Soon.....

Black Glove Theory

I haven't read any spoilers or anything for future Batman issues and am making this pick based on the evidence that Morrison has presented us thus far. My pick for the black glove is Alfred hands down. I seriously suspected Tim Drake for all the obvious clues such as the red and black theme that matches his costume plus the fact he had some really ominous dialog but several things occurred to me to make me choose Alfred. The Black Glove has to have unlimited access to all of Bruce's working and have been watching him for a while. The man with the most access to Bruce is Alfred. Through everything that has ever happened, Alfred has always been there and Bruce has always confided in him thus leading to him having the greatest amount of information on Bruce. Another thing that eliminates a majority of suspects is the age factor, we are lead to believe that the Black Glove has been operating for a majority of time so that would eliminate Tim Drake, Dick Grayson, and anyone else younger than Bruce. There are little pieces of dialog that compel me towards this conclusion as well. There was a scene during the "Space Medicine" issue where Bruce was reflecting and he mentioned the fact that Alfred always compelled him to write everything down. Alfred is aware of everything Bruce does to prepare for whatever and he could stay one step ahead of him since he knows what Bruce has and hadn't prepared for. Alfred was also somewhat responsible for introducing Bruce to Jezebel indirectly. Alfred also fits the several of the descriptions that Grant Morrison has stated:

"Ultimate diabolical b_st_rd who decides to destroy Batman"

"What's the biggest most twisted bad guy we could use"

"When we begin to suspect the identity of the villain, I think it's [...] possibly the most shocking Batman revelation in 70 years."

"And then above that you have the identity of the Black Glove, who is a person."

"the ultimate diabolical mastermind story about a villain who has been plotting Batman's destruction for so long and with such precision that no-one even suspects his existence - except Batman"

"It's the biggest, most twisted bad guy we could use against Batman"

"it's so up front and obvious. Every issue tells you who you're dealing with it, and it's a character that everyone on the planet knows."

"I keep thinking it’s so upfront, so obvious, that readers will inevitably demand an impromptu hanging when the reveal is revealed"

"to me the answer is so obvious that hiding it has been the real challenge"

Alfred is a character that everyone on the planet knows and he has been upfront and obvious. Mention the fact that he seemed to disregard Bruce mentally breaking down when Tim started asking about him about Batman going crazy. Alfred is my pick for Black Glove and tomorrow we get the conclusion for the R.I.P. storyline.

Justice League of America #26 Review

Writer: Dwayne McDuffie
Art: Ed Benes

This is pretty much a filler arc, so who cares? Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are barely featured, and recently pushed stars like Tornado aren't even there. It is easy to blow past this arc, but I felt it did a strong job in looking into Vixen's character. For casual readers, she just seems like another one of those JLAers, and it takes certain arcs and issues to establish and build some of the minor characters in these big team books. I totally appreciate how McDuffie does this in this short arc. He presents a low-level character named Vixen with alternate-reality characters, and uses her to work through. It is a classic, but not often used, storyline of a minor character fighting her way to save the major characters. McDuffie gives us a compelling character study. Vixen has to confront her own fears and insecurities to save the day. Anasi is a great villain who breaks the proverbial 4th wall. He comments on storytelling, and captures all of the heroes and distorts what is real and fake. It is Vixen's job to wade through this, and after its all said and done, you actually care about the character. It is a pretty basic premise and storytelling device, but McDuffie does it beautifully. He has a great villain in Anasi, who is a no-name, but is presented very strongly. He has the minor character go over in a way where she discovers new layers within herself. I thought the alternate batman was pretty awesome as well. A gunslinger. That is juts awesome. The art wasn't great

ART: Etch and Sketch
OVERALL: Get it

Rage of the Red Lanterns Review

Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Shane Davis and Sandra Hope

The problem I have with Rage of the Red Lanterns is that is a remake of the Sinestro Corp War one-shot with Red Lanterns instead of yellow ones. I think another big problem is the fact that there seems to be no reason for the Red Lanterns to form. Johns teased us with the forming of the yellow lanterns as he would make yellow rings appear and you would see it building so when you saw the full numbers it was believable to the reader but here I believe you have seen one example of recruiting in the form of the former Green Lantern. I would hold the fact that there is no explanation for the Red Lanterns’ power source but I think that will be addressed later so I’m willing to let that go. Scar the Guardians continues to provide plenty of intrigue as she pushes her agenda through and you notice in the art how her eyes switch allegiances between the various established corps. I thought it was a nice little touch for the Red Lanterns to be as brutal as they are. Since they deal with anger there can’t be any finesses there and the choice of them not being able to make fantastic constructs but instead they just spit fire. The flip side of that is that they are unable to have complex stories with them are the Superboy-Prime corps in the sense that they are one-sided. Green Lanterns often have a break since “will power” is there emotion that you allow yourself to explore the various other motivating factors of a Green Lantern but with a Red Lantern, they’re just mad. The inconsistent art along with what seems to be a trend in epic war story telling makes me weary of the direction Green Lantern is heading but Geoff Johns has some real bright spots which is the complex villain he has Sinestro along with some great character moments from Hal Jordan. The Blue Lanterns look interesting but I think making so many corps may be a bad idea as there could be a limiting factor in what you can do. This was a dependable read and is worth a look even though it suffers from inconsistent art.

