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Deathstroke #29
Publisher: DC
Story: Christopher Priest
Pencils: Diogenes Neves
Inks: Trevor Scott
Colors: Jeromy Cox
Letters: Willie Schubert
Cover: Ryan Sook
Christopher Priest has been on fire with this series since day one and now he’s concluding all of these amazing plot threads in one amazing issue. Everyone who has had it out for Deathstroke in this series is coming for him and so if you’ve decided to start here you probably wont be able to make sense of much of what’s happening. However, for those that have been here for a while, Priest makes the payoff worth it along with the visuals from Neves, Scott, and Cox who bring a heavy WTF moment to the opening sequence. By the time the issue is over we don’t know what’s actually true and Slade is the last place he wants to be. Just know that Christopher Priest has elevated Deathstroke to a new level for you longtime fans of the character and given something worth reading for those of you new to the world of Slade Wilson. 4.5/5 – IS
Batman #42
Publisher: DC Comics
Story: Tom King
Pencils: Mikel Jann
Inks: Mikel Jann
Colors: June Chung
Letters: Clayton Cowels
Cover: Mikel Jann
A lot of great writers have done a lot of amazing takes on The Dark Knight over the course of the many years of the characters history but I have to say Tom King’s version is probably one of the most mind-blowingly tactical depictions to date. Not a single wasted breath, word or decision as Batman pulls on the threads of Ivy’s plans for world domination. King’s Batman is the type of guy who, without being too spoilery, will wholesale put his body on the line to see a plan done right, creating some of the most genuine “holy hell” moments I’ve had reading a Batman book since back when Frank Miller had his mind right. If you are not reading Tom King’s run on Batman that you are missing out on some of the best writing in comic books to date and you need to fix that immediately or we can’t hang out anymore. 5/5 – CC
Black Lightning #5
Publisher: DC Comics
Story: Tony Isabella
Pencils: Clayton Henry & Yvel Guichet
Colors: Pete Pantazis
Letters: Josh Reed
Cover: Ken Lashley & Juan Fernandez
Black Lightning continues to be that mini series you should check out regardless of how long you’ve been a fan of the character. For the most part Isabella has kept the core of what makes Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning great while making slight changes to the current version of the character and his supporting cast. He entertains while showing both sides of Jefferson Pierce’s life and it’s nice to see him fleshed out a bit more with this look into his work as a principal. To his credit, Isabella even has a believable reason why Black Lightning’s identity isn’t easily revealed which is an area the tv show should take a cue from. But we finally get that fight between Tobias and Black Lightning and lets just say that cover isn’t far from what happens in these pages here. It’s a fight that highlights both characters and pulls off all the right action beats thanks to Clayton Henry and Pete Pantazis. The pages drawn by Yvel Guichet look great as well and the transition between the two styles isn’t jarring so it doesn’t take you out of the narrative. All in all this is another step in the right direction and hopefully we’ll get more Black Lightning when this is over. 4/5 – IS
Superman #42
Publisher: DC Comics
Story: Patrick Gleason & Peter J. Tomasi
Pencils: Patrick Gleason
Inks: Patrick Gleason
Colors: Alejandro Sanchez
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover: Patrick Gleason & Jack Kalisz
After a brief glimpse into the life of Bizarro, Jon Kent goes through a pretty uneventful day doing his chores and sharing a meal with his mom and dad. However, as the night falls and Jon lies in bed the Bizarro world literally crashes in on him in a huge way. Story aside, the artwork in Superman #42 is fantastic. This is a truly gorgeous book visually, however, everything else about this issue is throwaway. It’s is definitely interesting to see Bizarro and family living their lives but their speech patterns and thought bubbles were ridiculous and tedious to decipher. It’s obvious that this issue is a setup for a bigger Jon/Bizarro storyline to begin but in terms of a single issue it was wordy and not much happened. If you’re a Jon fan then this issue is very focused on him and with Supersons being cancelled you’ll be happy to see that he isn’t being forgotten. For everyone else it’s a bit of a throwaway. 3/5 – ES
Justice League #40
Publisher: DC Comics
Story: Christopher Priest
Pencils: Pete Woods
Inks: Pete Woods
Colors: Chris Sotomayor
Letters: Willie Schubert
Cover: David Yardin & JG Jones
Don’t you just love it when you can judge a book by it’s cover? What was sold as a knock-down drag-out fight between the Justice League and the Justice League of America on the front of the book is in fact the story of a group of Heroes making the best decision possible under the worst circumstances. There seems to be a “protect the innocent /interfere with humanity” struggle at the top but it settles into a contest to see who can die the noblest death pretty quickly. Not a great jumping on point for new readers and I’m saying this as a brand new reader to this series who was hoping to jump on to it, but by any measurement of story and execution this is definitely an interesting read. No spoilers here mostly because this was the equivalent of an anime filler episode but it’s made me curious to see how it all plays out. Maybe read three books back if you really want to know what’s happening though. 3/5 – CC
Batman: White Knight #6
Publisher: DC Comics
Story: Sean Gordon Murphy
Pencils: Sean Gordon Murphy
Inks: Sean Gordon Murphy
Colors: Matt Hollingsworth
Letters: Todd Klein
Cover: Sean Gordon Murphy & Matt Hollingsworth
With Batman on the outs with the GCPD and both Nightwing and Batgirl deputized to arrest him, time has run out for the Dark Knight. Napier’s plan to remove Batman from the Gotham landscape finally comes to fruition in dramatic fashion in this issue but with the worst possible timing. Neo Joker declares her control of the city and lays out an ultimatum for it’s salvation and with Batman behind bars the only one left to save Gotham is it’s self-proclaimed White Knight, The Joker. Sean Murphys White Knight series has been incredible through and through and issue 6 doesn’t disappoint. Turning the Batman world on his ear has been amazing and being able to humanize the Joker and vilify Batman has led to some really cool storytelling and it’s sad that this series will soon be at its end. I cannot stress enough that this is one of the best stories coming out of DC right now and deserves your attention. That last panel made me gasp! 5/5 – ES
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