Batman: Arkham Knight #13 Review

Written by: Peter J. Tomasi
Art by: Viktor Bogdanovic, Art Thibert and John Rauch
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: May 15, 2015

Night Moves

It's that time of week again, so strap yourselves in and get ready for a little Arkham Knight action.  Except that this one-shot issue has no Arkham Knight action to speak of.  I would love to promise never to say "Arkham Knight action" anymore, but I know that would make me a liar and while I'm a spiffy dresser and an excellent breakdancer,  I am no liar.  Enough about me and my many great qualities, let's get on with the review.

Top 5 Fridays: Heroes of DC Television This Season

The season finales of both Gotham and Arrow have recently aired, and whether or not you like the show or not, we can all agree the shows had some fantastic heroes, villains, and moments. In honor of the start of these shows and continuation of others, the next three top 5 lists are going to be centered around DCTV's greatest heroes, villains, and moments. Lets get this trio of lists underway with the heroes! Now there is one rule to this list. I am referring to this television season instead of a full run of their shows. If we allowed a full run of their shows, then Arrow's characters would probably get number one in everything. Enough with my rambling lets begin!

DC Television: DC's Legends of Tomorrow first trailer!

Some Legends Are Told

The curtain has been raised for the mysterious third show of the Flarrowverse. The new show, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, centers around some of the biggest heroes(and villains in the case of Captain Cold and Heatwave) the other two shows have ever had. They are teaming up so they can face one of the biggest threats of their world- VANDAL SAVAGE! Enough of my incessant rambling, lets take a look at the trailer!

Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga #28 Review

Written by: Jiro Kuwata
Art by: Jiro Kuwata
Cover Price: $1.99
Release Date: January 10th, 2015

Fiend of the Masquerade Festival (Chapter 1 of 3)

It's not everyday that you get to see an Arab riding a dinosaur. It's also not everyday that you get to see Batman and Robin riding dinosaurs. Alas, today was that day for me.

In all honesty, it has been a while since I have read an issue of Batman: The Jiro Kuwata Batmanga, although I still have a few issues sitting in my to-read pile, and I was a little nervous heading back into this one. Looking back at my previous reviews, it's obvious that I love this series, despite the fact that I am not obsessed with manga, like a lot of geeks my age are. That being said, there was something rewarding about my grand return.

Convergence: Batman: Shadow of The Bat #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Larry Hama
Art By: Rick Leonardi, Dan Green, Elmer Santos
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

Under Siege 3: Wetworks

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

The last installment to this Convergence tie-in was one of the strangest that I read because it really had nothing to do with life under the dome, with the exception that Tobias Whale wanted to steal food trucks to earn dome dough and Bruce Wayne and Jean Paul Valley separately infiltrated his group as a way to take the gangster down........ and ended up just getting people killed because for some reason in a world under a dome, they needed things like "evidence" and "due process" instead of just taking the baddie down and saving some lives.  So yeah, it was pretty odd and it wasn't until all the way at the end that we saw the Wetworks team watching Batman and Azrael do their thing that we got any idea that there would be any Convergence style fighting going on.  I personally don't know shit about the Wetworks team, so hopefully this issue brings me up to speed before the battle commences.  Let's check it out.

Convergence: Justice League International #2 Review

Written by: Ron Marz
Art by: Mike Manley, Joe Rubinstein, Bert Blevins and Sotocolor
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 14, 2015

They Say It's Your...

The first Convergence: Justice League International was a bit of a surprise hit for me.  It was one of the issues that were left in the pile after Eric and myself picked which ones we really wanted to review and I ended up with it.  Honestly, I had no feelings at all going in, but after reading it, I was so glad I got it.  I really liked how Ron Marz showed how the members of the JLI continued being heroes and protected their city even when their powers disappeared.  The star of the issue was Ted Kord who reluctantly took leadership of the team and was doing the best he could by following his heart.  The issue ended with the Dome going down and the forces of Kingdom Come, led by Wonder Woman and Shazam, showing up, looking for a fight.  This is the finale, so of course they get one...but is it any good?  Let's find out...

