The Good , the Bad and the Ugly [10-29-10]

[SUPERECWFAN1]

#59

Halloween is right around the corner. Its a special Trick or Treat edition of goodies comics wise this week. Which ones are GOOD , which ones are BAD....and which ones just plan suck ?


The Good

Teen Titans #88: Months earlier DC revamped Titans and the success of that showed DC they should go ahead and revamp the mother title . Anyhow heres the rundown on this revamp by J.T Krul and Nicola Scott.

The story starts off as we get action with Wonder Girl , Raven , Ravager , Beast Boy and Superboy. The team is facing a new set of rogues called the Feral Boys or as Cassie jokes , either that or the Beastie Boys. Nice one...but this is her team and she finally looks like she is making leadership decisions.

Like having Ravager join. She may not like Ravager's loose morals and how she gets things done. But she needs her on the team for the battles the kids face. Plus they have already lost so much with Marvin and Kid Devil dying recently.

Poor Barney is a normal outsider school kid where nothing works for him. He has few friends , his family barely speaks to him and he's not gonna be missed. Which makes him a perfect candidate for what a new rogue named Dr. Caligan has in store. Its pretty much him who is creating these Feral Boys in experiments.

We get a scene from Gotham as Dick Grayson and Damian are beating bad guys. Damian teases he would stab Brutale but jokes with Grayson he wouldn't. But its here Dick realizes what his young Robin needs....friends.

Back at the Tower we get caught up with each team member. Raven discusses how she can't reveal her feelings for Garth (Beast Boy) but stays around for him. Superboy wants to get close with Cassie but she is busy trying to be leader. Rose checks up on her mom and dad's status on the computer.

Its while Connor and Cassie are gettin close that the alarm sounds and they all scramble. Its there we see Dick as Batman with Damian sittin in the leader chair. Saying that the team needs a Robin to lead this flock , so here he is.

Its a nice new revamp and I for one love having Ravager back in the team. She was a piece missing and not that I won't miss Miss Martin , Bombshell and Aquagirl , but this team just feels...right ya know. It has a good feeling there. Hopefully DC doesn't remove characters and all...because this revamp may fix the Teen Titans . And give it what its been missing since Johns left 40 issues earlier...a spark.

(not the cover for Kick-Ass II)
Kick-Ass II #1 : Mark Millar's classic is back for PART 2. Kick-Ass is back and he's still struggling thru life as a teenager and all. Its months after him and Hit Girl took down a mob boss and kicked...well ass.

Hit Girl is training him as a fighter. Wanting to make him better. She of course kicks his ass pretty easy. But won't go easy on him. Big Daddy as she claims would never go easy. He'd make him do 300 pushups for failure. Anyhow she has him fight 3 brainless fools she hired in his training.

Mindy of course doesn't want her new dad Marcus to know. But he does and shows her the guns she's been stashing in her room. He jokes that he can't expect her to stop what she was born to do. But for him and her new mom if she can try. Mindy agrees reluctantly to try and be a normal teenager for them.

Kick-Ass however wants to form a super hero team . He wants to protect the streets still even if his private life sucks. Girl he likes won't talk to him , he's been turned down a lot. But he has hope which is nice.

We see him patrol the streets with a new hero named Dr. Gravity. Who as an older black guy wants to do the right thing. They run into a group of punks who want a fight and Kick-Ass shows his new fighting skills he learned from Mindy. The friends wanna run in and they take off.

The next night we see Dave (Kick-Ass) try and text Mindy. She of course is at a party and has promised her new dad and mom she won't be a hero anymore. Dave goes on his patrol with Gravity and he gets introduced to a new team of heroes called ...JUSTICE FOREVER. The coolest thing he has ever saw.

Millar hasn't finished Nemesis yet (there is a promo piece issue #4 is coming for it in this) but here is Kick-Ass II. Its pretty nice start and Millar drops hints of future story line with Mist and his group fighting in Times Square and traveling the globe.

As long as Millar stays on these projects he's fine. He can create his own characters and back story for us to read. Plus we have to wonder how fast Kick-Ass II will make it to film .


