Justice League #23.2 Lobo Review

I'm Kinda on Team Lobo

There was an outcry when the new look Lobo was revealed.  Fans of the character wanted to know why the Main Man was turned into an Edward Cullen wannabe.  Justice League #23.2 shows that even without the chains and leather, Lobo is still  the old bastich deep down inside.

Justice League #23.2 is not the type of origin story we usually get.  Lobo has been seen in the New 52...or has he?  The new Lobo is busy being the Universe's best bounty hunter.  In fact, you could call him an intergalactic head hunter.  Trust me, when you read the issue you will know what I mean.  He does whatever job pays and his methods are all a means to an end.  It doesn't pay to have a conscience or a bleeding heart.  It does pay to do the job and have a bleeding corpse and that is Lobo's modus operendi. The payoff he is after is information.  Information on a bounty hunter from Earth who goes by the name of Lobo.  Yes, the Lobo we've seen is an impostor and the new Lobo wants him dead.

Marguerite Bennett does a descent job with the material she's given.  The story seems too much like a gimmick for my tastes.  It's also a pretty incomplete issue.  We get more questions than answers and what I was hoping would be a nice one-shot is actually a lead-in.  But, a lead-in to what?  Maybe fans of Lobo can hope for a future backup to continue the story.

I did like the art of Ben Oliver and Cliff Richards.  The redesigned Lobo didn't look as bad as the preview images promised.  The whole intergalactic setting looked and felt pretty cool as well.

Lobo may call himself the Main Man,but he isn't mine. Marguerite Bennett has piqued my interest slightly, but this issue was just too thin on answers to recommend.  If the story continues in a regular monthly or as a backup I may be more interested.  As it stands here, all but the most die hard fans can pass and not miss much at all.

5.0/10

Batman and Robin #23.2 Court of the Owls Review

Who Indeed

In my opinion, the Court of the Owls has been one of the best things to come out of the New 52.  Everything about them is cool; their emotionless masks, the shadowy intrigue and their ruthless pursuit of supremacy. Their greatest triumph, though, remains how they kept themselves concealed from Batman.  He thought he was Gotham, but he found out otherwise.  Everything about the Court made me want to know more.  Luckily for us, Batman and Robin #23.2 gives us a more detailed glimpse into their history.  

James Tynion knows the Court of the Owls.  His Talon monthly is a great book, but he has outdone himself here.  He shows the power of the Court through various flashbacks.  The individual stories are disturbing and creepy, but the moral of each is the same.  Don't F**k with the Court.  Really, even if you do what they want, they will kill you.  Even if you are one of them, you cross them, you die.  They shape Gotham.  They rule Gotham.  Plain and simple.  This book is essential reading if you are a Batman fan, a Talon fan, a horror fan, a conspiracy theory fan...Hell, if your a fan of knitting you should read this.  It's that good.

The art by Jorge Lucas is great as well.  Why isn't he working on Talon?  His art gives the book  a horror feel that I think fits the whole shadowy Court of the Owls to a tee.  The expressionless faces of the Court juxtaposed with the horror stricken faces of their victims is awesome.

This the Court of the Owls story I've wanted since they were introduced.  We get to see the power of the Court through flashbacks that are each creepy and disturbing in their own unique way. The Court rules from the shadows and as Gotham crumbles we see they will always be there.  I hope this momentum carries over to Tynion's Talon because this is the story I've been hoping for for a long time.  This is a must read.

9.8/10

Action Comics #23.2 Zod Review

Kneel Before Greg Pak

General Zod seems to be everywhere all of a sudden.  He was the Villain in the Man of Steel and a downloadable character in Injustice: Gods Among Us.  Now we get his New 52 origin story in Action Comics #23.2.  I was skeptical at the necessity of the issue, but after reading it I must say it is my favorite Villains Month book so far.

Greg Pak has done a great job here not reinventing Zod's origin story, but filling in details around what we already know.  Yes, we get the classics...Phantom Zone and the disagreement with the Science Council and specifically Jor-El. What we also get is a peek at Zod's childhood and his rise to become a General.  Zod is a true force of nature and when Pak shows why, it is brilliantly believable.  This is a man who after being stranded for a year in a brutal wilderness makes fun of his rescuers.  Great stuff.

