What I Bought Today – Action Comics #23.1, Batman and Robin #23.1 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Yep, ’tis Wednesday, and it’s time to talk about…

Unfortunately, they kinda under-sent issues of Batman: The Dark Knight #23.1, so I couldn’t see the book detailing the origins of the new Ventriloquist. I’ve heard it’s apparently not all THAT great, but that fans of the character and Gail Simone‘s creepy ass writing will still like it, so I’m picking it up next week. In the meantime, let’s talk Cyborg Superman with Action Comics #23.1!

So I kinda left something important out about Supergirl last month, mainly because I thought it was a red herring. At the very end, Cyborg Superman has the genetic material he got from Supergirl imprinted onto himself, and we see that he’s Zor-El, Kara’s father. Now, I naturally assumed that between her genetic material, the fact that they were messing with her memories, and the tech that could create anything in her mind simply meant that Cyborg Superman had been turned into a duplicate of Zor-El. NOT SO. In fact, as it turns out, Brainiac transformed Zor-El into Cyborg Superman, replacing much of his organic components with cybernetics, then making him look like Jor-El, the superior sibling in the eyes of Brainiac…So, Zor-El has been made a villain who has murdered his own daughter (albeit it’s not entirely his fault, and I expect him to find a way to bring her back), and in this issue, we see that he’s a jerk that refused to listen to his brother, and an idiot who decided to experiment with Brainiac tech, the result of which got a bunch of survivors of Krypton killed…Michael Alan Nelson, I like you. I like you a lot. You made Power Girl AWESOME again. But between this and Supergirl getting brutally vaporised last issue, I REALLY hope you’ve got something amazing planned. Then again, next up is supposed to be Cyborg Superman and Brainiac beating the crap outta each other, and I guess that’s kinda awesome. The only other thing I can really point out is that, like Ventriloquist’s story being in Batman: The Dark Knight #23.1, I’m a little confused why Cyborg Superman’s story is in Action Comics #23.1.

Batman and Robin #23.1 was pretty good. Anyone that didn’t like it…well, it was Two-Face being Two-Face. If you didn’t want that, you shouldn’t have bought it. And it made sense that it was in this book, since Two-Face is gonna be the villain for the next arc. Now, it’s Two-Face taking a bunch of criminals, cops, and civilians whatnot into a court and administering his own brand of ‘justice’, which I KNOW I’ve seen him do at least a couple of times before, but it works alright. We also see that the Secret Society wanted him to join, which he did, but on the condition that the results of his coin flips are final. They decide to screw with that, so the deal’s off in a rather violent manner. Again, for Two-Face, this worked just fine, and I actually really liked Guillem March’s work in this issue. Kudos.

So that’s it for this week. Next week’s gonna be an expensive one, although the good news is that I won’t have much to buy this month after that. It’s like they know or something. lol Ja né!

Related articles

• Action Comics #23.1 (comicvine.com)
• Greg Pak has Super-Plans for Superman (comicbookresources.com)
• Batman #23.1 by Andy Kubert (Comics Review) (sonsofcorax.wordpress.com)
• Villain Month Guide: Part 2 – Superman and Earth-2 (retcon-punch.com)
• Speculator Pick: Batman Family #6, 1st JOKER’S DAUGHTER! (comicsheatingup.net)
• Comic Releases for September 4, 2013 (comicbooked.com)
• Stripped: Grant Morrison – Dope, Chips, and Skewed Moralities (comicsbeat.com)
• Batman and Robin #23.1 (comicvine.com)
• The New 52 and me, then and now (comicdomwrecks.wordpress.com)
• Fisch Guides Bizarro and Metallo Into DC’s Villains Month (comicbookresources.com)

What I Bought Today – Talon #3, Batman Incorporated #6 (Warning – Spoilers) + Interesting News Concerning Red Hood

Well, it’s Wednesday, so let’s go ahead and check out…

God, I love the new logo. Anyway, let’s kick off with Talon #3.

So yeah, you remember my two problems regarding Issue #2? How it’s hard to agree with Calvin Rose in his mindset when we haven’t seen anything of him interacting with Casey and her daughter Sarah, and how Guillem March was absent? Both of those problems are not present here. Guillem March is back for this, and we see LOTS of Casey (who pulls off ‘strong independent woman’ in a way relatively unseen in the New 52) and Sarah (Sarah is adorable, btw. Almost gave me ghostly flashbacks of Lian), and I have nothing to bitch about…well, save for one thing, and it’s not even really a problem so much as something that gets on my nerves: Sebastian Clark is so gonna turn heel. I can see it coming a mile away. He’s either gonna turn heel or he’s gonna find some way to screw with Calvin, be it on purpose or by accident. It’s one of the two things, but I can be sure it’s one of them. In the meantime, the chemistry is still good between him and Calvin. Also, we see the return of the mask that Dick Grayson wore in Batman #1, which is neat. And while we get a shit-ton of new characters kinda thrown at us, they all get their own time in the comic and we learn who they are and what their background is. Great stuff as always from James Tynion IV, Scott Snyder, and of course, the returning Mr. March.

