Best of DC: Week of January 29th, 2020

Best of this Week: Justice League #39 – Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, Daniel Sampere, Juan Albarran, Alejandro Sanchez, Hi-Fi and Tom Napolitano

Talk about a Cosmic Sandbag.

Shayne, the alt-future son of Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter, gave his life and essence so that his father could return from the darkness. This book opens with the amazing return of Martian Manhunter as drawn by Jorge Jimenez with colors by Alejandro Sanchez. Manhuner hasn’t been seen since Justice League #28 when Lex Luthor absorbed him to become Apex Lex, so this return had a monumental feel, especially as the rest of the League looks upon him with awe. Jimenez makes this moment feel powerful as J’onn stands tall against Perpetua with his reds glowing vibrantly thanks to Sanchez.

As soon as Perpetua takes notice that J’onn has returned, she lunges after him. This is likely due to the fact that Martian Manhunter is legitimately one of the most powerful telepaths in the DC Universe and in the subsequent pages, he makes the choice to connect the minds of the people of Earth with his and the rest of the Justice League to try and swing them all toward the side of hope.

This results in a wonderful double page spread where Jimenez poses Martian Manhunter like he’s about to use the Solar Flare from Dragon Ball and speaks to the people. Jimenez and Sanchez show the people on the streets and various members of the League looking towards the sky with smiles on their faces. Snyder scripts this amazingly by having Manhunter give the rousing speech of goodness and rising above that Superman would normally give. What makes this even better is that Manhunter, who usually suffers disillusionment from living amongst humanity, does an amazing job.

J’onn’s speech manages to rouse enough people that the Totality, the macguffin that could imprison Perpetua once again, begins to glow and surge with energy. Perpetua, starting to feel the fear of loss orders an onslaught of the League. Jimenez emphasizes the anger on her face, the fear on Lex’s and the intensity of the battle happening on the steps of the Hall of Justice.. Sanchez makes sure that the colors almost surge off of the page with flashes of red and blue.

As the hope of the people of Earth continues to grow, the tendrils of the Totality wrap themselves around Perpetua’s spindly body as she screams in anger and hatred. Tom Napolitano places Martian Manhunter’s thought balloons perfectly throughout these pages as Snyder ends J’onn’s speech with the people of Earth joining together in the feeling of heroism and hope. The Sigil of Doom begins to fade away and Perpetua has failed…

And then “KRA-KOOM,” Napolitano’s powerful lettering cracks across the page as Jimenez draws the Sigil of Doom firmly seared into the sky and made even stronger by the overbearing hum of Sanchez’s vibrant green. This is the kinda trope that Scott Snyder does well, but also kinda overuses in his grand scale stories: The Cosmic Sandbag. The heroes were on the very cusp of victory and it seemed like the people of Earth were actually believing in the hope that Martian Manhunter was talking about, but instead they gave into their fear, hatred and base instincts just like Perpetua thought they would.

Snyder utilizes this bait and switch technique to show just how influential Perpetua’s evil is and how at the end of the day it will take more than just a flowery speech to turn people, especially since they watched the Justice Leagues battle the forces of Doom and lose massively. Snyder used this in Dark Nights: Metal anytime Batman thought he had a chance in defeating The Batman Who Laughs and Barbatos. They would just pull nonsense out of nowhere and further plunge our hero into despair because he couldn’t anticipate the villain’s very next five moves. I love it and hate it because it helps to show hopelessness, which I am a fan of, but Snyder does do it a bit too much for my tastes (See The Batman Who Laughs mini-series).

The next thing we see is a Rita Repulsa-esque cackle from Perpetua and honesty this might be my favorite of Jimenez’s panels because he just makes Perpetua look so petty. She’s basically saying, “Bitch, you really thought!” before explaining how everything was by her design. She wanted to give humanity a choice to hear both sides and they still chose Doom. Manhunter tried to hide his mind from her, but he failed to realize that as the creator of the Multiverse, he could never think fast enough to avoid her. Perpetua is far more powerful than these heroes could ever have anticipated.

Jimenez and Sanchez absolutely kill the next few panels as Perpetua casts away the shackles of the Totality, breaking out of the tendrils as her black cape…hair(?) causes a gust of wind to shake our heroes while the background shows varying tones of blue, almost a mockery of their ideals of hope. She stands over the Earth while the void of space appears vast around it and with a flick of her wrist and a flash of yellow she wipes the Justice League from existence. Doom truly has won and she vows to create a new story from the ashes of Hope.

Though, the universe itself has other ideas. In the black of Space, green matter begins to coalesce into a form, then that form takes shape and appears to be Martian Manhunter. Daniel Sampere, Hi-Fi and Juan Albarran take over the art from this point and pose Manhunter as if he’s in a womb, reborn after being supposedly killed by Perpetua and saved by something else. I love that Snyder places such importance on Manhunter and his humanity. Despite the insurmountable odds that the League has faced up to this point, he still does everything in his power to call back to the Earth, to try to win the people back.

He is unable to, however, and it seems as though he’s not the only one unable to use his powers as the rest of the League shows up behind him. In an awesome splash page Sampere and Albarran show everyone as wearing black bodysuits, potentially symbolizing a loss of identity or power as none of them seem to be able to use their abilities. Hawkgirl seems to be the only exception because her wings are a part of her. Superman tries to rationalize that as long as they’re not actually dead then there’s still hope, but then he fails to fly, landing back on the moon.

Another awesome thing about this issue is how it calls back to the very first issue of the run with the Quintessence showing up. The Quinessence are a group consisting of Highfather, The Phantom Stranger, Hera, The Wizard Shazam, The Spectre and Ganthet of the Guardians of Oa. They are some of the most powerful beings in the universe and even they knew that this was how things were meant to be. They saw the same vision of Doom that Martian Manunter did and saved the League in the nick of time to prepare them for what’s to come, not just a war of Justice or Doom, but for Everything.

With everything that’s been hinted at as far as the next incoming Crisis, this is a really good inciting incident as far as things go. Perpetua wins and sets up the next true war for the Multiverse. Given there’s still things to sort out with The Batman Who Laughs, the conflict is set and the Justice League has to give their all to ensure that they can protect the Universe. Superboy Prime is coming back in the pages of Shazam, Wally West has found his kids and Dark Multiverse world of his own creation and this issue even references Doomsday Clock and kinda cements its place as an alt-Universe story, but acknowledges the importance of it.

Scott Snyder has set the stage for everything to come and thanks to his fantastic art team telling the story, he drums up the feeling that there’s still a way to see Geoff Johns original vision for Rebirth through. The hope is there, the League just needs to fight for it. I can’t wait to see what Robert Venditti can do as the writer for Justice League given the amazing work he’s done with Green Lantern and The Freedom Fighters series. Doug Mahnke also taking over as main artist is also a welcome change as he’s one of my favorite of DC’s regulars as well.

This was a high recommend and I can’t wait for the future!

Best of DC: Week of January 1st, 2019

Best of this Week: The Flash #85 – Joshua Williamson, Christian Duce, Luis Guerrero and Steve Wands

Amidst everything going on in the DC Universe right now from Year of the Villain to the end of Doomsday Clock, there’s been a lot of really underrated books that DC’s been publishing and Flash Definitely falls into that category for me. Of course, Flash is no low-tier character, but as it stands, there’s not a big conversation surrounding Joshua Williamson’s run with the character like there is for the up and down runs of Batman and Superman, but there should be!

Joshua Williamson and his revolving art team of Christian Duce, Scott Kolins, Rafa Sandoval and Carmine di Giandomenico have pulled off some of the most consistently fantastic Flash storytelling in recent years. From the Speed Force Storm to Flash’s “Final Showdown” with Captain Cold and finally here with Rogues’ Reign, these stories have only seen Flash become an even better character with depth after he’s been tested over and over with insurmountable odds and overpowered enemies while still being riddled with doubt.