Ken Lashley's art is equally impressive.  Everything  is nicely detailed and epic without being too cartoony.  It just looks great.

Zod is a monster.  He says it himself.  He actually revels in it.  With Action Comics #23.2 Greg Pak shows what a writing monster he is.  He keeps the classic Zod story mostly in place and fills in new details that make Zod an even better villain than before.  This is by far my favorite Villains Month issue so far and maybe my favorite Action Comics title in the New 52.  Kneel before Pak!

9.8/10

Green Lantern #23.2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Blah Blah Mongul, Blah Blah War World, Blah Blah Natural Selection

Well I've been really excited for this issue of Villain's Month, and I just need to get this out of the way.  War World bitches!  Back to the review.  We start out with War World being surrounded by a armada of Oblivoron Federation ships.  The head of the fleet Admiral Pyri commands the trespasser to surrender, and prepare to be boarded.  Before anything more can be done, the Admiral is transported from his ship into War World.

The rest of the issue is Mongul telling the Admiral his theory on leadership.  They go throughout War World, as Mongul tells him his autobiography.  Yeah turns out that what started Mongul on his path was watching a more powerful animal kill a weak one.  This gave him the idea to murder his younger brother.  Then eventually his entire world.  

Mongul continues demeaning the Admiral for not being a strong enough leader, and to really send the message home.  Mongul destroys all the military cruisers surrounding War World.  Then he destroys Oblivoron's moon, and sends part of it hurdling into the planet.  All this was done because when the Admiral hailed Mongul, he demanded that he surrender.  This was all to prove a point about biting off more than you can chew.  Dick move.  In the end Mongul kills the Admiral, and sets his sights on the Green Lantern Corps.  There he might be able to get a decent fight.

This was a very interesting issue.  I'm a big fan of Mongul, but I didn't sign on for Mongul to talk the entire issue about his thoughts and beliefs.  It just went on, and on, and I know we need to get reintroduced to the character, but I was just bored to tears.  But on a plus note, the book looked great Howard Porter did an excellent job, and I am really happy to get Mongul back in the mix.  So really not much to say, because unfortunately Mongul said it all.  He's probably still talking to himself.

6.8/10

Teen Titans #23.1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Evil Is.... A Giant Space Heart

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away.  Is that taking it too far?  Well let's try again.  In a distant galaxy a band of aliens search out the universe for evil.  But they are surprised to find on a planet where they have purged all things evil, stand three beings.  They immediately transport these three evil beings to them.  Where they plan on feeding them to a insatiable giant heart.  Yup a giant evil eating space heart.  You heard it here folks.  They cast the three into the heart and are destroyed, with the exception of the leader.  The leader allowed these aliens to transport him here, because he needed the evil inside the heart to fuel himself.  The leader proclaims himself Trigon, and destroys the aliens.  He then plans on entering other universes, but is blocked by the barriers.  His power does however allow him to pluck women from other universes and have them bare his seed back where they came from.

The whole anti-christ thing goes on where Trigon would spread his seed throughout the galaxies, and in the end he found that none but three of his sons had survived, and he knew them to be weak.  Going on with the spreading of the seed, killing, destroying of worlds, until one world where Trigon met his match in a warrior named Alazandria, who possessed special armor that was handed down to her.  After Alazandria exiles Trigon from her world we find out that the warrior died thirty years later, and that the armor continued to be passed on, and on.

Later Trigon would have the a woman brought to him from Earth.  A woman that worshiped and feared him.  This woman would become the mother of Trigon's only daughter Raven.  In the end we are shown Raven's mother Arella pleading to anyone who will hear her for help.  She says that Trigon is coming to Earth, and he will kill all the men, and mate with all the women.  And After he destroys this universe he'll move on the next.  She needs someone to kill her daughter's father.

Well that was Trigon's origin.  Huh.  Who would of thought a giant space heart would be part of this story?  As weird as it was, it wasn't bad.  Seems like we'll have a big bad for the Teen Titans to go after, you know after all the other big bads in Forever Evil.  So if you're into stories about raping, and spreading your seed across the cosmos then this is for you.  Oh and if you enjoy the Teen Titans as well.  Not the best, but definitely not the worst.  Check it out.

6.5/10

Justice League of America #7.2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Oh not another ice pun!

