Eric Shea Comic Reviews

There's really no reason not to pick this issue up if the emerald light has ever tickled your fancy. There's something for every Lantern fan in this issue, whether it's a character or a generation. A lot of good memories, nostalgia and what feels like a complete love for these characters from the creative teams involved.

If you've ever been a fan of the Clown Prince of Crime and happen to still be reading comics...... then there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't be getting this issue and checking out the many interpretations of one of the highest tier villains to ever come out of comic-dom.  Some of the biggest creative teams in DC Comics are here for the celebration and there's no reason you shouldn't join them.

If you've read any over-sized anniversary or celebration type issues you know what to expect out of this spectacular, you have a bunch of short stories, where some are going to be better than others, but my biggest complaint is that we don't actually deal enough with Robin stories and focus more on the characters who have been Robin simply remembering their time as the Boy Wonder and putting those skills to present-day situations.  It's still fun overall, but by the end, I wanted more.

Man do I love Cyborg Superman, and the New 52 version is not letting me down.  I was really worried when I saw that the new incarnation wasn't Hank Henshaw, but as of right now, well I'm still worried but this issue was a great Villain's Month installment.  We get some post Krypton back story of Zor-El, and the machinations of a newly formed Cyborg Superman.  The artwork is great, the story was interesting, all I can really say is, check it out.

For this first issue of Action Comics now that it's gone back to its classic numbering, Dan Jurgens is throwing everything except the kitchen sink at you in a wonderfully crazy way that somehow works beyond my belief.  I had so much fun reading this comic because it bridged the gap between when I first started reading Superman to what we're dealing with currently and by the time I was finished with it I had to have someone slap the dopey grin off my face because that's how happy this issue made me.  We've got great art, a story that intrigues the hell out of me so really, what are you waiting for?  Go out and get yourself some Action Comics already.  You won't be sorry.

Action Comics continues its big over the top battle, but where the previous issue threw a ton of things at us, each more WTF than the last, this issue really only continues the fighting while giving us glances at the things we really want to see.  Yeah, it's still an enjoyable issue and has great art all the way through, but it just didn't have the presence that the last issue had that got me all ga-ga for Action Comics.

Action Comics continues to give us over the top action and while it looks great with Tyler Kirkham rocking the art, it's starting to become a "been there done that" situation because on top of this happening every issue....... we've already seen this for the most part in the Death of Superman.  Even with that though, the mysteries of this series continue to intrigue even though the answers are being divvied out at a snails pace.  Hopefully the action can be balanced out better in upcoming issues because I just want more out of this comic......... but not from the art, that's right where it should be.  

While the mysteries of this book don't seem to be close to be being resolved....... or even any clues given, we do get more out of this issue than simple fighting, what with the inclusion of Wonder Woman and Doomsday now on the hunt for something to punch other than Superman's face.  The art in this book is amazing as always and while I can't wait to get some answers out of this book, it's still a fun ride along the way.

While we may be leading to something in the next issue of this series from the events here, it seems like too little too late at this point because even with a new development added here, it's still the same old song and dance that we've been dealing with since the renumbering of this series.  On top of that I also didn't think that the art was as strong as it's been previously and while I've been hoping for something to change here, the art wasn't what I was talking about.

Our "Path To Doom" story comes to a close with this issue and while all the mysteries that we've been dealing with might not be revealed here, what we do have is a conclusion that seems to have a ton of heart, great character work and awesome looking art.  Yeah, it's still a comic about Superman fighting Doomsday, but it seemed to work better here than it has previously and because of that when I finished this issue I had a smile on my face.......... I just would have liked a little more on the revelatory side of things.

While you might have come to this issue looking for a Superman story, what you get instead is a Clark Kent story and that's probably more interesting, especially from what we saw during the last story arc.  I can't wait to get to the bottom of this mystery and hope that things aren't drawn out as much as they were with Doomsday because I can't wait another arc to get a dollop of information.  That being said, there was enough interesting things to this story to keep me upbeat and the art was great.

The mysteries just keep coming in this series and while this might piss off some......... you know, since we're not dealing with the ones we already have, I found that the character interactions are what really made this story worth reading and why I'm not pulling my hair out about nothing being explained yet.  With that, I really loved the art in this book and kind of look forward to seeing more of Clark Kent in the role he's currently playing.

Yeah, this issue adds more mysteries to all the ones we already have, but even with that nonsense, this is still an enjoyable issue that puts Lois Lane front and center and if there's something that I love from bringing this Pre-Flashpoint Superman family into this continuity, it's Lois Lane........ Well, really it's the entire Superman Family, but I love this Lois too.  The art is great throughout and I hope we can stick to this story for awhile so we can get some closure somewhere from Action Comics.

While I was originally all about Lois getting some panel play in this series, this issue didn't really give us anything new and left a big question I had just hanging and it doesn't look like we're going to get any explanation to what got this arc started in the first place.  The art was fine, but this issue was just boring in the long run.

While you won't get any real answers out of this issue to all the big questions we've had surrounding this series, what you will get is the beginning of a new story that really looks interesting....... and maybe the beginnings to some of those answers we so desperately want....... maybe.  We've got great art though all the way through and all of our previous stories converging here, which gets me pretty excited.

While this issue is pretty much just a big ass fight scene, there are some enjoyable moments along the way and some excellent art depicting it all.  If you're like me though, you'll still be exhausted from all the fighting we got from Doomsday at the beginning of this series and feel that it's just a little overplayed here, while we're all waiting for answers to all the lingering mysteries left out there.  

Not a lot goes down in this issue besides for getting a little background information about our Godslayer L'Call and what he's all about.  It's a tad disappointing that we can't find a happy medium between balls to the wall action and none at all, but we still get a book that's full of amazing art and even with my disappointments here, I still can't wait to read the next issue.

There really isn't much to this issue besides for an extended backstory on L'Call, but even with that, there's enough here to enjoy and have a good time with this book.  The art is fantastic as always and even though there's not a lot of progression here, I'm still intrigued about where this story is going.

While we still get a shit load of fighting in this issue, with our previous cliffhanger just being a clever ruse to buy some time, I like the direction that this arc is taking and love the fact that we keep moving between our Superman story and our Lois story....... because really, we have a lot of things to deal with in this series and constant movement isn't a bad thing.  The art in this issue is really enjoyable and I can't wait to see what else Jurgens has in store for us.

We end our Men of Steel arc with this issue and man is it satisfying.  We not only continue to develop the story of human Clark Kent, but also get a intriguing conclusion to Lex Luthor's future despot possibility.  The art is great and my only real complaint here is the amount of time used to simply show Lex and Superman duking it out with their foes.

We've got ourselves a duel story going on here and while I love that we're moving along at a fast pace to tell as much story as possible, I found myself mad that we couldn't focus on just one....... either one, it didn't matter.  The point is, they're both interesting stories that I need to have the answers to and I can't wait to see what we get next, especially if the art remains as strong as it is here.

While I've been loving that we've been getting two stories going on in this title, I have to say that after the developments of this issue, my main focus on which story I care about has changed because after waiting so long to get an answer to a mystery here, things seem to be getting rushed to a conclusion and the story just feels off because of it.  The art is still great though and I'm still interested in this arc, I just hope that things can wrap up in a satisfactory manner. 

Well, we certainly get a reveal in this issue and while I'm not totally on board with it because it doesn't make sense to the timeline that we've been given, I'm sure a lot of people are all happy about it because it brings a legacy character back onto the page.  Personally, I feel that it cheapens the story overall, but with that I had a good time reading this issue and I thought that the art looked great the whole way through.

Well, our conclusion to the Reborn arc is here and while we do get to see something new and interesting out of it, nothing is really explained about the hows or whys of all this going down.  Plus, it seems that the antagonist to this story really had no reason to be here other than to fix Superman's secret identity problem.  We did have some excellent art in this issue though and I'm eager to see if the writers of the Superman books will present us with something to make this arc more understandable because after getting all of this thrown at us....... I need some sort of explanation.

While you won't get any real answers in this issue about what went down in the conclusion of the Reborn arc, you will get the setup for what this new arc is all about and it looks pretty bad ass....... Too bad that the majority of this issue felt like a re-run that you've seen a hundred times before.  The art was great in this issue, but the answers were lacking and so was my excitement by the end.

This issue finally gives us the reveals that we've been looking for about how the Universe has changed in our post Reborn world and I'm intrigued as hell and actually think that the ways that the writers have used two histories and made them one is quite satisfying.  Yeah, we still have some inconsistencies, but I'm hoping they are explored further as the series progresses.  Besides all that though, the art was fantastic in this issue and the reveal of our big bad of this arc is something that I can't wait to read.

Action Comics continues to delight, especially in the villain category.  That's right, we're getting bigger and badder villains with each issue and even the proper debut of one of my favorites of all time.  Yeah, it doesn't always make sense, but I'll go with it because I'm having a good time and having excellent art the whole way though doesn't hurt either.  

This issue of Action Comics, while still enjoyable for the most part was really just a chance for Dan Jurgens to catch new readers up on who the villains of this story are and what their motivations for hating the Man of Steel stem from........ While giving us the original origin for Cyborg Superman instead of explaining how he became human for the beginning of this story.  That being said though, the art was great and even with the filler we got, I'm still excited for the continuation of this story.

This issue moves fast as hell and doesn't get us much further than where we were in the previous issue, but it had enjoyable art and added a new dynamic to the story that doesn't bode well for our hero.  I liked this issue enough and had some fun with it, but in the long run I just wish we'd get more story each issue.

This issue takes too damn long to get started because it wastes half the book it felt on making sure that everyone was up to speed with what's been going on up till now and the story suffers for it.  Yeah, it picked up towards the end and gave us an awesome reveal of things to come, but by that point it felt like too little too late for me.  The art was great though and I'm still interested in this story, I just wish it would pick up the pace a bit because playing catch up every issue is killing me.

While we get to a pretty cool cliffhanger in this issue, everything else just felt lackluster in the long run because while we're supposed to be excited for the big battle against the Superman Revenge Squad and The Super-League, there really wasn't much there and the art was mixed for me because I wasn't a fan of how some of the villains looked and how the color in this issue seemed completely drowned out.  I hope things pick up in the following issue because right now, this arc just seems to be spinning its wheels and not giving us much, which seems crazy for how big it initially felt.

While I enjoyed this issue more than I thought I would, there's still a bunch of problems with it in the long run and a lot of elements to this issue just came off forced to get us to a conclusion and setting all our characters back to their proper status quo so that we can move on from here.  The art was amazing though and there's a bunch to like about this issue, but overall, it wasn't the best conclusion to this arc.  

The concepts of how the characters in this issue interact with one another comes off feeling odd for how much we've seen their relationship grow since Rebirth and while I wish that was the only thing that I wasn't a fan of in this issue, the art here wasn't that great either and at the end of the day I am hopeful that we'll get something memorable out of this arc, but sadly it won't be from this issue.

Concepts are thrown out at us in this issue that seem to come out of nowhere and make little sense to me and if that wasn't enough to raise your blood pressure, it all seemed to be filler to get us to our conclusion so that we're all ready for Mr. Oz' big reveal in the next arc.  I wish I could say that the art was strong here to try and make this sound better, but that too was pretty weak and I walked away from this issue and and this two issue arc wishing that I didn't read it. 

While Mr. Oz is revealed in this issue, which gives us a pretty cool cliffhanger, the rest of the issue just felt off because of the character's complete change of demeanor in everything we've seen up to this point.  Yeah, the art was great and we saw a side of Superman, which we rarely get to see, but overall, this issue just felt forced to reveal Oz, whether it really makes sense to what we've seen or not.

Well, if you wanted to know a single incident that happened to Jor-El once he was saved from Krypton's destruction, then you'll get exactly what you want out of this issue and while I understand we have to have some setup moving forward, this seemed to move at an even slower pace than I ever expected it to and we really haven't moved that much forward in this story besides for Superman seeming like he may believe who Mr. Oz says he is.

While we see Jor-El doing more to achieve his "We have to leave Earth because people are shitty" goals in this issue, a lot of what goes down here seems to be just a rehash of what we've seen previously in this arc.  With that though, the art in this issue is great and a new element to the agents of Oz was presented here and it gets me a bit more curious about what we'll see in the next coming issues.  

While a lot of this issue rehashes the same old things that we've been seeing from this arc, it does eventually get exciting and makes me really interested in what we're going to get from the next issue.  The art in this issue is great and it finally feels like we're getting somewhere with the Oz Effect.

The Oz Effect finale comes at us this issue and while the majority of this arc just seemed like filler to get us here, this issue at least answers some questions that have been plaguing me since this arc began and leads us pretty decently into the Doomsday Clock.  The art in this issue was great, but all in all I just wish that this arc would have had more weight behind it because while I enjoyed the ending, it didn't seem as big as it should.

Superman's going to get some answers about everything we've wanted to know about since Rebirth began and I couldn't be happier because the momentum of this issue just kept building and building right up to the cliffhanger, which didn't even put on the brakes there.  I'm all about this arc already and while I wasn't the biggest fan of all the art we got here, the story was strong as hell and I can't wait to get more.

While the story that we're dealing with in Action Comics seems really important, this installment to that arc really isn't........... you know, unless you want to know the basics about Booster Gold or see the set up for a Lois Lane story.  Besides that though, not much Superman or Krypton in this issue and that was pretty disappointing.  Thankfully, the art was decent though, I just wanted more out of the story at hand.

If you want some time travel jargon that may or may not make sense to you....... Well, you'll get it here along with some fights from an alternate timeline and Lois talking about things we learned last issue.  With that nonsense though, the art looks good in this issue and there are some parts of this that seem at least interesting.  

Where this arc started out really cool, it has quickly become just a retelling of Booster Gold's origin and if you're not that familiar with the character than maybe you could dig this, but if you are....... Well, there really isn't much going on here.  Just Booster Gold and Superman taking jaunts around time.

While I haven't been the biggest fan of this arc, this issue does at least go into some interesting territory whether it matters or not in the long run because of the time travel aspect to this story.  Thankfully though, we don't have more of Booster's backstory forced in and get great art the entire way through.  Not the best issue, but definitely not the worst of this arc.

Our Booster Shot arc continues here and where I felt that this story has been pretty mediocre, I have to say that this issue caught me by surprise with how many risks it's taking and how far it's willing to go.  Yeah, consequences really don't mean anything in a time travel story, but I really enjoyed what we got here and loved the art way more than I thought I would from what we got in the previous issue.

Our Booster Shot arc comes to a close with this issue and like the previous one, it's pretty damn satisfying.  The art in this issue is amazing and the time travel concept was used perfectly to give us a wrap around that makes everything from this arc come together nicely, while opening doors to future stories.

While there is extensive recap of things we've dealt with in this series and even from the last arc, this issue of Action Comics actually left me with "the feels" by the end of the book, as it was just a love letter to the character about why is he the world's greatest superhero. 

We're all celebrating Superman with this issue and who doesn't love a celebration?  Really, this is an anthology issue that just feels good in looking at all the aspects our Man of Steel represents throughout his long life and with some of the best creators that DC Comics has to offer throwing their love into this issue, there's really no reason not to pick this up.

While Superman balances out arson investigations and his career in this issue, I'm sitting back and wondering why the hell we're getting the boring parts to Superman's life in something called Action Comics.  The art here was great, but I'm seriously worried about the state of Superman under the helm of Brian Michael Bendis from what we've been getting.

This issue of Action Comics picks things up a bit for me compared to the previous issue and I'm happy as hell for that because I was really worried there for a bit.  Between the characters in this issue and the art that depicts them, you get a pretty decent installment to this comic that really starts upping the ante of the story with its cliffhanger.

While this is still my favorite Man of Steel title that we have right now, this issue felt a bit forced in a lot of its actions and off in a lot of its dialog.  With that, we still have a really cool situation going on with our antagonists in this series and I look forward to seeing more of them.  I just wish that we'd get more out of each individual character because it feels like they're really not doing much each issue.

Discovering where Superman's marriage stands in this issue was the high point of the book and for the most part, I think it was really well done.  Yeah, Lois' dialog was odd as hell and some of her reasons behind things seem off, but all in all, I look forward to continuing my Bendis Action Comics journey and finding out what he has planned for the long haul of our hero.

While you do get some decent reveals to some old things and some new things in this issue, the majority of the book was a bit of a bore as we continue to take the action out of Action Comics and focus on the day job of Clark Kent.  The art is great, but the story is getting a bit boring because of how secretive everything is being handled here.