Convergence: Green Arrow #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Christy Marx
Art By: Rags Morales, Claude St-Aubin, Nei Ruffino
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

Family Feud

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

In the last issue of Convergence: Green Arrow, we had Ollie's introduction to his son Connor, after our Emerald Archer was called by smoke signal to assist Connor in fending off some white supremacists that weren't a fan of people that look different than themselves........ So if you don't look like an un-bathed hillbilly, they'll put the hurt on you.  After common sense prevailed and kicked the shit out of some ignorance, Connor dropped the bomb on Ollie "that he is the father" and before Green Arrow could run out for a pack of smokes, never to be heard from again, the dome dropped and our father/son pair found themselves in an empty Metropolis, where they met up with the Kingdom Come Dinah Lance and Olivia Queen.  Oliver's going to have a heart attack.  Let's see how Ollie's dealing with his new family life as we jump into this issue.  Let's check it out.

DC Television: Supergirl Trailer First Look

Its not a Man

Well CBS has just released its first trailer for the upcoming Supergirl TV Series. As the site's "TV guy," I felt I should give the trailer a watch.


Premise:

Twenty-four-year-old Kara Zor-El, who was taken in by the Danvers family when she was 12 after being sent away from Krypton, must learn to embrace her powers after previously hiding them.The Danvers teach her to be careful with her powers, until she has to reveal them during an unexpected disaster, setting her on her journey of heroism.

-wikipedia

Convergence: Supergirl - Matrix #2 Review

Written by: Keith Giffen
Art by: Timothy Green II
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

A Load of Spackle

I want to begin this review by telling everyone reading this that I think I have a decent sense of humor.  I'm no Henny Youngman or Fred Allen, mind you, but I know my way around a joke.  I also think I know when a joke has played itself out and if I didn't, I learned firsthand last month in Convergence: Supergirl - Matrix #1.  The issue was also a total mess with misplaced dialogue, paper thin characterizations and not much of a story to speak of.  Because of that, the "humor" came off as a pathetic instead of clever and threw the whole issue off to the point of it being one of my least favorites of the Event.  It did end with Ambush Bug showing up so I had a little glimmer of hope that this finale would change everything and make it all worthwhile.  Did Ambush Bug save the day?  Let's find out...

Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Tony Bedard
Art By: Ron Wagner, Bill Reinhold, Paul Mounts
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

It Ain't Easy Being Green

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Who's ready to go back in time to an era when Hal Jordan was a power mad god known as Parallax?  Well, I don't really care if you're ready or not because like I've said a hundred times before, I love this era because it's when I began reading Green Lantern and fell in love hard with it.  In the last issue, we saw that during the year without powers, Hal Jordan spent his time being mopey about all the horrible things he did as Parallax, only to go all power nutso again once the dome disappeared and after Princess Fern from Electropolis fired on Kyle Rayner, Hal was hellbent on making sure that hurting Kyle was the last thing that the people of that city ever do.  Let's jump into this issue and see if Parallax has left anyone in Electropolis alive and if Kyle will be able to talk him down from his rage fueled fury.  Let's check it out.

Convergence: Suicide Squad #2 Review

Written by: Frank Tieri
Art by: Tom Mandrake and Sian Mandrake
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

Explosive Endings

The first Suicide Squad issue was the highlight of the Zero Hour week for me last month.  I am a sucker for the real Amanda Waller and boy, did she stand up...and laid down...in a pool of her own blood.  I know I was supposed to be concerned about the Suicide Squad going up against Alan Scott and his Kingdom Come cronies, but going in, all I cared about was if The Wall would indeed die and who the hell was responsible.  Well, Frank Tieri answers all the questions, but does that make this a great finale?  Let's find out...