Haven't ya wondered what happened to Killer Frost since the issues of Firestorm?  Well either the answer is yes, no, or When did Firestorm have his own series.  If the answer is the latter then I hate you.  Anyway We are given an actual origin story that is needed.  Woo!

Dr. Caitlin Snow went out to the arctic to head a outpost for STAR Labs.  Where the former head scientist mysteriously froze to death outside the outpost.  Dr. Snow meets everyone, and they seem friendly enough but I can't help but yell "It's a trap", when Dr. Snow turns her back, and the rest of the crew sneers at each other.  Caitlin is shown what the late Dr. Lincoln was working on, and what Dr. Snow will now be handling.  A Self-Sustaining Thermodynamic Ultraconductor Engine, or STU for short.

There is a real "John Carpenter's The Thing" vibe going on in this issue, and as the boredom of isolation sets in Dr. Snow decides to start tinkering on STU.  Using the late Dr. Lincoln's notes, and her own equations Dr. Snow gets the machine to work.  But to soon to celebrate, she is knocked unconscious.  Turns out her new friends at the outpost are working for H.I.V.E. and our being paid a large sum to make sure that STU never works.  Dr. Snow is now trapped inside the machine and the others turn it on, so that Dr. Snow has a mysterious death that won't raise suspicion at STAR Labs.  But Dr. Snow tries to short the STU out by pulling out the coolant hose.  The machine shuts down, and Killer Frost is born.

Now that the machine has transformed Dr. Snow into Killer Frost, she realizes that she needs to feed off of people's life force in order to feel warm, and complete.  So obviously with it was intended or not, Killer Frost takes her revenge on the people that tried to kill her.  By the time she gets back to her home in the states she has developed a suit to retain her heat, and found out that Firestorm's nuclear matrix could be a way to cure herself.  But every time she went against him, he found a way to defeat her.  In the end we are given a very sad, well ending.  With the Firestorm supposedly dead, all she feels is cold inside.

Who would of guessed that a Villain's Month issue featuring Killer Frost would actually be good?  Well not me for sure, but I'm happy I was wrong.  We get a new origin story for Killer Frost which was surprising good.  It's the first origin story issue so far that seems to have a point in telling it.  Except for a real fanboy, who really knows Killer Frost's origin?  The ending of the issue really just made you feel sad for a villain who like all the best villains is a victim. So unlike her appearance in the Injustice game, I'm happy that she could be a part of Villain's Month.  Wow, that still sounds weird.  Go check it out.

7.5/10

Aquaman #23.1 Black Manta Review

Back in Black

I love Black Manta.  I have loved him since I was a little boy and had never even read a comic. When I heard he would get a Villains Month issue I penciled that one in as a must read.  Now that I've read it, I'm not really sure if I am better off for it.

Black Manta's origin has been told in the regular Aquaman run so it makes sense that this issue is a Forever Evil tie-in and not an origin story, right?  Yes and no.  The issue plays catch up with story lines from Aquaman, Suicide Squad and last weeks Forever Evil.  A little too much catch up if you ask me.  Yes, it is important for those not reading the regular series to know why Black Manta hates Aquaman, but Amanda Waller asking Black Manta to join the Suicide Squad doesn't make sense.  He had already turned her down a while ago.  Why would she ask him again?  She asks him to force feed the main point of the issue, what will Black Manta do once his arch rival is dead?

After this, we get a retelling of last weeks Forever Evil #1, only slightly in Black Manta's point of view.  He finds out Aquaman is dead and gets his Trident.  His purpose in life is finished and he heads to his Father's grave to tell him it's over.  That's when Ultraman moves the Moon, causing tidal waves and flooding to disturb the grave.  Black Manta looks at the remains of his Dad and is ready to begin his fight against the Crime Syndicate.  Redundant and ridiculous all rolled up into one.

I will say it again, I love Black Manta.  I will also say, I did not love this issue.  What little character building we get was negated by a story that has been told before.  In fact a major part of this issue is directly from last weeks Forever Evil #1. I hope that Black Manta's Forever Evil issue is better than this.  He deserves much more.

4.0/10

Earth 2 #15.2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Skeletons aren't the only thing that are bare bones.

Alright who doesn't love Solomon Grundy?  Huh, Anybody?  Didn't think so.  So this issue has got to be great right.  We get a awesome villain, The superb world of Earth 2.  What else could we ask for?  Well let's find out.  