Superman's taking on a big Red Cloud and....... Well, it goes on for way to long and you don't really get anything out of it by the end.  Yeah, the art looks great in this issue and we have ourselves an interesting cliffhanger, but there really isn't a lot of substance to this book overall.

While we kind of leave our previous story behind it seems, what we get out of this issue instead is what I've wanted from this series all along and I left this hoping that Action Comics can continue to be more like this.  We had comedy, drama, action, romance and it all fit together so well and when you combine all that with awesome art....... Well, you have a winner.  I'm not saying this issue is perfect, I'm only saying that it's on the right path.

We've got some great art here and the continued destruction of major players in the DCU, but as for an individual issue in this storyline, it left me wanting a bit and didn't seem to have enough of the mystery that Bendis wanted to push to fill out an entire issue as things we saw previously were just reiterated here.  I still look forward to this arc, but I hope that the story is as big as this initial mystery makes it appear.  

If you read last issue......... Well, you're really not missing anything here except for the cliffhanger.  With that said though, you do get excellent art throughout the issue, it's just you don't get any new story and that's pretty damn frustrating for a monthly title.  

With beautiful art this issue accomplishes........ pretty much nothing.  Beautiful art though..... really.  There really isn't much to say about this issue besides if you were really looking forward to a page dedicated to having a look at Clark and Lois' undercover identities' back story....... Well, you have that, but this gag didn't do much to this story and I find myself bored with Leviathan already.

While the art remains one of the highlights of this series for me, the story is presented in a way that makes you want to think it's really big, while not really doing much to progress what our heroes are doing and for the most part, we're really not all that further along than where were left off last issue besides for Lois having a new story to write.  There's some fun to be had, but not enough story to really keep me as hyped as I want to be.

With the introduction of an older character in this issue you'd think there would be some pretty interesting things happening here, but ultimately, this is pretty boring as we're shown that there may be a conspiracy on top of a secret syndicate which I don't fully understand either and if that wasn't enough we still have big bad Leviathan making his rounds.  With all that going on I have no idea why I wasn't having fun.  Still though, you get some decent art for most of the book, I just wish the story would pick up.

We continue to take baby steps in this issue to learn anything about anything as Brian Michael Bendis makes the inner workings of the Daily Planet the focus of this book.  That being said though, we do have Leviathan offering people things, Lex offering people things, Rose and Thorn getting offers and Leone getting presents.  There's things going on here, they just don't seem to be going anywhere.  The art is great though and I look forward to hopefully getting some answers about Red Cloud coming up.

If you're looking for anything to be resolved in this issue...... well, you're going to be disappointed, but if you want two to three more things added instead, that really don't go anywhere, where character continue to have awkward dialog, then maybe this is for you.  I wasn't a huge fan of the art this issue and really, I'm just looking for anything interesting to happen here because I find myself bored reading this book.

If you read last issue and Naomi's own mini-series than you're all caught up here because besides for the idea that Naomi's come to Metropolis for Superman's help in understanding her powers and the looming threat of the ruler of her birth world one day coming back to this one, there's nothing to this issue at all.  Thankfully though, the art in this issue is very nice, but that's about all I was happy with here.

If you're a fan of Naomi...well, you get her here.  She's not really doing much or giving you any real new information...but she's here.  Beyond that, you might get a cliffhanger that could lead to something, but really, this is just another issue that may look great but offers little else.

Action Comics continues to disappoint this issue with not only its art, but also in its wonky way that it wanted to tell this story....... and by story I mean a hodge podge of different ideas just thrown at the page.  Nothing about this issue felt good or really thought out and by the end I just hoped that our cliffhanger reveal leads to something interesting, but from what I've seen from this title and the character revealed, I'm not expecting much.

We have the meeting of the villains this issue and while I usually love situations like this, there really isn't anything going down here besides for the group consensus, "Superman bad" and even with that, it feels odd that Leviathan would join up with anyone like the Legion of Doom.  On top of that, the art is disappointing and I would just like more of anything out of this title because right now it feels like I get nothing issue to issue.

Red Cloud is pissed and now it's an all-out war between the Superman Family and the Invisible Mafia, but who knows what that actually means since we really know nothing about the Invisible Mafia still and with Bendis writing terrible versions of our heroes.  The art in this issue was........ something I hope to never see in DC Comics again and the story was just so ridiculous that it felt more like a fever dream than an actual progression in a story.

If you read Phillip Kennedy Johnson's first official issue of Superman or the first part of this arc running between Superman and Action Comics..... then you pretty much read this one. Yeah, we're progressing our story a bit but it feels like we're trying to tie ourselves into Future State a little too soon to me, not to mention that I hope you read and understood what we got out of Midnighter in Future State because we'll be continuing it here. Overall, I wasn't a fan of either of our stories in this issue of Action and the art wasn't for me either.

There's a lot of cool ideas in this issue, I just wish that they were all thrown at us at the same time because it feels like it's kind of cluttering the story and not having enough time to really flesh things out beyond just saying something is happening and moving on before explaining why it's happening. There's some fun to be had here and some decent interactions between the characters involved, not to mention that the art looks great. I just wish I felt half as strongly about the backup because that story and art does nothing for me.

The concept of our Superman section of Action Comics feels very familiar to the concept that the Superman title is doing right now, but thankfully it feels like this title is doing it better. I just wish that this book felt like it had more substance and was dropping its backup, because while I love the art and the concept of the Superman parts of this book, the backup isn't bringing me anything

While a lot of the Action Comics element to this story feels like it's stacking mystery upon mystery, I do feel that it is intriguing enough to keep me interested, while also giving me great art on top of it. So while that's a plus, the Midnighter backup, while probably the best so far, isn't something that feels like it belongs here and I don't think I'll ever be a fan of the art style that goes with it.

Action Comics, while making some weird choices is still a pretty interesting read that looks great. I just hope that we get more information about both the Warworld refugees and the genesis object because both aspects are still so mysterious that I'm not sure what to make of either, but they're definitely more enjoyable than the Midnighter backup which continues to offer pretty much nothing.

While the Superman section of Action Comics remains pretty strong, that Midnighter backup does little besides up the price of the book and I can't wait for it to be over. With that, I'm still hoping that the Superman section can find better pacing than it has here because the way it splits up what story it wants to tell just leaves both sections feeling weaker than they should, which sucks because separately they both seem like really important stories that I wish we could concentrate on.  

This is a bit of a down issue as far as progression is concerned, even though we're essentially moving forward completely here. It just feels like out of nowhere we're going to Warworld and because of that we have to have some sweet tender moments, which I really appreciate, I just wish the rest of the story felt like it came together in a way that felt right with the pacing of this arc so far. I loved the art throughout but don't know why this series needs a backup that doesn't do anything.

While both the main story and backup look great, there's not a whole lot of anything going on in either. Yeah, Superman and the Authority make it to Warworld where we'll see what the new status quo for Mongul really is, but once you get to that point you can't unsee that it's just Thanos and the Black Order and this aspect just makes everything feel small overall, not to mention that we immediately have to nerf our main character to make everything else we've seen make sense.  

The stakes have raised this issue with the battle between Superman and the Authority against Mongul and his Lieutenants, not to mention a fun backup featuring everybody's favorite Martian. The art is great throughout and I find myself excited to read the next issue...... and a little worried. This is what I totally needed though to get me back on the Action Comics trolley.

Action Comics is upping its game lately and thankfully this issue continues that trend as we see the aftermath of the epic defeat of our heroes in the previous issue. While things seem gloomy for Superman and the Authority I love the way that this issue plays with the elements of hope and how Superman will never give up. The art is fantastic and the Martian Manhunter backup is a great step up from the backups we've had previously.

With great art and great storytelling throughout the main story and the backup, Action Comics has become what feels like one of the biggest books that DC Comics is putting out. There's drama, heart, and impeccable pacing that makes sure that the new concepts for Mongul and Warworld feel important throughout, not to mention a deep dive into continuity with the backup that is trying to bring to light the villains of Martian Manhunter that we barely ever get.

Action Comics continues to be a great book in both its main story and backup and that goes for the art as well. Yeah, I think that the art of this issue isn't quite as good as we got previously in our main story, but the Martian Manhunter backup looks so great that the full page of J'onn J'onzz in the story will remind you why he's our favorite Martian. Some great stuff coming out of this book and it remains something that I look forward to each and every issue.

While this issue of Action Comics is still enjoyable it seems that the main story and the backup have found a lull point in their story where the progression slows down a bit and sadly, the way that we do this in the main Action Comics story is show a Midnighter montage that doesn't do his story enough justice in my mind and while the main story's art is alright, that too seems to be a down a bit. Still love this story and the Martian Manhunter backup but this issue was a little down for me.

While we've seen Superman inspiring others to hope on Warworld, we get a bit of a side story here that is totally welcome because while we all love the whole hopeful Superman thing, it feels like it's been a crutch to the storytelling and at this point, I'm looking for a little more. That more that I'm looking for starts out well here and with great art throughout and a great Martian Manhunter backup, this series remains a must-read.

The art is a bit of a mixed bag for me overall, but boy did I enjoy our main Action Comics story because while this story has been all about showing Superman being super without his powers, this issue just cranks that up to eleven but none of it ever feels forced or out of place for what's going on. I just wish that the art and the backup were as strong overall, even though the backup does offer some fan service and some good times.

Action Comics #1047 gives us something big.... Superman is back! It's just too bad that he's still dealing with Warworld shenanigans and looks like he'll be doing it for the foreseeable future. Thankfully though we have some great art and Phillip Kennedy Johnson taking a stab at reworking Metallo into the mix, which I can't wait to see. Sadly though, the backup feels like nonsense...... But hey, at least we have Metallo..... and Superman back.

Superman vs. The New Gods is not something I was expecting out of this story but I'm certainly here for it and hope that this story expands on what the new status quo of the New Gods is in our Infinite Frontier landscape. Overall though, the backup is kind of weak, but the main story more than makes up for it in both plot and art so I'm happy with the direction we're going right now.

While all the Superman Family members of the future look cool and distinct, the story in this Annual feels a bit odd all together with its new ideas about classic things, its discontinuity with other Future State stories, and ultimately, it didn't feel like it needed to be as long as it was for the story it was telling, but that being said, the book looked great and if you wanted a younger version of the Future State House of El character then I'm sure you'll enjoy this story but sadly, I wanted more out of it.

While I did enjoy the art in this Annual and the Mongul aspects of our story, I would have liked the whole thing to be about Mongul and his rise to be the Mongul that is since we're working with a new continuity for the character and don't really know anything about the background that Johnson is using. Instead, though we get a weird Clark Kent story added in to fill up our page space that just continues to let you know that Superman is a really good guy..... and so are his parents.

While I was looking forward to the romance angle of Apollo and Midnighter being the thing that brought some actual heart to this story, it really felt like an afterthought to more punching and shooting that just has become monotonous in this overall tale and this Annual didn't do much to make this story feel worthwhile and the art remains something that I'm not a fan of at all.

If I was only grading this comic on the first story by Dan Jurgens than this score would be a whole lot higher, but with the added out of continuity stories that just felt like DC was desperately trying to continue the hype of Action Comics #1000, it actually took away for how cool this issue would have been with that first single story alone. Overall, you have some decent creators working on this issue and the book looks great for the most part, but Dan Jurgens should have gotten this issue to himself for how important his story is to Superman's mythology overall.

We've got a lot of artists on this book, but thankfully it doesn't hinder the overall final story of Superman Vs. Mongul. The only thing to really hinder it is a feeling of being rushed to the finish and while some obvious cracks in the storytelling show, the overall product was still enjoyable and I look forward to seeing where and when we continue on some of the future stories that were set up here.

If you're like me, you've really been missing Two-Face in the many titles featuring Batman, but because this is a re-imagined version of the character, you won't find continuity continuing where we left off with Harvey Dent shooting himself in the head...... which may be a good thing because it's hard to come back from that, but I'm a fan of continuity. Anyway, with that we have our Two-Face story and a backup featuring Duke, which while it looks great, left me confused as hell. This is a weird book that I hope rounds itself out as the series progresses.

If you're like me, you've really been missing Two-Face in the many titles featuring Batman, but because this is a re-imagined version of the character, you won't find continuity continuing where we left off with Harvey Dent shooting himself in the head...... which may be a good thing because it's hard to come back from that, but I'm a fan of continuity.  Anyway, with that we have our Two-Face story and a backup featuring Duke, which while it looks great, left me confused as hell.  This is a weird book that I hope rounds itself out as the series progresses.

While I found myself a bit frustrated at trying to remember when each event happened from this issue to the previous one because of all the jumping around in time we've done so far, I found myself enjoying this issue as Snyder doles out a bit more information about what our story is all about, while pitting Batman against some of his best, yet seldom seen rogues.

All-Star Batman is somehow still kicking things up a notch after throwing the kitchen sink at us last issue and I'm pleasantly surprised just how intrigued I am at where this story is going.  Also, I found myself enjoying the Cursed Wheel backup more than I have here too because of how it's finally feeling like it's throwing Duke front and center and actually having things for him to do.  Sadly, I'm still not a fan of the art in this series and even though I find myself enjoying the story more, I don't think I'll ever really get into the art for this arc.  

While this issue doesn't have the punch that the previous issues have had on me, there's still a lot to enjoy about it and a hell of a lot of action that just shows how prepared Batman really is for any situation.  Yeah, the backup still feels off, but the art there was probably the best I've seen so far.  All in all, this is still an interesting series, but by the end of the issue I just wanted more.

We wrap up our "My Own Worst Enemy" story with this issue and while the interactions with Batman and Two-Face are pretty great, I feel like the conclusion was forced a bit, especially with our side stories.  Hopefully we'll have a bit of a continuation with our revelations of Alfred's part of this story in the further installments, but for this there just wasn't enough to really get excited over.  The biggest problem I have with this issue and really the whole story arc is the art, but even with that this was a decent arc that kept me entertained and intrigued along the way and I can't wait to see what we get next.

I have to say that this installment to All-Star Batman is probably the most interesting it's been with not only the storytelling, but also the visuals that are depicting it......... Not to mention, it also brings us Mr. Freeze and who doesn't want more Mr. Freeze in their life?  We've got a really "cool" story with Freeze and probably the best chapter of the Cursed Wheel backup that we've gotten so far that seems to promise that we'll get some definitive answers about where Duke belongs in the Bat Family and what his name will be.

In this issue of All-Star Batman, we got ourselves a really interesting look at Poison Ivy and the desperation that Batman's feeling when it comes to the events of this story arc.  Yeah, I had some problems with some of the art and the backup this issue, but for the most part I had a really good time reading this and find myself looking forward to what's coming next.

While Mad Hatter fans will be happy to get the villain front and center in this issue, the overall feeling of this story that I walked away with was just confusion as we move closer to finding out who the real person is behind the events of the last few issues.  The art was decent though and I enjoyed the backup, I just wish that the stylized nature of telling this story was a little bit more up front so that I could finish this book not feeling like a big dummy about the events that went down.

The ends don't justify the means with this one because while I enjoyed a large chunk of this issue and the art that accompanied it, I have trouble understanding what the point of everything we dealt with in this arc was.  Yeah, there were callbacks to the last three issues and explanations about them, but they don't really pan out for me and the parts of the story that I enjoyed the most had nothing to do with the whole of this arc..........and the backup to this issue was really disappointing for what it seemed we were leading to.  

It seems like all our heroes in the Justice League are getting drastic makeovers this month and in a world where Superman's depowered and Batman's a robocop, it would be easy to overlook a character like Aquaman, but boy can I tell you that this is the most powerful Aquaman that you've ever seen........ It's just too bad that the story didn't do all it could to grab readers right away with a sufficient amount of exposition to make us at least feel like we know what's going on and the art really left me wanting more.  The power ups and the ending should keep you interested in finding out more about this story, but I can't help but feel it could have been better.

Aquaman has a new look and a new mission, but I really don't know what any of that means because besides for what feels like only an initial idea about what this arc should be, this story doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  Pretty much if you read the previous issue, you're caught up on all the information that you'll get here.  Just a really disappointing issue with equally disappointing art.  Hopefully this series picks up from here on out because as of right now, this story does nothing for me.

I have not liked this story at all, so believe me when I tell you that this is the best that we've gotten so far from the writing and the art.  There are still problems throughout the overall story that I hope get resolved and the art is something that I'll never be able to get behind, but both aspects to this issue improve from what we've been given so far from this creative team.  