This issue of Flash acts as the penultimate issue to the Rogues’ Reign storyline and sees us learning a bit more about some of the Rogues as individuals while at the same time, breaking them apart even further. This book is less centered on the various speedsters, but more around their lack of control over their powers and Flash continuing his rivalry with King Cold to the bitterest end.

The book begins with four panels of King Cold, Leonard Snart, monologuing to himself. We get a great big focus of the Symbol of Doom in the sky as Snart says that it’s the end of the world, but at least he’s going out like a winner, unlike his loser of a father. One of the many defining characteristics of Cold up to this point and in other stories has been his hatred of his father and his aversion to become anything like him. However, he’s become nothing more than a self-fulfilling prophecy because his life is nothing more than misery because of the sacrifices he made to get to where he is.

Cold helped Luthor’s ascension and the rise of Doom by accepting Luthor’s Gift and allowing himself and his Rogues to become ultra powered, but in doing so, has alienated himself from his friends and family now that they all have what they want. Duce frames all of this excellently by first placing Cold in shadow before he looks at his glasses, as if reminiscing about his old life before putting them on and looking towards his death at the end of the world.

Soon after, we cut to Kid Flash and Avery receiving training from two unlikely sources; Heatwave and Weather Wizard. Though they were seen as reporting in to King Cold a few issues ago, it was brief and mostly to air some small grievances that they had with the way that Cold was running things. Here, we get the reveal that they’d been working with Golden Glider since she broke off from her brother and Mirror Master under their noses. In a brilliant double page spread by Duce and Guererro, we see that they’ve been helping the speedsters keep their speed under control.

It’s a pretty warmhearted scene followed by more where Gold Glider comforts Flash about their presence. Williamson makes Heatwave and Weather Wizard come off as two men that have suffered hardships in their lives, leading them to the life of crime, but still managing to have hearts. Glider tells Flash how Weather Wizard wanted to escape the life of crime that his family was involved in when he was a kid, but never could which lead to him hurting people he loved. Heatwave suffers similarly from his pyromania being the reason his parents died, but it’s painted more as him having a sickness he can’t control. Glider tells Flash that they want to stop Cold so that things can go back to the way that they were.

Duce draws these scenes with a surprising intimacy. Amidst all of the intense action, Duce draws Heatwave with a sense of pride as he watches Kid Flash control his speed better, Weather Wizard stare in his lonesome because of everything going on and shows the kids eating with their teachers after a long day. On top of all of this, Flash has a nice scene where Golden Glider teaches him how to ice skate after he asks her to get back into what was one her hobby. Guererro colors all of these scenes with warm tones, even in the ice which is primarily blue and white. Flash and Glider’s colors give off something of a happy feeling.

One of the recurring themes of this run has been relating to the Rogues in meaningful ways and Williamson does an excellent job here of contrasting all of them to an amazing degree.

After Flash makes a bad joke to Golden Glider, causing her to become morose, Weather Wizard steps in and tells them that they’ve found where Mirror Master has been hiding and the entire crew go to find the last two pieces of his great mirror. Kid Flash asks Golden Glider if she used to date him and she confirms this, stating that she didn’t know why, but that she knew all of his tricks.

Mirror Master has always been one of the Rogues of lesser renown because well… he’s an idiot. Only in the sense that he’s never used his powers to a degree where people needed to be afraid of him, but thanks to his upgrade they need to. In actuality, his access to an entire Mirror Dimension makes him one of the most dangerous people in the DC Universe as a potential spy or thief because A LOT OF SURFACES REFLECT. Flash and the other Rogues learn this the hard way when Mirror Master springs a trap on them, revealing that he knew that Glider and the others betrayed Cold.

When the Rogues and Speedsters finally encountered Mirror Master, he looks absolutely devious with a wide grin and his wide grin as they did everything they could to stop him. Duce’s poses were dynamic and captured how intense the fight was, the furious facial expressions were very well done and crystalline backgrounds were beautiful. Guerrero’s colors stood out in how distinct each of them were. Mirror Master’s glossy white clashed with the other characters, especially Flash’s vibrant reds and Weather Wizard’s dark greens. By easily besting all of them, he showed just how dangerous he could be.

He teleports them all to the King and Snart notes how disappointed he is and how the Rogues could have ruled the world together. This causes Glider to snap at him, saying that he never told the Rogues what that would entail – the end of the world under Luthor. At this point Captain Cold is so far gone that he just doesn’t care anymore and Williamson has been leading him down this path since the beginning.

In Rogues Reloaded, Cold had the idea for the Rogues to get one more heist over on The Flash before retiring completely and that was foiled with all of the Rogues being defeated. In Welcome to Iron Heights, Snart decided he’d run an operation from prison but Barry Allen and his former ally, Godspeed foiled that plan too. Because Cold had murdered another inmate to throw off the scent, this led to a fist fight between Cold and Flash which saw Cold’s defeat and transfer to Belle Reve Penitentiary. Obviously the defeat had an adverse effect on Cold because he was so sure that he would overcome, but didn’t. He lost again.

Captain Cold has always been one to hold family in high regard since he’s never quite had a functioning one side from the Rogues, so his time on the Suicide Squad was devastating to him. I mentioned in past Flash reviews that watching teammates die mission after mission must have done something to his psyche and Lex Luthor took advantage of that when offering him and his actual friends a way to win against The Flash. All of that led to this.

King Cold, feeling betrayed and pissed off, freezes his former friends and sister, leaving only The Flash to fight him one on one again. In their last fight, Cold wanted it to be one on one without any powers, but he lost that fight because of Flash’s iron will. As he removes his cold weather clothes, he reveals that Luthor’s Gift wasn’t just improved gear, but it was a supercharge of power implanted into him. Their final face off will be hand to hand with powers.

This final shot is absolutely poster worthy. Duce conveys the rage emanating from both of them with jaws wide as if they were yelling at each other. Fists are cocked back, ready to pummel their opponent into the ground, especially Cold as he has frozen his arms up to the elbow for maximum impact. What makes this even better is the Symbol of Doom hanging over them in the background like a terrible omen. Guerrero manages o make so many colors fit together in a brilliant display. Flash and his signature red and bright yellow makes him look heroic, the underdog in a fight shrouded in dark greens and cold greys. Cold is paler, his normally blonde hair turned completely white and his arms as blue as his cold blood.

I absolutely loved this.

Duce and Guerrero killed the art in this issue. On the scale of Flash artists for me, Duce is high up there. They manage to blend high intensity action with nice character moments to get the reader invested in character’s emotional states through visuals. Guerrero accentuates this by coloring scenes so that they fit each individual mood and can blend these all together when there’s a clash of ideology or character. Of course, Steve Wands is the glue that holds all of this together his letters are perfectly placed, distinct for each character and give every situation the proper weight to individual lines.

The Flash is an underrated hit that everyone should be reading, especially in regards to the Flash/Captain Cold saga. Their rivalry has been a grand center point on the level of Batman and Bane’s right now or Superman and good storytelling (zing!) I can only wonder where things go from here and what will happen to Captain Cold after this because this is probably the highest he’s ever flown, so how will he fall?

Best of DC: Week of December 11th, 2019

Best of this Week: Ocean Master – Year of the Villain One-Shot – Dan Watters, Miguel Medonça, Ivan Plascencia and Wes Abbott

Ocean Master was happy once.

With a loving surface dwelling girlfriend, Erin, and a potential new stepson, Tommy, he threw away his lust for power and hatred of his brother in order to live a peaceful life. All of that was upended, however, when Queen Mera came to his doorstep asking for help. With his homeland in political peril, he chose to leave his happiness in order to restore it to proper glory, hoping to return back to his loves. However, seduced by Mera’s relatives from Xebel with promises of power, he betrayed the Queen only to be defeated and imprisoned.

When he resurfaced shortly after during the Drowned Earth event, free of Atlantis’ prison. He did everything in his power to make it up to Mera and Aquaman himself. He aligned himself with his family to take down the old Ocean Gods, but was defeated then as well. It was a long time before he was heard from again until now.