Solomon Grundy crash lands back on earth, on top of two teenagers star gazing out in the desert.  He gets up from the destruction and walks towards life.  Then we see him kill two people at a tourist trap, where he gets a blanket to cover his shame.  Then later a bus hits him.  He makes it to a city where the army show up, and hit him with a truck.  Then they throw a bomb at him and blow him up Jason Goes to Hell style.  But all the parts of him that touch the soldiers causes them to start rotting.  Solomon Grundy reconstitutes himself and we're given an old classic "Reborn on a Monday".  That's the present day story we're given.

Jump throughout to flashbacks and we're shown slaughter swamp back in 1898.  We see Solomon has a wife and child that are starving, and that his wife Pinney thinks that "somethings gotta give".  Solomon goes off to work for his no good boss at the Slaughter House, where for some reason Solomon's wife runs screaming "No!" from the bosses office, covering herself up.  No idea how she got there past everyone else or why Solomon didn't say "Hey Pinney what are you doing going into the bosses office?"  So now she does the only rational thing, she goes onto the slaughter shoot, and stabs herself through her neck.  The boss sends Solomon out to get his wife's body before the "gators" get it.  Out there in the swamp, Solomon starts off with his nursery rhyme.  Back inside he slaughters everyone, while going on with the rhyme.  In the end Solomon kills himself where his wife did, and laying dead in the swamp.  His eye opens.  Dun Dun Duuuuun.

Well that was a bare bones issue.  I think that this was the fastest I've ever gone through a comic.  It seems that Matt Kindt phoned this one in.  The artwork was split up between Art Thibert, and Aaron Lopresti which was good.  The present day stuff was great but pretty much all there was was Solomon Grundy naked in the desert, and the flashback stuff looked like an issue of Tales from the Crypt.  Now that's not a bad thing, but it didn't seem like there was much to it.  Bare Bones.

5/10

The Flash #23.2 Reverse Flash Review

Gotta get Back in Time

The Flash #23.2 picks up right after issue #23.  Not mind blowing I know, but with Villains Month you never can tell.  The regular Flash creative team of Francis Manapul and Brian Buccellato handle writing while Scott Hepburn is in charge of art.  Like I said, this issue isn't a Forever Evil tie in or even a full back story, but a continuation of the excellent main Flash storyline.

Reverse Flash can turn back time so it is fitting that Manapul and Buccellato use flashbacks to tell his back story.  We get to see why he would want to turn back the clock.  He is a sympathetic character which works for me.  It may be a little cliche, but at least it doesn't seem forced.

I was surprised at the identity reveal of Reverse Flash in issue #23, but afterwards thought, "How the hell did he get speed force powers?"  Well, we get an explanation and I really didn't see that coming either.  It does fit nicely in the Flash storyline and even ties up a few loose ends.

I have complained about the necessity of these Villain Month issues.  I actually have the opposite problem with this one.  I liked it, but it seemed like it could have been done in Flash #24.  Anyway, it moves the main storyline along and as always makes me look forward to the next issue.

The Flash #23.2 is a really good issue.  We get the back story of the Reverse Flash and find out he is a pretty sympathetic character.  The main writing team of Manapul and Buccellato do a great job, but it probably would have been better served as The Flash #24 and not a Villains Month issue.

8.2/10

Detective Comics #23.2 Review and *SPOILERS*

This Issue is Crazy!

Oh Harley, don't tell me your getting an origin story too!  But that's what we get.  It all starts with a look back on Harleen Quinzel.  We see that all of Harleen's life she was forced into study, forced by herself to escape the insanity of her home life as a child.  Sweet Harleen was the first in her family to go to college, and of course to get the rest of her degrees.  When she finally got her doctorate she chose to work at the best hospital in Gotham.  But it wasn't enough of a challenge sweet young Dr. Quinzel saw herself as a dynamo in the world of mental health.  So where best would her genius be utilized?  That's right Arkham Asylum. 