This book continues to be terrible and I don't know why anyone would continue to read it...... except maybe if you're one of those "the glass is three quarters full" kind of optimistic freak and you're simply hanging on to see if anything can be salvaged from this train wreck of a story.  So yeah, the story just isn't there and sadly, neither is the art.  There isn't a damn thing that is redeeming this story at this point.

This entire issue of Aquaman felt really forced and when you really get down to it, everything our hero gleamed from his experiences in this story was all just him jumping to conclusions....... that's no way to tell a story, especially one as convoluted as this has been.  I can say that the art seems to be improving with each issue and thankfully, I no longer feel pulled out of the issue when confronted with a deformed looking hero.  Still some rough patches, but improving nonetheless.  Aquaman has just been a mess lately and this issue doesn't do anything to help that out. 

Aquaman finally steps up in this issue and becomes something that I want to read.  Not only was the plot line spelled out for us, but the artist change really made this issue wonderful to look at as well.  For anyone who's dropped off of this title, this may be the issue that gets you back on board and don't worry about not knowing what's going on because this issue will catch you up and at least for me, keep you on board.  This is just a wonderful surprise that this series could rise out of the ashes from nowhere and be something that I'm excited about again......... Hopefully I'm not just getting over zealous here, but if the creators keep up what they're doing now, this could be something awesome in the long run.......... or until the story arc is over and we get a creative change....... Oh well, this is still a good issue.

While you'll get the Justice League helping out in this issue, their inclusion doesn't do much but make you scratch your head as to when this story line went down because it's just a mismatch of New 52 looking heroes and DCYou ones, while other League members aren't involved at all.  Just another issue that's getting us closer to the end of the arc that spends the majority of it's pages showing Aquaman fighting his own people and while it wasn't bad and looked really good.  It just wasn't that interesting.

Even though this conclusion to the Thule story came off very rushed and had little to no consequence, I have to say that I found myself enjoying it for what it was............ and while some of that might have been me simply knowing that this was the end of this story arc, it's still a decently fun read with excellent art all the way through. Don't go doing something silly like jumping on to this title here if you've been staying away, but for those of you who have been trudging through this story arc, it's a decent enough way to end it and knowing that we'll be moving on to something new next issue might hype that excitement up a little.

Aquaman is back with Dan Abnett on writing duty now and the tone has seriously changed from what it was............ and goddamn, it is so enjoyable.  While we have a whole new problem rearing it's ugly head in Aquaman's world, it's almost dealt with as a non threat because of how subtly it's thrown in throughout this issue so that we could take the time and just breath and laugh with our hero and his friends.  On top of all of this we have great art throughout and while it may be a bit early to say........ I think Aquaman is back!

If you're into big ass fight scenes and forced jokes than this issue may just be for you, but personally I found the whole thing just a little heavy handed in padding out this over-sized fiftieth.  Aquaman just repeated the same things over again, while fighting a big ass monster, but despite these things that I wasn't on board with, I found myself liking some of this issue and continue to like the direction that this series is taking.  Also, we have some kick ass art and colors rocking this issue so that doesn't hurt.

While I loved the art and the colors in this issue, this story just seemed to stop in its tracks while our heroes made wild conclusions about the villain without much of an explanation why.  This is very dialog heavy and the dialog we get isn't really interesting and this whole issue just seems to come off as a way to prolong this story because we don't get any real answers to anything we had in the previous story, besides for the subconscious motives that our villain might have had about murdering folk........... but damn, do the artwork and colors look nice.

Aquaman #52 quickly wraps up our Dead Water story arc so that we can get into Rebirth next month and because of this quick wrap up, this conclusion comes off really lackluster and just leaves things that readers might have been really interested in....... like me....... lie.  We do have some fantastic art and colors in this book, but besides that, there isn't a lot to get excited about here.  

While ultimately this issue is just here to have some fun with your favorite DC Comics characters during the spooky season, I'm not sure if it's really worth it in the end because the spooky stories that are told here are barely spooky stories. That being said though, even with the inconsistent feel of things going on in this book, you can still have some fun but personally, it just wasn't as much fun as I had hoped for.

Now I can't say that I'm really a fan of this art style, but for the most part I can get beyond it and have a good time.  Only real thing I can't get behind is the way Batman looks.  Hopefully that won't be a problem in the future because I really don't like not likely the way Batman looks.  Does that make sense?  For the most part though this story actually grabbed me and I'm intrigued to see where it goes.  Not a shabby first issue, I just would of liked a little more background for the beginning of the story.  Go check it out and have fun wrapping your mind around something that sounds as ludicrous as Arkham Manor.

It sounds kind of dickly of me to say this but I'm really surprised that Arkham Manor is turning into a story that I want to read.  I wasn't really sold on the first issue but after reading this I'm on the Arkham Manor trolley and it's weird but it feels more like Detective Comics than Detective Comics does.  If you were like me and not completely sold on this series, you owe it at least another chance and I think that this issue will change your mind.  Go check it out.

This series is strange to me because from the get go I never saw how it could be an ongoing, but after hearing it was cancelled and knowing it was only going to be a mini, it really became a lot bigger in my mind and this issue really does a good job at solidifying that thought.  It's Batman locked in with the worst of the worst and things just keep going sideways for our hero.  I can't wait to see how this series closes and what it will mean for Wayne Manor.  Go check it out and add a great companion piece to your Batman and Batman Eternal collections.

A lot of things are going on in this issue and I was surprised how little was actually about the story we've been dealing with.  Yeah, it's in Arkham Manor and has to do with it's residents but this issue seems to put the whole "find the killer" plot on hold until the very end.  Even though that comes off sounding like a negative, this was a really fun issue that let us explore the characters of Arkham more and gave us some insight into what will go down in other comics that deal with Gotham.

While the hunt for The Spider comes to a close, Batman goes after what should have been the focus of this series all along with the deteriorating mind of Seth Wickham........ Which I'm all about.  For this issue though, the conclusion of the killer in Arkham comes off a bit anticlimactic and I just hope that in the final issue next month we find out more about The Spider because as it's been left, it comes off unneeded and really just a filler to get Wickham to be the main focus of the story.  Even with my complaints though, Arkham Manor still manages to be entertaining and if you've been reading so far, there's no reason to stop now.

This was a very anticlimactic ending to a very strange and short series.  I don't know if this series had always planned on being six issues but for as abruptly as this ended........ I kind of hope not.  This has been a decently fun series throughout, I just wish this ending brought a little bit more to the table.

Arkham Manor Endgame does a capable job in delivering both an Endgame tie-in and an Arkham Manor epilogue.  While I wish that this would have had more to do with characters that were featured in Arkham Manor, Frank Tieri writes a fun escape story that is jam packed with Rogues galore.  The book suffers a bit due to many artists, but by the end I really got into it.  Finish up your Arkham Manor story and get yourself a different perspective on what's going down during Endgame with this issue.

Do you know what's good about this comic? It actually feels like the show and man was I worried that it wouldn't. As for the first chapter in a story, it's fast paced action and humor really grabbed me by the boo boo and made quite an impression. If you're a fan of the show, then this is a must and even if you're curious about it check it out too, because it's cheap and it's a great quick read that will leave you wanting more.

While not as impactful as chapter 1, this chapter did do a lot to continue the story and begin to lay out the pieces to this series and possibly the plot lines to season 3 of the television show.  We can only go up from here, so make sure you continue to read this title to get all the info leading up to the season premiere.

I've really been liking this prologue to Arrow's new season and it's felt so much like the television series that I haven't had any real complaints so far.  Well that's about to end, because while I've really enjoyed the art of the entire series so far, there was a glaring mistake in a couple of panels that completely ruined a good reveal and made me do a double take to make sure I knew what I was reading.  But besides for that, this series is really heating up and I hope it maintains the level of awesome that it's held so far.  Check it out.

While the art to this book is consistently great and really captures the look of the actors of the show, I really can't recommend this issue because it's a complete backtrack to show us the supposed origin of the new Brother Blood, but does it by just showing us what happened in an episode last season of the show.  I know these are short issues and there's a lot to convey in a small amount of space, but this origin seems like something that could of been said in a brief conversation, because really it's not all that exciting and definitely not the stunning origin that the description promised.  Hopefully now that this story is out of the way we can get back to telling actual stories that happened in between Season 2 and 3.

Like usual, the art in this book is great.  All the characters look like their actor counterparts and I really don't ever have anything bad to say about it.  For the story, well I'm really happy that shit is going down.  After last issue I was a little afraid that this series would continuously use flashbacks, but that doesn't seem to be the case and all my worries were for not.  Go check out this digital title as shit starts getting real from Starling City to Corto Maltese to Kahndaq.

As usual, the art in this book continues to be spot on and really does it's finest to convey these characters for the paneled page.  But the story on the other hand seems to be all over the place showing multiple stories and not hanging on one long enough to really get us hooked.  It's still fun to read and look at, but it could do more to really immerse us in the world of Arrow.  The highlight for me here was the short backup about the Suicide Squad's return and their mission to Kahndaq.  It's complete exposition but it really intrigues me to see the story that will come from it.

I've really been digging this Arrow series and while at times it feels like characters are thrown in all willy nilly, it doesn't really affect the storytelling.  They're there, we know that they'll have a part in the current season of the show, so I'm okay with it.  A little background never hurt anyone.  I'm still mainly in this though to see what we'll get from the Suicide Squad backup because that's been interesting the whole way and I kind of wish that they would of gotten their own comic because even though we've only gotten a page or two every two weeks of that story, it's been keeping my excitement going.  So check it out and see how our hero got out of the last chapter's cliffhanger.

With this chapter of Arrow we were presented with a story where nothing really happened and the things that did happen were boring as hell.  Definitely not a chapter of this series to gain readers and possibly one to lose the ones it had.  A boring story with a boring backup but I'll remain hopeful that the next chapter will put us back on track.  

Even though some of the drama is lost because of our knowledge of things from Season 3, the series really works well with the restrictions about what stories and developments it can tell.  The art is great and for the most part the dialog is spot on with what I know the characters to sound like.  So far it's been a really fun digital title and this issue is no exception.

This issue of Arrow 2.5 might be one of my favorites because it's doing it's damnedest to try and get us back to a straight forward story.  Recently we've had things happening that seem to be thrown in "just because" like Count Vertigo showing up for no reason, but here we have developments that should take our heroes from point A to B with an outlined mission.  It's just a really enjoyable issue and I can't wait to see what comes from it.

If you're looking for Arrow and Oliver Queen, you won't find them here.  This is a straight up story about the Suicide Squad and their exploits in Kahndaq and with art failing to live up to what we've come to expect from this series, this is probably the worst issue so far.  

I'm really worried that this first issue will turn a lot of people off because I found it to be a hard thing to get into, but hopefully the readers stick around because as long as Chuck and Graham haven't lost a step from their earlier days at DC Comics, this should be something totally worth getting invested in.  Too bad that doesn't show right now.  I loved the art and the nostalgic feels that this book gave me, but the story isn't quite there yet.

I was surprised with how much fun I had reading this issue for as straight forward and quick as it was, but we had great interactions, it furthered the story and had fun art all the way through.  Hopefully the series continues on feel that this issue had because if that's the case, this throwback type series may just become something that I look forward to every month.  

While this isn't a Batman story, Batman might have been the biggest problem that I had in this issue because the character just felt off.  Yeah, maybe it's a ploy for something down the line that our hero is just letting play out, but here he just didn't feel right and the rest of the story just felt lackluster from where we left off previously.  The art continues to be awesome and I'm still invested in this story, but right now it seems that we're just on a roller coaster ride, where the story just keeps making my interest go up and down.  

Where I was hoping that this series would finally pick up now that it seems we have the catalyst for the "Conquest" angle to this book, instead we see Bane playing games and losing at them, while we try to figure out Russian terms and slang.  This issue just isn't that interesting and while I continue to love the art in this book, the story already feels like it's gone on too long.

Bane: Conquest continues to disappoint in this issue because at the end of the day, nothing really went down here besides for Bane looking like a chump and no amount of him blowing through Russian bad guys is going to make up for that.  Yeah, the art in this series continues to be stellar, but that's not enough to make up for being bored through an entire issue.

While this series has seen its share of unimpressive issues, this chapter feels like it may start giving us something exciting.  Yeah, I don't understand what the motivations are for Bane to take up this undertaking, but I had a good time reading it, loved the art and am interested in seeing where it goes.

While this issue isn't as great as the previous one was, what with us finally getting a direction with the book, it did manage to continue our story's progress in a fun way and besides for Bane being a dope, which really sucks, I still continue to look forward to series.

Even for a setup issue, this installment to Bane Conquest continues to be fun and gets me excited for what's to come with the final four issues.  The art is as gorgeous as it always is and in the end I wish we would could have seen a little more of what's going on in this issue setup and to have Bane kick a little more ass.  Still a fun issue regardless.

Bane's army may have been recruited this issue, but the way we got there was pretty boring overall and really disappointing in the fact that not all of the characters were spelled out and now I'm left here wondering who the hell is actually on the team.  The art continues to be the strongest part of this series and while I still need to know how this ends, this issue let me down a lot.

While the introduction of Kobra seemed to give this series a second wind, the lead up to Bane's final battle against them has become boring has hell and just focuses on convoluted plans to get us where we need to be with people who aren't even all named and it's a bit of a disappointment.  Hopefully, this series gets back to being interesting for the final issues.

While the character development and pacing of this series has never been a priority of the creators and doesn't become one in this issue, the hilarity that ensues because of this issue's premise was enough to keep me entertain the whole way through, not to mention the excellent art.  Is this a great series or issue?  No, but this installment was at least fun and entertaining and at this point, I'll take what I can get.

While I was hoping for a big over the top and fun ending to this year long story, what I got instead was a lot of nothing that really came off like there was no real story planned at all because characters just go away in this like it was supposed to continue and I can't get any real kind of satisfaction from that.  I love the art and the portrayal of the main character, but this finale was a big letdown.

Bat-Mite is here and while it wasn't the laugh riot I expected it to be, it was funny enough and made me want to continue the Bat-Mite experience.  The cartoony style of art really worked in telling this story and the promise of more hero cameos in the future gets me really excited about how Bat-Mite is going to make his mark in this world.  Definitely a book you should pick up for a nice break from the norm....... don't worry, you've earned it.

This is one of those supposedly "funny" books we've been hearing about lately and you know what?  It might as well be called UPS because it delivers........ You like that?  Bat-Mite's adventures in "fixing" heroes is hilarious here as we have Hawkman up as our first victim and Corin Howell's art is perfect for depicting the ridiculousness of this book.  So if you enjoyed the first issue of Bat-Mite, which you should have, go and get this because it's even better.

Bat-Mite meets Damian Wayne....... right there should be enough of a selling point for anyone.  These two characters contrast so much, that hilarity just ensues and this issue quickly became my favorite so far of the series.  The art continues to be great and Dan Jurgens really hits a home run with the pairing of these two characters.  So much fun.

Bat-Mite continues to be fun as hell, but sadly this story falls a little short when compared to the previous issue.  Yeah, I know you should base an issue on it's own merits, but it's hard after we had such a great pairing with Bat-Mite and Damian Wayne last month.  This is still fun and looks great though, but Booster just didn't have much to do.  The real hero of this book to me is Gridlock and after reading this issue, I'm rooting for the bad guy.  

Bat-Mite is gone from our comic book shelves, but not from our hearts as we end this mini and even though some of the humor was hit or miss at times, I still had a good time with this series and this finale.  It's just one of those "funny" books that you could pick up and have a larf  with and not have to worry about any of that bothersome continuity.  Really, I just love looking at this book because the art team from beginning to end has been fantastic and all in all, I had a fun time with this mini-series and I think anyone would.

This was a very different kind of story than I was expecting when I first picked it up.  While I admire the emotional arc the story took, I ultimately wasn't a fan, and thought it was a strange way to redeem Poison Ivy of betraying her team way back when.  It takes a long time, and a lot of dead bodies to get to Ivy having emotions, and Batgirl accepting her roommates trust in people.  While I would love to say that the art is a plus in the issue I can't and felt that Ivy just looked strange, and Batgirl seemed to have spasms and facial tics the entire issue.  I'm sure a lot of people will love this emotionally charged story, but it just didn't do it for me.

This issue didn't bring us anything new.  We see some really fun action scenes between Batgirl, and the police, but after that it's just more misery.  I can't wait until we get done with this story arc, where we find out that Jim Gordon Jr. is still alive, or Batgirl just mans up and decides what she is doing is right.  All the self loathing has gone on to far.  because of Villain's month we were given a break of two months between issues, and I found myself forgetting where we were, and now next month is another break with Year Zero, which will make this story go on even more.  I just hope we can get back to a Batgirl that is fun.