Convergence #6 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Jeff King, Scott Lobdell
Art By: Ed Benes, Edwardo Pansica, Trevor Scott, Scott Hanna, Wayne Faucher, Peter Steigerwald
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

Game Change

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It's time to jump back into another issue of Convergence, where we hope to find a redeeming quality to this story because as of right now, the majority of it has been a mess.  Now, I'm not saying that it's been all bad, but it certainly has a lot of trust it has to win back from me.  In the last issue we saw that Deimos had taken control of this whole Convergence event, when he absorbed the power of the Time Masters and found out that Telos was once a man, who was ripped from his family and people to serve Brainiac and after our mad planet discovered this news.......... He cried the rest of the issue before vanishing.  So yeah, not a lot of help going on there.  Eventually after almost an entire issue of our Earth 2 Wonders fighting Deimos and losing, Deimos gives out another speech saying to all the cities, if they want to live, all they have to do is worship him.  As our issue ended, our Earth 2 Wonders decided that they would need backup and began scouring the cities for anyone who would help.  Let's check out this issue and see how they fared.

Fanboy Theories: Who is the Arkham Knight

A Darker Knight

Since the first image of the titular Arkham Knight was revealed, the DC community has begun to wonder who he is? All we know at the moment is that he wants to become the new Batman. He wants to take control of the city and watch as Batman dies. That is it, that is pretty much it! This guy is a complete enigma(NOT RIDDLER) that it has set the theorists of the world on an investigation of epic proportions. Joker Clones, Robots; you name it, the people have said it. As one who is an obvious theorist of the DC universe, I felt it was time that I gave my two cents on who this Knight is. I spent a week scrounging up any evidence I could help establish my theory and am prepared to reveal it to you! Could it be a long lost partner? Could it be a ploy from a more powerful and dangerous evil? Could I just read the Friday comics every week until I get my straight forward answer? Enough my incessant ramblings, lets take a look behind that mask!

Injustice: Year Four #2 Review

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Bruno Redondo, Juan Albarran and Rex Lokus
Cover Price: $0.99
Release Date: May 12, 2015

Summer of Our Discontent

I shouldn't have to keep repeating myself, but in case you didn't know...I'm a huge Injustice fan.  I am also a fan of Brian Buccellato and because of those two things, I can overlook a bunch of stuff that others seem to get stuck on.  Last week's issue of Injustice, for instance.  While some seemed to take umbrage with Superman's new over-the-top meanness, I trust Buccellato and believe that it's all in the name of good storytelling.  They may be right, I may be crazy, but it just may be a lunatic...  I guess that everyone can cool their jets for a week at least because this issue has zero Superman.  It also has zero Batman.  It does have Renee Montoya, Harley Quinn and a pretty cool cliffhanger.  Is that enough to make everyone run outside and join hands across America?  Let's find out...

Convergence #6 Preview

Written by: Scott Lobdell, Jeff King
Art by: Edu Pansica, Ed Benes
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

Source Nerdist

Free of the reign of Telos, a pantheon of heroes unite at last in an effort to defend their collective cities – but they did not count on the threat of Deimos, who suddenly seems to possess the power to tear the Multiverse apart at the seams! 

Convergence: Suicide Squad #2 Preview

Written by: Frank Tieri
Art by: Tom Mandrake
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Bane and Cyborg Superman join Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad’s attack on Kingdom Come Green Lantern’s floating fortress of New Oa! And lots and lots and lots of heroes die!

Will the Suicide Squad win the day?  While I care about all this Convergence stuff, I really want to see what happens to Amanda Waller.  Frank Tieri left her bleeding out and I want to know who did it and how I can find him or her and take care of them myself. I'm serious...dead serious.

Convergence: Supergirl - Matrix #2 Preview

Written by: Keith Giffen
Art by: Joseph Silver, Timothy Green, II
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Supergirl and Ambush Bug fight against…uh…we don’t really understand what Keith Giffen is doing here, but we trust it’ll work out great!

I know this is a preview and I really shouldn't editorialize, but I really didn't like the first issue of this Convergence tie-in.  I found it overly silly, often times confusing and just plain unnecessary.  I really hope this issue changes everything and wins me over, but the "funny" solicit above already has me worried.  I'm Jim Werner and I approve  this message.

Convergence: Catwoman #2 Preview

Written by: Justin Gray
Art by: Ron Randall
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Witness the shocking conclusion to Catwoman’s altercation with the Kingdom Come Batman!