This book begins with Erin walking out to the shore that her home sits on, calling out to a mysterious figure she noticed in the darkness – Orm himself, somehow still alive. She responds to his reappearance with anger, saying that he abandoned his family and demanding answers for why he left. He recounts the story of his fall with amazing art by Miguel Medonça, capturing the grand scale of Atlantis, accentuated by Plascencia’s fantastic colors. He then tells her of how he lived among the homeless of Atlantis until he was finally able to escape.

Erin questions how a kingdom like Atlantis could possibly have homeless and vagrants of any sorts and Orm responds with one half of overall theme that this story lays out, “Atlantis has beggars, madmen and other rejected people of the street.” Amongst the homeless, Orm hears of a fairy tale, the story of Dagon, and learns of a mad king that sought to control an ocean elemental with an amulet around his neck. Dagon’s people, fearing his encroaching madness, slit his throat and cast the amulet into the deepest depths of the ocean.

Soon after, the madman who believed the tale found a way out of Atlantis and allowed Orm to follow him towards the calling of the amulet. Erin interjects in the middle of Orm’s story that at no point has he apologized for abandoning them and asks him why he was there. He replies that he missed them both and asks to see Tommy, but she declines. She has every right in the world to be furious at him for the way he disappeared. Granted, Mera could have told Erin what happened, but that likely would have made things even worse.

As Orm continues his story, he reveals that he had every intention of returning once he escaped, but the madman that he was following was kidnapped by someone, so Orm chose to go and save him instead. Mendonça shows the trepidation on Orm’s face as he decides what’s the best course of action and when he arrives to some kind of rig, he’s met with a daunting structure that he had no idea about. When he enters, he encounters many horrible creatures and Palkor, the madman. He then draws the conclusion that all of these creatures were once vagrants from Atlantis turned into monsters.

Before he can commence in freeing them, he is attacked by F-List villain, Marine Marauder (the female one). She tells him how Lex Luthor offered her one of his Gifts and how she’s using it to sell mutated sea life to various militaries. She and Orm engage in a fight which sees Palkor mortally wounded and Orm needing to escape and regroup. Mendonça and Plascencia give the escape a real sense of gravitas as Palkor’s blood pours as they reach the water. With his head shaped like a clam, he weakly says Dagon, insisting that he finally reach his calling before his end. Mendonça actually makes Orm look like a caring guy in the moment as he carries his dying “friend” to the trench.

Mendonca then draws a sequence of a dead Palkor falling into the depths and Ocean Master following just to see if Dagon’s story had any merit. Mendonca shows how the walls of the trench encroach on Orm, getting smaller and smaller as he descends into absolute darkness. Plascencia accentuates this scene by showing the water getting darker and darker the deeper he goes. Watters dialogue gives the situation some poetic weight as Orm describes how the weight of the ocean is pressing down on him, but his curiosity is stronger.

Amazingly, the story of Dagon rings true as Orm discovers the water elemental, a girl named Lernaea and upon seeing that he stays to speak with her, despite the weight of the water bearing down on him, she gives him the amulet and raises him from the ocean floor into the sky, calling him King Orm. The scene is beautiful as Leraea looks at him like he’s saved her from a terrible fate of loneliness and the moon shines on him ever so brightly. He looks regal, even as shadows obscure his face. It’s as if destiny called to him.

Soon after, he returns to the rig and confronts Marine Marauder. Though we do not see their fight, Ocean Master returns with her defeated body on his trident and rallies the mutated creatures of the sea and forms a new city, the City of Dagon. He tosses Marine Marauder into the crowd and tells them to feast and cheer. Soon after, Luthor appears to Ocean Master, offering him a gift. In quite possibly one of his biggest flexes, Ocean Master shows Lex that he has an amulet that could control Lernaea and make her do as he commanded…and breaks it, granting her her freedom from all control. She chooses to stay with Orm and Orm, in turn, says that he needs nothing from Lex or Atlantis as Lernaea sinks the rig.

After everything, Erin asks Orm what he wants and he wishes for Erin and Tommy to come to Dagon and rule beside him, but Erin declines. She tells Orm to never come back to her home after a tender embrace that could have seen them become one again. Orm is hurt, but unsurprised. As he walks back to the sea, he adds one final note that he considers Tommy to be his son and that when he’s older, he may come back to see if he wishes to rule beside his father, which sends Erin into a fury. Our final shot is of Ocean Master sitting on a throne of his own, something he had actually been avoiding since his arc in the New 52.

Here we get the second half of the theme. Atlantis has those it has cast aside and Orm is there to take and keep them safe.

I never thought I’d see the day where I’d look at Ocean Master with anything other than pity and disrespect. Sure, he did cause a giant flood in his attack on the world during War for Atlantis, but he’s always had this… sadness to him. His new 52 characterization portrayed him as a man that just wanted a normal life without a throne, but destiny pushed him towards that kicking and screaming.

Dan Watters portrays him as a more tragic figure than we’ve come to expect, seeing him full of regrets of lost love as well as a newfound confidence similar to that of General Zod in Bendis’ Superman right now. Mendonça and Plascencia stunned with amazing visuals and colors. Ocean Master stands out as being a dark mirror of Aquaman, being far more ominous and melancholic. With this creative team, we really feel how low he’s fallen and how he’s had to claw his way out of his despair.

Overall, this is a very good showing for a villain that I have a newfound respect for and I actually can’t wait for the ensuing Aquaman story that’s soon to follow. High recommend!

Best of DC: Week of December 4th, 2019

Best of this Week: Justice League #37 – Scott Snyder, Jorge Jimenez, Alejandro Sanchez and Tom Napolitano

I had a really difficult time between choosing this or Deathstroke #50, but ultimately, this was just far more epic.

The war for Justice and Doom has been building up and raging for months now and it’s been leading up to issues like this one and I am here for it. Scott Snyder and Jorge Jimenez must have been binging a bunch of shonen anime to prepare for this because this book was full of so many amazing moments of overcoming the odds, sacrifices and comebacks that would fit perfectly amongst the best Dragon Ball or Naruto storylines.

To start off, Lex asks if Batman and the rest of the heroes are smart enough to surrender to the impending Doom as he pilots the Hall of Doom, commanding his forces. Jarro, however, steals the show by saying that they’re nowhere near that smart and that they’re about to get real #$%^ stupid and Batman adorably agrees. I swear I love them. Even more so as Batman himself pilots the Hall of Justice like he’s Roger Smith from The Big O or Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

The double charge between the generic forces of the real Legions of Doom and the various heroes of Earth was ASTOUNDING to look at. With Damian Wayne leading the charge, the heroes scream with rage and Hope as they rush the battlefield. Almost everyone’s there: Jay Garrick, Superman Prime One Million, Vampire Wonder Woman, Kamandi, most of the Titans excluding Kyle Rayner, but even Guy Gardner is front and center, ready for battle!

Meanwhile, the rest of the League do their best to telepathically turn the Earth from Doom to Justice with the help of Miss Martian and the remaining Starmen. They get far enough that they start to blur the Symbol of Doom in the sky, but they lack the power to disrupt it altogether. The only two that could reasonably do it are Hawkgirl and her son Shayne, but they’re lost in space with John Stewart looking for them. Superman motivates them all to keep trying until help arrives.

As that’s all going on, Hawkgirl does her best to defend her son from The Ultra-Monitor, the fused body of the Monitor, World Forger and Anti-Monitor at the helm. Jorge Jimenez gives her defense so much weight as she holds back the worst of his blasts with her Wings. He facial expression sells her pain and the destruction the Ultra-Monitor causes is beautiful with debris flying around them. Alejandro Sanchez accentuates this by making all of the colors cosmically beautiful, bright and vibrant. Both the Ultra-Monitor’s beams and Hawkgirl’s wings are enough to overpower the darkness in space, but unfortunately, he proves stronger than her.

