Top 5 Fridays STAR WARS Edition: Things That Are Good In (Or Came From) The Star Wars Prequel Trilogy

I am a huge fan of the Star Wars franchise. The action, the humor, the drama, all mixed into a fun little sci-fi package. Unlike a lot of people though...I like the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Is it better than the originals? Absolutely not! Is there some dumb things in there? Yup! But that doesn't mean that it was 100% bad. There were some great things that either are in or came spiraling out of the prequel trilogy and that's what were going to cover today in honor of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! As always this is just my opinion on the matter, but let us begin!

Clean Room #3 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Gail Simone

Art By: Jon Davis-Hunt, Todd Klein

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 16, 2015

I Only Have Eyes For You

*Non-Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Aversion therapy is a commonly practiced technique wherein the patient is exposed to the things they fear until their anxiety has passed, e.g. someone afraid of fire will be made to sit near open flame until they can bear it. The process can be fast or it can take several escalating sessions, but the lesson is that our fears, once faced, are baseless. But that isn’t quite true, is it? Fire does burn, doesn’t it? Perhaps there are things that we fear which should not be examined too closely or for too long, lest that understanding deepens our horror. Because as we’re going to learn in Clean Room #3, sometimes when you go to those darkened corners of your mind, creepy things can come back with you. Let’s expose our nightmares together, shall we? Read on!

We Are Robin #7 Review and *SPOILERS*

Jail Birds

Written By: Lee Bermejo
Art By: Carmine Di Giandomenico, Mat Lopez, Jared K. Fletcher
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 16, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Let's continue our foray into the Robin War with our fourth installment to the story....... which kind of feels weird since the majority of this event feels like it's all about the street Robins and their section is relegated to part 4?....... I guess it doesn't matter, just seems weird is all.  Anyway, strange conspiracy theories aside that in no way lead to logical conclusions like scheduling, we last saw our heroes trapped in a strange ass Robin prison, that seems to have sprung out of nowhere and what the GCPD have humorously deemed "The Cage".  Humorous Shmumorous, this is straight up wrong and for some reason the only ones who seem to be concerned are Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock.  Since Bullock pretty much has his hands tied on this one since the Robin Laws were enacted, Jim Gordon went snooping around and came across Dick Grayson.  After a friendly fight, the two decided to team up to get to the bottom of this and back at The Cage we discovered that the ones behind this hush hush prison are actually the Court of The Owls......... no surprise there.  Let's jump into this issue to see how our birds intend on fleeing the coop and what Jim Gordon and Dick Grayson discover on their investigation.  Let's check it out.

Superman: American Alien #2 Review

Natural Born Killer

Written by: Max Landis
Art by:  Tommy Lee Edwards and John Workman
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 16, 2015

I really liked the first issue of American Alien, but I can see where some might have been turned off by it.  There really wasn't anything fresh or new about seeing another Superman origin story that shows the struggle little Clark had with his blossoming powers.  However, beneath the cute as a button exterior, the book had an undercurrent of darkness in regards to the Kent's fear of their adopted son.  Throw in the fact that most of Smallville seemed to be aware of Clark's natural talents and the issue was charming with a tinge of mystery.  I really liked it and was eagerly awaiting this issue.  Now that I've read it, was it more of the same?  Let's find out...

Secret Six #9 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Gail Simone

Art By: Tom Derenick, Jason Wright, Travis Lanham

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: December 16, 2015

Mind Your Elder Gods

*Non-Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

How loyal are you? Are you “help a friend move” kind of loyal? Or are you just “warn a friend before they step in dog shit” kind of loyal? I guess what I’m asking is, would you free an Elder God and put the fate of our planet in jeopardy for me, baby? Would your loyalty put me above what we know as reality in the third dimension, sweetheart? Because you know I would free all the racist Old Gods of Lovecraftian myth for you, I would invoke Ba’al and sacrifice a lamb to Baphomet and desecrate several holy sites of many major faiths for your love. That’s what you mean to me, can you dig it? Why don’t we snuggle up together and read the latest issue of Secret Six, see if it doesn’t put us in the mood…for blasphemy.

