Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 8/24

Atomic Robo & The Temple of Od #1
Story: Brian Clevinger
Art: Scott Wegener & Anthony Clark

Atomic Robo is back! The pattern of Robo mini-series one set in the present and then one set in the past, and so this new series is a flashback to the late 1930s. Robo is tasked by the US military to go to Shanghai, which at this point was under Japanese control, and retrieve a Chinese scientist who has been taken by the Japanese and is developing a weapon using zero point energy, a source of power that is limitless and could destroy the world if used improperly. So, jet-setting adventurer Atomic Robo (that's his cover story, because really, how can you hide him) is off to Shanghai, and before the issue is over we have raids by Japanese soldiers, a motorcycle chase, Robo wising off at a dangerous time, and the return of a character from Robo's past. Now that we're into the eleventh volume of Atomic Robo, and that's not counting all the ancillary stories from Real Science Adventures, creators Brian Clevinger and Scott Wegener have built a large and elaborate universe, with so many different characters from different eras in Robo's long life that it makes sense that a character like Helen McAllister, Robo's first love from the early 30s, would show up again during his World War II era adventures. And as with any Atomic Robo series, it's fun to look for the Easter Eggs the creators have placed throughout, as these are two guys who love their pop culture. Robo's arrival in Shanghai holds more than its fair share of nods to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, with a shoeshine boy who resembles Indy's sidekick Short Round, and a nightspot called Anything Goes. The best thing about Atomic Robo for me, though, is that even though the settings are new and the plot is filled with twists and turns you can't expect, if you're a fan of Robo it's like coming home; Robo as a character has a very specific voice, and his stories do as well. And if you're a new reader, even if you've never touched the character before it has such a welcoming, pulp feel to it that you can't help but be drawn in.

Detective Comics #939
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, & Adriano Lucas

Tim Drake is my favorite Robin. I started reading Batman comics regularly right after Tim was introduced, and I grew up with him. And I have felt like the post-Flashpoint DC Universe has done the character a huge disservice, shuffling him off to the sidelines. That is until this current run on Detective Comics, which has brought Tim right back into the fold of the Bat universe. After escaping the Colony last issue, Batman, Batwoman, and their squad are trying to figure out what to do next. The issue starts out with some great character moments between Batman and Batwoman, as they discuss what Bruce may and may not have known about Batwoman's father's involvement with the Colony, and Tim coming to a decision about his future and discussing it with Spoiler. It would be easy, in the middle of an arc so packed with intrigue and action to forget about the characters and focus on the story, but Tynion takes time to give us a look inside the inner lives of the characters. But the action picks up as the team learns the Colony is sending armed drones to wipe out every possible member of the League of Shadows, the urban legend ultra secret offshoot of the League of Assassins, and damned be the collateral damage. And as ever, we see that Batman, and by proxy his allies, honor life above everything else, as they jump into action to try to save the innocent. In these scenes, we actually get one of the smaller, but one of the best, character moments in the issue, where Clayface has to scare a group of people out of their apartment to get them to safety, and he feels sad that his best way to act is still as a monster. Clayface has gotten the least page time of any of the characters in the series so far, but this little beat sets up his character arc, and possible hero's quest, better than any long speech could.And in Orphan's scene, we get a hint of something to come, something that might mean Colonel Kane isn't quite as off center about the League of Shadows as Batman believes. But I started this review talking about Time Drake, Red Robin, and I'm going back there for the end.Tim spends this issue showing first his tech chops, an aspect of the character that has always been present but has been played up a lot in the new continuity. I especially like that fact that Tynion is playing with the idea of what a guy in his late teens would do with an unlimited budget and a penchant for crime fighting. But more than that, the issue ends on an amazing cliffhanger, with Tim using his brain to put himself in a position where he'll have to use all his other skills next issue to survive. I don't want to give anything away, but it's an amazing ending, and one that sums up Tim Drake perfectly; he's a good kid with a big heart, who is willing to put himself in harm's way to protect others. I've said this with each review of this new run on Detective Comics, and I'll say it again: this book gets better with every issue, and if you're a Batman fan, you should absolutely be reading it.