Now neck deep in crazy, Dr. Quinzel found that there were to many barriers, both physical and mental between her and her patience.  So she decides to submerge herself.  She dyed her hair and came to work in an inmate clothing, and decided to let all the order and control she let run her life go completely.  It was only then that the Joker let her into his little world, and kissed her.  Later while being reprimanded by the higher ups for her clear reckless nature in doctoring, Harleen finally snaps completely and Harley kills her way, and the Joker's way out of Arkham.  But after being chucked into a vat of chemicals, Harley realizes that the Joker really doesn't care about her, but it didn't matter.  The thrill of throwing all order out of her life was enough.  Now we're given a bunch of pages of Harley assembling her new wardrobe.  Read those pages to "Girls just wanna have fun", I dare you not to smile.  

In the end we're transported back to present time, where the Suicide Squad has been disbanded, and she has already ditched the Crime Syndicate's orientation meeting.  Now back in Gotham, Harley impersonates a police officer, and goes to a mall.  There she hands out Nintendo Ds's to all the good little boys and girls.  Harley then drives back to the police station with a shit load of dynamite and blows the place to hell.  But she didn't feel satisfied.  She thinks that she is numb inside, but she also gets angry because she hates the Harleen side of her diagnosing her.  Then we get Harley standing on top of a building looking out onto the city.  She tells the man that made the Ds's to send out the new update.  We see a bunch of children watching the download bar on their screens, and when they hit 100%  BOOM!  Harley looks on as explosions tear out throughout the city.  Beside her Deadshot tells her that they are mindless bullets, and that they need a target, and that maybe they need the Suicide Squad.

Crazy Harley blowing of childrens.  Yup we got that here.  But as much as I'm wanting Harley getting her own title in November, this just leaves me wanting.  Being another Matt Kindt joint, I understand that he wants to put these characters back together for the start of his Suicide Squad run, but this just seemed like the perfect opportunity to set something up.  I guess I was wrong.  For this issue's mini origin story theme that Villain's Month seems to be fond of, well come on!  She's Harley "Crazy" Quinn because she was to good at being a doctor, and her parents were assholes?  BAH!  Not a fan of this issue as you might be able to tell.  A useless story, and the artwork by Neil Googe was under whelming.  All I'm saying is for a weak story like this we better get something incredible for Suicide Squad next month to make up for it.

4/10

Batman: The Dark Knight #23.2 Review and *SPOILERS*

A Ice Family Reuinion

Week two of Villain's Month and I'm starting out with a Dark Knight title.  Oh Good.  We now have the reinvented Mr. Freeze who doesn't have the sympathetic origin story, that makes us like the character so much.  So what do we have you ask?  Let's find out.

Jumping right in with a little bit of Freeze's childhood, we see that daddy Fries left his wife and son, and apparently never looked back.  Mrs. Fries goes on to promise her son that she will never leave him.  Cut to Mrs. Fries falling through the ice and becoming mentally retarded from the lack of oxygen to the brain.  Now young Victor sees this as a betrayal, and without her mind she has left him.  Later because of this abandonment he would put her back in that lake, where she would stay.  But the way that the cold preserved her body would give him an idea.  Cut to Wayne Enterprises where Victor is confronted about the fact that Nora isn't his wife, and that Wayne wants him out of here.  Que the scene where Victor freaks out and makes himself into a Frosty the snow man.

Now that Mr. Freeze is back in Arkham after Batman defeated him in Batman Annual #1 and we have this god awful knowledge that Nora was not his wife.  Somebody slips a newspaper article into Freeze's cell.  The article let's Mr. Freeze and us know that after his father abandoned him, he went on to have a new family.  Now Mr. Freeze is obsessed with getting to know who his new family is, and wants to write them a letter.  The doctor in charge thinks this unwise (no kidding), but gives Mr. Freeze a crayon, and some paper to send some crazy out into the world.  Now after all power goes out in Gotham, and the doors stand wide open at Arkham, Mr. Freeze goes to find his doctor, because he has written many letters and hasn't received anything back.  We find out that the doctor was not a moron, and didn't send these letters out to terrorize an innocent family.

Now leaving Arkham, Mr. Freeze hitches a ride with a gang of cannibals on a police boat back to Gotham.  On this boat is a nurse that was always kind to Victor.  So what does he do?  Well he's not a complete jerk off lunatic so he stops the cannibals from eating her, and freezes their heads.  Yup, sounds about right.  But Mr. Freeze now wants the nurse to help him, which she does because she doesn't like the idea of a frozen head.  So in the end the nurse helps Mr. Freeze find his long lost family, but sadly his father has already passed on.  So the only conclusion could be that Mr. Freeze takes over as the head of the household.  On the final page we see Mr. Freeze sitting down to dinner with his new mother, and two siblings, completely frozen.

