Batman Beyond 2.0 #16 Review

Written by: Kyle Higgins
Art by: Eric Wight
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: March 15, 2014


Reunion


Kyle Higgins just wrapped up a great story of redemption, past mistakes and second chances.  If you haven't read it yet, go right now and do so before I slap you upside your head.  This issue is a self contained epilogue featuring Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon and if you have any interest in either character it's a must read.

Everyone knows that Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon are meant for each other.  Just like Screech and Lisa Turtle, Dawson and Joey and Kevin and Winnie.  Unfortunately, things don't always work out the way we wish.  That is how things are in the Batman Beyond 2.0 Universe.  Dick and Barbara are not together.  It sucks for us, but it's awkward for them, having to work together and all.  Dick takes Terry's advice and asks Barbara to dinner to try to get their relationship back on friendly terms.

Justice League 3000 #4 Review

Written by: Keith Giffin and J.M. DeMatteis
Art by: Howard Porter
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

I Think I'm a Clone Now...or Am I?

I have really enjoyed Justice League 3000. I love the Justice League in a future science fiction setting as well as the mystery surrounding who and what the hell this League really is all about.  Well, the wait is over because this issue explains so much.  That is a good thing and a bad thing.

First a little catch up.  The Justice League may or may not be clones, it's the 31st century, the Flash is dead, Green Lantern is a sex toy for a goddess-like villain and the Wonder Twins are calling the shots. Superman (he's a douche), Wonder Woman (she's blood thirsty) and Batman (he's almost acting like himself) are on Takron-Galtos, a prison planet that's also Earth.  It's pretty smelly.  Ok, we're up to speed.

Constantine #12 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Ray Fawkes
Art By: Beni Lobel
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

The Hell You Say

In the last installment of Forever Evil: Blight, we saw Phantom Stranger go to the son's of Trigon for help to take down the Thaumaton device.  But this is a Constantine story so let's focus on him.  Last time we saw our brash Brit, Nick Necro was burning Zatanna and him alive, then letting them magically heal, and then starting the whole process over again.  In the end we saw that Nick hates them so much, because of the love he has for them.  Let's see if this unholy trio kiss and make up, or kill each other.  I think I guess which one they'll decide to do.  

Justice League of America #13 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Matt Kindt
Art By: Eddy Barrows, Tom Derenick
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

It's All In Your Head

When we last left Stargirl she was dealing with Despero, and the loss of Martian Manhunter.  That's right kids our favorite Martian was beaten to death, and now it's up to Courtney to stop Despero, or is it Despero's job to stop Courtney?  Yeah she's on the hunt for Firestorm, who's being kept on the move, and if she doesn't find him soon, he's going critical.  That's about it, we did get a Martian story about a warrior on mars last issue, but if it's not John Carter, I'm not really into the whole caring thing.  Okay let's dive back into the JLA Forever Evil tie-in, with Stargirl Vs. Despero.

Nightwing #29 Review

Written by: Kyle Higgins
Art by: Russell Dauterman
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

Greatest Hits Vol. Fifty Two

If Nightwing was a band, this issue would be the greatest hits album.  Not one of those "we are washed up and need an album to fulfill our contract" kind.  No, the good kind.  You know, all the hits, a couple live tracks and then two new killer songs to make it complete.  Then the band (remember, we are still really talking about Nightwing) goes on to make many more great albums for years to come.  I just hope Kyle Higgins gets to take many encores with this character in the future.


Kyle Higgins' New 52 Nightwing has been great.  Haley's Circus, Court of the Owls, Death of the Family, the Prankster, Chicago and everything in between has been so good.  This issue celebrates the run and is Higgins' way of giving the readers one last thank you.  Knowing what Dick Grayson is headed for makes this issue tough, but also meaningful and touching.  The reason I love Nightwing so much is stressed in this issue...he is a great guy.

Batman #29 Review

Written by: Scott Snyder
Art by: Greg Capullo
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

Zero Worries

Zero Year has been so good.  Yes, we are getting a revamp of Batman's origin story, but it is so much more.  It is a great Riddler story.  It's a great disaster story.  It's a great action story.  Hell, let's just say it's a great story, period.  Now that that's out of the way, what do we get this month?  Not just a thrilling and awesome conclusion to the Dark City arc, but an extra-sized issue of one of the best comic books you can buy.  Here's a spoiler...I liked this issue.

Scott Snyder is on the top of the world.  He gets to write stories with arguably the most popular superhero in the world.  Seriously, DC could release "Batman and His Sock Puppet" and it would sell. However, like the greats, Snyder doesn't just mail it in.  Nope, he has made Batman his own and has made it awesome.  The Court of the Owls, Death of the Family and now Zero Year.  It is a great time to be a Batman fan.

