What I Bought Today – Talon #12 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

So, I went to Heroes’ Beacon today, and you know what that means. It’s time to look at…

Only one comic this week, so let’s get right to it. Here is Talon #12.

…Yeah, cover’s kind of a lie. Batman and Talon don’t come to blows in this issue…and thank God for that. Getting sick of heroes fighting heroes lately.

So, remember how last issue ended with both Casey Washington and Sebastian Clark seemingly dead? Well, guess what? Both alive and…well, not quite well, but doing alright. Following the assault from Felix Harmon, Casey has lost an eye and had to have her right arm amputated. However, she’s good friends with Morgan Freeman, I-I mean Lucius Fox, who vouches for her to Bruce Wayne and Batman (remember, in the comics, he doesn’t know they’re one and the same…even though he REALLY should) and lets her hide out in the lab for as long as she needs. And while I feel like I should be giving James Tynion a hard time for doing this to the female lead in this comic, I really can’t since, as we see in this issue, she’s still being awesome and witty despite her losses, talking about having to practise being a lefty and trading snarky comments with Fox as they get to work designing a prosthetic for her. Her only concern is the well-being of her daughter, and possibly getting some punches in on Harmon when they find him. Seriously, Casey NEEDS to become either the new Oracle, or a new heroine version of Cyborgirl. She’s just too damned awesome.

In the meantime, however, there’s a bit of a problem, which Calvin Rose and Batman learn upon investigating the Court’s hideout and sending Robats to Bane’s island: The Court of Owls has gone back into hiding, Harmon has officially gone rogue, and Bane and his entire island have disappeared, though readers of Forever Evil: Arkham War can learn what he’s up to. However, Batman and the currently beating himself up Calvin Rose have to get their priorities straight: They need to find Sarah and rescue her from the Court of Owls. Batman hands over what information he has on the Court to Calvin, to fill in any blanks he might have and give him some clues on where to find them, since his experience with them probably trumps his own. However, Batman isn’t completely sold on a good Talon, and makes it clear he has a cryo-tube in Blackgate ready for after Calvin has located Felix Harmon. Granted, kinda untrusting and paranoid of Batman, but to be fair, look at what happened to him a year ago at the hands of the Court of Owls and their Talons. Plus, while I love Calvin, he hasn’t done much to prove himself a good ally to Batman to keep loose.

Throughout the comic, we learn more about where Felix Harmon comes from, how he was brought into the Court of Owls, and how he earned the name ‘The Gotham Butcher’. By the end of the comic, we see that his great atrocity was that he murdered 17 people in one night and set an orphanage on fire. In the present, he returns there to hide out while planning his next move, only to find someone there waiting for him: Sebastian Clark. I kinda have to tilt my head at this, since we last saw him on the boat with Bane getting the frak punched outta his face, but regardless, he’s done some reading from The Secret History of the Court of Owls on Harmon. It seems that Clark, having had all of his plans torn apart and any sense left in his brain punched out by Bane, has come up with a much more simple plan of revenge against the Court, Calvin Rose, Casey Washington, Batman, and everyone else that’s crossed both him and Harmon: They’re going to kill Gotham City!

This issue was pretty good, setting the stage for the next couple of issues as Clark and Harmon get ready for the killing spree to end all killing sprees. If I have a complaint against it, it’s that it feels like it skipped a few details. Why is Batman instantly willing to work with Calvin Rose, even for the short-term? How did Clark get back to Gotham, seemingly so fast? How did the Court of Owls relocate so quickly? How did Casey go from being in danger of dying to just losing an arm and an eye? I feel like there’s an entire issue worth of stuff that was glossed over to get us to this point. Still, I guess we can attribute Casey’s survival to the money and resources available to Batman and Lucius Fox, and the Court disappearing because…well, because they’re the Court. The only remaining thing I feel the need to point out is that, even IF Calvin is put in cryo-stasis, it won’t be permanent, since we clearly see him on the cover of Batman: Detective Comics #27. Still, a good issue nonetheless, and I suspect the next couple to bring conclusion to the current arc in a powerful way.

So, that’s it for this week. Next week, we get an in-depth look at Barbara Gordon and Dick Grayson‘s history as a duo in Nightwing Annual #1. Ja né!

