Welcome to our weekly recap of DC Comic’s new releases. Ray is the committed DC reader and Corrina is the somewhat lapsed DC fan.
This week sees the debut of Batman & Robin Eternal which also features the return of a fan favorite character, another chapter in the complicated and intense Omega Men story, the continued adventures of that crazy couple, Midnighter and Grayson, and indie legend Carla “Speed” McNeil delivers a fine Wonder Woman story in Sensation Comics.
Batman & Robin Eternal #1 — James Tynion IV & Scott Snyder, story, James Tynion IV, script, Tony Daniel, pencils, Sandu Florea, inks
Ray: 9.5/10 (Book of the Week)
Corrina: Buy It (But I have reservations)
Ray: The second act of the greatest DC comics weekly ever begins here, and it does not disappoint. With a new creative squad in place and once again headlined by Tynion and overseen by Snyder, all the pieces are in place for another runaway hit. While the issue does push some buttons that might upset people, it’s been very clear with Eternal that things are rarely what they seem, and in terms of character, the Bat-family is rarely done better.
The issue opens in Cairo years ago, with a boy orphaned by gunmen in a manner very similar to Bruce’s fateful night in Crime Alley. From there, we follow the three adopted sons of Batman (Damian is off on his quest) as they take out a criminal and banter a lot in the process. Dick and Jason have a great repartee here, and Tim is rarely written better in the New 52 (although 16? That doesn’t really fit given how he’s portrayed in other titles).
Meanwhile, Harper Row is struggling to keep her fledgling superhero career together without the help of the presumed-dead Batman, and barely escapes a confrontation with the new Batman. It does seem a little easy how she manages to temporarily incapacitate Gordon and escape, but her dialogue during the whole scene is so great that I find it hard to quibble.
Undercover at a gala, Dick is then attacked by a horde of possessed children working for someone called “Mother” and warning of the arrival of a villain known as The Orphan. He escapes, only to be betrayed by his ally Poppy and nearly killed. On the run, he’s knocked off his bike by none other than…yep, she’s back! Cassandra Cain.
True to form, she easily handles Dick in a fight, but he observes that she’s going for non-fatal moves, and after beating him she hands him a flash-drive. Cass’ return is long anticipated, and although she doesn’t appear in too many pages this issue, it works really well. At her home, Harper is met with a bloodstained killer calling himself The Orphan, who says she’s the key and must die.
And at the Batcave, Dick plays the flash drive, which conjures up a hologram of Bruce that reveals his involvement in a conspiracy tying all the past Robins together, plus Harper, Cass, and a bunch of others never seen before. And in the second half of the flashback to Cairo, we see the shooter of the parents was…Batman? Clearly something is seriously wrong here, and I can’t wait to find out the whole story. I can’t think of another first issue of a weekly that set up its story quite this well.
Corrina: Ray is full of praise and it’s mostly valid. Seeing the former Robins work together was great, and each of them–Dick, Jason, Tim–are written so well that it made this long-time Batman fan smile.
And CASSANDRA CAIN IS BACK! Not too long ago, Cass and Stephanie Brown were described as “toxic” to pitch because the powers-that-be didn’t like them. Now they’re both back.
I also can’t quibble about Harper escaping from the new Batman (Jim Gordon) given Gordon gets in a few quips about how he’s sure a teenage girl will stick around to gloat. She also got away suspiciously easy, so I’ve decided Gordon let her go, given he’s been trying to circumvent his suit’s programming so he has more freedom to do what he deems right.
No, other things bothered me. One is the reference to Batman’s tendency to put kids in danger, a meta-commentary on the many Robins, and I’ve never liked that because making a character ‘Robin’ has been a way to introduce new blood to the Batman franchise, not some Batman character flaw. That meta-commentary throws me out of a story every time. Batman has Robins and Clark Kent’s glasses hide his secret identity. Let. It. Go. (Quiet, you in the back who just pointed out that Superman has no secret identity any more. That won’t last.)
Even in-story, Dick was a circus aerialist, hardly a safe profession, while Jason might not have been technically an adult, but he was on his own already in a dangerous world. I’ve no idea what Tim’s current origin is but way back when, years of his comics were based on his training.
The larger problem for me is the overall plot of Batman having a deep, dark secret and was manipulating the Robins from the beginning. That idea doesn’t interest or intrigue me (even if it’s a fake-out), and I’ve never been fond of the overall trope either. Not everyone needs to have a secret agenda to manipulate people who care about them, though that seems in vogue now as The Chief (Doom Patrol) and Charles Xavier both were revealed to be that kind of mentor.