Batman & Robin #15 : This is the grand finale all leading into Bruce Wayne's return and his showdown with Dr. Hurt in a rematch ! Hurt's schemes seem to have worked. The antitode will make thousands in Gotham raving heroin addicts. We see the Joker teasing Damian and all. Damian manages to shake loose the toxin and threatens to crush the Joker's windpipe .

The Joker tells him he will do everything as ordered or things will go wrong. Damian reluctantly agrees and he manages to free Gordan . He makes Gordan leave back to Gotham as he takes on a bunch of rogues. Which are too many and he gets taken down.

Hurt meanwhile is back proclaiming to be Dr. Thomas Wayne and gonna make a mockery of Wayne , his ill son and his doped up wife. He taunts Damian and Dick then shoots Grayson in the back of the head with a small gun. He claims the pellet won't penetrate the brain for another 12 hours. But by then it will cause a hematoma and fracture his skull.

Hurt wants Damian to accept him as the Devil and become his servant and he will save Grayson. He tells him of the ceremony of the Bat and that Barbartos will come and open the box of Ancient Secrets. Isntead the box on its own opens ...and with a sign that says GOTCHA !

At the end we see this distraction as Hurt stares at the box allows Dick and Damian to get free and smack him into a room. As he lays there we see Grayson taunt him. How he was a fool to come back and now "Devil....meet BAT GOD..." We see an angry Bruce in the shadows..."ITS ALL OVER...."

Nice way to build a suspenseful chapter by Morrison. As we will see how Bruce planned for Hurt over the years time jumping. Morrison is a master and I can't wait for Batman Inc. coming in November.


Deadpool #28: Wade Wilson has just been recruited by Steve Rodgers , the former Captain America. Wade blows up a terrorist cells place and weapons...which pisses off Rodgers. Of course...its not Rodgers. Its failed genetic clones (the others are Black Widow and Moon Night) made by Dr. Bong who is using the clones to do therapy work on Wade now.

Deadpool has no clue about this and really wants to impress Steve Rodgers and be a hero for him. So he runs into him and tries to apologize...and doesn't realize...its the real Steve Rodgers. He pretty much slugs Deadpool and after a couple more hits , Wade GETS PISSED. Bong discusses how as much as Wade hates himself , he can hate his friends worse as he bloodies Rodgers.

The 2 have a hardcore brawl as Bong claims that Rodgers isn't afraid to die. But Deadpool hates to live ! The real Moon Night arrives and finally Rodgers (the real one) admits they need to talk. Bong realizing his work is goin down the tubes suddenly CHIMES and destroys his clones and drops the entire building on everyone as Black Widow watches outside !

I have to say I love that Way is bringing back classic rogues and people from the past run Kelly did. 1st it was Weasel , then Blind Al...now Dr. Bong ! Deadpool foooooreeeevvveeer.

END OF PART 1....Part 2 coming....

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Justice League of America #49: This one by Robinson focuses more on Donna Troy and Jade with little appearances by Grayson and Supergirl. The 1st couple pages focus on Dick getting stuff for his own Bat Cave. Like the Giant Penny and other things he assembled with Bruce back when the cases were more...outlandish and traps wise.

He realizes Kara is alone on Earth and needs company so he tells her that Alfred fixes a good chicken salad sandwich. So she agrees to eat with him. They joke they could become the new Worlds Finest team.

The heart of the issue has Jade and Donna flying to San Francisco for fun. They will swing by Alcatraz to check up on the Shadow Thief who's exposure to the Star Heart has left him in a vegetative coma where he repeats "Soon. He comes Soon . He will.." over and over no stopping.

Elsewhere an old rogue wants to see Donna and its the Bogeyman . Donna recalls they only face him a few times and one time he changed his game to a more voilent affair. He caused 3 kids in an orphange to kill themselves. Wow..

The meeting is him checkin her out and she leaves with Jade as we learn that. She wants to check on the Titans and see how they are doing and runs into them. Suddenly the meeting goes crazy as Cassie punches her. The rest of the new and old Teen Titans join in.

Jade is off alone facing her own darkness and demons. How she left her adoptive parents who loved her . How she made her father wait on her return to life as we see. Donna guesses its a trick and Bogeyman fucked up big time. She gets to Jade who is struggling to overcome what Bogeyman is doing to her. She forces Jade to stand up and they finally make him choke and overload on the negative ...knockin him out.