Well we have another Villain's Month issue come and gone, and what did we take from it?  The fact that the new Mr. Freeze still sucks.  But that's just me being an obsessive fanboy who thought the way he was was fine.  For all of those out there, who wanted a new creepy Mr. Freeze I'm sure you'll like this issue a lot.  But from this reviewers standpoint I could do without it.  But I will still judge the book on its merits and not condemn something just because I'm closed minded to change.  It really was a pretty good creepy story, and if you like issues like last week's Ventriloquist issue, I'm sure you'll enjoy this as well.   Also let's face it.  It's better than what Dark Knight usually puts out.

6.5/10

Injustice: Gods Among Us #35 Review

Injustice: Gods Among Us has been one of the most consistently enjoyable books in the whole DC lineup. Tom Taylor has been impressive not only in producing a weekly book of such quality, but also telling a story that many reader already know the beginning, middle and end.  He does it with great characterization and situations that a wholly believable within the context of the story.

Injustice: Gods Among Us #35 continues this trend.  Batman is busy in the Batcave trying to synthesize the
"Super pill".  Superman is on his way and Bruce knows he will get there before the pill is done.  As always, Bruce is right.  What follows is some of the best back and forth that Clark and Bruce have ever had.  While Superman relies on brute force and threats, Batman has a plan.  A pretty messed up plan.  A plan that involves playing Lois and Clark's wedding video...that's just cold. The intensity ramps up to an incredible finish that has to be witnessed to truly believe.  It's that good.

Injustice: Gods Among Us #35 is another great chapter in a great run.  We finally get to see Batman and Superman square off and the wait has been worth it.  Everything rings true between them which makes the end result even more upsetting.  I seem to say it every week, but I can't wait until next issue.

9.8/10

Justice League of America #7.1 Review and *SPOILERS*

This issue hits it's mark.

Now here's a Villain's Month issue with some balls.  Not actual balls that would be weird.i But who can say that Deadshot isn't a bad ass?  And if you can I don't want to hear it.  Bad ass.  Let's get right into this issue.  We are given another originesque story shown with flash backs, while being tucked inside a story about what Deadshots doing now that the Suicide Squad has disbanded.  When Deadshot was a boy, he lived in the Narrows of Gotham with his parents and sister.  Now while Floyd laid in bed reading a pulp novel, his parents argued about food, and money, while his sister watched them argue through a key hole.  In the apartment next door, a couple of junkies apparently ripped off a dealer, and two men break in to their apartment to send a message.  Sixty bullets later, the junkies are dead, and so are Deadshot's parents, and sister from the bullets that went through the walls.  Deadshot runs outside to see the two men and vows then and there to avenge his parents.

Years go by and Floyd hones his marksmanship skills, and eventually kills a local mobster's top two men with one bullet to prove a point.  The mobster is impressed and pays Floyd for his talent.  Deadshot tells us that a bullet should always have a purpose, that is why he will not fire a bullet indiscriminately.  Because his family was killed with no reason, no purpose.

Now we wrap up the story in present time.  Deadshot dropped himself from a drone a mile up, in order to take a shot at a guy who stole Wayne tech armor, and needs to steal chemicals to keep the suit powered.  Now this guy looks like he's wearing an original Iron Man suit, I think Wayne Tech is going to get sued.  Anyways Deadshot created a special bullet to pierce the armor, and then while falling shoots another round into the hole he just made.  Like I said bad ass.  But we find out now that this guy in the armor was the original mobster that paid Deadshot when he killed his top two men.  We also find out that these top two men were the ones who killed his family.  As Deadshot parachutes down he sees that the Armored mobster's son was with him.  Deadshot will not make another one of him.  He kills the boy.  Wow.  In the end Amanda Waller calls after the job, and wants Deadshot to get the Suicide Squad back together again, and come help her.  Deadshot agrees after he sees that she has deposited ten million into his account.

I don't know if I'm just biased with my love for Deadshot, but I thought this was a great story.  The writing was superb, and I only hope that this will continue with Matt Kindt taking over Suicide Squad next month.  One of the better issues I've read so far in Villain's Month because as small as it was, there was a purpose.  Yeah we get a nice back story on Floyd but this will also lead nicely into the Forever Evil crossover next month.  So go check it out, and know the bad ass that is Deadshot.

