Batman #308 (1979) Review

"THERE'LL BE A COLD TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT!"

Writer: Len Wein
Pencil: John Calnan
Ink: Dick Giordano
Color: Glynis Wein
Letters: Ben Oda
Cover Price: 40¢
Release Date: February 7, 1979

Review by Joey Casco of TheWineStalker.net

The air is crisp this autumn night, trembling with the promise of winter and the first falling snow. To most, it is a night to bundle up the collar and hurry home to a crackling hearth -- but to the dark-clad figure swinging high among the moonlit towers, it is just another working night -- another night of the tireless hunt!

The Flash #69 Review and *SPOILERS*

And Now… For My Greatest Trick…

Written By: Joshua Williamson

Art By: Scott Kolins, Luis Guerrero

Letters By: Steve Wands

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 24, 2019

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

It’s been a while since I was really invested in a Flash storyline but low and behold, we are at this issue and I couldn’t be more excited. We had a really satisfying lead up to this story, introduced great villains, properly motivated our hero, and the last issue left us on one hell of a cliffhanger. This is the kind of work that I know Williamson is able to do which is why the last few storylines have been a little disappointing. However, I cannot wait to jump into this new issue and see where the story leads us. So let’s just jump right into it.

Dial H for Hero #2 Review and **SPOILERS**

Crisis in Heroism

Writer: Sam Humphries

Artist and Cover: Joe Quinones

Colorist: Jordan Gibson

Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Variant Cover: Nick Derington

Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea

Editors: Mike Cotton

Group Editors: Brian Cunningham

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

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Alright folks, it’s time to buckle up your rotary dials and sync your dial tones…or something. It’s amazing how this whole telephone aesthetic has completely changed, along with the reasons and ways that we use them in the first place. This series should have been “Text [heart] 4 H8rz” and then we can really start pandering to kids, the Bob Haney way! Instead, we get Dial H for Hero #2, which I’ve reviewed for your convenience.

The Terrifics #15 Review and **SPOILERS**

Play With Plagues

Writer: Gene Luen Yang
Artist: Stephen Segovia
Colors: Photobunker
Letterer: Tom Napolitano
Cover: Doc Shaner
Assistant Editor: Dave Wielgosz
Editor: Paul Kaminski
Group Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Well there’s a new writer for the series, and what’s else is that Gene Luen Yang is credited as the writer! None of this “storytellers” nonsense, that implied the books were being done using the “Marvel method,” that is, plotting and pencils first, dialogue second. That worked very poorly, so here’s hoping that the standard scripting method works better! Check out my review of The Terrifics #15, right here!

Batgirl #34 Review and **SPOILERS**

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Mind Your Own Business

Writer: Mairghread Scott

Penciller: Paul Pelletier

Inker: Norm Rapmund

Colorist: Jordie Bellaire

Letterer: Andworld Design

Cover: Francis Manapul

Variant Cover: Joshua Middleton

Editor: Brittany Holzherr

Group Editor: Brian Cunningham

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

After last issue, which was really just a tie-in to The Batman Who Laughs, it’s time to get back into the groove of…whatever Barbara Gordon’s life is now. As I recall, she’s a nearly-fired social media intern for Congresswoman Alejo’s campaign? And how did that all wind up, anyway? I guess one way to find out is to read Batgirl #34 yourselves. The other way is to read my review, which is right here!

Books of Magic #7 Review and **SPOILERS**

Is She Behind Door Number One?

Written By: Kat Howard
Drawn By: Tom Fowler
Finishes By: Brian Churilla 
Colors By: Jordan Boyd
Letters By: Todd Klein
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

Hey, it's that book that always somehow feels like I'd just written about it... and haven't read it in months!  Maybe it truly is a Book of Magic?

Worth noting, really appreciate the absence of a vapid cover blurb this time out.  Maybe there was nobody out their to shrug their integrity and blatantly lie in order to suck up to DC Comics?

Ah, who am I kidding... of course there was!  And there will be this month out too!

