shown Tim moving the Titan’s home from LexCorp Towers to a luxurious yacht.  The team begins to settle in, when Tim begins to exhibit some strange behavior.  He puts the moves on Solstice, who has been seeing Bart Allen, aka Kid Flash, but despite brief protestations she succumbs to his advances.  Next we see him, Wonder Girl comes into his room wearing one of his t-shirts and nothing else.  He then seduces her, which raises some more eyebrows.  However, the echos of his honeyed words fall into an infernal looking chamber where Trigon’s daugher Raven sits with a goblet of wine in one hand.  So it can be assumed that Raven provides the dark to the title and Dr. Light obviously the light.  Writer Scott Lobdell looks to be revitalizing two hallmark Teen Titan characters: Raven, who was once a hero, and Dr. Light, an iconic Teen Titans villain.  He’s rarely gone astray, so I wait with great anticipation for what he has in store for us in future issues.  Also worth noting is that Nightwind and Teen Titans have swapped artists with Eddy Barrows taking over art duties on this issue and Brett Booth becoming the new Nightwing writer.  So far no complaints on my end.
  

  The Dark Side of Tim Drake

• All-Star Western #17 brings a benchmark character of the DC Universe to 1880’s Gotham: Vandal Savage. Coming to Gotham he is almost like a vampire, walking through the streets and instantly invoking awe and terror from those he meets from lowly criminals in the slums to the Court of Owls in the highest eyries of Gotham society.  He also brings with him a plague unlike anything the modern world had seen since the days of the Black Death in Europe.  Alan Wayne’s wife, Catherine, attempts to bring food and medicine to the quarrantined parts of Gotham only to be kidnapped by the hordes of diseased.  Thus Alan dispatches Hex, Arkham, and three others to go into the cordoned off districts of Gotham to rescue her.  The stakes are high and all roads lead to the enigmatic Vandal Savage as the cause of the disease and chaos is explored.  In the backup there is a Stormwatch story from the 19th century that frankly I could care less about.  They aren’t interesting in this century and they fail to be interesting in the two prior ones.  Onto the next issue.
• Arrow #4 delivers another three chapters in the “Arrow” mythology.  First up is a yarn scripted by Ben Sokolowski and Moira Kirkland and drawn by Eric Nguyen where Ollie takes out a name on the list who is a hitman that does underground cage fighting in his downtime.  Taking him on in the cage where most die at his hand appears to be the only option to cross his name off.  As ever, Ollie commits himself 150%.  However, when an alternative to the cage is presented, Ollie refuses to back down, raising the question in Diggle’s mind as to whether or not Ollie isn’t doing this for other reasons.  Next up is a tale told by Marc Guggenheim and drawn by the incomparable Mike Grell entitled “Huntress: Year One.”  After she bugged out of Starling City, as seen in her two issue arc on the show, Helena Bertinelli goes to Sicily, the land of her forefathers, to learn the art of vengeance from the criminal fraternity La Morte Sussurrata.  Narrated from her perspective with Guggenheim’s words and depicted with Grell’s stark artwork this story is chilling to behold and rounds out her character into an even more sinister whole than we left her at two months ago. Finally the story “Limbo” has Oliver going aboard a yacht to destroy a drug shipment come in from southeast Asia.  However on the dinghy ride out and onboard the yacht his mind is plagued by ghosts of the sinking of the Queen’s Gambitm hampering his ability to react to danger and almost getting him killed.  From this we see that his past still is a raw nerve that the slightest reminder can dredge up dark memories.  This comic series is incredible when put side to side with the television series each and every week.  Well worth the purchase if you love the television series
  

  The Huntress on the Prowl

• Unwritten #46 ends the two part storyline following Richie Savoy and Det. Didge Patterson in their investigation of zombie attacks in Australia.  Upon deeper investigation the case of the boy who is compelled to write the stories that bring these monsters into being only to have them kill those close to him isn’t unique.  Similar instances of others warping time and reality have been reported leading to an explanation of the state of the fictional world post-“Wound.”  Mike Carey and Peter Gross are creating a world that redefines how one conceives of the relationship between fact and fiction.  The idea that if something is thought, there is a factuality about it because it has been conjured into its own existence is a paradox that provokes much consideration.  As this series has gone on from its first issue to this 46th installment the concept has gotten grander, more complex, and even more amazing to contemplate.  Next issue promises a return to Tom Taylor in the Land of the Dead and resolution as to his fate.  Like anything related to this series, its worth the wait.
• Joe Kubert Presents #5  begins with a Sgt. Rock story, written by his friend Paul Levitz (a genius in his own right) and of course drawn by himself.  This piece has a very elegiac tone that makes me wonder whether during its writing Joe Kubert didn’t already know he was dying.  He talks about its composition in the editorial section of the issue, but I still find myself wondering if that wasn’t an unspoken impetus behind the funereal feel of this story.  Joe drew and sometimes wrote Sgt. Rock, following his interest and passion for war stories and telling the tales of the unsung heroes of the past that kept us free or laid down their lives for reasons both poignant and foolish.  This story is the epitome of poignant, anti-war rhetoric, cutting to the bleeding core of what the character of Sgt. Rock embodies.  A middle aged son and teenaged grandson of a D-Day veteran go to the Normandy beach where their unnamed progenitor stormed the German lines and lost many friends.  This event mirrors a trip that Levitz took with his own son.  They talk about how among those that he fought beside was the legendary Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.  Speculation was that Rock died on last day of WWII.  Another legend states that he lived past the war and fought in other conflicts.  The truth doesn’t really matter because he fought among all of those that died that day and his legacy is buried with each and every one of them.  So too would their father/grandfather, whose ashes they spread in the G.I. cemetery among the field of white crosses and stars. In Sam Glanzman’s “U.S.S. Stevens” segment, he chronicles the start of WWII from the days just prior to the Japanese attack through the major hallmarks of the war in the Pacific.  Whereas the last four installments have been personal and anecdotal, this one, while set up and worded in an engaging manner, was more historical in a fact by fact presentation.  Following it, Joe Kubert writes a two page editorial that introduces the Sgt. Rock feature and his friendship with writer Paul Levitz. In it he also talks about his family, including his eldest son, Dave, whom he tells us is a motorcycle enthusiast that lost a leg in a really nasty crash.  His son inspired him to write the next feature about a biker with one leg that takes shelter for the night in an abandoned old house.  The house hold many ghosts from past, however, both from its past owners and from the main character’s own past as a soldier in Afghanistan.  This story feels like the old horror comics told in anthology books of the 50’s and 60’s, but with a modern setting.  A testament befitting one of the golden age maestros of comics.  Next he tells us another story of Spit as the nameless boy attempts to make his way on the whaling vessel, and after that Brian Buniak gives us a tale in Angel and the Ape of how Angel and Sam first met.  This anthology book is phenomenal and I only wish that Joe Kubert could have made it to another run.  He’s given the comic medium and comic book readers over sixty years of classic stories and beautiful artwork.  I suppose he’s earned his rest.  Slacker.
  

  Requiem for Sgt. Rock

 

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Aquaman #17: Drawn by Paul Pelletier, Colored by Rod Reis, Inked by Sean Parsons

Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #4: Art by Adam Hughes, Colored by Laura Martin

Teen Titans #17: Drawn by Eddy Barrows, Colored by Alex Sinclair, Inked by Eber Ferreira

Arrow #4: Art by Mike Grell, Colored by David Lopez & Santi Casas

Joe Kubert Presents #5: Art by Joe Kubert

Week 74 (Jan. 30, 2013)

Ending the first motnh of 2013 comics, this week packs a LONG list of incredible titles and interesting storylines.  The Batman & Robin and Green Lantern Corps annuals are overflowing with possibilities pertaining to their individual series.  Two Before Watchmen titles bring us closer to the end of that line and a brand new appreciation for the seminal work by Alan Moore.  And then “Throne of Atlantis”, “H’El on Earth”. and “Death of the Family” each take a step forward with chapters of their crossover taking us one step further into their stories.  So here we go:

• Aquaman #16 delivers part four of the “Throne of Atlantis” crossover event, following the capture of the League and the the further invasion of Boston by the forces of Atlantis.  With the opening of the Trench several issues ago, which Arthur had sealed in the first arc of this series to contain the unstoppable fishmen horde, Aquaman must once again head back to the ancient lair of these creatures to rescue Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman.  While doing this Arthur learns something invaluable that connects both to the Trench beings themselves and the the scepter of the Dead King that Black Manta stole in the “Others” story arc.  This appears to be the precursor to the event’s conclusion as the culprit of the missile attack on Atlantis is revealed and the scepter makes its reappearance in unsafe hands.  Aquaman tends to teeter between being a phenomenal series and being not as good.  This issue leans in the direction of awesome.  There is a new mythology being built and some really interesting events foreshadowed.  Geoff Johns is introducing plot points and concepts that promise to mature into storylines that could be talked about for decades.  Or they could just fizzle like some of the things he’s been doing of late.  We’ll see.
  

  The Once and Future King

• Batman Inc #7  is a tour-de-force.  The series in its second and final arc has showed how Talia Al-Ghul has arranged the most perfect and intricate plot (at least that I can remember) to take out Gotham in a slow, protracted way that is seemingly impossible to stop and agonizing for Batman to watch.  Grant Morrison started writing the Batman title a little over seven years ago in 2005 and has slowly built up his own micro-Bat universe that we now see has been nothing less than a train of dominoes that that he is now tipping over.  So much of what he has introduced is now being destroyed.  Prophesies are unraveling, and Damian is coming to realize the truth behind his mother’s plan and appears to be the best candidate to save his father, his father’s city, and all his father’s allies from the insanity of his Hecuba-esque mother.  As Peter Tomasi wrote in Batman & Robin #0, Talia raised him to be a new Alexander, to conquer and pacify the modern world.  She conditioned him to perfection at the age of eight.  It is my assumption that though her plan to destroy Gotham is flawless, it is not immune to her own handiwork, vis-a-vis Damian.  This series gives me chills and is Grant Morrison at his finest. Artist Chris Burnham brings his A-game to the artwork, drafting it beautifully.  I want to know how this all ends SO BAD, but I also don’t because when it does Morrison will be off of the Batman character, which is something that I never want to see.   The ultimate conundrum . . .
  

  Son of the Bat/Son of the Demon

• Flash #16 was a delight to read.  Last issue Barry Allen was rendered unconscious and had to be rescued from Grodd by his girlfriend, police officer Patty Spivot, and other allies.  In his delirium his mind had gone through every possible outcome of how to beat Grodd and the moment he woke up the issue ended.  This issue opens with him deciding on a plan that we are not made privy to as well as  a touching scene between Barry and Patty talking about what he has to do and the depth of their feelings for one another.  I love Patty Spivot a lot, and I have a feeling that the writer/artists of this issue do too.  In another part of the issue they portray Flash’s wife from the previous incarnation of the series, Iris West, in a less than flattering manner when it comes to her relations and manipulations of Barry.  I hope that Barry and Patty have a decent amount of time together before the possibility of a relationship with Iris is put back on the table.  After parting ways with Patty the confrontation with Grodd commences and it is one that is both poignant and thought provoking in Barry’s approach.  The issue ends before the true meaning of it is made clear, but what is shown is intriguing to say the least.  Writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato write the Flash better than anyone (I’m looking at you, too, Geoff Johns) and they depict him visually amongside the greats.
• Red Lantern #16 is the final Green Lantern title before the culminating  Green Lantern Corps Annual.  Atrocitus digs deep and finds the humility and strength to resurrect the Manhunters, the soulless robot army of the Guardians that murdered his family and wiped out his sector of space, and use them as his instrument of revenge against their former masters, the Guardians.  On the Red Lantern homeworld of Ysmault, the Red Lantern custodian of the Central Power Battery, Ratchet, digs beneath the planet’s surface to ascertain the cause of the leeching of power from the Corps main battery.  What he finds cuts to the deepest secret of the Red Lantern Corps’ formation, as seen in Red Lantern #0.  On Earth Rankorr faces off against the street punk that murdered his grandfather.  His goal is to kill this man, concluding his initiatory vengeance that caused the ring to choose him.  With the help of Bleez, the Corps’ first lieutenant, he does so, but retains enough human compassion to temper his rage, once again raising the question of the nature of his ties to the red ring on his finger.  I love Bleez and her portrayal in this issue remains complex and fascinating to behold.  So many interesting things occur in this issue, including Atrocitus’s trip to Maltus, the first home of the Guardians, and what he finds there the Guardians hid away out of fear.  I am not certain what it is, but I have a very shrewd idea.  This issue, like those that came before it, is proof that Peter Milligan is one of the best comic writers out there.  In the latter half of this series Miguel Sepulveda has taken over the art and I hate it so much.  This issue had a guest artist, Andres Guinaldo, who to me was a breath of fresh air.  His art was very soft and rounded giving genuine feeling to the narrative and emotion to the very tough decisions that many of the characters had to make.  Red Lantern is a top tier title because of the rich material and the talented creators that mine it and hone it to perfection.
  

  A Lesson in Vengeance

• Green Lantern Corps Annual #1 ushers in the next major event in the saga of the Green Lantern Corps.  Just as the Green Lantern Annual #1 ushered in the current “Rise of the Third Army” event, this annual inaugurates the “Wrath of the First Lantern” event.  With “Rise of the Third Army” the Guardians have descended into pure evil, assassinating their own corps in order to replace them with thoughtless drones, just like the Manhunters before them.  But its not just their police force they are going to convert, but every sentient being in the universe.  A handful of Green Lanterns have found the Guardians out and rush to stop them before they can succeed in slaughtering their fellow corpsmen like lambs to the slaughter.  This annual was INSANE, bringing together all or most of the plot points from four Green Lantern titles to a single converging point.  In four books the Guardians’ evil scheme has been experienced by multiple, isolated parties.  By issue’s end, these parties are united against the Guardians, regardless of how they fair.  The fate of Mogo is also determined in this issue, and though the final verdict on how the planet Green Lantern fits into the Guardians’ heinous scheme, I remain optimistic and have to say, “Welcome back, Mogo.  You’ve been missed, Big Guy!”
• Batman & Robin Annual #1 is another key chapter in the evolving relationship between Bruce Wayne and his son, Damian.  Bruce is a very rigid person with a methodical nature centered around an equally rigid moral code.  Damian was raised in a more amoral atmosphere, but with the same rigidity and methodicalness.  That similarity yet diametrical difference between father and son has caused a lot of friction and misunderstanding.  But to the younger Wayne’s credit, when give the choice of staying with his father and live a life counter to his upbringing or go back to live with his mother who would give him his heart’s every desire, the ten year old doesn’t even pause.  He chooses the hard path of righteousness that his father has blazed for thirty odd years.  In this annual, Damian displays an emerging duality in his nature.  On one side he has Alfred whisk his dad away on a scavenger hunt across Europe of significant moments in Wayne history that he has discovered while trying to understand his father’s connection to his past.  Going from London, to Barcelona, to Athens, Bruce learns things about his parents that even he didn’t know.  Their loss was what prompted him to go on his crusade of vengeance that has consumed his life since that fateful day in his youth.  But that same crusade is also what blinded him to so much of his parents’ story.  So Damian reconnects him to his beloved parents in perhaps the kindest gift any son could give a father.  However, with Damian there is always a catch.  This time around, the scavenger hunt is a ruse to get Bruce out of Gotham so he can put on a makeshift Batman costume and be the Batman of Gotham for a week.  Interestingly enough, his costume is a smaller version of the trench coat Batman look that writer Grant Morrison has three times shown Damian to wear in the future when Damian becomes Batman.  This annual was really a heartfelt piece that compliments everything that Tomasi has done in the series thus far, accentuating the soul of two very interesting characters.
  