8/10

Earth 2 #15.1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Desaad's issue.  Yep Torturous. 

We interrupt our regularly scheduled Earth 2 with this Villain's Month issue.  Desaad.  Okay, I'm going to try to make this as painless as possible.  Jumping right in.  Five years ago, Desaad emerges from the ocean onto the shores of Honolulu.  There he finds a hapless beach bum to feed on.  Then we move on to the city a few hours later.  Desaad uses his influence to get people that are in his way to go on murder sprees, or to just torture themselves.  He makes his way to a medical kit, and that's about it.  I have no idea why he went through so many people to get to it, and you don't hear anything about it again.  Awesome.

One year ago.  We now see that Desaad has been building an army and has used his influence over the past four years to get aggressive countries to attack their rivals.  Desaad has also found that Michael Holt has a designed a Quantum Tunneler, and he needs this device to get back to Apokolips.  Desaad sends a battalion to retrieve the Tunneler, but when they get there.  They find that both the Quantum Tunneler, and Michael Holt are gone.

Strange as it is, the scene changes (kinda) and we're given a year ago.  I don't know how this differs from the last scene which was one year ago, no idea.  Anyway Desaad is seems to be using pain as a way to create super soldiers like Ryouta, the first enemy in Worlds' Finest.  Which he sends out to find the Quantum Tunneler.  In the end Desaad seems to be obsessed with a artist, and even boom tubes to see him.  But the artist seems to be in his own little world, as he works on a page of a comic.  Desaad decides that this fruit isn't ripe enough to pick, so he boom tubes away leaving us with no idea what this has to do with anything. 

Well not so much a Earth 2 title, as much as a Worlds' Finest 15.1.  This issue left me way underwhelmed.  Classic (bad) bad guy, "I'm evil, I like pain, insert evil laugh, etc.  Seeing what we have had before in the excellence that is Earth 2, this clearly does not belong.  Sadly another installment of Villain's Month that can be labelled, unnecessary.

5/10

Adventures of Superman #20 Review

...Watch Him as He Goes

Not everything is as it seems in Adventures of Superman #20.  Unfortunately for the members of the Church of Superman, the whole religion is a scam put on by a couple in need of some fast cash.  Unfortunately for Superman, hundreds of people are going to leap from buildings around Metropolis so that Superman can prove he is their savior.

Superman and the Metropolis police try to warn the crazed followers, but to no avail.  These people will not stop their plan and travel to the roof tops.  As they prepare to jump, Superman uses his own ruse to show the people that he may be a hero, but even heroes can fail.  It is a great moment and one fitting of the Man of Steel.

David Lapham again explores the dangers of hero worship and religion using a unique Superman story.  While people look to Superman as their savior, he realizes he can't be everything to everyone.    The Adventures of Superman #20 is a great story and conclusion to David Lapham's arc.  Superman is a hero, but even he can't save everyone...or can he?

8.5/10

Adventures of Superman #19 Review

There Goes My Hero

I haven't read Adventures of Superman I awhile, but hearing David Lapham was doing a two part story convinced me to pick up issue #19.  The story ended up being darker than I expected, but one I'm glad I decided to read.

Superman is a hero.  Some may even consider him a god among men.  Adventures of Superman #19 examines how hero worship can get out of hand and how everyone involved is effected.

The issue opens with Superman fighting Metallo while a young man in a Superman shirt stands on a ledge above.  As Superman wins the battle, the man contemplates what Superman means to humanity and how he could be even more than even he realizes.  He steps off the ledge and Superman saves him.  What appears to be a suicide attempt is actually something darker than even Superman realizes.

The story unfolds in a way that the reader is as surprised as Superman.  David Lapham does a good job in making what seemed like a simple story at the start end with a twist that makes you think and look forward to the next issue. 

Lapham also does art on Adventures of Superman #19.  The art is good if not a little too cartoony for the subject matter.  The issue though relies more on the story than the art so I can't fault it too much.

Adventures of Superman #19 examines the darker side of hero worship and religion...pretty heady stuff for a Superman comic.  David Lapham's  tale was a surprise to me, but one that makes me look forward to the conclusion in next weeks issue.

8.5/10