At the end as they leave Alcatraz for real , Jade asks if they wanna check on the Titans. But Donna admits the past is the past and that they know where she is. She also asks Jade about opening a photography business togethor as they fly off.

Back at Grayson's batcave him and Supergirl leave togethor to fight.

Its a nice issue and one that really seems to set things up for Donna's personal life after years of no attention. Also we see that Dick is creating his own batcave of things like Bruce has. Nice issue...


Walking Dead #78: The Walking Dead may premiere in less than 3 days. But this weeks issue has a suprising community failout.

Rick just shot the over the edge Pete. He basically shot him after the man killed Douglas wife by slashing her throat. Grimes finally took the order from Douglas who allowed him to kill him.

Of course Rick feels guilt for this and talks to Pete's wife Jessie who confides she misses him , but feels happy he is dead finally. Rick gives her a shoulder to cry on and apologizes for how it went down. To help his son , Rick wants to give Pete a burial which pisses Douglas off at 1st.

They have funeral service and Rick gives a eulogy on Pete and Douglas wife. That this world may have changed good men to do bad things. At the end we see this broken up as strangers have arrived at the front gate. Heavily armed strangers .

The one meets Rick and basically tells him he is dangerous and will kill him to get in. Rick tries to be nice and civilized about it , telling him of the process that the Community goes thru to get in. This stranger and his friends won't listen and have a sharpshooter put a bullseye on Rick.

Rick buys time and tries to tell him again how things work. A gunshot blast happens as the sharpshooter on Rick gets killed by Adriana. This sets off a fire fight and the bad guys side is killed pretty easy. We see that the Dead have heard the gunshots ...uh oh.

At the end Douglas decides that he just doesn't work for the Community's best interests anymore and makes Rick leader. That its all Rick's plans that they have survived this latest attempt.

Its a nice issue and the change in leadership can either be good or bad. But so far I love this series and can't wait til AMC on Oct 31st. Should be awwweeeesome...


Fables 99#: Mister Dark is being spied on by Ozma's cat. He is doing a very good job at hiding and watching as the evil being grows in power. He is also rebuilding Fabletown into a dark place , with the undead mundys he controls.

Snow's children are busy staying at their grandfather's , the North Wind . He has business to take care of but will be back later to watch them. But leaves them to their new schooling. Teaching them to be proper winds. His business is with Mister Dark in the city as he arrives.

He warns Dark a powerful Witch is coming. That the witch will offer him a chance to go back to the Fable worlds and not upset the balance of light and dark. Dark however thinks his power has grown so much , what threat can this witch be ?

The 2 walk and we see the horrible evil Mister Dark inflicts on the Mundy race . Voilent deaths , beatings , near rapes ...we see his effect is growing out more and more. Dark loves this. A duel is set between this witch and Mister Dark.

The Cat watching reports that Totenkinder has to be insane. No way she can match his power. Not with how Dark is slowly drawing links from New York to the farm. How he's tracing everyone who has had an interaction with the Fables to the Farm.

The North Wind returns and meets with secret with Frau Totenkinder who keeps her younger body. He reveals the offer of the duel he made and she has to keep her side of the bargin . Which she reveals that Snow has a 7th child ...a pure Zephyr. Which doesn't please the North Wind.

In all its a great lead in to #100. The big issue were gonna get. Willingham has been building to this for a year and half. Should be fun.


Captain America #610: Its "No Escape" the finale. Bucky is drugged and kicked off a plane by Zemo and his men. He manages to make his fall work as he lands in some trees. Its there Bucky realizes where he's at now. That he's at the location where Zemo's father tortured him in front of Steve.

Back in NYC , Steve is worried and tells Sharon that his number 1 prirorty is to find Bucky. Even if he has to tell the President of the United States he is busy. So he makes her hang up on him. He realizes where Bucky is once he thinks.

Back at the island , Bucky fights his way to Zemo. Kicking ass thru all his men. He finallys get to him , to prove he should wear the costume. Zemo wants to prove he's a blood thirsty soldier like he was as the Winter Soldier. That he will kill without remorse. Bucky fights killing this evil son of a bitch...but he won't.

