Marvel 1985 #3 Review

MARVEL 1985 #3
Written by Mark Millar
Art by Tommy Lee Edwards

This issue started out quite slowly when you consider the fact the last issue ended with Sandman attacking Clyde Wyncham's nurse and Electro zapping her fleeing boyfriend in the middle of the streets combined with the promise of the villains taking over the peaceful town.

However, the slow burn as Millar gave us some breadcrumb backstory on the mysterious Wyncham and Toby's father's relationship with him. There's very little information given, but there are subtle hints that Toby's father, Jerry, and his girlfriend at the time (Toby's mother) had something major happen in their lives because of Wyncham and it was so bad they decided never to speak of that night ever again.

After the slow start, we see the town beginning to react to the events of the double homocide the night before and Toby's father still refuses to believe him that their are real super-villains, just like in the comic books, up at the old Wyncham house.

What follows is a gradual escalation of the villains' attacks on the townspeople as we see MODOK and the Mole Man rounding up people and one scene even shows an entire street littered with dead bodies as an unsuspecting couple stumbles across Ultron. Fin Fang Foom is even found in the harbour and the National Guard is called in to deal with the creature.

However, for all the insanity that is going on, no one outside of Toby and his father, who was forced to believe everything his son has told him once he's seen the super-villains with his own eyes, seems to be the least bit concerned over the sudden appearance of these characters.

Hell, Fin Fang Foom should have been a national panic, but the National Guard and other people shown didn't even seem phased by it, as if it was an everyday occurance. I'm hoping this is explained away as some kind of pyschic suggestions or something to do with Wyncham because it was really at odds with the otherwise "real world" feel of the story so far.

Verdict - Must Read. Despite that small nitpick over the reaction of some of the real world people, I still loved this issue and Edwards art fits this type of story perfectly. With only a couple of issues left, I'm a bit concerned about whether or not Millar can wrap this up with a satisfying conclusion, but I'm certainly enjoying the ride so far.

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Sky Doll #3 Review

SKY DOLL #3
Written by Barbara Canepa & Alessandro Barbucci
Art by Alessandro Barbucci
Translation by C.B. Cebulski

Sky Doll #3 wraps up the first Sky Doll storyarc with a bang as the Agape religious faction begins rioting in the streets of the Holy City after the events of last issue.

Meanwhile, our conquering "heroes" return from Aqua after effectively putting an end to the Aquarian people's only means of reproduction, ending any future for their people and Agape-worshipping religion.

After the events on Aqua, Roy has become bitter and disenfranchised after being betrayed by his best friend, Jahu, and the very religion he worshiped and represented. While it looked as if Roy was becoming the generic dark and brooding ex-idealist, it actually built to the eventual confrontation with Noa and the two's budding romance would have taken a step forward if not for being interrupted just before their first kiss. However, it the brief interlude served its purpose and snapped Roy out of his funk and was a great character moment between the two.

One of the things I loved about this issue was the way Canepa and Barbucci play up the media aspect, moreso than in previous issues, of the Lodovica faction and the portrayal of Papess Lodovica and the gradual breaking down of her character as everything she's built crumbles around her and, by issue's end, her reaction to the betrayal of her most trusted advisor and would-be lover, the Miracolatore, who we've seen actually despises Lodovica and her distorted view of religion.

The conflict between the Lodovica and Agape factions comes to a head in this issue with the Agape faction adopting a terrorist-like focus and attacking the Lodovica television show, which Noa, Jahu and Roy were being celebrated for their actions on Aqua. This leads to the shocking death of Roy, who is shot on camera by the extremist faction. In the chaos and confusion, Noa takes the fallen Roy and performs a miracle on live television, reviving the fallen Roy to the shock of everyone.

It's a powerful scene that means different things to different people and is a testament to this series.  

It is revealed that Noa was created by the Miracolatore and he has one of his Agape followers at the studio put Noa on the line and he tells Noa he is her father and that he wants to come see him. This leads to an interesting internal struggle on Noa's part that is voiced for the readers by the Cleopatra character and it details the desire of people to please their creators, which I can be taken as a religious or familial connotation, and how it is juxtaposed against people's desire to explore the unknown and make connections with people and the pursuit of your own happiness, which can relate to any number of things, such as love, science or the general lack of faith in the religious system. It's a powerful scene that means different things to different people and is a testament to this series.

In the end, Noa has the decision made for her as Roy "saves" her from her predicament and he, Jahu and Cleopatra all take off for the stars, ending this chapter of the story on a high note with the promise of more to come.

However, this leads into my only complaint about Sky Doll and Marvel's adaptation of the work for North America (although, Heavy Metal technically already did this, but I believe those counted as imports instead of licensed NA translations) - the fact that the story isn't completed. Yes, you can get a fully satisfying story from these first three issues with a beginning, middle and end, but it would be like reading all the way up to the death of Captain America or Bucky taking over - you got a complete story, but you know it's only act one or two of a major story and you won't be able to read the rest of it anytime soon. This isn't the fault of Marvel and I applaud them for taking the initiative and bringing over such an ambitious product like the Soleil titles, but it doesn't change the fact there is literally no more Sky Doll, outside of a character sketchbook, available, here or in Europe. It's just not done. Maybe this project will inspire Canepa and Barbucci to finish up Volume 4 and to work on future volumes after that, but that doesn't lessen my disappointment that I won't be able to read anymore Sky Doll for a long, long time.

