Green Arrow & Black Canary #26
Written by Andrew Kreisberg
Art by Mike Norton and Renato Guedes

Not going to lie, I have no idea who those guys were at the end of this and why they are putting Everyman in as Green Arrow again or what not. Was it even Everyman? We never saw any proof of that. This storyline is already annoying and we are only one issue in. The art in this issue was just awful. Why can’t this book get good art? Both Norton and Guedes are better artists then this crap. This book has just gone down hill.

Well Iowa city, I have about three Radioloveless shows left before I leave the KRUI airways for good. Two shows will consist of my favorite tracks to hear, thus the title of my post. If you listen to the show, I’m sure you’ve heard most of them. Either way, the next two shows will be filled with my favorites. The last show will be my Christmas show, which is always a fun show to do.

I’ll be moving back east next year, after living and DJing in Iowa city for the past 6. I love it here, and I love KRUI even more. Listen in at 89.7 fm or online here. Here’s the show

1. R.E.M.’s Fables of Reconstruction (1985), Driver 8
2. Sebadoh, Bakesale (1994, oh and the naked baby on the cover is Lou Barlow), Skull
(It’s my favorite track from Sebadoh along with lots of other kids my age, thank you Lou for bringing this into my life.)

3. Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Pig Lib (2003), Vanessa from Queens
(Steve defines cool, even if I can’t figure out what he’s singing about)
4. Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque (1991), Star Sign
(This just sounds like the 90s to me, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and little.)
5. The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground, Pale Blue Eyes
(Uhm, who doesn’t like this song?)
6. Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (2002), I Am Trying To Break Your Heart
This is my favorite Wilco album, I keep coming back.
7. Wire, Pink Flag (1977), 1 2 X U
8. Yo La Tengo, President Yo La Tengo (1989), Barnaby Hardly Working
9. Catherine Wheel, Ferment (1992), Black Metallic
10. Black Tambourine, Complete Recordings, Pack You Up
This track is so short and cool, it just makes me want to go out and be their groupie if they were still around.
11. The Dandy Warhols, Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia (1999), Sleep
I can’t help it, I love this album.
12. Big Star, #1 Record (1972), Thirteen
Rolling stone said it was “one of the most beautiful songs about Adolescence.”
13. The Breeders, Pod (1990), When I was a Painter
14. Pavement, Crooked Rain Crooked Rain (1994), Silence Kit (awesome request for Sutcliffe Catering Song but was having issues with my CD.)
15. Built to Spill, Perfect From Now On (1997), I would Hurt a Fly
16. Cat Power, What would the Community Think (1996), Bathysphere
17. The Church, Starfish (1988), Under the Milky Way
18. Cocteau Twins, Head Over Heels (1983), When Mama was a Moth

19. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless (1991), When you Sleep
Pitchfork quoted Loveless as the best album of the 90’s, I might have to agree.
20. The Clash, The Clash (1977), Janie Jones
21. Sleater-Kinney, One Beat (2002), Combat Rock
22. Depeche Mode, Violator (1990), Blue Dress
23. The Cure, Seventeen Seconds (1980), A Forest
24. Archers of Loaf, White Trash Heroes (1998), Dead Red Eyes
25. Guided By Voices, Alien Lanes (1995), My Valuable Hunting Knife
26. Meat Puppets, Meat Puppets II (1984), New Gods

Story by: Bruce Timm
Written by: Rich Fogel
Directed by: Dan Riba
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Jack Kirby – Long live The King.
Original Airdates: February 7 & 14 1996
DVD: Superman TAS Volume 3

Summary: Darkseid finally makes his move, launching a full-scale attack on Earth. With Metropolis as the front line, Superman is forced into battle to defend his adopted homeworld. One major problem – Darkseid does not take losing well.

Arc Note: Third and fourth episodes dealing with Darkseid and the New Gods.

Debuting Characters: Pretty much every signifcant New God shows up during the course of this one, most of which haven’t been seen before. Look at this screencap that, in any other episode, would have been the above-the-jump image:

The most prominent debutee is Orion, and Darkseid hench… people… Granny Goodness and Steppenwolf also make their first appearances.

Also, Maggie Sawyer’s long-time partner, Toby Raynes, makes her first DCAU appearance, which I’m reasonably certain is the first depiction of a gay couple in Saturday Morning animation. It’s neat how matter-of-factly this was handled; you get the feeling that watchdog groups were blissfully ignorant of the characters’ history.

Featured Characters: Dan Turpin *sniff*; this episode marks the conclusion of the “can the SCU hold their own without Superman” subplot.

Background:

There’s no way around it – aside from this being the high point of S:TAS, this story is famous for containing the most significant death in the DCAU TV programmes. So no spoiler protection here: this is the episode where Dan Turpin is killed by Darkseid. So as opposed to actually talking about the background of the characters appearing, I think it’s more appropriate to talk about the making of the episode itself, especially as there’s a LOT of material about this episode, between the Timm interview and the commentary track on Part 2. Timm describes the genesis of the episode:

The “Apokalips Now” story came out of anumber of brainstorming sessions with myself and Paul Dini in particular. We were sitting around, talking about Darkseid – what about him do we want to use, what would work for us in animation, how to pare down that big, sprawling mythos Kirby did over five books into a half-hour adventure cartoon. We had to come up with a couple of springboards of what to do with the character, and then the “Apokalips Now” storyline just came full-blown into my  head one day.

Bruce Timm, Modern Masters, p. 56

As the episode was uniquely concieved in almost the exact form that made it to the screen – Superman vs Darkseid with the fate of the world in the balance – there weren’t many issues with the story until the team got to the ending.

My original ending was a little more oblique. Turpin was still going to deft Darkseid at the end and say “You guys can’t have this planet, we’d rather die first.” At that point, Darkseid was just going to go “I really want this planet, I don’t want to just destroy it, so you win.” And everbody realised that was just too anticlimactic… I had thought of the idea of the New Gods as the cavalry at the last second and having that as the reason Darkseid gives up, but I rejected it myself because I thought it was too easy.

B. Timm, ibid.

However, even though Darkseid doesn’t win, the producers came up with a method for Darkseid’s loss to be even more devestating to Superman than it was for Darkseid. In this case, Darkseid takes his frustrations out on a member of Suerpman’s regular supporting cast, which for a show that aired on Saturday mornings, was a drastic step.

While we were talking about (the Anti-Life Equation), I jumped ahead to the end of the story and went, “You know what? Wheat he’s got to do is after Superman has defeated him, Darkseid has got to kill someone who is very close to Superman just out of pure spite… I didn’t realize it at the time, but what I was doing was channelling the end of the Galactus trilogy… but the minute I said that, Paul said “Yeah, that’s the way to go. So who’s he going to kill?”

