Batman #677 Review

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Tony Daniels

Grant Morrison has taken over the month and rightly so. The man can flat out write and it shows in Batman. Here we have part of R.I.P. and he continues to move to the story. There is the welcome addition of the newest Thomas and Martha Wayne plotline that adds a bigger sense of mystery. They [allegedly] were involved in some questionable recreational activities and now it is possible that Thomas Wayne himself could be black glove, wow. It sure is intense. Also another idea he introduces is that Batman himself cud be his own villain, it is unlikely but with Grant you just don't know. The art is great as well and Tony Daniels has recovered since that mishap with issue 675. The conspiracy that Morrison has crafted is deep, he uses Alfred in a way that most writers would not imagine. Alfred has always been a father figure or as close as any to Bruce and him actually being his biological father, you need to step back and think about it. The ending was an awesome cliffhanger with Hurt using the trigger word and the villains laying the smackdown on Alfred's candy ass. This is an amazing title and Morrison just continues to keep the ball rolling. [sidenote an interesting article went up on another blog and I suggest you check it out http://www.doomkopf.com/2008/05/31/batman-is-going-to-be-the-spectre/]

Art: PHENOM
Overall: GET IT

All-Star Superman #11 Review

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: Frank Quietly and Jamie Grant

All-Star Superman is the best comic book title out there. Period. It is what a superhero comic is supposed to be. It captures the aspects of being a superhero, but it still keeps mature convictions. It is by far the best take on the man of steel out there. This issue further showed how Clark is handling his impending death. He is still troubled by how Earth will protect itself without him, but he has faith in his friends to keep it safe. I am truly moved by how genuine this Superman is. He really does care for the Earth. This is mostly commenting on the last issue, but this one shows the evil in the world: Luthor. Morrison's Luthor is evil man. He gets to be a superhero for a day, but he is still smart enough not to go up against Superman just with that. So he gets Solaris. We see Superman take it down, but not after losing some of his loyal robots. All of the characters feel very real to me, and we see Clark passing out at the end. Now, after saying all this praise, it is still not something i look forward to like Cap or Batman, but I really appreciate the comic and am pleasantly surprised when it decides to come out. Frank Quietly provides beautiful art. He continues to draw Superman very small in the panels, and that fits the overall theme of this title.

Phenom
OWN IT

Final Crisis #1 Review

Writer: Grant Morrison
Art: J.G. Jones

Final Crisis is here and it kicks off with a silent but deadly BANG! This isn't a flashy Vince Carter kind of them but a more solid fundamental Tim Duncan approach. The first thing this issue strives to do is completely rebuild some of the assumptions we were supposed to take from Countdown. He completely revamped the whole Death of the New Gods series by making a war occur off-panel and having Darkseid win. That was a good move because if the New Gods would wage a war it would not be in your own realm it would be in heaven and I appreciate the phrasing that heaven is broken, that is just awesomely ominous. The Monitors themselves have also become more appealing as they now actually seem to serve a greater role in the universe. I enjoyed the little comment on how they had finally had to deal with time as well as their new plane of existence because the Monitors on Countdown were apparently very accessible to anybody in DCU. The artwork was awesome, I enjoy the photographic feel of it as well as a red sky, you know an event is epic when they sky is red. I want to know more about the relationship between Libra and Darkside, if Libra is going to be a big player then I want to know more about his role. As for Darkside, that is just awesome, using the anti-life equation with kids is pretty evil. Darkside is a great bad guy and I'm glad he is finally living up to his evilness if that makes sense. He lost a lot of epicness but he is coming back. I'm glad Morrison is revamping DC because it needs it, this issue sets up Final Crisis well.

Art: PHENOM
Overall: GET IT

Daredevil #107 Review

Writer: Ed Brubaker/Greg Rucka
Art: Michael Lark

Summary:
We finally get back to form. I am not going to count #106, which was pure filler in my opinion. We actually move on to a story arc now. We got Matt all crazy and upset and he foolishly attacks Luke Cage (bulletproof skin!). C'mon Matt! We find out that this dude is going to death's row for decapitating kids. Cage thinks he is innocent, and wants Matt to help. Dakota does some investigating, and ends up getting attacked. She goes to Matt, who finally breaks out of his funk to pursue the case.