When things look to be their most dire, out of nowhere comes John Stewart in The Flash Mobile, plowing into the Ultra-Monitor with enough Speed Force to separate the brothers from each other. The impact and subsequent explosion are absolutely devastating and REALLY cool, it’s all made even better when John steps out from the wreckage and poses like the damn hero that he is. This entire run has been made of epic moments, mostly drawn by Jimenez and this one takes the cake, especially because John Stewart remains one of the most effortlessly cool heroes out there.

The Anti-Monitor, sensing his impending ass beating, cries out for his mother across the multiverse. We then cut to her in the middle of destroying Earth-44, a universe where the heroes of the Earth are all robots made by Dr. Will Tornado (a cool combination of Will Magnus and Red Tornado). Earth-44 chooses Justice over Doom and DocTornado tells her to go to Hell. Perpetua, hearing the cries of her son, chooses an even more dastardly fate for Earth-44 than just crushing it. She palms the planet and throws it like she was Nolan Ryan (I had to research a baseball reference for you guys, appreciate it) towards her sons. It is epic as hell to see, her hair whips with the force she throws it with, there’s a tear in space-time and DocTornado embraces his end like Bardock, basking in his virtue.

His is not the only sacrifice, however, as The World Forger makes a tough decision. Because of almost all of his energy being sapped from him the Anti-Monitor, he only has enough left for one short portal before the planet impacts all of them. It’s somber to see as The World Forger looks downward towards his hammer. He muses of the other times he’s been reformed, but knowing that Perpetua is in control of the Multiverse that may not happen again. He completes his full character arc, going from a villain that wanted to destroy the other universes for one Perfect one, to a hero willing to sacrifice himself for the good of all.

The World Forger picks up his hammer, flexes his muscles as he gets into his strongest hitting stance and prepares for the end. Sanchez does their best to sell just how hot the planet is coming in with the screen being coated in purple-ish, red hue with the next panel being mostly stark white with red streaks.

The fighting continues on Earth-Prime as everyone is in the thick of it. Batman and Luthor duel in the crimson skies, Wildcat and Kamandi watch each others backs and Lightning, Zatanna and JSA Doctor Fate hold their own, but are obviously getting winded. Luthor cracks the hull of the Hall of Justice as the rest of the League feel something coming for them, but Luthor brings the hammer down and causes the Hall to have a crash landing. Damian, Green Arrow and the other forces, presumably, begin to get overwhelmed and all hope starts to dissipate…

Until a beam of energy disrupts the Symbol of Doom entirely, causing Perpetua to pay attention and Luthor to see a supercharged Justice League ready to put down his movement.

Everything about this issue was amazing. Start to finish, the writing was stellar, the art and coloring was exceptional and the lettering was perfect and immaculate. I found myself getting pulled in to the Hawkgirl and World Forger stories and felt satisfied with their payoffs. I got hyped when the battle kicked off and the energy stayed on that level the entire time.

As much as Dark Nights Metal was a saga with twists and turns, this run of Justice League has far surpassed it in my opinion. Scott Snyder wrote this in such a way that it was easy to get invested in the stories of every member of the League, even managing to return Hawkgirl to a state of prominence since her entire New 52 absence and making her an amazingly compelling character. The same can be said for the new addition of the World Forger, the third brother of the Monitor and Anti-Monitor. His design and character arc was amazing despite my initial misgivings.

Jorge Jimenez and Alejandro Sanchez are an amazing team together. Jimenez has alway been amazing on all of the books that he’s been on, but almost every issue of Justice League that he’s done has been beyond amazing. Scenes are drawn with dynamic posing, epic scale and weight that makes you feel EVERYTHING that the characters are going through. Sanchez brings these amazing scenes to life with stylish and shiny looking colors that really pop on the page and draws yours eyes in. Amazingly, nothing is lost in color or details that either of these guys make and it makes the reading and viewing that much more fantastic.

Overall, this is one of those runs that comes along every once in a while and gives you things to remember. Given that this is the penultimate issue to the Justice/Doom War and it’s already given us so much, who knows how much more there is in store for us in the future? High Recommend!

Best of DC: Week of November 13th, 2019

Best of this Week: Captain Cold and the Rogues #82 (The Flash #82) – Joshua Williamson, Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Arif Prianto and Steve Wands

We all thought the City of Bane was bad.

By all means it is, because Bane is a maniac, but at least Gotham’s infrastructure is still mostly intact. Central City, however, is a wasteland of snow, crime and Doom thanks to Captain Cold (now going by King Cold, totally not a Dragon Ball reference) and to a lesser extent “Apex” Lex Luthor. Captain Cold has taken over the city, divided it up amongst his fellow Rogues and they’ve finally won! So now the sole question is: What happened and where is The Flash?

The book begins with a gun fight between former Central City Police, now owned by King Cold, in a firefight with insurgents, seeming to consist of regular good people and other cops that Cold couldn’t buy. Rafa Sandoval does a good job in making Central City look absolutely wrecked. Cars and debris function as ramshackle barricades, fire and explosions ring all over the city as we see a wide shot of it from above and we even see Iron Heights Penitentiary, now renamed Ice Heights. It’s become a stronghold guarded by tanks with mortars, giant protruding ice spikes and Cold Soldiers with the Symbol of Doom overlooking it all. It’s a badass shot.

It’s a disturbing dystopia made even worse as the sky as been blackened, disrupting the weather which concerns Weather Wizard. He, Heatwave and Mirror Master sit in a meeting with King Cold to discuss a recent string of break ins in Central City that have been giving off strange power signatures. When one of his aides questions if it’s the work of the Flash, Cold answers that The Flash is “dead.” It seems that between the events of the last issue and this one, the relationship between the Rogues has gotten strained with all of them blowing Cold off, saying that this petty crime is a non-issue.

It’s strange because the Rogues are supposed to be a family and Snart only took Luthor’s Offer if he could share the fruits of it with his buddies. Together they managed to take over Central City in The Flash’s absence and it’s alluded to that Snart’s sister, Golden Glider, has also gone missing. There’s a high chance that whatever happened to her might have contributed to the divide and combined with Snart’s more murderous tendencies coming out after his time with the Suicide Squad, it’s likely also hardened the hearts of the rest of the Rogues as well.

When another energy spike is detected, King Cold decides to go himself, saying that no one steals from him. He shows up to see citizens fighting, they seem to be some petty criminals claiming part of the city for themselves and get absolutely terrified when Cold shows up. Cold tells them how he used to live by a no killing code unless absolutely necessary, but things have changed, of course. As he goes to freeze them to death, he is stopped by Commander Cold, Flash’s partner from the far future. This is a conflict I’ve been absolutely waiting to see for a while! Much like Citizen Cold from the Flashpoint timeline, Commander Cold is a good, vigilant hero and is almost as capable and skilled as Leonard Snart in the use of Snart’s own Cold Tech. Key word: Almost.

Sandoval continues to amaze with an actual good fight between the two Ice-Men. As Commander Cold tells Kid Flash and Avery to escape, Snart creates giant, ice (hulk) fists and tries to pound all of them. Commander Cold repels him with his cold gun before it gets knocked away and then he creates a little bomb made from just a snowflake and it sends King Cold crashing into his tank. Snart, for the first time in a seemingly long time, smiles as the blood drips from his mouth. He laughs and says the fight is exactly what he needed!

Though, as Commander Cold recounts Snart’s own history to him, the former Captain reminds him that the tech he’s using is still his and that he’s the true master of it and freezes Commander Cold in a solid block of ice, winning the fight as Kid Flash and Avery get away with what might be one of Mirror Master’s mirror tech pieces. It’s actually really difficult to watch King Cold descend into what he’s become. I thought his time on the Suicice Squad would be similar to Harley’s or Deadshot’s, but every team he was saddled with left him as the only survivor and his heart became his name. This rings ever more true as we reach the absolutely horrific ending to this issue.