Yet another Zero Year Tie-In that isn't needed, but I found myself enjoying this story none the less.  Even though it's a pre Batgirl story, it feels a bit more like Batgirl then the current timeline.  Both give us Barbara without the Bat suit, but this one gives us less depression, and whining.  So win there.  All in all this story gives us a lot of inner monologue to the psyche of Barbara Gordon that will shape her to become the hero we all know and love, and the artwork surrounding it set the depressing, and hopelessness nature that we felt from the people of Gotham.  Maybe not the best Zero Year Tie-In, but it keeps you interested.

I have really not liked this Batgirl: Wanted story arc, but this final issue has certainly caught my attention, and like Batgirl at the end, I finally feel hope again.  The real star of these books for me has been Alex Garner the cover artist.  Who has given me a new understanding in how good a comic can look.  So go out, and get this last issue of Batgirl: Wanted, which took forever to get to because of Villain's Month, and Zero Year, to complete your Batgirl experience.  But mostly just get it to remind yourself that new things are on the way, and we'll never have to see Batgirl going around dressed as a ninja again.

It's kind of sad how much I love this issue.  I has everything I want in a Batgirl title, a fun loving capable hero, with a grim dark story.  The only problem is it takes place in a dream world, and I'm afraid that it will have no bearing on future issues.  But my fears aside, this was a fantastic issue, and would recommend it to anyone, who has an appreciation for good stories.  By far my favorite issue of the new year, and I hope it continues in this fashion, dream worlds aside.

Like last month we're given another tremendously dark, and moving story.  Emotions run high in this issue dealing with a new villain, and a little psychology into the character Strix, and what she must endure emotionally.  Simone, and Pasarin have given us a beautiful book filled with dark flawed characters, and I can't wait for more on this story.  Batgirl has taken a turn, and it's a turn for the better, where she just might become my most anticipated book each month.  Keep making me feel Gail.

While it's not as good as last issue's beginning, this is a very good installment.  Only problem I have is Batgirl seemed really distracted in how good looking Silver, and Miss Targa were.  It just seemed out of character for how Batgirl is usually so focused on her missions.  It was out of place, and it kept creeping back into the issue.  But my gripes aside, I had a lot of fun reading this issue, and the series seems to be bringing some fun back into the title.  Which is all I asked for during the Batgirl: Wanted story.  So eat some garlic, cover your neck, and dive into a this month's Batgirl.

Well I really don't know what to make of this Batgirl story.  It was chock full of possible spoilers to the conclusion of Forever Evil which is annoying, and seemed to only work as a way to piss people off.  While this is only a filler issue, it takes us back to the dark depressing time of Batgirl Wanted, and I really wish I hadn't just read this issue.  Nothing was really here to satisfy my Batgirl hunger, and left me really disappointed.  So read at your own discretion.  

Now I enjoyed this issue, but it seemed a bit to cut and dry.  Now this just might be the beginning of things, but reading the issue it just comes off more of a one shot then something to get excited about in the future.  But I enjoyed it, and hope to see Ragdoll again some time soon.  

We've been dealing with a lot of dark and paranormal type stories lately in Batgirl, but it's time to get back to the mission.  This issue begins what should be a really interesting battle between our hero Batgirl and her New 52 nemesis Knightfall.  I can't wait, and even though this wasn't the most exciting issue of the series, it sure gets you ready for what's to come.  So check it out, and make sure to continue because shit's getting real for Batgirl.

It looks like Barbara has snapped back to the angry woman I thought we had seen the last of.  Well traces of her at least.  While the issue starts out with raging Barbara, by the end she's back to the calculating cool headed hero I want her to be.  With this being the setup for the main fight next issue, I have to say that Simone did a great job keeping me entertained, and getting all that bothersome exposition out of the way in a interesting way.  So while this is a good issue, it just wets your palate for what's to come next.  Check it out so you're not left in the dark for the next issue..

I really dug Gail Simone's farewell to her run here.  Creating a massive scenario dealing with Barbara's primary big bad since the start of the run and leaving our hero with a new personal outlook on life.  It's just a wonderful issue and I'm really sad to see Simone go.  So if you've been a fan of this run, you'll definitely want to check this one out, because the feel is there and also some badass action that will keep your peepers glued to the pages.  Go get it!

So that's the new Batgirl........ Man if this is what comics will one day become, then I'm out.  All the trendy hipster talk, all the girls with their upwards inflection in everything that they said....... Was that just me?  Oh and why does everything have to revolve around texting and the interwebs?  Yes I know people enjoy those things but they don't like them drilled into their freaking skulls............ I get it you're hip and modern.  Damn was I unhappy with this issue and I haven't even brought up the Riverdale style of art.   Guess what?  I don't like it.  It's just like a fanboy to hate new things and new takes on the things that they love, but I don't think that's the case here and I hope it doesn't last too much longer.

While I came into this book with an open mind and tried to put away my hate for last month's issue, this comic just wouldn't let me.  Everything I hated about the last issue was present here and I really can't recommend this book to anyone.  I'll lay off on the art because it's Babs Tarr's style and as her style, it's fine but it just doesn't work in Batgirl.  Barbara Gordon has been turned from a strong female character to one that is just embarrassing.  RIP Batgirl.

I continue to wonder what anyone can see and enjoy with this direction of Batgirl.  I don't know if I'm just too old to get it or if I'm too stuck in my ways and just want what I know because I don't think I'll ever be able to get into this style of the book.  It's just become a girl in a cowl that does stuff online and that's not a superhero to me.  I do have to say that this issue did have one of the most powerful panels in any issue of Batgirl I've ever seen and I have to give the creators credit where it's due, but even being haunted by that image (in a good way), it doesn't make this book good.

There has got to be some grand design to this series where the writers will bring Batgirl back to her former glory at some point because as of right now it seems that she keeps getting worse and worse and I never thought that I could hate Batgirl.  Everyone seems to love this new take on the character and how young and carefree she's become but all I see with each issue is another way to show how Barbara has become a thrill seeking, selfish, celebrity wannabe brat.  There's no redeeming quality to this issue and all it seems to accomplish is to alienate the people that loved the character and the idea of a strong female lead.

I have been a avid hater of this new take on Batgirl, so it surprised the hell out of me that when I finished this issue that I didn't hate it.  Yeah, it still has some problems in the way that Batgirl is presented but it really does it's damnedest to try and tell us that Barbara Gordon is on her way back to the character that we all knew and loved.  So yeah, that's pretty awesome.  Add that to a mind blowing cliffhanger and you have yourself the best issue of Batgirl of Burnside.

Finally the issue I've been waiting for.  Batgirl has put her need to take selfies and becoming a internet celebrity behind her as she acts like the hero she's supposed to be and man am I happy about that.  A really nice conclusion to this story arc that has had me grinding my teeth at every issue but here it feels like the tone has finally shifted and this version of Batgirl might be something that I can finally get behind.......... Hopefully.

While I don't understand the point of this being a silent issue, it was welcomed because the art in this issue was just fantastic.  If you need to get all of the issues that are sporting the Endgame title, then this doesn't really matter because you're going to pick it up anyway, but this is such a quick read that I don't really see the point of it.

This was a brilliant ending to Simone's run on Batgirl and the accompanying artwork by Javier Garron fit this issue like a glove.  It was a action packed, tear jerking, love provoking finale that we normally could only hope for.  Just a joy to read and emotionally jarring to know that it's the end.  Definitely something you will need to read for Futures End, because it's definitely one of the best this event has had to offer so far.  Check it out.

The fight is on between our hero and the Terrible Trio.  It's just too bad that a bigger fight for Barbara Gordon's life if going on without her knowing it.  This was a really entertaining issue that does some really interesting things to the character moving forward.  Really though, this has been the best Batgirl we've gotten in years and I'll be sad to see Mairghread Scott leave this title.

While this story comes to a close, I find myself sad that Mairghread Scott's time on this book is over because she's certainly done the most for this character in years.  With that we have some awesome art from start to finish and my biggest problems with the issue is how things have to be quickly wrapped up with the dangling plot lines, but maybe this is just somewhere for our next writer to start.

While I found the art lacking during the action of this book and want to know more about our character receiving Lex's offer.... or how that character is even a thing, I did enjoy myself during Cecil Castellucci's first issue of Batgirl and enjoy that she's easing us into her run by showing us the familiar.  There's definitely some room for improvement here, but overall I look forward to see where this series goes for this writer's run.

Batgirl continues to disappoint as Cecil Castellucci seems to think that Burnside was the pinnacle of our hero's history....... which means Batgirl comes off dumb, nothing is explained and ultimately, we just get a boring book.  Thankfully, the art here was pretty good because at this moment I'm just looking for something to like out of this title.

This installment of Batgirl and The Birds of Prey doesn't have the same impact on me that the previous issue had and that's because both the writing and the art seemed to be off a bit from what we got for the Rebirth issue........ Not to mention our heroes acting really strange when presented with a crime.  Overall, I still look forward to this series, I just hope that it picks up from here.

While we do get some action in this issue, the places where this shines is the calm moments, where we get to take a look into the mindset of our heroes and see if they truly are in over their heads.  The art works really great and the colors really shine through the darkness and I find myself really caring about Batgirl taking down the person who stole her old persona. 

The action and the dialog in this issue felt really off from the get go and we get really nothing to move this story forward from what's presented here. With all of that, the art in this issue isn't really to my liking either and ultimately I find myself just being disappointed with this series.

Batgirl and The Birds of Prey still doesn't feel like that strong of a comic and even though I enjoyed getting some backstory in this issue concerning Huntress' motivations, the rest of the issue just wasn't that interesting. Luckily, this issue looked great though and was probably some of the strongest art that we've seen in this series.

While I'm still struggling to enjoy this series, I have to say that this issue was a breath of fresh air with its inside meta jokes and also because it answered one of the many questions that we've had with this jam packed first arc.  The art looked great and I find myself for the first time looking forward to what the next issue will bring.

While pretty much everything with Huntress is decent in this issue, that's about as far as I can go with complimentary aspects to this book...... well, that and most of the art is okay, but even that has problems throughout and overall, this story just seemed to be here to get the Birds team to constantly fight some Snake-Men and crack wise about the situations they were in.  I really hope this series gets better because I really want to like it, it's just hard to right now.

While we did solve a mystery that's been looming in the background of this series since it started, the entire issue surrounding it really gave us nothing.  The book did pick up at the end for me and I found myself really enjoying the art, but the story just doesn't seem to be there.

While things still seem a bit clunky in the storytelling of this series, I do have to say that I am interested to see how the guest star of this arc plays with our Birds team and that I really enjoyed the art in this issue.  

While we spend a lot of time dealing with a training montage, I really found myself having a good time with this issue and look forward to seeing what we get in the next installment......... Yeah, that's mostly due to a bad ass cliffhanger, but I'll take what I can get from this series.  The art was decent throughout and I'm happy to finally get excited from this series.

Birds of Prey continues to be a so-so book that gives you a pretty straight forward story with not a lot of stakes involved, making it seem less important when compared to other DC books.  That being said, it's not a bad issue and the art really works for these characters.  

While I wanted to really like this issue because of how I thought the series had been getting better, overall it turned out to be pretty weak sauce that gave us some more backstory to one of our characters until completely switching gears to become something else that doesn't jive with what's going on in other DC books right now.  The art in this book is still great, but the story came off kind of boring and even tried to force a mental health PSA into the middle of it that just felt odd as hell. 

This issue of Birds actually gets me really excited because it feels like the biggest story we've gotten from this series so far and I love the inclusion of all the characters........ even if Catwoman feels off.  The art is great and I'm happy to be excited for whatever we get next out of this arc.  

Batgirl and the Birds of Prey continues to underwhelm as its story and art feel uneven as hell.  Yeah, we had an art change in this book, which is understandable, but for where our heroes end up at the end of this issue, you'd never know that shit was just getting real at the beginning of it and everything just ends up feeling like it doesn't belong with the rest of the books coming out of DC right now.

While this had the initial promise of being a fun one-shot, by the end, it just became a silly story that didn't really go anywhere and didn't make any sense from what we got within it.  The art was decent though, but ultimately, this is a story that no one really needs to read because it's not important and it's just not as fun as it should have been.

You'll definitely get a huge cast of characters in this book and while that's cool and the reasons behind it are cool, it doesn't follow through completely with how some of the characters act, why they're doing what they're doing or why they're even there.  I look forward to where this story goes, but as of right now, some of the elements just seem thrown out there just because.  

While I was optimistic that this arc may propel this series into the major leagues of DC titles because of the scope of the dilemma, not to mention the amount of characters it's sporting, after reading this issue I see that we just have a big problem with a whole lot of characters, but sadly, the problem is already being taken care of and the majority of characters really have nothing to do.  

Manslaughter comes to a conclusion this issue, but it doesn't quite hit the mark since the majority of the issue is just people standing around and discussing what's going down until they all just come together at the end to finish things off as quickly as possible.  The art is really good, but all in all the story was really lackluster and this series just continues to be sub par.  

The Birds of Prey are in Paris for a few days to thrill, but the end result wasn't too thrilling and at this point I think that this title needs a complete overhaul because I find myself bored by the end of each issue more often than not and besides for mentioning two of our characters' lives during the DCYou era and referencing characters and groups within the DCU, there isn't much to this story at all.

We begin a new arc with this issue and the Bensons are coming out like they have something to prove because goddamn, this is probably one of the best issues they have written, where they actually show us stakes to the whole superhero life and what it means to be a part of the Birds of Prey.  The art is great besides for a few confusing scenes, but overall, I look forward to getting more issues like this one here.

While this story still has some fun merits, a lot of what we got here felt a bit odd and forced to get us to where this story needs to be and that's a shame for how strong I felt the previous issue was and for what I was hoping we were going to get going forward.  With that, the art in this issue is great, I just wish that the Benson's would have had more time to tell what could be a really cool story in a way that felt natural.  

The Birds of Prey are on the offensive this issue, but other than a big fight at the end and a character having problems out of nowhere, there isn't much to this issue besides for some really decent art and a intriguing cliffhanger.  Hopefully the next and final issue of this series bring this whole last arc together because right now, besides for the first issue, this arc has been kind of lackluster.

While I'm sure that fans of this series will find something to love in this issue, I felt that it came off a bit forced to try and wrap everything up that it needed to and while we do get a decent send off for Huntress, the progression of her arc here, like the rest of the story felt rushed.  I love the art in this, but besides that, there isn't much I'm going to miss from this series ending.  

Batgirl and The Birds of Prey comes out swinging in this Rebirth issue by catching new readers up to speed about our heroes and their working relationship, while creating a threat that is so close to home that the only resolution is getting the band back together to deal with it.  The art works great depicting these characters, who are fresh out of their own titles, which had unique art styles and this issue does them both justice in creating a similar style, while making this their own.  I really look forward to continuing Birds of Prey and I think everyone should give it a shot.

The introduction of Bane to this series is a stroke of genius because even people who aren't fans of the original television show will want to check out his inclusion and the re-imagining of the character.  With that though, you still have all the Batman '66 style goodness that you love and have come to expect from this series.  I don't know if this story will be something great by the end, but as of right now, Jeff Parker has my attention.

You get so many different versions of Bane that you've loved throughout your comic and cartoon enjoying experiences that this is an issue and even a story arc that anyone who digs the character should get in on.  We get all the camp and fun that we expect from this series and with Chief O'Hara disguised as a mariachi singer...... well, that should be enough for even the stingiest of buyers.  Go finish up your Bane introduction and get this issue.

Holy nightmares Batman, it's the Scarecrow's debut!  I love the inclusion to this character to this series and the fun that Jeff Parker gives to this origin story, but my main complaint is that this is all we get.  A one and done.  Hopefully though, Jeff Parker continues to add to Batman's rogues of this world because so far I've loved every addition that we've gotten.

While this issue rocks the first appearance of Killer Croc in the Batman '66 world, I can't say that it was treated like a big deal with how little Croc actually had to do here.  At least we had some hilarious writing that really compliments the ideals of Batman and Robin in this world and I found myself really enjoying the art....... I just really really wish that Killer Croc had been handled a little better and seemed to have more of an impact than a simple henchman with scaly skin.