Comments:
Ed Brubaker is very good. He is much better at stuff like Daredevil and Criminal than he is at Uncanny. The addition of Greg Rucka didn't hurt either. We get a good issue here. We see Matt is still struggling with losing Milla, and we see him fight through it and get back to the real world. The whole death row thing was intriguing without Matt, but now that he is there, it should be much better. It will be interesting to see how he does, and how he is going to help someone who confessed to the murders. They make Dakota look like a tough gal, who is clearly suspicious of this case. The art is nice looking as well.

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Take Tro (5/26/2008)

Very huge week coming up. I want to touch on this because it is clearly the biggest thing this year that I can recall. Lets see what we have:

• Final Crisis- This one is sure to be meaningful, if nothing else. If you are a DC fan, then I am sure you understand how important this event is going to be. This is the best book coming this week ----- Nuff said.
• Batman- Morrison said we won't see the Joker this issue, but who cares? Batman RIP is going to be fantastic, and Morrison is going to give us a hell of a good read. Tony Daniel has gone Super Sayan.
  
• All Star Superman- If there was truly a perfect comic book, this would be it. Words cannot describe how good this title is. It is just the perfect take on Superman.
  
• Astonishing X-Men- Do I really need to say anything? The biggest news here is that it is probably the 4th most anticipated book of the week. Holy cow.

Others include Green Lantern, Thor, Daredevil, Ultimate Spiderman, New Avengers, Action, and more. This week is just so loaded, and it is the perfect time of the year to be a comic book fan.

The Amazing Spider-Man #560 Review

Peter Parker: Paparazzi! Part 2 of 3
"Flat Out Crazy"
Writer: Dan Slott
Art: Marcos Martin

Summary:
Peter is still a paparazzi. He goes around trying to take pictures of Bobby Carr, but everyone hates him for it. He starts feeling guilty when one of his pictures led to the death of this one lady. He fights the paper-doll girl and beats her when he gets another paparazzi to tell her that he won't mess with Carr anymore. Some subplots that took place were that Harry is still pissed at Peter, JJ is running around, and that Carr's publicist was in cahoots with Bennett regarding Carr's schedule and stuff. And the mystery girl: MJ!

Comments:
I enjoyed this issue. I think Slott is just perfect for Spider-Man, and he shows it again here by really providing a well plotted issue. The quirks weren't over the top, and the story was told well. Him and Zeb Wells are the best Spidey writers out there, and I am looking forward to what they do with MJ. Slott is making Peter go through tough situations, and he is learning from these situations. I thought the paper-doll girl was a little weak, but who knows. I hope Slott is writing the Anti-Venom arc later on. That would kick ass.

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Jam Session

With the re-launch coming soon the best blog on the internet will only continue to get that much better. We plan a complete re-haul that is going to kick more ass than Bucky in Captain America which is a segway into reviews. Yeah it is some smooth transition.

Brubaker is definitely writing for trade form. The story is meant to enjoyed in one sitting and he isn't really writing for the month but rather to tell a story. I think he is doing a Grant Morrison approach where his whole series is a lead up to an arc that will most likely involve the Red Skull and an endgame so intense that it affects all of Marvel U. If you notice nothing is actually resolved and it seems to all be build up. I don't mind that at all but to review issues on an individual basis the scores won't be as high. It is the body of work that is the appeal here and judging by his body of work it is currently the best in the business. No one has been building as long as Brubaker but on the individual basis this issue is a mention. I'm sure at the end it'll be important but now it is worth a check.



Justice League was really enjoyable this week. I was glad that they finally allowed McDuffie to write a whole issue. He was always doing some 50-50 with the issue that was just lame. With the backup story gone it finally allowed McDuffie to tell a cohesive story and I think this issue was really good. They did a good job about pushing Libra which is probably the whole reason this issue was mad. If the man can somehow recruit Luthor that means he is big time. Fun fact Lex Luthor was actually a scientist before they reconned him into something more evil, an80's business man. I do hate how the Big Three are going down that same road of secrecy and decent that peoridically tears them apart. There has to be some lesson they learned from that. The villian work was solid and the art was pretty awesome. I am a big fan of comics looking like cartoons and not being Alex Ross (no disrespect) but I look the cartoony look. Hopefully they allow McDuffie to continue writing full issues because the man is talented, he did the cartoon and that means something.