Batman Beyond #31 Review

Early Release

Written By: Dan Jurgens

Art By: Rick Leonardi, Ande Parks, Chris Sotomayor, Travis Lanham

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 24, 2019

It's back to the future for us as we head off to Neo-Gotham to see what the ramifications of Matt McGinnis having the Robin title taken away from him by his brother are........ I bet a lot of whining.  Besides that though, there really isn't much catch-up here as we're starting a new arc with this issue.  So let's quit the chitter-chatter and get into this issue of Batman Beyond.  Let's check it out.

Justice League Dark #10 Review and **SPOILERS**

Order in the Court

Writer: James Tynion IV
Penciller: Alvarez Martínez Bueno
Inker: Raul Fernandez
Colorist: Brad Anderson
Letterer: Rob Leigh
Cover: Martínez Bueno, Fernandez, Anderson
Variant Cover: Kelley Jones & Michelle Madsen
Editor: Andrew Marino
Group Editor: Marie Javins
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Why does it feel like the last issue of this series came out ten months ago? I’ve been pretty rigid in my praise for it, but if I’m spacing on out what’s happening in Justice League Dark, then I know some others must be veering off as well. Let’s get back to it! Let’s find out of issue #15 catches us up in my review!

Freedom Fighters #5 Review

The Spirit of '76

Written By: Robert Venditti

Art By: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, Andworld Design

Cover Price: $3.99

Release Date: April 24, 2019

Ol' Earth-X is a callin' and it's saying "Come and see the return of Uncle Sam" and you know what?  I'm all about it.  One of the best most consistent books coming out of DC right now and I can't wait for it to show up each and every month so that I can see the Freedom Fighters take back America from the Ratzi menace.  This issue though, it looks like the bad guys are going to spice things up a notch so let's jump into this issue and see if our heroes can prevail.  Let's check it out.

Heroes in Crisis #8 Review and **SPOILERS**

Wally West Dunnit

Writer: Tom King

Artists: Mitch Gerads & Travis Moore
Colorist & Cover: Mitch Gerads
Letters: Clayton Cowles
Variant Cover By: Ryan Sook
Associate Editor: Brittany Holzherr
Editor: Jamie S. Rich
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

We were promised some serious answers this issue, so let’s have it! My review of Heroes in Crisis #8, have at it!

The Wild Storm #22 - Review and Spoilers

Wielding Their Authority

Written by: Warren Ellis
Art by: Jon Davis-Hunt
Colours by: Steve Buccellato
Letters by: Simon Bowland
Cover Price: $3.99 
Release Date: April 24, 2019


The original The Authority series was high-concept big budget superheroics in an era when the first X-Men film was still in production and an Avengers movie was just a twinkle in Kevin Feige's eye. Following on from Warren Ellis' really rather dark and disturbing Stormwatch run, the series took the idea of superheroes to its logical conclusion. If there were super-powered beings running around the planet, of course, they'd take charge and police the world as best they could. And they'd do it in as spectacular and mind-blowing a way as is (super)humanly possible. Ellis' plotting was big and bold and his characters cool; artists Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary delivered page after page of visual perfection. It was awesome.

The last few issues of this series have been leading to the formation of this somewhat grimier, more low-tech Wild Storm universe's version of The Authority. Given the group's pedigree, the creative team has set themselves quite a task to match or even exceed the impact of those initial Authority stories. Let's see if they can pull it off...

Action Comics #1010 Review

Cover Blown

Written By: Brian Michael Bendis

Art By: Steve Epting, Brad Anderson, Josh Reed

Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

Let's jump back into our Leviathan mystery, where last issue we saw Superman.......... Well, we pretty much just saw him playing catch-up with everything we as readers already knew.  Besides that though, we saw Lois and Clark come up with a way to find some new information by pulling out an old persona for Clark, which happened to be a Spyral spy by the name of Chaz....... somehow they altered his look with Gold Kryptonite, which I don't get, but it happened and that's what our hero is up to this issue.  Hopefully, the information flows because I'm already getting a little bored of Leviathan.  Let's check it out.

Wonder Woman #69 Review

WHATEVAH!

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Xermonico
Publisher: DC Comics
Release Date: April 24, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

We are starting a new arc in this book and that is fine with me.  While I haven't been too enthused since G. Willow Wilson jumped on, she has been showing sign over getting more in tune with her main character.  The book still feels like it's looking for a direction with each of the stories leading to thin one strangely disconnected from one another.  Maybe narrowing the cast will give Wilson a little more breathing room and she'll use that to set up her main characters a little more and make me care about them...a little more.