Verdict - Must Read. If you haven't picked up any issues yet, wait for the eventual trade. While I want this book to be as successful as possible to help spur the production of more volumes and to ensure the success of the Soleil North American line, you would be best served,at this point, holding off on a beautiful oversized hardover if you haven't bought any issues of this yet. Again, this is an amazing title with beautiful art and a story that will make you question your own beliefs in regards to religion, science, politics and everything in between.

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Incredible Hercules #119 Review

INCREDIBLE HERCULES #119
Written by Fred Van Lente & Greg Pak
Art by Rafa Sandoval

Remember last issue's cliffhanger? No, not Hercules shacking up with Snowbird (although that was awesome). I'm talking about Kirby, Cho's coyote pup, being shown eerily watching Herc and Snowbird getting it on while being drawn with green "Skrull eyes".

Well, turns out Van Lente and Pak didn't want to beat around the bush with that subplot and the coyote is revealed as a Skrull from the outset with a brief flashback showing when Kirby was replaced and even a quick Skrull prophecy flashback to explain why they replaced the lowly mut (the Queen claimed the prophecy foretold of Earth's gods being undone by their lowliest companion, which is a coyote pup I guess).

After some awkward (and hilarious) morning after moments between Hercules and Snowbird, the Skrull Kirby makes his move and takes control of the God Squad's Godmobile (I so made that name up and you know you want a Godmobile now) and steers it off course, smashing it upon the Skrull gods' memorial of other races' fallen deities.

Atum promptly biting the head off of Kirby.  

While no one is seriously injured in the sneak attack, it does destroy the Godmobile and results in Atum promptly biting the head off of Kirby, the Skrull Pup, killing the imposter, much to Cho's chagrin.

Before they can fight over who is or isn't a Skrull, the God Squad is attacked by the combined might of the absorbed pantheons from the world's that have fallen to the Skrulls already. Cho helps the team coordinate their attacks to great success, but they are clearly outnumbered and losing ground quickly.

Snowbird, unwilling to lose another team (most of Alpha Flight was killed a few years back), sacrifices herself by transforming into Neooqtoq the Ravager, the deadliest of the great beasts of the north. I have no clue if that existed before now, but she becomes a giant tentacle monster thingy that starts tearing everything in its path apart. The rest of the God Squad is forced to leave her behind or risk being killed by her as well. I'm not sure what happens after this, but she and all of their attackers start drifting away on some rock in the Dream Time and then just blink out of existence. Whether she's dead or not is a mystery for now.

With all of their obstacles out of the way, the God Squad approaches the Skrull gods' temple and are confronted by Kly'bn, God of the Skrulls. I didn't know if they were going to do this or not, but apparently this is the guy who loves everyone and to whom the Skrulls are all referring to when they say, "He loves you.". And here I thought the identity of "He" would be a big reveal for Secret Invasion. Maybe Incredible Hercules will be a more important tie-in than I thought?

Verdict - Must Read. Lots of great moments, such as the dialogue between Snowbird and Hercules at the start, and some great action scenes along the way. Not sure how big a part of Secret Invasion this will end up being, but based on how great this title has been since Herc took it over, I don't think anyone will be complaining about this being a cash-in or cheap marketing tie-in.

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Final Crisis: Rogue's Revenge #1 Review

FINAL CRISIS: ROGUES' REVENGE #1 (OF 3)
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Scott Kolins

Let me preface this review by confessing that I have never read Geoff Johns' critically acclaimed Flash run and, as such, I don't have the same love or understanding of the Rogues or the Flash mythos as other people. I am aware of the events and know the characters, but have little first hand experience with any of their stories.

Furthermore, I picked up Rogues' Revenge mainly for the Final Crisis tagline on the book. On that regard, this was a wasted purchase. There is a panel or two with Libra and the Rogues rejecting his offer to join the new Secret Society and that's about it for Final Crisis related material. Yes, that also means there was no Barry Allen featured in this issue either.

However, as a comic book, this was an excellent read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will happily be picking up the remaining issues of this storyline.

As odd as this sounds, Rogues' Revenge is about Flash's Rogues getting their revenge. The catch, however, is that it's not revenge on the Flash.  

As odd as this sounds, Rogues' Revenge is about Flash's Rogues getting their revenge. The catch, however, is that it's not revenge on the Flash. After spending months on the run and trapped on the prison planet, as seen in Salvation Run, the Rogues are back on Earth (completely unexplained and no indication of how they escaped the JLA and JSA at the super villain protest in Final Crisis #1) and have had enough of the super villain game and have all decided to hang up their tights and retire.

Unfortunately for them, they see a news report that Inertia, who the reporter describes as the Rogues' leader, was mysteriously freed from his motionless prison in the Flash Museum and is currently at large. Captain Cold doesn't take this news well and, combined with the Rogues' displeasure over being used by Inertia to kill Bart Allen, he proclaims they will be breaking their number one rule and killing a speedster, in this case, Inertia.

The scene showing off Inertia's escape was intense and fairly graphic, showing Intertia tearing one officer's head clean off while telling another he is going to to rip his intenstines out and see how far they can stretch. For some reason, I don't think he's been rehabilitated. Intertia then goes off in search of Wally's children to do to them what he did to Bart.