Kingsway West #1
Story: Greg Pak
Art: Mirko Colak & Wil Quintana

I love alternate history mixed with science fiction or fantasy. And I love the comics of Greg Pak. So when you combine them, you get a comic I'm pretty much guaranteed to like. Kingsway West takes place in an alternate old west, one where the discovery of Red Gold, an ore that channels mystical energy, led to war between two factions in California: the Chinese Queen of the Golden City and the Mexican Republica de los Californios. But this isn't a story of that war. Taking place in its aftermath, we meet Kingsway Law, a renegade gunslinger and soldier from the Chinese side of the war. The story starts with him meeting Sonia, a Mexican woman who is also fleeing her life from the war. And it's not unexpected that when the comic flashes forward five years, they're married. It's a classic Western set-up, the gunslinger trying to escape his past with the love of a good woman. And Kingsway seems genuinely like he wants to be a better man. But when a woman from the Golden Empire arrives looking for Kingsway, with word of whole new vein of Red Gold, he hopes he can just avoid her, but things don't work out like that, and soon Kingsway has had to take up his guns again to save the woman from the Golden City Guard and to find Sonia, who has disappeared. This first issue does a solid job of establishing the world that Pak is creating, the personalities of his leads, and the driving force of the plot. But I will say alternate history comics are only as good as the artist who is crafting the vision of this different world, and fortunately Pak is working with one who has some serious chops. I was unfamiliar with Mirko Colak before this issue, so I came in with no preconceptions, but the art is absolutely stellar. The characters are all solid and distinct, and the animals that populate the world, these hybrids of real animals, as well as fantastic creatures like dragons, have great designs. And the fight scenes are very well choreographed, not just easy to follow, and exciting;  but brutal in a way that does not glorify the violence in the least, which works perfectly in the tale of a man who was trying to escape his violent past and is now being pulled back into it. If you enjoy classic Westerns like Unforgiven, or the strange sci-fi Western world of Jonathan Hickman and Nick Dragotta's East of West, you should really try out Kingsway West.

Wonder Woman #5
Story: Greg Rucka 
Art: Liam Sharp & Laura Martin

Greg Rucka has a lot going on in Wonder Woman. Not only are there two A plots, stuff set in the present in the odd numbered issues and a Year One story in the even numbered ones, but the plot in the stories set in the present, like this week's issue, are packed with all sorts of threads and characters, making it a dense and rewarding read. There are three interconnected plots running through this issue, one featuring Wonder Woman, one featuring Steve Trevor, and one featuring Etta Candy and a surprise guest star who I'll talk about at the end. Wonder Woman and Cheetah continue their quest to free Cheetah from Urzkartaga, the god that granted her the powers of the cheetah, and who now seeks her death for betraying him. Cheetah's origins have always tied her to Wonder Woman as a former friend who went to the dark side, but as a reader, I've always known the two as nemeses only. Here, seeing the two of them having to work together, it deepens the relationship, gives us insight into their shared history, and makes the aspect of that history as former friends matter more. The deepening mystery of Wonder Woman's own history and the changes that have occurred in it, and what has happened to Olympus and Themyscira, remains front and center for Diana, and the slow trickle of clues and revelations keeps the reader guessing. Meanwhile, Steve Trevor has been captured by a warlord named Cadulo who happens to be a worshipper of Urzkartaga, and who is preparing sacrifices to the god to grant him power. Steve and Cadulo are cast as polar opposites, not just because one is the heroic type and the other villainous, but because they have very different definitions of masculinity. Rucka has never shied away from discussing his own views on society in his work, and with so many recent examples in fandom of toxic masculinity, it's not surprising for Rucka to call it out, going so far as to have Trevor actually use those words. Cadulo is the kind of guy who expects women to worship him, and Trevor is, to say the least, not. Trevor banters, even when captured, and I like how Rucka is giving this character more of a personality than he's been given in the last two decades. Finally, the third plotline sees Etta Candy, Wonder Woman and Trevor's friend and Trevor's current boss, going to seek advice in what to do with the captured Trevor, and the person she goes to? Sasha Bordeaux! If you don't know her, Sasha was a character created by Rucka during his run on Detective Comics, where she served first as Bruce Wayne's Wayne Enterprises assigned bodyguard and later one of Batman's partners, and became Black Queen of Checkmate when Rucka wrote the DC Universe spy title. And while Sasha seems helpful, there's far more to what's going on than meets the Eye (and yes, that capitalization is intentional if you know Sasha's history). I'm really excited to see Sasha back, and no one writes her like her creator. I also want to call out Liam Sharp's astounding art on this issue; he's an artist I always picture drawing monsters and horror comics, and that skill plays out well in Cadulo's den, but he also draws a beautiful Wonder Woman and a sleek Cheetah. This is Greg Rucka at his superhero best, and I haven't been this excited by Wonder Woman in a long time.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 6/8