We didn't get the Batman RIP review in so here I go. Batman RIP the debut issue was pretty awesome. The Joker character work was out of this world. Tony Daniels is pulling an Ivan Reis hitting his stride just as the writer is putting out a career defining story. That is a good combination. I believe Morrrison has yet to debut the new batmobile because Bruce isn't in his right mind and as such the car is probably incomplete. Morrison did good work hyping up the Dark Knight but going into the butcher Joker mode. That scene was absolutely scary. The man has a body count probably close to 1,000 and let us face it, he was getting stale. How does one rectify the situation, shoot him in the face, give him knives and watch him spread smiles the old fashion way, cutting the face. The Black Glove looks like it could be real heels but I just got a feeling they aren't the real villain. This is a great jumping on point but it really doesn't advance the story. The Joke work is the real highlight in this issue and I strongly recommend it as a biased Batman fan.



Mighty Avengers was not what we had come to expect from it. The Sentry is the most useless character ever. The writers made the mistake of making him too powerful so how do they cancel that out, they give him mental breakdowns that take him out to equation. I want to keep this brief, I can't seem to understand this character at all. The void is allegedly his evil ambitions or something along those lines yet it is playing hero. I think he would benefit from some assertiveness and the Void is frankly more interesting. MArvel is all about the anti heroes and the Void would be great for that. Hopefully Sentry manages to become not crazy and a legit hero again. Marvel needs to do something because this cycle of him being the first person taken out in every fight is just insane, he is way too strong for that.

That concludes the first jam session. Hopefully with the rehaul we can bring in more readers and make this blog live up to potential. I believe in Harvey Dent like i believe in this blog, ehhhhhh, bad call, but you get the idea. (Lamest commercial ever is the Taco Bell white rapper who raps his order, really who does that? It is not quality like that Free Credit Report commercial where they are in the car. That is a classy commercial.)

Take Tro (5/20/2008)

O.K so we have slacked off big time. I questioned the use of the blog, because I was honestly not motivated to do reviews or posts anymore. But here I am, on a Monday night at 12:49 doing a post that I haven't done in 4 months. Since we are lazy fuckers and don't do shit, we promise to change. We don't exactly know how yet, but we will shake things up a bit for the summer. We promise to keep most of the old in tact, but we might add some new features or so. Our target week for the revamp is the next one, so watch out for that.

So lets move on to some comic book talk. I just finished up Jeph Loeb's Dark Victory trade, and I must say it was excellent. This is just classic Batman. I don't know what Loeb is doing right now, but him and Sale really know how to tell good Batman stories. It was the sequel to Long Halloween, and I enjoyed it just as much. This one was more confusing, but Harvey Dent really shined, and we saw character progression for the Batman, Robin, and Catwoman. The plot was masterly weaved through 13 issues, and it really came together well at the end. Tim Sale is a master with his colors. I am not sure if he is the one that does it, but I really enjoy the large spaces of color. It just really contributes to the mood of the story. You guys need to pick this one up.

I want to touch on Thunderbolts. The Caged Angels arc is just so fantastic. Warren Ellis has done a tremendous job making Thunderbolts one of the best reads on the market. You never know when it is coming out, but when it does, please get it. The story would probably read better as a trade, because it isn't that deep, but its a lot of fun. Norman Osbourn is such a g. The first 5 pages of the recent issue was seriously some of the best stuff I have read all year. It is just Norman showing how crazy he really is, but its so awesome. You have to read it.

Batman kicked off the big R.I.P angle very nicely with the recent issue. The first 17 pages of so were mostly just set-up kind of stuff. But you should get this book for the freaking art. Tony Daniel outdid Grant Morrison here. Seriously, the last page of the Joker was so good looking. It was just awesome. I really think this will be a strong story. Even though I am a big Batman guy, I am still looking forward to Final Crisis more.

Jason Aaron is just kicking ass with Wolverine. I think he is leaving the title, but get the "Get Mystique" arc on trade if you don't own it. It is by far the best Wolverine story I have read. It is just really true to the character and it was just a lot of fun.

I am looking forward to Captain America. No shock there. Brubaker continues to kick ass.