Snart remarks that people are trying to return the world back to the way that it was before the sky went black with Doom. He laments that his friends don’t see things the way that he does, especially after he bargained to give them their new gifts. He even asks himself if he should be out there trying to fix things, but then he’d lose Central City and be a loser again. It’s sad that The Rogues winning is ultimately what’s causing his melancholy. The only thing that’s been an upside was the fight with Commander Cold that he had earlier; it made him feel like himself again.

He chuckles and remarks to an unseen character that “he only kept him alive to show him that he won” and that if he tried what Commander Cold did, the same fate would befall him as he throws the decapitated and still frozen head of the hero into the cell to the shock and horror of the still living Flash. I used to think that Cold was redeemable, but after this, I don’t know if that’s at all possible anymore.

Joshua Williamson has seemingly been taking Leonard Snart on a roller coaster of a ride in his characterizations since he first appeared in DC Rebirth. He’s been almost an anti-hero, then a smart but bumbling villain, to a killer and finally just a man without remorse for his actions. He’s betrayed what the Rogues used to stand for and he’s dragged almost all of them down with him. He’s truly become a monster and Williamson has done an excellent job in writing his descent into Doom and evil. He almost used to be admirable for having a code and just wanting to be better than the Flash, but he let his greed and hatred get the better of him like his father before him, becoming what he never wanted to be.

Rafa Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona and Arif Prianto never cease to be an amazing team. Sandoval’s style is arguably why he’s my favorite Flash artist right now because it all flows so smoothly. His lines are thick and distinct and he gives clothes so much sway and movement. Even rips and tears in costumes look amazing. Everything feels so high energy, epic and dynamic in his hands.

Of course, without Arif Prianto’s colors and Jordi Tarragona’s inks, it wouldn’t be quite as amazing. Prianto has a way of giving everything a smoothness and shine that feels appropriate for this story, especially given the nature of Flash’s stories. Though his work on the colors of backgrounds, especially the snow, is amazing to look at. Tarragona, as well, does excellently in appropriate shadows that cut right into the darkness of the situation.

I absolutely loved this issue of The Flash, mostly because the TV show really got me into the Captain Cold character. His criminal motivations have been interesting and I’m even tempted to read more of the New 52 stuff as The Rogues were very prominent during that run.

I’d always put him off as being a lame Mr. Freeze because of Super Friends, but recent years have been extremely kind to Captain Cold. I love this dark path that he’s going down and I can’t wait to see how the Flash will reconcile with this and how he’ll finally take Leonard Snart down. High recommend!

Best of DC: Week of November 6th, 2019

Best of this Week: Legion of Doom #35 (Justice League #35) – Scott Snyder, James Tynion IV, Francis Manapul, HI-FI and Tom Napolitano

Doom is Here.

The Justice League is in shambles after the explosive events of the last issue which saw Starman’s death, The Anti-Monitor being coaxed back to his mother’s side and Hawgirl’s hubris leading to Perpetua regaining her lost power. Just when victory seemed at hand, it was ripped away in an instance and everything that Lex Luthor had planned and fought for was finally coming to fruition. We’ve all been wondering why the Symbol of Doom had been appearing above the skie of the DC Universe and now we know. Doom is winning.

This issue picks back up with the League still reeling from what just happened. Superman is defiant in the face of defeat, but the Starman of the Justice Society tells him that since the connection between him and the other Starmen is gone, then Will Payton the Starman of Earth-0, must have been killed in the battle. This leads Jarro to surmise that everything in Starman’s vision is coming true, that The Last Great Disaster was still coming. Kamandi sits in utter defeat, thinking of his world, the likely result of that disaster.

This is especially distressing for him because he had so much hope going into the time travel fight. He comes from such a horrible world where anthropomorphic animals are in a constant war with each other. He thought that everything was hopeless until Wonder Woman convinced him that e timeline was worth fighting for. It’s almost because of him that all of the other Leagues were brought together and given hope, so knowing that things didn’t go exactly according to plan is probably crushing him.

The Leagues that managed to get back to Earth-0 are unaware of what happened out in Space and don’t know that the Anti-Monitor took over the body that he had begun to share with his brothers, the Monitor and the World Forger. Superman thinks that they’ll still be able to get their help as they still have the pieces of The Totality (The macguffin that would have saved the universe), but Batman rationalizes that whatever happened out there must have been absolutely dire. As they go to check on Miss Martian and the other Titans, they find that she’s had a massive psychic wave wash over her because of the Symbol of Doom. Raven feels it too as all of the universes negative emotions are dragged to the surface and amplified. It’s not only this Earth and this universe that can see it.

It’s all of them.

Francis Manapul does an amazing job of capturing the scale and danger of Perpetua’s victory by stretching the Symbol of Doom across six vertical panels showing the other heroes of the world looking up at the sky. Batwoman in Gotham, Black Canary and Green Arrow in Seattle, The Marvels in Philadelphia, Swamp Thing and Detective Chimp in Louisiana, CATMAN IN TANZANIA and the Rocket Red Brigade in St. Petersburg all look toward the sky and see that Doom is coming for them all. Each of these panels are colored in Manapul’s almost airbrush-y style. They’re vibrant, but still give off that feeling of bad tidings.

All of this is absolutely terrifying because there are so many villains and criminals active in the DC Universe. We’ve been seeing the result of Lex’s different offerings over the course of the various stories and while some like Jason Todd’s supervillain team are innocuous, others like Mr. Freeze have been committing absolute terrors in Gotham. Doom is seeping its way into the hearts of the people and they absolutely love it. Heck, this book even starts with a guy holding a sign in front of the Hall of Justice saying “Luthor was Right.”

It doesn’t stop there as it can be seen from Darkseid’s Ghost Sector, Oa, Barbatos’ prison in the Dark Multiverse, the Crime Syndicate’s Earth-3 (even though all of them are supposed to be dead) and even the World Orrery in the center of the Multiverse. The power of Doom itself stretches far and wide and one world gets an unfortunate taste of it. We are then transported to Earth-19, the Gotham by Gaslight Universe, as Bruce Wayne and Inspector Gordon look up to the sky, seeing the Symbol of Doom and Perpetua herself.

The scene is painted in a beautiful purple hue and heavy inks. Everything feels utterly dark, not only because of the setting, but also because of the panic on the people’s faces. They scream that they’ve gone man, that the world is ending. Perpetua condemns the world for being so primitive because of the heavy fog of industry and their lean towards Justice. Batman himself tries to call for help, but the signal is blocked. Perpetua takes notice of him and chastises him for his choices, and uses her power to begin the destruction of the world. Batman realizes the end is near and reveals the knowledge of the Multiverse to Gordon, who responds by asking what the hell can they do against her and Batman replies they’ll do what they can, a hero to the end.

Perpetua crashes her staff into Earth-19, sending a shockwave through the planet that cracks it apart with fire and thunder. Starting out with one wide shot panel of Perpetua towering over the city and slowly pulling in to the terror of the citizens running away, we can feel the fear and terror on the people’s faces. Even as Batman tries to save a frantic child amidst the utter destruction, we know that there is truly nothing he can do as Perpetua announces that there are now only Fifty-One Earths. It’s heartbreaking as it all ends with a distorted, yellow panel of Perpetua’s evil eyes.

Meanwhile, Hawkgirl and Shayne (the child of Hawkgirl and Martian Manhunter) drift in the emptiness of space. Hawkgirl’s still suffering from her injuries at the hands of Lex Luthor, a result of her thinking that she would be able to get revenge for the death of J’onn J’onzz, but unfortunately allowing him to get the drop on her, causing the entire plan to go awry. There’s still a small bit of hope as Hawkgirl and Shayne manage to reach Batman on the Javelin’s comms. Batman warns them that they need to escape as quickly as they can as they won’t stay hidden for long. The warning rings true as Perpetua allows Luthor to hit the Javelin, stranding them in space and finally giving Luthor the reigns to attack the League head on.