B. Timm, Modern Masters, page 57

Amongst the potential killing-off candiates were:

• Ma and Pa Kent (rejected by DC, and Timm thinks that was a good thing as it would be “just wrong.” It’s something I agree with – it’s a great way to contrast Superman and Batman)
• Lois and Jimmy (obviously not possible)
• Professor Hamilton (no one on the staff liked him to begin with, and they were worried the viewer would actually be happy if Darkseid killed him off. It’s a good thing, as Hamilton got a better character arc in JLU as a result)

So it came down to Dan Turpin – as Timm notes, the similarity of killing Turpin, who was visually modelled after Kirby, shortly after Kirby’s death was appropriate, and Turpin’s funeral is actually a close match for that of Kirby’s.

Thoughts on the Episode:

This is an episode that’s actually a neat trick from a narrative point of view, as the first part of the episode feels much like a typical character introduction episode for Orion, in which we’re given his background, find out his capabilities, and then Superman and Orion presumably team up to save Metropolis. Only this time, things don’t go according to plan in any way, as Darkseid’s initial plan works, putting the fate of the entire planet for the first time in DCAU history.

One of the more obvious ongoing themes in these reviews is that the more an episode contrasts its main characters with others, the better it works. That’s the case in Justice League, but as Bruce Timm explains,

(Superman) is normally a character who is optimistic and brighter, and you put him up against a character like Darkseid who pushes his buttons and brings out the worst in him, then it’s much more dramatically effective.

Bruce Timm, Modern Masters, p. 56

The contrast here is twofold – first, with Orion, and then against Darkseid and his minions. As noted, the first half of the story plays out like as a fairly standard character introduction for Orion – if you cut out the final scenes involving the power plant explosion, it’s almost identical, structurally, to episodes like “In Brightest Day.” However, after it looks as though Superman has won another skirmish against one of Darkseid’s minions, the ante is raised through the roof, as part one ends with Superman and Turpin staring into the glare of a nuclear explosion in the distance.

The second half has a common DC Universe signal that something really, really bad is about to happen, specifically that the skies are as red as blood throughout, but beyond that, the second half has a great ominous feel throughout; even if you don’t know that there’s going to be a death at the end, the entire thing just feels as though something bad potentially could happen at any moment.

Although Orion is really only featured in the first part of the story, he does get established as someone who is fated by destiny to battle his own father to the death in order to save his adopted planet. Although the paternal aspect isn’t there with Superman, the idea of a hero saving his adopted world from a threat from his original does get repeated in the Superman mythos quite often, and we’ll see that later with the debut of the evil Kryptonians.

Although Orion’s design is quite “busy”, he comes across well in animated form, and is a much-needed martial counterpart to Superman’s outlook. It’s as though Superman is being galvanized into something bigger through these two episodes, taking parts of Orion’s approach to fighting Darkseid while maintaining his own inherent Superman…ness. Plus, in any other episode the length explanation of the history of the warring planets would be the standout moment; it’s a really good sequence, reminiscent of later flashbacks such as the Amazons / Hades story from Paradise Lost.

This is also a really effective blending of the animated / comic version of Superman with the Christopher Reeve movie incarnation. If you look at the Donner Superman films, Superman simply doesn’t go around getting into the knock-down drag-out battles that this version specalises in (I know this was a common complaint about Superman Returns, but those first two movies only have one really good fight, against Zod and friends in Metropolis). The scene where Superman vents the atomic fire by drilling relief holes is very reminiscent of something Reeve’s Superman would do; he’s dealing with an evil plot, granted, but he’s really just trying to save lives. As is pointed out in the commetnary, the initial run of episodes largely featured Superman going after a criminal with a gimmick, in the style of Batman or the George Reeves Superman; this is something markedly different.

Although I don’t really agree with the idea that Superman hadn’t “distinguished itself” to this point that is expressed on the commentary track, this episode is obviously of a different calibre than just about any other that came before it because of just how much drama is packed in. The creators on the commetnary track say that this type of episode became commonplace thanks to Justice League, but in a more basic storytelling time, having this level of action (and violence – Superman pulls off some nasty, nasty tricks here) and scale makes this stand out. It really does seem that it’s a genuine, ongoing military conflict as opposed to a simple comic book battle.

The famous point of this story is the final act. Superman bound before Darkseid, and only saved by quick thinking by Turpin, followed by an abbreviated rematch with Kalibak, and then the entirety of the New Genesis forces pouring through three giant boom tubes to actually cause Darkseid to back off.  Darkseid killing Turpin is a perfect shot to the viewer’s guts; it looks as though he’s first taking a parting shot at Superman, only for his Onega beams to curve around Superman and vaporize Turpin on the spot, followed by the shocked reaction of Maggie Sawyer. The best part of it is that it’s seemingly so effortless for Darkseid – and the fact that he then flees, leaving Superman to vent his frustrations on the leftover war machine. In retrospect, this is only about parts three and four of the longer Darkseid saga in the DCAU, and even though Darkseid loses the fact that he actually draws blood ensures that the stakes have been permanently raised.

Grade: A. The animation may be a tad spotty at times (it’s not as great as in, say, World’s Finest), but the emotional impact is off the charts, and wouldn’t be matched until “Legacy”

Random Thoughts:

• The scene with Superman being attacked on the mountain by Darkseid is drawn from the New Testament, where Jesus is tempted by the Devil. Darkseid’s belief that Superman would join him would be picked up later….
• The scenes in the Apokolips flashback resemble Samurai Jack as much as they do classical Kirby artwork.
• To this day I’m not sure why they added the plot device communicator, since it’s quickly rendered useless. I suppose it’s to avoid any questions of why Superman didn’t try and get help when it became apparent he was outgunned.
• It astonishingly goes unmentioned in the commentary track, but the Superman / Parademon fight occurs in front of the Hall of Justice.
• The level of in-jokes takes a step up in this episode; the air base in part one is named for legendary inker Joe Sinnott, while the cops that Turpin yells at in part two while battling the Parademons are named for the inkers of Kirby’s New Gods run.
• Also, amongst the mourners at the funeral are artist Alex Ross and one of the rare Kirby creations not to be utilised in the DCAU, Kamandi (I can’t find him, but I’ll take their word for it), along with the usual suspects in the creative team.
• OBVIOUS CONTINUITY ERROR ALERT: Forager (red guy with shield, bottom right of the New Gods image) shows up as part of the New Genesis army… except as later seen in “Twilight”, he shouldn’t have met the New Gods yet. Whoops… then again, this was about six years prior to that episode’s conception.
• I don’t know if it was intentionally framed like this, but it looks as though there’s a blank space next to Lois at Turpin’s funeral – I always read it that she was saving it for Clark, but he didn’t show up.

Line of the Episode: “In the end, it didn’t take a super man… just a brave one.”

Next Side Story: The next episode in the Darkseid arc, and Supergirl’s debut, in “Little Girl Lost”

Next Justice League: Metamorphosis, which… lacks… the emotional impact of this one.