Batman and Robin Eternal #11 Review

Same Old Song and Dance

Written by: Ed Brisson
Art by: Fernando Blanco, Christian Dulce, John Rauch, and A Larger World Studio
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 16, 2015

While I was so into this series when it began, I have slowly, but surely started regretting it even before opening the cover each week.  I know that's not a professional thing to admit, but I am being honest.  So, trust me when I say that each week I go into my review with an open mind and nothing would make me happier than to tell each and every one of you that that issue is kick ass and I am back on the Eternal trolley.  A man can dream, right?  Well, one of the best things about these weekly books is that after a couple of issues, the creative teams change and it's like springtime in Cricklade. You all know where I'm coming from!  So, is this the issue that puts a smile on my face or will I be left looking out my window, longing for better days?  Let's find out...

Batman: Arkham Knight: Genesis #5 Review and *SPOILERS*

Written By: Peter J. Tomasi

Art By: Dexter Soy, Dave McCaig, Deron Bennett

Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: December 16, 2015

You Scratch My Back, I’ll Shoot Yours

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

After watching Jason “Arkham Knight” Todd get brutally beaten and brainwashed by the Joker and his stooges for two issues, I was hoping we’d get a little reprieve for the penultimate installment of this miniseries. Perhaps the Joker would have a change of heart and take Jason to DisneyWorld, or maybe Jason could show the inmates of Arkham Asylum that hey—we’re all together in this wacky world; whether we’re crazy or sane, criminal or crusader, beautiful or horribly twisted by the Titan serum into a tumescent mountain of a man hellbent on destroying everything around him. Well, that doesn’t quite happen, but Jason does make a friend in Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson, and by “makes a friend” I mean “hires a mercernary.” We’re back to the origin story of the Arkham Knight and this time we don’t need our barf bags. Feel free to read on, even if you’re eating!

Martian Manhunter #7 Review and *SPOILERS*

Stop Hitting Yourself, Stop Hitting Yourself!

Written By: Rob Williams
Art By: Ronan Cliquet, Marc Deering, Gabe Eltaeb, Tom Napolitano
Cover Price: $2.99

Release Date: December 16, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Well, Martian Manhunter went and did it.  Our lean green Manhunting machine went and screwed over all of mankind in the previous issue and activated the blood magic to bring back the living Mars.  That might not sound bad at first, but for Mars to live, Earth has to die........ hence the screwed over.  The strangest part about all of this is, somehow Martian Manhunter's individual personalities survived the act and are now on Mars as well as our title hero.  As we saw from the previous issue, his other selves aren't too pleased with him and it looks like we're going to have a little Martian on Martian violence....... or self abuse depending on how you look at it.  As crazy as all of this sounds, I have to give it to Rob Williams for taking a character like J'onn J'onzz and making him interesting because I never thought I'd see that happen.  Let's jump into this issue and see what Mars is up to and what Martian Manhunter is going to do first during his homecoming.  Let's check it out.

Justice League #46 Review and *SPOILERS*

Tell 'Em Big Barda Sent Ya

Written By: Geoff Johns

Art By: Francis Manapul, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 16, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

After one-shot after one-shot, we're finally back to the main Justice League story and we're only a month behind..... Woo!  I don't know if the one-shots were cash grabs or just thrown out there to try and satiate us while we wait for the story to continue, but it's a bit of a bummer when we get behind on comics, especially when we left things the way they were.  Darkseid has been killed and the majority of our Justice League have been transformed into Gods.  Batman now sitting upon the Mobius Chair has become the God of Knowledge, Superman soaking in the rays of a fire pit has become the God of Strength, Shazam getting a whole new set of Gods lending their power to him has become the God of Gods, Flash being merged with the Black Racer has become the God of Death and Lex Luthor taking in Darkseid's Omega Effect has become the God of Apokolips.  That's some crazy shit and even though this issue says that Green Lantern has become the God of Light, we all saw from the Green Lantern one-shot that he got rid of that role and is back to normal....... Pretty much all the one-shots got us back to where our last issue left off, so there isn't much else to do but get into this issue and see what's going down in the Darkseid War.  Let's check it out.