Art: HIT AND QUIT IT

OVERALL:GET IT

An Open Letter

Please Fox, don't do this

This has been an open letter (reviews tomorrow....ish)

Justice Society of America #19 Review

Writer: Geoff Johns
Art: Dale Eaglesham

Another Geoff Johns book that deals with a team with a lot of characters. Unlike the Legion, I appreciate a lot of the Justice Society members, because I can actually tell who they are. I really like this Gog arc, and it has brought me back to this title after some crap 5 or 6 months ago. Another thing I like about this title is the long story arcs. Johns does not need to cram anything in because he takes his sweet time with the stories, and lets the plots naturally develop while he focuses on characters. That is my type of comic book. This storyline does wonders for the characters. How Gog affected each of the characters is evident throughout. What is better is the uncertainty and skepticism that Gog creates as he creates good. The way Gog gives and gives to the people and the heroes is very one-dimensional, and raises questions upon the reader. Why would anyone this powerful do this? The brilliant thing is Johns recognizes the questions, and he has some of the heroes question the situation within the comic. This provides great natural tension in the comic book, in a way that wasn't forced. Like I said, Johns let the story progress naturally, and the characters were defined enough to have the doubts. This splits the Justice Society down the middle basically, and should provide for some good stuff as we move forward. I really like all the stuff with Black Adam, as I love the character and how it was written in the mini-series, and Johns is doing a great job with it. It will be interesting to see where that subplot goes. I can't say I am terribly impressed with Power Girl, but I will wait and see how that goes. The art was just fantastic, and Alex Ross does a great job with covers. As long as Eaglesham can do the interior, and Ross can just focus on covers, the team is good. I recommend this book in trade form.

ART: PHENOM
OVERALL: GET IT

Final Crisis: Rogues' Revenge #3 Review

"Rouges Revenge: Book Three"
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Scott Kolins

Out of all the miniseries so far this one has been the best. The greatest thing about this whole series is the character work that Johns has performed. Johns has a great understanding of the Flash and the villains he fights and he puts it all on display. The greatest thing he does is that he makes this title accessible to new readers but if you have read his previous run in Flash way back when it adds another dimension of understanding that most new readers do not get. I thought it was an interesting take on the character of Zoom. I always thought he was just the generic evil version of the hero but Johns did something interesting but instead saying that his purpose is to make the Flash better. It is something that doesn’t happen too often in comics and took me by surprise. You also have the emergence of Piper who after the mess that was Countdown was kind of written off or something. They make reference about his ability to do the Anti-Life Equation but this issue does not expand on that role or if he has any ties to Darkseid. As a matter of fact he just kind of shows up which is fine and proceeds to beat down both Zoom and the Rouges. The real topper is Libra showing up. We really don’t know much about Libra other than he is the high priest of Darkseid’s religion and since Final Crisis is taking an unbelievable amount of time to ship, I speculate that this is where we will see a majority of Libra since he won’t appear on the big title. The events that play out after he arrives on the scene are a bit confusing. We get a great moment with Weather Wizard as he sits there and weights his option about his kid. It was a really great character moment and thankfully he didn’t have to make the call, Reverse Zoom did. I am confused on what he did to the baby which could be really heroic sending it away or really dirty, real dirty. The artist really does wonders especially in that scene when he draws Weather Wizards’ eye. It communicates a lot. The speedsters always had a special place in DCU and Johns does somewhat examine that when Libra speaks about the powers the speedsters have to go across the multiverse and such in not so many words. Reverse Zoom manages to beat up on Libra which was really surprising to see and then it is followed up by the big showdown between the Rouges and Reverse Zoom and boy was it climatic. If Flash Rebirth does deal with half of the stuff that is set up here I think it could be as equally amazing. I hope DC has a talented enough writer to continue working with the Rouges and it would be a disservice to ignore all the character work that Johns has done with these villains. This mini is a testament to show what can happen when a writer gets to write characters that he loves. Enough about the plot points though, the dialog is great, the characters are amazing, the plot is awesome, and the art especially the inking is really nice to look out. Despite what some say about Action Comics being Johns best work I would have to disagree and say that this Johns at his best right here.


Art: PHENOM
Overall: OWN IT