Love the characters, love, love that Cass is back from limbo. Not enthused about the story itself.
Midnighter #5 — Steve Orlando, writer, Stephen Mooney, artist
Ray – 9/10
Corrina: Buy It.
Ray: A lot of the lower-selling titles out of DC were canceled last month, but thankfully this book survived, at least partially due to the critical acclaim. That’s great news, because it’s one of the most entertaining and visually inventive titles in the DC slate right now.
This issue continues the entertaining team-up between Midnighter and Agent Grayson, as they continue hunting down the source of the engineered monsters terrorizing Russia. Last issue saw them fighting fake vampires in a Vampire fight club, and now they’re going to take the battle to the source. The evil Russian magnate behind the monster-golems in his lab is a bit of a stock character, but most villains in spy thrillers kind of are. The pull here is the banter between the two heroes, and the action.
I mean, Midnight and Agent Grayson handcuffed together, battling giant werewolves in a Russian subway station? It really doesn’t get any more entertaining than that. The plot is a bit more straight-forward than the earliest issues, which works for this issue. The ending, which has Midnighter enjoying a little domestic bliss with his new boyfriend, is a nice segment showing off the character’s development since we started reading him. This title’s got a great balance of action, humor, and character development, and I hope it manages to stay alive for a long time.
Corrina: When Ray’s right, he’s right. Midnighter is now a distinct character with an agenda in the regular DC Universe, something I never thought possible for a Wildstorm character. The best part of the storytelling is that it shows us who this guy is, rather than stating it. He’s relentless, powerful, a little crazy but also has a sense of fun that works well this issue, especially in his banter with Agent Grayson.
Meanwhile, slash ficcers are no doubt having a great time with the handcuff sequence. But, mostly, I’m interested in Midnighter’s overall foe, who remains in the background. Beneath his surface, our (anti?) hero is a lost soul, though refreshingly without angst and when he’s human, he’s fascinating.
Batman: Detective Comics #45 — Peter J. Tomasi, story and words, Marcio Takara, artist
Ray: 8.5/10
Corrina: Buy It.
Ray: We’ve got a new creative team on board, as Tomasi and Takara take charge of Jim Gordon’s story in this title and bring him up to the big leagues of DC heroism.
The issue starts in a truly bizarre and grotesque way, as a mysterious liquid attacks gamblers in India, killing them and stealing their eyes. This scene isn’t addressed again in the issue, and what comes after is intriguing and well-written.
The Justice League pays a visit to Wayne Manor to meet with Bruce Wayne, to determine if there’s anything left of him, and Wonder Woman’s lasso determines that the Bruce Wayne they knew is truly gone. Meanwhile, Jim Gordon, beat-up and feeling his age, tries to enjoy a day off, only for the game he’s watching to be interrupted by a group of rogue fighter planes targeting Gotham. He determines that the pilots are actually being mind controlled, and with the help of the Justice League, gets the pilots out and takes out the planes.
They then track down the Mad Hatter as the man responsible, and the League recruits Gordon to help them with a case, saying they need his skills as a detective. And when the League teleports the new Batman to his first case, we see the bones of a gigantic monster or something scattered in the Tundra. Odd issue on some levels, but Tomasi has a great handle on Gordon and there’s an intriguing mystery at play here. I’m sold on this run, but would like less out-of-nowhere strange horror scenes in the future.
Corrina: It’s an odd issue in several ways, because while I love Gordon as Batman, right now, he’s clearly an agent of the police and the Powers corporation. The League knew Dick when he substituted for Batman. They don’t know Gordon, even if they know he’s the one under the armor. I’d expect them to be more wary of him, though perhaps Lois Lane gave them the rundown after she and Gordon talked things over in Batman/Superman.
The League coming to ‘meet’ Bruce Wayne made much more sense and I’m glad we didn’t get into the “we need to cure him” bit and that his friends accepted what Alfred told them. The airborne fight scene was well done, and Gordon held his own.
Still, it’s a weird fit, especially since Gordon explicitly took the job to protect one city. But I’m looking forward to future issues, anyway.
The Omega Men #5 — Tom King, writer, Barnaby Bargenda, artist
Ray: – 7/10
Corrina: Buy It.