  A Glimpse Into The Past

• Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #5 delivers the penultimate chapter of the saga of Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias, the smartest man alive.  He’s already decided that if the world is going to continue through the nuclear age he has to be the one to save it from human shortsightedness. How he arrives upon the nightmarish scheme we see in the original Watchmen series is depicted in this issue and quite well.  I am curious as to whether his inspiration was mentioned in the original series or if Alan Moore talked about his own inspiration, because Len Wein’s explanation was spot on.  The lead up to Adrian’s undertaking of the project and the years that went into building up the infrastructure for it (14 by my count) are chronicled in minute detail, as is the implementing of the Keene Act that banned masked crime fighters.  Len Wein is one of the best writers in this Before Watchmen line and proves it in the analytic manner he composes the story, as well as the innovative way he spins the anti-heroic character considering the many sins Ozymandias commits on his path of altruism.  Jae Lee has been one of my favorite comic artists since I first saw his work on the Marvel Inhumans series years ago.  He’s been tied up with the Dark Tower series for several years now and its a delight to see him out and stretching his wings on a DC series.  The next issue of this series is going to tie the whole thing up and I am a’quiver with anticipation for the conclusion of a very intense story of one of the most iconically antipathetic characters in comics history.
• Before Watchmen: Dollar Bill is a one-shot Before Watchmen tale about one of the least known, gaudy characters springing forth from Alan Moore’s original 1980’s series.  In it writer Len Wein humanizes the character of Dollar Bill, telling us his name and the semi-relatable tale of the man who had everything and could achieve next to nothing.  Seemingly the opposite of what a superhero should be, William Brady has the looks, the stamina, and the charm to conquer the world, excelling in sports and graduating from Dartmouth.  However, when the real world and bad luck check his success and reduce him to an unemployable mess, fate steers him inadvertently into the world of costumed adventuring.  Watchmen was a series about “realistic” superheroes and Dollar Bill fits that mold wonderfully in what he is and how Wein portrays him.  Despite him being likened to people that I dislike in my everyday life, the inner monologue and down-to-earth perspective presented made me actually like him more than a little and mourn his passing at books end.  Being that he is a Minuteman, the original vigilante group from the 30’s and 40’s, his dying isn’t that big of a spoiler, especially if one has already read The Watchmen and knows the full sordid tale of his demise.  Steve Rude provides art and lettering on this book in a very nuanced manner that is very appropriate to the title.  I include that he is also the letterer, because the way he letters the captions with the colored, emboldened first letters for each separate box is a feature characteristic of Golden Age comics of the time that this book is meant to take place, circa 1940’s.   This touch, along with his art style makes this one shot seem very authentic and believably vintage.  If one is a Watchmen fan, this is one-shot a must read issue.
• Superman #16 picks up with H’el reliving his initial time with Superman’s parents, Jor-El and Lara, on Krypton months before its destruction.  These flashback sequences, of which there have been a few throughout the “H’el on Earth” crossover, are intriguing, as they paint H’el as a chivalrous man of the people, while at the same time calling into question the characters of Superman’s father and mother.  H’el’s scheme to restore Krypton at the cost of our entire solar system and it tens of trillions of inhabitants is nightmarish, and yet, though they have yet to come out and said it outright, H’el insinuates that Jor-El and Lara knew of and endorsed this plan.  Can that be, and if so what does it say about Superman’s heritage? On that same topic, through conversation between the two, we are shown that Supergirl is unaware that H’el’s plan will eradicate all life in our solar system and that H’el is consciously lying to her to gain her support in completing the plan.  And complete it they do, because by issue’s end the Star Chamber they have constructed is activated and the Oracle is awakened in another part of space to come and “bear witness to the end of a world.”  Kenneth Rocafort’s art makes this issue visually stunning and Scott Lobdell clearly helms the entire “H’el on Earth” crossover from this title, as every issue of Superman has been the wellspring of vital information concerning H’el’s plot and history.  Next month’s Superman #17 is solicited to bring this whole event to a close.  I, for one, cannot wait . . .
• Talon #4 picks up in the bowels of the Hudson Financial Building as former Talon, Calvin Rose, concludes his business of defunding the Court of Owls numerous investments through this shell financial institution.  Of course, as we saw in previous issues, the Court has unleashed an asset of theirs so horrific that he was not even given the status of Talon, nor the same considerations as the rest.  With his release, the Court tips their hand as to how desperate they are to stop Calvin and his comrade-in-arms, Sebastian Clark, from further interfering in their affairs.  Also thrown into the mix is Calvin’s former lover, Casey Washington, who leads her own underground army of fugitive members of other world cabals.  Originally Calvin severed their relationship for fear that further interactions between them would lead the Court to her and her daughter.  The end of this issue tests that assumption, as well as the mettle of both Calvin and Casey in the face of the Court’s riskiest gambit.  James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder craft the plot exquisitely and Guillem March, as with everything he does, renders it beautifully up each and every page.  This series is one of the cannot miss titles of the DC lineup.
• Batman: The Dark Knight #16 wasn’t anything special.  Batman stops a string of kidnappings and assumes they are perpetrated by the Penguin.  Upon closer inspection, mind control devices are involved meaning its the Mad Hatter.  The Mad Hatter shows up.  That’s it.  There is next to no plotline to speak of.  Perhaps Gregg Hurwitz is gearing up for something, but apart from some gratuitous violence, leaves nothing to lure readers into buying the next issue.  Gregg Hurwitz I think was brought on to take over the supposedly lackluster writing of series artist David Finch and cowriter Paul Jenkins.  Hurwitz’s writing is far less substantial than the original writing team, as evinced by his  strawman Scarecrow storyline and this empty first issue of the Mad Hatter plot.  The one saving grace of this issue was the guest art by Ethan Van Sciver.
• Teen Titans #16 brings to a close the “Death of the Family” tie-ins of both Red Hood and the Outlaws as well as Teen Titans, since Joker kidnapped Jason Todd and Timothy Drake together.  Last week’s Red Hood and the Outlaws #16 didn’t deal with the “Death of the Family” plot head on, but rather a roundabout way through the associates of the two former Robins coming together to locate their respective teammates.  This one focuses on Tim and Jason as they face off against the Joker, culminating in that oh so familiar defeat and awakening to the Joker holding a platter that all the other affiliated series have ended on with the promise of resolution in Batman #17.  I have no idea what that portends, but this issue found its heart in two diametrically different sidekicks of the Batman coming together like brothers against a common enemy.  You can tell that there is a lingering dislike and rivalry between the two that belies a deep fraternal affection for one another.  They also gel quite well when the chips are down and lives are at stake.  Scott Lobdell and artist Brett Booth hit a homerun this issue, in my humble opinion.  Also, as a post-script, I thought it fascinating that Lobdell threw in the teaser page, that not only introduced properly (there was a passing mention in Teen Titans #13) Trigon and his intentions to invade our sphere.  Also introduced is his daughter Raven (who was introduced as a girl in Phantom Stranger #1), here seen in her demon’s garb, which I think trumps her original outfit ten times over.  An original member of the New Teen Titans, I hope that her future appearances lead to her joining the team as she had in most of the title’s previous incarnations.
  

  The Rise of Raven

  
  

• Justice League Dark #16 flounders a little bit, in my opinion.  In the “magical world” that is anything but, we see that the aboriginal denizens of magic have been forced underground by the humans who have adopted superscience to cull and repress the magical element, eventually dominating the whole of this sphere of existence.  The last hope of the magical beings is their lost king, the Hunter, who escaped to Earth via the Books of Magic and promised to return.  Timothy Hunter is his descendant and his coming could herald the return of magic.  The story is interesting for sure, but the delivery was a little bland and lacking the panache and charm that this title began with in spades.  Jeff Lemire is a good writer, but the direction he’s taking the characters in could be better.
• Masters of the Universe: The Origin of He-Man was less exciting and reveiling than its predecessor, The Origin of Skeletor.  With the Skeletor introduction, not only did writer Joshua Fialkov do something completely different by making Skeletor, then Keldor, the older brother of King Randor, He-Man’s father, but also wrote a very compelling story for his transition from loyal and loving older brother to insane, skull faced dictator. The narrative was compelling, innovative and took the reader by surprise.  This origin story of He-Man says NOTHING!  He-Man isn’t portrayed in any other way than he has been in the past, and apart  from Skeletor being his uncle, nothing is different.  This special not only doesn’t need to be read, but shouldn’t have been written as it gives nothing new, interesting or insightful to the proceedings.
• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #6 concludes the miniseries with the combined forces of the Masters of the Universe awakening from Skeletor’s amnesia spell and the final battle with Skeletor commencing.  As He-Man stories go it wasn’t terrible.  The series started off and continued to do some innovative things so I will admit I was expecting more from the conclusion, however, it did live up to expectations.  One thing that surprised me and I guess I will give credit to being edgy and innovative was that King Randor, Teela, and everyone else knew that He-Man is also Prince Adam.  Also it is revealed through passing that the amnesia spell was cast by Orko who betrayed the Masters.  THAT would be something I wish that they would have shown considering that Orko is one of the most benign characters in the He-Man mythos.  His betrayal would have been a juicy plot point that other He-Man faithful, like myself, would have really enjoyed seeing.  Either way, this new version was pretty good and it appears there will be an ongoing He-Man and the Masters of the Universe series beginning in April, featuring a return of both writer Keith Giffen and artist Pop Mhan.
• Batman Beyond Unlimited #12 begins with Superman Beyond, written by JT Krul and drawn by Howard Porter.  Superman enlists the aid of Martian Manhunter to discern the cause of the Trillians trying to kill him.  The rationale behind their vendetta is revealed and is far different and much more benign than I had thought.  If what Superman recalls is accurate, their anger is unwarranted and only serves to depict them as a cruel race.  However, in fairness to the Trillians, their side of the story hasn’t been told yet and circumstances might be slightly different from what Superman remembers, considering it took Martian Manhunter to recover those forgotten memories.  Next on the docket is a Justice League Beyond: Origin of Micron feature.  The son of a Gotham City paramedic, Micron was exposed in utero to radiation that caused him from birth to be able to shrink and expand to different sizes.  Cursed through childhood with being different and having to move often because of it, as an adult he makes his way to Metropolis to join the Justice League Beyond.  A pretty cut and dry origin with little ambiguity or twists to it, the story still resonnated through the very personal voice with which it is told.  Finally, Adam Beechen privides the next chapter in his Batman Beyond “10,000 Clowns” storyline.  It is actually more of a small taste, not accomplishing much narratively, except giving Batman (Terry McGinnis’) inner monologue on the state of affairs that find him against the ropes at the hands of the Joker King, the thoughts that lead to his rallying, and reintroducing Max back into the storyline after her abduction several issues ago, as well as revealing the identity of her captor.  Overall, this issue was entertaining, but didn’t accomplish any great revelation in any of the three segments.  However, the coming issues promise to do so based on what this issue did present.
• Arrow #3 begins with a tale of Ollie trying to juggle his friendship with Tommy Merlyn with his nights as Starling City’s hooded vigilante.  Its an interesting story, but not very innovative or complex.  The next cashes in on the “found footage” genre of storytelling made popular recently with the movies Cloverfield, Chronicle, Apollo 19, and others.  Three kids get a video camera and a van and attempt to get footage of the Hood in action.  Finally, the third tale fills in the past of Helena Bertinelli, aka the Huntress, and the events that drove her to the jaws of vengeance seen in the series this past November.  Though intriguing, I wouldn’t say these inhanced the enjoyment or immersion into the world of the television show as effectively as the previous two have achieved in months past.
• All-Star Western #16 picks up with what seems to be a premise spawned from a dare.  How do you make a dude in a wheel chair a total badass?  Well, with a character like Jonah Hex, half the work is done for you. After facing off with Edward Hyde who had kidnapped and forcefed his serum to Hex’s associate Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, Jonah faced off against the genocidal lunatic and was soundly thrashed.  With Arkham institutionalized until the serum ran its course through his system, Hex was left wheelchair bound to convolesce in the good doctors mansion.  Like any predator, Hyde isn’t one to let his prey escape permanently and comes for a reckoning with Hex who even one month later is still chair ridden. Also of interest is Hex’s time time in the Arkham home. In the past, we have heard the shrill cries of Arkham’s aged mother from the upper levels of the house, but never seen her.  This issue finally gives us an up close view of the woman and her demented frame of mind, namely her taste for the literary.  This issue was quite an interesting way to draw the saga of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s time in Gotham to a close, as well as perhaps a keystone moment in the history of the Black Diamond and its whereabouts in the present of the DCU.  The backup feature Tomahawk also reaches its concluding chapter as the eponymous native warrior leads a unified assault of the Chickasaw, Choctaw, Shawnee, and Ojibwe tribes against the remaining British forces that shelter the American commander, General Lancaster, who butchered the families of Tomahawk and his fellows.  They win the day and kill the American and British soldiers present, but the final words of Lancaster ring true through the inevitablity of history.  The time of the Native Americans on their land is drawing to a close.  The rising tide of European settlers will replace them, and we the reader know this to be historically the outcome.  The true heart of the feature is the strength of the warriors’ spirit to stand against the encroaching tides.
  