I hope to post one of these every week. I can't promise it all being comic books, as i tend to go off on a tangent on long posts. I am really tired right now, so that is why I want to stop, but i have an urge to write about some other stuff (possible new blog coming.......... look out). On that last note, it probably won't happen, but me and The One and Only talked about it briefly. We have much more to offer than just comic books, trust us. The summer is coming, and we are going to revamp and reload.

Have a good week fuckers

Mighty Avengers #13 Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Art: Alex Maleev

Summary:
We start the issue with Daisy (remember her? She was the little kid in Secret War. I don't) talking to someone. That someone turns out to be a black Nick Fury (C'mon Bendis). Fury tells her she has got to help him recruit some kids. We go to the son of Ares. He scares some kids away just by looking at them. Kid is Phobos. Daisy- 1/1. Ok so, the next one's name is Yo Yo. Yo Yo. Her power is like going fast, then being yanked back. What a clever little name. Her dad is the Griffen. Daisy- 2/2. We go to a convenience store, where some guy robs it. The clerk does nothing. Doesn't want to put in the effort because of minimum wage. Minimum wage = minimum effort. Somebody lock him up. Guy is JT. Daisy takes him to an alley. Dude can make fire. Turns out, he was the original Ghost Rider's grandson. He only agrees to join, if there is money involved. He is ok now. Daisy- 3/3. Daisy tries to recruit Layla Miller (it says 6 months ago, so don't freak it. It is still consistent with continuity). She basically says no because she sees the future. Daisy- 3/4. We go to Dr. Strange's kid. As JBL would say, Cha-Ching. Daisy- 4/5. Daisy bails some guy out of jail. Daisy- 5/6. We go to a lair, with all the recruits. Nick Fury- "You will do as I say every day for the rest of your lives". Holy fuck. He asks them if they know what a Skrull is.

Comments:
That was a pretty good issue. I am new to Nick Fury, but he kicks a lot of ass. He is such a badass, I just can't get over it. The last 2 issues, Fury has just dominated, and he wasn't even in the comic til the end. Fury is by far the best covert, sneaky, badass in comics. This was a good team assembly issue. I liked most of the characters, but the best was Daisy. She seems perfect to be Fury's right-hand girl. She isn't imposing, but she is slightly manipulative, which is all good. Maleev has some good art in here, and Bendis' Secret Invasion tie-ins are much better than the actual main story.

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Avengers the Initiative #12 Speed Review

COVER BY: STEVE UY
WRITER: DAN SLOTT
CHRISTOS GAGE
PENCILS: STEVE UY
INKS: STEVE UY
COLORED BY: STEVE UY
LETTERED BY: VC - JOE CARAMAGNA

THE STORY:
"CHANGING OF THE GUARD"
Daddy's home. IRON MAN comes to Camp Hammond, and he's NOT happy.
The first year of the Initiative comes to a dramatic close as members are laid to rest, drummed out, declared AWOL, or...awarded their full Hero's License. See who graduates and find out what super-teams they'll be assigned to as the NEXT era of the Initiative begins! Plus: as a new 3-D MAN appears, the base is suddenly short one Skrull...but not how you'd think...
Also guest-starring MS. MARVEL!

Comments: Nothing special, enjoyed the banter between Iron Man and Gyrich (funny stuff), cool cover, art left a bit to be desired, the Skrull reveal was gay, Traumas been clearly replaced, and what happens now that they have graduated? Glad to see the Nazi doc made it, don't care about War Machine and who is Mutant 0 already?

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Green Lantern #30 Review

Writer Geoff Johns
Artist Ivan Reis

Abin Sur is investigating the Blackest Night Prophecy and is traveling to Earth carrying Atrocitus with him. He is talking to Sincestro the whole time about what is going on and basically filling him in on the prophecy that his ring will fail him so he is rolling in a ship now. Hal Jordan is now a mechanic who is jonesin to get back into the plane. He goes to complain about his situation but a corporate buyout has just happened and he meets Carol Ferris for the first time. Atrocitus is talking up Abin Sur and the Paralax kicks in and starts messing with him. He breaks out and attacks Abin Sur and escapes. The rest as they say is history. Abin Sur crashes and seeks out Hal. Hal suits up and goes and stops a plane from crashing. As a true hero he immediately tries to tap Carol but Hector Hammond (small headed currently) shows up and cocks block him (awww snap).