Ray: First up, kudos to the fans who managed to get this title a stay of execution! That’s not common in any field. I’ve never been quite as sold on this book as others, because I find the storytelling to be rather frustrating, especially in the first two issues. Thankfully, some of those issues seem to have been worked out, as this issue is pretty clear and has an interesting narrative focus.
The team’s muscle, the stone man Broot, returns to his home in the Vega system to visit the Temple of Omega – overseen by his father, Pontifex. It seems that Broot’s father exiled him for questioning the corruption of the church. As part of a trade involving Princess Kallista and Kyle Rayner (who spends most of the issue masked and tied up), the Omega Men exchange the prisoners for an artifact, while Broot gets the chance to “redeem” himself by breaking open the stone of Omega to free a Macguffin that claims to offer a free pass to paradise. It still takes a bit of work to follow, but it’s a pretty interesting sci-fi world that’s coming to life here. I’m hoping the full 12 issues give this story a satisfying conclusion. And that they find something decent to do with Kyle Rayner eventually.
Corrina: This title isn’t an easy read. It’s a complicated tale that makes the reader work but that work is rewarded because this is clearly a graphic novel with a specific plan is being doled out in small segments.
I often have to re-read my issues when a new one arrives but it’s absolutely worth it the effort, as the story reveals more layers every time with every re-read.
Yet it’s hard to summarize and thus hard to sell to potential readers.
It’s about a group of freedom fighters on the other side of the galaxy with a complicated plan in which they use the ends to justify the means. Caught in the middle of this is Kyle Rayner. I’m not convinced he’s as helpless as he seems, however, and he may well be the hero/main character by the end of the book.
It has taken five issues for all of the Omega Men and their plan to take shape and, each issue, the reader is thrust into a disorienting and imaginative new world.
I suspect, when the twelve issues are over, people are going to be kicking themselves for not buying it.
Don’t be one of them.
Cyborg #3 — David F. Walker, writer, Ivan Reis and Eduardo Pansica, pencillers, Scott Hanna, Albert OClair and Ivan Reis, inks.
Ray – 7/10
Corrina: Buy It
Ray: After an amazing first issue, this title has become a bit bogged down in standard comic sci-fi tropes that make it a little harder for this book to hold my interest. The one thing that this book has going for it in a major way is how well Victor Stone is written under David Walker (who Marvel is making a big play for, so he may not be around for too long). This is the first time I can remember Cyborg being a compelling character since New Teen Titans.
The problem is the story that’s surrounding him just isn’t as compelling. His father and his friend Sarah don’t get much page time at the end, instead most of the story being devoted to him battling tech monsters and zombified people whose cybernetic implants have been hijacked. Things take an upturn midway through, when the Metal Men show up to give an assist. It’s always fun to see these guys, especially in advance of their return mini come January. When the Tekbreakers show up, their leader – who killed Cyborg in the preview story – reveals herself to be a future version of Sarah, apparently, which seems a twist right out of X-men. There’s relatively little bad here, but it feels like the plot is moving a bit too fast and not really allowing the characters to breathe.
Corrina: The strength of this title is Victor Stone, who seems much like the character I loved in the original Marv Wolfman/George Perez Teen Titans or the original Teen Titans animated series. I thought his series would focus on a more personal story, perhaps building up Vic’s supporting cast as he learned how to deal with all of his relatively new abilities.
There’s some of that, as those attacking him are clearly related to Vic’s cyborg implants, but I agree with Ray that the story moves too fast right now. I’m hopeful that it improves.
Green Arrow Annual #1 -Benjamin Percy, script, Szymon Kudranski, art
Ray: 8.5/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It.
Ray: I’m not really sure where this story takes place, because the main Green Arrow title is in the middle of a story and this doesn’t seem to be a done in one, but it’s an entertaining read nonetheless. The core threat of the issue seems to be a mysterious plague known as Lukos, that has werewolf-like side effects. The infected are quarantined as the government tries to cure them, but a hate group of vigilantes has decided to take matters into their own hands and attack the infected in their home. This leads to the emergence of the issue’s main villain, an infected biker calling himself the Big Bad Wolf who has embraced the beast inside and is urging others to do the same and fight back.
Meanwhile, Emiko is having trouble fitting in at school – as in, she can’t help the urge to brutally beat bullies to teach them a lesson. I’m really enjoying the relationship between Ollie and Emiko, as he awkwardly tries to thread the line between brother and father figure. They decide to table the problems for now and attend the Halloween party – only for it to come under attack by the Wolf and his army. As the Wolf’s army and the Patriots both attack the crowd, Ollie and Emiko try to fight them off and keep them from targeting civilians, but in the process Ollie apparently gets infected. Green Were-Arrow? Seems like it could be an interesting story, but it’s a bit puzzling that a cliffhanger like that is just going to be left while GA addresses another story.
