The Auction Of The Black Mirror

Detective Comics #872
Written by Scott Snyder
Art by Jock
Co-Feature by Snyder
Art by Francesco Frankavilla

 

The main story was just fantastic and creepy as the Dick goes undercover at the Black Mirror auction. From the Dealer’s talk about evil being humanity’s divine spark to the creepy gas masks to the surprise ending it was fantastic. Jock really sets the mood with his art too. I hope this creative team stays here for a while! There is great characterization of Dick and Babs too. Everything about this makes the perfect Bat-book. The co-feature sees more of James Jr. as Commisioner Gordon and Barbara discuss him and apparently they suspect he committed murder in the past. Interesting stuff.

Ghost Mom

Green Arrow (Volume 5) #7
Written by J.T. Krul
Art by Mike Mayhew

 

This was odd. The Ghost of Ollie’s mother shows up and comforts him. Was this for real or was it a hallucination? What is going on with this forest? One thing that I was wondering is if the whole Ollie’s parents get killed in front of him by lions thing – is that a retcon? I have never heard that before as far as I know. If so I think there are enough DC heroes with dead parents and that would be completely unnecessary. Mayhew is the perfect fill-in for Neves as I barely even realized that it was a different artist. Beautiful art.

Finally The Whole Roster

Justice Society of America #46
Written by Marc Guggenheim
Art by Mike Norton

 

After being annoyed at the first few issues of Guggenheim’s run, I am happy to say I enjoyed this issue a lot. I think because he actually included all of the current JSA as Obsidian and Mr. America finally show up. The cliffhanger is obviously not what it says it is. I highly doubt Lightning is dead, but I don’t know about the Mayor. Much improved.

The Spectre Versus The Butcher

Green Lantern (Volume 4) #61
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Doug Mahnke

 

Yay!!! Hal Jordan doesn’t even appear in this issue as the focus is put on Atrocitus! How can anyone say the success of Green Lantern since Rebirth is because of Hal Jordan! Johns never focuses on him and even has issues without the character! The success of Green Lantern is because of Geoff Johns’s world building, not Hal Jordan people.

Maggie Mxyzptlk

Action Comics #896
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Pete Woods
Co-Feature by Nick Spencer
Art by RB Silva

 

I was utterly confused at what exactly went down in the boardroom at LexCorp here. Could it be the art? Did I read too quick? I don’t know but I am not sure why everyone was freaking out at the end. I liked the back-up a lot more as Jimmy goes in a date with Maggie Mxyzptlk! Awesome! It’s sad that this Jimmy Olsen co-feature won’t be continuing. I can’t believe I actually loved a Jimmy Olsen co-feature!

This Arc

Justice League of America #52
Written by James Robinson
Art by Mark Bagley

 

At this point I can probably say that I like this arc a lot less then the previous epic one as I really don’t care for Dark Supergirl or the Crime Syndicate all that much. It’s not a bad issue at all though and it is certainly much better then anything this book had pre-Robinson.

Magical Therapists And Creepy Dolls

Zatanna (Volume 2) #8
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Cliff Chiang

 

Dini returns to this book as Cliff Chiang does wonderful art on this issue and he creates another scary ass villain for Zatanna to face – this time in the form of a vetriloquist doll – always a frightening thing whether it is in Goosebumps, the Twilight Zone, or here. Great issue. I also love that there is a therapist just for magicians and of course Detective Chimp woudl go to her too!

Finch’s Gotham

Batman: The Dark Knight #1
Written by David Finch
Art by Finch

 

And so debuts another new batbook this time the sole work of David Finch depicting Bruce Wayne dealing with darker, more occult side of Gotham City. I really enjoyed it and I was surprised how much I liked Finch’s artwork here. I loved how he drew the Batmobile like the one from the Burton films and the mystery of Dawn Golden is intriguing (Even if her name and retconnedness is a little hokey). Not a bad start at all.

Altering Time

The Flash (Volume 3) #8
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Scott Kolins

 

This was an okay issue but I definitely did not enjoy it as much as the Captain Boomerang spotlight. I don’t know if it is because it was set mostly in the 25th century or because I just found some stuff to be confusing. Why does Thawne hate Barry Allen? It wasn’t really explained clearly. I liked the idea that Thawne kept changing his past. Clever idea by Johns but otherwise I didn’t care much for this issue.

Hole In The Head

Batman and Robin #18
Written by Paul Cornell
Art by Scott McDaniel

 

I have read a lot of bad reviews of this comic and I don’t get why. McDaniel’s art doesn’t even bother me like it usually does and the Absence is such a goofy villain that I can’t help but love it. I mean she has a hole in her head and is cutting off body parts of Bruce Wayne’s ex-girlfriends. Hilarious. I can’t help but love it.