This issue was absolutely fantastic from start to finish. While I have criticized The Batman Who Laughs for being an OP character that always wins, that has always come with the caveat that he’s just another Batman and has plans on top of plans. Perpetua and Luthor are different because it is shown that there is a small chance that they can fail. The last issue planted that idea in our minds with Hawkgirl being the linchpin to their defeat, but her hubris allowed Doom to win. Perpetua took advantage and is now showing what happens to those that aren’t on her side.

I love tales on a cosmic scale and this book is building to bigger and better things, not only in one universe, but all of them. Perpetua is doing something similar to what Crisis on Infinite Earths did back in the 80s and is bringing together all of the different universes and systematically destroying them to make way for something better in her image. It’s not just the normal universes that are affected either, it’s the Dark Multiverse as well and if things are to be believed, the Tales from the Dark Multiverse books could be what makes Scott Snyder’s Justice League the center point for the next big Crisis.

Francis Manapul is pulling heavy duty with his work in this issue as everything looked amazing. The heroes looked like they were in utter defeat, designs were amazing as always and Perpetua looked absolutely threatening. She’s such an ethereal being with dark, dark shadows that have just a small splash of color in them. Her eyes are piercing and you can almost get the feeling that she can snap you out of existence at any moment. She’s a wonderful new addition to DCs cast of Cosmic characters and Manapul does an excellent job of portraying as a grand threat.

This run of Justice League and the stories that surround it, much like Dark Knights: Metal, are exactly what I’ve been looking for in comics. I love it when villains have their way and get their wins in. What makes this even better is that Perpetua and Apex Lex are absolutely compelling villains that make good, smart use of the situations that they find themselves in. Lex Luthor is finally achieving things that he tried back in the Villains United days, the Injustice Gang days and every other time he tried to achieve global domination, but failed. With the help of his new evil Cosmic mother, short of an evil alternate universe Batman, there is nothing that can stop them.

Doom is Here. Doom is Winning.

Best of DC: Week of October 9th, 2019

Best of this Week: The Joker: Year of the Villain One Shot – John Carpenter (yes, that John Carpenter), Anthony Burch, Philip Tan, Marc Deering, Danny Miki, Jonathan Glapion, Jay David Ramos and Gabriela Downie

John Carpenter understands horror.

Helming the incredible Halloween franchise, the remakes of The Thing and a slew of iconic (and absolutely godawful) movies, Carpenter helped lend his skill to yet another psychopath in the form of the Joker in his comic debut and it is unsettling. While the rest of the Year of the Villain One-Shots have followed a particular villain and what Lex Luthor had to offer them, this book takes an entirely different route and chooses to focus on one of the Joker’s henchman while he and his boss tear through Gotham after another recent breakout from Arkham Asylum.

Referring to himself only as Six of Hearts, this mostly somber tale sees the man examine his own mental illness through the lens of freedom while saddling alongside the Joker as they attempt to “stomp out crime” in Gotham City. Initially, he sees his illness as something that he needs to hide or repress since he is unable to get a grasp on whether whether his world is real or if everything is in his head.

He admires the Joker for his supposed freedom, the wackiness he displays by being open and free with his crazy and how unapologetic he is. Philip Tan shows this by drawing Six or “Of” as Joker refers to him, with this glazed over look of wonder as Joker blows up the other 51 henchman because they didn’t break him out. Watching Six’s face appear as if it’s being pulled into the explosion gives the idea that all of the anarchy is drawing him in. He doesn’t fear Joker, he’s willing to follow him through anything.

Joker doesn’t take notice of the kid until he randomly speaks up as the Clown Prince is dumping Scarecrow’s fear gas into the Gotham River. He asks Six of Hearts to drive him somewhere and puts a gun to the henchman’s head once boredom creeps in, ordering him to say something fun. We’re then treated to Six of Heart’s backstory of abuse for his mental illness. Gabriela Downie does an excellent job of using letters in the place of traditional borders for this scene, each border reading “Ha,” for Joker’s maddening laugh.

The scene is horrible and we see Sox’s father beating him, asking if it would kill him to be normal for two seconds before cutting to Six of Hearts holding a bloody skillet over the battered head of his father as his mother cries after trying to calm him from the beating. It’s a devastating scene that shows how the misunderstanding of mental illness can lead to needless violence.

Joker appears sated and removes the gun from Six of Hearts face and smiles, calling his tale fun. The two then stop at a gas station and encounter Condiment King. The…F-List villain attempts to rob Six, using a flurry of sauce based pins before Joker emerges from one of the aisles to put the fear of God into the villain. Putting his arm around Condiment King’s shoulder, grabbing the mustard gun and putting it directly against his head as he blubbers and cries, he fires and nearly drowns Condiment King in mustard.

Joker’s face is absolutely terrifying, shrouded in shadow with only his real eyes and red mouth, he appears far more demonic and scary than normal. His teeth are a gross yellow, making him appear gross as well. Tan does a great job of selling the fear and danger of the Joker with Condiment King’s face being absolutely great with tears and snot coming from every orifice.

With justice dispensed, Joker finds his “true” calling and makes Six don a Robin costume with himself in a Batman costume as the two then go out and fight crime. In the same way that Batman Odyssey was insane, this part of the book pulls no punches either, with mad grins from the Joker, ill fitting costumes on both men and absurd over the top violence. A man and his dog are just walking on the street when Robin Six accuses him of some sort of crime before letting him go after seeing his innocence. Just as he’s about to walk away, Joker shoots him, saying he’s got a gun, then shoots the dog saying the same thing before planting the gun on the dog.

I audibly laughed at how ridiculous it was. It was so sudden and so random that I couldn’t contain it and the rest of the book continued that way. This is when the cracks began to show and Six slowly realized that Joker might not be all that he seemed. After an incident with Enchantress and Joker almost shooting a server in the face while commenting about Sox’s mother from earlier, Six gets terrified and tries to run from Joker. He returns home only to find Joker in his Bat costume holding a knife to his mother’s throat.

This scene felt terrifying. Coated in a slight red tint, we see the true madness from the Joker as he’s been listening to every word Six had said, knowing that he knew what he was doing all along. Six of Hearts realizes that Joker’s been done the entire time and that he’s not like his former idol at all and he attacks him in a rage. He somehow gets the upper hand before Joker puts the Batmask on Six and croaks “harder” as Six of Hearts chokes him to death. This catches the boy off guard and Joker sees the opportunity to beat him half to death with a crowbar before sauntering off.

The faces and the colors make for an absolutely great experience as we’re able to watch Six of Hearts explode with rage, Deering, Miki and Glapion’s various inks showcasing the darkness of the scene. Joker’s evil is palpable with all of this darkness. Jay David Ramos’ dark, but intense colors set an amazing tone for the somehow warm feeling that we’re supposed to get from this scene. Six of Heart earns something of a clarity, realizing that while the Joker doesn’t care about him, his mother still does and he loves her. As long as he was able to protect her and do something good with his life, then everything was worth it.

She embraces him and their broken relationship begins to mend itself unexpectedly. For an unbelievably dark and morbid story, this was amazingly sweet at the end.

I don’t know how much Anthony Burch had to carry the script for this issue, but I can definitely see Carpenter’s influence heavy in the book. Joker is amazingly terrifying and well directed and Six of Hearts is an excellent stand in for the general reader. This story was fantastic and in an event where Doom is the ultimate goal, it’s nice to get a little bit of hope.

Philip Tan’s art and the rest of the creative team from the various inkers to Jay David Ramos on colors were fantastic. Joker looks like an absolute maniac and the colors are so full and beautiful. The inks are appreciably dark to match an equally dark character and the story therein.

I really, really want John Carpenter to do another book in much the same vein. Maybe Joe Hill and the rest of the Hill House imprint can have a place for him?