Birthright #16
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

The fourth arc of Birthright begins an arc that looks like it's going to provide answers to many of the series long burning questions. Birthright is usually a strong mix of action and character, but this issue mostly takes a step back from the action and gives us a very strong dose of character. We don't get much more of the most awkward dinner ever between the sorcerer Mastema and the mother of our protagonists, Wendy, and Mikey's ex/friend.babymama, Rya, before two of the remaining other mages, Kylen and Enoch show up to discuss what to do about finding Mikey and the betrayal of their fellow, Samael. But after only a few pages of this, we're back with Mikey, his brother Brennan, his dad Aaron, and Samael, revealed to be the boy's grandfather, Aaron's father. If we got the impression from the end of the previous issue that Aaron has some issues with his dad, And now we can see how, as hard as it would be for anyone to be accused of the murder of their son, and to have their son disappear, how much this plays right into the issues Aaron has as the son of a father who abandoned him. And how furious he is that his father, who knew about the magical land of Terrenos, never came to him and his family in their hour of need, when Mikey was gone. And Samael may have good reasons, but his evasion and his simply saying that he has good reasons without explaining anything? That doesn't make him sound like the most trustworthy of guys. We also get more explanation of Brennan's burgeoning mystical abilities, and his use of them sets off what looks to be the series next major fight scene. A series with so many mysteries needs to start paying them off eventually, and as Williamson has proven in his other creator owned series, he knows when the time is ripe for some answers. Ad as good as the story is, and it's very good, the art on this issue is Andrei Bressan's best. Not only do we have great character moments in the faces of both Samael and Aaron, but Bressan gets to draw Samael's lair, a treasure trove of mystical artifacts. This is always something an artist can have fun with, but this particular treasure trove is littered with props from many classic fantasy movies. In a once over I saw all sorts of stop motion creatures from Harryhausen movies, the skull of the pirate from Goonies, Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, the crocodile from Hook, and the Wicker Man from, well, The Wicker Man. I'm a big fan of Easter Eggs, and the two page spread that introduces Samael's treasure room is just packed with them. Birthright is an exciting, character-driven modern fantasy story, and one for fans of the stories that explore the thin line between fantasy and reality. The first three arcs are out in trade, so it would be easy for you to catch up and start grabbing the single issues as things really start speeding forward.

Detective Comics #934
Story: James Tynion IV
Art: Eddy Barrows, Eber Ferreira, & Adriano Lucas

"DC:Rebirth" keeps moving forward, and you'll be seeing a lot of it this week. We're starting it with the new issue of Detective Comics, which returns to its original numbering. Detective has been the most inconsistent of the Batman titles since the Flashpoint changeover, a book that has ranged from some excellent arcs to some of the worst Batman comics I've read. The new dawn of the series takes aspects from various places, including Batman & Robin Eternal and the late Batwoman series, and starts creating a new Batman team title. There's a lot of mystery built into this first issue, as someone is impersonating Batman and using scientifically advanced drones to chase down other Gotham vigilantes. With this going on, Batman recruits Batwoman, who has a military background, to serve as team leader and drill sergeant for a team of young vigilantes, specifically Red Robin, Spoiler, Orphan (Cassandra Cain's new identity, and one reforming villain, Clayface, who Batwoman worked with at the end of her own series. I probably have every appearance of Batwoman, and while she has shared page time with Batman before, this issue felt like the most substantive meeting between the two. In the past, Batman has mostly given her his usual routine when a vigilante is in Gotham he hasn't trained, the, "This is my city," shtick. But here, he's reaching out to her for help, and it's the more stable Batman on the end of Scott Snyder's run we're seeing here, someone who is willing to work with people and not be the paranoid figure he has often been portrayed as in the past fifteen years or so. To really show that, he unmasks in front of Kate Kane, and we get to see her react on the best possible way, "I've been waiting for you to admit it for the last year and a half." And the utterly shocked look on Bruce's face is priceless; it's rare to see Batman surprised, and it's a nice change, We get little bits of each of the characters on the team, probably the least with Red Robin, which I'm a bit sad about as I've been waiting for Tim Drake to have a regular spot in a Bat book since the post-Flashpoint universe began, but he's got time. I like the feeling we get for Orphan, who is still haunted by the events of Batman & Robin Eternal, Spoiler, who plays up her name a lot more than it was played up in her pre-Flashpoint years as someone who spoils the plans of villains, and the scene where Batman and Batwoman find Clayface actually does a good job of making Clayface a more sympathetic figure, much more akin to his Batman: The Animated Series portrayal then the mustache twirling Basil Karlo of the comics. And we see Kate Kane still dealing with the fallout of her disagreements with her father and I assume her final break-up with Maggie Sawyer, who appeared back in Metropolis in the week's Action Comics. I hope we get to see a lot of the dangling threads from Batwoman's series played out here as the series progresses. This was an excellent debut issue, a great way to introduce new readers to these characters, and a really enjoyable issue for old time Bat fans looking to see the next generation of the Batman family back together.