However, before reaching Wally's house, Inertia is stopped by the person that freed him. At first, I thought it was going to be Barry Allen, but it ended up being Zoom, of all people, and he was carrying a Kid Flash costume and proclaiming that Inertia will be the next Kid Flash!?!

The good guy, if you can call him that, of this story seems like it will be Pied Piper, who's come across Trickster's will, which details a plethora of information on the Rogues', how their powers work, family members and so on. He gets in touch with the police and it looks like he will be hunting down the Rogues in an attempt to stop them to make up for he and Trickster failing to stop them when they killed Bart (yes, they are still trying to pass off that Trickster and Piper weren't involved in Bart's death). He doesn't seem to have the Anti-Life Equation, or a piece of it, like he did in Countdown, but it's still early and he looked more powerful than usual with his appearance at the police station.

Verdict - Must Read. It's rare to have a story told from the villain's perspective and Johns does an excellent job of getting someone like myself, with no previous experience with these characters, into each of the villains' heads. I feel like I understand each of their motivations and reasons for doing the things they do and I'm excited to see where this story goes from here. Shame there's almost no Final Crisis connection though...

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Captain America #40 Review

CAPTAIN AMERICA #40
Written by Ed Brubaker
Art by Steve Epting

I want to praise this comic and gush about how great it was and the shock ending and everything that happened in between, but I can't help but think that this is also a prime example of what's been wrong with the title since Bucky took over as Captain America and that is the pacing.

It's as if Brubaker has these spectacular moments mapped out, such as the Cap vs Cap fight, but he's either being forced or has decided on his own to write for the trade, as they say, resulting in several issues where, while still enjoyable reads, we are subjected to what amounts to filler before we hit an issue, like this one, where it's non-stop balls to the wall action and story progression.

I'm sure most of these concerns would be moot if I was reading this in a trade or omnibus, but, on a month to month basis, this is quite disconcerting, to say the least.  

I'm sure most of these concerns would be moot if I was reading this in a trade or omnibus, but, on a month to month basis, this is quite disconcerting, to say the least.

Now, let me just dispell all that doom and gloom preamble by saying that I still love this book and there hasn't been a bad issue in the entire 40 issue run. It's more of a "you're hardest on the ones you love" type of deal where I want this book to be as good as it is in this month's offering every single month, which is probably asking a bit much of any book, even one as good as Captain America.

To talk about the actual book for a minute, this issue features the 1950's Captain America versus Bucky, in his shiny Cap costume, in a shocking fight that sees the Grand Director Cap laying a beat down on Bucky. It seems the Director is much stronger than I thought and Bucky even comments that he's faster and hits harder than Steve Rogers ever did. I have no experience with the 1950's version of Cap, so this came as a shock to me. I figured he was similar to Bucky since he lacked the Super Soldier serum.

Not only is the 50's Cap stronger and faster than Bucky, but he can take a licking and keep on ticking, as evidenced by him taking one of Bucky's bionic arm powered haymakers to the face and shrugging it off like it was nothing.

The only thing that saves Bucky is what appears to be a running theme in this title lately - mainly Dr Faustus' mental programming failing. The Grand Director believes this "fake" Captain America was responsible for killing Bucky and is out for revenge. However, when Bucky reveals who he is, the mental programming of Faustus' breaks down and the Red Skull is forced to recall the Director immediately, which results him the Director, disoriented by the mental lapse, sending Bucky flying off the building with a single punch. Fortunately, Bucky was saved by Falcon, who expected Bucky to disobey and confront this fake Cap.

The rest of the issue focused on Sharon Carter and her attempt to escape from the Red Skull - again. This time she has Sin as her hostage and plans to use her to voice activate the final set of doors and to help guarantee her freedom. Unfortunately for her, she's still not fully recovered from the drugs in her system and Sin manages to break free of her.

Sin pulls a Rambo-sized knife out in an attempt to take revenge on Carter. As expected, nothing came of it and Sharon quickly knocked it out of her hands as the two girls continued to grapple with each other. However, after a quick scene switch to the Red Skull and the Grand Director's mental breakdown, we are quickly informed that there's been a problem with Sin and Sharon Carter. As we cut back to the duo, the issue ends with Sharon lying on the floor with the knife stuck in her stomach and the Red Skull and his men scrambling to try and save her, most likely only for the Steve Rogers child she was carrying. Shocking? To me, it was almost as shocking as Captain America being killed back in Cap #25. This came out of nowhere and I hope Brubaker isn't resorting to a cheap "abortion" tactic to take care of the baby Cap subplot.

Verdict - Must Read. This issue was amazing in everyway and, despite my little tangent to start the review off, I cannot recommend this issue enough. It's issues like this that cause everyone to call Captain America one of the best books on the market.

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Nova #15 Review

NOVA #15
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Wellinton Alves

Nova has been incredibly good lately and I think it might have to do with the fact he isn't bogged down with "forced" tie-ins in attempts to bolster sales. I know Annihilation and Conquest aren't forced, per se, but he's been involved in those, Civil War and various aftermath and tie-in issues since the series started. He even has a Secret Invasion tie-in coming up.

That is why I think these issues have been so good. It's Nova being Nova and the DnA get to tell their story and give us some real development in Nova's character that seems to have gotten lost in the last year's worth of "tie-ins". Don't get me wrong, this is one of Marvel's best books, hands down, but it was always more about the current storyline or event and less about Nova, the character, in those issues.