Weekend stuff: I don’t know, either I get Metamorphosis done early or I indulge myself with a look at Batman and the Outsiders.

Booster Gold (Volume 2) #26
Written by Dan Jurgens
Art by Jurgens and Mike Norton

Jurgens is by far one of if not the best artists DC has, why doesn’t he get any appreciation for it?! He is also just as good of a writer. You don’t have to have read anything with Booster Gold before and you would completely understand and enjoy this issue. If you know Booster’s history, you will enjoy it more but that means it is a good use of continuity. I loved every page of this issue. Pick this up if you are a fan or just someone getting into DC through Blackest Night.

Sheldon "Shel" Dorf (July 5, 1933 – November 3, 2009)

Sheldon “Shel” Dorf, founder of the San Diego Comic Convention, died on Tuesday 3rd November in a San Diego hospital, where he was being treated for diabetes this year.  A funeral service was held for Shel on Wednesday.

Since its inception in 1970, the San Diego Comic-Con International has grown from 300 attendees to over 125,000 comic book fans from across the world.

David Glanzer, a convention spokesman, had this to say about the man:

“Shel had notable foresight in not only believing these people needed some public acknowledgment, but that this truly was an American art form that Americans knew very little about.”

During his time as a letterer, freelance artist, and convention organiser, Shel befriended many creative figures in the industry, not least of which was Jack Kirby.  According to comics historian (and Kirby’s closest friend) Mark Evanier, Shel claims the rare honour of being made into a Kirby character, namely Himon, inventor of the Mother Box and Mister Miracle’s mentor in his landmark New Gods series.  He also made appearances as well-meaning football player “Thudd Shelley” in Steve Canyon, a comic strip which he lettered for twelve years.  He was also responsible for publishing ninety-nine issues of Dick Tracy in 1984, later collecting them as twenty-four graphic novels.

We at Bat-Shark Repellent salute Shel Dorf for his contribution to Comics.  Legions of comics fans and creators alike are forever in your debt.  Thank you.

[source]

Highfather may be the leader of a cosmic boy band that communes with The Source, but he really needs to consult a trademark attourney before he starts trying to sell T-Shirts of his new look. Screwing with fashion conscious government gib wigs in the nation of Wakanda is only slightly less dangerous that stealing Galactus’ planet-sized Snuggie.

Highfather, you’d better lawyer up. The Wakandans have Jackie Chiles on retainer. “N’Gassi, your face is my case!”

Hey, HF! Before you claim responsiblity for the Internet ... Al Gore's already been there.

Let me tell ya ’bout a kid called Kirby.  Wasn’t the name his mother gave him, but that’s what he settled on, so that’s what we called him, got it?  Weren’t too long before we’d have another name for him: The King.  “The King of Comics” we called him.  Let me tell you ’bout ol’ King Kirby.

Man was a visionary.  Was a time I’d say a man was the product of his experiences; ‘Art imitates Life’, that kinda thing.  Not Kirby.  Father was a factory worker – Jewish – came from Austria.  Kid grew up on Suffolk Street, New York; got into street fighting; said he liked it; said it was second nature to him.  Wasn’t the only thing second nature to him – kid was quicker with a charcoal than he was with his fists.  Too fast, they’d say – wouldn’t let him into college ’cause he made ‘em all look bad!

Before long he was drawin’ strips for the paper.  Went by the name of “Jack Curtiss”.  By the time the funnies found him he was calling himself all sorts o’ things: “Curt Davis”, “Fred Sande”, “Ted Grey”, “Teddy” – like he was some kinda superhero with a secret identity – see what I’m getting at here? Anyway, finally he settles on ‘Jack’, “Jack Kirby”.

Soon he lands a job at Timely Comics, which may not sound like much.  You might recognize it by its new name, MARVEL COMICS.  Then he draws this guy called Captain America, all suited up in spandex with the stars and stripes.  Very first issue, March 1941, front page, punches Hitler right in the mug!  You can’t pay ten cents for that kind of action this day and age!  This was nine months before Pearl Harbor, mind you.  Nine months! Can you see it yet?  This is what I been talkin’ about!  Kirby, an Austro-Jewish-American street fighter, makes up this character called Captain America, who punches Hitler in the face nine months before we even entered World War II.

Hitler gets his early, thanks to Kirby.

And here’s the real kicker: two years later, kid gets drafted in the US Army.  Lands on Omaha Beach ten days after D-Day, and his lieutenant asks him to scout ahead and draw recon maps!  Wasn’t all pretty pictures, though – nearly lost his legs in the winter of ‘44, to frostbite, of all things.  See? See?!  Dammit, do I have to beat you over the head with it?!  Captain America was frozen in ice, dammit!  How else could he come back to fight the Commies?  Man was a genius, a bona fide prophet, I tells ya!

Anyway, he got an honorable discharge in ‘45, and started doing comics again.  He did a bit of this and that – Young Romance, Young Love – the kid was in love, who could blame him?  Then he did Challengers of the Unknown and Green Arrow for National.  Eventually, though, he came back to Marvel.  It was there he started makin’ superheroes again – nothin’ major – just little ones like the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, and Black Panther, you know?  Stan’d say that they were all his idea, but we knew better.  Was a time when you wanted to draw Marvel, you had to draw Kirby.  He was their Holy Scripture – the A-B-C of comic art.

But it wasn’t enough for the King, he had to keep on movin’.  He signed with comic rivals DC and started work on his crown jewel.  He called it his “Fourth World”.   He wrote and drew four titles at the same time: the New Gods, Mister Miracle, The Forever People, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen.  (For the record, DC woulda given him any book he wanted – the Man of Steel, the Caped Crusader, you name it – but God bless him, he didn’t take ‘em, because – get this – he didn’t want to cost anyone their job!  That’s just the kind of guy he was.)  Now, I’m a simple kinda guy, and I don’t read so good, but I can call it like I see it, and this stuff – when you read it, it just crackled off the page like Pop Rocks, and it filled your head with these ideas, you know?  Things you never knew existed until Kirby put ‘em there, right up in your noggin’.  There were days I’d swear my head would explode, and I thought to myself, where does he come up with this stuff? He’d never tell me – didn’t have the time – he simply smiled and got back to his drawings.  He was off in his own little world – he called it “The Fourth World” – but I called it Kirby’s Dream Land.

Jack’s left us now, but I still see him everywhere.  Not a week goes by I don’t read a comic or watch a film dedicated to the King.  I just read a Batman comic this morning was dedicated to him – the guy never even wrote a Batman comic! If he’s not your favorite artist, odds are he’s your favorite artist’s favorite artist.  They call it “The Kirby Effect”.  Heh.  He woulda liked that.  Prolly woulda come up with a science-like explanation for it too.  But I worked it out myself the other day:

Art doesn’t imitate Life, and Life doesn’t imitate Art.  Life imitates Kirby.