Zemo realizing he lost the game locks his arm , straps him to a missle like before. Bucky debates if he is worth saving for all he did. He fights loose as He realizes he needs to fight for this life and show he can earn it. He gets his costume back as Steve and everyone lands waitin on him. Bucky knows he has a whole other hell at home waiting on him now.

The backup has a nice story with Bucki and Steve . He was proud of her but she feels she could have lost him again. Like when he left the Heroes Reborn world. As she tells Anya she couldn't handle losing Steve Rodgers who is like a father to her again.

Of course at the end he does show up to go bowling with her. And have some fun as he remembers some of their bowling. Which is a nice cute backup and end to that storyline.

The Bad
Don't have any books on the Bad List....this time.

end of part 2....final part coming.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

The Ugly

Justice Society of America #44: Marc Guggenheim jumps on as JSA writer now...and well...its a trainwreck.

The plot starts as Jay Garrick for really no reason is made Mayor of Momument Pointe . Seems that the council decided to hell with any sense of reality and make him mayor. Garrick as we see decides to seriously take it and debates about retirement with Alan Scott , who doesn't wanna retire.

Their dinner is broken up by a new rogue who suddenly arrives after breaking out of a CIA black prison in Afganistan. No clue who this rogue is. All he has is incredible power and breaks Alan's neck and trashes the team in EPIC STYLE.

For hours the fight drags on. They can't stop this new rogue and his fancy swords . Finally a bleeding Mr. Terrific tells Lightening to unlesh the entire city's power on this guy. To cut completely loose and fry him. Fate will bound him once he's knocked down.

She listens and he goes to one knee after blacking out the city. Fate bounds him and we see the destructive toll on the city the JSA caused.

Post battle , Alan Scott lays in a hospital bed , with a neck halo . He's paralyzed according to a nurse and some grumpy old bastard wants to blame him for the destruction. Nice....

Its a horrible 1st issue . Its not like Alan Scott hasn't suffered enough with his children dying and turning evil , to his being possessed by the Starheart in the last big crossover. Now he's gotta be crippled to boot ? Jesus...

Plus as someone who liked Scott Kolins art on Flash , I have no clue what he's doing here. The characters look off and the colors are so...grimey I wanna know why he changed for this.

Horrible art , horrible story that makes no sense with no buildup to deliver and crippling a character ya done spent arcs torturing already gets apathy. Hopefully it gets better. Because JSA has a lot of good characters and with the right writer...could be awesome.

End of the review this week. Have fun people....

[the4thpip]

Sadly, the only book on my pull list of all that is Justice Society of America #44.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Sadly, the only book on my pull list of all that is Justice Society of America #44.

Ha ha ...well I always try and do different things in these reviews. Of all the books this week I will say Batman & Robin impressed me the most. I loved that return for Bruce... "Devil....meet Bat God !" And there is Bruce in the shadows telling Dr. Hurt its all over !

[Jason Abbadon]

In your JAS review, you forgot to mention the part where Mr. Terrific is losing his intellect- projecting only months before he's below average IQ.

But yes, it's an utter train wreck- as though the JSA would ever have a protracted battle in a city- without trying to lure the villian to a less populated area and, if the battle dragged on for HOURS, where were all the other heroes?
The whole thing was televised- it should have been the same dogpile of heroes that took on Superboy Prime.
The JLA should have been there at a minimum.

Once again, DC shows that living in one of their imaginary cities (Keystone, Star, etc.) is hazardous to your health.

Thankfully, my room-mate buys this dreck, and I wasted no money on it- though I felt cheated just for wasting my time reading it on the can.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

In your JAS review, you forgot to mention the part where Mr. Terrific is losing his intellect- projecting only months before he's below average IQ.

But yes, it's an utter train wreck- as though the JSA would ever have a protracted battle in a city- without trying to lure the villian to a less populated area and, if the battle dragged on for HOURS, where were all the other heroes?
The whole thing was televised- it should have been the same dogpile of heroes that took on Superboy Prime.
The JLA should have been there at a minimum.

Once again, DC shows that living in one of their imaginary cities (Keystone, Star, etc.) is hazardous to your health.

Thankfully, my room-mate buys this dreck, and I wasted no money on it- though I felt cheated just for wasting my time reading it on the can.

Great points ya brought up. Plus hell its funny Monument Pointe was created and destroyed all in one issue !