Get to know your former hero!  For this Annual we take a break from Jim Gordon to focus on Bruce Wayne and what his life is like now that he...... well, what it's like now that he has no idea what it was like before.  We get great callbacks to past stories, while putting a pin in the Arkham Manor series as well.  Just a really solid story that shows us that even without the cape and cowl..... or a memory of the cape and cowl, that Bruce Wayne isn't someone to toy with.  We've got all that and a art style that really compliments this story....... So what are you waiting for?  Go get some Batman!

For those of you boys and girls out there, that don't think The Penguin is a proper villain, than this issue is for you.  No kidding by the end of this issue if you don't have chills then your probably dead, or Mr. Freeze, either way it leaves you feeling frightened by the Penguin, and what he might do in the future to secure his empire since the Emperor Penguin story line in Detective.  The artwork wasn't spectacular, but I feel it really worked for this story, and this character.  Also guess what.  No origin story, woo!  But if your looking for a Gotham that should be ravaged by power outages, and street crime, and a wide open insane asylum, well sadly you won't find it here.  I don't really know what that means as for timeline, but I won't let it hold me back from enjoying this issue, and neither should you.  Check it out.

Even Batman purists have to get off their high horses to check out this new Batman because the idea alone is enough to get people wondering and talking about how this is going to play out.  I had a great time reading this issue and while you might not get a refined Batman approach to justice here, you do get one hell of a backstory about why Jim would consider this new undertaking.  I'm fully on board with anything that Snyder throws our way after reading this.

While I love seeing Jim Gordon in the role as Batman, this story just plays like a re-run of last issue as Batman is forced to go up against another super powered baddie.  The real enjoyment to the story doesn't come until the final pages and because of that, this issue comes off a bit flat.  Hopefully next issue picks up and shows us something new.

If you've been wondering what's been going on with Bruce Wayne since Endgame, well this is the Batman issue that you've been waiting for.  If that wasn't enough to get you interested, it's also told with some of the most heart warming dialog that I've seen from this title in awhile and I just found the whole experience beautiful.  Go get some Batman and get the answers you've been dying to find out since March.

This really feels like a refurbished Detective Comics story and while some might say that isn't a bad thing, it really upheaves us from our current story line and offers us nothing for what we've been dealing with..... you know, except having Mr. Bloom in one panel of a story that takes place five years ago.  It's just a real letdown after having such a great cliffhanger last month and not dealing with any of the aspects to that story here.  

The Batman story moves along here and sets up some interesting things to look forward to like the future of Jim Gordon as Batman and what's really going on inside Bruce's head.  While I would have liked to see more of the physical consequences that go along with being Batman here, I found myself enjoying this issue and can't wait to see where it goes.

While Mr. Bloom seriously ups his threat level here, the pacing of the story feels off at times and even makes me feel like I missed an issue do to all the things that are thrown out here like they're common knowledge.  There are so many things that are going on in this story that it's hard to keep track in what's going on, especially Bruce's personal life because it's basically just thrown in for no reason besides to remind people that the character they know and love is still alive and to tease readers that he may return.  Even though I thought that some of the story didn't mesh right, the art was great as always and I hope that this story arc can truly become epic so we'll all have fond memories of Jim Gordon's time as Batman in the future. 

I found myself really enjoying this issue because it really had a more positive tone with what appeared to be good overcoming evil and probably because we really saw Jim Gordon pulling off being Batman.  While Mr. Bloom's plans are still shadowed away for a future issue, the events here will really get you excited for what's to come going forward.  Just a lot of fun all the way through, even if some of it came off as really convenient in the end.  

While you won't find out the secret origin of Mr. Bloom in this issue, you do begin to see his plans for the city laid out, while continuing the story of the amnesiac Bruce Wayne and his journey to becoming Batman again.  This is all a setup issue, but the setup is interesting enough and as always the art looks great.  I just wish we could put a handle on what Mr. Bloom can actually do because every damn issue it seems that he's got a new ability.

Bruce is all about being Batman again in this issue and with that we get Scott Snyder's "Machine" that was shown during Detective Comics #27 and what it has to do with our former hero regaining his former glory. This is a strange, but fun issue that shows how determined Bruce is in doing what needs to be done, even in his memory impaired state and while things aren't perfect to me with it's execution, it's pretty awesome seeing a hero reborn. One thing going in that might leave people a little put off is that we have a different art team on this issue, but with their devotion to keeping this book feeling like it has since the New 52, we end up with a really good looking issue.

While it's great seeing Batman back in action again and having his genuine interactions with Jim Gordon, this over-sized issue is hurt by the lack of characterization and motivation by our villain Mr. Bloom.  While I was patiently waiting throughout this story arc for the whys and hows about this character, we were given nothing here about it.  Just Batman getting back down to business....... and don't get me wrong, that is awesome all the way through, I was just expecting a little more from this story to have it make sense to me overall. 

Batman #51 hits all the right notes as it catches us up on what's going on in Gotham, while re-acclimating us to the Batman we've missed.  This is just a beautiful issue that relies on the narration to tell us a story about what Gotham is, while we follow Batman throughout the night and with great art and a story that offers up plenty of feels, this is definitely a issue that you won't want to miss.

While we get that all important #52 on this issue, I can't say that this story feels all that important or even worthwhile because while it tries to give us the feels that the previous issue did, it sadly didn't come close and gave us a throwaway villain to boot.  I know I shouldn't compare this issue to the previous one, but it's really hard not to when they seem to be trying to do the same things and this one just comes up short.

While I can't say that this Annual will add anything big to the Batman mythos, what it does do though actually makes Batman and Catwoman's love for one another a bit more endearing for the way that their romance begins.  The art in this issue is great and while I still don't care for the constant repeating dialog that we get from this title, the story outshines that and makes it almost bearable.

While the art in this issue is fantastic, I have to say that the story itself was a bit boring until the end, where I thought it picked up because we finally had the Joker seeming to act like himself again, but even with that, the Riddler continues to feel weird and our title character barely makes an appearance at all.  I still look forward to the War of Jokes and Riddles moving forward, but this issue, with the previous make me question whether I actually should.

While you miss out on all the interesting stuff going on throughout Gotham City in this issue, what you get instead is the origin of Kite-Man and if knowing why the villain says "Hell Yeah" over and over again is your idea of a good time....... Well, this issue just might be for you.  The art is amazing though, but the characters in this story continue to feel strange and we're missing out on the majority of the story it seems, while Batman continues to create his own villains......... even if they are ridiculous.  

The War rages on, but like usual, we don't get to see most of it and are told what's going on through narration and since this arc is taking place in the past, all tension that somebody important might die is completely lost.  All in all, Batman comes off terrible at being a superhero in this issue and while I still love the art, the War of Jokes and Riddles is just really wearing on me. 

If you've thought that the War of Jokes and Riddles was stalling up to this point.......... well, you haven't seen stalling like this before and while it stalls, it also throws continuity and timelines to the wind and makes our characters look terrible in the process.  I'm so ready for the War of Jokes and Riddles to be over because it seems that each issue keeps getting worse and worse.

Everything you thought the War of Jokes and Riddles hinged on is thrown out the window in this issue because nothing seems to make sense anymore to what we were given previously.  Motives for why are villains are at war, reasons why Batman can't just stop the villains in their tracks......  all gone and wrapped up with a Kite-Man narration, which sadly, is the best part of this story.  The art is amazing, but I just can't deal with this War of Jokes and Riddles anymore because there seems to be no rhyme or reason to anything.

One positive thing that I can say about this issue is that unlike a lot of the others, it at least makes sense within the arc and doesn't go out of its way to go against what it's already told us.  That being said, there isn't much to like with this issue because there's really nothing to it besides for getting everyone out of the way so that Batman can finally come out and tell us and Catwoman what the hell his biggest regret is.  The art continues to be phenomenal in this, but the art has never been the problem with the War of Jokes and Riddles.

While you do get an answer from Selena about whether or not she'll marry Bruce Wayne........ don't expect much else because what you get in this issue is half of the book doing nothing, while the second half just throws a forced ending at you that doesn't make much sense and even makes you wonder why you've been a Batman fan for so long if this is his past.  The art was as decent as always, but the War of Jokes and Riddles from a story point, did nothing but disappoint.

While I think that some of the character choices in this issue come off strange as hell, I did find myself enjoying the majority of the story that took place in Gotham.  Really though this is an odd issue that is setting up the next arc and while I didn't love or hate it completely, I'll keep an open mind with going forward.  As for the art...... well, that was a mixed bag for me too.

Dialog is repeated and scenes are extended for no real reason......... which if you've been reading Batman for a bit now, you're probably used to it and if you don't mind this, you might actually enjoy this issue, but overall, even with the art being decent, I find this story to be a whole lot of nothing with cheesy dialog just so we could get to the cliffhanger.

While there are still parts to this issue that don't make any sense to me, the majority of the issue was really well written and gave you a deeper look at how the people closest to Batman see him, all with great art the whole way through.  Hopefully, this can continue so that I can finally feel like I'm a Batman fan again........ Even if it doesn't though, I had a decent time with this issue and what it gave us.

If you want Batman to explain how great Superman is and vice versa then maybe this issue is for you.  As for me though, Batman and Superman are more than just dramatic teenagers who refuse to make a telephone call and in the end, this issue doesn't jive with the relationship that our World's Finest team should have.

A lot of dialog from last issue is repeated here, while we have new dialog repeated throughout as our World's Finest and their significant others spend a night at a fair, where they're forced into a nonsensical situation.  The art is decent, even if it's not a style I really enjoy, but overall, this story just makes our heroes feel weird, while it works up to a wanna-be Flash/Superman race that feels ridiculous by the end. 

While this issue starts out feeling like a really cool detective story, the pieces quickly fall apart as things start making less and less sense just to get us to the big reveal at the end.  The art in this issue was decent, but overall, this story is pretty damn thin.

While the idea for the story was fun, it was something that was done previously and in my mind better.  Even with that though, we got a decent cliffhanger that seems like it will bring a new dynamic to the Bat/Cat engagement and what it means to be the person who would marry the Batman.  The art in this issue is amazing, but there's barely anything in this story and it moves at a breakneck pace, not to mention that Wonder Woman's dialog felt extremely off.

Our Super Friends arc comes to a close and by the end...Well, we really learn nothing besides for if Batman will cheat on Catwoman and for how interesting the story concept was with the Gentle Man and the dimension full of man's sins manifested, that's not enough.  The art looked great, but all in all, the story was just dull and full of the normal King tropes that just pad out of the issue until it's over.

Poison Ivy makes her villain debut in Tom King's run of Batman, even though she's not a villain in other books and with that...She's just a villain.  Nothing really happens in this issue and it takes twenty pages to tell four pages of exposition and setup.  The art is great, but like normal, there isn't much going on here.

Ivy's takeover of the world continues here and with that......... Batman and Catwoman do and say things that feel odd and the story feels really thin with the only motive behind our villain's actions being linked to The War of Jokes and Riddles.  While the story and dialog suffer here, the art continues to be amazing.......... so at least we have that.

The "Everyone Loves Ivy" arc comes to a close with this issue and with it.......... everything we've explored for the last two issues are thrown away to give us an ending that doesn't make sense with the rest of not only this arc, but with Tom King's own continuity to this series.  The art is still great, but not as great as its been and with that, this series sinks even lower than it's been in my mind.

While some may like this issue because they're getting all excited about the upcoming wedding and maybe because they like wedding preparations for some reason but this  issue was just another in a long line of boring, underwritten issues that fails to answer any of the lingering questions we have about what's going on in this run of Batman.  The biggest takeaway from this is that you at least have some decent art as Catwoman does her thing throughout the night.

Just when you thought it was safe to jump into a Batman book, we're presented with a story that makes no sense at all and is full of misrepresented characters that come off as shells of their former selves and that's before we even get to characters who are supposed to be different.  The art in this issue is okay, but everything in the story is garbage and it really feels like this title has hit a new low.

Batman continues to be disappointing this issue because instead of trying to make this ridiculous story make sense in what Booster Gold is actually doing, it instead just references the issues that came before it so that it can just move into a big "wow" moment that doesn't mean anything in the end because we're dealing with an alternate timeline.  Thankfully, the art continues to be great because, besides that, there isn't much reason to still pick up this book.

This arc finally comes to an end and while this issue is everything you'd expect it to be to get back to our status quo, Booster Gold comes out of this looking like one of the worst characters ever and I just really hope that whoever takes on the character next just forgets all about this arc.  The art is great, but the story is nonsense.  

The Joker's in town but sadly, he's not bringing the fun with him.  While this issue is better than the nonsense we've been getting lately, it just doesn't get me on the other side of the fence where I can start enjoying this title.  The art isn't for me, even though I usually love Mikel Janin and in the end, we have an issue where there's a lot of talking, but it just doesn't have a lot to say.

While this issue is literally nothing when it comes to story, there are a few conversations in this issue that may delight readers and the art here isn't too bad either.  Yeah, I'm not a fan of this book, but this issue at least gave some insight into characters that felt legitimate and for that, I like this issue more than anything we've been getting out of Tom King lately.  

This is the culmination, recap and reiteration of Tom King's Batman run so far and since I haven't been a fan of that...Well, I'm not a fan of this either.  All that and the ending doesn't make any sense at all.  At least at the end of the day I can say that the pictures looked pretty.

Batman continues to disappoint with a story that doesn't make sense within itself to get the setup that we need to see it.  It's just more forced nonsense that's trying to show our hero unhinged after his failed matrimony, but everything in this issue comes off feeling ridiculous at the parts when it's not just out right boring.

Two issues after Bane supposedly broke the Bat and it seems like Bruce is getting his shit together.  Hopefully that means that he'll be getting more interesting stories because while this issue makes more sense to me than what we got previously, it's still pretty dull and I'm just waiting to turn that corner where I can start appreciating Batman as a character again.  I'm a fan of the art this issue, but I'm already pretty bored of jury duty.

Bruce Wayne talks for an entire issue about.......... Well, nothing really.  It's just some faux deep moments that fail to do anything other than bore the shit out of me as we get another issue of nothing.  The art is decent, but I'm stuck just sitting here, wondering what happened to Batman.

If you're looking for a refresher into Dick Grayson's origin or an issue where Dick Grayson comments on lame villains than look no further because this is the issue for you.  If you're looking for a decent Batman story though, then you're going to be a tad disappointed.  There just isn't much here besides awkward dialog and forced moments and at the end of it all, the art is the only thing that I really enjoyed about this issue.

While the majority of this issue felt like filler with strange characterizations, the present-day story added some intrigue to the comic overall, and the art remained being the thing I look forward most to out of this series. Hopefully, with the Phantasm bit of our story here, this will lead to more interesting things for her as the rest of the series progresses..... and maybe it will lead to Batman actually doing something in this book. 

While the art remains something I love in this series, the story is just chock full of nonsense that doesn't want to do anything but make Catwoman look crappy (IMO) and while that may change down the line, we're halfway through this book and nothing about it really feels all that thought out or compelling in the long run. I can only hope that things change for the second leg of this story because amazing art will only take you so far.

While a lot of people will love Liam Sharp's contribution to this issue, it left me wishing that Clay Mann was still the artist because it's essentially the only redeeming quality for me in this series as the story just doesn't do anything and when it tries, it feels weird and on the verge of being horrible to the characters it's presenting. Hopefully though, since we didn't get much story in the first half of this series, maybe we'll start getting things picked up with the rest of this series but if this issue is any indication, I'm not going to hold my breath.

It seems like this story is finally trying to find its point but by the reveal that we get here, I'm still not sure what that could be. The timeline transitions are getting back to being ridiculous in trying to follow and the past and future stories just feel like a way to pad at the issue at this point because they spend so much time not doing anything. Man, this is a rough series.

If you were looking for this series to finally pick up and go somewhere... Well, like me you'll be sorely disappointed. There's a lot of Liam Sharp fans out there but sadly I'm not a fan of what he's doing with this book and didn't really care for how anything looked this issue and as for the story..... I still feel like I'm waiting for something to happen to make this feel like more than just a vehicle to destroy The Phantasm now that she's in continuity.

While I love that Clay Mann is back on this book because I love his style, the story itself doesn't bring much beyond some fighting and a revelation behind Joker's motivations that don't make me very excited at all and won't have any lasting effects on his mythos throughout other Bat-books. There's not much here, but at least it looks nice.

This has to be the best issue of Batman/Superman yet.  I mean the interactions between the characters was phenomenal, and makes me wish we could see more of both the Bat, and Super Families more often, and portrayed this way.  Even though they had three different artists, the transitions between them were almost flawless.  I was so engrossed in the story, I had to go back later to realize that there was a change at all.  Obviously I'm just fluffing the creators at this point, but everyone who is a Batman/Superman fan should get this issue and check it out.