Another great thing about this storyline and this issue, in particular, is the fact DnA didn't resort to the cliched super hero battle as the crux of the story. We got our fight with Silver Surfer last issue, but it was actually more of a ploy to get Nova alone to talk to him outside of Galactus' sphere of influence than it was a "misunderstanding". Add the fact Nova hasn't been trying to stop Galactus or the Surfer, as I had expected, and it made for a highly entertaining read that defied the conventional, "don't eat this world Galactus!", battle and focused on the task of evacuating people and showcased Nova's character and his desire to save everyone, even at his own expense.

Did Worldmind "die"?  

Which takes us to the events of this issue, whereby Nova saves everyone but himself and is trapped on the dying planet. He comes up with the brilliant idea to travel up Galactus' energy syphons to escape and succeeds, to a point. While Nova comes out fine, the Worldmind seems to have been purged from his systems and the only "voice" Nova can hear in his helmet now is the default Centurion operating system. Did Worldmind "die"? Or does he just need a reboot?

It's unknown at this point, but the fight with Harrow, the pyschich entity that was wreaking havoc on the planet in previous issues, shows just how important Worldmind has been to Nova's success as he fumbles with his basic operating systems and use of the Nova Force, nearly costing him his life in this fight.

Thankfully, the fight was noticed by the Silver Surfer and he quickly alerts Galactus to Harrow's prsence and the fact Harrow had been leeching off of the World Devourer, resulting in Galactus destroying the creature in an instant. Just as Nova thinks he is safe, Galactus turns his attention on him, similar to how he had just did with Harrow. Thankfully, Galactus only teleports him and the Surfer a few light years away as Nova is left pondering why he wasn't killed during a brief conversation with the Surfer.

It was an entertaining read and the developments with the Worldmind have some grave implications. There's also the matter of Galactus sparing Nova. Why did he do it? He seemed to be thinking something or understood something we, the readers, didn't. Does he know something of the Worldmind or did he simply admire Nova's courage and determination in his attempts to save those people? The Surfer's ominous final words about Galactus never sparing someone more than once seem to imply that we will be seeing some sort of confrontation between the Big G and Nova in the future. Hopefully DnA will answer some of these lingering questions from an otherwise spectacular arc.

Verdict - Must Read. Great story, lots of action, lots of drama, character development, great art and the best depiction of Galactus I've ever seen (still sporting the cosmic-y space pattern blended with his classic look) make this a must read for everyone.

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Batman Confidential #19 Review

BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL #19
Written by Fabian Nicieza
Art by Kevin Maguire

After a comical and highly entertaining romp throughout the first two parts of this Batgirl and Catwoman team up, the plot finally takes a giant step forward with this issue. That's not to say it's lacking in the things that made the first two issues so much fun, but there's a definite shift in focus as we finally see the makings of an actual story that ties together the fun and games of earlier issues.

Last issue ended with Catwoman sniped in the shoulder and falling off the rooftop. Batgirl, reluctantly, saves her, resulting in the two landing in a garbage bin after Batgirl slowed their fall. The inner narrative, which switches between Batgirl's and Catwoman's point of view, remains one of the best parts of these Fabian penned issues and has me hoping he'll be sticking around on this book or a mainstream Bat-title in the futrue.

Not to be outdone by Fabian are Maguire's expressive characters and masterfully laid out panels. The looks on Catwoman and Batgirl's faces at the end of the issue as Batman stands over their debacle is worth the price of admission alone.

There's a definite shift in focus as we finally see the makings of an actual story that ties together the fun and games of earlier issues.
  

Speaking of which, after the dumpster diving fiasco, the duo comes to terms in regards to the notebook and we see a little bit of begrudging respect for each other forming between the two girls as they plan to take down their assailant, who has them pinned down with sniper fire.

Using a flashbang, Batgirl blinds the sniper and the two take to the rooftop to find one big, mean Russian guy that almost reminds me of the Russian from Punisher with his size and resistence to pain. He manages to take down Batgirl and Catwoman's punches barely affect him. After taking the notebook from Batgirl, he makes his escape, leaving the two femme fatales to lick their wounds.

It is here that we finally find out more about the mysterious notebook and why Catwoman has been after it. Seems there's a friend of Selina's that's been kidnapped and then used and abused by the Russian mob and she was going to use the information in the Commissioners notebook to blackmail / convince a stronger faction of that mob to release the girl and take out the scum that kidnapped her.

That obviously didn't go to plan with Batgirl on her tail all night, but the two then team up to go save the girl, following the tracking device planeted in the notebook by Batgirl. It leads them to the Russians and, as expected, things go bad with that Russian sniper getting the drop on Batgirl and the Russians getting away, leaving Catwoman and Batgirl to escape from an exploding building only to find Batman standing over them and demanding to know what happened, almost like a father catching his girls doing something wrong. As I said, this scene, as brief as it is, makes this issue worthwhile for me and the fact the rest was incredibly enjoyable is just gravy on top at this point.

Verdict - Must Read. It's out of continuity and many gave up on Confidential after that Joker origin fiasco, but this is a different creative team and the story rocks. At the least, if you don't want to buy the singles, consider picking up the trade in the future.