Corrina: The whole story is a bit puzzling to me. For a second, I was having flashbacks to a Black Canary back-up story involving the “Loup Garou” from over 30 years ago that also took place in the Pacific Northwest.
What’s puzzling is that the horror tale seems disconnected from the title character. I don’t mean he’s not involved in the plot, he clearly is, especially as he’s been bitten, but it reads like the Lukos plague was already a story and it was rewritten to include Green Arrow.
Ray enjoyed it. I didn’t because of this disconnect. For those looking for a Green Arrow story in the comics, or looking to jump onto the title, this would not be the place.
Superman: Action Comics #45 —Greg Pak and Aaron Kuker, story, Pak, words, Scott Kolins, art
Ray – 8/10
Corrina: The best of the Superman titles, still ambivalent.
Ray: This has always been the best of the new Super-titles, because Pak and Kuder have a great handle on what makes Superman work. Unlike in the awful Superman issue last week, any harsh or out-of-character actions Superman might take are always to help people, or to protect people. Scenes like Superman setting off a sprinkler to protect a waitress from an abusive cook, or threatening to out all of Hiro/Toyman’s illegal activities if he doesn’t stay away from him, are all clearly caused by his irrepressible desire to keep people safe even if it makes his life harder.
I’m getting a bit tired of Perry White’s JJJ impression, but I suppose someone had to take the hard line here. Scott Kolins guests on art this issue and does a decent job, but I sort of miss Kuder’s pencils. As Lee is tracked by government agents due to her link to the shadow beings, Superman goes undercover as a blue-collar worker at the tech facility where he believes the root of the attacks targeting him is. After causing a power outage, he breaks into the restricted area and finds scientists experimenting on human/shadow hybrids – including Lee.
Before he can free everyone there, he’s attacked by the shadow being and seemingly possessed himself. There’s a lot of pieces at work here between the titles, but this is the one where I think everything works best.
Corrina: Yes, this is definitely the best of the Superman titles dealing with the new status quo, i.e., the world knowing he’s Clark Kent. I especially loved how Superman’s neighbors came to his defense against the police, though that was later revealed as a plot by these shadows.
One element of Clark’s personality that hasn’t been touched on at all is his identity as a writer so I’m glad his research skills as an investigative reporter are intact. It’s always nice to see Clark use his intelligence.
There is a long game here and the conclusion promises to be interesting but so long as I have to deal with segments of an openly public Superman, I’m not sold.
Green Arrow #45 —Benjamin Percy, script, Patrick Zircher & Federico Dallocchio, art
Ray – 7/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It.
Ray: The second GA book this week, and the lesser of the two. Last issue saw Ollie attacked by a mysterious team of skeleton-guised cultists who wanted to kidnap his dog for his bones. They captured the dog, and nearly killed Ollie before he was rescued by Tarantula.
I’m a bit puzzled by the decision to bring back one of the most reviled characters in DC history, but more power to Percy if he wants to try to redeem her. Thus far, she’s not particularly offensive, but also not very memorable.
She and Ollie fight off the cultists, which are nicely creepy when they appear, and then they head off on a road trip to track down George. There’s an amusing segment where they crash into an old lady’s house in the middle of her bath, and then pursue the skeletons through a series of hunts for artifacts, where the skeletons perform creepy rituals. There’s a very distinct horror vibe to this issue, and the visuals are impressively creepy, but the problem is that the threat isn’t conveyed all that clearly. We know the cultists want to do terrible things, but it’s all a bit vague.
And again, Emiko is 75% of why I like this book so much. She’s gold in Percy’s hands. Her complete absence from this arc is a disappointment.
Corrina: “Not particularly offensive but not particularly memorable” is about how Ollie is in this comic. The focus seems to be more on the cultists and the history of the dog, and Ollie seems not part of this world at all.
There’s a lot of talent in the writing and art but this is a Green Arrow story where Green Arrow is incidental.
Green Lantern #45 — writer, Robert Venditti, penciller, Billy Tan, inker, Mark Irwin
Ray – 6/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It.