  Old Lady Arkham

• The Unwritten #45 shifts focus from Tom Taylor’s trevails in the previous arc to Richie Savoy and Didge Patterson in real world Australia.  Savoy has set out to establish his own story and breakaway from being a supporting character in Tom’s story.  It would appear that he has been successful in that endeavor to a degree, but is beset with the troubles that come from being the main character of a story, especially in the face of the calamity of the fictional world caused by the “Wound” sustained in the War of the Words.  However, his existentialist woes are cut short when Didge asks him to advise on a very strange murder case she is investigating involving what appear to be zombie attacks.  As with many strange occurrences in this title’s four year run, the zombies are conjured into existence through the written word.  The who is established by issue’s end by the why and logistics are yet to be seen.  Mike Carey and Peter Gross continue to amaze in this issue with some really dynamic storytelling and very compelling characters, developed slowly and carefully over years of subtly crafted storylines.
• Joe Kubert Presents #4 rounds out the week with yet another sojourn by Kubert into the tale of “The Redeemer”, another tale of “Angel and the Ape” by Brian Buniak, and further anecdotes of Sam Glanzman about his time on the “USS Stevens.”  In “The Redeemer” Kubert goes from the year 2557 A.D. to the end of the Civil War and the Redeemer, Jim Torkan, trying to piece his life back together after his life in the South is destoryed following the surrender of Lee’s forces.  The post-war South and the frontier in the western territories were laden with great injustices and moral quagmires that could corrupt even the purest heart.  The Redeemer, true to his name, is a man whose virtue in the face of such situations dictates the redemption or fall of mankind.  But he is a man with human weaknesses, so the question remains as to whether he can remain pure of heart in a morally corrupt world.  “Angel and the Ape”  concluded their current case and comedically grants Angel greater knowledge of her partner, Sam, a crusading gorilla.  In the “USS Stevens” Sam Glanzman tells of an eccentric “asiatic” crew member on the boat called Buck, who was a practioner of Eastern philosophies like Zen Buddhism and an aficionado of quantum physics and relativity theorems   Crafting a makeshift weapon that crew members sometimes fashioned from scrap metal aboard shop called “sheath knives”, Buck attacked the captain of the boat and earned himself a transfer off ship.  The night before, supposedly someone on another boat swore they saw Buck floating in front of the Stevens where a figurehead would normally appear.  The story clearly was told for the sole purpose of rationalizing the feasibility of whether this sighting was real or fabricated, considering his former peculiarities, as well as the man on the other ship’s ignorance of Buck’s eccentricities.  The issue concludes like its predecessors with a very novel, retro feel of a bygone era of comic writing.
  

  Lives Lives And Lives To Come

  Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Ending a long, but memorable week of comics, the books that came out just reaffirm how incredible this medium is.  Next week February promises a continuance on some incredible stories told this first month of 2013.  Can’t wait to read them and share my impressions with all of you.

 

Illustration Credits:

Aquaman #16: Drawn by Paul Pelletier, Colored by Rod Reis, Inked by Sean Parsons

Batman Inc #7: Art by Chris Burnham, colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Red Lanterns #16: Drawn by Andres Guinaldo, Colored by Rain Beredo, Inked by BIT

Batman & Robin Annual #1: Drawn by Adrian Syaf, Colored by John Kalisz, Inked by Vincente Cifunetes

Teen Titans #16: Drawn by Brett Booth, Colored by Andrew Dalhouse, Inked by Norm Rapmund

All-Star Western #16: Art by Moritat, Colored by Mike Atiyeh

Joe Kubert Presents #4: Art by Joe Kubert

Week 70 (Jan. 2, 2013)

• Batman Inc #6 is a doomsday clock ticking towards midnight.  Since the beginning of this second arc of the title, but really from the first issue following writer Grant Morrison’s transition from Batman & Robin, there has been something extremely wrong happening in the shadows and all the disparate threats lead to a web woven by none other than Talia Al-Ghul.  Since her revelation as the leader of Leviathan its become clear that Grant Morrison is writing this series as a Machiavellian tale of “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”  Batman has spurned her affections and lured their son away from her, so in revenge she has deduced the most ingenious plan to take everything he loves and has built away from him.  What’s worse is that inherent in the plan are choices he has to make shifting responsibility onto his shoulders for what survives and what is destroyed, who lives and who dies.  Nothing and no one are sacred in this conflict and at issue’s close the sword drops.  Grant Morrison is a genius.  Hands down, he is on the top echelon of writers who have written the Batman character.  Joining him on this second arc and really making his mark is artist Chris Burnham.  Burnham’s art is reminiscent of Frank Quitely, one of Morrison’s most iconic collaborators, but has its own flavor making it appropriate for this title in its similarities to Quitely, but its also for its uniqueness.  When this series ends, as melodramatic as this may sound, I think I might go into mourning.
  

  The Sophie’s Choice of the Batman Universe

• Red Lanterns #15 finds the Corps at its most desperate hour.  Fresh off of the sabotaging of their Central Power Battery, the Guardians of the Universe have unleashed their nightmarish Third Army upon the Universe.  Like everything involving the Guardians, Atrocitus won’t rest until the little blue bastards are stopped and their sins against sentient life punished.  Taken in that light, he sounds not only virtuous, but almost sane.  Elsewhere in the Universe, Red Lanterns are purging egregious ne’er-do-wells to power their weakened battery with righteous vengeance.  Vengeance is the key to their revival.  Apropos, first lieutenant Bleez escorts Rankorr, aka Jack Moore, back to Earth to kill his grandfather’s murderer, thereby completing his path of vengeance and fully realizing his potential as a Red Lantern.  This mission is integral to the Corps, as Rankorr for whatever reason is the only Red Lantern with the ability to form constructs with his ring.  However, when confronted with the man who has wronged him so greatly, Rankorr is also confronted with his own wrongs against others.  On his home planet of Ryutt, we see that even Atrocitus is not immune from ghosts of the past, revisiting his decimated world, with the plan to use the Guardians’ own weapons against them.  Peter Milligan is a genius and his writing keeps the reader keyed into the plot with its many nuances and intricacies.  As good as the writing is, I am underwhelmed by Miguel Sepulveda’s artwork.  It isn’t bad in and of itself, but it just is not as engrossing as Ed Benes’ artwork was during the initial issues of the title’s run.
• The Flash #15 was largely an interim issue, albeit one that accomplished a great many things nonspecific to the current story arc.  The Gorilla invasion of the Gem Cities is in full swing and King Grodd, empowered by the Speed Force, has beaten Barry into a comatose state.  In his delirium, Barry’s connection to the Speed Force has him viewing a slew of possible outcomes to the events transpiring around him, most extremely unpleasant to behold.  The Rogues step up as their city descends into chaos, actually giving relief and protection to the denizens of their town.  Some pretty intense things happen in the mean time as Central City and Keystone City await salvation.  The most interesting in my opinion, and something I have been DYING to see, is Barry’s girlfriend Patty Spivot finding out that he is the Flash.  Though she has vehemently professed to hate the Flash, when that revelation comes she doesn’t bat an eyelash, but instead rushes to her boyfriend’s aid.  I love Patty and I am excited about the prospect of what this knowledge portends for future issues.  As ever, writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato hit the title out of the park in both art and story, with an 11 page assist from guest artist, Marcus To.
  

  Stand By Your Man

• Superman #15 continues the “H’el on Earth” crossover event after H’el forcibly ejects Superman and Superboy from the Fortress of Solitude and barricades himself inside.  As a result Superman takes Superboy to a top secret government facility specifically designed to hold Lex Luthor engineered by Lex Luthor.  This is undertaken under the aegis of Superman asking for Lex’s scientific expertise on how to stop H’el, but the true reason, which Lex intuits almost immediately, is much more sinister.  It’s all hands on deck as the fate of Earth literally hangs in the balance.  The art by Kenneth Rocafort is the thing that immediately strikes one as the pages are turned on the issue, but once one delves into the story they depict, the keen authorship of Scott Lobdell becomes equally apparent.  This issue has the first real interaction between Superman and Superboy, and I have to say that the depiction of Superman, which Lobdell has executed brilliantly in the past, falters in the moments where Superman teeter-totters between seeming apathy to the polar opposite position of the overly interested father figure.  Still, a really fantastic issue rendered exquisitely by both men.
  

  Superman’s Darker Side

• Batman: The Dark Knight #15 ends the first arc by writer Gregg Hurwitz featuring the Scarecrow’s plot to release a super-fear-toxin on the people of Gotham.  Though midstream it drew some intriguing parallels between Batman and Scarecrow’s childhoods leading up to the donning of their respective personas, overall the arc fell flat.  This last issue had the Scarecrow releasing his toxin via zepplin and Batman throwing together a last ditch effort to negate it.  Though Batman’s solution is intense and fairly novel, it was cobbled together far too quickly in deux-ex-machina fashion for it to have any resonance or believability.  But then again we are talking about comic books here.  Overall though, I felt that this new run on the series is lacking.  Starting at the end of January, series creator and artist David Finch is stepping away from the series and replaced by Ethan Van Sciver.  Van Sciver is an incredible artist, on par with Finch, so Hurwitz has the art down and one more chance to nail the writing.
• Talon #3 marks the return of a character from the #0 issue, Casey Washington, and her fate after the events depicted therein.  Main character, Calvin Rose, was an assassin for the shadowy Court of Owls known as the Talon until getting the one assignment he couldn’t go through with: killing Casey Washington, a young African American mother and her daughter, Sarah.  Rescuing them from the Court was the catalyst that set the drama of this series into motion.  Returning to that pivotal event, Calvin re-communes with Casey after five years and we learn that the two of them had a love affair that ended when Calvin felt his presence was a danger to Casey and her daughter.  Embittered, Casey meets Calvin again, this time in a much stronger position with powerful allies.  Though harsh feelings exist between them, their common enemy sparks a pooling of resources for an assault on Hudson Financial, a New York based bank that handles thirteen billion dollars of Court investments.  Casey and Calvin’s partner, Sebastian Clark, come up with a flawless plan to hit the bank, but as ever “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.”  James Tynion and Scott Snyder are masters of storytelling and sell this series for every cent charged on the cover price.  I know that I have said this at least three times in the past, but I feel that it bears reiteration.  Snyder, Tynion, and March make this a must read title.
  

  How To Save A Life

• Teen Titans #15, written by Red Hood and the Outlaws scribe, Scott Lobdell, proves yet again what a master he is when dealing with the Joker, vis-a-vis the “Death of the Family” crossover event.  In Red Hood and the Outlaws #15 two weeks ago, Lobdell wrote a Joker plot that was keyed directly into the character of Jason Todd and played to his person brilliantly.  In this issue of Teen Titans Lobdell does it again, not only penning an ingenious (and especially deranged) plot by the Joker, but one that is keyed into Tim Drake’s personality.  With Jason, the Joker knew his history and used it as a weapon against him, considering that the Joker was its engineer.  Tim, however, is a young professional on the model of Bruce himself, and against him the Joker asserts himself by proving that he is in Tim’s head, knowing his thoughts and stratagems and is able to use them against him.  The Teen Titans come to Gotham to track their kidnapped friend and that is precisely what the Joker was counting on . . . They are a young team, both in individual ages and the tenure of their association with each other, and their inexperience is blatantly revealed.  To be fair though, the Joker is an A-list adversary who has made a fool of the Batman on many an occasion, so their embarrassment isn’t totally their fault.  Artist Brett Booth returns to the title providing the stunning artwork that helped establish this new series sixteen months ago, and a very beautiful depiction of Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl.  Well worth the read even if you aren’t following the overarching “Death of the Family” event.
  

  When The Joker Gets In Your Head . . .

• All-Star Western #15 continues the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde storyline.  Jekyll has come to Gotham to track down a quantity of his stolen formula, but when his handler, Reginald Forsythe, is murdered and partially eaten by Hyde, events take a sinister turn.  Obviously when Dr. Jekyll takes his serum he becomes the sociopathic Edward Hyde, but the question in this issue becomes who will emerge when Dr. Jeremiah Arkham is force fed the serum by Hyde?  Jonah Hex attempts to intercede against Hyde in Arkham’s behalf, but proves inadequate in several respects, raising another interesting scenario: What happens when Jonah Hex, the biggest badass this side of the Rio Grande, is confined to a wheelchair for a month?  And in the backup feature, Tomahawk, General Lancaster of the newly minted American Army sets a trap for Tomahawk’s men and slaughters dozens of his Native American brothers.  In the fight with Lancaster, Tomahawk almost has the upper hand, until the remaining British forces in the area intervene.  The reckoning appears to be reserved for next issue.  We’ll see what that holds for Tomahawk and the tribes of the American northwest.
• Arrow #2 delivers three more glimpses into the world and history of the CW series Arrow.  Whereas the inaugural issue of this series had three stories about Oliver and his quest for justice, this one gives two slots to supporting characters, further fleshing out our understanding of the series.  First off comes a story scripted by Lana Cho with art by Eric Nguyen following John Diggle’s time in Afghanistan as an Army sergeant.   Despite the hells he endured, through the incident depicted we see the good man he is and why Oliver would be keen to have him on his team.  The second segment by Wendy Mericle and drawn by Sergio Sandaval follows Oliver’s mother, Moira Queen, and her salvaging of her husband’s yaht, the “Queen’s Gambit.”  Moira is an unfortunate character caught between a rock and a hardplace and demonized because of her associations with bad people.  Malcolm Merlyn is a very powerful man and the salvaging of the “Queen’s Gambit” is a key piece in a very dangerous game of chess.  The final tale, scripted by by Ben Sokolowski and Lana Cho takes Oliver to Moscow to cross a name off his father’s list.  Justin Whicker smuggles hopeful young ballerinas out of Russia with the promise of fame in America only to be sold into white slavery.  Because this story is about Oliver and especially because it involves the ballet, Mike Grell (Green Arrow royalty, having written and drawn the title in the 80’s) provides art.  The show is incredible and this series makes that viewing experience so much richer.
  