I would of really preferred a straight forward story of Remembrance Day like the book started.  But what we got was a cluttered story that didn't seem to know what it wanted to be.  The artwork by Brett Booth was fantastic like always, but when I end a story and I don't know what exactly went on, I find myself robbed a bit.  Greg Pak is a decent writer so I have no idea why the middle of this issue becomes the Death of Superman story.  Just seemed like filler that didn't need to be there.

This was an alright book.  That's it.  We're given the first adventure of Batman and Superman, but in the end the story does nothing.  How many times in our lives do we have to have something immediately not count because of a mind wipe?  The artwork is good, it's just not for me, everything in these first four issues seemed like something out of Tim Burton's nightmares.  I can't wait until next month when Brett Booth takes over.  But all bitching aside, like I said this is an alright book.  I love the interactions between the parallel versions of our heroes, and the fact that the villain of the story will continue in some extent.  But the first story arc was fun, so go check it out.

This is a great issue, and is a throwback to what we loved about Worlds' Finest of yesteryear.  We get the fun banter between these two power houses, that seemed to be missing in the first four issues.  Everything in this issue was great, Greg Pak delivers a satisfying Sci Fi story, and even though its been seen before, it feels fresh with our favorite superheroes.  Also Brett Booth is a perfect fit for this title, and I hope he continues to be on this creative team for a long time.  Go out and get this title, and have a fun time.

Let the popcorn begin.  Taking our heroes in this fun direction is something that has been needed for a long time.  Usually all we seem to get anymore is darkness, and misery.  Luckily Greg Pak has brought us out of our depression with this alien invasion, technology's evil plot.  Booth's artwork is impressive as usual, and the combination of this team just translates to a good time.  Can't wait to see how our heroes will get out of this one.  So check it out, and I'll see you next month.

Now I know this video game-centric story is meant to just be fun, and mainly there for a popcorn factor, but the this issue fell short for me.  The fun and whimsy is lost, and replaced with super science explanations, and non answers for how anything in this world works.  I know it's just a comic, but everything wrapped up nice and neat, and without a real explanation on how, just seems lazy.  That being said this was a fun story as a whole, this issue being the end just lacked the fun we were given in the last two issues.  

This story is what I've been waiting for since Worlds' Finest began, but the end result just seemed trite.  Explanations and answers are too convenient, and all the issues leading to this seem unimportant now that Batman and Superman are involved.  The whole book just seemed insulting in it's simplicity.  To add to that I'm not a fan of Jae Lee's art, but I know a lot of you out there are, so I'm not going to get into that, it just doesn't seem to fit for the issue, and comes off empty, and confusing at times.  But it's his style and a loved one at that so don't let that bother you, the story was the biggest problem with the book.  Hopefully Worlds' Finest will do better in continuing First Contact.

There is no consistency to this story, and it seems that whatever they feel like throwing in they do with no regard to previous issues, and previous continuity.  For the majority of this issue Superman wears a Kryptonite necklace and it simply takes away his powers.  Since when does Kryptonite not kill the big blue boy scout?  Just very confusing, and speaking of confusing I don't think I'll ever be able to get behind Jae Lee's art, while a panel might be nice to look at it never will be able to convey a story to me that doesn't seem erratic and missing pieces.  I was really looking forward to the First Contact story line, but at this point it might be the weakest story the New 52 has put out.

If you're looking for a way to get out of your rut of depression because our beloved Batman and Robin has ended, well look no further than this Annual.  It's a fun over the top outer space adventure complete with all the father son back and forth that you've come to know and love and let's not forget about the art that will really grab you by the end of the issue.  Man, I'm really going to miss this title.

Not really an origin story, but had the qualities of one, and not a bad one at that.  But what we're really looking at is a revenge story, and it was fun seeing Killer Croc in this kind of role.  Also we finally see Jason Todd wearing the Robin costume in flashback which was fun, and the beginning of a new story line which should of been the real story line in that awful Gotham Underground going on in Cat Woman.  This was a solid issue with a good story, and solid art, and I hope we get to see more of Killer Croc in the future now that he seems to be done in Bat Woman.  (or not who knows anymore)  Great issue check it out.

So there ya have it.  Now all you suckers out there not reading the Red Hood and the Outlaws has an excuse to pick up the book.  Oh yeah this issue will tie into the next issues of Red Hood, sorry for the suckers comment.  This book was fun to read, just a little talky, and by talky I mean telling us everything we already new about Ra's.  Immortal bad dude, who fights Batman, and also respects him.  Now Ra's is back which is about time, and we have to wait to find out what he's up to now that the heroes of the world are gone.  I really enjoyed the artwork by Jeremy Haun, and hope that we get him working with James Tynion regularly on Talon, so that that book can be as good as this one was.  Check it out.

You ever have that nagging feeling that you really like something, but you don't know if it's because it's good or because you're really hyped about it?  I've got that right now and even though I'm really hyped about the Robin Rises story, I do believe this is still very good and exciting.  You just get those strange thoughts sometimes and wonder if you're brain is working against you and your judgement.  We're finally back to the title being called Batman and Robin adding to my hyped state of mind and while I might have given you second thoughts about my judgement here, if you're a fan of Batman and Robin or either of these characters individually you definitely need to check this out because it's going to be a wild ride.

I loved this issue.  It has to be the best issue of Batman and Robin I've read since #18's silent issue.  While you won't find a lot of action in this book, you will be completely absorbed by the humanity that the characters portray and the wonderful art used to help you escape you're daily lives.  Tomasi and Gleason are at their best here and I can't recommend this issue enough.  It's just a beautiful book from front to back.  All in all you have to check this book out.

This book looks amazing and I don't know how it's possible but it seems like Patrick Gleason just keeps giving more and more since Robin Rises has started.  I don't know how it's possible, but I truly hopes he keeps it up.  As for the story, I thought that last issue was something special by bringing back the entire Bat Family and actually making them feel like the family we want these characters to be, but this almost completely overshadows the feeling of family that I thought was perfect last month.  Tomasi has also somehow made me miss Damian again when I thought I was over all my grief in losing the Boy Wonder, lousy feelings.  Just a awesome book that's full of feels and brilliant action showing us what the "Hellbat" suit is capable of.  Go check this out because it's not something you'll want to miss.

Batman and Robin remains one of my most anticipated titles to pick up each month, but it seems that somewhere this issue fell a little short of the epic we were previously getting.  It's one fight scene after another and besides for one scene where the Bat Family got back together again......... Well there wasn't much to this.  Unlike the last couple of issues, I felt myself being confused by some of the panels here and it really just feels like a filler issue to get us to next month's big fight.  I still enjoyed the issue enough, but it's not really what I was hoping for.

This is what all of us Damian Wayne fans have been waiting for and while we get the outcome that we wanted, the journey to get there was a really confusing one.  Even now I'm not sure what went down in the ending and if it even made sense or not.  It just was and hopefully when we conclude this story in Robin Rises: Alpha, we'll get some of the answers to what happened here............ Hopefully.  But even with that and some confusion due to Patrick Gleason's art, this is still an enjoyable issue because of it's story and what it promises for the future.  Go check it out but don't expect all of it to make sense.

This issue got a little weird towards the end for me, but besides for that this was a great issue of Batman and Robin.  I had forgotten how much I loved Tomasi writing Damian and we begin a journey where Robin tries to leave his demons behind him so that he can truly be back and not constantly think about his death.  I'm so happy to have my little pumpkin headed boy back that I really didn't notice his superpowers at all.  It was a very personal story and I really appreciated that tone of the book.  All Batman and Robin fans should be reading this.

While the majority of this book was spot on and fun, the ending really took me out of the book and made me wonder how Shazam ever became a member of the Justice League and why Bruce would allow Damian to ever associate with people in general.......... not that he really has a choice with his son's new powers but it really felt off to me and left a bad taste in my brain's mouth.  Stop looking at my brain's mouth.  Besides for that though, the book was really solid and reminded me why I missed Damian so much when he was gone.

If there's one book you read this year, it should be this issue because it has everything that you've loved throughout the awesome run of this series.  I loved every bit of this issue and wish we had more than next week's Annual left to read.  Just a fantastic issue that I don't even have the words for to describe how it made me feel........ I just can't gush over it enough.  Go out and get yourself Batman and Robin, you'll be happy that you did.

I began this issue so pumped up to learn something new about the fate of Damian and to check out the Robin of Five Years From Now, but all I got was a slap in the face as I read a gigantic mostly silent fight scene that led to nothing.  No answers, not even any hints to who The Heretic might be and the only thing good about the issue was seeing the new Robin not wanting to take any of Batman's shit.  Just a giant disappointment to an issue I had such high hopes for.  Even the art which seemed like it was trying to convey the Dark Knight Returns style didn't stay consistent and I was left really disappointed after reading this meaningless issue.

This first issue doesn't really do itself a whole lot of favors because it throws us into a big development in Gotham, while trying its damnedest to make sure that everyone knows everything about Duke Thomas, not to mention set up new and old characters and because of this, the book feels bloated as hell and a little rough to read.  The art was decent here, but I hope that the next issue comes off a little less jam packed so that the story can be conveyed easier.  

This series may have benefited if Metal would have finished before it came out.......... or if we really knew anything about Duke's powers because as of right now...... I feel completely lost in this series and I really don't know what it is trying to convey to me.  The art is decent and I enjoyed some character interactions, but I really have no idea what's going on in this story.

While I love Duke Thomas, I can't say that I love this issue or this series because things just seem to be happening in this and I'm not sure of the logic behind any of it.  You get big reveals to things you never knew were hidden, while simple answers are left behind just to get Duke Thomas his superhero status and I'm just left wanting more from everything we got in this series.

I was really worried about this title, but after reading this first issue, I can honestly say that I'm interested to see where it's going.  Really, I think I'm just looking for Tim to put the final beat down on Brother Eye so I can get a real ending to Futures End, but beyond that, this could be a really fun, interesting series.  The art really worked for this story and by the end I was pleasantly surprised at how much I got into this issue.  Go check it out, but please go in without any hangups on what you think Batman Beyond should be.

As excited as I was for this book this week, I find myself being really disappointed.  Familiar faces are thrown at us here for what seems like a cheap thrill, while the story did little more than to try and catch readers up who didn't read the Futures End event.  Luckily though, the art remains strong and I continue to look forward to what comes next, but hope that the next issue will get back to exploring this strange new future instead of running around in circles as it did here.

While I love Batman Beyond, I don't know if this version of the character will ever be one that sticks with me.  If it does, it probably won't be in a positive light because as of right now, the series isn't doing much for me other than besmirching Tim Drake's character.  Our main character is a really smart, level headed guy, but for some reason in this title, he's a act first, think later doofus and it's missing it's opportunity to really flesh out this future Tim Drake and what he must being feeling being trapped in a terrible world he doesn't know or understand.  Hopefully the series picks up and gains a little heart because as of right now, it's just a dud.

For all you holdouts waiting for Batman Beyond to begin kicking it up a notch, this is your lucky day because man does this issue go above and beyond to get your attention and keep it.  All is lost it seems for Neo Gotham and maybe that's the kick in the pants that our hero needed to begin acting like the Batman Beyond that we want him to be and if that's the case, I can't wait to see what else this series does from here on out.  Go get yourself some Batman Beyond and have a blast.

Batman Beyond continues the fun of last issue, which is really appreciated because I was on the fence with this series in the beginning.  Now though, I can totally see this becoming one of my favorite series if it continues the nods of what's going on in the DCU now, while evolving the Batman Beyond mythos to whatever they may become in this changed timeline.  This issue is seriously fun and the art compliments it perfectly.  

Even though I don't think that this conclusion is the most exciting, it does get me excited for what's to come........ yeah, that's not really talking about this book, but anything can happen from here on out and that's gotta get Batman Beyond...... or Tim Drake fans excited.  The majority of this book though, is just a beat 'em up and comes off lackluster because of all the build up we've had and knowing that Brother Eye was able to take over the world, but apparently can't take a punch.  The art, while at times feels rushed, does a fine job portraying this battle of the ages in the long run, I just hope that we can keep the colors bright as this as the series progresses.

While this issue of Batman Beyond might not "WOW" you with it's content, it still manages to be entertaining and I appreciate the time that's taken in making sure we all know how Tim's adjusting to being in the future and how to his new role as Batman in both display and maintenance....... not to mention that we actually get to see Tim being smart in this book, which I really thought was lacking previously.  So yeah, not a bad read, but kind of lacking in excitement.

We're out of Brother Eye territory and it's time to put the world back together and as we see in this issue, there's a lot that has to go into it........... of course there is right?  It's really at this point that I realize that this book has become a more apocalypse style story that's more like the Walking Dead than Batman just because of the human element, who are desperately doing what they can to survive.  I had a few issues with continuity in this book, but for the most part it stayed interesting and I'm a huge fan of the art in this series.  

Our story moves from Neo Gotham to Metropolis in this one and our City of Tomorrow has seen better days. This series is strange in the fact that not a lot goes down issue to issue, but even with that it's still a decently fun read with an excellent art team that is always working their asses off to give us one hell of a good looking book. The biggest draw to this issue...... like most of the issues to this series is actually the cliffhanger, that like every other issue keeps me interested to see what's going to happen next.

Batman Beyond #10 comes off as a bit of a disappointment because we find ourselves more in the middle of last issue than where we left off in the cliffhanger and we don't get any of the answers that we were hoping for going into this........... only that some people dig being Splicers.  Pretty much just another issue where Batman gets his ass kicked and that's about it.  Luckily, there's some excellent art as always so you can really see how hard Batman's getting hit in the face.

Batman Beyond finally feels like it's gotten started and that's a weird thing to say about an eleventh issue.  Even thought there is still a lot to shake your head at in this book, it finally feels like it's coming together and as always the art is strong as hell........ so it's got that going for it and to my surprise Tim Drake didn't get his ass kicked.  That's huge in my mind!

Batman Beyond came out of nowhere with this issue and surprised the hell out of me because I had thought that this series was a lost cause, but as it begins to work its way towards Rebirth, I can see this series picking up and I'm happy as hell with most of this issue, even if Tim Drake gets his ass kicked again.  The new art team on this issue is fantastic and I hope this style continues for this run of Batman Beyond........ and beyond!

Batman Beyond continues to struggle........ especially now that Rebirth has started and because this title doesn't have a lot going on for it more than the art and the cliffhangers that impress every time.  That's about it though and that's no reason to read a book because we've got the majority of this issue just doing nothing but looking good....... and I've tried that, looking good just isn't enough....... you've got to work it too.  

Batman Beyond continues to trudge through all the Rebirths going on in its attempt to be noticed and while this issue doesn't really present much action that isn't all about flashbacks, it's a nice issue overall that serves to give us some background in what's going on with our characters and what got them to this point.  The art continues to be strong and I find myself really interested in where the story's going.

While this issue of Batman Beyond won't "WOW" anyone, it does putter along to get us to Batman Beyond's renumbering and hopefully someplace where the story isn't constricted by all the doom and gloom that this series has had to be all about because of Futures End.  That being said, we do get our characters in place to have some decent emotional moments in the next issue, but besides for that and some fine ass art, there isn't a lot to be said about this straight forward typical Batman Beyond story.

Batman Beyond's series comes to an end with this issue....... or really just bridges the gap between this series and the Rebirth one and while things seem to rush to get to this conclusion.......... not a lot goes down here and for whatever reason I still feel angry at Futures End for causing all of this.  That may just be me though.  All in all this gets us to where we want to be for Rebirth and has an interesting new art style to close us out with......... just not a lot to actually digest though.

While we do have Terry Mcginnis back in the Bat-suit, what we don't have is enough of a story for this issue since it takes a lot of pages just to catch everyone up on what happened in the Rebirth issue, while continuing to show us Batman getting his ass kicked like we saw throughout the previous series.  The art and the cliffhanger were decent enough but nothing really felt fresh with this issue.

This is an alright issue of Batman Beyond that gives us some background that we've been wanting, but it's somewhat slow at times and while it does move the story forward, it doesn't do it all that much.  The art too is a toss up to me because while I loved the present day stuff, the flashback moments just didn't seem as polished.

While this issue kind of makes all the set up in the previous issue look all for not, we still get some really fun stuff with this story and an interesting turn on a reveal that this series has been teasing since it started.  We've got great art all the way through and I'm starting to feel myself get a little hyped for what's to come.