Flash: Rebirth #1
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Carmine Di Giandomenico & Ivan Plascencia

Flash: Rebirth actually combines aspects from both of the above reviews: It's part of "DC: Rebirth" and is written by Joshua Williamson. So much of this issue is new series writer Joshua Williamson giving readers his view if Barry Allen. Barry is having a hard time of things here: he's been assigned to a murder case that oddly resembles his mother's, and he's having visions. If you read DC Universe: Rebirth, you know those visions are connected to Wally West trying to make his way back into the world, and we get to see the sequence from that one shot from Barry's point of view, and it still warms my heart. Barry is such a warm, friendly guy, and seeing him with his protege and surrogate son just brings out the best in him. And I am such a huge fan of  this Wally West, I'm just glad to see him back. The sadness that he is experiencing, knowing that most of the people he knows and loves, and the confusion that his Aunt Iris and Uncle Barry are "just friends" in this reality, is palpable. And if I wasn't pleased enough that I see Barry interacting with Wally, I get to see Barry interact with my favorite character of all time as well, Batman. I like that Williamson doesn't have Barry and Bruce interact as detectives, since that's not what Barry really is, but as scientists, which is how Barry thinks of himself. This issue is the first to really build on the reveals of the DCU: Rebirth one-shot, and begins Batman and Flash's investigation into what changed the universe and what's happened to them, analyzing the Comedian's button that Batman found in the cave. We don't get any answers, but a lot is set up for the future of the series. The wrap up of the case Barry was investigating has some very different hints, hints of Professor Zoom being back in the picture. I'm personally left to wonder if the Zoom who is imprisoned in Iron Heights, the New 52 Zoom, is still there and the yellow blur we see is the pre-52 Zoom, somehow having survived his apparent death in Flashpoint, and is now an agent of Dr. Manhattan, or simply is back to his old tricks of screwing with Barry. The art from Carmine Di Giandomenico is absolutely gorgeous, and really captures the feel of speed, and the colors by Plascencia add to it, making for a visually striking comic. With this issue, we have an excellent starting issue that gives readers a good idea of who Barry Allen is and what his world is like, who his supporting cast is, and a taste of what's to come.

Wonder Woman: Rebirth #1
Story: Greg Rucka
Art: Matthew Clark, Sean Parsons, and Jeremy Caldwell & Liam Sharp and Laura Martin

This first issue of Wonder Woman in the Rebirth era is about truth and contradictions. Greg Rucka start his new run on this series by examining the contradictions between Wonder Woman's pre-Flashpoint origin and her post-Flashpoint one, between how the world looks at her and how the world looks at other heroes. As with most of the Rebirth one-shots, this issue feels like a statement on where the character is and how the creators perceive them, so it is also lighter on the action, but is filled with a thoughtful examination of Wonder Woman as a character. Greg Rucka's previous run on the character leading up to Infinite Crisis is my favorite Wonder Woman run, so I'm thrilled to see him back, and I love how he embraces all the history of the character, how he doesn't ignore the New 52 incarnation of the character, but uses the contradictions and the current status quo to spotlight Diana's strength as a champion of truth. I love the change from the New 52 costume to the more armored version of Diana's traditional garb, and Liam Sharp's Diana is both beautiful and fierce, a force to be reckoned with, and if the big fight scene at the end of the issue between Diana and constructs in the design of Greek mythological creatures is any indication, we're in for a visual feast as Sharp gets more creatures to draw. Rucka builds a mystery at the heart of his new take on the series, questions of Olympus and what Diana has been a part of, and the hinted at brother from the end of Geoff Johns's Justice League. Rucka more than any other writer is facing down the changes made in the New 52 head on in this stellar one-shot.