And no, my pet peeve is not called in for this, it’s meant to be symbolic. 😛

Batman Incorporated #6…Okay, I love this comic, I really do, but I have no idea what the fuck is going on! We still have not gotten to the point at the beginning of #1 where Bruce Wayne is arrested, and I’m pretty much left guessing what in the world happened and if it will EVER be addressed in any of the other comics. Also, despite what we saw a little over a month ago, there’s a line of dialogue near the end that suggests that Damian ISN’T the one who becomes the third Batman (second after Dick, remember). I have a theory on that, but I’d rather keep it to myself. Also, after the explosion from last issue, most of the members of the Batmen of all Nations are horribly wrecked, some are even dying, and I honestly got a little horrified for Squire in this one for a bit. I hope for the best, I’d hate to see ANY of them be killed off. Otherwise, this is still a good comic with Batman robots fighting Leviathan’s Man Bat legion and plenty of drama. I will also give this comic a major plus: Bat Cow cameo! That ought to make Gotham Spoilers happy. 😛 But seriously, somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on, or at least that it’ll get resolved soon because I hear tell that Grant Morrison won’t be writing for much longer, and I can’t see them continuing this book without him.

Oh, and the last thing I wanna talk about here: There’s this rumour on Bleeding Cool (same people that somehow knew that Gail Simone had been fired before she did) that starting with Red Hood and the Outlaws #18, James Tynion IV is taking over the comic…And when I heard that rumour, I started to cry tears of joy for a little bit…I’m starting to get a little choked up right now, actually. The only way this comic will not improve by a HUGE amount with this switch (if it DOES in fact happen) is if it turns out that editorial mandate is what makes the plot stupid. Tynion has earned my trust with this. I may or may not begin picking it up again if this change does happen, though, depending on what all changes. I’ll keep y’all posted.

Anyhow, that’s it for today. Next week, we learn about the last Amazon left on Earth-2 (PLEASE be Donna Troy), and much much more! Ja né!

What I Bought Today – Talon #2, Batman Incorporated #5 (Warning – Spoilers)

Well, despite some kinda suckiness that occurred last night, I present to you what I bought today, and as always, I warn that there are spoilers here. On a side note, I would just like to ask, does anyone else giggle when they see the word “Spoilers” in anything related to DC? Maybe it’s just me, but whatev, let’s take a look at Talon #2.

And suddenly I’m getting Aerith flashbacks.

This comic remains awesome. James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder deliver again with a great story that shows Calvin Rose being awesome, we learn more about Sebastian Clark and why he hates the Court of Owls as much as he does, we also see Calvin’s more sympathetic side as he tries to reach his hand out to help an enemy who has resigned themselves to death, and at the end we see that the Court has unleashed a new, more dangerous agent to counter the threat of Calvin Rose. It’s a great story, but there is something I kind of have to pick on that sort of irritated me a slight amount: So Calvin Rose feels his number one priority is to protect the woman and her child he refused to kill and left the Court over, and remove all records of their ‘sentencing’, and that taking down the Court once and for all takes a back seat to that. We can argue whether he’s right or wrong in that philosophy, but I think what would help with understanding that mindset of his is if we saw a little bit more of their interaction. We haven’t seen any of that save for when they first met. That’s it! But it’s not too much an issue, since the ending of this comic seems to suggest we’ll be seeing them soon.

Also, continuing with my own pet peeve regarding comic books, cover’s kind of a lie since Calvin never actually enters the Tomb of he Unworthy, though we do see it.

My only other issue is that Guillem March was absent for this one, replaced by Juan Jose Ryp. I was kind of confused about that when I found out a couple of days ago, so I contacted Mr. Tynion on Twitter, asking why the change in artists, to which he replied back…

And I quote…

“This was planned right from the start, Guillem is still the main artist on the series, just has a couple breaks built into the year.” So apparently Guillem March is still onboard with Talon, which is good. In the meantime, while I prefer his work, Ryp’s is still fine.

The only way this image could be more awesome is if Damian just shouted “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!!”

Batman Incorporated #5, once again Grant Morrison delivers with this story. Now, I’m just gonna say this, I have not read Batman #666. I HAVE read about it, though, so I get the general jist of what happened. Bruce apparently saw a vision of it when he returned from his trip through time, and he tells Damian about what happens and why he has to leave his father’s side. Apparently it all falls into Talia‘s plans, in that she purposely planted Damian in Gotham to become Robin and eventually replace Bruce as Batman. We also see that apparently making a deal with the devil for Gotham’s protection, and also to become seemingly invulnerable, kind of has its loopholes, as Gotham City degenerates to such a point that the President has no choice but to order a nuclear strike on the city, as advised to him by, you guessed it, THE DEVIL. So yeah, Peter Parker might wanna take note, making deals with the devil can come back to bite ya!

Aside from that, we get some good bits like the return of wheelchair Barbara Gordon in the future, Damian telling his father that the future isn’t set in stone and that, above all else, he doesn’t want to leave his father. And then at the very end we see the Batmen of all Nations being caught in a trap as a building explodes, leading into the next issue that I now have to wait a month for…Grant Morrison, you can be kind of mean with these cliffhangers. lol

He even kinda looks like the trollface here, doesn’t he? lol

Well anyway, that’s all for this week’s comics. Next week, we return to Earth-2, find out what Huntress and Robin are up to, and figure out just what in the flippity-floppity fuck is up with Ivy and Clayface being MARRIED. Ja né!