Durlan Foes

Legion of Super-Heroes (Volume 6) #8
Written by Paul Levitz
Art by Yildiray Cinar and David Hdr

 

The Legion continues to fight the Durlans that blame the United Planets for Brande’s death. It was pretty good and Levitz continues to kick ass at writing this book…I was a tad disappointed at the outcome of the election but I can see why people voted for him considering his recent rise to stardom in the DC Universe. I guess XS isn’t an active Legionnaire which kinda blows…maybe Johns is saving her for Flashpoint?

Outsiders 34 and 35

Outsiders (Volume 4) #34
Written by Dan Didio and Keith Giffen
Art by Giffen

I like the idea of The Olympian getting involved with the Outsiders – but I don’t know how I feel about him actually calling his men Manazons. That is just dumb. I think we know why that Wonder Woman arc was called Rise of the Olympian despite its focus being on Genocide – Didio. He loves this character I guess. It is great to see Giffen joining the book as artist and co-plotter as it will probably gain some quality.

Outsiders (Volume 4) #35
Written by Dan Didio and Phillip Tan
Art by Tan

Ahh and Tan comes back for one more issue! He is not such a bad artist but he never draws backgrounds and I never know what the hell is going on when he draws this comic. Not to mention the dialogue is pathetically bad once again. Ugh at least Giffen is coming back next issue. Oh and since when does Black Lightning contain Black Lantern energy??

Memory Wipe

Power Girl (Volume 2) #19
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Sami Basri

 

I liked that the JSA All-Stars actually believed Power Girl about Maxwell Lord. I mean she is their proven leader and they would have no reason to doubt her – I feel like a lot of writers would have went there though so I am glad Winick did not. It’s too bad even PeeGee forgets about Lord soon after. One thing that kind of bothered me is that Power Girl was a member of Justice League Europe and probably didn’t have many adventures with Fire, Ice, and the rest of Justice League America but I can buy that they had a few. Anyways, this was a really good issue as Winick has really made the whole Generation Lost plotline pretty epic and the surprise success of the brightest day line. We need to see Terra soon though.

Usually Packs More

Green Lantern Corps (Volume 2) #55
Written by Tony Bedard
Art by Tyler Kirkham

 

This was an okay issue although I felt like more could have happened – it was just the reveal of what the pact between Ganthet, Guy, and Atrocitus was and the Weaponer taking down most of the Lanterns except for Kyle and Soranik. That is not usual for Bedard who usually packs a lot into an issue. It was still good though. Not much else to say about it.

Sitting Back And Enjoying The Ride

Wonder Woman #605
Written by J. Michael Straczynski and Phil Hester
Art by Don Kramer, Eduardo Pansica, and David Hdr

 

Despite my initial annoyance at the costume change and the timeline change that started all this, I have decided – especially after this issue – that I am going to sit back and enjoy this because it is freaking awesome! I love the idea of the amazons living in secret around the world and Diana secretly fighting injustice wherever she goes. I loved the flashbacks to her childhood where she assault the man who was beating his daughter and says she will always be watching – that is classic Diana to me! And the hints at the old timeline make me so excited! A little boy draws her in her old outfit and Diana recognizes it somehow. I like that the boy remembers her even if no one else does. And the temple with the Wonder Woman dolls. Just because the timeline has changed doesn’t mean all the artifacts of her existence are gone. And the minotaur showing up made me miss Ferdinand from Rucka’s run! The Morrigan are interesting villains too.

New Media

Superman #706
Written by G. Willow Wilson
Art by Amilcar Pinna

 

Despite I am sure being told to write these fill-ins quickly and close to deadlines, I am sure, Wilson has managed to hammer out some nice little interludes for Superman’s walk and this issue was no different as Perry White must deal with a blog damaging the Daily Planet’s representation. I took a New Media class in school and it’s no secret that print journalists are afraid of bloggers and the New media so I think this was a great concept to explore for the Daily Planet and the ending was quite good. I don’t know why Wilson didn’t use Jimmy Olsen instead of this new Sandeep character but oh well it works. And you would think someone would have seen Lois and Superman in a compromising postion by now and thought she was cheating on Clark right? Why didn’t anyone think of that before?

Leaving Arkham

Titans (Volume 2) #30
Written by Eric Wallace
Art by Fabrizio Fiorentino

 

It’s a shame this Arkham arc is coming to an end as this has been the best this book has been since the Villains for Hire thing started. Heck any comic set in Arkham is usually a treat but this setting really amped up the fun for this series which I found to just be incredibly depressing before. Osiris leaves and swares off killing for now, which is a good thing, although it was kind of abrupt and the confrontation between Dick and Roy was great cause I am glad to see that Dick still believes in his friend even if Roy has become a drug addicted mess. I wonder where this is going.