Ironically, in the biggest Batman week of the year, there were NO Batman comics released. However, there was a book with Batman in it! That book, of course, is...
Justice League #11 - The League is all stressed out this month as they continue to try and deal with Graves, the one-time author now turned super-villain who blames them for the death of his family. Graves has kidnapped Steve Trevor and our heroes are trying desperately to catch up with him. Tempers flare and Wonder Woman, feeling responsible, loses it! Green Lantern tries to talk some sense into her and ends up instead in a battle that of course gets broadcast to everyone around the world. Even Superman gets involved...Batman is SOOO exasperated. Not cool, guys...
On the plus side, at least they manage to find Graves old writing cabin and get a lead on where to find him. Of course this may very well all be too late to save poor Steve...
In other news, Shazam is back again this month, as Black Adam is released from his tomb by Dr. Sivana, who promises to help him find "The Wizard". Billy Batson, meanwhile, is playing a prank on his schoolyard bullies that goes awry. They chase him onto a subway train when suddenly he's surrounded by lightning! Next thing he knows, Billy is...somewhere else! Somewhere mysterious...
Of course that's not all! Join me for some Before Watchmen, some Wonder Woman and more after the JUMP!
Catwoman #11 - Catwoman's still trying to stop the bastard who's been kidnapping hookers and street kids off the street, cleaning them up and then selling their organs on the black market! This issue she's enlisted the help of Detective Carlos Alverez, the very cop who's been trying desperately to arrest her for months and who has also saved her from a few dirty cops in the last few months. He doesn't want to help her, but of course once he sees the gravity of the situation she's uncovered with the kidnapper, Dollhouse, what choice does he have?
So Catwoman, fellow burglar Spark and Detective Alverez set up a perimeter and start hunting Dollhouse for real. Of course, this villain is cagey, and not too keen on being caught! Catwoman sums up the spirit of the issue pretty nicely..."I guess I could have planned this all better..." Maybe our loosely allied "heroes" have bitten off more than they can chew!
Silk Spectre #2 (of 4) - "I know we're all about non-violence and love, right? But if you knew something bad was going to happen to someone unless you did something...y'know, something violent...should you do it?"
Our tale of poor little runaway Laurie continues this issue as she has settled into a new life with her boyfriend, another couple, and a whole lot of peace, love and flower power in San Francisco! Of course, this being a tale of growing up and innocence lost, not all is well in the land of psychedelia. Despite her hesitance to use violence (Peace, man!) Laurie realizes when she overhears a murder plot at the diner she works at that she must use her skills to prevent tragedy! She gets her friend to make her a skimpy outfit and BOOM...Silk Spectre 2.0 is born!
Of course her simple beat-down of a murderous gang leads to an investigation of a massive conspiracy targeted against the very hippies she's come to know and love, as mysterious corporate figures are releasing tainted drugs into the market to control people's minds and make them spend more money! Some huge players, including a Beatlesque band and LSD chemist / Ken Kesey accomplice / Grateful Dead sound guy Owlsey Stanley are involved here, and while the caricatures are cute, the plot is pretty damn thin. Or maybe I'm just a closet hippie who romanticizes 60's culture and hates to see it misaligned. Those guys wouldn't be working for the man!! Whatever...
Nightwing #11 - Nightwing is still trying to find out who's framed him for murder and why. He's running into a lot of interference in this mission...a villain known as Paragon and his group (last issue they were called "Tomorrow" but now they are the Republic of Tomorrow! Fancy) are also connected to the murdered Strayhorn Brothers and out for Nightwing's head! Not only that, but Detective Nie, who MAY or MAY NOT be the one framing Nightwing, is certainly still in the fray, waiting patiently for his chance to bring our hero down! Can Dick figure out the real killer and sort through this mess? We'll have to wait and see.
Dick is also disappointed this month as his plan to revitalize Amusement Mile in Gotham City and help make the city a better, brighter place is all ready running into road blocks. Sonia Branch, daughter of his parents murderer, the late Tony Zucco, was planning to help him finance this plan in her role as president of the Gotham City bank. Sadly, funding has been denied. Not only this, but Dick sticks his foot in his mouth by blaming Sonia when it turns out it was the bank's board of directors that consider him too risky of an investment. Something about his circus bursting into flame and several hundred people being endangered a few weeks back. Disappointing but hard to argue with...
Well, Nightwing's got a lot on his plate, but he gets a little pep-talk from Damian "Robin" Wayne and he's not beat yet! In fact he may have just deduced the identity of the Strayhorn Brothers' REAL killer and be on track to unravel this whole mess! I guess we'll find out for sure...next month!