  Mike Grell’s Peerless Rendering of the Ballet

• Batman Beyond Unlimited #11 contains three tales from the DC animated universe.  Half the issue is composed of the Batman Beyond story “10,000 Clowns” where literally 10,000 suicidal Jokerz from across the globe make pilgrimage to Gotham to sacrifice themselves for their leader the Joker King’s insane plot.  Joker King is in fact the brother of Batman’s girlfriend, Dana Tan.  In this installment Joker King fights not only the current Batman, Terry McGinnis, but also the original, the 80 year old Bruce Wayne, who’s still got acid running through his veins and a serious hate-on for clowns.  We also see Doug Tan’s reunion with his family after his descent into madness and a recap of how he wrangled the Jokerz and gained dominion over all the rival factions.  This issue was truly worth the wait, having been built up to for more than two years now.  In Superman Beyond we get a slightly less satisfactory experience only lasting a few chaotic pages with Superman facing off against the Trillians without even knowing who they are or why they want him dead.  I have my theories considering that this series and its fellows in this title are the refugees of the discontinued DC animated universe.  The two part series finale of “Superman: The Animated Series” had Supes under the thrall of Darkseid, conquering planets for the Lord of Apokalips.  I think that Trillia was one of the planets that Superman unknowingly decimated while leading Apokalips’ armies.  I could be wrong, however.  Speaking of Apokalips, the last segment in this issue is a Beyond: Origin of the Apokaliptian beauty, Big Barda. Starting out with two little girls growing up in the slums, we see the origins first of Barda’s mother, Big Breeda, one of Darkseid’s elite warriors and her best friend who would become Granny Goodness.  Breeda fought Darkseid’s wars and through eugenics bore future soldiers with his greatest troops.  The one child who’s father she herself chose was Barda.  Barda’s birth not only put the warrioress on the outs with Darkseid but also created a split between Breeda and Granny, the latter of whom raised Barda in her orphanage. The rest is history.  Escaping to Earth with a handsome, young New God, Scott Free, she marries him and the two live happily for a time.  However, the gap between her and Scott’s life together, as seen in the television series “Justice League Unlimited,” and where she is in “Batman Beyond” is a tragic tale that is finally revealed within.  I loved this issue in its entirety more than a little.  Definitely worth the read.
• American Vampire #34 returns to the beginning of the series while also taking us forward.  The series started with Jim Book hunting down Skinner Sweet.  Book died and Sweet’s been making Hell ever since, but the two people that fought alongside Book and who have taken a backseat since were Abilena Book, Jim’s young wife, and Will Bunting, the novelist following him for material for his next novel.  Picking up in 1954, we see Abilena seventy years later as well as learn the fate of Will Bunting from his nephew.  Through their interaction we are made aware of an immense threat that is known as the “Gray Trader.”  What the Trader is and what threat it represents are left ambiguous, but from what writer Scott Snyder and artist Rafael Albuquerque depict at the end, the “future” looks bleak.  The two page montage of that future promises the involvement of Skinner Sweet, Pearl Jones, Travis Kidd, perhaps one of the ancient vampires from Survival of the Fittest, and Las Vegas in flames.  As I predicted, this issue is at the precipice of a indeterminate gap in storytelling.  Snyder and Albuquerque are doing this not just to take their time fine tuning the plot to perfection, but also so that Albuquerque can draw the majority of the second half of the series, which was unable to do in this first half.  All around I have to reiterate my initial praise of this series as a messiah of the vampire genre.  In a world of truly trite, abysmal vampire stories, this one comic series stands as a shining beacon, keeping the concept from drowning in Stephanie Meyers and L.J. Smith related sewage.
• Joe Kubert Presents #3 continues to showcase a bygone era of storytelling made fresh through veterans of the golden age of comic books.  Joe himself offers up two stories and his friends Sam Glanzman and Brian Buniak continue their respective series, as begun in Joe Kubert Presents #1.  Last issue, Kubert began a two part story entitled “The Redeemer” about a man who has lived countless lives over thousands of years, redeeming humanity in each, and an ancient man of evil hidden away in a fortress atop the Himalayas, known only as the Infernal One, secretly plotting against him, attempting to hasten the damnation of Man.  The first half of the story involved a very complex set of events in the year 2557 A.D. that leave our hero, Jim Torkan, at a crossroads where he can either continue his redeeming of humanity (unknowingly) or fall into the Infernal Ones trap and cast aside his morals.  The yarn is both futuristic in its far reaching vistas and retroactive in its storytelling style and character archetypes.  Kubert truly puts forth his greatest work in this series, evincing his long work in the medium and his unfettered genius.  The conclusion of this tale is both satisfying and unending.  Sam Glanzman returns to his time on the U.S. Stevenson, a ship he actually served on, recounting yet another anecdotal episode on the US destroyer in WWII’s Pacific theater.  It tells about the war in humorous yet starkly real terms, showing not only the war itself, but the simple and beautiful lives of the men fighting it before and after its beginning and conclusion.  The transitions between are so quick and efficacious that you barely notice, as if you are drifting through their lives like in a dream.  In fact it is almost exactly like a dream, because things go from being so horrible to so beautiful in the blink of an eye that there is nothing else it could be.  In Joe Kubert’s second story, Spit, we return to the street urchin met in Joe Kubert Presents #1, who grows up so detested by every person he has ever met that he lacks a proper name and is colloquially know as Spit by all.  Stowing away on a whaling ship, he attempts to make his way in the world only to fall under the thumb of the peg-legged ship’s cook who works him to the bone and verbally abuses him without mercy.  However, unlike on land, at sea Spit finds something that alters his role in life and shines a little glimmer of hope on his existence.  This segment, unlike the inked and colored “Redeemer” feature, is un-inked pencil drawings by the master artist in a style that is raw and quintessentially Joe Kubert.  The gray scale, rough pencils fit the rough, historical tale exceptionally well endowing it with a dark ambiance that draws one immediately in.  Finally, Brian Buniak presents the third installment of his “Angel and the Ape” feature, which has blonde bombshell private investigator, Angel, following up on a case to clear her partner, a giant ape named Sam Simeon, from a murder charge.  This feature is the dessert of the issue, being nothing but pure comedic slap stick and satire.  Whereas the others have poignance and certain tragedy, this one is a tonic that heals the soul and gets you back in a good mood.  Buniak does the art is a very caricature-esque fashion that reeks of the 50’s and 60’s.  All the submissions herein are stunningly presented and really a joy to read.  If you are a comic purist, pick up these issues and experience a bygone era of comic lore.

Thus ends what should have been the last week of comics of 2012, owing to the ridiculous three title week preceding this one.  I enjoyed so many of these titles and would suggest they be gotten ahold of as soon as possible.  Next week we truly begin the month of January with a fresh batch of #16 titles.  Looking forward to it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman Inc #6: Art by Chris Burnham, colored by Nathan Fairbairn

The Flash #15: Drawn by Marcus To, Colored by Brian Buccellato & Ian Herring, Inked by Ryan Winn

Superman #15: Art by Kenneth Rocafort, Colored by Sunny Gho

Talon #3: Art by Guillem March, Colored by Tomeu Morey

Teen Titans #15: Drawn by Brett Booth, Colored by Andrew Dalhouse, Inked by Norm Rapmund

Arrow #2: Art by Mike Grell, Colored by David Lopez & Santi Casas

Joe Kubert Presents #3: Art by Joe Kubert

Week 65 (Nov. 28, 2012)

November ends on a high note with another duo of Before Watchmen issues and a slew of personal favorites of mine: Batman Inc, Talon, The Flash, Teen Titans, and the newly reworked Superman title.  The last week of the month is worth the wait.

• Aquaman #14 begins the “Throne of Atlantic” crossover with Justice League.  What this prelude issue does is introduce quite well the character of Ocean Master, aka King Orm of Atlantis, Aquaman’s brother.  I could be totally wrong here, but despite him being a villain in the past, Orm truly seems to be on the level here.  Even in the scenes where no one is watching, he’s still altruistic and benevolent.  Through his meeting with Arthur in this issue we see that he didn’t want to be king and begged Arthur to take the throne in his stead.  Maybe its all a ruse by him and writer Geoff Johns, but I’m not so sure.  Regular series artist, Ivan Reis, jumps over to Justice League for the duration of the event, with Pete Woods and Pere Perez splitting art duties on Aquaman.
• Batman Incorporated #5 takes us for (if memory serves correctly) the third time into the world of Batman 666.  When Batman tells his son, Damian, that he can’t be Robin at the end of the fourth issue, he validates it with a vision he has had of the future of Gotham, should Damian remain Robin and eventually become Batman.  The Joker has saturated Gotham with a neurotoxin that has rendered all its citizens irrevocably insane.  The only bastion of sanity left is . . . Arkham Asylum.  Where we left this world at the end of the 666th issue of Batman, a wheelchair bound Commissioner Barbara Gordon is out to get the trench coat wearing Dark Knight, who sold his soul for the invulnerability to save his father’s city.  This issue has them teamed up trying to save the baby that may be the key to Gotham’s salvation.  Grant Morrison’s writing of the book is stellar and he crafts a really intense ride that when looked at in retrospect is actually really brief in duration.  Also the Joker seems to be such a looming presence in the narrative despite the fact he is never seen once.  However, one villain is seen, whose appearance froze my blood and then got it pumping double time.  This issue of the series proves to be a hallmark that will be talked about for years.
  

  The Devil’s Advent

• Red Lanterns #14 was literally an emotional issue following the aftermath of the Red Lantern Corps’ first encounter with the Third Army.  Being that the nightmarish sentinels of the Guardians of the Universe are largely immune to the Red Lantern’s (as well as the other Lantern corps) emotional spectrum attacks, Atrocitus decides to invoke a synthetic army long unused and discarded: the Manhunters.  Also, to bolster the strength of the culled ranks, Atrocitus has Rankorr the Earth Red Lantern return home to finally kill his grandfather’s murderer to complete his inaugural path of vengeance and strengthen his power as a lantern of rage.  Accompanying him is Bleez and the other Earth Lantern, Dex-star the cat.  Atrocitus himself also throws himself into the crucible of darkest emotion to enact his plan to resurrect the Manhunters against the Third Army.  The Manhunters were the Guardians of the Universe’s first shock troopers that laid waste his sector, killing his family and the good, kind man he used to be.  Returning to his homeworld of Ryutt, the ghost of his past literally as well as metaphorically haunt him as he relives the massacre that destroyed his reality.
• Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #4 is another penetrating look at the world of Watchmen through the keen, calculating eyes of the world’s smartest man, Adrian Veidt, aka Ozymandias, as written by Len Wein.  Picking up during the Kennedy administration it examines his relationship with the Kennedys and his part in the Cuban Missile Crisis through to the assassination of his friend, Jack.  From that era on a new status quo emerges as society changes and mankind spirals closer to oblivion.  Wein ends the issue with the historic meeting of “Crime Busters”, spearheaded by Captain Metropolis, to restart the Minute Men for this new, turbulent era.  The mouthpiece of dissent comes from the Comedian, as we saw in the original Watchmen, but Wein posits or intuits that this is where Ozymandias first conceives of his plan to save the world.  Considering what he does accomplish, I am itching to read the last two issue from Wein in this series.
  

  A Monstrously Noble Plan Is Formed

• Before Watchmen: Silk Spectre #4 ends the series with Laurie’s final confrontation with the “Chairman” and her realization of the potential her mother has instilled in her.  The relationship between Sally Jupiter and her daughter, Laurie, has been pretty messed up, but this issue, despite bringing them back together (no spoiler here if you read the original Watchmen) truly shows how twisted and deluded the former superheroine really is.  Though her heart was in the right place, her parenting style was tantamount to child abuse.  What is interesting, however, is juxatposing the truly awful things her mother did with the person Laurie developed into.  Despite it all, she came out a strong, confident young woman who learned that her mother did do some good in raising her.  Darwyn Cooke wrote this series poignantly and Amanda Connor drew it beautifully.
• The Flash #14 had SO MUCH going on!  The Gorilla invasion of the Gem Cities has commenced and King Grodd is pummeling the Scarlet Speedster with the revelation that he as well possesses Speed Force energies.  Daniel West, recently released from prison, searches frantically amid the war torn streets of Central City for his sister, Iris.  Patty Spivot, Barry Allen’s girlfriend, along with the enigmatic time traveler, Turbine, find the one being who has the ability to save Barry and stop the Gorillas: SOLOVAR!!!  To Flash faithful, the appearance of the aforementioned simian is very exciting.  Writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato really pull out the stops with this series and especially this arc.  The Gorilla Invasion is pretty intense to begin with, but they make it even more so when you see in this fourteenth issue just how Grodd is waging the war.  His methods are nightmarish and truly brutal.  So horrible are they in fact that the club of Flash villains, the Rogues, team up with the Flash to put the kibosh on it.  Grade A storytelling.
  

  SOLOVAR!

• Batman: The Dark Knight #14 was iffy.  I mean David Finch’s artwork is eerie and truly sinister.  Gregg Hurwitz’s story is kind of stretched thin over far more issues than it needs to be.  Issue #13 was the exact same story as issue #12, and this one seems like its not really saying anything at all.  Possibly the most glaring issue in my opinion is the unbelievable representation of Damian Wayne.  Overall, I just feel that the first eight issue arc of this title was about the Scarecrow, having another one, especially one as unexciting as this current one is a mistake.  There are plenty of other excellent possibilities to e
• Superman #14 continues the “H’el on Earth” crossover with all parties coming together.  Lois Lane pays Clark a visit, trying to get him to compromise his morals to get his job back with Morgan Edge and Galaxy Broadcasting.  And wouldn’t you know it, that’s when Supergirl decides to pay him a visit decked out in her Kryptonian costume.  Finally accepting the veracity of Superman’s claims of Krypton’s destruction and their shared kinship, Kara brings him to see H’el to hear out his plan for the rebirth of Krypton.  To Clark and the readership, each possessing a sense of humanity, its immediately obvious that H’el is a madman, and clearly one that doesn’t play fair.  From issue’s end its clear that things are about to get very bad very quickly.  Scott Lobdell writes perhaps the most compelling version of the Man of Steel since the Reboot started a year and a half ago and artist Kenneth Rocafort maintains the same level of excellence he has imbued into all of his projects.
• Talon #2 delivers another uncanny classic in the incredible tangent series shooting off the eleven part opening arc of Batman, “The Court of Owls.”  Calvin Rose, the only living Talon to ever escape the Court with his life has teamed up with the reclusive Sebastian Clark to take down the evil cabal and give them both their lives back.  This round, Clark sends Calvin to what appears to be Gotham’s answer to New York’s Waldorf-Astoria, the Orchard Hotel.  Built in the late 1800’s, it stands not only as a symbol of Gotham’s opulent past, but also as one of the key roosts of the Court.  The innermost chamber, known as Eden, houses the amassed treasure hoard of the Court as well as some of their most well guarded secrets.  Calvin is told that the information on himself and the Washington girls, whom he was meant to have killed at the time of his flight, are stored within.  What is stored within is not only more sinister than these files, but awe-inspiringly epic, accentuating the already swelling mythology of the Court of Owls.  Also within is a “new” Talon with a vintage of the 1930’s, whose woeful tale fits well into the panoply of Talons we had already met during the “Night of the Owls” crossover event.  Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV make this series soar and in art I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  Guillem March is the series artist and his artwork is stunning.  He, however, didn’t do the interiors for this issue and was instead replaced by Juan Jose Ryp, whose work I was not familiar with.  Well, despite my disappoint that March was not the artist this issue, I was quickly rewarded to see how exquisitely Ryp replaced him.  One of the key factors of the issue is the opulence of Eden, and that was something he rendered here in spades.  Everything looks magnificent, with infinite detail.  I also should give credit to colorist Tomeu Morey, whose coloring of the issue heightens the the vivacity of the panels.  This series is a nothing short of a treat.
  