Batgirl #29 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Gail Simone
Art By: Fernando Pasarin
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

Holy Shit, Vampires!

Last issue we started a new story that introduced the villain Silver.  Now Silver isn't your normal villain, well that's not true, it's Gotham, and this dude is crazy as hell.  He believes that the Bat Family are vampires, and that they keep the fearful people of the Gotham under their control.  So he plans on killing Batgirl and Strix, who have teamed up to find a missing mute girl.  Well guess who has her.  Not only that he also believes the young girl to be the vampire queen.  See crazy as hell.  The issue ends with a plain clothed Batgirl and Strix stopping their fight with Silver and his lady Alfred; Miss Targa, when the police show and want to see their hands in the air.  Hopefully they don't get arrested, and Barbara has to try and explain herself.  Let's check it out.

Superman/Wonder Woman #6 Review

Written by: Charles Soule
Art by: Tony S. Daniel
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

Three Mile...WTF?!

Zod an Faora work to open the Phantom Zone, but Hephaestus has given Superman and Wonder Woman a secret weapon.  The battle turns in favor of the heroes, but we see how fickle gods can be. Round two ultimately goes to the other Kryptonians and Superman and Wonder Woman's relationship gets more explosive then anyone could have imagined.

I love Charles Soule.  Yes, I am a married man with five boys, but I know what I likes and I likes Soule's writing.  When this book was announced I guess I was still reeling from Young Romance, but bit the bullet and decided to review it.  Maybe that was my luckiest day ever because Superman/Wonder Woman has risen to the top of my stack and I can't wait for each issue.

Superboy #29 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Marv Wolfman
Art By: Andres Guinaldo, Mark Irwin
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 12, 2014

Deception, Betrayal, Murder, It's All In A Day's Work For Superboy

Last issue of Superboy we saw the makings of an army led by our Boy Of Steel, well not my boy of Steel, I'm still holding out for Kon to come back.  But you get the point.  Superboy and Schiz break out two more meta human hybrids, Volt and Lodestone, and then it's time for murder.  The team disguises themselves as a well known terrorist group and attack a weapons facility and after they kill all the guards on site, they load up on weapons for their upcoming war.  But just so you know, Superboy is using these poor hybrids, and after he's done with them, he's going to kill them.  It's weird but I'm rooting for these new characters to figure out the ruse and kill Superboy.  It's a strange time in comics for me, when I'm rooting for the title character to get killed.  On with the show.

Phantom Stranger #17 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: J.M. DeMatteis
Art By: Fernando Blanco, Diego Olmos
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 5, 2014

What Happens In Vegas, Gets You Help Against Project Thaumaton.

This chapter of Forever Evil: Blight is a Phantom Stranger, Pandora, and Cassandra Craft story, so I'll only be filling you in on what happened to them last issue.  Because it's all you need to know, and I'm lazy.  While trapped in Nanda Parbat, Pandora went all light side on Nick Necro, and tried to teleport the Justice League Dark away.  But once away, she realizes that the only people with her are Phantom Stranger, and for some reason the blind psychic; Cassandra Craft.  Stranger decides that they need help, and tries to find his friend Chris Esperanza, who has just become the Spirit of Redemption, to lend a hand.  But they don't find Chris, they find The Spectre, and we all know how it's all wrath first and ask questions later with him.  Let's see how they make out, and what they plan on doing to get their friends out of Project Thaumaton.

Old Time Tuesday: Max Fleischer's Superman (a.k.a. The Mad Scientist)

I love this so much. It is the first Superman cartoon done by Max Fleischer and Fleischer Studios.  It was released on September 26, 1941 and was nominated for an Academy Award.  Though it didn't win, it has stood the test of time.  Enjoy!

Injustice: Year Two #5 Review

Written by: Tom Taylor
Art by: Mike S. Miller and Bruno Redondo
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: March 11, 2014

Confrontation

I have been a huge fan of Tom Taylor and Injustice.  Year One was non-stop action thrill fest.  Every issue seemed to have a shocking twist or jaw dropping death...or both.  Year Two has been more of a slow burn.  There has been more character development and story buildup and maybe I'm alone here, but I really like it.  Things are going to get real and when they do, this buildup is sure to pay off in spades.

Batman/Superman Annual #1 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Greg Pak
Art By: Jae Lee, Kenneth Rocafort, Phillip Tan
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: March 5, 2014

All In The Family

Do you remember the three part Mongul story arc that ended with issue #7?  Well I hope so, because this
continues that story.  In case you don't remember, I'll bring you up to speed a bit.  Mongul tried to take over the world by creating a real life video game.  So what you got was an over the top, popcorn story, where Batman fights Superman.  It started out fun, but by the end you were just glad it was over.  So Mongul was defeated and thrown into the Phantom Zone.  Our heroes prevail, for a second I guess, because this continues the story, so let's see what kind trouble our duo has to face.

