Tag: Adam Glass

Best of DC: Week of June 19th, 2019

Best of this Week: Teen Titans #31 – Adam Glass, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo and Rob Leigh

Lobo came to bring the pain.

Starting off with a bang, Lobo completes a contract on a Dhorian at the behest of Kanjar Ro, blowing up the disguised alien’s bodega before shooting him right in the face for his cash. After completing the contract, he receives a job from The Other to take down the Teen Titans. After an initial rebuff of the job, his interest is piqued after he’s shown an image of Crush, the only other living Czarnian. (not counting Twink Lobo that should still be trapped by Larfleeze)

Cutting back to the ending from the last issue, Lobo confirms that Crush indeed her daughter and proceeds to absolutely DESTROY the Titans. All of my love comes for this book comes from just how amazingly dominant Bernard Chang makes Lobo look and how terrifying Glass scripts him.

All of the Titans rush the Main Man with Roundhouse being the first to face his wrath. Lobo takes Roundhouse, who has taken the form of a ball, and uses him to BEAT THE OTHERS. He slaps Kid Flash with his best friend, he smacks Red Arrow upside her head, Robin dodges, but his cape is used against him as he’s crushed between Roundhouse and Lobo’s hands. Kid Flash tries to come back with a flurry of punches, but Lobo has none of it and decks the Kid in his face.

Djinn teleports him into Crush’s room and he sees her wall of pictures and articles about her dad. Djinn tries to bind him with magic, but he uses a mirror to turn it against her and just as he’s about to kill her, Crush saves her in the nick of time, suplexing him out of the Titan’s hideout. Lobo, unaffected, uses her as a basketball, throwing her into the backboard before using his hoop as a bat and hitting a home run with her as the ball. Throughout the carnage he has nothing but a smug grin, like he’s playing with these kids; because he is.

Lobo has killed a lot of things, including his own children, so killing the Titans would be nothing to him. At the very least, he’s jovial and having a fun time beating their asses. Chang draws him as being kinda relaxed and casual about his violence. He’s still rippling with muscle and almost appears to be showing off a little, it’s really charming in a sick way.

Catching up to Crush, he shows no restraint against her. He breaks her ankle to test if she has his healing factor, grabs her by the hair and smashes her into a train. The impact is hard and brutal with the train crumpling as Crush’s face kisses it. Back at the hideout, Djinn has the idea to loose Crush’s chain, Obelus, as it might be the only thing that can save her. Crush, however, is not a fan of the idea because the chain came from Lobo and may not obey her. In her anger, she crushes her communicator and LOBO CRUSHES HER WITH A TRAIN.

This splash page made me lose it. Lobo just leans on the train car as Crush is pinned underneath, reaching out in pain and the bottom is EXPLODING in a hail of debris and fire with a deep red and some blood spatter effect acting as the background to the insanity. Lobo taunts her, saying she was lucky that he wasn’t around to mess her up for all of her years, but that there was still time for him to let her down. The absolute CHAD hasn’t been in her life at all, comes back and IMMEDIATELY threatens to ruin it, absolutely. I can’t believe how callous and brutal it is.

Crush spits blood in his face and just as Lobo is about to deliver his coup de gras by smashing her head into a fine red past on the ground, Kid Flash swoops in and saves her, setting up Round 2 for the next issue.

This issue was absolutely insane thanks to The Main Man. Lobo just brings out the crazy in everything that he’s in and introduced the Titans to a WORLD OF PAIN. Crush was absolutely an overpowered member of the team because almost nothing could hurt her and to see her absolutely dominated like this was astounding. One thing that truly stood out was her anger when seeing Djinn in danger because of her, pun intended, crush on the young Genie. She had a burst of rage and actually slightly overpowered Lobo, but of course he continued the beating.

Lobo’s ferocity stood out in a way that we haven’t seen in any of his fights with Superman or his time in the Justice League of America. He wasn’t angry at all, but was having fun. While he could have swatted any of the kids into dust, he played with them, dragging out their pain. His fight with Crush was hard to read/watch at times with his banter. It was almost scary how ready he was to straight up murder her to keep his rep as the last Czarnian, (again, not counting the pretty boy) but at the same time he was weirdly fatherly in his own murderous way.

Honestly, this issue was just a ton of fun. I love Lobo and any chance that I get to see him act like a madman, I enjoy. Adam Glass wrote him so very well that it kind of feels like a callback to Giffen and DeMatteis’ series and Change makes him look like an imposing freak of nature that eats nothing but protein and drinks rage. Seeing Crush express even a little bit of fear was fun because all we’ve gotten out of her is anger and snark. I can’t wait for the next issue and her eventual win just to see what she’ll be capable of. High recommend.

Best of DC: Week of May 15th, 2019

Best of this Week: Teen Titans #30 – The Terminus Agenda: Epilogue – Adam Glass, Bernard Chang, Marcelo Maiolo, Hi-Fi and Rob Leigh

It’s official. Damian is the WORST leader that the Teen Titans has ever had.

Everything comes to a head in the aftermath of Terminus Agenda as Red Arrow, Kid Flash and Damian are confronted by Crush, Djinn and Roundhouse after all that transpired. They’re angry, but at least for a moment are willing to work with the others on a solution to things. Damian rationalizes that his secret prison for supervillains is needed to put a stop to the villainous criminal organization, The Other.

Kid Flash initially relents and wants to put a stop to the prison, knowing he should have as soon as he found out about it. Red Arrow, sees differently and threatens to shoot him with an arrow if he attempts it. What makes this even worse is that it is these kinds of squabbles that led to Damian putting this team together in the first place, but because of his lies and cruelty it’s tearing apart at the seams.

Djinn, upon hearing his reasoning, remarks that thoughts like that are what led to her brother imprisoning her and making her commit atrocious acts in her past. Damian tries to take her arm and make her see his side, but Crush tosses him into the sign above their building in a rage.

Everything breaks down from here and Bernard Chang struts his dynamic art skills in one long string of action scenes.

The disorientation and weight from Kid Flash smashing Crush through the ceiling is heavy and Roundhouse plowing into the Speedster is even worse. Red Arrow manages to take Djinn down and Damian rocks Crush with a brutal kick to the face and it is magnificent. Everyone regains their composure and Damian gives something of an apology and says that THIS is why it was supposed to be kept secret, “to keep the burden on him.” The moment is ruined, however, with the sudden and violent arrival of a certain someone’s father.

While I generally love when a team comes together, I like it even better when their internal issues flair up, resulting in things like this. Damian didn’t want to be like his father, but became worse, Kid Flash hid things from his friends and tried to play innocent just like Barry does and Red Arrow regressed back to her murderous nature to kill Deathstroke. The new kids aren’t any better. Crush routinely lets her anger get the better of her and pushes people’s buttons, Djinn practices a level of self-righteousness that can be seen as naive and Roundhouse is just an awkward kid playing hero.

This team was a recipe for disaster.

I don’t really know how they can recover from this. Djinn’s trust in Robin, especially after she gave him control of the ring that controlled her, is broken and Crush hates him. I could see Roundhouse possibly staying with the team, but given his close nature with Kid Flash now kinda being severed… I don’t know. Red Arrow and Robin aren’t too far removed from the same motivations so they could stay together, but Kid Flash is likely done with the both of them. I did like this team, but aside from the upcoming issues focusing on one character, I don’t know how much further they can go together.