  Enter EDEN

• Teen Titans #14 concludes the “Silent Armor” arc, introducing Wonder Girl’s origin as well as her power set granted by the Silent Armor.  Facing down her old flame, Diesel, she has to make some very hard decisions between the first boy she ever loved and the friends she has made over the past fourteen issues worth of storytelling.  That all was very well done by writer Scott Lobdell, but where the issue really gets interesting is in the two tangent storylines that emerge on the periphery.  The character of Kiran Singh, aka Solstice, is one of the heartstrings of the Teen Titans.  Her appearance altering affliction comes into question when a mysterious stranger offers her a chance to get her old body back, but what will he ask for in return . . . ?  Also, headed by Red Robin, the long fingers of the Joker can’t be held back as his “Death of the Family” plot unfolds in all its nightmarish detail.  Next issue promises to be a “Death of the Family” tie-in and elaborate on the plans the Joker has in store for Tim Drake.
• Phantom Lady & Doll Man #4 ends the miniseries following these former, but as of this series, also future Freedom Fighters.  Jennifer Knight gets her revenge on Metropolis gangster, Cyrus Bender, and she and Dollman are visited by Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters.  Not the best series.  I doubt I will read any of the other series that spawn from this.
• Justice League Dark #14 gives the aftermath of the “Books of  Magic” storyline.  Tim Hunter and Zatanna are transported through the books to an unknown location.  The remnants of the Justice League Dark set out to find them, but in the meantime, three members of the team: Black Orchid, Frankenstein, and Princess Amaya of Gem World go exploring in the House of Mystery only to get lost and set upon by the dangers lurking within.  This alongside the revelation by Phantom Stranger that there is going to be a war among the three.  You might even call it a Trinity War . . .
• Batman Beyond Unlimited #10 concludes its opening arc of Justice League Beyond Unlimited bringing to a close the plot by Kobra to awaken the Ouroboros, the serpent that would eat the world.  I think the fact that it destroyed New Genesis, home of the New Gods, just goes to show the menace it represents. And when all else fails, Bruce Wayne saves the day . . . AND HE’S NOT EVEN THERE!!!  The arc doesn’t end without casualties and a beloved DC character’s future self falls in the line of service.  In the Batman Beyond feature the “10,000 Clowns”  we see for the first time in a few issues the Joker King, Doug Tan.  The psychotic older brother of Terry McGinnis’ girlfriend, Dana, cuts a very similar figure to the Heath Ledger Joker, a man that believes in absolute anarchy and the intrinsic humor in chaos.  As the night of terror he has unleashed with 10,000 tweaked out clowns descending on Gotham, his plan reaches its endgame and the stakes rise.  Terry is out with Catwoman Beyond, Vigilante Beyond, and a badass 60 something Dick Grayson trying to stem the terror, while Joker King comes face to face with . . . 80 year old Bruce Wayne,  a man who HATES clowns!  Finally the Superman Beyond feature shows Kal-El settling into his new civilian identity of Kal Clarke, Metropolis fireman.  That’s about it for that one.  Some aliens show up at the tail end, but their presence is very cryptic.  Featuring a slew of writers and artists, this title has been and continues to be a grab bag of excellent talent and exceptional storytelling, giving a venue to some of the plots left to pasture by the abandonment of the DC animated universe.  I, who grew up on these shows, welcome it with open arms.
• All-Star Western #14 has Gotham sinking into madness after the formula of Dr. Jekyll finds its way into her bustling streets.  Last issue, Jonah Hex, Tallulah Black, and Dr. Jeremiah Arkham stemmed the flow with an attack on Haly’s Circus, but the culprit, Mr. Hyde remains in Gotham, albeit in confinement.  In the midst of that chaos, the trio are drawn into a violent altercation in Chinatown featuring one of the characters introduced in the backup feature of issued #4-6, the Barbary Ghost.  Still looking for her mother who was sold into bondage, her travels have brought her to Gotham and into the lair of the Chinese criminal cabal, the Golden Dragons, hopped up on Jekyll’s crazy juice.  This issue was steeped in ambiance and the views we get of the chained Mr. Hyde are like that of a Victorian Hannibal Lector.  The next issue of this series, out in January, promises to further explore his twisted brand of psychopathy. Series artist Moritat must have had a ball drawing the gruesome imagery associated with the evil Stevenson creation.  They certainly are horrifying to behold.  In the backup feature Tomahawk, we see not really a Western tale, but a Colonial one.  Set just after the American Revolution, this title deals with the Indian Wars of the Washington administration.  Drawn by Phil Winslade there is a very classical feel to the almost watercolor like panels.  If you liked “Last of the Mohicans” this feature is worth the read.
• American Vampire #33 ends the “Black List” story arc as well as a major era in the American Vampire saga.  The series started in 1920’s Los Angeles with young, idealistic Pearl Jones going to Hollywood to be an actress.  Alongside her bestfriend and roommate, Hattie Hargrove, she makes a go of it, only to fall prey to the vampiric power elite of Hollywood who make a meal of her.  Turned by the sadistic loner, Skinner Sweet, she survives the assault to be reborn as the second in a new species of vampire: Abysmus Americanus.  That is how this series started.  Since then there has been a World War, the building of the Hoover Dam, the reawakening of Dracula, and many other incredible events.  “The Black List” ends the first half of the 20th century by circling back to the the Los Angeles coven, Skinner Sweet, and Hattie Hargrove.  All three come back like ghosts of Christmas past to haunt Pearl and show her just how futile running from your past can be.  I loved this issue so much as a continuance of everything that has made the series great over three years of storytelling, as well as providing a bookend to all that has happened thus far.  January’s issue #34 is the last solicited for several months, spelling an uncertain future for the series.  I can only imagine, considering the meteoric success of the series, that it is going into hiatus so the beleaguered Scott Snyder (who is writing four other series besides this one) can catch up and maintain the same level of quality he has displayed throughout.
• Joe Kubert Presents #2 opens with a lengthy two part storyline entitled “The Redeemer.”  Beginning in the high peaks of the Himalayas, five individuals are summoned to a mountain fortress inhabited by an aged man upon a grand throne, calling himself the “Infernal One.”  From this height he gives them a task to hinder the man who through several lifetimes, since the dawn of time, has been working toward the redemption of mankind.  At this point the title seems like an orientalized 1930’s pulp novel or movie serial.  When the five set about putting his plan into action, it becomes apparent that the title takes place in the future, as the Redeemer is a man names Jim Torkan, captain of a orbital space station in the year 2557 A.D.  Though it takes on a sci-fi backdrop, rife with conventions of this genre, it still does maintain a 1930’s serial feel as well.  So great is his artistic and narrative skills, writer/artist Joe Kubert pulls off both very well.  The second part of this story is solicited to be in next month’s issue and I am curious to see how he ties it all up.  Truly, this story by the late master meets his mission statement of putting out comics of a sort one doesn’t see on comic shelves anymore.  This is from a bygone golden age of comic writing.  Rounding off the issue is another darkly comedic tale of the Second World War from Sam Glanzman, and a continuance of the “Angel and the Ape” story by Brian Buniak from last issue.  These two harken to a lost era in comic fiction.
  

  The Infernal One

• Arrow #1 is an anthology comic that features writers of the hit CW tv show writing background stories about the show and its characters.  Marc Guggenheim and Andrew Kreisberg, both DC writers and producers of the show, write an overview of the show’s premise with artwork by Green Arrow royalty, Mike Grell, who himself wrote and drew the character for eighty issues in the 1980’s.  Arrow writer Ben Sokolowski writes a tale of Arrow’s hunting of one of the names on his list, Scott Morgan, aptly entitled “Prey”, drawn by Sergio Sandoval.  This not only shows the ingenuity and drive of the Starling City Vigilante, but also the lengths to which the cabal whose names make up his list will go to maintain their power and influence.  Finally, show writer Beth Schwartz writes a story with art by Jorge Jimenez about the white haired Triad woman, Chien Na Wei, better known in comics as “China White.”  With little background in the comics, Schwartz tells of her rough childhood and her close connection to Triad boss, Zhishan.  I absolutely LOVE the show and if you are like me and share that sentiment, this series is worth reading to supplement it and make both reading and watching experiences better.

So ends a phenomenal week of comic reading.  Sadly, all but one of these titles will have to wait until January to be continued . . .

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman Inc #5: Art by Chris Burnham, colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #4 #1: Art by Jae Lee, Colored by June Chung

The Flash #14: Art by Francis Manapul, Colored by Brian Buccellato

Talon #2: Drawn by Juan Jose Ryp, Colored by Tomeu Morey, Inked by Vincente Cifuentes

Joe Kubert Presents #2: Art by Joe Kubert

Week 60 (Oct. 24, 2012)

• Batman Inc #4 finally finishes off the dropped plot from issue #3, two months ago, following that issue’s postponement in light of the Aurora, Colorado massacre.  Normally, it would have ended neatly before the Zero issue last month, but incidentally we had to wait for two to get closure on the seeming murder of “Matches” Malone and the solo flight of Damian, under the new nom-de-guerre Redbird.  Following the two Waynes getting seemingly over their heads, Batman Incorporated swoops in, seemingly from the grave themselves.  Their symmetry in the face of Leviathan’s well laid plans makes this issue and its predecessor, Batman Inc #3, a well executed feint in the chess game of giants: Bruce Wayne on one side and Talia Al-Ghul on the other.  Grant Morrison’s writing is, in and of itself, a piece of art furthered by the exquisite artwork of Chris Burnham.  Both masters in my opinion. 
  

  Casualties of War

• Red Lanterns #13 returns to a trope that set the tone of the book in the initial batch of issues last year, by showing a planet plagued with injustice and the birth of burning rage.  On the planet Arhtky, warlords reign over the weak masses.  Writer Peter Milligan focuses his pen on two sisters who survive the slaughter of their parents, only to fall into bondage at the hands of the warlord who ordered it.  Women are merely chattel to him, as well as other men outside of the despot’s army.  I’m not sure if it was British born Milligan’s intention to make a commentary on women’s rights as a hot topic issue of the American presidential election that is less than two weeks away, but it certainly can be read that way.  Even if its not, his story certainly shows the power of women, in both the enslaved Arhtkian woman, Taya, as well as the the two female Red Lanterns drawn to that sector by her plight, Bleez and Skorch.  Bleez has proven herself to be a multifaceted character many times over, but the newby to the scene, Skorch, is quite a powerhouse as well.  Following this, the Third Army tie in that has been symptomatic of the Green Lantern family of books catches up with the Red Lantern Corps in truly terrifying fashion.  Unfortunately, we have to wait another month for the full horror of their appearance.  Peter Milligan writes an incredible book, but his partner in art, Miguel Sepulveda, I find to be lacking.  Its just an aesthetics choice, but his art doesn’t work for me.  A good issue, though, in substance.
  

  The Fury of Skorch

• Flash #13 continues from August’s Flash Annual #1 with the Gorilla invasion of King Grodd’s forces.  This invasion, of course, interrupted the Scarlet Speedster’s confrontation with the united assembly of Rogues under the leadership of Leonard Snart’s (Captain Cold) little sister, Lisa, aka the Golden Glider.  What the Flash/Rogues conflict boils down to is who controls the Gem Cities?  The operative principle in that question being that there are Gem Cities.  The Gorillas just want to destroy and kill.  Conflicting with the interests of both, the Flash and Rogues have absolutely no choice but to ally themselves toward mutual benefit.  Uneasy fellowships like these are always fun to watch unfold, as sworn enemies tend to work really well together, accomplishing things exponentially greater than they could separately.  If only they could always get along the rest of the time . . .  Also, drawing off September’s Flash #0, one of Iris West’s male relations, possibly her brother, who was incarcerated in #0, is released from prison, and clearly has some part to play in the events unfolding.  Co-writers Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato return to art duties rendering a visually stunning tour de force, as per usual.
• Superman #13 reunites writer, Scott Lobdell, with artist, Kenneth Rocafort.  Their work on Red Hood and the Outlaws was the initial draw that hooked me on that book.  They did a bang up job with their first foray into Superman lore, with Superman #0 taking place on Old Krypton following the last ditch efforts of Jor-El to ascertain his planet’s impending fate.  Now they jump to the present, with Clark undergoing an existentialist dilemma in all facets of his life.  Following Scott Lobdell’s Superman Annual #1 two months ago, Superman is feeling uncertain about his omnipotence after being soundly thrashed by the Daemonite, Lord Helspont.  Though he exhibits near godlike powers, he is weighed down by fallibility.  In his civilian identity of Clark Kent, he is made to also feel impotent in his crusade to report important facts and meaningful information as is his calling as a newspaper reporter.  However, Perry White, Lois Lane, and Galaxy Broadcasting CEO, Morgan Edge, refuse to allow him to report on those meaningful things, wanting only fluff pieces and pop culture nonsemse, and as a result Clark, like Superman, is left seemingly devoid of a firm footing.  All this comes to a head when a nightmarishly proportioned dragon comes into play in Metropolis, leading the Man of Steel across the world on a desperate chase of chaos.  Supergirl guest stars, shedding a little light on what is going on.  Lobdell brings a soul and substance to this title that has been lacking since issue #1.  He stays on some of the hallmark themes that masters George Perez and Dan Jurgens set up in those first issues, but in his stories they resonate and actually show merit.  I had no doubt when I heard he was taking over that this title would blossom at his touch.  It has, and then some.  Kenneth Rocafort’s art is top notch.  It loses none of its allure and his Supergirl is the best she has been rendered since the inception of the Reboot.
  

  Truth, Justice, and the America Way

• Batman: The Dark Knight #13 was subpar.  I very much like this series, and writer Gregg Hurwitz tells a complex, compelling tale about the Scarecrow and the nature of his intense fascination with fear, however this issue accomplished nothing the last issue hadn’t already, nor did it build upon anything important.  It told the EXACT same information as issue #12.  Nothing new.  If you like seeing new art by series artist, David Finch, definitely worth getting, but in the realm of plot, you can skip it and go right to issue #14.
• Justice League Dark #13 combines the building story line of issues 9-12 with the Constantine/Zatanna origin from September’s zero issue.  The mastermind behind Felix Faust and Dr. Mist’s quest for the Books of Magic is none other than Nick Necro, Zatanna’s former beau and Constantine’s former mentor in the arcane arts.  His plot for the books looks to be nothing more than petty vengeance and narcissism.  Don’t think John learned that from strangers, either.  Jeff Lemire writes a good JLD yarn, however, I am nostalgic for Peter Milligan’s writing.  Mikel Janin continues to keep the art of the book tight, lush, and engrossing.  The epic conclusion to this arc comes next Wednesday with the Justice League Dark Annual #1. Looking forward to it.
• Talon #1 presents the first “official” issue of the series.  The introductory zero issue gives us the back story of former Talon, Calvin Rose.  His traumatic childhood, his “escape” to Haly’s Circus which led him into the clutches of the Court of Owls, his descent into darkness, and his escape from that same evil.   All of these are depicted in stark, beautiful detail by co-writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV and artist Guillem March.  All that, including Rose’s assault by a Talon after years on the run, is in the past.  THIS issue takes us into the razor’s edge of present events following Batman and his younger brother, Thomas Wayne Jr’s (Yes, I am asserting this identity) simultaneous attack on the Court, Batman from the outside and Tommy, aka Lincoln March, from the inside.  With the Court crippled and vulnerable, Calvin flies back to their nest of Gotham City to see just how extensive the damage to the shadowy cabal truly is and whether or not he is really safe.  What greets him is the Talon of the 1880’s, whom we have seen a handful of time in the wild Western pages of All-Star Western.  But amid a less than amicable welcome home from the Court, Calvin does make a very valuable friend that gives him news that will define and drive the series onward toward vistas that ANY self-professed Batman fan who’s read the “Court of Owls” story line would twinkle at the eyes to read.  This WILL be one of the must read titles of the DC line for years to come.
  