Wonder Woman #11 - Wonder Woman, her friend Zola, her half brother Lennox and of course the divine messenger Hermes walk into a doctor's office. That's not the beginning of a joke, it's just what happens in this issue! Zola's pregnant and eventually she HAD to see a doctor, right? Sadly, her appointment is interrupted as, even though they JUST escaped from HELL last issue, the rest of the Pantheon or whatever the Zeus family call themselves are still gunning for Diana and friends.
So yeah, Apollo and Artemis show up and throw down with Wonder Woman and friends, beating them soundly and yet leaving them alive for reasons as yet unrevealed. They kidnap Zola (knowing how WELL that worked out for uncle Hades in issues past) and are using her as barter with Hera for the dead Zeus' throne.
Of course there's a lot of divine politics going on here that neither I nor any of the mortals in the book quite understand as of yet...including a new player, Demeter (aka Harvest)...another Zeus offspring I guess and fertility goddess maybe? What part she'll play is still unknown. Guess we'll find out next month. I never expected this book to be such a mystery!
Red Hood and the Outlaws #11 - Last month the team was jaunted off into space, along with stowaway/Jason's date Isabel to Starfire's battle cruiser, in order to save Tamaran from invasion by a hostile alien force known as the Blight!
This month we start in media res with Arsenal captured by the blight and being tortured for information on Starfire...where she has gone and why she's bothered interfering with Tamaran once more in the first place! This leads to lots of back-story regarding the Princess' origin and the events leading up to Arsenal's capture in the first place...it also puts a lot of doubt on Starfire's loyalties and motivations. She might just be the BAD GUY! Let's just say that Starfire has a sister, Komand'r, and they don't quite get along...
On the plus side, Isabel is taking things quite well. She's pretty happy to be in space and confesses that until the alien kidnap, she was having the most boring date ever! Guess Jason's more interesting as the Red Hood than as an anonymous dry-cleaner....
Oh we also get another chapter in the life of Essence, the last daughter of the Untitled, and overall very cool character! She's still hunting down her "family" to take them out before they can do more harm. This issue she's in a life or death battle with her "uncle" that she's not too sure she can survive!
Supergirl #11 - You know, Supergirl's getting a lot better at using her BRAIN lately. This is the second month in a row where she couldn't just punch her way out of her troubles and had to actually THINK of a solution. This time it involves a dude wearing a pretty snazzy suit of nanotech armour who attacks poor Kara out of the blue! Oddly, he was able to find and target her specifically even though she was wearing human clothing. It's not revealed in this issue, but I suspect that the armoured soldier was sent by that dude with the space station from a few issues back. He keeps mentioning his "boss" at least. How he tracked her? A mystery, at least so far...
Well, the nanotechnology makes punching this (so far nameless) guy fairly frustrating, so Kara has to improvise a solution involving x-ray vision and heat vision. Personally I would have tried freezing breath, but I don't think she knows how to do that yet. She's still learning her powers and has another freak-out episode this issue when her super-senses overwhelm her common sense...teenage girls, right? What are ya gonna do...
Birds of Prey #11 - The Birds of Prey have been working with the help of Poison Ivy for months now. Of course, she's not quite sane, is she? Eventually, there were going to be consequences in associating with an obsessed meta-human eco-terrorist...
So Ivy's implanted her teammates with a virus which has given each of them 6 months to live. If any of them die within that time, the virus will be released into the general population, effectively ending human life on Earth. If they HELP Ivy in her war on the corporations that she believes are destroying the environment, they get the cure before they die. This isn't even such a terrible cause, except Ivy's means aren't exactly hero-friendly...Katana and Starling may get behind the occasional "necessary casualties" but Batgirl and Black Canary aren't quite that cavalier. None of them, discounting Poison Ivy herself, are generally party to cold-blooded murder. At least, they weren't in the past...
The ends may be noble, but can they justify the means? Seems there's little choice right at the moment.
So that's it for another stellar week of comics! Tune in next week when we'll discuss Batman The Dark Knight, The Flash, Superman and many more, all in stores TODAY!! Yes, that's right, due to my Internet connection being wonky as a three dollar bill, I'm a day late. I'm also a dollar short, but really, that's neither here nor there. Anyhow....
Need I remind you to also check out Stryder's Dementia? This week is my ode to, who else? BATMAN!!!
Have a great week! See you next time!
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