Dedicated to the King of Comics

Jacob "Jack Kirby" Kurtzberg R.I.P. (1917-1994)

So this week I was assigned Kirby’s Dream Land 3 for review on EveryGame. Problem was, Scott had already written a stellar creepy gangster story about Kirby for Kirby Superstar, which was gonna be my angle (not so much the street-level storytelling, more the Kirby-as-creepy-Dream-Eater-type vibe). So what did I do? I decided to write about comics legend Jack Kirby instead. Not once do I reference the videogame, aside from a name drop and the obligatory screenshot, like this one:

Those of you unfamiliar with the name Jack Kirby will no doubt be familiar with his work. If you’re a fan of the Manhunter, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, Thor, the Hulk, Iron Man, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, Magneto, the Inhumans, Black Panther, the New Gods, Mister Miracle, Darkseid, Kamandi, The Demon, and the Eternals – you have Jack Kirby to thank, because he created all of them.

Despite the flippancy of the subject change, I hope you find it a fitting tribute to the King of Comics. Inspired by Mark Evanier’s touching eulogy, I wrote it from the perspective of an old friend:

Let me tell ya ’bout a kid called Kirby. Wasn’t the name his mother gave him, but that’s what he settled on, so that’s what we called him, got it? Weren’t too long before we’d have another name for him: The King. “The King of Comics” we called him. Let me tell you ’bout ol’ King Kirby.

Indeed, having been energised by so many of his characters and stories, he really does feel like an old friend to me. I must confess to shedding the occasional tear whenever I read a first-hand account of a chance meeting with the guy, or even reading a comic book dedicated to him that I know he would have smiled at.

So, Jack Kirby – King of Comics – this is for you. I hope you like it.

We’ve really gotta stop calling these things reviews.

I accidentally fell asleep earlier than I intended tonight.  At 9pm.  So, when I fitfully awoke, I needed something to draw quickly.  Since I did a Cosmic God last night, I figured following the pattern would be good.  Darkseid, in his role as DC’s darkest god, has always been entertaining; for me, never more so than in Final Crisis, though I’m aware a lot of people didn’t like that.  But still.  Enjoy!

As many of you know, many (many, many, many) weeks ago, our good friend and associate, Patrick Yapjoco had to hand off his work for DSM-2 to the VS Council, due to life and its accompanying trials.  Cliff Parameter and myself were the happy recipients of the project, and dove in with gusto.  There were polls, and posts, and arguments, and discussions, and various other interactions regarding the project.  We studied what Patrick had done, and invited Joe Corbett to continue the role he had with Patrick, in continuing development.  While evaluating the set, however, several things have become apparent to the design team, which have delayed, and ultimately changed, the direction we are headed with the project.

1)  DSM is a beloved and well-played set. As bad as it was from a design standpoint, there are cards and characters and decks that exist throughout VS that rely on cards in DSM as they were printed.  Many, were re-printed.  This impacts what we are trying to do, greatly.  How does a team ‘fix’ a set, without ruining the history that the cards have generated for themselves?

2)  DSM is made up, primarily, of four teams. Team Superman, Revenge Squad, Darkseid’s Elite, and New Gods.  Of these teams, and the legacy content, Revenge Squad and Darkseid have both been re-envisioned, and seen significant improvement in playability and design since the printing of DSM.  Team Superman has also been re-designed, but arguably, only Superman himself has seen improvement, while the rest of the team remains lost in mediocrity.  (One VsSystem.org member described the DWF Team Superman team as the DC version of Warbound.  I think it’s quite a poignant statement.)  The remaining team, New Gods, saw only 9 additional cards printed since DSM, and has never been ‘rebooted’ in VS.

3)  The major challenge of this project, was to make a playable set of DSM. Designing a completely new set by changing text boxes, but staying confined to the 165 cards, characters, attack, defense, and the rest, makes for a mediocre and uninspired effort.  Anyone who has worked on a fan-set can tell you how difficult it is to design cards when you’re NOT confined to a predetermined character set, with pre-defined casting costs, curves, and support cards.

4)  DC Final Crisis is almost ready. In January, it made perfect sense to release DSM-2 to the world, but due to the delays we have seen, DFC is nearly completed, and very likely may see distribution before DSM-2.  Rather that swamp the players with multiple fan-sets, it seems necessary to make changes to the project plan.

In the end, these major points, and other less important ones, brought the design team to the following conclusion:  We can’t fix DSM. Simply put, it’s not broken.  What is broken is the Team Superman and New Gods teams.  So here is where the team is headed.  We will be reviewing and updating the New Gods cards from DSM (DSM-035 through DSM-060), utilizing minor, errata-styled changes, that will make the New Gods playable, but not significantly impacting the existing DSM cards.  Additionally, we will be designing a short list of new cards to supplement the existing New Gods team.  In the end, we hope to have a reimagined, all inclusive, sub-set of cards, similar to the MAA and MUL styled sub-sets of the past.  This set of updated and new cards will be designated DNG (DC New Gods).  Our hope is by taking these steps, we will make the New Gods a more playable and interesting team, but without compromising old-school decks and strategies based on the New Gods.  The greatest benefit of this release is that the fan voting that was so hotly contested for the creation of a new Mr. Miracle card can/will be fully realized in a completely new card form.  Rather that squeeze all the requested powers onto an undersized and pre-existing 5-drop, we can now (maybe) imagine a 7-drop with all the impact that Scott Free should have on the game.

Additionally, based on fan imput and acceptance, we will then be making a similar effort with Team Superman (DTS) shortly there after, giving the ‘Team’ in ‘Team Superman’ the love they so desperately deserve.

I look forward to hearing your comments and complaints, and I hope you’re as excited about this announcement as we are having written it.

Sincerely,
HomerJ (with Captain_Comet and Savage_tofu)

We’ve been really down on Final Crisis and everything, and so I’m making it up to DC by doing a whole blog post talking about what I hope becomes a new internet Meme, Darkseid Minus New Gods.

Via the guys at Metafilter I found this hilarious post from 4thLetter blogger Gavok who had this fantastic stroke of genius and like any modern day blogger decided to unbirth it onto the internet, if Mamet and Pinter had to write a play all about final crisis I would like to think it would just be this.

Hey, you there, writer so-called! Quit it!

Y’see, I has a problem. I’m writing a superhero novel, and for the moment (just for the moment), I’m calling it New Gods. It’s catchy, it rolls off the tongue, it’s a really cool title.

Thing is, some dude called Jack Kirby happened to have come up with that title back in 1971, when he moved from Marvel to DC. Having created practically the entire Marvel universe with Stan Lee, he set about constructing Jack Kirby’s Fourth World. Yep, his name is in the title. That’s how he rolled.