Recommended Reading for 2/5: Super Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice

The concept of younger versions of adult characters meeting and having adventures isn't anything new. I remember Muppet Babies when I was a kid, and to this day, once of my favorite movies of all time is Barry Levinson's vastly underrated Young Sherlock Holmes. I've written about Skottie Young's charming Little Marvels, Art and Franco's Tiny Titans and Itty Bitty Hellboy,and Yale Stewart's JL8. A couple of weeks back, a new entry into this genre was released, from creators familiar to The Matt Signal, I hope: creators of Li'l Gotham, Derek Fridolfs and Dustin Nguyen released Secret Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice through Scholastic Books.

Study Hall of Justice isn't just Li'l Gotham in a new form; there are two very distinct differences. Firstly, the characters in Li'l Gotham were the regular adult versions of the characters, just drawn in Dustin Nguyen's most cartoony style. More importantly, the format is completely different. While there are comic pages, this book falls into the same journal mixed with comics style similar to the popular Diary of a Wimpy Kid, My Dumb Diaries, and Jeffrey Brown's Jedi Academy books. Told from Bruce Wayne's perspective, the book is the story of Bruce at his new school, Ducard Academy , which is filled with familiar faces, both heroic and villainous (although mostly villainous).

If the cover didn't completely give it away, while Bruce Wayne might be our narrator and lead, his friends are also recognizable stars of the DC trinity, Clark Kent and Diana Prince. Each of out leads are recognizable as who they will become, but are clearly still finding out who they are. Bruce is the detective, investigating and curious, and takes himself a bit too seriously. Clark is as earnest as you'd expect from a young Superman, but doesn't entirely have the mastery of his powers or of not occasionally mentioning he might be an alien. Diana is still finding the balance between the Amazon teachings of peace and war, and has a bit of a temper. Much of the book is the three of them, all kids who are different and don't have many friends, learning not only about the mysteries of Ducard Academy, but also about friendship.

The other students in the school are not quite as concerned with friendship and doing right as our three leads. One of the joys as a longtime fan of DC Comics in reading this book is seeing all the characters Nguyen crams into his illustrations. Some villains have prominent rolls, like Lex Luthor (class president), Circe, Poison Ivy, and Mister Freeze (the staff of the school paper), Bane (the school bully), Talia, Catwoman, and a gang of clowns led by Joker and Harley. But pretty much every student is a recognizable villain, and it's fun to play the game of, "I know that character!" The teaching staff, by the way, is of as dubious character as many of the students, including history teacher Vandal Savage, Mr. Jervis Tetch teaching English (just one book, Alice in Wonderland), a Brainiac robot as the librarian, and teaching Boy's Gym is Coach Zod.

The plot that drives the book and makes it more than just a cute bunch of in jokes for nerds like me and lessons about getting along is the mystery of what exactly is going on at Ducard Academy. Bruce is immediately suspicious when he sees ninjas hiding around the school, and the fact that bullying, cheating, and generally bad behavior seems encouraged, as well as the fact that the teachers aren't really teaching much, has his detective senses on high alert. Once he meets and becomes friends with Clark and Diana, they begin trying to find out the secret of the school, as well as its mysterious, never seen principal. If you've seen Batman Begins the school's name is a pretty good hint as to who is behind this whole school for villains.

The investigations leads the "Criminal Investigations Unit," as Bruce calls them (and don't call the Junior Detectives! That's for kids), to try to join sports teams, run for student office, write for the school paper, all to no avail. There's a lot of comedy in these attempts, and in the interactions between our leads. Bruce's too serious attitude alienates his friends at time, and  the ever optimistic Clark doesn't understand Bruce's brooding or Diana's anger. These are really well defined versions of the characters, even if they're different from the ones I read about each month, and I like how Fridolfs and Nguyen handle them. They're relatable to kids in a way that the grown up versions aren't, but the book never talks down to the younger readers who are the target audience.

As is the custom with this format, the book also has "artifact" pages, almost like scrapbook items, as part of it. Report cards, student evaluations, and pages from the school paper give readers a better idea of what's going on around school. Aside from the text of Bruce's journal and the comic pages, we also see "screen grabs" from various on-line chats between Bruce, Diana, and Clark. These pages can also be packed with Easter Eggs. The report Bruce gets from an outside, grownup detective about some of the clues at the school comes from Vic Sage, P.I., and a page that shows Bruce's locker has photos of Sherlock Holmes, Zorro, and the Grey Ghost, as well as a copy of Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs, and a can of shark repellent.