  Talon vs Talon

• Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Man #13 was kind of a toss up.  Ronnie and Jason continue to try to lead normal lives as high school seniors, despite also being two halves of the hero Firestorm.  Called away to fight a giant robot that is nonsusceptible to their transmutation skills.  The motivation of the people that sent the robot out is ambiguous at this point, so its hard to gauge whether this series is going in the right direction.  Writer/artist Dan Jurgens made his debut on the zero issue last month, but I am still dubious he’s taking the series in the right direction, even though that direction is the original one from the previous series.
• Teen Titans #13 takes the reader back in time to explain how Wonder Girl, Cassie Sandsmark, first obtained the Silent Armour, as well as how she met the boy, Diesel, who stole it from her at the end of August’s issue #12.  And all the while the audience to Cassie’s reminiscence are two very handsome and very angsty teen boys, Red Robin, aka Tim Drake, and Superboy, who take every chance to trash talk Diesel out of clear jealousy over the intimate details that Cassie is way too forthcoming with.  The ending of this issue comes forward with two interesting tidbits: a connection to Trigon and the return of Kurt Lance to the frontlines of the DCU as a glorified “truancy officer.”  Scott Lobdell continues to write this series masterfully, and his partner in art since the first issue, Brett Booth departs the series, replaced her by Ale Garza, whose sumptuous style is very similar to Booth’s.  I love all the books Lobdell writes and this series is no exception.

• 

  Red Robin and Superboy Are Not Amused

• National Comics: Madame X presents a really different Madame Xanadu, who they are calling Madame X, probably because of how different she is.  Taking place in New Orleans, this followed a realistic Law & Order type plot of a mayor getting killed in his home and a local Voodoo Queen being blamed for the killing.  Madame X is a defrauded psychic and card reader.  On retainer to a law firm she is brought into the investigation and wades through fake rituals and sordid political dealings.  Like the Rose & Thorn one shot last month, this issue didn’t seem to have a one shot ending, but rather start off a series or story arc.  Perhaps that is what we are going to see later on when the sales figures gauge interest in the National Comics brand.
• All-Star Western #13 picks up the story of Dr. Jekyll’s formula coming to Gotham.  With a murderous clown running rampant around Gotham killing priests, the finger is pointed at Haly’s Circus which has pulled into town. As ever, Jonah Hex and associates Dr. Amadeus Arkham and Tallulah Black are hot on the trail of carnage.  Writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray make interesting connections towards the end to the original Robert Louis Stevenson novel they are tapping for the arc’s subject matter.  Also there is a connection between Mr. Hyde and the fabled Black Diamond . . .  In the backup feature they take a giant leap backward in time telling the story of a Native American warrior named Tomahawk of the Shawnee tribe.  This takes place at the very end of the 1700’s during the Washington administration and the push of settlers into the Appalachian territories.  It seems very reminiscent of “Last of the Mohicans” the way in which it is broached.  Overall, both features in this title were superb and I am dying to read their next installments.
• Warriors of Mars #5 brings an end to this brief miniseries about Union naval officer, Lt. Gullivar Jones’ time on Mars and his association with John Carter, the Warlord of Mars.  After helping to rescue Carter’s wife, Dejah Thoris from the Thither Men, Gullivar attempts to go home, only to jump to Mars’ future several thousand years down the pipe.  Humans have come to Barsoom and like we did on the American continent, brought war to subjugate the Martians and take their planet from them.  Attempting to get his bearings, Jones finds himself brought together with the leader of all Mars, Dejah Carter, granddaughter of John Carter.  This issue comes to an end, that like Madame X above, isn’t really an end.  I would assume that its a similar situation of this last issue testing the waters for interest in another series.  I hope so, because this was an excellent, compelling story.
• The Unwritten #42 begins the “Live Like Lazarus” arc, showing Didge’s descent into the realm of story where she met Lizzy Hexam.  Before she is drawn back into the real world because of her dyslexia, Lizzy gives her a message to take back to her boyfriend, Tom Taylor.  After the events of the “Wound” plot arc, Tom receives the message and plans to descend into the “underworld” like Orpheus to get his lover back.  To help him are new friends Officer Didge Patterson and Danny Armitage, as well as the return of Richie Savoy after his indignant flight at the end of last issue.  To do this they go out to the Outback and find a portal through to the storyrealm through an Aborigine myth of the whale, which connects to the Leviathan of previous arcs.  As ever, creators Mike Carey and Peter Gross deliver a can’t miss issue of a seminal series.
  

  The Message

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman Inc #4: Art byChris Burnham, Colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Red Lanterns #13: Art by Miguel Sepulveda, Colored by Rain Beredo

Superman #13: Art by Kenneth Rocafort, Colored by Sunny Gho

Talon #1: Art by Guillem March, Colored by Tomeu Morey

Teen Titans #13: Art byAle Garza, Colored by Andrew Dalhouse

The Unwritten #42: Art by Peter Gross, Colored by Chris Chuckry

Week 56 (Sept. 26, 2012)

This week marks the end of Zero Month and the end of DC’s New 52 Origins.  I have to say that I am sad.  I thought I would be angry by the interruptions in the plotlines we’ve been reading in the regular series, but its actually been a very enjoyable month of oneshot stories.  Here they are:

• Batman Inc #0 bridges the gap between the “Island of Jonathan Mayhew” storyline with the Club of Batmen and the decision by the then recently resurrected Bruce Wayne to form Batman Incorporated.  The Batmen of the World worked well together to combat the forces of the Black Glove that tried to kill them all, and that same dynamism is what fueled Bruce’s plan to unite them in a common goal of rooting out a global enemy.  Knight and Squire stand for Britain, El Gaucho for Argentina (and probably other parts of South America if needs be), Man-of-Bats and his son Red Raven for the American West, but others are still needed.  The slain  Dark Ranger is replaced by his aborigine sidekick, the former Scout, to stand for Australia.  The Musketeer retires as the “Batman of France”, deferring to the Franco-Algerian teenager who defends Paris under the moniker “Nightrunner”,  owing to his penchant for parkour.  The Batman of Moscow, clearly represents the Russian people as their pointy eared protector.  In Japan, Mister Unknown accepts the mantle of the Batman of Japan.  We’ve seen these characters in brief scenes or in drawn out storylines, but this issue written by Grant Morrison and co-written by series artist Chris Burnham, ties it all together in a way that takes disparate storypoints and unites them in a way that makes them relevant to the main point of this title.  Frazer Irving steps in for art duties, delivering a dark, shadowy depiction of Morrison’s script.
• Red Lanterns #0 fills in the origin of the founding Red Lantern, Atrocitus.  We already know the generalities of his life and the events that inspired his unquenchable rage, as well as his vendetta against the Guardians of the Universe.  This issue takes those hallmark events and gives flesh to the moments in between, allowing us to go on a journey with Atros of the planet Ryutt from loving father and husband, to passionate rebel/”terrorist”, finally to Atrocitus, paragon of vengeance and hatred.  Creator Geoff Johns tied him to the “Five Inversions”, who themselves were created by Alan Moore in the 1986 Tales of the Green Lantern Corps Annual #2 story “Tygers.”  Though only Qull and Roixeaume were mentioned originally by Moore, Peter Milligan takes Johns’ creation, Atrocitus, and links him to the other two, while simultaneously taking all the mythology related to the Inversions and combining it.  Twenty-six years later, and Milligan takes the bull by the horns and writes a creation myth for the Inversions.  After this apocalyptic issue, the history of the Red Lanterns, Space Sector 666, and the Five Inversions is at its fullest.
• Before Watchmen: Ozymandias #3 brings out three of the most intriguing aspects of the journey of Ozymandias as conqueror or uniter of the world, however you want to term him.  Firstly, is his initial meeting with the Comedian.  Not to spoil the surprise for those who have yet to read the original Watchmen graphic novel, but Adrian Veidt and Eddie Blake share a very intense and meaningful exchange that defines that graphic novel and everything that it accomplishes.  Secondly, it also features his reaction to the advent of Dr. Manhattan and his initial meeting with the human supreme.  Adrian Veidt represents the pinnacle of human perfection.  He is the height of what a human being can aspire to become.  Dr. Manhattan transcends not only humanity, but also modern science.  His reaction to this initial meeting also defines the course of the graphic novel and says something about human nature.  The third point is the creation of his Antarctic hideaway, a re-creation of the ancient Egyptian palace of Ramses II.  Len Wein is the writer best suited to write the character (since Alan Moore is never going to revisit the title) and Jae Lee lends a gothic intensity to the title as well.  With the six issue run only half done, I am ravenous to see where Wein and Lee are going to take us in the other three.
• Aquaman #0 explores the reimagined backstory of the character.  The main bullet points are all the same.  Atlana, princess of Atlantis saves lighthouse keeper, Thomas Curry, from drowning in a violent squall and falls in love with him.  Nine months later, after she disappears from his life, a blond haired baby is left on his doorstep.  That is all canon.  Geoff Johns revamps other aspects of the character’s origin to reinvigorate the franchise.  Growing up a “freak” Arthur longs for normalcy.  When that no longer is an option, owing to Dr. Stephen Shin’s outing of his Atlantean heritage, Arthur tries to escape.  In his exodus he is made aware of someone else exiled from Atlantis, a man named Vulko.  Here Johns reintroduces a classic character to the title.  Vulko not only tells Arthur who he is and where he comes from, but also what has befell Atlantis since his birth and how he can regain his birthright.  This issue is perhaps the greatest leap by Geoff Johns toward the series that was and stories that resonated with readers.  It also reintroduces a major Aquaman villain, Ocean Master.  Looking forward to the next stage in the title’s progression.
• Batman: The Dark Knight #0 was a bit of a let down.  Sure it was written exquisitely well, with plenty of allusions to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe, and Kennedy conspiracy theories, but there was no soul beneath the eloquence.  I suppose it’s important for someone of Batman’s caliber to come to terms with the notion of chaos and the meaninglessness and randomness of street crime, but it also doesn’t make for the most entertaining read.  I have defended this title under the reins of series artist and sometimes writer David Finch, Paul Jenkins, and most recently Gregg Hurwitz, but this issue is not one that I would go out of my way to recommend.  It has something valid to say, but isn’t one that would bankrupt your grasp on the current Batverse if you missed it.  Not a bad issue, just not the best.
  

  Some Things Are Arbitrary

• The Flash #0 was just a straight, heart-of-the-matter piece.  There were a few instances of superheroics, but all in all, it was mostly a touching look at the traumatic youth of forensic scientist, Barry Allen, crusading for years to prove his father’s innocence in the murder of his mother, Nora Allen.   Though this traumatic episode is a new development in the character’s bio, engineered as recently as a few years ago by Geoff Johns, it really resonates with the character and writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato run with it in this issue in a way that Johns never did or never got around to.  His only attempt at it was the paltry attempt that resulted in Flashpoint.  Interesting series at times, but overall a ridiculously overdone waste of time.  This story shows the heartbreak of this event alongside the confusion, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit amid adversity.  The death of Nora Allen robbed Barry of a father in Henry Allen, but gave him another in the form of Capt. Darryl Frye.  It explored what love can inspire people to do.  It brimmed with the promises of hope and determination.  I guess to put it mildly, this issue is the feel good issue of Zero Month.  Despite the traumas that life throws his way, Barry Allen (The Fastest Man in the World) is going to keep moving forward with strength, determination, and hope for the good things that are just over the horizon.
  

  Family Doesn’t Give Up On Eachother

• Superman #0 blew me away on several levels.  Firstly, the plot was nothing short of stunning and defined the Superman universe down to its most quintessential roots: Old Krypton.  The Superman legend begins on a doomed planet with desperate scientists entrusting their last hope, their infant son, Kal-El of the great House of El, to the fates by putting him in an experimental rocket and sending him to a planet whose yellow sun will give him the fighting chance to not only survive, but also prosper.  New series writer (which is the second level of awesomeness) Scott Lobdell keeps the integrity of this iconic origin intact, while adding elements that tie it into a large initiative in the New DCU’s unfolding story.  As was intimated in last week’s Supergirl #0, a doomsday cult has taken root on Krypton with ties to a larger threat from beyond the stars.  That threat concludes itself with a strange creature emerging from nowhere on Krypton and blowing on a great horn, just as we saw happen in Superman #1 a little over a year ago.  Can the same doom befall Earth as it did Krypton?  Jor-El remains the cool analytical genius he has always been, but his wife Lara, gains new dimensions.  I can’t think of a representation where she ever had any substantial depth, but this issue represents her as not only a stunningly beautiful and elegant woman, but also a brilliant physician and something of a badass.  Once again, Scott Lobdell maintains what is good and innovates what is lacking.  Joining Lobdell on his Superman run is his artist from the first eleven issues of Red Hood and the Outlaws, Kenneth Rocafort.  I love Rocafort’s art so much and I think that he and Lobdell have a decent rapport going, so their continued collaboration here makes me confident that Superman will become the title it was meant to be.
  