So with the Fourth World, he created the New Gods, and gave us the twin planets of New Genesis and Apokolips, and the characters of Highfather, Orion, and the ulimate DC Comics villain, Darkseid. Darkseid is such a bad-ass that he even killed Batman.

And Jack Kirby’s Fourth World rocks the damn boat.

When I was looking for a title for my superhero novel, I ran through a variety of unbearable options – ‘Power’ (meh) and ‘The Angle of Power’ (what?) being two of the less awful (but awful) alternatives. Then New Gods came to mind, not just because of the Kirby connection, but because it’s a perfect title.

My novel (let’s call it New Gods, just for now) is about a good guy (Tony) who is sick of the bad guy (The Cowl) and the fact that the so-called protectors of the West Coast – the New Gods – let said bad guy get away with it in the otherwise pleasant California city of San Ventura.

The New Gods in question are a seven-member superhero league/society – three men, three women, one robot – and while the novel doesn’t entirely focus on them (and it’s told from Tony’s PoV anyway), the title ‘New Gods’ sums the whole story up very well indeed. Needless to say, New Gods doesn’t refer just to the New Gods, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

But that’s why it fits.

So back to Jack Kirby. Kirby is a legend, and I would not dream of having my mediocre, mostly crappy writing associated with his greatness. A working title is one thing, but a proper title (and name of a superhero league) is another entirely.

New Gods has got to go.

Which brings me to: competition time!

Here’s the deal: come up with a title for the novel, which is not only damn cool, but sums up the whole premise of a superhero league, the fact that maybe there are other forces in the universe that we don’t know about, and that maybe, if you’re lucky/unlucky (take your pick), you can become part of it all yourself.

The criteria: It needs to be short – two words is best. The Something Something of Something is too long and too dull. Be imaginative – remember, this needs to be a short, sharp, memorable hook, because it’s the title of the novel.

The prize: Full credit for the title and name with dedication in the finished product. Plus, a character in the novel will be named after you, and will suffer a truely gruesome and bizzare death at the gloved hands of The Cowl.

So get those thinking caps on, and tell your friends!

Hot dog. New Gods is plotted, although the chapter breakdown has yet to be done. But I’ve faffed for a week and I’ve nailed the story, so it’s time to start writing.

It’s been surprisingly difficult to dive in. Dark Heart was swimming around in my mind for a couple of years, and I’d had a full chapter breakdown for it ready for almost as long. New Gods is completely and utterly new. Sure, the idea has been there for probably more than a year, but that was it. And it was a great concept, but could I hang a story off it?

Luckily the grey matter pulled through, and there’s a rip-roaring tale of superheroics to be told. And tonight I’ve made a sizeable dent to chapter one – 810 words down, 99,190 to go!

Actually starting from scratch so totally has been a good excuse to get myself organised. Dark Heart was written half in MS Word, half in Scrivener. And while I did various spreadsheets and trackers for the last 50% of the novel, because the front half took so long to write, I could never get an idea of an average daily wordcount, or plot out a completion date.

But New Gods is different – my Scrivener project is all set up. My tracker sheet is counting words from day one! And all going to plan, I’ll have the first draft of this done in 63 days from now, 19th June 2009. New Gods is another 100k novel, and while I’ve only written 0.81% of it, I can already see that this is going to be a very easy target to meet.

And heck, I’ve done it once, I can do it again. Hell, this might become a regular gig

Plotting a novel and hammering out a synopsis is tough. Too much time is spent in keyboard hand-wringing, in worrying about whether plot A slots into plot B, and whether what character #1 does in chapter 15 is logical and meaningful.

But it’s an essential process (and I know some authors don’t do full chapter breakdowns or outlines, but I think you can tell in the finished product), so it’s just a case of madly typing everything out that you can think of, then editing it and crafting it into a proper story.

I’m about halfway through the plotting of New Gods, and having got the basic beginning-middle-end down, I wrote a fake back cover blurb for the bestselling superhero novel you might pick up at your local bookstore. It’s only a draft, and it’s too long really, and no doubt the story will work out slightly differently, but here you go:

San Ventura, California. A bustling seaside metropolis, a jewel of the Western Seaboard. A city gripped by a reign of terror instigated by the superhuman hooded criminal, the Cowl, and his accomplice, Blackbird.

But to the New Gods, the Pacific Coast’s self-appointed guardians of justice, it’s all just a game. Having eliminated every other threat in their territory, they’re reluctant to take down the last remaining supervillain and put themselves out of a job. Caught in the middle, the San Ventura police department fight hard to protect the city while cleaning up the trail of death and destruction left by the Cowl, and more often than not, the New Gods themselves.

When store clerk Tony Farrell wakes up one day to find himself suddenly the most powerful superhero on Earth, he wonders if he can stop the Cowl and bring peace back to his home town. His new girlfriend, Jeannie, certainly thinks so. But with power comes both responsibility and temptation, and Tony isn’t sure he can handle both alone.

But a new menace is coming, something hidden deep the annual Caprotinae meteor shower. And when the night above the city is lit with the celestial fireworks, it is not just the people of San Ventura who are looking to the sky. For Tony and the New Gods, defeating the Cowl may soon be the least of their problems…

I apologise for not jumping straight in an announcing it, but I’ve been enjoying a few well-earned days off. But I am very pleased to say that on Thursday 9th April, 2009, at something like 7.50am, I completed the first draft of Dark Heart. The target wordcount was 100,000 words. I made it to 118,637, which is fine and dandy as I can already see sections that need reworking and editing, so cutting 18,637 should be fine. A huge, rollercoaster of a novel in 19 sizzling chapters; a searing indictment of domestic servitude in the eighteenth century, with some hot gypsies thrown in… erm, hang on, that’s not it! Ancient voodoo gods, steam-powered cyborgs, and a final battle in the flooded London Underground (although it’s the Vacuum Tube Transport System really).

One unexpected side-effect was that as soon as I saved the project, created a back-up and an archive, and updated my wordcount spreadsheet, I felt quite sad. For a project of this difficulty – first-person Victoriana told from the point of view of about five different characters, each requiring their own voice and personality – I was really, really looking forward to finishing it and moving onto something more straight forward. Third-person, modern day, easy!

But then it hit me that these characters – Dr Clarke, Alexander Bellamy, Zoe, Canadian Airman Scott Faulkner, and others – had been living in my mind for the better part of three years. The writing itself took around a year, although about 80,000 words were written in the last couple of months as I finally cracked the procrastination bug.

And now they’re gone, frozen in amber as the final page of the book is turned over. The immediate reaction to this would be to start the sequel – I have the second book plotted and it’s ready to roll – but this would really be a bad idea.

Firstly, Dark Heart isn’t done. It needs an edit, and a second draft. But I can’t do that now, because I’m too close to it. It needs to ‘cellar’ for a few months until I forget how I wrote it, and then I can read it fresh and will be able to edit, cut and change as required with a much clearer view of what works and what doesn’t, rather than what I want to work.