The art throughout is top notch, something I'd expect from an artist like Dustin Nguyen. His character designs are stellar, not drawing little adults but kids, aging the characters down but making them still recognizable. The highlight of the art are a few two-page spreads that really let Nguyen show off. The Halloween spread shows many of the kids in costumes that they will wear again as grown-ups, the Valentines Day spread is full of Easter Eggs as we see Valentines from various girls to Bruce, all of which have hints of what their identities will be as adults villains and heroes. and the Christmas spread shows the home lives of our three leads.

I've always enjoyed all ages comics and YA books, and like championing them to as wide an audience as I can. Super Hero Society is a perfect book to share with the kids in your life, or to read on your own: it's charming, well structured, well illustrated, and a blast to read. Every fan of DC Comics should give it a shot, and if you aren't? Read it anyway. You might become one.

Super Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice is available at comic shops and book stores now.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 12/17

Batman #37
Story: Scott Snyder/James Tynion IV
Art: Greg Capullo/John McCrea

Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Joker story, "Endgame," takes a decidedly creepy turn this issue. Not to say that the work these creators have done with Batman's greatest foe has been pure comedy at any point, but this issue was that ratcheted up the tension and added a very horror movie feel to this clash. The opening splash page, of a frozen Bruce Wayne staring out of the page at the reader begins the issue with a sense of distinct unease. Once Bruce comes out of the paralysis from Joker's drug, we begin to see just how dire the situation is, with a new strain of aerosolized Joker toxin turning Gotham into a city of madness. And none of Batman's old cures are working. Batman has over one hundred cures devised for Joker toxin. If you think about the New 52 timeline, that's over ten cures a year, meaning either Joker gets out of Arkham even more than you'd think, or Batman spends a lot of time coming up with possible cures; maybe Joker isn't the only one a little obsessed with his rival. With no cure, Batman must head to Gotham Presbyterian Hospital to find the first infected person. The journey is the issue's action peace, as Batman fights his way through a hospital filled with people corrupted by Joker. And when he finds patient zero, well, if there was any doubt about whether Joker knows Batman's secret identity, it's gone now. Snyder brings Duke Thomas, the kid who has been popping up in his run (and was Robin in the possible future from Batman & Robin: Futures End) , as Joker gives Batman a chance to relive his worst memory. And while that's great material, the scenes with Jim Gordon make this issue into one of Snyder's best. As Gordon researches Gotham Presbyterian to try to figure out why Joker started his assault there, Gordon finds photos from over the past century. Photos that all have the Joker in them. And then Gordon hears a sound in his apartment. The following scenes, with Gordon and Joker in the apartment, are straight up horror movie scenes, and Capullo's Joker is so much creepier with a face than without. The pale skin and the black suit make him seems like an undertaker, a clown, and death itself mixed together. The issue cliffhanger sent a shiver up my spine. The back up ties into the Joker's seeming claim of immortality, or a connection to the dark heart of Gotham, with John McCrea adding his manic style to a tale of madness and clowns. And even if it's set a hundred years ago, you know clowns and Gotham don't mix. Batman #37 shows everything that Snyder and Capullo have been doing right for three years now, and moves "Endgame" on to an historic confrontation between comics' greatest rivals,

Lumberjanes #9
Story: Noelle Stevenson & Shannon Walters
Art: Brittney Williams & many more