  Super Parents

• Firestorm #0 follows in the footsteps of Green Lantern: New Guardians #0 in that it doesn’t give a traditional origin, but rather provides a transitional story that facilitates a new era in the title as well as a jumping on point for new readers.  It also stands as a changing of the guard, written by series cowriter Joe Harris in anticipation of Dan Jurgens dual artist/authorship starting in issue #13.  After issue #12 the Firestorm matrices manufactured by Zithertech were all shutdown, effectively murdering the international Firestorms.  All that remains are the depowered duo of Ronnie Raymond and Jason Rusch.  Trying to settle back into normalcy, their dreams of peace and quiet are cut short when the remnants of their matrices “fire up” once again.  However, the premise of the book reverts to the “One Firestorm/Two Operators” paradigm of the original title.  Ronnie is the Firestorm with Jason riding shotgun in his head calling the shots.  I know some people are going to be excited by this reversion, but I was kind of into the idea of the multiple Firestorm idea.  It was fresh and done thoughtfully, keeping the reader on their toes.  Oh, well . . .
• Justice League Dark #0 deals with the quintessential badboy of the title, John Constantine.  He’s such an asshole with a ridiculously overblown opinion of himself, how could he not be the subject of the origin issue? In this version, Jeff Lemire has him coming to New York as a punk novice in the arcane arts, looking to learn from the best.  In this case, it is the sorceror Nick Necro, who himself bears an uncanny resemblance to Constantine, only with darker hair.  In fact, he basically is what Constantine becomes.  He’s cocksure, alternative, and dating Zatanna.  Constantine learns from him and ultimately betrays him.  This explains a great deal about why he is the way he is, as well as the baggage that exists between him and Zatanna up until this point.  Also, the mysterious figure revealed in the twelfth issue of the series is no doubt a resurrection of Nick Necro.  This issue was intriguing as I hate Constantine so much, and yet Lemire had me feeling sorry for him and relating to his struggles for at least half the narrative.  The other half I just went on hating him.  Interesting  . . .
  

  The First Meeting Of John Constantine, Zatanna, and Nick Necro.

• Teen Titans #0 completes the Bat-book origins, and I was not as excited about this one as I was hoping I would be.  Tim Drake is one of my favorite Robins.  Scott Lobdell set up an interesting and somewhat engaging backstory for him.  The major scandal that had people up in arms was his having the character go right into being Red Robin and not starting out as just “Robin.”  While I wasn’t excited by this development, it didn’t ruin the issue for me.  What did ruin it a bit for me was Tim not deducing Batman’s identity.  That was what set him apart from the other robins.  Whereas Bruce chose Dick and Jason based on their tragic circumstances, Tim found his way into the role by finding out Bruce Wayne’s secret through his own genius and detective work while in middle school.  Its what defined him as THE Robin, as someone who could replace Batman eventually.  If that doesn’t fit the mold of how the Bat-group wants to hashout the origins, fine, but don’t have Dick figure it out and not Tim!!!  Other than that, it was a good issue, but I am not a fan of Lobdell’s analysis of Tim’s origin.  Just not happy.
• Talon #0 rounds out the “Third Wave” titles dropping this month, introducing Calvin Rose, a relatively recent Talon, who broke the mold and went AWOL from his service to the Court of Owls.  This is a title I have been anticipating ever since it was announced and writers Scott Snyder and James Tynion IV do not disappoint.  In all the categories necessary, this series resonates. Calvin has a traumatic childhood. Check.  Building off his past tragedies, Calvin forges a future for himself.  Check.  His consumate mastery gains him the attention of the Court of Owls. Check.  Conflicted assassin. Check.  I think his role as a master escape artist is what drew me to the character, in much the same way that I have always been drawn to Mister Miracle of New Genesis.  Since the New Gods haven’t been introduced in the New DCU I suppose the vacancy needs to be filled.  The narrative also is what draws you in, centering on a conflicted soul trying to find his purpose in life.  I could feel Scott Snyder’s influence in the story, but I could also detect what I believe to be James Tynion IV’s.  He’s done some backup work in the Bat-titles, so I have a general idea what his storytelling style is like.  Guillem March provides art, which is luscious and radiant, as ever.  Three incredible creators on a character that oozes with possibilities.  Add this one to your pull lists.  This has the potential to be history in the making.
  

  Calvin Rose Reclaims His Destiny . . . and other stuff, too.

• National Comics: Rose & Thorn introduces the split-personality character into the New DCU.  In this issue she is portrayed as a teenager who recently was released from an asylum, of which she put in following her father’s murder.  Another side-note: In her previous incarnation, Pre-Reboot, she was the mother of the non-homosexual Alan Scott’s, aka Golden Age Green Lantern, children.  Don’t see them getting together assuming he’s in his mid 30’s, gay, and she is 16 and in high school.  This issue was a one-shot, but totally felt like the setup for a series.  Rose Canton is a goody-goody, who has blackouts that end with her covered in blood, tattooed, and with very naughty posts on “Facelook” social media network.  In her blacked out period she seduced the most popular boy in school,Troy Varker, and also her nerdy best friend, Melanie.  Though her other personality, Thorn, has a very darkside, she is working towards the goal of finding and punishing the people involved in their father’s death.  I do hope that this issue develops into something in the future.
• Phantom Lady & Dollman #2 brings the four issue miniseries to the point of Dollman, aka Darrell Dane’s, introduction as the pint sized marvel.  After his rescue of Jennifer Knight from the Metropolis crime family scion, Cyrus Bender, the two retreat to the country and test out Dane’s experimental prototypes, including the Phantom suit that makes Jennifer insubstantial and the blacklight projector.  With this accomplished writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray bring the story to the present and presents the Phantom Lady with a superpowered antagonist that looks a little bit like Silver Banshee.
• All-Star Western #0 eschews the secondary feature regularly at the end of the book and dedicates the entire extended page count to the origin of the Old Westerner badass, Jonah Hex.  The short version is that Hex had some really shitty parental figures in his life: an abusive father, an absentee mother, and a jerk of an adoptive father. With the Union Army, the Apaches, and his own father gunning for him, his past has been hectic to say the least.  The story behind his scarred face finds its origin with two of the above parties.  His story starts at his birth and continues to the present, picking up where issue #12 ended with Jonah, Dr. Arkham, and Tallulah Black meeting Reginald Forsythe to talk about a man who has stolen Dr. Jekyll’s formula, which ostensibly sets up the next arc in this series. The part of this issue that confuses me comes at the end with an unknown narrator talking about finding their mother.  I assume from the look of the prospective mother shown in the last panel that she can’t be Hex’s, who himself seems much older than she.
• American Vampire #31 was an excellent issue that dealt in a couple of ways with the inconceivable conclusion to last month’s issue.   Pearl returns to her husband’s bedside as he awakens from his coma.  Through this tender moment, Scott Snyder clues in his readers to the past shared by Henry Preston and his vampiric wife, Pearl Jones.  The love shared between them truly warms the heart, which makes the ending of the last issue so UNFATHOMABLE!  Likewise, Pearl experiences a chill out with Skinner Sweet, her creator, after the events of their last mission together.  As the issue concludes it draws the plot closer to the arc’s ultimate conclusion.  The coven operating in Los Angeles does so from a hidden base lorded over by an enigmatic sire.  Not only does Pearl figure out the location of the base, she also learns the identity of the vampiric overlord.  Without spoiling the plot further, I’ll just reaffirm that I LOVE THIS SERIES!
• The New Deadwardians #7 ushers in the penultimate chapter of the eight issue miniseries.  When Chief Inspector George Suttle comes face to face with the informant, Salt, and interrogates him, he is presented with and unbelievable conspiracy, featuring the most unlikely of conspirators. Armed with this apocalyptic knowledge, the Chief Inspector stands on the verge of solving not only the murder of the vampiric nobleman, Lord Highcliffe, but also the mystery behind the advent of the zombie hordes in Britain, colloquially known as the Restless.  Admittedly, I hate zombies and I hate vampiric fictions (with the exception of American Vampire above), but this series does both in just the right way to redeem their respective genres.  The resulting product comes off like an amalgam of “Walking Dead” and “Downton Abbey.”
• Happy #1 is the first of four issues in a gritty crime story written by Grant Morrison, that bears his characteristic “Morrison twist.”  Former cop, Nicholas Sax, is on a crusade to take down the Fratelli crime family.  In the process he is shot and sent to a hospital. His former partner is in the pocket of the Fratelli’s as is the hospital Sax is taken to, meaning that he is in for a whole world of hurt.  Pretty straightforward, right?  Where’s the Morrison Twist?  The only thing keeping Nick ahead of the game and that aforementioned world of hurt is his daughter’s imaginary friend, a blue cartoony winged unicorn named Happy the Horse.  Somehow Nick can see him and their in it to win it.  Really weird, but as with most Morrison work, really intriguing.
  

  Pay Attention To The Talking Horse!

Thus ends September and the origin issues. Next comes October, “Death of the Family” in the Batman books, “Rot World” in Animal Man and Swamp Thing, “H’el on Earth” in the Superman books, “Rise of the Third Army” in the Green Lantern books, and a whole slew of other goodness. Can’t wait.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Batman: The Dark Knight #0: Pencils by Mico Suayan & Juan Jose Ryp, Inked by Vincente Cifuentes, Colored by Sonia Oback

The Flash #0: Art by Francis Manapul, Colored by Brian Buccellato

Superman #0: Art by Kenneth Rocafort, Colored by Sunny Gho

Justice League Dark  #0: Drawn by Lee Garbett, Colored by Pete Pantazis, Inked by Cam Smith

Talon #o: Art by Guillem March, Colored by Tomeu Morey

Happy #1: Art by Darick Robertson, Colored by Richard P. Clark

Week 51 (August 22, 2012)

This is a week I have been looking forward to for awhile.  Green Lantern: The New Guardians has been powering towards this year long finale and I am anxious to read it.  Batman Incorporated was regrettably bumped back a month due to the shooting in Colorado, but finally hits stands.  The Golden Glider, aka Lisa Snart, makes her first appearance in The Flash.  And The Unwritten has been at the top of my pull list since it first came out over three years ago.

• Green Lantern: The New Guardians #12 completes not only a full years worth of storytelling, but also the very first story arc which I believe has been referred to as “The Ring Thief.”  Self contained, this twelve month span of issues presents a beginning and an end wrapped up very neatly.  If one wanted to stop here, writer Tony Bedard provides a perfect jumping off point for reader, but also a perfect jumping on point next month for a new stage of storytelling with a brand new team.  Wrapping up the threat of Invictus against the Vega System and the Universe and the mysterious motives of the “Ring Thief”, Bedard presents two very complex figures.  Both the fallen Angel of Vega and the fallen Guardian of Oa have good intentions that cross boundaries of morality and pervert their noble aims.  Both are put down, but the result leaves a bittersweet taste in one’s mouth as to whether or not the Universe is better or worse for their defeat.  This series started off shaky last September, but finished high on the leaderboard in my opinion.  Can’t wait for next arc with the return of two of my favorite Lanterns: Carol Ferris and Atrocitus.
  

  The Last Flight of the New Guardians

• The month delayed Batman Incorporated #3 finally came out this week, for those who couldn’t get a bootleg around the time of the original release date.  Isssue #1 introduced the reentry of Leviathan as the central threat under the banner of Talia Al-Ghul.  Issue #2 reintroduced the origin and journey of Talia to the foreground as the mastermind behind Leviathan and the reasons for the organization’s creation.  This issue brings us back to Batman and Robin fighting Leviathan and how the enigmatic cabal is spreading like a cancer throughout the infrastructure of Gotham, and probably the whole country.  Donning the seemingly retired persona of “Matches” Malone, Batman attempts to infiltrate the beast from its belly.  Grant Morrison writes a tight script and artist Chris Burnham draws it exquisitely, with as style reminiscent of Frank Quitely, but with a flavor all its own.
  

  A Tangled Web

• Flash #12 brings months of Flash issues to a head.  Writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Brian Buccellato  have been slowly introducing the Rogues in one off issues that reintroduce and in some cases reinvent the characters to the DCU.  With Heatwave’s, appearance last month the final two make their’s in this twelfth installment.  Captain Cold’s little sister, Lisa Snart, aka Golden Glider, comes into the picture, ousting her brother as leader of the Rogues and institutes a daring plan to bring the Gem Cities to their knees, with a lot of help from a final Rogue who has kept a low profile thus far.  In the life of our protagonist, Flash confronts his fair-weather friend, Dr. Elias, about his betrayal and finds the good doctor to be an egotistical user who took advantage of the Flash to further his own research.  Elias then becomes the lynch pin between the Rogues, the Flash, Captain Cold, and The Pied Piper.  A lot of things happening and all setting up the Flash Annual due next week . . .
• Batman: The Dark Knight #12 was a pretty intense, thought provoking issue.  Falling into the clutches of the Scarecrow, Batman is subjected to various regimes of fear toxin.  Through his descent into the trauma of his childhood, we see that Bruce Wayne and Jonathan Crane are actually very similar in several respects.  Also the the greatest fear of Batman’s is revealed and it is quite shocking, but appropriate.  Gregg Hurwitz is writing a great Batbook that is both hard hitting and introspective.  David Finch’s artwork continues to define the book and lend it a feel that is truly gothic.
• Fury of Firestorm #12 reaches the fever point for both Pozhar and Director Zither.  With the international tension between Firestorms mounting, the truth behind the emergence of these superbeings unfolds.  Pozhar, the Russian Firestorm, pioneered the technology with Professor Stein.  Jason Rusch and Ronnie Raymond gained their powers from Stein’s Matrix.  The Firestorms of the other nations received their Firestorm Matrices from Zithertech, which makes all the difference.  The fallout (perhaps literal as well as figurative) redefines the title in time for the new regime of Dan Jurgens as writer/artist.  Ashra Khan hasn’t shown yet.  Hope that doesn’t vanish with the previous creative team.   I like Dan Jurgens’ work as a whole, but sometimes he can drop the ball.  I feel like he could do this title great justice, considering the subject material.
• Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #1 inaugurates another out-of-the-park hit from J. Michael Straczynski in the Before Watchmen line.  With a plot whose flow is dictated by the principles of quantum physics, mainly that of what I believe is referred to as “Schrödinger’s cat”, stating that anything conceivable is possible until proven otherwise.  In this, the young Jon Osterman receives a present from his parents, and looking back on it as the godlike Doctor Manhattan, he states that until he opened that box, its contents could literally have been anything. A kitten, a teddy bear, a baseball mitt and ball, etc.  And in numerous realities it did contain those things.  He goes over his entire life and the exact moments that are unchangeable that lead to his metamorphosis into his current state.  However, when he witnesses a reality in which he does not find himself locked in the Intrinsic Fields vault, he then is confronted with the possibility that not everything is quantifiable and chaos does exist in a seemingly fixed set of rules.  There is obviously much more to the story, but the way in which the plot is scientifically mapped and charted by the author and its protagonist is what truly makes is a fascinating read.