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Action Comics #867 Review

ACTION COMICS #867
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Gary Frank and Jon Sibal

I had a few issues with Action Comics #867, but, for the most part, I really enjoyed the pro-active stance Superman took this issue in regards to Brainiac. It seems like he's always resting on his laurels and just waiting for the next crisis to solve instead of actively hunting down villains. For someone like Superman, it makes so much sense for him to do things like this. Hopefully he'll continue the trend in the future with his Earth-based villains.

Supergirl was surprisingly good in this issue. She added a nice emotional angle to the destruction of Krypton and the threat of Brainiac and it was good to see her and Clark together for a change.

She talks about the annihilation of Kandor and it's like they are talking as if they know nothing about what happened. Doesn't Clark have the bottled city of Kandor? Haven't they known what happened to it for the past several decades?  

However, this is where one of my problems with the issue stems from. She talks about the annihilation of Kandor and it's like they are talking as if they know nothing about what happened. Doesn't Clark have the bottled city of Kandor? Haven't they known what happened to it for the past several decades? I know it got smashed during that Third Kryptonian storyline, but are they talking about a different Kandor now?

Clark even went on to visit his parents and spoke about how there could be thousands of Kryptonians still out there and he had to go find the real Brainiac to try and help them. Maybe I'm missing something and there were multiple Kandors or the bottled city I know as Kandor is some kind of moon colony or something.

After saying his goodbyes to Lois and his parents, Superman leaves in a pretty cool looking spaceship made of the same crystal formations the Fortress of Solitude has. He ended up watching a video of Non, the lobotimized scientist and mentor to Jor-El that was with Zod. Johns seemed to make a big deal about Non discussing Jor-El's doomsday prophecies for the planet Krypton and how no one would listen to them and that Brainiac's motives might be tied to them. I assume it was to collect a dying species sort of like a zoo, but couldn't really see how this was worth noting or how it was new news, but Superman acted really surprised for some reason.

Finally, Superman caught up to Brainiac's probes and began destroying them with ease, with seems at odds with how one of them gave him a little trouble last issue and even cut him open. This sparks the appearance of Brainiac's mothership and he quickly bottles up another alien city before launching a probe into the nearby star and causing it to pulse (doesn't go supernova, so not sure what he did exactly) and sent a wave out into the solar system, destroying the planet and, apparently, knocking out Superman, who is then captured by the "real" Brainiac.

Verdict - Must Read. Not sure why Brainiac's probes became weaklings or what's going on with this the lack of knowledge about Kandor, but I still enjoyed this issue a great deal and can't wait to see the next one. Excellent use of supporting characters, specifically Supergirl, and a nice proactive approach by Superman combined with this creepy new version of Brainiac have me enthralled with the current storyline.

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Booster Gold #1,000,000 Review

BOOSTER GOLD #1,000,000
Written by Geoff Johns & Jeff Katz
Art by Dan Jurgens

I'm not sure why this needed to be Booster Gold One Million, as Peter Platinum and Booster's visit to the year one million didn't really add anything to the story nor did it last long, but this issue still managed to be another amzing issue in a sea of greatness that made up this week in comics.

Contrary to the cover image, there is no fight or dramatic confrontation between Booster Gold and Peter Platinum. After watching Ted Kord sacrifice himself to fix the timeline last issue, Booster got caught in a time distortion as time corrected itself around him and it sucked him into the future, specifically the year one million.

There, he quickly runs into Peter Platinum, who is the year one million version of Booster Gold and has perfected the scam tactics of Booster Gold to become one of the most popular heroes of that era. He thinks Booster has travelled to the future to get his "cut" and offers him 5% and later 10% to not expose him. Booster is disgusted that this is his only legacy as a hero. This is the only use of Peter Platinum and Rip Hunter shows up to pick him up in his time sphere shortly after the

After being picked up by Rip Hunter, Booster, still upset over the death of Ted and pissed about his current legacy to the super hero community, tells Rip off and quits the new Time Masters team.

Upon returning to his time period, he ends up fighting the Royal Flush gang, mirroring the opening of this series, and he's quickly backed up by Green Lantern and Green Arrow, who rib him about probably setting this whole thing up and, in general, talking down to him.

Booster is visibly annoyed and the confrontation is defused by Batman, who contacts Booster and demands he come see him immediately. In the Batcave, Booster doesn't want to hear Batman tear him a new one and quickly starts getting down on himself and lists his own faults before Batman stops him mid-rant and shows him pictures from the Joker's camera on the night Batgirl was crippled that show Booster trying to stop the Joker and getting tortured.

Turns out, Batman knew about this a long time ago (retconned in prep-time? does the goddamn Batman have no limits?), but noticed it was an older Booster than the one he had met in the early days of the Justice League and didn't question him until now. While the time travel implications of this are starting to hurt my brain, I loved what came next as Batman began to compliment Booster and telling him to keep doing whatever it is he's doing as he's proud of him and basically tells him to stop caring if people thinks he's crazy or a screw up and do what he thinks is right.

It was a hallmark moment, the second for Batman this week, along with what he did in Final Crisis: Requiem, and I'm pretty sure anyone that gets a heart to heart from Batman that doesn't involve him scaring the crap out of you has to feel like a million bucks and Booster is re-energized and heads back to Rip Hunter to rejoin the Time Masters.

It makes enough sense if you don't think about it too hard.  