Detective Comics #1002 Review

Writer: Peter J. Tomasi
Artists: Brad Walker, Andrew Hennessy, Nathan Fairbairn, Rob Leigh
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

Review by Joey Casco of TheWineStalker.net

This is Part 2 of "Medieval". The Arkham Knight has forced the Dark Knight into the light by setting off a Day Bomb in the middle of the night, and his Knights of the Sun have brutally taken him down. At the end of #1001, the Arkham Knight stood over a defeated Batman, who was beaten and bleeding and impaled by multiple arrows. How can Bats possibly get out of this one?

PREVIEW: Dial H for Hero #2

Alone in the Phone Zone

Writer: Sam Humphries 
Artist and Cover: Joe Quinones 
Colorist: Jordan Gibson 
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
Assistant Editor: Andrea Shea 
Editors: Mike Cotton 
Group Editors: Brian Cunningham 
Cover Price: $3.99 
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019 

On the road (in a food truck full of mayonnaise!) with the amazing H-Dial that gifts the user with a new superpower every time they place a call, teenage runaways Miguel and Summer come under attack by others who crave the power the dial offers. With cryptic calls from the “phone zone” and no one to turn to for help, the adolescent adventurers come to a breaking point, where they either must work together or lose more than just the dial.

Oh man, if Miguel has already been "phone zoned," he'll never get laid. Have a look at some preview pages, just below! 

PREVIEW: Batgirl #34

This Trio is Terrible

Writer: Mairghread Scott 
Penciller: Paul Pelletier 
Inker: Norm Rapmund 
Colorist: Jordie Bellaire 
Letterer: Andworld Design 
Cover: Francis Manapul 
Variant Cover: Joshua Middleton 
Editor: Brittany Holzherr 
Group Editor: Brian Cunningham 
Cover Price: $3.99 
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

When Barbara Gordon confronts her father about James Jr.’s return to Gotham City, the stress between them causes the two to finally break apart. As a result, Babs has to move into her own apartment…but her celebration is cut short when her check bounces! Batgirl returns to Burnside to find out if you really can go home again—spoiler alert: you can’t when the Terrible Trio has taken over!

Babs is broke? Well that ain't "grown n' fancy!" Have a gander at some preview pages, why don'tcha? 

PREVIEW: The Terrifics #15

Megacosm if You Got 'Em

Writer: Gene Luen Yang 
Artist: Stephen Segovia 
Colors: Photobunker 
Letterer: Tom Napolitano 
Cover: Doc Shaner 
Assistant Editor: Dave Wielgosz 
Editor: Paul Kaminski 
Group Editor: Jamie S. Rich 
Cover Price: $3.99 
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

The next turning point for the Terrifics starts here! It’s a new chapter in the lives of Mr. Terrific, Phantom Girl, Meta-morpho and Plastic Man as their renewed mission of exploring the Multiverse and protecting Earth’s place amid the cosmic tapestry hits upon a terrifying message hidden within their own technology: something big is coming. When a distress call from Bgztl heralds Armageddon for planet Earth, the team must think bigger, trust no one and fight with everything they’ve got to save the planet from…the Megacosm!

Hey, there's a new member of the team: a dollar added to the cover price! Check out some preview pages and let me know if you think it's worth the scratch. 

PREVIEW: Justice League Dark #10

Where's Mordru?

Writer: James Tynion IV 
Penciller: Alvarez Martínez Bueno 
Inker: Raul Fernandez 
Colorist: Brad Anderson 
Letterer: Rob Leigh 
Cover: Martínez Bueno, Fernandez, Anderson 
Variant Cover: Kelley Jones & Michelle Madsen 
Editor: Andrew Marino 
Group Editor: Marie Javins 
Cover Price: $3.99 
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

Wonder Woman and her team of mystical misfits are on their last legs against Doctor Fate and his Lords of Order. As the magical community surrounds them, the Justice League Dark searches the world over for their one chance at stopping Doctor Fate and the Otherkind and saving magic: Mordru, the Lord of Chaos!

