Hidden Oracle

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #10
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Inaki Miranda

Cassandra Cain gets name dropped again as Tim asks why she doesn’t have access to Kord Tower. I don’t know that I am completely satisfied with the answer that she has too much going on now because well…we are never shown what the hell she has going on. I hope this wasn’t a throw away line and Gail or DC editors plan to show us what is going on with Cass soon enough. This was an otherwise fantastic issue that showed off how tough the Birds are and how it was a good plan to fake Oracle’s death. Loved the bit with Catwoman too!

Booster Gold 40 and 41

Booster Gold (Volume 2) #40
Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. Demateis
Art by Pat Olliffe

 

This was an okay issue setting up the threat, recapping Booster’s life, and a surprise ending. I am sure Rip has his reasons for this.

Booster Gold (Volume 2) #41
Written by Keith Giffen and J.M. Demateis
Art by Chris Batista

 

So were we supposed to recognize the guy at the end of this? And the idea that Booster would willingly turn himself in after all these years – or that Rip would think it was a good idea – is just absurd. Not impressed with this issue.

Bruce Remembers

Power Girl (Volume 2) #21
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Sami Basri

 

This was awesome for anyone enjoing Generation Lost as Power Girl manages to convince Dick Grayson with the help of Bruce Wayne of Max Lord’s existence and villainy. Bruce’s presence here was just awesome and it was great to see that he remembers Lord – because if anyone could it would be Bruce. I also loved how Basri got all the pre-infinite crisis costumes correct in the flashback. I know that sounds easy, and it is, but so many other artists at DC would have gotten it wrong cause their editors suck at their jobs.

Birds of Prey 8 and 9

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #8
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Guillem March

Black Canary is in trouble and as always the Birds are in a terrible situation. That is one thing that is great about the Birds – they always seem to be in these situations where I have no idea how they are going to get out of them but they always succeed. That is what makes them great to read about. Huntress’s reaction to seeing Bruce was great too!

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #9
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Inaki Miranda

I like these Inaki Miranda’s art. I know she or he is not staying on this title but DC should put him or her somewhere. Anyways, this was a good issue as Dinah proves too strong for Mortis and Calculator believes he has killed Oracle (But we all know he hasn’t.)

Settling In

Gotham City Sirens #18
Written by Peter Calloway
Art by Jeremy Haun

 

This issue was much better as it is revealed Talia is behind all of this wanting to erase Catwoman of her memories of Batman and I liked the dialogue between Harley and Ivy. I think Calloway is finally getting settled writing this book. I still don’t buy Zatanna even thinking about mindwiping Selina again but oh well.

Kord Tower

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #7
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Ardian Syaf

This was a great issue as we learn more about the new Birds base: Kord Tower – it is pretty damn awesome and apparently Oracle wants to fake her own death. Hmmm…how? Mortis has an interesting power for a supervillain and the Birds go to a strip club! Great stuff! I was sad to see Cass left off the list of people that have access to the tower – but I suppose we can chalk that up to her being in Hong Kong now it wasn’t needed.

Long Live The Queen

Green Arrow (Volume 5) #6
Written by J.T. Krul
Art by Diogenes Neves

It seemed like this was going to be the end of an arc – yet nothing is really ended here. I am not complaining, I like the Queen as an adversary for Green Arrow and I want her to stick around and continue to the villain behind the scenes. Her costume is just awesome! And grave robbing Ollie’s mother – that’s just evil. She makes a good villain.

Like The Creators, But Not The Comic

Batman Confidential #50
Written by Marc Guggenheim
Art by Jerry Bingham

The switches between the far East and Gotham left me very confused as to what the hell was going on in this issue. The second feature with the Justice League was interesting but I still just didn’t care. Definitely not impressed with this arc so far and I like these creators.

A Good Friend

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #6
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Alvin Lee and Adriana Melo

 

The Huntress shows just how good of a friend she is by deciding to fight Lady Shiva in the place of Dinah. This is pretty much suicide and I loved the moment where she turns to God – Helena has always been a strict Catholic and Simone really got her characterization well here (as she always does) and it was great to see Sin again and I am glad she is alive and well. Can’t wait to see what the next arc will be like!

Superman Batman 75 and 76

Superman/Batman #75
Written by Paul Levitz
Art by Jerry Ordway

 

The anniversary issue has a bunch of tiny back-up features that I won’t cover here cause most are not in continuity but the main story was an epilogue to Levitz’s previous arc as a future Lexor citizen comes back in time to kill Superman and the Legion and Batman team up to stop them. It was good and Ordway’s art was great but nothing to get too excited about. I am kinda sick of the same four Legionnaires always being used – let’s mix it up a bit Levitz.

Superman/Batman #76
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Marco Rudy

Now this was great! We finally get to see Superman’s reaction to Batman’s “death” during Final Crisis and it was a really great. Winik could have made this cliche and dumb as hell (imagine if this was written by Meltzer) but instead we get a look at how Superman views death and the fate of his friends as well as some awesome moments between him and Wonder Woman. I loved it!

Needs A Consistent Artist

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #5
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Alvin Lee and Adriana Melo

 

Well this certianly got odd quickly. The art is all over the place and a confusing mess even without Benes. Can we just have once consistant artist on this book please? Anyways, Black Canary heads to Bangkok and is followed by Huntress and Lady Blackhawk but they soon discover that Black Canary is now wearing the White Canary costume and being called a mistress by a bunch of students??? What the hell is going on? Interesting and Gail’s writing is still top-notch but damn they need a new art team for this book. I love that Oracle is now working out of Kord Tower – a nice nod to her relationship with Ted Kord. I wonder if we will ever see Platinum Flats again though?