Last issue sure ended with a crazy cliffhanger...Kingdom Come Batman showing up to put Zero Hour Catwoman in her place.  Or was it the other way around?  Justin Gray did a really good job of setting up Catwoman as a hero and I'm hoping she gets to prove it even more because I am not a big fan of Kingdom Come Batman.

Convergence: Aquaman #2 Preview

Written by: Tony Bedard
Art by: Cliff Richards
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! He may be missing a hand, but he sure won’t miss this fight as Aquaman and Deathblow try to kill each other!

I have to give Tony Bedard credit...he made me care about Deathblow. Deathblow?!?!  In fact, I'm more looking forward to seeing the villain with the most unfortunate name more than Aquaman this issue. Come on Deathblow, you can do it!

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four #1 Preview

Written by: Brian Buccellato
Art by: Juan Albarran, Xermanico, Bruno Redondo
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015


Superman’s regime has been opposed by the Green Lantern Corps and by those who wield the power of magic, but the Man of Steel has emerged battered yet still in control. Now he’s about to face his greatest opponents yet: the gods themselves! Hera’s role in awakening Wonder Woman from her coma has drawn the attention of Mount Olympus, and these new players are about to test existing alliances. 

This is the preview for the collected print version of the Digital Injustice Comic.  While that seems like a lot of words strung together to state the obvious, I have a reason for doing so.  You see, I read and review Injustice digitally, so I already reviewed half of this issue last week and will be doing the same for the second part later tonight.  I'll let you in on a little secret...the fist part of Year Four #1 is really, really good.  My review is HERE.

Weird Thoughts: Week One of DC Comics June Sneak Peeks

Month Two of Convergence came with a cool little treat...Previews.  Yep, instead of the "history lessons" at the end of each Convergence tie-in, we get a preview of a June DC Comic.  This was all announced before, so it is no surprise, but what was a surprise (to me at least) is that these aren't only for the new June books.  This week throws in continuing series Detective Comics, Green Arrow and Green Lantern along with seven new titles.  Here are our "Weird Thoughts" on each...

Convergence: Superboy #2 Preview

Written By: Fabian Nicieza
Art By: Karl Moline, Jose Marzan Jr.
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Superboy and Kingdom Come Superman face off over Metropolis – but can these two find a way to work together and save both their worlds?

I can't wait to see how Kingdom Come Superman will wrangle Superboy's attitude into check so that he can hopefully save both cities............ Oh and also I want to see Superman's plan.  Bout time someone took the fight to Telos............ If that's what he in fact plans to do........... Yeah, I'm just coming up with things at this point, but I loved the first issue and I can't wait to read this.

Also included with this issue is the bonus story of Action Comics Written By: Greg Pak and Aaron Kuder and Art By: Aaron Kuder.  Low on power, Superman battles mysterious assailants - Shadow Ninjas - as he tries to reach his Fortress of Solitude.

Weird Science DC Comics Hits Wizard World Philadelphia 2015

While I'd like to give you a great big informative story about the ins and outs of Wizard World Philadelphia this past weekend....... I can't because I missed every damn panel that I wanted to see and ended up just walking around with two good friends and having a blast.  I met and talked to a bunch of fun, interesting people and just soaked in all the awesomeness that is Wizard World.  Really though, I got some pictures of the event that include an array of awesome cosplayers and some include me hamming it up and I got Ethan Van Sciver, who was very cool to this site with putting up with our 5 Questions With...... segment, to sign my Green Lantern #20.  Thanks again Ethan.  All in all Wizard World Philadelphia 2015 was a lot of fun and I hear that Stephen Amell had a great panel that I sadly missed and sadly can't tell any of you about............ But hey, I got an awesome Flash print and a bunch of pictures, so if that's your thing, here they are.

Convergence: Green Arrow #2 Preview

Written By: Christy Marx
Art By: Rags Morales, Claude St Aubin
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! It’s a family feud! The first-ever meeting between Oliver Queen and Connor Hawke gets complicated when they are attacked by Kingdom Come’s Dinah Lance and Olivia Queen!