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What I Bought Today – Talon #11 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Well, shouldn’t be too hard talking about…

 

…considering that I only bought one comic, and I’ll talk a little bit about what I didn’t buy later. For now, let’s take a look at Talon #11.

Well, I’ll give Mister Rose this much: He makes a pretty solid argument for the use of a good ol’ tactical retreat. Calvin makes it clear that Bane could easily crush him, but that getting into a one-on-one fist fight with him was never his goal: Instead, with Calvin’s buddies taking out Bane’s lieutenants, Calvin decides to head back to Gotham to warn Sarah of the coming army. However, when he calls, he gets Batman instead. While Calvin and the others were fighting Bane’s army, Sarah had escaped police custody and lit the Bat-Signal, only the Gotham Butcher arrived first. Although Batman managed to stop him from killing Sarah, her wounds are critical, and she may not survive. However, she’s still better off than Sebastian Clark, who Bane decides to kill in a single punch after his recent failure and with The Outsider giving him a better offer.

…Yeah, so some good news/bad news regarding this issue. First, please don’t let Sarah die. She’s been a delight to read in this series, and while she wouldn’t exactly be meaninglessly killed off, since you could say that, with her final act, she steered Batman in the right direction to help Calvin, it would still be a loss of a character that I feel has so much more to contribute. Also, I gotta say, Sebastian getting his face Falcon Punched in seemed kinda…wasteful. However, I somehow doubt this is the last we’ve seen of Clark, since he WAS the Grandmaster of the Court of Owls, and might have some of their stuff hidden away, HINT HINT.

Anyway, that’s it for this month, and looking to Villain’s Month, I see that the grand total of books on my checklist is…6. Half of which come out next week. lol So yeah, next week, we check out Batman and Robin 23.1: Two-Face, Action Comics 23.1: Cyborg Superman, and…yes, believe it or not, we return to Batman: The Dark Knight with the guidance of Gail Simone to learn more about the frakking freaky new Ventriloquist. Ja ne!

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What I Bought Today – X-Men #2, Talon #9 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Oh my goodness, my feet are killing me! XP So, while I relax and imagine my sore feet being lovingly massaged by my gf, allow me to take a sec and talk about…

Only two books today, since I’ve dropped JLA and Batman Incorporated got delayed by one week, so let’s start with Talon #9.

So yeah, the Birds of Prey cameo in this book…for all of the first four pages. lol Yeah, sorry to say this, but clearly this move was done solely to boost sales for Birds of Prey, and I will be shocked if it helps even a little. If anything, this probably got the people who hadn’t heard of Talon to go read it instead. But anyway, after tricking his superiors into thinking he killed Strix, Calvin Rose is sent after Bane and Sebastian Clark. Meanwhile, Casey continues to be awesome by not only talking smack to the Gotham Butcher, even while chained and helpless, but shows she doesn’t care what’s happened to Calvin as long as he’s alive, and then tops it off by managing to free herself and send a message to her allies to come rescue her. Seriously, Casey Washington deserves to be the new Oracle-type character in the DC Universe when the Court of Owls is finally taken down.

X-Men #2 was frigging awesome. I still have no idea who the people in the school are beyond the main six characters and Beast though…I really should check the Marvel Comics Database at http://marvel.wikia.com/Main_Page for all of my essential needs and information. (Cheap plug successfully deployed, ^_^ ) Anyway, Sublime’s even eviller sister, Arkea, has taken control of Karima Shapandar, AKA the Omega Sentinel, and is creating all kinds of chaos throughout the Jean Grey School For Higher Learning. Only Rogue and Kitty Pryde are able to get down there to deal with Arkea, Kitty threatening to phase through her body to completely destroy her should it turn out there is nothing left of Karima in her. Arkea manages to escape, all the while it seems that neither Psylocke nor Rachel Grey can sense an infant with Jubilee. Kinda weird, but Sublime explains later that when he and his sister leave bodies they’ve taken over, they leave a whole new person behind, basically resetting them completely, so I’m gonna guess that’s what happened. The baby, named Shogo, is apparently okay though, since he’s just a newborn and won’t exactly need much time to develop a new personality. Jubilee talks Storm into letting her bring Shogo with them to find Arkea, reasoning that it’s safer with Storm and the others than back at the school…which actually turns out to be true, as we see in the end that Arkea left a little surprise at the X-Mansion: A frickin’ BOMB. O_O