Comments: This was a great issue. I am enjoying the twist that Secret Origin is placing on the Hal Jordan origin. Good for Johns using Alan Moore to do some real good. I also liked the little Paralax angle that Johns threw in there, way to be consitent. The art is just quality man, I love it. On a serious story note, I think here we will see how big of an unsung hero Sincestro is. Someone is going to have to take down Atrocitus and I'm guessing it is Sincestro since he is the only one that knows whats up. If anything, I think this will become Sincestros story as mucch as anyones and what can I say, I'm a sucker for the complex villain. That is an important distinction that Johns will have to make soon about Sincestro's villainous nature. This will be a great story, I can feel it in my bones, better yet my power ring (I know bad pun, deal with it).


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New Avengers #40 Review

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis
Artist: Jim Cheung

Synopsis: The Skrull King is confronted by the religious princess about his adherence to not follow the sacred text. He kicks her ass and exiles her only for years later to be brought back in because the king fucked up. They start planning the invasion and discuss technology. The queen wants to go undercover and asks who can do the most damage, the answer is Spider-Woman.


Comments: The problem I have with this issue is the fact that the backstory of the invasion does nothing for me because I don't care for the invasion. I think Marvel is laying it out there too soon. If they had waited until three issues into SI it would have been a lot more interesting because you would be wondering how things happened. It's a simple of matter of why should I care about this issue now. I'm just disappointed because there is no incentive to care about this now, they would be better served if they wait to reveal the origin behind each replacement after that player does a major action. The art is great though and I really enjoyed and on a technical level it is a solid issue, but as what it does for the story it is quite disappointing. I am also mad about the cover as it is completely misleading.


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Ultimate Human #4 Review

Writer: Warren Ellis
Art: Cary Nord

Summary:
This is the final chapter to one of the best "Ultimate" stories that I have read. It has been well written and self-contained so far, so lets see how this finale goes. We start with Bruce and Tony stuck in a sticky situation. Tony says he can help, but Bruce will always be the Hulk. Bruce fights it, but realizes its the only way to go. He transforms. Hulk attacks Tony, but Tony tells him to go after the guy with the big head. Hulk follows suit. Lots of Hulk smash. Hulk is looking for the man with the big head. Big head tries to control him, but Hulk is just too stupid to be controlled. Hulk kills Big Head. Hulk then jumps away.

Comments:
That was a solid ending to this story. I like how self-contained this story is. You have everything you need in these 4 books. Although it wasn't as crazy good as #3, it was still solid. We get some closure to it, and it doesn't end on a good note. Bruce will never be the same, and Hulk is now set free. I thought the big head guy could have come across a little badder in this issue, because he was basically pummelled and murdered. That is a minor complaint, but it would have been nice to see. Nord does a good job with the art, and the story is well done. I am not a Hulk fan, but this Ellis does a good job with him. Tony is a g of course.

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Action #264

Batman and the Legion of Superheroes
Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Joe Prado

Summary:
Johns just finished up his Legions arc thing, so we get to start anew with a new arc. Oh snap, more Legions! But this time its with Batman. He says he wants to take the Legions away from Superman. He walks into the ice fortress and meets up with Lightning Lad and Superman. They don't like each other at all. Batman wants to talk to Superman privately. Batman tells Sup that he can't trust these Legions. Batman brings up the 3 different Legions. They were all bad basically. Batman tells him that he found 2 bodies in Gotham that had Legions flight rings on them. Karate Kid and Duo Damsel. Lad comes flying in demanding answers. Batman tells him to back off. They go meet up with Starboy because he has activated a flight ring in his time. He is in a mental hospital because he has suffered from schizofrenia. He talks about Karate Kid and how there is no cure for his virus. He brings up Danny Blaine. Someones messing with them. Garth plans to leave. He gets along with the Bat a little better this time. Batman departs, but we see who has been narrarating the whole time: the Time Trapper. ooooooo