There, Rip has a surprise for Booster with the "resurrection" of his sister, who has her own Booster-like outfit on and has been told all about Booster's mission to save time. Seems Rip plucked her out of the time stream at the moment of her death and since it's the future, there are no time ripples like with saving Ted. Not sure how this works, as there should be no concept of the past or future in time travel, but she's back, it's nice and it makes enough sense if you don't think about it too hard.

Here, we also learn the mysterious identity of Rip Hunter. Turns out he's Booster's son, as he tells him to keep up the good work and calls him "dad" as Booster and his sister use the time sphere to go off to Paris to celebrate. They were already gone and didn't hear him say this, but it's a nice touch for the fans and make sense with everything that's happened so far.

Finally, there's an awesome ending page where it shows an image of Skeets in a french beret and Booster and his sister in front of the Eiffel Tower with a historians take on the Booster Gold family and his legacy and they go to great lengths to make it sound like some profound insight into why Booster Gold was the only screw up or black sheep in the family of time travelling heroes and they conclude it by saying he was always smiling, despite his numerous screw ups, and that he was probably just an idiot on top of everything else.

Verdict - Must Read. Pure Booster Gold and I thought it was a great cap off to the Johns and Katz run on the book that really gets to core of what makes Booster Gold great. (not sure if Katz is gone, but it's Johns last issue co-writing). Look for it to dominate the Moments of the Week later this week.

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Final Crisis: Requiem #1 Review

FINAL CRISIS: REQUIEM
Written by Peter J. Tomasi
Art by Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy

Typically, whenever there is a death of a major comic book character, there's the guaranteed cash-in / follow up on it by the company in hopes of selling a few more books at the expense of the death. They almost always have little to no story and are quickly rushed out for the time sensitive aftermath. Captain America: Fallen Son is one such example of this phenomenon.

Final Crisis: Requiem, however, is not one of these cash-in books. Requiem is, by far, one of the best books I've read in a long, long time. It expands on the throwaway, one panel death of the Martian Manhunter in Final Crisis #1, showing off how powerful J'onn really is as he single handedly hands most of the villains' their collective asses even with a flaming spear in his chest, fleshes out the funeral for him, which, again, was a simple one or two panel throwaway follow up in Final Crisis #2, and pays homage and tribute to one of the greatest characters in the DC pantheon.

Requiem is, by far, one of the best books I've read in a long, long time.  

I was never a fan of Martian Manhunter. I didn't hate him, but I didn't care if he showed up or not. Sure, his choco obsession was funny and there were some decent scenes with him every once in a while, but he was mostly a background and supporting character used to fill space by most writers that was conveniently taken out of action due to how extremely overpowered this character, who's easily more powerful than Superman, really is.

This issue was so good, though, that I honestly feel an emotional connection with J'onn and am sad to see him gone. Few comics have done that for me and I can't believe how effective Tomasi and Mahnke were at sucking me into this comic and boiling down what makes the Manhunter such a great character and still managing to make this comic better than the first two issues of Final Crisis combined. And I liked the first two issues of Final Crisis!

The only complaint I have with the book is that it starts to drag a little when they switch over from the death and funeral sections and start the pseudo flashback / homage part. It was handled well, but when a character has 60+ years of backage, it's hard to sum up his history in so few pages and the pace of the story started to drag with the wall of text we were treated to for this history lesson.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it and am glad they put that part in, as it does serve a purpose to this book's goal of paying tribute to J'onn, but I felt I needed to mention that one small snag in the story.

Verdict - Absolute Must Read. Seriously, you have to read this book. You will literally care about the Martian Manhunter after reading it and probably wonder what was going through DC's head when they killed him off. My only worry is they'll have a rushed resurrection shortly after to nullify the impact of this amazing issue, but that's just me being a bit overly cynical.

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Guardians of the Galaxy #3 Review

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY #3
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Paul Pelletier

Guardians of the Galaxy continues to be a great, action packed cosmic adventure. There's always a shocking development (which kind of makes it not shocking if you are always expecting it to be shocking, but I digress), some great character moments and the plot seems to always be progressing, unlike other character ladden stories that get too tied up in action and lose sight of the plot or over focus on specific characters and rob the team book of the team feel.

Picking up where we left off last issue, the team is confronted by the Cardinals from the Universal Church of Truth. I'm still confused as to their power levels. They explain they run on the power of "faith", which is collected from by the Church and stored for the Cardinal's use and we're told they can do anything if they believe hard enough. Very vague and hard to classify would be one way to describe this.

My problem comes up with how they deal with our heroes. Starlord is human. He has no powers and his only weapons are the guns he brings with him. He takes several direct hits from the Cardinals and, while heavily injured near the end, walks away relatively unscathed. Warlock, another undefined, but overly powerful character, also takes hits from these Cardinals and is batted around a bit. Are they powerful enough to take on Warlock, but not strong enough to kill Quill instantly? How are other, weaker, characters able to stand up to these guys during the battle?

This isn't a deal breaker nor does it ruin the story for me, but it is something that's been nagging at me and I can't seem to ignore it for some reason.

The battle with the Cardinals didn't end up going too well for the Guardians, but they are "saved" by the anomoly they came to check out, which has somehow formed from the DNA of the colonists and morphed into a monstrous blob-like creature that kills two of the Cardinals and buying the Guardians a small reprieve.