Even with this issue being a fast read, it still gives you everything you want from a Batman Beyond book and it looked great the whole way through.  We're finally getting this book back on track with the developments of this issue and I finally find myself really looking forward to whatever happens next.

While I've been enjoying the Batman Beyond series enough, I have to say that we really had to force our way to an ending here and because of that, the whole shebang comes off a little lackluster in the long run.  We do get some decent reveals here though and some great looking art, but overall this issue left me wanting more because everything just seemed to be coming out of nowhere.

Man, is this a great jumping on point for new readers because besides for bringing everyone up to speed with what's been going on in this series, there really isn't much going on here besides for fight scenes that we don't get a background on and our hero making us think that he's a giant dope at the end.  The art in this issue looked great though and there were some genuinely "nice" moments on an emotional level, but besides for that........... not much else.

This is a fast read that reminds all of us about things we already read in the previous issue, but even with that there were things that I found myself really enjoying from this and they actually got me excited for what's to come.  The art was great all around, I just hope that we don't have to spend too much time going forward with Terry being a sad sack for his inability to act in the previous issue.

Even with the forced nature of this issue, I still found myself having some fun with this story and loving the art that depicted it.  We got two decent reveals in this issue that shape how we got here and where we're going moving forward and even though the latter was pretty obvious from what we got last issue, I still found it enjoyable enough.

This is a bit of a lackluster issue when everything is said and done because it barely moves the story forward and doesn't show us much in the way of backstory, which we desperately need since this is so far in the future from every other DC title.  The art is great though and the cliffhanger is strong, but this arc certainly hit the brakes on the story with this issue.

We delve into Damian Wayne's backstory in this issue and really, it's nothing you didn't already figure our from reading this arc so far.  Yeah, there's nothing much to this issue at all and like so many installments to this series, it only seems that we're reading it for the cliffhangers because the majority of the issues just seem to be filler to pad out the arcs.  The art's great, but that's about the only great thing here.

While people with daddy issues like me might feel a bit of warmth by the end of this issue.......... or jealously if you're really like me, the rest was just forced emotions for a forced ending to wrap everything up after having issue after issue of a fight that amounted to nothing in the end.  The art was decent for the most part, but man was this arc a serious let down, even if it did introduce Damian Wayne into this era.  

Bits and Pieces:Batgirl Beyond is just thrown into this issue without any backstory and it feels like it's a direct sequel to the digital first Batman Beyond title from years ago, with a few forced bits of dialog to try and make it work within this series, where the character has never been a part of continuity.  So yeah, nothing really feels right about this issue and the rest of continuity seems to be thrown out the window as well here.  

Man, did I have problems following this story because of the panel layout and found most of it just pointless filler that didn't do anything to improve what was going on and where I could follow it, it didn't seem to make much sense.  The art is still fantastic though, but Bernard Chang's writing left a lot to be desired.

While I wasn't a fan of the art at all in this book, the family oriented nature of everything that was going on here kept me hooked to the pages and made it so that I can't wait for the next issue to come out.  This is really more of a new status quo for our Batman Beyond and what he wants his life to look like from here on out and I can only hope that Terry gets his wish because everything we saw here........ besides for the cliffhanger, is exactly what I want for him too.

While Batman Beyond is pretty straight forward and offers a lot of action, by the end of the issue it just came off pretty underwhelming and feels stale in the long run.  Hopefully this changes as the series continues, but right now this title feels like a bore to read and the art isn't doing much for me either.  That being said, there's nothing really wrong with the issue.  It's just basic as all hell.

While we do get to see Terry be a more capable Batman in this issue, it's little else but a big ass fight scene that puts us right back to where we left off with our hero and villain in the previous issue.  The art was decent, but overall, there wasn't much to this issue at all.

Batman Beyond continues its mediocrity as the book is padded out with an over extended fight scene and only gives us some character reveals to try and keep us satisfied as this series just runs itself into the ground.  The art is okay for the most part, but all in all, this series stopped being fun a long time ago.

Batman Beyond continues to disappoint, even with a reveal this issue, but really, who didn't see this twist coming?  The art is decent, but this title really needs to go away for awhile and figure out if it wants to be its own continuity or just a continuation of the animated series.  

There's not much to this story and if you've been reading Batman Beyond for awhile now, it's pretty much par for the course.  This issue hits all the beats that we've gotten in previous issues, but at the end of this, we just get to see Terry being a good guy outside of the costume and it's not enough to win me over.

This new arc seems to be on a path that I want to be on with this title because for the first time in a long time, I'm actually into most of the ideas that are being thrown our way.  The art is decent throughout and the story actually seems pretty interesting.  Hopefully this momentum keeps up because while I've wanted to love this title from the beginning....... It's been pretty rough.

There's not a lot going on in this story and while I think the concept of the arc is fun, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.  I enjoyed the art in this issue, but we've got repeating scenarios and repeating conversations that really don't go anywhere except for a cliffhanger, which this series seems to excel at.......... and that's about it.

For the most part, this is probably one of the best issues of Batman Beyond to come out of Rebirth.  Yeah, it still has some problems and Terry isn't the best Batman he can be, but the developments in this issue were fun as hell and I look forward to seeing more of this updated Beyond villain, especially if the art continues being as good as it is here.

Batman Beyond has come out of nowhere with this storyline and surprised the hell out of me for how enjoyable it's been.  We get excellent art in this issue and some really great progression to our story.  Yeah, somethings didn't hit as hard as they could have, but all in all, I had a fun time with this issue.

While there's some fun moments to be had in this issue, the lack of development in the villain and some of the forced scenarios to get this arc to come to a close made this issue just another in a long line of forgettable entries into this series.  Yeah, you have some big moments, but all in all there wasn't much to this issue and that's a shame because of what it could have been.  

Our "Final Joke" arc starts off a little boring as this over-sized issue takes a lot of its time catching people up to what's been going on in the world of Batman Beyond.  Yeah, it's a good jumping on point for new readers, but pretty pointless for anyone familiar with this series.  The art didn't grab me as much as I would have liked, but like most issues of Batman Beyond, the strength of this issue really comes from the cliffhanger.

While I love that we have a new Robin in this book and love the idea of Joker coming back for this arc...... the reality is that while we have those things, they really aren't being utilized great in the series and everything that we get out of this just comes off as boring to get to our big cliffhanger, which comes off cliche.  I love the art team on this book, but I don't think that they're enough to save this mediocre series.

While the art looks great and the Joker's motivations are fun, this issue just feels really off for how all the characters act......... or fail to act in this serious situation that the story presents.  There's still some fun to be had if you don't look to closely to whats going on, but I was hoping for way more than what we're getting here.  Still though....... Great art.

The Joker coming back continues to be something that I know should be cool, but is still just not hitting in my mind.  We get the usual Batman Beyond fight scene this issue......... you know, the majority of the pages and even that comes off bland to me.  I just really hope that this can all wrap up to be something special because right now, it's just really underwhelming.

Not much of a finale to a story that felt like it should have been bigger than it was.  Characters are pretty useless here and it seems that everything we've been dealing with was just to get to the end of the story so that we could have a pseudo callback to the first episode of Batman Beyond.  Very disappointing and the only thing that I can say is a positive here is the art team.  

While this is just an epilogue to the previous arc, it does more good for this series than anything we've gotten from it in a long time and gives me hope that I can start caring about Batman Beyond again.  The art is fantastic and the use of the Bat Family here really upped the ante of the issue.

This is an odd issue that felt like it kept wanting to get started or that it wanted to do something exciting, but it wasn't until halfway through when the story became about something else where I started having a little fun.  There's something going on in this story, it just sadly doesn't do much this issue..... but hey, we had some awesome art so that's something.

With some interesting villains involved and some really fun art depicting the action, there's some joy to be had in this issue........ The biggest problem I see is that our heroes aren't really interesting and stuck in a formulaic style of storytelling, where Terry has to get his ass kicked every issue to end his parts of the issue and it's been a bit stale for awhile.  The villains though are really cool and I'm really interested in continuing their stories.

It's a weird thing to say that Batman is the worst part of this book, but he really isn't bringing anything to this issue besides for the constant reminder that he keeps getting his ass kicked every issue.  Besides that though, this was one of the best issues of Batman Beyond that I've read in a long time.  I loved the pacing, art and the reveals here and can't wait to see how False Face will continue to plague the Batman Beyond Family.  

Man, I love False Face Beyond.  This issue is elevated because of the fun that can happen when a villain tries to play a hero and when a hero is in over his head, with no idea what's going on.  Yeah, the supporting cast kind of come off like dummies in this issue, but the majority of the book is so much fun and the art continues to be great here.

Somehow with decent art and interesting villains this issue still feels kind of lackluster because nowhere in this book could I find a competent hero beyond our cliffhanger reveal and that factor to this book is getting kind of old.

Everything comes to a screeching halt with this issue and it doesn't feel natural at all.  Yeah, this is the finale, but it feels like there was a lot of story left behind because everything here feels like it was thrown together last minute and nothing about it came off as satisfying.  The art even took a bit of a dip in my mind and overall, there just wasn't much about this issue that I found myself enjoying, which is strange for all the things that were shoved into it.

There's a new Batwoman in town and sadly this issue spends most of the time setting up that surprise when it's right out there on the cover, but beyond that disappointment, this issue has some great art and what looks like a fun story coming our way.  It's just too bad that majority of the story is based on a reveal that was revealed before the issue ever started.

Batwoman's kicking ass and taking names in this issue, but don't count on finding out hers here.  Instead we're dealing with a huge big bad, but the only problem there is that........ well, he's just there.  No real background is given for the character or his resurrection and it seems that Dan Jurgens is relying too much on the cartoon series than actually developing this Neo Gotham for this continuity's future.  Thankfully though the art is good and there's some fun moments.

The plot and circumstances to this story are laughable and we're no closer to figuring out the mystery of the Batwoman.  Thankfully, the art in this issue is great because it's the only thing that really kept me happy as I turned the pages of this book because everything that needed to happen in this issue was forced in with a narrative sledgehammer and nothing felt cleverly thought out.

While we finally do get a reveal of who Batwoman is in this issue, it was at the cost of half our cast looking like dummies for issue after issue.  Besides that though and some big recap we do have our heroine get thrown into some action, but this feels uninspired and at the end of the day this series just feels tired.  Thankfully though, the art is really good in this issue so at least there's that.

The art in this issue is as enjoyable as it always is, but the storytelling is sadly the same as it always is too, where the majority of the issue is based all on recap as we move our story an inch forward.  Yeah, things come to an interesting head by the end, but that's after wading through so much of what you've already read in this arc.

Nothing about this issue or even this arc feels like there's anyone who cares about this title because it relied solely on finding out who the mysterious new Batwoman was and because of that, everyone had to act like idiots, while also trying to rely on the hype of bringing Blight back, even though that just kind of happened...... like the new Batwoman.  Nothing really felt like it mattered here and by the end, this entire arc just felt like one big gimmick that never really came together or felt like it made sense.  Thankfully, the art in this issue was great though so at least you have that to look forward to.

Now that Terry is back in the Batsuit and we can leave all the False Face and Blight stuff behind us, this series feels fresh for the first time in a long time and all the changes that we see here, in not only location but in our main character's attitude feel like something that I can get excited about.  Not to mention, that the art is strong as hell in this issue.  If this series can keep up with this type of story-telling, this might actually become a series that I won't want to miss.

While you'll get your obligatory fight scene that fills up a lot of page space and some recap to make sure that everyone is up to speed with the new status quo of things going on in this title, the majority of this issue is enjoyable and I find myself caring more about Elainna Grayson's progression than I ever thought I would, not to mention that it's just nice to see so many older Bat-Family members joining this title and taking a role in what the next generation is up to. 

While I did want more out of the big battle that this issue gave us, this was still a fun issue overall, that gave us some necessary background on the League of Assassins and what we're currently dealing with and showed us the debut of the new Batwoman costume.  I enjoyed the art for the most part here and look forward to seeing how our united Bat-Family plans on taking out their newest threat.

While you'll get an issue that looks great here and grabs you right from the beginning and runs your ass as super-speed until the end in how our action is depicted, it did leave me wanting a little more..... like, we never take the time to really explore the things that are heroes are doing since we're moving at such a fast pace and ultimately, with this pace, I wish we could have run past all the bickering that this book is filled with.

You'll get action out the ass in this issue, but it ends up feeling small because of how little the characters really seem to know or respect each other, and ultimately, the only likable one during this fight is the big dragon-bat Goliath who's always fun. There seems to be a missed opportunity in this amazingly drawn issue to develop Mr. Zero into an interesting villain with staying power, but while I found most of this issue lackluster, the ending to what we got here really piqued my interest and I can't wait to see where it goes.

You've been getting a bunch of Booster Gold in the past two years and if you've dug that... Well, stop. This is how Booster Gold is supposed to be so get to know the greatest hero you've never heard of in this arc of Batman Beyond that takes you into this story at the speed of light, turns of the stakes immediately, but never forgets to have fun along the way. If that wasn't enough to get you interested, the art is amazing too.  

While I initially dug the concept of this story, by the end it felt so weird and almost pointless to me that it made me realize why people hate time travel stories. Wibbly wobbly, timey whimey stuff that just makes you wonder why this arc couldn't have had a bigger impact or actually been what the story was set up to be. Ultimately though, you get some really excellent art throughout and the chance to see Batman Beyond in the present day, which is cool, but I would have liked a bit more.

While I dig the art and the idea of calling back to classic characters for this finale... I just wish they would have made sense to the continuity we've been establishing for a Batman Beyond in this timeline for years now. Sadly that's not the case though and we just have characters thrown in here just for the wow or nostalgia factor while I would have liked a good story to end things out instead.

For readers who aren't familiar with the Batman Beyond canon this Rebirth issue does an excellent job in bringing you up to speed, but for anyone else, who watched the animated series or read any of the previous comic book series, it comes off mostly as just a rerun.......... but does offer up an excellent cliffhanger to get us excited for where the series is headed.  

This was a very fun special, with the exception of the Bat Cow story. Don't get me wrong, I love Bat Cow, but I also love good story telling. I really hope that since this issue is numbered we will be getting more Batman Incorporated Specials along the way, and if we don't it was a very fond goodbye to the characters we have come to love.

While I'm normally a fan of anything Red Hood, this installment to the wedding preludes just comes off boring and doesn't really capture the characters in the book as well as it could have. On top of that, I'm not a fan of the art in this issue and when you put all of that together...Well, you get a big disappointment. Not a great issue overall and these preludes have pretty much worn out their welcome.

The journey of Bao Pham continues and while the path he's on looks pretty promising, the road that got him where he currently is didn't do much overall but show us that our main character can take some pain and doesn't like putting up with nonsense. That being said though, I really enjoyed what this issue did for Clownhunter and Punchline, not to mention that I loved the art throughout...... I just hope that it's not too long until we see this character again and pick up where we left off here.

These Secret Files One-Shots are becoming disappointing because either we don't have enough time to really dive into someone, like the last one-shot of the Signal or we have this one where we have an oversized issue that doesn't do anything that couldn't have been done in the regular Detective Comics series. The art was good throughout and if you've been craving some more solo Huntress time then maybe this is for you but I found this issue to be a tad boring in what little it gave us.

While I was looking forward to this Secret Files to give me a reason to really care about Miracle Molly and the Unsanity Collective this issue just doubled down on what you already knew about Molly and the group while sprinkling in a few new tidbits along the way while showing it with art that seriously left me wanting more by the end. Ultimately, this issue felt rough all around.

While I can't say that the art is my favorite part of this book, it became something that I got used to by the end. The story though felt odd because of how much we've dealt with Sean Mahoney and with this realizing that we really don't know anything about him and what we do learn here, while interesting is interspersed with stuff that we've already seen this character do throughout Fear State so ultimately we're left with an issue that's only half-interesting with art that wasn't that great overall.

If you're looking for some serious new information about The Gardener, I feel like you're not going to find it here but more of a recap of Poison Ivy and a strange explanation by the end that feels like it retcons previous events to tell us why there are two Ivys. The art is decent but the way that the writing and the art merge to tell a story comes off pretty bland overall.

While I'm happy that Duke Thomas is getting some spotlight, I need this series to do more than rush by everything that has happened to Duke since he's come into Batman's life because even though Duke shows up in things here and there, his story feels really undefined. I don't know how many people know the ins and outs of the character and we just move forward at breakneck speed in this and I found myself feeling lost. Thankfully, the art is great and we're moving to an interesting area for our hero. I just hope that we can calm down and pace the book out better.