Weird Science DC Comics Podcast Episode 49: Eric's Birthday Nightmare

This episode features a very ill Eric who probably needed (or at least wanted) the week off, but Jim demanded the show go on!  Why?  Because it was Eric's Birthday this week and the podcast became a celebration of everything Eric.  While the guys always complain that everyone hates their guts, the episode is filled with some of the biggest names at DC wishing Eric a Happy Birthday!  That's right...Dan Didio, Brett Booth, Ethan Van Sciver and so many more send their wishes.  The fun continues as the boys discuss all the DC Comic books that came out this week as well as the top news stories.  As always, they are joined by Reggie for his Recklessness and Ryan for his Other Side segment.  There is no sign of Mumbo Jimbo or Professor DC this week, but there is still plenty to listen too.

Batman/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1 Review

COWABATGA!

Writer: James Tynion IV

Art and Cover: Freddie William II

Colors: Jeremy Colwell

Letters: Tom Napolitano

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: December 9, 2015

*Spoilers ahead, summary and score at the bottom*

The team up we have been wanting since 1984 is finally here. While a Batman/TMNT crossover sounds like something that happened in the 90's, I am glad they waited until today. I have been a fan of both the new Ninja Turtles run and the Batman series, so I was really excited for this series to come out, and I was not disappointed.

Green Arrow #47 Review and *SPOILERS*

Dellamorte Dellamore 

Written By: Ben Percy
Art By: Fabrizio Fiorentino, Federico Dallocchio, Gabe Eltaeb, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 9, 2015

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

Half wolves, Bone Cults and road trips down to Mexico are things that I would have never thought about when looking at a Green Arrow comic and while I'd like to tell you that it's an unexpected pleasure.......... I have to keep it real and tell ya that I haven't been a fan of this story arc and really, I haven't been a fan of Ben Percy's run at all.  Now I'm sure he's an awesome guy, but what he's been doing to Green Arrow just isn't for me.......... and even though I'd like to speak for all Green Arrow fans, I've learned my lesson from doing nonsense like that, so I'll just say that there hasn't been much Green Arrow to this book and what it's seriously lacked is fun.  So Ollie's half wolf pet named George was up and kidnapped by a Bone Cult and with the help of Tarantula......... who came out of nowhere, the two trekked down to Mexico to retrieve the animal and take out this cult in the process.  Too bad that Tarantula betrayed Ollie and simply traded him for her niece, who was also kidnapped and Green Arrow was left to deal with the cult and get his dog back on his own.  Let's jump into this issue and see how this story will finish out........ Hopefully strong because everything else has seemed like nonsense.  Let's check it out.

Prez #6 Review

End of the First Term

Written by: Mark Russell
Art by: Ben Caldwell and Jeremy Lawson
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: December 2, 2015


*Spoilers below, Score and summary at the bottom*

This is the end of Prez's first term as a series, but is it good enough that we will get a second story arc with our president Beth Ross? In this issue, it really feels like nothing happened, but we did finally get somewhat of a story with Beth. While it was not as entertaining as other issues of Prez have been, it was nice to have a real focus for this book instead of looking at multiple issues in the future. 

Plop!: Nine-Thousand Four-Hundred and Ninety Days Late and a Dollar Short – Weird Comic Bookery

In 1952, William Gaines’ EC Comics, vanguards of the horror and science fiction comic book, released the first issue of MAD Magazine. This was a humor magazine, but instead of relying on one-panel gags and foolish jokes, it was a comic book built on satire—of media, of society, of every part of the milquetoast status quo that World War II veterans sought to establish. Unsurprisingly, MAD Magazine helped precipitate or hasten Senator Kefauver's hearings on juvenile delinquency that would effectively eliminate the horror comic book and put EC Comics out of business…save for that rascally publication MAD, which is still sold today. MAD Magazine also spawned so many imitators, beginning with Panic—which came from the same publisher, EC Comics, but was helmed by a different editor—and continuing on to Eh!, Sick, Nuts!?, Madhouse, Crazy, and From Here to Insanity, just to name a few. Most of these pretenders folded before the end of the 1950s, and MAD far and away dominated a genre of periodical it had practically created out of necessity. And then there was Plop!, DC Comics’ attempt to cash in on the MAD fad, twenty-one years after the fact.