So that’s it for this week. Next week…Well, suffice to say, next week is gonna be an expensive one…Ja né…T_T

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What I Bought Today – Talon #7, Batman Incorporated #10 (WARNING – SPOILERS)

Yep, ’tis Wednesday once again, which means it’s time for me to kick back and talk about…

These two books I got are pretty damned good, and I can’t wait to talk about ’em, so let’s not and just jump into Talon #7!

…Um, actually Bane is working against the Court.

And heel turn complete. Guess I was right the first time. Either that or Sebastian Clark is EXTREMELY bipolar. But yeah, Sebastian has been working to take back what he feels is his after he left the Court, and apparently he’s got a very LARGE, powerful, and pissed off accomplice: Bane. Casey and Sarah manage to escape him, all the while Calvin manages to escape Securitis Island. Calvin Rose gets a partial message from Casey, learning what’s happened but left to believe something’s happened to her. On his way back to base though, then runs into Batman, who tells him that his recklessness is risking innocent lives. He puts Calvin in a pair of WayneTech‘s new Ultraclasp Bonds. Apparently Batman tested them himself and found them completely inescapable. So naturally, all it takes is for Batman to turn around for ONE PANEL before Calvin is GONE. Attempts to find him using the imaging systems in his cowl fails as well when Calvin sends out infradark spheres that throw Batman off his trail. I’m trying to think of when the last time a non-powered good guy got the best of Batman on the first try, and honestly, I got NOTHIN’. O.O Unfortunately, Bane apparently breaks Calvin’s body and leaves him for dead, but something tells me it won’t be quite that easy. Overall, great issue once again, James Tynion IV continues to deliver.

Batman Incorporated #10…Okay, I have a problem. I know I will not shut up about this, but I can’t keep this held back. We’re supposed to believe that the Batman books all occur at roughly the same time. Problem is, they constantly contradict one another. For example, in Red Hood and the Outlaws #17, they reference Jason and Damian‘s time as Wingman and Redbird, but right after their team-up in Batman Inc, Jason got kidnapped. Also, in all of the other Batman books, Alfred is around, but in Batman Inc, he’s being forced to go on vacation by an angry Bruce. In fact, how Batman is dealing after the loss of Damian is different in every book, too. And here, we see Kirk Thorton in human form, Nightwing is still in town, Jason is still held captive, AND we see Azrael is back after he was seemingly wiped from existence in the reboot. It never ceases to amaze me that the editors get so much power and yet don’t do their actual jobs.

Anyway, Batman goes to see Azrael, who tells him he’s been studying up, and it’s clear that Leviathan is trudging the Earth toward Armageddon, whether Talia is aware of it or not. Speaking of whom, Talia goes to see Ra’s al Ghul, who she locked up a while back to take over his empire, who commends her for her complete turn to frakking evil as shit. However, he thinks she’s overlooked a small detail and will ultimately fail. Talia calls the Mayor and threatens that Batman must turn himself in at 11:00 that night. And sure enough, Batman does in fact arrive at 10:55…wearing Azrael’s armour under a partial Batsuit under a new exoskeleton Lucius Fox built. But more than that, after going over his thoughts from when he first became Batman, Bruce has finally been taken too far and used something to further tip the scales in his fight against his son’s clone and murderer: The Man-Bat serum. And with only 3 more issues of Grant Morrison’s tale left, something tells me things are only going to continue to get frakking insane in this book.

So that’s all for today. Next week, I THINK JLA #3 is supposed to come out (not sure why the delay occurred), we see Batman face Emperor Penguin in Detective Comics, we venture back to Earth 2, and we bare witness to the rise of the 99% in Gail Simone‘s The Movement. And if I don’t get any of them on Wednesday, hopefully I’ll be able to pick ’em up on Free Comic Book Day (and yes, I WILL be recording a Vlog for that). 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!