Ray: Things get weird this issue as Hal leaves his team behind, putting his AI in charge of the pacifist space prince and the semi-evil space pirate so he can pursue Black Hand. Black Hand has been hanging around on dead planets moping that he can’t bring the dead to life and wondering if he should head to Earth. Hal shows up and says he can help him, and the two discuss Black Hand’s problem. It seems that a portion of the Source Wall’s energy was transferred to Black Mask, giving him the same ability to petrify life. When Hal reveals his identity to Black Mask, Black Mask loses his mind and attacks Hal, rambling that he’ll keep Hal as a trophy. That causes Hal to lose his cool and vow to put Black Mask in the ground for good.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is wandering around the galaxy doing nothing much in particular. The interaction between Hal and Black Mask has a really weird Batman/Joker vibe this issue, and the title as a whole doesn’t offer all that much this week. Hal isn’t very likable here, and Black Mask certainly isn’t one of those villains you can sympathize with. The issues’s just lacking that point to really connect with.
Corrina: Things just get weird? The whole arc with Hal and the gauntlet seems weird as I’m still not sure why he’s wandering around the universe randomly to save it, other than he believes he still should be a hero, though he’s cranky and mean about it,
I’m not connecting with it.
Telos #1 — writer, Jeff King, pencils, Carlo Pagulayan, inks, Jason Paz and Sean Parsons
Ray – 3/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It
Ray: When you ask people, which character deserves an ongoing title from DC, you’re going to get a lot of answers. I imagine some of the top ones would be Black Lightning, Batwoman, Vixen, Booster Gold, Red Robin, etc. You know who’s probably not high on the list?
The walking plot device from the Convergence event that everyone’s probably forgotten already. By the end of the mini, Telos had gone from rambling villain to vaguely sympathetic anti-hero once his origin was revealed and his search for his family began, but he still didn’t have much of a personality. That continues here, as he finds himself in Brainiac’s headquarters and attacks the villain. The bulk of the issue is them arguing over whether Telos should kill him or if Brainiac can still help him.
Eventually, Brainiac convinces Telos to infiltrate Colu to help him contact a rebel leader who wants to take power back from the evil king Computo. And as soon as Telos heads off on his mission, Brainiac promptly betrays him to Computo. It’s almost as if he’s the villain and no one should trust him. But that’s not the biggest problem here. The biggest problem is that Telos barely works as an event comic villain. He certainly doesn’t work as a protagonist yet.
Corrina: I didn’t hate Telos. Didn’t love him, but the concept of a normal person given uber-powers who rejects his uber-powerful master had something of a Silver Surfer vibe, so I hoped a series featuring Telos would be a cosmic road trip as he tries to find purpose.
I certainly didn’t expect this first issue to be a direct sequel on the Convergence event, but when I realized it was, I tuned out. Not a promising start.
Batman Beyond #5 — Dan Jurgens, writer, Bernard Chang, artist
Ray – 4/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It
Ray: This title just has very little going for it, especially since Eternal also came out this week and showed us how Tim Drake should be written – and it’s certainly not this grim, bland anti-hero.
The idea of Tim donning Gordon’s old Bat-suit for heavy-duty combat had promise, but unfortunately it’s just wasted in a series of over the top and yet somehow boring action segments where he battles evil cyborg Superman and John Stewart. Micron is on scene for an assist and actually gets more dramatic scenes than Batman himself does. Generally, the only time this title really comes alive is when it’s drawing on actual scenes from the Batman Beyond cartoon, which really isn’t as often as it should be.
This title is just a bunch of grim people fighting a hopeless fight against a bland villain – and we got more than enough of that in Future’s End. There’s no hook to this comic, and I can’t imagine it’s the Batman Beyond title anyone wanted.
Corrina: Psst…Ray! It’s Futures End, no apostrophe. (I’ve no idea why, as it seems as random as the story itself.) Alas, too bad it didn’t end the future of this book. When the story channels Batman Beyond, it has flashes of being an interesting look at a future DC dystopia.
Unfortunately, those flashes only serve to put a big neon sign over the fact that it’s bland Tim in the Batsuit, and not Terry McGuinnes, who should be a part of this book. I wish I could say it’s not living up to its promise but with that premise, it didn’t have much promise to begin with.
Lobo #11 —written by Cullen Bunn and Frank Barbiere, penciled by Robson Rocha, inks by Ruy Jose.
Ray – 2/10
Corrina: Don’t Buy It.