It doesn't last, however, as the Cardinals pin down Starlord and Warlock and proceed to severely injure Peter and another stabs Warlock with some kind of mystic blade. They then teleport away from the installation and it is revealed they only wanted a blood and tissue sample from Warlock to confirm his identity. At the end of the issue, we see that the Church has their own coccoon which they originally thought was Adam Warlock and we're left to wonder what's inside their coccoon. Maybe Magus, Adam's evil alter ego?

Oh ya, the cover image? There's a character that vaguely resembles the amazingly detailed looking Starhawk character that shows up from out of nowhere and attacks both Mantis and Vance. He's cloaked from Mantis' telepathy and she cannot see any future's with him in it, explaining how he snuck up on her. After a brief fight, Starhawk disappears as quickly as he showed up.

As for the giant blob anomoly, the team opens up the sun canopy that the installation was using to protect itself from the nearby star they are harvesting energy from and it incinerates the creature. Gamora had a pretty intense character moment where she was forced to go, unprotected through the searing heat in order to save everyone by reclosing the canopy once the creature was destroyed.

Finally, the narration continues to be a problem for me, as I feel the reality TV style character logs rob any action scenes of any drama or conflict because we already know these characters survive and aren't in any real danger since they are always narrating the issue with random comments. However, this is just a quirk with me and something I've resigned myself to try and get used to as it looks like Abnett and Lanning will be using this style for the forseeable future.

Verdict - Must Read. I love the characters and plot of this book, especially how DnA are drawing on so much past history with the Guardians and Adam Warlock. Add in some great art and lots of great action scenes and it's hard to pass up this new book.

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Justice Society of America #17 Review

JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #17
Written by Geoff Johns and Alex Ross
Art by Dale Eaglesham and Prentis Rollins

This is another "Gog shows how great he is and proves he's not evil" issue and is, for all intents and purposes, another setup issue that seems to be what every issue of JSA has been since Thy Kingdom Come started, but I can't help but enjoy it when Johns puts out a book as good as this one was.

The best thing about this issue has to be the character moments.  

The best thing about this issue has to be the character moments. Whether it was Damage and Cyclone's chat, which featured a very cute Cyclone who seemed tongue tied around Damage, who's all smiles after his face was restored by Gog last issue, or Mr Terrific confronting his own lack of faith or just the small things and one line sentences that seemed to capture the essence of every character in this issue, such as Stargirl lamenting about how she used to feel useless when she first started or Gog's "gifts" to the heroes, where Sandman was given a good night's sleep or Wonder Woman's confronting of Gog, they were all excellent scenes and Johns managed to make me feel like I know every single character featured in this issue. And that's quite a feat when the cast is as large as this book's and that's before we count the guest starring Justice League.

The character moments weren't the only things that happened in this issue. Gog's so-called gifts to the heroes could easily be miscontrued as simply eliminating the stronger characters, such as taking Sandman out of action for the next 24 hours with his "good night's sleep" or the spiriting away of Power Girl to Earth-2, which she apparently has always wished for. These gifts could easily cause rifts in the team with those, like Damage, that love what Gog has done for them more than likely siding with Gog in any future events.

There was one thing I wasn't happy with and that was the restoring of Starman's mind, which even he says is "a bad thing". Not sure why he would say that, but I'm going to miss his hilarious rambling. Sloppy Joe Wednesdays will never be the same.

The ending to this issue promises some conflict in the next issue with Gog enraged and screaming he will eradicate war after he senses some violence near by. Will he resolve this peacefully or will it lead to bloodshed and divisions within the JSA and JLA over what to do about Gog?

Verdict - Must Read. It took a while, but JSA seems to be back on track after the slow and filler-like Thy Kingdom Come issues and Gog's creepy smile still gives me nightmares. Can't wait to see where this goes in upcoming issues.

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Secret Invasion #4 Review

SECRET INVASION #4
Written by Brian Michael Bendis
Art by Leinel Yu

The only thing I can say about this issue is that it's about freaking time Bendis started this event. That's a pretty strange thing to say about the 4th issue of a line-wide comic book event, but it's true. Nothing has happened in the first three issues aside from cliched, every other week helicarrier crashes, Baxter Building explosions and New York invasions. The heroes have been in the Savage Land almost since the very beginning and their conflict with the Skrull imposters still isn't even resolved.

Thankfully, Bendis seems to have finally taken one giant step forward and kicked this event into at least middle gear, if not high gear. I'm still not completely sold on this event, but I, at least, don't feel like I'm wasting my money anymore.

The issue started off with something I immediately liked - showing us where Reed Richards is and what the Skrulls are doing with him - and continues with an interesting narration of the events that lead up to the invasion that acted as recap, but was still an interesting read at the same time. This narration started to drag on a bit after the first dozen or so pages, but was still pretty effective as far as the story goes and in a nice twist, it ended up being Spider-Woman / the Skrull Queen talking to Iron Man the entire time, which added to my overall enjoyment of the long winded narrative.

That gun Fury is using is ridiculous.  

One of my first problems with the issue, however, comes in the form of Nick Fury and his Howling Commandos. For a Nick Fury trained team of newbies, I didn't expect every single one of them, even the little kid, to be masters of banter and to be all using Bendis-speak. I know Fury is good, but these guys should at least play the role of the new guys instead of everyone cracking wise and acting like they've been doing this forever. Also, that gun Fury is using is ridiculous and whoever's idea that was should be shot.