Fantasy Forest

Green Arrow (Volume 5) #3
Written by J.T. Krul
Art by Diogenes Neves

 

Ollie is saved by the forest and white light that heals his wound. We still don’t know who it was that shot him but he finds a new friend in Galahad – apparently a guy from Star City who at the very least believes he is the Galahad of Legend. In a really cool scene the forest goes through all the seasons in moments. Although Star City is in California – so they don’t have seasons right? Oh well we can chalk that one up to it being a magical forest. Meanwhile, we learn about this new Queen’s backstory and how she met and fell in love with Ollie’s father when she was a teenager. I love how they are fleshing out Ollie’s parents cause we really don’t know much about them and Ollie has been around as a comic character for 70 years! I am loving this book still and the art is as breathtaking as always. I wonder where Speedy is though…shouldn’t we at least get a mention of where exactly Ollie’s ward is during all this.

Sister In Silk

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #4
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Ed Benes and Adriana Melo

Black Canary defeats White Canary using her sonic scream in a freaking awesome moment you won’t want to miss. I loved it! The intensity of this story arc was amazing. If only it had all been handled by an artist that drew backgrounds! Ugh! We find out who White Canary is and it is a big pay off for long time fans of the Birds. In fact, this whole story arc had really been a look back at Gail’s previous run on the book with Savant and Creole and Dinah’s training in Singapore and all that. Now that we know Lady Shiva is involved it can only get more crazy.

Penguin Party In My Pants

Birds of Prey (Volume 2) #3
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Ed Benes and Adriana Melo

 

Shit this is the most intense suspenseful edge-of-your seat comic DC is putting out right now. Every page was filled with revelations and shocking moments. Creole and Savant alive and working for the White Canary! The White Canary is somehow Sin! (I think) The Penguin is also working for the White Canary and financed her plans! Hawk is injured! The GCPD have a tank! It’s all so awesome, go read it! Cassandra Cain gets another mention and Dinah knows Cass wouldn’t say she would piss on corpses, loved that! Oh and I loved how Penguin hallucinates and declared a Penguin Party in his pants haha the only downside to this is Benes still won’t draw backgrounds ugh.

Streets of Gotham 12 and 13

Batman: Streets of Gotham #12
Written by Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, and Derke Fridoffs
Art by Nguyen
Co-Feature by Marc Andreyko
Art by Szymon Kudranski

 

I don’t know why Dini is having such trouble writing this book solo but this is another kinda fill-in – although it is based on a plot by Dini. Luckily, it has Dini’s good writing and style to it as we get to know The Carpenter and are introduced to a new Bat-Villain, The Director. A crazy director who wants to make superhero snuff films. Dini is a genius at creating themed villains I sware! Anyways, he hires the Carpenter to build the perfect set but then plans on killing her when she is done. It’s a neat plot and meanwhile Damian gives a gift to Abuse that Batman won’t be happy about. I liked this. The Manhunter back-up was as good as always as Ramsey arrives at his mom’s place only to find Jane Doe dressed up in a skinsuit that looks like her! The art change from last issue was pretty dramatic. Not that I don’t like Kudranski’s art but it is just a completely different style.

Batman: Streets of Gotham #13
Written by Paul Dini, Dustin Nguyen, and Derke Fridoffs
Art by Nguyen
Co-Feature by Marc Andreyko
Art by Szymon Kudranski

 

The main story concludes the tales of the Carpenter as she is saved by Batman and all is a happy ending for this new fun character – she even defys Batman by deciding to stay in Gotham after all. It was really good. Hush is also dealt with here as the second plot apparently setting up with the next arc. I wonder what is in store for Tommy Elliot now that Bruce is coming back? The Manhunter back-up wraps up the co-feature as Jane Doe is defeated. The ending has Dick Grayson asking Kate out on a date. I wonder where this will go from here? Will Andreyko write their relationship or what? I don’t know but I will miss Manhunter in this book. Why is she being taken out and replaced?

Creepy Fuseli

Zatanna (Volume 2) #2
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Stephane Roux

 

It’s Zatanna versus the nightmare Imp Fuseli – who is actually from a real painting called Fuseli’s Nightmare. I like this creepy character and Roux duplicates the painting very well. Brother Night is creepy as ever and seems to have the soul of Zatanna’s Dad under his control. This book has been really good so far and I love what Dini is doing with the character. This storyline takes place back when Zatanna was member of the JLA during McDuffie’s run it seems – that makes sense since it was announced around that time.

All Is Well

Power Girl (Volume 2) #13
Written by Judd Winick
Art by Sami Basri

 

Well I have to say that as I suspected, the book still maintains good quality with Winick coming on. He knows how to write humor and balance it with action – he always has. He can be hit or miss – but he can do that and I have no idea why some people are so down on him as a writer. Basri’s art is also perfect for Power Girl – it is different from Connor but that doesn’t mean it is bad. This book recaps Maxwell Lord’s return and then wiping away the memory of his existence. It is written in such a way that it also recaps Power Girl’s history – I am not sure if the mind wipe worked on her – I think it did as she does forget the mission to find Lord. I think Lord himself is responsible for her company going bankrupt all of a sudden somehow. I was glad to see Terra wasn’t dropped from the book too. All is well for this series.