Secondly, if something significant changes in Dark Heart, it will affect the sequel. So if I start the sequel before Dark Heart is at second draft, that might be a lot of work to undo further down the track.

Those are the two practical reasons why the as-yet untitled sequel needs to wait. In the meantime, I need to learn more about the craft of writing, so I need to write something completely different as a new challenge.

This challenge is a modern-day superhero novel that I used to call Power, but now I’m calling New Gods. Yes, okay, it’s just a working title, and comics legend Jack Kirby got there a LONG time before me, and I would be a foolish writer who would speak of their meagre efforts in the same breath as Kirby. But it’s a good title, and there is no connection to Kirby’s Fourth World, but the title is relevant and resonates with my story. And anyway, titles are not important at such an early stage. So for now, New Gods will be a useful enough temporary title to save my project as.

So here’s to Dark Heart! A novel of blood, sweat and tears, both for myself and for my heroes, who are well and truly wrung by the end of it.

And here’s to New Gods!

     Batman: Last Rites is the tale that connects Batman R.I.P. to Final Crisis, when Bruce Wayne’s days as Batman come to an end.  While he is captured by Darkseid’s New God minions, he is subjected to psychic manipulation to bury his instincts and strengths while stealing his genetic material and his skills to use in the creation of their genetically-modified army.  And the way they do this is through the use of a creature called… the Lump!  Scary, huh?  So this two-part story goes through the Lump’s attempt to rewrite Bruce’s memories and his attempts to stop it from succeeding.  It’s primarily an examination of Bruce’s resolve and strength, which was already explored in Batman R.I.P.

     The result?  It’s highly repetitive.  We get that Bruce Wayne is amazingly strong.  We get that he’s faced traumatic events on countless occasions.  As if we need clones to claw their eyes out to prove that.  It’s like the reader is being beaten over the head with the concept.  And the whole idea of the Lump is silly.  Really, a giant mass of nothing with a brain with psychic powers is kind of weird.  It’s kind of sad that this is one of Bruce Wayne’s last stories.  I find his final appearances in Final Crisis to be way more satisfying than this.  In fact, I don’t really think you need to read these to understand what happens to him.  But you might as well.  The story’s a decent read, if odd.  And Lee Garbett’s art is pretty good.

Plot: 8.2      Art: 8.9      Dialogue: 8.3      Overall: 8.3

     Final Crisis has pissed a lot of people off.  Tons of avid comic book readers think that it was just another crappy story that was given too much importance.  Me, I don’t agree.  It was extremely confusing, yes.  But Final Crisis was more of a DC story than a lot of plots have been over the past few years.  In particular, I love the theme that Grant Morrison puts at the center: the nature of heroism.  People may succumb to great evil, be tempted to stray, or be crushed by endless despair and hopelessness.  But there is always hope, and true heroes will always rise to the occasion to save the day.  This is perhaps the one time that Superman has been more than dull and uninspired.  And I loved the bit at the end with Batman and Anthro.

     Still, this story was amazingly confusing.  And the whole thing with Mandrakk was so forced.  It had NOTHING to do with the brilliant Darkseid plot.  If Mandrakk had been weaved into the rest of the fabric of the story, it would have been better.  I know that he was in Superman Beyond, but you shouldn’t have to read that to understand what’s going on in the core series.  The same can be said with all the Monitors, minus Nix Uotan.  Plus, there was too much bouncing around with the narratives.  I like stories with multiple perspectives, but they shouldn’t be hopping around so much that you lose touch with what’s happening.  And I wish we knew why Barry Allen came back from the dead.  I mean a REAL reason.  This wasn’t very good, since there’s the conflicting narrations of having outrun death and his return in DC Universe #0.

     All in all, this was a great miniseries.  It brought a solid conclusion to the Fourth World and Jack Kirby’s epic tale of the New Gods while bringing the Multiverse one step forward.  I hope we see Nix Uotan again, since he could be a very interesting character.  Doug Mahnke’s art was great, though I do wish that J. G. Jones could have done all the art, art as good of quality as his work on the first issue.  Grant Morrison may not have won the whole comic book community over, but he won me.  Final Crisis was a great piece of comic book writing, despite a bumpy ride.

Plot: 8.8      Art: 9.3      Dialogue: 8.9      Overall: 8.8

I was going to post the Anti-Life equation as my subject line, but I thought better of it. Better to not help spread the total and complete submission of all life to all that is DARKSEID.

Anyway, hey, here’s an actual sketch (remember those?). I’ve somehow actually managed to find time somewhere between going about my actual life and doing the SIX screens of JUSTITIA that’ll be going up this week (that’s right, it’s my project, and I’ll plug it where ever I damn well please) to do an actual, honset-to-god sketch.

My one regret with this, is that I did not manage to fit in the wonderful Ω insignia somewhere into this sketch of the recently re-designed DARKSEID.

How to Murder the Earth

Script: Grant Morrison
Art: JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco, Doug Mahnke, Marco Rudy, Christian Alamy, Jesus Merino
Colors: Alex Sinclair & Pete Pantazis
Lettering: Rob Clark Jr.
Assoc. Editor: Adam Schlagman
Editor: Eddie Berganza
Cover: JG Jones (sliver cover by Pacheco, Merino & Sinclair)
Publisher: DC Comics

This sixth issue opens with a scene featuring Superman and Brainiac 5…presumably our Legion of 3 Worlds link. Brainiac has something he needs Superman to see, and Superman’s concerned because he’s been beyond reality and has to get home (no mention of Lois). We then cut back to a gathering of heroes doing what they do, and the Supergirl/”Black Mary” battle (we find out who’s pulling Mary’s strings). Heroes find themselves facing friends and loved ones now under Darkseid’s thumb; the Flashes hatch a plan, and Batman breaks one of his personal rules in order to face Darseid. Finally, Superman enters the battle on Earth, bringing with him anger not often displayed.

The art jumped out at me for this issue–unfortunately, though, not a good thing. Rather than the fairly distinct JG Jones art alone, we have a number of other artists brought on to get this done, and so there is quite a bit of variance in the visuals throughout the issue–this looks like just another comic instead of a singular, special event/series. The art in and of itself isn’t all that bad–characters familiar to casual readers are familiar and recognizeable. The Tawky Tawny battle, though, was a bit hard to follow, and took me a bit beyond the battle itself before I even realized who won the fight. While I’m sure intended for dramatic effect, a key double-page shot toward the end looks almost comical (in a “ha, ha” sort of way) and seems almost out of place in this title given other events that have ocurred off-panel and been referred back to almost as an afterthought.

