Birds of Prey #8

        I loved the first issue of this series, and hated the rest of the last arc. The art was okay, the writing was okay, the story was bad, it was just a terrible arc. I was very exited to read the first issue of this arc, hoping that once Gail Simone got in the hang of this new series that her talent would kick in and the series would be good again. I was correct. I loved the last issue and I had high hopes for this one.
        In this issue the Birds of Prey are still being attacked by Mortis, who is looking for Oracle, who is not there. Oracle is talking to Batman and tells him not to interfere, because this is her team. After a little "creepy talking" from Mortis Dove says that she is Oracle. Calculator thinks he's dying and thats why he now wants to kill Oracle, because if he's going down she's going down with him. Oracle tells Batman to "go into the fray" and take a dive, which Batman does. But Mortis grabs Black Canary, and now Black Canary is having horrible flashbacks. Also somewhere in the middle of the issue is something with the Penguin and Hawk that just isn't that important.
        I can see why having the Hawk and Penguin thing should be in there, because it gives closure to both of those characters in the series, but it wasn't important to the series. This issue was sadly not as good as the last one, but it was still really good. I have to wonder why anyone would ever refuse Batman's help. I get the whole "It's my team" bit, but this is the original, Bruce Wayne Batman, I don't see why you wouldn't just send him in and hope for the best. I do wish that Gail Simone would stop working so much with Black Canary and do something with Huntress, Lady Black-Hawk, or even Dove. To be honest one of the reasons I didn't like last arc so much is because it circled around Black Canary, who is one of those characters that kind of bore me. Mortis is a very cool character, and would have been great if her powers were used on Huntress or Dove, but because they were used on Black Canary, this arc is turning into and extended version of when Green Arrow had his own Blackest Night issue. I put a very negative spin on this issue, but all of the complaints that I just mentioned were all very minor. This was still a good issue, and I hope there are more like it to come.






Grade: 7/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Legion of Super-Heroes #8

          This series is consistent. It's almost always a really good issue. Legion of Super-Heroes is the only issue of this series thus far that has been below a six out of ten. The Legion is something that I wish got more coverage in the DC universe and in mainstream media. I do understand that it is hard to build up a reputation that heroes with many comics, like Batman and Green Lantern have, but it would be nice to have another series with Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad again.
         In this issue Colossal Boy, and Dream Girl protect Pheebs from angry Durlans. Tellus brings Dawnstar from medical attention, and Cosmic Boy is stressed about the new Durlan epidemic, even though he knows he will be replaced soon.The Durlans eventually attack Cosmic Boy as well. With help from Earth-Man, Phantom Girl, and Element Lad, he beats the Durlans. Cosmic Boy's mind then turns to the election. It was close between Brainiac 5, and Mon-El, but with Sensor Girl's final vote for Mon-El, Mon-El won the election. He will be leader, once the Legion can locate him.
         To be honest I voted for Colossal Boy, but I wasn't very confident that he would win. I hoped that if he didn't win it would be either Brainiac 5 or Mon-El and I did get one of my second choices. I don't think that when Levitz decided who voted for who, he considered anything at all. Except that Brainiac 5 and Mon-El would be the top to, and Shadow Lass would vote for Earth-Man. But I was confused why Earth-Man didn't vote for himself, why Gates voted for Earth-Man and how Polar Boy got that many votes. Mon-El has been a factor that has been missing from this series that would make it just that much better, and now he's leader of the whole Legion. I hope the fact that the Legion can't find him isn't just an excuse to keep Cosmic Boy as leader. As much as I liked him while he was leader, it would be disappointing if all that hype and that vote were all for nothing. My only complaint with this issue was the choices of who voted for who. I'm happy with Mon-El, art was good, and the stuff with the Durlan's is great. Another good issue of a great series.