Ray: I’m not sure what annoys me more about this issue – the fact that over the course of the comic, it wipes out a whole variety of great characters including a fan favorite – or that it winds up not mattering in the end as a macguffin wipes out the entirety of the plot. Lobo fights the Red Lanterns, and starts the battle by killing Dex-Starr, everyone’s favorite grumpy kitty, in graphic fashion. This enrages Atrocitus, who spends the issue trying to kill Lobo.
Through a series of complicated plots and lots of gore, Lobo eventually winds up wiping out the entire Corps, including the near-unkillable Atrocitus. At this point, after collecting his bounty, the walking plot device Rage Mother (who produces the new Red rings) vomits up some blood and recreates the entire Corps anew from pure rage. So none of this mattered. Much like this series once it’s cancelled in a few months, I supposed. I look forward to the writers moving on to a title that’s got more potential in it.
Corrina: He killed Ruffles the Rage Kitty! Wait, he didn’t, they’re all sort of alive, I guess, though with all the blood oozing out of nearly every panel of this issue, it’s not like I could tell the wouded, living, dead or otherwise from each other.
For nihilists, I guess, who like a good comic book slaughter.
Out of Continuity Extras, Reviewed by Ray.
Batman: Arkham Knight #9 – written by Peter J. Tomasi, art by Richard Friend, Viktor Bogdanovic
7/10
This issue is sort of a mixed bag of stories, and the narrative structure of the title always puzzles me a bit. It’s pretty common for the book to take two stories and split them, featuring the end of one and the beginning of another within the same issue.
The issue kicks off with Batman and Deadshot fighting Simon Stagg’s Metamorpho experiment at the laboratory. After neutralizing the creature, Jim Gordon comes across the assassin and arrests him as a wanted criminal, which leads to my personal favorite scene of the issue – Jim Gordon facing off with Amanda Waller as she demands her man back for the Squad. These two gruff, no-nonsense types facing off put a smile on my face.
Then it’s off into a new mystery focusing on the Calendar Man, as he begins a serial killing spree themed around the holidays. I’m not sure this villain is one that works that well when he becomes grim and gritty, and he definitely is here. Still, this issue is readable enough for fans of the games or Batman in general.
Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #15 -Carla “Speed” McNeil, Adam Beechen, art by Scott Hanna, Kevin Nowlan, José Luis García-López, Carla “Speed” McNeil
6.5/10
Two stories this month. The first, by Beechen and Garcia-Lopez, has a decent concept at its core, as it focuses on the tendency of Supervillains to escape prison. The issue begins with a court case involving the third Cheetah as the judge is forced to determine whether she goes to Iron Heights or a minimum-security treatment facility to be cured of her mental illness. Despite the best efforts of a dedicated prosecutor with a tragic link to super villains, the judge sends her to a treatment facility – where she promptly escapes, takes her own mother hostage, and proceeds to terrorize everyone. The whole story seems to basically get across the point that there’s no point in hoping to cure criminals, which, while I wouldn’t be surprised by this moral in a Batman story, it feels out of place in Wonder Woman to celebrate cynicism.
On the other hand, Carla Speed McNeil’s short story in the back is much better, involving a rural guy dealing with a pet lion he can no longer control and a group of shady poachers looking to buy it. It ties in nicely with Diana’s past, and has a clever ending. This story does a good job of conveying Diana’s compassion for all living things, including less than savory people who want to change. I find this book tends to be a lot better when it gets indie creators on board.
Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Four #11 – written by Brian Buccellato, art by Juan Albarran, Bruno Redondo
5/10
As year four draws to a close, it feels like we’ve basically covered all the major threats in the DCU, and now we have Superman going head to head with Darkseid. Last issue just hinted at the presence of some new master villain, and this issue not only confirms his identity but throws us right into the middle of a giant fight with him. The power of their blows nearly destabilizes the core of Apokalips, threatening the entire universe.
Batman goes to negotiate with Highfather for his help, while on Earth, Zeus takes control of the world and outlaws other religions, beginning lighting strikes on famous houses of worship around the world. Worried about his growing control, the UN meets and decides to authorize a massive nuclear strike on Themysrica, base of the Greek Gods. This title started as an interesting conflict between Superman and Batman, but now it seems like it’s just an excuse for everyone in the DCU to fight. There’s very few people left to root for.
Ray Goldfield is a writer/editor for Grayhaven Comics, as well as the author of two novels currently in editing. He’s a comic fan for over 20 years, particularly of DC and Superman, Batman, and the Teen Titans in particular. Now that Cassandra Cain is coming back, he will not rest until DC greenlights a Young Justice: Season Three comic.
