Blog

Hello all! It’s time once again for another batch of DC reviews. We’ve got a great set of books this week, including the conclusion to a major event.

Minor Spoilers Ahead!

Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne #2
Writer: Grant Morrison
Artist: Frazer Irving
Cover Artist: Andy Kubert
Publisher: DC

Bruce Wayne continues on his journey home, and the time traveling superheroes continue on their journey to reach Bruce. Wayne finds himself transported to Puritan America and goes by the name of Brother Mordecai, as a result of an unfortunate bout of amnesia. Meanwhile, Superman, Green Lantern, Booster Gold, and Rip Hunter tracked the Omega energy to Vanishing Point, where they talk science and attempt to relocate Bruce. While the complete mystery continues to unravel in this issue, it begs to be brought to attention the detective in Bruce that was evident in the issue. He was able to deduce the true murderer of a local man, as well as the troubled life the woman was living in. And while the murdered man nor his widowed wife are very important, the situation itself is. In the first issue Morrison reintroduced and reaffirmed Bruce’s ability and tendency to use fear as an aid in his battles. In this issue we get a glimpse of the detective aspect of Bruce that most of us have become accustomed to. Regardless of what your opinion is of the series, which can be difficult for some people to comprehend, there is no denying that Morrison is taking established characteristics of Batman and reintroducing them as being fundamental aspects of Bruce Wayne. 4/5

Gotham City Sirens #12
Writer: Tony Bedard
Artist: Peter Nguyen & Jack Purcell
Cover Artist: Guillem March
Publisher: DC

In the last issue Pamela Isley had taken up a job, undercover, as a research lab technician. Unfortunately for her, a disgruntled and recently fired employee discovers that she is Poison Ivy. Trapped in a dehydration machine, Ivy is about to be killed when she pulls out her trump card, or in her case, trump leaf. Ivy is one of those Gotham villains I tend to overlook, but then something like this happens, where she takes a simple leaf and mutates its growth into an animalistic vine, and you remember that she is one of the more intelligent and more powerful villains. The next part of the issue might confuse those of you who didn’t pick up the Blackest Night Catwoman one-shot, where Selina’s younger sister Maggie, an ex-nun, had escaped from a mental institute. In this issue it is more than clear that she has completely lost it. She initially tracks down another nun in hopes that the two of them can exorcise the demon in Selina. Before the nun can help Maggie, Maggie loses it and kills the nun and her cat. Again, she’s clearly lost it at this point. A gas is released from a jar and Maggie is visited by an Angel, that’s right, an Angel. And after a scene that is very reminiscent of Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Theresa, Maggie declares war on Selina’s demon. 3.5/5

Superman: War of the Supermen #4
Writer(s): Sterling Gates & James Robinson
Artist: Eddy Barrows
Cover Artist: Eddy Barrows
Publisher: DC

The final issue in this epic mini-series starts off with the battle of the worlds being fought on many different fronts. Superman is taking on Zod and a group of his men, desperately pleading for them to stop fighting. At the White House, Supergirl is at the edge of death when she is saved by Krypto, Superboy, and Steel. While Superboy sends Krypto on a retrieval mission, Zod reveals that Non is taking out the Justice League at that very moment. Superboy, in a brilliant move, reveals that he sent Krypto to retrieve the Phantom Zone projector, which allows him to transport Zod’s men to the newly recreated Phantom Zone. To even out the playing field, Supergirl, Steel, and the Guardian break into General Lane’s main headquarters and rip it apart. Lois Lane begs Supergirl not to kill her father, who proceeds to commit suicide. Superman transports both himself and Zod to the Phantom Zone, in hopes to trap Zod there for eternity, only to be transported back to Earth by Nightwing. The fighting ceases and mourning ensues.

What was supposed to be the grand finale to what was supposed to be a major Superman event, ended up feeling flat. This mini-series accomplished nothing more than erasing the last couple years of Superman history. Superman and Supergirl are once again the last Kryptonians, not including the part of Superboy that is Kryptonian. Plus, General Lane is dead again, Zod and his men are in the Phantom Zone, along with Chris and Mon-el. And at the end of the day, the only question that is left is, What was the point of this all? 3/5

Green Lantern #54
Writer: Geoff JohnsWritten
Artist(s): Doug Mahnke & Christian Alamy
Cover Artist(s): Shane Davis & Sandra Hope

Brightest Day rages on in the pages of Green Lantern with Atrocitus performing a ritual at the expense of a couple of criminals, only to discover that Parallax and Ion are unable to be located. In Silver City, Hal and Sinestro continue bickering, before Hal and Carol both are unsuccessful in lifting the White Lantern. The three of them end up touching the Lantern at the same time, which causes the White Lantern to transport them to New York after informing them that Atrocitus will assist in their new quest to save the entities. It is then revealed to us that light years away, on the planet of Daxam, this new collector of entities takes Ion away from Sodam Yat, thus condemning the people of Daxam. This also added a second entity to this stranger’s collection. And while there is much interest surrounding the newly resurrected people, I’ve got to say that this strange being light years away has most of my attention. Anyone else think Atrocitus’s map looked just like the U.S.? Back on Earth, however, Hal and Atrocitus begin to fight, completely oblivious to the fact that they apparently need one another to complete their mission. We’ll have to wait and see if the two of them can get their act together and what role Lobo will have in all this. 4/5

The Rise of Arsenal #3
Writer: J.T. Krul by J.T. KRUL
Artist(s): Geraldo Borges & Marlo Alquiza
Cover Artist: Greg Horn

The tornado of despair that is Roy’s life continues to spiral out of control in the latest issue in this mini-series. First up we’ve got the assassin Chesire, who also happened to be Lian’s mother. After a couple of pages of inventive fighting, which has Roy using a tennis racket and a stapler, the two turn their anger for one another into sexual energy and attempt to douse their suffering with moments of ecstasy. When that doesn’t pan out for Roy, he decides to alleviate his frustrations by taking on the scum of Star City. He comes across a drug dealer and decides to take a trip down memory lane by scoring some heroin. While in his altered state of mind he hallucinates multiple Prometheus’ attempting to kill Lian and he quickly dispatches the lot of them, who really turn out to be a bunch of random men in the alley. Batman arrives in time to save those men and bring Roy to a rehab center. This wasn’t the best issue of the series. And I don’t know if the title of the series, The Rise of Arsenal, gave me the wrong impression, but Roy doesn’t seem to be doing much rising, no pun intended. 3/5

Arnab Pradhan
arnab@comicattack.net