The story is far from wonderful, but it is serviceable, at least on the surface. We get a number of scene-jumps without much flow, just jumping from one scene to the next. One has to keep track visually of what and who is where as the Supergirl/Mary battle is cut with the Tawny battle, for example. The main Batman scene comes across like it’s supposed to be reminiscent of a certain speedster in a prior Crisis, and for this reader felt forced and overly predictable.

On the whole, due to one character’s fate apparently shown here, this issue is pretty important to DC continuity, at least for the moment. However, this is an issue I read more to seek a conclusion to Batman: RIP and in the hopes of staying somewhat current with the most major goings-on of the DCU than out of enjoyment. This is one of those comics that is probably going to wind up being pretty “essential” to the bigger picture in the DCU…though it lacks the feel I’d expect for something of its supposed enormity.

Recommended for its necessity in the DCU-to-come, but not for the story and art.

Story: 5/10
Art: 3/10
Whole: 4/10

     So, the big events of 2008 were Secret Invasion and Final Crisis.  But wait.  It’s 2009, and Final Crisis isn’t over.  Huh.  Seems no one drawing any of the major comic book events or top comics can keep to a schedule anymore.  Anyway, we’re almost done with the series.  Just two issues left.  So, what’s going on?  To be perfectly honest, I have NO clue.  Everything that’s going on is really awesome, but it largely has yet to tie together into a completely coherent whole.  Darkseid and the New Gods are back, in the bodies of mortals, which apparently decompose easily since they can’t hold their energy.  Check.  Nix Uotan, one of the Monitors, is in a mortal body as well and has just remembered who he is and regained his powers.  Check.  Mr. Miracle, the Super Young Team who are obviously really the Forever People, and Sunny Sumo are on a quest to save the world, which somehow relates to Metron, Anthro, and Kamandi.  Check, I guess?

     This is a series that goes all over the place.  And I do mean all over the place.  Green Lanterns and the Guardians of the Universe one second, the remnants of the Justice League, Justice Society, and Checkmate facing off impending doom another second, Dan Turpin, Darkseid, and the New Gods of Apokolips the next.  It’s all pretty crazy.  And somehow, this will end logically.  Okay…  And somehow, this relates to the multiverse in a way other than just that Darkseid is ripping apart the fabric of reality.  Okay…

     But this isn’t actually very fair.  You can sort of figure out where things are going.  And all the individual plots are actually really cool.  I like the way Grant Morrison has interpreted the Anti-Life Equation a lot.  The dialogue may be off sometimes, but the characterization for almost everyone is spot-on.  The art is gorgeous, though I do wish that J. G. Jones would have been able to do everything.  Which is not to say that Carlos Pacheco is a bad artist.  I just would like some artistic continuity.  I wish that Barry Allen wasn’t back either, but it’s been done well.  This is a series that is mostly cool but has a ton of things going against it.  So it’s a very mixed read with a somewhat positive bent.  I know, this whole review is odd.  But this story is odd.  It’s all odd for every reason.  I think everything’s going to wrap up well in the next two issues, and all this confusion will be forgotten.  I just can’t wait for that to happen.  But make no mistake.  Final Crisis is WAY better than Secret Invasion.  Better to be confusing and deep than predictable and shallow.

Plot: 9.0      Art: 8.6      Dialogue: 8.3      Overall: 8.7

Batman #683
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Lee Garbett

This is Morrison’s final issue on Batman, and, well it was damn good. Just like last issue, we get more memories from Bruce’s life mixed with a fake what if memory if Bruce had never become Batman. This issue was much more clear. I like the idea that Dick would have died going after his parents’s killers if Batman never existed. It shows how important Dick and Bruce are to each other. Same with Gordon. And Catwoman for that matter. And hey, we see Batgirl’s silhouette! Yay! Thanks for actually having her appear in your run at least once Morrison. The end of R.I.P is finally revealed…Batman survived the explosion and goes on to Final Crisis which is his real last case. Yes, DC totally handled this wrong and I am pretty sure this wasn’t originally how it was going to happen but I don’t really mind. What I do mind is Didio’s fucking DC Nation column in the back, not only does he totally disrespect Kyle and Wally, but what he says is definitely a lie. There were no plans to bring back Barry Allen, just read interviews with other creators like Johns and Waid who have said DC didn’t know what the hell they were doing with Flash. I can’t wait till the day Didio leaves DC and the DCU can actually move forward instead of backwards. But anyways, this issue was good.

Batman #682
Written by Grant Morrison
Art by Lee Garbett

After last issue being a semi-disappointment, I was looking forward to Morrison clearing up some things in this issue. And er….it doesn’t. But by no means is this a bad issue, because it is great. Morrison explains how many of the Silver Age tales fit into modern continuity, even the original Batwoman. About Batwoman, I wonder if she is the mother of the current one. As in 52, she was referred to as Katherine the Younger as if there was an older Kathy Kane in her family. Or I have read a theory that this is the current Batwoman (maybe she died her hair red) who broke Batman’s heart when she came out to him. I guess it remains to be seen which of these theories are correct. All of the stuff that ties into Final Crisis is kind of confusing. How did we get from the end of R.I.P to what is going on with Bruce in Final Crisis. Will that be explained? By the way, I absolutely hate this Alex Ross cover and I can’t put my finger on why. Maybe because it is another glorifying the silver age cover, but that can’t be because that fits the tone of this issue. I think it’s the green. Makes the whole thing ugly. Hopefully next issue, we will see Batman’s history since Dick became Nightwing.

The Flash (Volume 2) #231
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Daniel Acuna

And it begins….Wally West returns as the Flash with his two kids as sidekicks. Now I am not an expert on genetics by any means…but I am pretty sure that if Wally and Linda had children, BOTH would have dark hair and both would have aspects of Linda’s Asian descent and Wally’s Caucasian descent in their faces. Instead we have Jai looking completely Asian and Iris looking completely Caucasian and Iris has red hair. Makes no sense, but whatever it’s not that important I guess. I like Acuna’s art despite other people’s complaints and I did like this issue. I wish that in their little retrospective they didn’t ignore Bart who DID work out of Keystone for a bit before moving to L.A.

The Flash (Volume 2) #232
Written by Mark Waid
Art by Daniel Acuna

So the Flash manages to freeze all of Keystones in order to fight an incoming invasion of….Vagina Monsters?! Haha well that’s what it looks like sorry. Acuna’s art was still good but I don’t know how I feel about the colorist this issue, everything was a little bland. As for the story, the monsters seems kind’ve interesting but I wish this issue focused more on Wally then his kids as they take up about half the issue.

The Flash (Volume 2) #233
Written by Mark Waid and John Rogers
Art by Freddie E. Williams II and Doug Braithwaite

This was by far the best issue since Wally returned. We get more Flash then his kids and we get an excellent back up starring Jay Garrick. The Justice League also guest stars. I love Wally’s response to Batman telling him how to raise his kids, noting that Batman has gone through four Robins. I am glad Waid hasn’t forgotten Stephanie. I actually think I liked the back up better with the Planet Salvoth, I love how they look like dogs and the art was fantastic with Braithwaite. I miss Acuna’s art but Williams wasn’t too bad this issue.