Furthermore, what was the point of Fury's attack? His Commandos take out a few Skrulls and then he shoots Ms Marvel, who is not a Skrull and was busy fighting dozens of Skrulls at the time, before they all teleport out of there, leaving her to the Skrulls to either be taken captive or die. Why didn't he just shoot one of the green skinned Skrulls instead of randomly taking a pot shot at a human-looking super hero and hoping he guessed right she was a Skrull?

This is about when they cut to the Savage Land and we find out it was Spider-Woman messing with Tony's head with the narration thing. Black Widow snuck up on them and, just as she was about to attack Spider-Woman, is, herself, attacked by Pheonix and Beast. If you read the Who Do You Trust one shot, you'll know they went to great lengths to try and make us doubt whether this Beast was really a Skrull or not and it was a great story with him and our non-Skrull Wonder Man.

Well, toss that issue out the window because Black Widow kills both Pheonix and Beast with her, uh, guns and both revert to Skrull forms. Ya, Skrull Pheonix, based on one of the most powerful characters in the universe, died to ordinary hand guns. Moving on.

Widow quickly gets Iron Man back up on his feet with a shot of adrenaline and we cut to Agent Brand, who has snuck aboard a Skrull spaceship, and it appears she will be playing a bigger role than I originally thought in this series as she looks to be the one that will free Reed Richards based on what we see here.

Finally, the issue ends with a bang, literally (well, technically it's a KRAKABOOM), as Thor brings the thunder and promptly kills a large group of Super Skrulls attacking some fleeing civilians as Captain America (Bucky version) looks on with his binoculars. I love the promise this scene has, but thought I was missing the final splashpage after seeing the To Be Continued at the bottom of the page. It was just a series of 4 or 5 panels and Thor is in shadows (despite most of the page devoted to his panel) and we only see a few close up of Cap's shield and his binoculars. I was expecting some dramatic Civil War #3-like Thor splashpage or some combination of he and Cap to end the issue. Not this generic looking finish.

Verdict - Must Read. Despite some complaints, I'm still giving this a Must Read. This issue finally got me interested in this event and I'm honestly looking forward to the next issue, a feeling I haven't had for any of the Secret Invasion issues to date. Add the fact that Thor and Bucky Cap have basically existed in their own bubble universes over in their own books for the last few years and seeing them show up in this event seems to have way more impact than it should for these two characters.

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Manhunter #32 Review

MANHUNTER #32
Written by Marc Andreyko
Art by Michael Gaydos

As hard as it is to believe, this issue blows last month's excellent issue out of the water. I'm going to chalk that up to the fact that the last issue served as a primer and quick introduction to Manhunter and her supporting cast and, with that out of the way, Andreyko was able to just go all out this issue and deliver one hell of a great story.

I think the thing I liked most about this issue is that it felt like I was reading a double sized issue. No, this wasn't a wall of text or anything ridiculous like that. It just felt like every page was jam packed with story and the pacing and build up was perfect.

It just felt like every page was jam packed with story and the pacing and build up was perfect.   

Whether it was the brief "fight" with Blue Beetle, the chat with La Dama, the disagreement with Bones or the numerous other plot developments, it just felt like I was reading a trade compared to the decompression filled stories other books have been offering up as of late.

It's hard to even pick a favourite scene in this issue, but I'm going to have to go with the perfect depiction (outside of the non-scarab speak) of Blue Beetle and Kate Spencer's interaction with young Jaime. The Darkstar tech in Manhunter's costume and the Blue Beetle's scarab taking offense to it was a nice touch. Even the follow up scene with La Dama was spot on and I loved how Kate jumps at the offer for a drink of the expensive scotch. It was just something you never see any other "hero" doing and was perfectly in line with Kate's character.

The Joker subplot is still going this issue and I'm starting to have doubts that it's actually the Joker involved. It seems too methodical and un-Joker-like to set up Dylon like this issue did and I'm thinking this might be something more than what we're being lead to believe.

The chat with Bones was another highlight for me. He and Kate have great chemistry together and I love the way their chat plays out back and forth and it looks like we'll be seeing Amanda Waller, of Checkmate and Suicide Squad fame, showing up soon based on references made at the end of their conversation.

Verdict - Must Read. It's a real treat to pick up and read a book as good as Manhunter. I can't stress how highly I recommend this title. Do yourself a favour and pick up these first two issues of the return of this book.

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The Walking Dead #50 Review

THE WALKING DEAD #50
Written by Robert Kirkman
Art by Charlie Adlard

It was a pleasant surprise when I found The Walking Dead waiting for me at the shop today as Diamond didn't have it listed in its tentative release list for this week and I didn't even hear anything about it coming out until I got to the shop.

It's hard to believe a "zombie book" made it through fifty issues, especially when you consider it's entirely in black and white. That's just a testament to how good this title is and I look forward to, hopefully, another fifty or more issues of this series.

This issue continued to follow Rick and his son, Carl, in the aftermath of the Woodbury attack on the prison and the subsequent deaths of well over half the supporting cast in this book. In fact, we haven't seen any other possible survivors, aside from Rick and Carl, since then.

As far as Walking Dead issues go, this was another breather issue as we deal with Rick being shot and Carl looking after him. Kirkman does an incredible job showing us the effect this zombie infested world has had on young Carl and the lengths he must go to cope with the loss of his mother, baby sister, everyone and thing he knows and the fact