Grade: 9/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Batgirl #17

           I have heard beyond great things about this series. I have never been a big fan of Batman knock off series, that don't include Batman. I never really consider Batwoman, Batgirl or Azrael. But I was looking around the comic store and I finally decided to buy this issue.
           Alfred tells Damian Wayne that he needs to eat and sleep more. Damian tells Alfred to get out of his room. Stephanie Brown over slept and then ran out of bed. Robin (Damian Wayne) captures a crossing guard and tries to interrogate him because children are being kidnapped, and the crossing guard was acting suspicious. Batgirl (Stephanie Brown) comes in and says Batman told her to be in charge of the case. The children that go to the school the crossing guard was working for went on a field trip. Robin went undercover. After Batgirl resizes Robin doesn't know how to have fun, they see the bus driver for the field trip was kidnapped, and all the kids were told to get on the bus. Batgirl and Robin take out the kidnappers. Batgirl then takes Robin to a moon bounce where they both have fun.
         I really liked this issue. I'm a huge fan of Damian Wayne, and his relationship with other people in the Batman world. This was, like Superman/Batman, a fun read. I still have to read more about Batgirl before I can actually come to a decision of whether I like this series or not, because this issue was very much focused around Damian Wayne. If they made a new Robin series it might look like Batman has most of the series in the DCU, but I would definitely read it.
        As I said before this series was really just development for Robin. instead of showing him as a cynical, and pretentious person, it shows how being Robin, and being son of Batman, means that he will never really be a kid. Which is really just a whole new side to Robin that hasn't really been shown.
       This was a good comic, even though it wasn't about Batgirl it had great stuff about Robin. I will have to read more Batgirl comics to decide if I like this series, but it looks pretty good so far.





Grade: 8/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Superman/Batman #79

         The past issues of Superman/Batman have been incredibly fun reads. They've had fairly simple story lines, but they have all been really good. Superman and Batman are two very popular characters and there's a reason. Both characters are brilliant, and it is because of appearances like the past couple issues of Superman/Batman that made the characters so famous.
         In this issue the Superman and Batman are the ones from DC One Million. A villain called Epoch stole the anti-hourglass, and took down the Flash and the Atom. Superman and Batman take him down fairly quickly. When Robin takes him to the asylum planet Pluto, Epoch disables him and escapes. He goes to the Batcave  and steals a battle suit, and escapes by means of a boom tube. He then runs to the JLA headquarters and steals the anti-hourglass, and escapes Batman again, and goes to the fortress of solitude. At the fortress of solitude he steals the chrono-cube, and escapes Superman and Batman to modern day, where he meets Superman, Batman and Robin.
          This review and this story seemed like a bit of a travel map, showing off what all the places, like the Batcave and JLA headquarters looked like. That is cool, but it hurt the story. A guy had all of this stuff, lost it and gained it back in the same issue, there was no real development. Like the other issues of this series it was a fun, and very enjoyable read, but there is no plot development. DC One Million was created mainly to compete with Marvel 2099, I could go back and forth saying how Marvel stole things from DC, and how DC stole from Marvel, but this one is very apparent, but that doesn't effect the enjoyment of the comic.
           If you are tired of trying to keep up with over complicated story arcs, that branch out over many series. Then pick up this issue, and this series. It's full of fun, very simple books.






Grade: 7/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Justice Society of America #46

          I love this series. It was number four on my five best ongoing series of 2010. It reflects the superheroes history from around the 1940's to present day. You have old fashion heroes like Jay Garrick, and Alan Scott, and then you have newer, and more modern characters like Mr. Terrific, and Lightning. It also shows how superheroes have evolved with time. In the 30's they fought thugs, from the 40's to around the 60's the fought armies, and now most superhero plots have to do with terrorist attacks of some kind, and that brings me to the synopsis.
        In this issue Mr. Hogan solicits the help of a man called Dr. Chaos. Dr. Chaos hands Mr. Hogan a box and says open the box at ten O'clock and press the button. The Justice Society of America, and others like Blue Devil, are stopping the looting going on in Monument Point. Alan Scott is coming to terms with his condition. Because he is spending all of his energy controlling the Star Heart, so his body can't heal itself. The other members of the JSA are concerned about Jay Garrick. He's not eating or sleeping, just rebuilding. Someone sends a death threat to the new mayor, saying "Lightning gets struck at 9:55. Oh. And the mayor dies if every other super, doesn't leave monument point by 10:00. "
Obsidian goes to where the Flash is holding Scythe, and demands to see him, so that he can kill him. Lightning (who is guarding the door) won't let him in. The Flash arrives, and Lightening collapses. Mr. Hogan opens the box and presses the button, and the mayor dies. It also appears that Lightning dies to.
         This series is consistently great. This comic deals with Superhero history, and has a compelling story about Alan Scott and Jay Garrick. I was beginning to wonder where Obsidian was, and now he had the perfect reaction, he was written very well. I do wish that Obsidian would play a bigger role in this arc, because he's a very interesting character. I would also like to see a bit more of Dr. Fate, but I understand that if his character was big in this arc, there would be a lot of jumping around from scene scene, and would be hard to follow along. With the appearance of Blue Devil, I hope that maybe, Blue Devil will join the JSA. Blue Devil always looked like a cool character, that could have many interesting stories about him, but he's never really in the spot light.
          Besides the lack of Obsidian participation I had no problem with this issue. I would like to hear more about Alan Scott, but that didn't bother me much. So overall this is a must buy. The arc has been great, the series has been great, and I hope it stays this good in the future.





Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Birds of Prey #7

           I didn't like the previous arc. They did too much too fast. On top of that I wasn't a fan of the plot, story, or writing. I was really exited for this series. Oracle has always been one of my favorite characters in Batman's world, mix her with Huntress and Black Canary and you have a really good team. I didn't like that Hawk was included in the team, but Dove I thought was a great move. I'm going to stick with this series for a while and hope that it will get better, because this team and writer show so much promise.
           In this issue the Calculator meets with Savant. The entire event with Savant and Oracle was planned so that Savant could get Oracles exact location. The comic then goes to Oracle. She's going down an ally and a gang attacks her. Oracle handles herself well, but Batman comes in and finishes it. Batman comes down and asks Oracle for a hug. They then go to Kord towers and meet Creote who is the bouncer of sorts for Oracle. Savant comes in an Oracle asks if the Calculator believed what he said, and Savant said he thought so. In another part of the city, the rest of the birds of prey are celebrating Doves birthday. Dove has a drink and passes out. Hawk is wondering the streets alone and throws his present for Dove in the trash.Then some super powered criminals bust in. Mortis, who was hired by Calculator is trying to find and kill Oracle.
           A lot happened in this issue. This is the arc I wanted to see before the one that just finished. It brings in the Calculator who is a big-time Birds of Prey villain and it covers Savant and Creote. If this arc came first there would have to be some editing pertaining to Savant and Creote's roll in this arc but it would have been worth it. The character Mortis looks like she could be a very interesting twist in this and other Birds of Prey story lines. I am also very happy that this could be the end of Hawk in the Birds of Prey series. I don't like the character Hawk, he's very much a Punisher, but his attitude, or at least the way he is written seems very contrived. I really liked the incorporation of Bruce Wayne into this issue. Oracle and Huntress are both characters in the Batman arena and it is fitting that Bruce Wayne entered the series. I liked how he acted like he was seeing an old friend again, because that is what he was doing, but also because a lot of times when Bruce Wayne is Batman, he's no longer human. As Bruce Wayne the character is filled with emotion, but as Batman, he's essentially a crime robot, and it's nice to see some emotion while Bruce Wayne is Batman.
          I wouldn't consider this a perfect issue but it was very well done. I hope this doesn't go the same way as the last arc, and be really good for one issue, then start slipping, but so far this arc is off to a great start.




Grade: 9/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com

Amazing Spiderman #650

          I honestly can't say enough good things about the past couple issues of Amazing Spiderman. The re-structuring of Spiderman is something I've been wanting since last April. His story got more depressing and complicated every day, it became dull. Now with this arc he's fun to read about again, it's the Spiderman I've always wanted, plus he gets to show scientific things, which is always good to read about.
          In this issue Spiderman is still fighting the new Hobgoblin. When he was paralyzed by Hobgoblin's sonic scream, Bella Fishback played music really loud to counter the scream. Hobgoblin goes and steals a bit of Reverbium. He gets a way and brings it to Kingpin. Kingpin thinks that the new Hobgoblin is better than the old one and hired him. Phil Urich brings the tape of him robbing Horizon Labs to Norah Winters.  Peter Parker wants to steal the Reverbium back, so he calls Black Cat to help him. When the meet Spiderman is waring a suit that bends light and sound around him, so he's invisible.
          This issue is great. It shows how it's still hard for Peter Parker to keep his identity a secret, but possible. Dan Slott monitors how much time he spends talking about Hobgoblin perfectly. If there was an issue with little Hobgoblin, before this conflict is resolved, then I would wonder where he went, but if there was too much Hobgoblin I would want to hear more about Spiderman.
           The new Spider suit is just cool. It bends light and sound around him to make him invisible, that is just cool. The suit would have to be temporary, otherwise future comics would be very boring, if Spiderman just appeared out of nowhere and arrested the villain, but he can't just say that it's a temporary suit, there needs to be a reason. The black suit was powerful, but controlling. This suit needs something like that. If one day he puts the suit away, and just says he's finished with it, that would be very disappointing. It'll be interesting to see how Dan Slott disposes of the suit.
            This issue, and this arc have both been perfect, I could not ask for anything else. Not only is this arc amazing, but I really want to see what the long lasting effects do to other arcs. It should be interesting. But in terms of this issue, it's a must buy.




Grade: 10/10
Buy at: www.mycomicshop.com