Best of DC: Week of October 2nd, 2019

Runner Up: Batman #80 – Tom King, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Tomeu Morey, Clayton Cowles

Batman is Broken no more.

For 79 issues, Bane has been orchestrating a convoluted plot in an effort to prove himself Batman’s most superior foe, the man who broke the Bat twice. He’s pulled Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne, from another universe, caused Catwoman to leave Batman at the altar and has completely taken over Gotham City after Thomas defeated Bruce at Ra’s al Ghul most powerful Lazarus Pit.

Everything has been in an effort to leave Bruce broken, without help, unable to stop Bane. It would have worked too, if not for Catwoman. The last two issues have been mostly filler issues for Batman and Catwoman to rebuild their relationship by fighting crime together again. They’ve recontextualized their relationship with Bruce realizing that he can be happy and still be Batman and Catwoman realizes that she’s not taking anything away from Bruce by being with him.

They make each other better with Bruce taming her more criminal aspects and Selina taking away some of the more brutal rage that got him in trouble for beating the crap out of Mister Freeze several issues ago.

Tom King does very well with writing relationships like this even if sometimes it seems heavy handed on the part of it being a woman’s duty to fix her man. Catwoman and Batman ounce off of each other in the most adorable and loving ways, but when it’s time for business, no one can hold a candle to them. Batman #80 succeeds on the merits of their skills and the skills of the entire creative tem of this book.

Right off the bat, the book begins with a noir Batman feel as Bruce, in his beach disguise (or rather his Matches Malone guise) walks through the streets of Gotham on a rainy night before being stopped by Officers Pyg and Dent. The two criminals attempt to accost him, not knowing he’s Batman and they get the crap kicked out of them. Batman doesn’t even break a sweat before he’s punched them both in the throat and gives Harvey another to the face for good measure. Harvey shoots him in the chest twice, but Bruce slowly opens his shirt to reveal a Bat emblem before tossing the bullets away like a boss.

John Romita Jr. knows his way around a fight scene and conveys Batman’s strength and the terror of his presence in general by how Harvey reacts upon realizing it’s him. Tomeu Morey sets the scene with his amazing coloring by tinting these pages in yellow, DC’s general color for fear before it transitions into darker colors when Batman reveals himself. Klaus Janson’s inks set the tone for how unknown this mysterious stranger is before the ultimate reveal and in only a few pages, this book has me sold.

Opposite Batman who likes to be seen and feared, Catwoman strikes from the shadows. Mad Hatter is just patrolling Gotham when he spies a cat, musing about laws over strays and pulling the longest pistol ever recorded in comics out of his hat. I’m not kidding, this gun was comically large. While Batman’s scene was tinted in yellow, these pages are split between the cool blue of a street light and the seductive purple of the night sky in another, non-rainy, part of Gotham. It plays well into Selina’s finesse as she quickly and quietly takes down Mad Hatter, saving the cat.

Batman pretty much makes the rounds, letting his villains know that he’s returned to Gotham, Kite-Man gets an amazing scene as Batman drops him from a building while saying “Hell yeah” in response to Kite-Man asking if it’s actually him and later has a standoff with Officer Hush. The stand off has no reason to happen other than it’s badass visual as these perfect opposites just trade philosophic barbs as Batman disables Hush with a batarang. In all of it’s rainy, sepia toned glory, it’s a nice double page spread, made even better by Janson’s inks giving everything the perfect black shadows.

Throughout the issue is a thread for Thomas Wayne as well. Because he’s a father that lost his child, he treats Gotham Girl as if she’s his own, giving her a new costume and consoling her however he can. He’s gotten very close to her and as such when she’s in distress over not having any more of the serum that can keep her alive as she uses her powers, Thomas is there for her. He tells her that she doesn’t need powers and that she’s skilled enough without them. He tells her to just rest as Albert Wesker walks in to tell him that Bruce has arrived.

Bane gave a standing order that if any of the Batfamily were to reenter Gotham City, then someone close to them would die. Damian did it and got Alfred killed which left the child as the only prisoner. Batman had to know this as well as he monologues after defeating Hush that his father has to make a decision: will he kill his own Grandson?

Batman is getting very intense as Tom King is reaching the end of his run with this book. With only five issues left, I’m actually shaking in my boots with excitement.

In reflection, I’m also mostly glad with the entirety of this almost three year story and the leaps and bounds it’s made to cement Bane in a firm place at the top of Batman’s Rogues Gallery. Bane had always been one of Batman’s most deadly enemies, but this manipulation, the guile and deception, the audacity that he had to hatch such an amazing(ly insane and convoluted) plan just to ruin the life of his most hated enemy is insane.

Joker may always be Batman’s most popular villain… but Bane will always be his greatest.

Best of DC: Week of September 18th, 2019

Best of this Week: Year of the Villain: Lex Luthor #1 – Jason Latour, Bryan Hitch, Andrew Currie, Tomeu Morey and Tom Napolitano

Doom is Here.

Lex Luthor has gone through an amazing transformation over the last few years. He was just a rich douchebag when the New 52 started and this eventually led to him becoming a hero in his own right, even taking up the mantle of Superman after Clark died during DCYou’s Superman: Truth arc. When the status quo needed resetting after the League destroys the Source Wall and Luthor was called to join a large group of heroes and villains to stop a new threat to the universe. He saw the error of his heroic ways and embraced Doom after seeing just how powerful entropy could be.

Everything he’s been planning has been leading up to Year of the Villain and things are in full swing with the bad guys finally having the edge, but there’s just something that Luthor can’t satisfy yet: His own urge to be the ONE Luthor. His ultimate belief that he himself is the pinnacle of the multiversal Luthors and this book sets out to prove him right in a variety of ways.

Starting out on Earth-38, a universe reminiscent of the 1960s Superboy comics, Lex recruits the aid of Alexander Luthor, a younger version of himself that still rocks the ginger bowl cut and genius of his future self. Lex likely sees the malleability of this Young Luthor and sees just how similar their upbringings were ad hopes that this child can see the pending darkness and failures that other Luthors have succumbed to. Lionel Luthor is drunk and hears it all, insisting that Lex take him instead, but the Apex Predator incinerates him as Alexander looks on with nonchalance.

Bryan Hitch might be in his finest form in years right now. Somehow, he manages to make a middle school science fair eerie and uncomfortable and make a bowl cut mildly threatening. Tomeu Morey’s coloring of these first pages paints a picture of the perfect suburban setting with darkness just sitting underneath and curiosity from the Young Luthor, the same glint in his eyes.

The next two Earths play in parallel to each other as opposite futures. Earth-45 is a desiccated world where brands brought the world to its knees along with a Doomsday Luthor that squandered the world and destroyed it. Earth-32 seems to be a world of peace where a Martian Kal-El and Lex Luthor coexist as best friends in the Superman and Batman roles.

Luthor has a special hate for this Lex as he’s chosen to live in the shadow of the alien and sicks the Doomthor on Kal-El, thinking that Bat Lex will abandon his fight with Apex Lex to save him, but a Luthor is still a Luthor and he calls Apex Lex’s bluff, but he’s seen all that he has to. He knows that Bat Lex is absolutely Doomed because of his heroic nature and chooses to let him suffer on an Earth that will absolutely be killed by Doomthor.

Luthors hate for both of these other versions is palpable though. Lex has made body modifications for power before, but never once has he allowed himself to become a mindless brute because of it. He doesn’t want to see society utterly destroyed like Earth-45 Luthor did. Even his transformation into the peak form of what a Human-Martian hybrid should be is more enlightening than dangerous.

He very likely also sees Earth-32 Luthor as one of the bigger multiversal insults. Lex Luthor stands in no one’s shadow and seeing him become a creature of the night, the Batman to a Martian Superman, is low. It also echoes back to the years when all he got was guff from the Superhero community and the American populace at large by portraying himself as a hero. It’s the opposite of his current goal of absolute Doom in that this peddling the false hope of Justice.