Quantum Possibilities

• Superman #12 brings a close to the first year of the title and also Dan Jurgens’ role as writer/artist.  I love Jurgens and his work, but this issue and the story arc it concludes was not good.  We see that the predator monster, who unmasked does actually look dissimilar and more like a reptile than the movie predator, was actually just an unwitting victim, ripped from his home dimension and who is just trying to get back to where he belongs.  While fighting his Russian captors to escape captivity, some of them are killed, and because of this Superman tries to bar his exit from Earth, because “this creature needs to pay for his crimes.”  WHAT?!  Knowing full well that the creature doesn’t want to stay here and was forcefully removed to Earth, are we really supposed to believe that Superman would take that line, especially considering his track record of wanton destruction?  No!!!  Mister Jurgens, this doesn’t make sense.  Better luck on Fury of Firestorm in two months.  Starting in September with issue #0, Superman will fall under the skillful pen of Scott Lobdell.  I for one, can’t wait.
• Justice League Dark #12 continues the “Books of Magic” storyline’s descent deeper into the twisted realm of deception.  Felix Faust and Dr. Mist turn out to be merely pawns in a faceless enemy’s highly sophisticated plot.  While we do not know who this man is, we know he is powerful, we know that he has an old tie to John Constantine, and while Constantine is master of the House of Mystery, this other gentleman is become lord of the House of Secrets.  Also, we get to see the true secret about the rift between former lovers Zatanna and Constantine, and oh man is it a doozy.
• Teen Titans #12 reveals further details about the connection between Cassie Sandsmark and the source of her power, the Silent Armor.  The Armor is an evil device, linked to an Armageddon force that thus far Cassie has been able to suppress.   However, the enigmatic young man from her past, Diesel, introduced last issue, holds the key to unlocking both her destructive potential and the secret of the armor.  In two months we will see how this all plays out.  In the backup story by Fabian Nicieza, Teryx, with the help of Kid Flash, hunts down Steg in an attempt to stop his dino-supremacist actions.  There isn’t really an ending to this segment making me wonder if it will be a future plot line or a recurring backup.
• Voodoo #12 marks the end of that series’ main run.  There will be a #0 issue next month, but as of the end of this issue, both Voodoo and Priscilla are going to be relegated to the pages of other series, such as Grifter and possibly Superman.  When I read the first issue of this series a year ago, I had so many theories and questions as to the destiny of the anti-heroic title character, but this issue didn’t get anywhere close to resolving either.  I hope that Grifter utilizes the character  better, and both develops her and answers those questions.
• All-Star Western #12 wraps up the storyline of the reorganized Religion of Crime . . . for now.  Jonah Hex and Tallulah Black (along with Dr. Amadeus Arkham) escape from the group’s steampunk deathtrap and take it to the self-appointed Lords of Crime with bare fists and .44 caliber bullets.  The results of their labors seem definite, but as is an accepted truth about Gotham City, no evil ever dies.  In the meantime, writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray introduce us to the next conflict in the series’ future . . . Dr. Jekyll and his strange associate.  In the backup feature, Palmiotti and Gray conclude their “Dr. Thirteen” arc in classic Sherlock Holmes style, with science masqueraded as superstition.
  

  Tallulah Black and Lorna Kyle Duke It Out In Old Gotham

• Kirby Genesis: Dragonsbane #3 brings the group of mythic heroes closer to the Conspiracy of Dragons imprisoning the Persian princess, Tahmina.  In the process, they pick up another comrade-in-arms, the She-Demon.  Though she seems generic, it is hinted that she comes from a Romanian inspired mythland.  With the last of their fellowship together, the heroes end the issue by setting foot into the Persian mythland and on the verge rescuing Tahmina.  Next issue will conclude the series and I have to admit I am intrigued.
• The Unwritten #40 marks the return of Tom Taylor to the main narrative.  As has been foreshadowed in previous issues, Tom is coming to Australia on a world tour of revelation that we can assume is in response to the eponymous “Wound” this arc details following Pullman’s attack on the Leviathan several months ago.  It also marks the meeting of Tom with the characters who we have come to see as central these past three months: Daniel Armitage, Det. Didge Patterson, and most importantly, Reverend Lucas Filby of the Church of Tommy cult.  When meeting each of these three, Tommy is made aware of something important to his journey forwarding.  In fact, Didge’s revelation, born of her disintegration by Pullman’s wooden hand, leads Tom and the title toward the next major arc.
  

  The Unwrittten Made Light

Thus concludes a phenomenal week in comics. See you next week.

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #12: Drawn by Tyler Kirkham, Colored by Nei Ruffino & Wes Hartman, Inked by BATT

Batman Inc #3: Art by Chris Burnham, Colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #11: Drawn by Tyler Kirkham, Colored by Nei Ruffino, Inked by BATT

Before Watchmen: Dr. Manhattan #1: Art by Adam Hughes, Colored by Laura Martin

All-Star Western #12: Art by Moritat, Colored by Mike Atiyeh

The Unwritten #40: Art by Peter Gross, Colored by Chris Chuckry

Week 43 (June 27, 2012)

The last week of the month is always amazing.  Featured this week are several issues I’ve been anticipating for sometime.  So hopefully they live up to expectations. 

• Justice League #10 was okay.  That’s all I can say about it.  It hasn’t reached a point where anything exceptional has happened.  Its pretty for sure.  Jim Lee has done a wonderful job rendering its artwork, but as of yet Geoff Johns hasn’t stepped up with a decent story.  The Justice Leaguers are struggling with trust for one another, and a villain shows up to challenge them.  In the Shazam backup feature, Billy Batson does seemingly get some depth, but the main event that impressed me was the introduction of Black Adam.  Regardless of his depiction, Black Adam has always been a noble villain.  I pray that Johns doesn’t find a way to ruin him like he has so many others in this lamentable series.
  
• Green Lantern: New Guardians #10 was outstanding, chronicling the last stand of the Blue Lanterns to save their world, Odym.  In this issue they no longer fight alone.  Joining them are Kyle Rayner of the Green Lanterns, Fatality of the Star Sapphires, and Arkillo of the now unnamed Yellow Lantern Corps.  The valor in which the Blue Lanterns fight for their homeworld and their Battery, the very beacon of Hope, is what makes this issue so engrossing.  Will Hope prevail over the unceasing hordes of the insectoid Reach, or will Odym fall to the Blue Beetles like countless worlds have before.  Tony Bedard wants to tell you, so read this issue and the one preceding it.
  

  The Cavalry Arrives

  
  

• Aquaman #10 was very short, and like its author, Geoff John’s, above attempt in Justice League, rather insubstantial.  It did hint at the character of the Operative and his circumstances, as well as confirm the accusation of the dark tie between Arthur and Black Manta, but other than those two things, taking up the combined length of five pages, nothing else happened.  Unlike Justice League, however, there is a great deal of quality characterization in this title.  This is one of the series he is doing right.  I think if he would just give up the infantile attempt to do a JLA title he could reinvest the time and energy into doing this title better.  I mean he’s a DC executive.  Its not like he needs the money from doing a third series.  I do like this series a great deal.  I think that Johns has set a faraway goal to guide the series’ progress for years to come, just like he set up “Blackest Night” in Green Lantern five years before it even came on the radar.  This is a series to read.
  
• Flash #10 was amazing as ever.  Lamentably though, owing I’m sure to the oncoming Flash Annual that writer/artists Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato are doing next month, the art of this book is done by Marcus To.  To does a good job of rendering the panels of content and his art matches the style of Manapul just enough so as not to be jarring.  However, the dynamism of how the panels occupy the page is missing which is slightly disappointing.  The story focuses on the character of Weather Wizard being drawn back to his roots in Central America as the scion of a major drug cartel and the Flash following to save his idealistic girlfriend, Patty Spivot, from that same Cartel.  Storywise, it didn’t miss a beat from the past issues.  It was very much a one shot issue that references and builds upon past material, legitimizing every choice and change Manapul and Buccellato make in this new Flash series.   One of my favorites.
  
• Batman Inc. #2 was writer Grant Morrison at his best.  After the Batman Inc: Leviathan Strikes one shot that linked the first series to this second half, we are made aware that the villainous Leviathan is none other than Talia Al-Ghul, and in this second issue of the new series we see Talia’s life from just before conception to the present moment.  Morrison puts his own spin on the character, but also adheres brilliantly to her documented past, even paying homage to the first segment of the first issue in which she is ever depicted, Detective Comics #441 from 1971.   Rooting his story deep in Batman’s past, Morrison is primed to forever define Batman’s future.  Ra’s Al-Ghul is one of the most ominously wise and powerful of Batman’s enemies and Morrison has made his daughter, Talia, an extension of that.  How the conflict between these two megalomaniacs and the resultant conflict with the Batman is something that I personally await with baited breath.
  

  The Gorgon’s Eye

• Fury of Firestorm #10 is very much a revelation issue that resolves the aftermath of Firehawk and Jason Rusch combining to become Wrath, as well as further exposition on the character of Pozhar.  The relationship that is growing between Pozhar and Ronnie Raymond is very interesting, as is what Pozhar speculates is happening to Ronnie after his torture which the former rescued him from.   The origins of the rogue firestorms is linked to an enigmatic person named Ashra Khan by an Indian firestorm, Rakshasi.  Overall, this series is building its own new world order in a frightening Cold War-like arms race for nuclear powered superheroes.
  

  Rakshasj

  
  

• Superman #10 was not as good.  I suppose it wasn’t bad either, just disappointing.  The character of Anguish is a character of blind rage that just falls flat.  She comes from a tragic past, no one can deny that, but her presentation is bush league.  Unlike the Red Lanterns that follow this archetype and are written provocatively, she is not someone you immediately want to make allowances for.  Also Superman’s attempt to calm her by taking away the one thing she wants is idiotic no matter how you look at it.  I feel like ironically Superman, is the weakest of the Superman titles.  This issue does conclude the two issue arc, so hopefully something good will come up next on the docket.  And if not, Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort are inheriting the title from Dan Jurgens and Jesus Merino in September.  Either way, #10 is skippable. 
• Teen Titans #10 is a sort of denouement to the Culling storyline.  After Superboy #10, Cassie and Kon-El  meet up with the other Titans on the flips-side of the mysterious island . . . and the rest of the issue deals with their reactions to the nightmarish rollercoaster ride they were all subjected to.  Superboy makes peace with his teenaged contemporaries and the remaining Titans come to terms with each other and the things they all have done up to the present.  Love blossoms between two of the Titans, and future plans are made.  If you like the series thus far, this issue is a nice little vacation that really fleshes out the characters.  Great job on the part of both Scott Lobdell and Brett Booth.
  

  Young Love

  
  

• Batman: The Dark Knight#10 begins a new chapter in the series. David Finch continues  to provide art while Gregg Hurwitz, who wrote Penguin: Pain and Prejudice, comes on as writer.  The Scarecrow appears to be the new villain, terrorizing and kidnapping children for seemingly no reason.  Also new is a Ukrainian piano prodigy named Natalya who is Bruce’s newest love interest.  Finch keeps the artwork stark and foreboding, while Hurwitz really brings an intelligence and subtlety to the plot.  
• Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1 holds its metaphorical head high with its three brother/sister series in this line of prequel books.  J. Michael Straczynski follows in suit with Darwyn Cooke and Brian Azzarello, writing a stark, ominous tale of the origin of one of Watchmen’s greatest characters.  Raised in a household of oppression and domestic abuse, Daniel Dreiberg sets out to become like his idol, the mystery man Nite Owl.  Straczynski writes a series that very much has the overtones of the character himself.  Andy Kubert provides art with ink assists by his dad, the legendary Joe Kubert, and result present a very pulpy, retro feel to the book.  The count is now four for four.  Ozymandias is next week’s installment and here’s hoping that it is half as good as the four we’ve seen so far.
  
• Justice League Dark #10 is a little iffy.  Writer Jeff Lemire presents an interesting conflict, revolving around John Constantine being the unwitting villain, leading the world unto its ultimate destruction, should his current path continue unchallenged.  With three new characters in the title and a new status quo, this issue does do some world building, but its too soon to tell whether its going to live up to the incredible first arc of this series or fall flat.  Time will tell.
  
• Voodoo #10 also is iffy.  I dunno if this is just how its always been meant to go, but the series isn’t so much working for me right now.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but I am less than excited about what this issue presents.  Priscilla leads the Black Razors in pursuit of Voodoo to one of the moons of Jupiter and an abandoned Daemonite colony.  It sounds more exciting than it actually is. I’ll wait until next issue or so to pass judgement, but its close to being dropped by me.
  
• All-Star Western #10 was good as ever and continues to get better and better. Jonah Hex rescues Tallulah Black from her fall at the Wayne Casino, and in doing so finds himself unwittingly placed betweeen the Religion of Crime and the Court of Owls in their battle for the heart of Gotham.  Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti keep the plot fresh and ever evolving, and Moritat’s art is some of the best put out by DC.  This month’s backup feature is a one shot starring Bat Lash, with art by Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez.  I was vaguely aware of the character before this, but Wow, he is an asshole . . . It was fun to read though.
  

  Black Hex

  
  

• Space Man #7 is just pure confusion. I think I will review this after issue #9.
  
• The New Deadwardians #4 takes a step back and primarily offers characterization.  We see get some background on the maid Louisa, Sapphire from the brothel last issue, and a look into the why and how of George’s taking the cure during the Memorial War.  There is something really genuine about this title that makes it much better than most zombie fiction out there.  Although, I should voice that I have a bias against the brain sucking undead.  I like this series a great deal and it bums me out that it is only an 8 issue miniseries.
  
• Kirby Genesis: Silver Star #6 was a literal acid trip!  Well, not literally, but I feel like drugs may have helped in the understanding of it, because it was pretty convoluted, involving time paradoxes up the wazoo and mindbending concepts that I am still debating the validity of.  Either way, Silver Star attempts to find a cure for his lover, Norma’s, terrible affliction.  In the process mysterious villains hire a professional to break into his base in Oblivion, Montana to alter the orrey of worlds he has made, prompting the messed up paradoxes mentioned above.  I can’t wait until next issue, because while I think I liked this issue, I’m not sure I understood it.  Oh yeah, did I mention that the main fight in this issue is with himself?
  
• American Vampire #28 starts a brand new four part arc called “The Black List.”  Taking place during the infamous McCarthy Hearings of that period.  With Pearl’s husband, Henry, barely clinging to life she is forced back into the game to hunt down the vampiric covens of California to end the attempts on both their lives.  To make this happen both Calvin Poole and Skinner Sweet are backing her play, meaning that all three American vampires are united in one cause for the first time.  Scott Snyder is a genius and I am on board for the entire duration of this series.
  

  Its Sweet to be Back

And that is the end of June’s books.  

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to any of these images and give credit to those whose work they are.

Illustration Credits:

Green Lantern: The New Guardians #10: Art by Tomas Giorello, Colored by Nathan Eyring & Hi-Fi

Batman Incorporated #2: Art by Chris Burnham, Colored by Nathan Fairbairn

Fury of Firestorm #10: Drawn by Yidray Cinar, Colored by Hi-Fi, Inked by Ethan Van Sciver

Teen Titans #10: Drawn by Brett Booth, Colored by Andrew Dalhouse & Blond, Inked by Norm Rapmund

All-Star Western #10: Art by Moritat, Colored by Gabriel Bautista

American Vampire #28: Art by Rafael Albuquerque, Colored by Dave McCaig