Comments:
That was aiit. I don't know wtf Johns is saying half the time, but the inclusion of Batman helped. I kind of have a gripe about how he writes Batman. Johns' Batman is really paranoid, much more than Morrisons. I feel like Johns does not understand the character, and hasn't bothered trying. He is a self proclaimed "Superman Guy". This issue was used to hype the Legions of 3 Worlds, which comes much later. It was a fun little read, but the next arc is going to be filler. It warrants a

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DC Universe 0 Review

Let There Be Lightning
Writer: Grant Morrison/Geoff Johns
Art: George Perez/Doug Mahnke/Tony Daniel/Ivan Reis/Aaron Lopresti/Philip Tan/Ed Benes/Carlos Pacheo/JG Jones

Summary:
Well this is DC's big apology for the debacle that was Countdown to Final Crisis. They felt nervous that the hype wasn't there, and that a lot of fans were turned off by the suck that Dini whored out. So what do they do? They just use all talent under contract that matters and makes them write a 22 page advertisement. Sounds good to me! First of all the cover is cool, but more on that in the comments. We have a narrator talking about the state of the heroes and the concept of the multiple earths. We learn that in Crisis on Infinite Planets that the multiverse was destroyed. On Infinite Crisis we see that the multiverse came back. Now we are in the Final Crisis. We see Superman fight a dude, and a huge brawl in space between some legions (Johns' big arc later on Action). We have Batman and Joker. Batman wants to know who is after him, but Joker is a sly man. Joker keeps the Bat guessing, but the Batman is not flustered. He tells him to bring his shit. We have Wonder Woman taming a bull, and someone planning on killing her. Who the fuck cares. Ok so they got the cast of 300 to do the job. Better, but I was not a fan of the movie. We got Hal examining a situation, and then we got a splash page of color spectrum goodness. We got the damn Spectre. I think he eats someone. We see a burning body falling to earth. We got the Crime Bible gathering. Libra wants to lead them if they follow their god. An evil God (Darkseid most probably). Then the text box slowly turns red, and has Flash's signal upon it. The One and Only has informed me that Barry Allen is coming back after 23 years.

Comments:
There is a lot to say about this. I doubt I will cover all of it though. The big news we get out of this is that Barry Allen is back. After 23 years, the original Flash (I think) returns. I have read Rokk's blog, and he says that people thought they shouldn't fuck with Allen because his death was really well done or something. Well, they better have a damn good reason why he is back. If Johns does this character, then yay. If Johns writes Flash, that is a good thing, because the current title is real shitty. The 2nd big thing you can surmise out of this is the confirmation that there is a certain evil God up in heaven right now. Its Darkseid folks. He got shat on in CTFC, but who gives a fuck about that. Its like WWE and Chris Benoit. Just erase it from history because it was such a fuck up. Mothefucker. We get a lot of hype for Legions of 3 worlds, Blackest Night, Batman RIP, Wonder Woman Shit, Final Crisis Spinoff Involving The Spectre, and everything else I am sure. Like I said, lots of ads. But quality baby. Morrison and Johns craft up a great read. The narration was fantastic, and the reveal in the end was very well done. Kudos to the 345 artists that worked on this, because it looked great. Actually, it looked just like Infinite Crisis, which isn't a bad thing. The coloring for the Barry Allen text box thing was done wonderfully. The last page was awesome. You didn't need to convince me that Final Crisis would kick ass, but I am sure you have to be excited now. The hype was well done for everything. Too bad no one cares about Wonder Woman. I know that there needs to be gender equality, or some stupid socio-political issue that needs to be addressed in comics. Or i am bullshiting. Take your pick. Bottom Line: no body or their mothers care about Wonder Woman. Bring Hal Jordan to the big 3 because he deserves the spotlight way more than that disillusioned bitch. Ok that is harsh, but I am in full-rant mode because Its like a Friday and I have GTA and everything is good. Get GTA folks. This comic is very good and i feel very comfortable with the state of DCU right now. My only gripe is that they rely too heavily on Morrison and Johns, and while thats all well and good now, they need to develop/acquire the next big writer. Seriously, take Johns and Morrison away and DC is fucked. Fucked up the asshole. There is no depth in DC, but the main event is very, very worthy. Its going to be a good summer of DC comics, and its very exciting. Get this thing because its 50 cents. Its good, but not necessary for everyone. Just on the fence people that need a reason to be excited. This gets a very high

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