So much for hype.  This story is what you'd expect from Ann Nocenti lately, she tries really hard but in the end you decide to drop that title all together.  The artwork isn't bad, but it isn't enough to save the issue.  The story began like Water World and by the end I'm surprised the Joker's Daughter didn't have the whole Gotham Underground burning their bras.  I usually don't say things like this but save yourself the money and pick up a different book, hell get a back issue of Superboy, or Green Arrow, they won't be as bad as this.

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.

While I've been liking the one-shots less and less as they've been coming out, the previous ones at least seemed like they were trying to make sense of their character, but this installment just throws concepts at us without really explaining them, which is a shame because as they are, they don't make any sense at all.  The art in this issue is great, but the Dawnbreaker just doesn't shine like I expected it to.

While this issue started out just like any other of the Metal one-shots, it didn't take long to see that this installment was a cut above the rest and quickly became my favorite.  Not only is the art fantastic, but Tomasi lays down an awesome backstory for The Merciless, gives insights to the rest of the event and even gives us a little twist in the story by the end.  Definitely a one-shot you should pick up.

While I liked the backstory for this Batman more than I did with The Red Death, that's about all I liked more about it because the art style lacked any kind of motion and the dialog was robotic.......... and while that last part should just be accepted because of what the character is........ it led to a really boring read.  Hopefully, going forward, we'll learn more about a development that is only hinted at in this issue and that the rest of the one-shots start focusing around that instead of a simple counterpart beat 'em up.

It's been four years since we first got the shocking news that there were Three Jokers out and about and now we can finally get the information a lot of us have desperately wanted ever since that reveal and for this first issue to those answers....... it didn't disappoint. Do you know for certain what's going on here...... no. But you get some ideas that will keep you wondering along the way, while also being a book that has a super-star creative team that does some of their best work along the way. Check out the Three Jokers. You won't want to miss this.

While this issue didn't "wow" me as the first one did, there is still a lot to like here, even if we're retreading some overused ground with the Jason Todd/Joker story. The art is amazing all the way through and I hope that even though this is a Black Label book and the continuity doesn't need to be a part of the mainline Batman series that we can see some growth in the Red Hood character all-around based on what we got here.

While I loved the art and really enjoyed the story, I don't think that the Jokers or their plan really works out in the end, beyond a kind of typical Joker messes with Batman way. That being said, the reason I like this so much is the way that Geoff Johns writes the Bat-Family and the struggles they go through not only in their fight against crime but with their moral compasses as well. Not to mention that the ending with Batman left me happy and gives reasons behind why Batman has left a mystery on the table for so long but does leave the setup with the Mobius Chair in the Darkseid War a little strange. 

While I don't believe that I'll ever become a fan of Riley Rossmo's art, this issue's story sure as hell did enough to make me see beyond that and show me a dark Batman that makes sense and feels like it could actually happen.  Yeah, it's not my favorite of these one-shots, but it's not far off from it either because James Tynion did a hell of job in writing a story about why Batman should never laugh.

For anyone who was a fan of the New 52 or a fan of the Birds of Prey movie, you'll get aspects of both here as Azzarello tries to put together a world where Black Canary, Huntress and Harley Quinn are the heroes of Gotham.  Yeah, it doesn't come together as well as I would have liked because of how the story had to be condensed for this one-shot, but overall it was still fun and the art was amazing throughout.

Look, I love Black Adam, love all the Captain Marvel/Shazam Family mythos but I have to say that this first issue really threw me off with what I'm supposed to know about this Black Adam since he feels so far removed from any Adam that I feel I've ever seen. On top of that, the big point of the story seems to be the heir to Black Adam, and I find his heir to be insufferable at the moment so hopefully that changes since I enjoyed the art in this book and love the character overall.

While I'm not loving this series yet.... or as much as I wanted to when it was announced, there is still room to improve from what we get this issue and the idea that maybe our new character Malik may not be as annoying going forward...... maybe, which is a win for me. The art is great and I'm intrigued by some things in this issue, even though there isn't a lot going on in this issue overall.

While elements of this book are interesting with Black Adam in the underworld, the way that it comes off is really just confusing and goes out of its way to not say anything at all. Yeah, I still enjoy the art a lot but the story just isn't doing it for me yet and I hope that aspect changes as we go along as I was looking forward to this Black Adam maxi-series.

If you're looking for a fun book I'm guessing you should look no further than Blue and Gold, but even though it is fun, I was looking for something a little deeper out of these characters who feel stuck in place whenever they're used and would have liked Ted Kord's heart condition to used as something more than a throwaway callback before simply moving on. That being said, I look forward to the rest of this series because I do love these characters and I love the art here, I just hope we can more out of Michael and Ted growth-wise as we keep going.

While I love Blue Beetle, I hate the dialog in this issue because it just comes off forced as hell and makes it so neither of our main characters is likable and also overshadows the story because it not only covers most of the panels, but also sacrifices information you want to read about for simple quips that go nowhere.  Luckily the art in this book is decent because besides for that, I found myself really disliking everything that this issue had to offer.

While I still have an issue with the way the dialog feels in this book, I have to admit that I at least had a good time reading this issue and love how uncomfortable our hero was throughout.  The art was great and I'm into the new characters revealed here, I just hope that I start liking our main characters more because their bickering is getting annoying.

Yeah, we got a cool opener to this issue and a little more background about what Doctor Fate was up to previously in this series, but ultimately this is just anther underwhelming issue of Blue Beetle that leaves me wanting more.  The art was decent throughout, but the dialog just isn't that great and the majority of this issue just feels like filler.

While we do get the new re-imagined origins for both Jaime Reyes and Ted Kord in this issue, it really doesn't feel all that important because the situations just seem to be glanced over and then we simply move on to more of the same that this book has been offering since it began.  The art didn't seem as polished as it usually does and in the end I felt like I do at the end of every issue....... disappointed.  

This issue of Blue Beetle certainly isn't the greatest thing that I've ever seen, but the events of this story actually get me interested in where everything is going with this series because to my surprise..... I didn't hate it.  The art was decent and the dialog wasn't as bad as it's been....... Plus, we have ourselves a pretty intriguing cliffhanger going on here.

While this issue tries to wrap everything that we've been dealing with into a neat little bow of a bad guy, it does so in a convoluted way that left me scratching my head at the end about what's really going on here and wondering whether or not I'll ever fully understand since magic is involved.  The art in this issue looked really good though for the most part and we did end things on a cliffhanger that at least leaves me interested in what will come next.

This issue goes balls to the walls nuts in it's new directions for not only Blue Beetle, but for Dr. Fate as well and while I could get behind that normally with a proper explanation; here, concepts are just thrown at us willy nilly and I don't know if we're expected to understand or not.  The art remains the strongest factor to this series because everything else is just random shit and ultimately, it's not very much fun.

While we lose some great interactions and possible stories from a character introduction here because of the New 52 Blue Beetle being completely omitted from continuity, I have to say that I really enjoyed this issue more than I have previous one now that J.M. DeMatteis is on script duty.  The art was decent as always and we're left with a cliffhanger that just screams fun and gets me to want to see more of this arc.

Goddamn, did this issue impress the hell out of me with the bounds and strides it's taking to become a proper series that feels like it's just as important as the big hitters of the DCU.  Yeah, it still has a shit ton of characters that don't seem to have much to do, but the dialog is smoother, the emotion is showing and the action scenes are strong as hell.  Keep on doing what you're doing Blue Beetle because you've just got back on my radar.

After the last issue of Blue Beetle I was really starting to think that this series was on the right track, but this issue seemed to take a wrong turn off that track because the majority of this story seemed to be a filler fight scene that really went nowhere, until it had to rush towards its cliffhanger that felt forced.  The art was decent though and I still hold out hope that this series can be something worthwhile in the future......... this issue just wasn't that great though.

While this issue does give us some ideas about how the series will change going forward that are pretty exciting, overall, this is still just a lackluster issue that spends most of its time catching readers up on what the status quo of all the characters are and if you've been reading this whole time, nothing much besides for Jaime has changed.  The art was decent, but the story still seems to be lacking in this series.

Even though we have a new dynamic going on between Jaime and the scarab and Batman's in town, this issue still came off boring as hell and the characters just felt off.  The art remains as good as it's always been, but it can only propel this series so far and because everything else feels underwhelming, this remains a series that I want to love, but just can't.

Besides for a possible revelation that may or may not continue going forward in this series........ I'm saying not, there really isn't any reason to pick up this issue because all it does is give the Justice League 3001 series one more outing before going away and the status quo of this series continuing where it left off in the previous issue.  With all that being said though, I can't wait to see what the next creative team brings to this book next month.  

While I looked forward to what Chris Sebela would bring to the party as the new writer on this book, I found that he didn't do enough with the characters to really make them exciting and the one big thing he changed, he didn't explain....... which was annoying.  The art as well was annoying because by the time we got to our big action scene, the art was a little too busy to fully comprehend what are hero was doing.

While the art in this issue is great and that the setups for the spooky situations that are characters find themselves in are the highlight of this book, the overall story at this point just comes off pretty convoluted and a bit of a disappointment because while there's a lot of characters and a lot of strange things happening........ there just isn't a lot going on in this book.

This last arc of the Blue Beetle series has been rough as hell and this issue doesn't do much to make it better.  Yeah, we finally get to see our villain and find out about what makes him a villain, but that's about all we get here, while making our hero look like an asshole.  Ultimately, the art is decent here, but the story is a mess and I don't see things getting better as it goes.

Both the writing and the art in this issue are confusing to the point that I have no idea what went down here and I don't know how that is possible.  Things just happen whether they make sense or not and nothing is ever explained.  I'm happy that we only have one more issue of this series because nobody should have to be exposed to this iteration of Jaime Reyes for how cool the character should be.

Blue Beetle comes to an end with this issue........ and really, it's about time.  There was never anything to really like about this series and this issue does little to try and redeem it.  The art is alright, but nothing that I'm a big fan of and ultimately, I'm happy as hell that this series has ended because maybe now we'll get a proper one at some point in the future that can forget that it tried to turn Blue Beetle into some kind of ancient magic.

While the snappy dialog felt forced just to try and get a laugh and while I'm not quite positive what Ted Kord is really doing in this book yet, I did have a fun enough time here.  The art during some of the action came off a bit rough to me, but overall I found myself really enjoying it by the end.  I've missed Blue Beetle so much since his New 52 series was cancelled and I really hope that the creators do all they can to make sure that this series stays on the shelves, even if this issue didn't exactly grab me and shake the shit out of me to get my attention. .......... That's right, I'm biased.

This issue of Carnage might not be the rip roaring or the rip arming issue that some fans might have hoped it would be and sadly even though this issue takes the majority of its pages to set up a creepy environment........ it didn't really pay off too well...... even with some decent art backing up the story's progression, but it did do an excruciating job of making sure that anyone jumping on here will understand what's going on...... and while that's not really a terrible thing, it forced a lot of this issue to be boring as hell.  Don't get me wrong though, there's still some fun here, it's just not as much as I would have liked.  

Carnage this issue does take a step in the right direction when it comes to action and showing off what the super powered members of the Anti-Carnage Task Force can do, but since we continue to be in a drab, dark environment, the art doesn't seem to shine as much as I would have liked.  I do look forward to where this series is going though and with the added reveal here, it does change up the dynamic of the book.

If you were a fan of Event Leviathan and the big nothing burger that gave us, then you'll love this too because you continue to get nothing out of the first issue of this six-issue mini. The worst part is, I thought the story was dull previously, but now after having so much time removed from Leviathan and the complete lack of progression we got out of that story, this feels even worse because nothing feels like it matters because the reader, like the rest of the DC Universe, has moved on.

Checkmate continues to disappoint as I wonder what the point is overall in not only the story but in the characters we love acting and sounding so strangely through Bendis' mind. Some things in this issue feel like they'd be big anywhere else but because they're done here in a story that has gone on too long without anyone really knowing what it's about, I can't bring myself to think that anything big that happens here matters anywhere else.

Checkmate continues to be a series that not only comes across like it's been left behind by everything else in DC Comics, but a series that just presents the characters we love in weird ways and has them saying and doing weird things throughout, while also not giving much progression in the long run. People standing around and talking about nothing with art that just isn't for me overall..... Hopefully, as we now hit the second leg of the story things will start happening and make it feel like Checkmate is somewhat worthwhile.... but I'm not holding my breath.

If you've been reading Checkmate this far and have been enjoying it....... Well, there's no reason to stop now because you'll be getting the exact same thing that you've been getting from the previous issues, except this time around you'll be getting the answer to the Snowman's Ticket..... it's just too bad that the reveal means nothing if you follow other books at DC Comics.

Checkmate continues to be a bore of a story but this issue somehow takes its usual terrible dialog and ability to stand around and do nothing to a new degree as the story progression gets to be ludicrous in what they're telling us is going on. There's one more issue left to stop Leviathan and while none of the story from Event Leviathan to Checkmate was compelling or made all that much sense, I have no idea how one more issue can bring everything to a close... mostly because I'm not sure exactly what Leviathan has been doing this whole time.

Finally, Checkmate is over and we can all get back on with our lives in a world where the comics we love at least feel like they belong in the same Universe and where the characters we love feel like themselves or at least don't feel like the writer is making fun of them. The art in this issue made a would-be important scene come off incomprehensible and the story itself ultimately meant nothing. The only hope I have coming out of this mini is that no one ever references these events again and Bendis leaves DC soon.

Poor Constantine can't catch a break.  Even though this issue is full of things happening it really didn't keep my attention.  A lot of the story for me was lost due to how dark the issue was, and I felt that the artwork only hindered the story telling.  I can only wonder how this story is going to tie into whats going on in Forever Evil, or if it will just bypass it completely.  Hopefully next issue will be better.

With only nineteen pages, this book seems to do a lot.  We have a big battle, plot twists, and even gets us to where the book should be with the rest of the DCU.  But nothing in this issue impressed me.  It just seemed to be spinning it's wheels to get done as soon as possible.  Last issue seemed to be setting up for something big with the introduction of Julia Everheart, but we're left without any further explanation, I guess either she'll play apart of Forever Evil: Blight, or maybe we have to wait until that is even over.  I don't know.  But I'll keep reading waiting for the asshole with a heart to capture our hearts once again.

Well it's about time this whole Blight thing finally took off.  We got a taste in the last issue of Phantom Stranger, but this just comes at you no hold barred.  With that being said, it feels like Blight is just something for the dark characters to do, while everyone else is dealing with the Crime Syndicate, and comes off more as an afterthought.  I know we're a few issues in, but as the series progresses, it just hammers the idea in that this event doesn't belong.  But take it for what it is, and enjoy your dose of badass magic induced mayhem.  

Even though I accused Forever Evil: Blight of just being a thrown together story, so that the Dark characters would have something to do, I find myself enjoying it more and more with each issue.  We now have the newest member of the team, giving us the lucky number seven, we've become accustomed to for a Justice League team, and I'm really excited to see where this goes.  Beni Lobel left a lot to be desired with his artwork on this issue, but the story more than makes up for it in the end.  Go and get this issue, and join the fun of Blight.

I like seeing the arrogance of Constantine again now that he's done with Blight, and back in his element.  He proves that he's the baddest (80's bad) mage around, and is back to selling out his team if it get's him what he wants.  We're moving right along with this story, and getting closer to the Crime Syndicate in the process  I can't wait to see where it all ends up.  Check it out.

While I recently stated that I'm burned out on the whole Blight story, I have to admit that I was really into this issue of Constantine.  The story had a real feel of enemies that were once friends, and the desperation in their acts against each other.  Well at least on Nick's end.  It's weird that I feel more remorse coming from the villain than the hero, but I guess that's why we keep reading Constantine.  He's not our ordinary hero in tights.  So I hope that this issue has rejuvenated me for the last leg of the Dark characters saga of Blight, and I hope it does the same for you.  Check it out.

To begin with I hate seeing Constantine being part of the Cold Flame, even if it is a ruse.  But what I really hate is reading a comic and having no idea what I'm looking at.  This issue's art is a mess, and it just made me angry how hard it was to get through it.  So not much to say on the issue, because I don't know what was Spellbinder's magic, and what was real.  So if you're a die hard Constantine fan by all means pick it up, but besides that I'd hold off on a better issue.

This was a really fun one shot for our brash Brit.  Almost like a ghost story you tell around a campfire, and for once even though it goes against his persona, he didn't come off as quite as big of a dick.  While I love big story arcs, I could do for more one shots like this, just to give us a breather before his more serious adventures.  I liked the book and so should you, so go check it out and try not to get burned.