The Flash (Volume 2) #234
Written by Mark Waid and John Rogers
Art by Freddie E. Williams II and Doug Braithwaite

The back-up story continues to be good and the main story is really picking up in this series. I find the kids a little annoying still but oh well it was still good. I have to wonder how these kids, if they aged instantly, make pop-culture quips and know how to even talk. Were they put in a virtual environment like Bart Allen was? I don’t know and I suppose it will never be explained. I also question why Wally would go after the vagina monsters (yes I am just going to keep calling them that), when they seem to have left. If they don’t pose a threat anymore, why be so aggressive?

The Flash (Volume 2) #235
Written by Mark Waid and John Rogers
Art by Freddie E. Williams II and Doug Braithwaite

The back up story connects to the main story here as we learn the Vagina Monsters are actually the Swamp Invaders from Planet Sorvath. In the main story, we get a nice scene where Wally talks to Jai about the fact that he may age till death quickly. (All of this remind me of the movie, Jack, with Robin Williams) and the Justice League acting kinda jerky toward Wally but otherwise the back up story is what has made this  good.

The Flash (Volume 2) #236
Written by Mark Waid and John Rogers
Art by Freddie E. Williams II and Doug Braithwaite

This concludes the opening arc in a very satisfactory way. While a lot of people were underwhelmed by this, I thought it was really good. I especially loved the back up story’s conclusion, and the final line where he says “I did not know ‘The Flash’. I knew Jay, Barry, Bart, and Wally. Waid and Rogers really get the humanity behind the character of the Flash and they show it here, especially in Linda’s speech to the council. Good stuff.

The Flash (Volume 2) #237
Written by Keith Chamagne
Art by Koi Turnbull

This fill-in issue was pretty decent. At least the writing was, the art was pretty awful. Look at that security guard guy, why is he so big! Who looks like that! Basically the kids fight Livewire while on a scavenger hunt in Metropolis, while the Flash goes to interviews. I like that Wally has to deal with things like interviews while being a superhero, it makes the character so human and down-to-earth. Chamagne is almost always a good writer, he needs to be given a regular book.

The Flash (Volume 2) #238
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

Tom Peyer begins his run on The Flash by introducing a new villain with one of the best concepts for a villain I have seen in a long time. Spin apparently plays on society’s fears and makes it a reality, like how the news plays on the fears of society. Very interesting stuff and a nice commentary on the state of modern tv news. I liked this a lot and I look forward to Peyer’s run on the series.

The Flash (Volume 2) #239
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

So it looks like Gorilla Grodd is behind the new villain, Spin. This was a good issue and I like Wally’s new job. Pretty cool. Peyer doesn’t write Jai and Iris to be quite as annoying as Waid did, but I still can’t really warm up to them. I wouldn’t be stressed if the people of Keystone turned against the Flash after the whole robbery thing even without Spin’s influence. People are easily manipulated.

The Flash (Volume 2) #240
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

Spin turns Keystone City into a living newscast in this issue. This is a really creative plot and I recommend people check it out. Peyer is definitely a good writer. The kids are kidnapped by the Dark Side Club, tying into Final Crisis. And it looks like Iris has aged to an adult. Grodd is one pissed off gorilla.

The Flash (Volume 2) #241
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

While it didn’t seem like it, a lot did happen this issue. Spin reveals his origin, and Grodd and the Dark Side Club are defeated. Iris is not aged (yet Williams draws her face as being exactly the same, because he can’t really draw that many faces.) To top it off, Wally has to save Inertia from the burning Flash Museum. I almost forgot Wally put him there, what a perfect punishment that was.

The Flash (Volume 2) #242
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

Wow, did that just happen? Did Iris just age and die? They were so close to saving her? Something tells me there is still hope. Her aging would be so much better if Williams knew how to draw different ages, she basically looks the same the whole issue but is talking as if she is aging more and more. It really distracted from the story. Williams does draw a cute Nzame though. I will give him that. The whole Edwar Martinez thing was really sad, and the murder plague is creepy. Good stuff.

The Flash (Volume 2) #243
Written by Tom Peyer
Art by Freddie E. Williams II

In this excellent conclusion to Peyer’s story arc, Iris and Jai are finally cured after Wally removes the black aspect of the speed force from them? Ya it’s kind’ve a weird way of saving them, but it works. I was hoping there powers would be gone so they wouldn’t were those hideous costumes anymore but they are still there. Peyer’s arc was really good and I hope he comes and does more stuff for DC in the future.

The Flash (Volume 2) #244
Written by Alan Burnett
Art by Paco Diaz

I am not sure how I feel about this issue. It makes me sad that this arc is just depowering Wally so that Barry can come back and be the best Flash or some shit like that. Fuck you Didio and you’re let’s revert the DCU to 1984 attitude. Anyways, at least he can hit the speed of sound, which I believe is what Jay can do. The art and writing is good though. I am glad that Williams is gone, I was so sick of his art.

The Flash (Volume 2) #245
Written by Alan Burnett
Art by Carlo Barberi

Okay If Linda is dead I am going to be really fucking pissed off. I doubt it but if she is that is so ridiculous. I am not one that freaks out every time they kill someone in a comic, but Linda’s death would so unnecessary. I am not sure what Black Lightning was talking about in the end with the spy thing. I did really enjoy the flashbacks to Wally’s time with the Titans though.

The Flash (Volume 2) #246
Written by Alan Burnett
Art by Carlo Barberi

Okay like I said if she is actually dead I am going to really fucking pissed and she didn’t get any better this issue. In fact, the Spectre even says she is going to die. I am hoping Wally will figure out a cure soon. Death by bee stings, I mean come on! Besides this, Burnett clearly knows his Wally West history as there are lots of flashbacks to his relationship with Linda and his time as the Flash. Good retrospective but I am worried about Linda.

Secret Six (Volume 3) #1
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott

Simone kicks off this series with one of the most disturbing images; a man choosing his family’s death over his own. Then brings us to the Secret Six who are just as awesome and hilarious as ever. I love the talk about Catman going good and Deadshot making fun of it. I loved the inappropriate but meant well gesture of having the hooker dress as Knock-out. I can’t wait for the next issue! Check this out people. This is Gail at her best!

Secret Six (Volume 3) #2

Written by Gail Simone
Art by Nicola Scott

The highlight of this issue has to be the dialogue between Batman and Catman. Simone’s strengths as a writer who can write a serious story with great comic relief is shown here especially with Catman’s obsession with the smell of Mexican food. She utilizes some pretty obscure villains in that last page spread and Nicola Scott is an amazing artist who needs to be doing more books for DC.