I'm really interested to see what happens from last issue's cliffhanger where Oliver was confronted not only by the son he never knew he had but from his family from a parallel world.  I don't know if it's going to lead to the ass kicking that the solicit and this cover suggest, I just want to see Oliver get overwhelmed by a sudden family life.

In this issue we also get a bonus sneak peek of what to expect in June with Starfire written by: Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti with art by: Emanuela Lupacchino.  Kori seeks the advice of other heroes on the best place for her to live now that she has left the Outlaws.

Convergence: Green Lantern/Parallax #2 Preview

Written By: Tony Bedard
Art By: Ron Wagner, Bill Reinhold
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 13, 2015

STARRING HEROES FROM ZERO HOUR! Hal Jordan is Parallax – and Kyle Rayner is the Green Lantern trying to stop him from committing genocide in their battle against Princess Fern of Electropolis! Let the battle begin!

Where we left off in the last issue, it looks like Hal is going to completely destroy Electropolis and with this Kyle Rayner having pretty much having no Green Lantern experience, he better start appealing to the humanity that's hopefully still in Hal to get him to stop because there is no way that Kyle is stopping Parallax by force.  


In this issue, we have a bonus story as a sneak peek of what expect in June with Lobo written by Cullen Bunn and illustrated by Cliff Richards.  The intergalactic hit man fulfills one contract, while taking a new one that could be the death of him.

Convergence: The Atom #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Tom Peyer
Art By: Steve Yeowell, Andy Owens, Hi-Fi
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 6, 2015

Huh?

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

When we started this Convergence adventure last month, the Atom's tie-in to this event had to be one of the worst I read, which was really disappointing because I wanted to see if The Atom would be able to hold his own book again, or if he'd be relegated to "side character" like he's been through the majority of the New 52.......... except for Futures End that is, he was a bad ass Five Years From Now.  What I discovered after reading the last issue was....... Honestly I don't know what I discovered because the issue was ridiculous and if someone held a gun to my head and forced me to explain to them what happened, there would be cherry pie painting the walls.  So yeah, last issue was a mess, but hopefully we get something here that we can sink our teeth into and allow us to make some sense out of The Atom's making his hand grow in a world without powers and how Ryan Choi was able to talk to him and appear at the end of the issue........... cause he's dead you see.  Let's check it out and hope for the best.

Weird Science DC Comics Podcast Episode 18: Comic Con, Convergence and Happy Endings

Ep 18: Eric begins the podcast by telling everyone that his friend, Jay, has no bladder control and Jim wants to know why trains don't have bathrooms.  Eric explains that he likes to be in large rooms with various men and the two finally get down to their normal fussin' and a fuedin' over life, liberty and the Speed Force issue.  Their rants are luckily broken up by Dan's Geek News and Ryan Clark's Other Side segment.

Convergence: The Question #2 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Greg Rucka
Art By: Cully Hamner, Dave McCaig
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 6, 2015

50/50

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Let's travel back to the Pre-Flashpoint Gotham so we can ask the hard questions...... Like why the hell would Renee Montoya turn her back on Two-Face?  After a year of The Question checking in on Harvey Dent, making sure that he didn't kill himself........... because it seems that the dome is fucking with him and won't let his coin land on the bad side, Renee goes and lets her guard down once the dome disappears and Harvey pistol whipped her so he could go and meet his other self from another Gotham........ and hopefully have that Harvey do him in.  That was then, but this is now and after seeing that Huntress and Batwoman decided to join the fun, I expect one hell of a issue ahead of us.  Let's check it out.

Weird Science DC Comics Podcast Episode 17: FCBD, Batman and Convergence

Ep 17: Join Jim and Eric as they talk about their Free Comic Book Day experiences and why it didn't involve cake, cosplay or Scott Snyder.  Eric is upset that his Mom is moving into a trailer park and Jim again proves he's an awful Father,  They also talk about the ***** of Batman, Superman's lost secret, Multiversity and Justice League #40.  Then they travel down the Convergence road as the Event finishes up it's first month.  All this and more on this week's episode of Weird Out Loud Weird Science DC Comics Podcast.