Doomthor is revealed in his full form during the Earth-32 scenes and he looks amazing. Bryan Hitch draws him like a bald Doomsday, but has the LexCorp logo adorning his chest. He’s an absolute unit of grey and white, muscles pulsating, arm cocked back ready to take Kal-El’s head off and face so full of rage. Of all of the alternate Doomsdays we’ve seen, I think this might be my favorite.

Lex travels to Earth-1 to a future that I certainly hope we see published one day because I absolutely love the Earth-1 stories. This segment begins with who I believe to be Perry White telling an unknown individual of the day when Lex absolutely broke the Superman of that world using the Black Mercy parasite. While the Lex of Earth-1 died after being caught in a fight between Superman and Zod, I suppose as with most other things, DC is choosing to retcon and ignore a past story in favor of this excellent story instead. Lex finds Earth-1 Lex in a hospital bed, likely in a coma and angril screams at him for being made so small, asking how his obsession with Superman is worthy of the name Luthor… but then Apex Lex takes a moment and thinks.

He sees the ultimate Doom that this will lead to. This world, without its great symbol of Hope and Justice, will crumble as it is already a darker reflection of the Prime universe. Bryan Hitch draws Apex Lex’s face with a heated rage contrasted by Morey’s use of muted colors in the room, the sterilized feeling of it all. He grasps the Comatose Lex’s head, preparing snap his neck, but then he relents with stunned silence. Hitch captures this moment with solemn beauty and revelation for what Lex will really have to do to achieve Doom. The Comatose Lex just lies there, smiling. He’s absolutely pleased with himself and finds himself living up to the Luthor name.

After Luthor travels to Earth-50 and likely kills the Luthor of that world, in front of a statue of him replacing the Lincoln Memorial, he has a conversation with Alexander. Alexander asks “why don’t we just kill all of the Luthors when they’re babies” to which Apex Lex answers, “There is no ‘we’ only Luthor.” To me this sounds like Lex could do exactly that, but at the same time, he has to teach Alexander how exactly to be Luthor by seeing all of the mistakes that others have made in the name. By showing him alternate realities, pasts and futures, Alexander can see every possible path there is for him to take and sidestep their particular hurdles to realize his destiny.

The two Luthors meet three more over the course of their adventures, one who became a cobbler and another from the age of Merlin who became a Wizard, two drastically different paths, but neither good enough of the name of Luthor. The final is the one that intrigues me the most, however.

The final Lex appears to be the absolute opposite to Apex Lex. The Luthor who gave up his ambition, his visions of grandeur and embraced the down to Earth nature of his humanity (and a good ginger beard). Through drinking tea mixed with pieces of the Blak Mercy himself, he has lived multiple lives and experienced multiple realities and has seen the many paths just as Apex Lex and Alexander are doing now. The difference is that Bearded Lex sees through Apex Lex, he knows that his hubris and need to be the one and only Lex Luthor is why he’s willing to give up his humanity despite knowing that he will never be. He is but one of many.

This is illustrated excellently through Hitch and Morey portraying Lex in many of the positions of other heroes like Shazam, The Flash, Orion and even as Brainiac himself among others. Morey makes these colors slightly more sepia toned to illustrate that they are potential pasts and futures to give a lived in feel. There’s also no way for Lex to ever be the one true Lex at all and every attempt is just another way to fool himself.

Hearing enough, Alexander killed Bearded Lex, gaining the respect of Apex Lex and finally becoming Luthor…only afterwards, it is revealed that at some point, Alexander was given the Black Mercy plant and acts as back up human DNA for Lex, likely for when his own status quo needs to be reset if his path towards Doom is also the wrong path. Despite the lessons that he was trying to teach, Lex still has an ace up his sleeve, he still has some of his humanity and he knows that no matter what happens, he will remain the one true Lex Luthor.

Of all of the Year of the Villain spotlights, this one is my absolute Favorite. It might just be things that put Luthor in the forefront in general, but there’s just something so great about his new form of evil. He wants to see the utter ruination of good and he’s actually making headway and earning from his past and future mistakes before he can even make these decisions. It peels back the layers of all the men that Lex Luthor could have been and shows us just why Apex Lex is the best version of all of them, because his plans have succeeded without him being subservient, comatose or a mindless beast.

Lex Luthor is here for Doom and I am on board for it.

Best of DC: Week of August 14th, 2019

Runner Up: The Flash #76 – Joshua Williamson, Rafael Sandoval, Jordi Tarragona, Tomeu Morey and Steve Wands

Barry Allen is back and better than before.

After re-living one of his first adventures as The Flash, Barry sees just how out of touch with things that he has been lately. He realizes that he hasn’t taken the time to slow down since Wally returned and he’s just been throwing himself into adventure after adventure without any regard for his friends and family and it has caused their lives to suffer because of it.

Iris has practically left him. Wallace West distanced himself from Barry as much as possible, even going so far as to briefly join a team with Deathstroke. Avery, the Flash of China, isn’t even that close to Barry, but he also left her and Wallace in the middle of an argument just before he went off on his Force Quest. In an effort to put a stop to the Rogues that have now branched out of Central City, he’s been going through the escapees left and right.

We begin with Kid Flash and Avery fighting with Girder and Tarpit in the middle of Central City. The two young Speedsters are quick, but not all is right as they have a hard time putting any serious damage on either. Just as Tarpit is about to burn them alive, Barry zips in and saves the teens.

Rafa Sandoval is absolutely one of my favorites of DC’s current crop of artists and my favorite Flash artist. His slick lines and shading combined with Morey’s coloring and Tarragona’s inks makes everything look smooth. Costumes look good, bright and vibrant. Flash’s deep red stands out and compliments Wally’s yellow and surprisingly Avery’s dark pink and purples. Shadows are appropriately dark and every blast of lightning and every blur is stunning to see.

Barry gives his young proteges some advice in dealing with Tarpit and Girder, allowing the young speedsters to defeat the villains. After the win, Wallace is less than enthused to see Barry again and begins to walk away before Barry asks them both to run with him, to see how he’s trying to make up for his mistakes.

Begrudgingly they agree and we get another amazing shot of Barry running while flanked by Avery and Wallace. I really loved this because it reminded me of the old Flash Family days and because Barry is really trying his best.

He shows them the rebuilt Flash Museum and they’re amazed that he managed to rebuild it all by himself. Barry reveals that there’s something more and they use their vibration abilities to enter their new headquarters, which I don’t have a pun for yet. They’re greeted by Commander Cold(?) And Steadfast, the new avatar of the Still Force, and Barry explains what’s been going on with their powers.

Wallace had been noticing small things, but he thought it was all in his head. Apparently with the release of all of these new forces, the Speed Force is collapsing under the weight of these new forces that aren’t supposed to exist alongside it. This is further backed up as The Black Flash returns for a cliffhanger ending.

As all of this is going on, in another city altogether, Heatwave is causing havoc, seemingly with his own heat powers having returned. The cops show up to confront him, but are suddenly incapacitated by blasts of ice. Captain Cold, Leonard Snart, has begun to gather his Rogues. With updated Cold Gear, to mirror his own New 52 ice powers, he hands Heatwave a Heat Gun and he two OG Rogues reunite to gather the rest of the troops and finally take down The Flash.

With this first part being so affectionately referred to as “The Death of the Speed Force part 1” I can’t imagine that any of this will end well. The Speed Force has been in existence for the better part of almost 30+ years now and there’s a good chance that we’ve seen all that we possibly can from it. It’s been used to trap people, reset universes and even bring back past Speedsters for big events.

With the Speed Force dying, now’s a great opportunity for new stories to be told with the Flashes exploring new ways for their powers to work if the Speed Force does indeed get destroyed in the future. But what will this mean for other speedsters still trapped like Jai and Iris West II, and Jay Garrick? Will they be immediately freed or will Doomsday Clock somehow tie into things? Only time will tell! High recommend!