Say...doesn't this sort of describe where we left off? Enjoy some preview pages, laid before you in the space provided below. 

PREVIEW: Heroes in Crisis #8

Now We Come to the Payoff

Writer: Tom King 

Artists: Mitch Gerads & Travis Moore 

Colorist & Cover: Mitch Gerads 

Letters: Clayton Cowles 

Variant Cover By: Ryan Sook 

Associate Editor: Brittany Holzherr 

Editor: Jamie S. Rich 

Cover Price: $3.99 

On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

You’ve seen all the clues. You’ve heard the testimony and eavesdropped on the secret confessions of the World’s Greatest Super Heroes. Now, with the killer revealed, it’s time to find out why. What could have driven a hero to the brink, to turn a savior into a murderer? Rifts will form between old allies, and the trinity of Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman will have their leadership challenged and will question their own judgment. Sanctuary has become something they never imagined…and it’s still potentially carrying on without them!

So this is supposed to be the issue with all the answers. And here's me, without the proper questions. Have a look at the preview pages, hah? 

PREVIEW: Freedom Fighters #5

Written By: Robert Venditti
Art By: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, Adriano Lucas, Andworld Design
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

Uncle Sam, the living embodiment of the American spirit, has been awakened…but will he recognize the country he left behind? Sam has reemerged to discover his beloved nation overrun with fascists and the huddled masses he fought so hard to protect marginalized and under the iron grip of an evil regime mad with power and willing to do ANYTHING to preserve it. Even with the help of the Freedom Fighters, can the spirit of America hope to survive the titanic forces of oppression? Plus: the return of the one Nazi weapon that’s faster than a speeding bullet and more powerful than anything the resistance could hope to put in his way: the mighty Overman!

PREVIEW: Books of Magic #7

Would You Like to Come With Me to the Land of Faerie?

Written By: Kat Howard
Drawn By: Tom Fowler
Finishes By: Brian Churilla
Colors By: Jordan Boyd
Letters By: Todd Klein
Cover By: Kai Carpenter
Edited By: Molly Mahan
Associate Editor: Amedeo Turturro
Assistant Editor: Maggie Howell
Executive Editor: Mark Doyle
Cover Price: $3.99
On Sale Date: April 24, 2019

Tim and Rose go on a journey that takes them across time and space, to the land of Faerie. Tim has the strange sense that he’s been here before, but surely if he’d been to a place so magical and beautiful, he’d remember it, right?

Hey, who doesn't like a journey across time and space? No one! Check out some preview pages, alright? 

PREVIEW: Batman Beyond #31

Written By: Dan Jurgens
Art By: Rick Leonardi, Ande Parks, Chris Sotomayor, Travis Lanham
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

With a series of spectacular high-tech heists, a mysterious new villain known as the Splitt is preying on Neo-Gotham. Only Batman is capable of stopping him, yet Terry McGinnis wants nothing more than to get his life back to normal after his destructive battle with The Joker. Making this even more difficult is the strange, enigmatic fate of Bruce Wayne!

PREVIEW: Action Comics #1010

Written By: Brian Michael Bendis
Art By: Steve Epting, Brad Anderson, Josh Reed
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

One by one they fall: A.R.G.U.S.! The D.E.O.! The Kobra Cult! And now, Spyral! Clark Kent and Lois Lane go undercover to find out who is behind all of the attacks on the top-secret and underground organizations of the DC Universe! Is it the rise of a new power in the DCU called Leviathan? Named one of the best comics of the year by Paste magazine!

PREVIEW: Wonder Woman #69

Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Cary Nord, Mick Gray
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

Diana made a promise to Aphrodite: she would do everything she could to help her find her son, Atlantiades, lost somewhere on Earth. But when they pick up his trail, there's no way to prepare themselves for what they'll find: a perfectly normal suburban town...driven out of its mind with uncontrolled lust!

PREVIEW: The Wild Storm #22

Writer: Warren Ellis
Artist: Jon Davis-Hunt
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: April 24, 2019

"The Sparks has the authority." Jenny Mei Sparks has assembled a group of misfits and exiles, to stand against a corruption that covers the world and orbits above it. The problem? She's probably too late. The endgame for a free Earth is in motion.