Adventures of Superman #46 Review

Written by: Joe Keatinge
Art by: Ming Doyle and Brent Shoonover
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: March 10, 2014

Strange Visitor part 1 of 3

Every week I can't wait for the new Adventures of Superman.  Obviously, when I am in the middle of a multi-part story I want to see what happens next, but the biggest thrill for me is when a new story begins. What will the story be about?  Who will be in it?  It's a little bit of Christmas morning showing up on my computer.  You may think I'm going overboard, but I'm really not.  The mystery and promise of a new story is so good.  Yes, some of the stories haven't been the best, but with this book, anything is possible.

This chapter is the first of a three part arc by Joe Keatinge and I'm pretty impressed so far.  The cover by Jon Bogdanove is so good, the art by Ming Doyle and Brent Shoonover is excellent and the story features Kamandi.  Yes, Kamandi!  He isn't the Last Boy on Earth anymore, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Detective Comics #29 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: John Layman
Art: Aaron Lopresti
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: March 5, 2014

Dream Warriors! 

Alright Gothamites this is the finale of both Gothtopia, and John Layman's run on Detective Comics.  Even though I haven't been a fan of this Gothtopia story arc I want everyone to remember what we had before this creator took over.  He totally turned around this series, and made it one of my favorite Batman titles.  He will be missed.  Damn this sounds like a eulogy, back to the story.  Last time Batman was institutionalized at Crane's Mental Health Hospital.  We found out that this was planned so Batman could figure out what was going on.  We saw Batman and Poison Ivy working together to create a antidote, and in the end when they finally made it out of the hospital, they were confronted by Scarecrow, and brainwashed members of the Bat Family.  So let's get to the finale.

Justice League Beyond 2.0 #15 Review

Written by: Christos Gage
Art by: Iban Coello
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: March 8, 2014

System Overdrive part 7 of 8 Boss Level

Justice League Beyond 2.0 has been such a good title.  With two more issues left in this arc, everything was heading towards a huge battle between Brainiac and the Justice League.  Well, the battle is here, it's explosive and it's awesome.  However, it still doesn't look good for the League as Brainiac counters everything they throw at him and their ranks are starting to dwindle.

They picked the right man for the job when they hired Christos Gage for this title.  He's done such a nice job with the huge and varied cast making each character unique and believable.  Some people believe that you never know a person's true mettle until they are under fire and the chips are down.  After this issue, I can tell you that's true in the Justice League.  Two characters turn tail and what makes matters worse is they are crucial to Mr. Miracle and Superman's plan.  

Superman: Lois Lane #1 Review

Written by: Marguerite Bennett
Art by: Emanuela Lappachino, Meghan Hetrick, Ig Guara, Diogenes Neves
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: February 26, 2014

Dazed and Confused

Marguerite Bennett's career is a bit of a conundrum.  Though she's not on a regular book, DC has given her some pretty big characters to work with.  Batman, Lobo, Batgirl, Joker's Daughter and now Lois Lane. Pretty impressive.  The Jokers Daughter one-shot was an attempt to right the wrong of the Ann Nocenti Villain's Month fiasco and it was somewhat of a success.  However, I'm not really sure why this Lois Lane issue exists.  If it's an attempt to start a Lois Lane solo title, I'm not sure this was the way to go.  It also doesn't advance the story of Superman, the book she is most associated with in the New 52.  Maybe it was just to appease the fans who want to see Lois using her reporting skills to solve a generic crime involving yet another shadowy government agency.  If that's the case, mission accomplished.

Swamp Thing #29 Review

Written by: Charles Soule
Art by: Jesus Saiz
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: March 5, 2014

Track Suits, Kool Aid and Bloodshed

Charles Soule's Swamp Thing has been more about character development and supporting characters than anything else.  The Avatar is still the main focus, but only by a blade of grass.  Under lesser authors this could spell disaster, but Charles Soule is no lesser author.  No, he is the Stefaan Engels of comic book writers. The more book he writes at one time, the better the books get. He shows this here as Swamp Thing is getting stronger with each issue, even though the latest issue could spell disaster for the Avatar himself.

Weird Science News: March 5, 2014 Edition

Hello and welcome to the news.  If anyone is doing their homework they noticed that there was no Weird Science News last week.  Was I sick? No.  Did I go on a road trip to Reno? Almost.  Was I just too damn lazy and slept all day? Bingo.  So, for those who missed last weeks big stories, here they are: 3D covers return in September, Infinite Crisis becomes a weekly in May, JLU's Cree character design revealed, and Flash's TV costume revealed.  Now that we are up to speed...



On With the News