I love scary stories, and I love telling them. I think I said in a previous review of an issue of Lumberjanes that I never went to camp, so I never told them around a campfire, but I've been at a Halloween party or two where people have shared a tale of the supernatural or two. This issue, the cast of Lumberjanes each get to tell a story around the campfire, each drawn by a different artist. "Tailypo" is a classic campfire tale, one I remember reading in one of the Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark volumes in my younger days; Felicity Choo does an admirable job of making the long tailed monster scary. The Aimee Fleck drawn, "Wrong Number" is a variation on another classic theme of the campfire tale, but since it's told by Jen, Roanoke Cabin's councilor, it has an ending that is a little less harrowing than it's usually presented as. "Bad Candy," drawn by Becca Tobino, is a whirling, trippy vision, perfectly in tune with the personality of the energetic Ripley, and the message at the end of the story reinforces to themes of friendship that underlies all of Lumberjanes. I'm a fan of Faith Erin Hicks, so her tale, "Ghost Girl," told by Jo, is the one that struck me the most visually. Mal's story, "Lonely Road," is one I'm not familiar as a campfire story, although it starts out like one we all know, and winds up with a twist that is a much more real life terror; Mal is a planner, someone who thinks things out, and I like that her tale of terror remains grounded in something that can be combated (for which she gets a bit of teasing from Molly). "Old Betty," with art by T. Zysk, is gorgeously drawn and atmospheric, giving off something of an EC Comics vibe. All of this is framed by art from Brittney Williams. Each of these stories is no more than a few pages, but no story seems rushed. It's a great one off that will give a new reader a great jumping on point for one of the best all ages comics on the racks now.

Multiversity: Thunderworld
Story: Grant Morrison
Art: Cameron Stewart

Wow. After what was the most complicated and intricate issue of Multiversity in "Pax Anericana" we get this gem. Not to say "Pax" was bad, far from it, but this issue is so brimming with the joy of Captain Marvel and everything that he embodies. The basic premise is that Dr. Sivana has gotten in touch with Sivana's from across the multiverse to gather suspendium, the mineral that he discovered that can effect time, to steal enough time to make a new day, Sivanaday, where he can triumph. It's a big, crazy plot, one perfect to a world of Golden Age simplicity and joy. He also has built an artificial Rock of Eternity so he can use science to create and empower his own Sivana Family. Pretty soon, the Sivana's are fighting the Marvels, and not just Captain, Mary, and Junior, but appearance from the likes of Uncle Marvel and Fat Marvel, the Monster Society of Evil appears, and in the end, Captain marvel must fight Black Sivana, a Sivana/Black Adam mash-up, to save himself and the Multiverse. In the end, good triumphs conclusively over evil for the first time in Multiversity, the wonder of magic triumphs over analytic science, and Sivana is bested as much by his own duplicity as it is by Captain Marvel. But as fun as the story is, the scene is completely stolen this issue by artist Cameron Stewart. I've rarely seen the Marvel's world look so wholesome and gorgeous; the only other story that comes to mind is Jeff Smith's Shazam!: The Monster Society of Evil! That kind of wonder filled, childlike art was perfect for a story that at its heart is about joy and simplicity defeating cold, calculating analysis. Special call outs to the page with the first appearance of the technological Rock of Eternity, the first appearance of Captain Marvel, the splash page of the Monster Society of Evil (including 52 era butterfly Mr. Mind), the designs on all the multiversal Sivanas, especially snake Sivana and Hannibal Lector mask wearing Sivana, and the beautiful, sunshine filled last page. I feel like each issue of Multiversity has worn its influence in its sleeve, and maybe it says something about me as a reader that this is my favorite so far, a simple tale of good versus evil.

Sandman: Overture #4
Story: Neil Gaiman
Art: J.H. Williams III

Every issue of Sandman: Overture is a masterpiece. I guess you'd hope that, since it's at least four months between issues, but if that's what it takes to get a comic of this quality, I'll take it. This issue slides between Dream having a conversation with his father, the embodiment of time, and entering the city of stars to confront the being who is about to bring about the end of everything. It's nice to see that Dream's relationship with his father is no better than his relationship with any other member of his family. This issue explains exactly why the sequence with Daniel from issue two had to happen when it did, and Gaiman does a very good job of making what could be awkward timey-wimey stuff make perfect sense. Williams's shifting page and panels structure as Dream wanders, speaking to his father, and his father's shifting age, makes it clear that time to eternal beings is something that mortals cannot comprehend. The star city bits feature call backs to the Dream story from Sandman: Endless Nights, as Dream talks to the anthropomorphized stars, and once again meets Sto-Oa, the star who took the heart of Dream's first beloved. More interesting is Dream confronting the mad star, and learning exactly how that star relates to Dream. The flashback in this issue, the story of Dream and that star, is one of, if not the, earliest story of the Endless that we have seen; the personalities of Dream and Death in it are a clear indication of that. We have seen stories of Death early in her, for want of a better word, life, and the Death here is the cold, matter of fact being there, not the Death who has come to understand the value of life. But we have rarely if ever seen Dream so... soft-hearted. Dream has always been the character who has no problem taking a life to defend his realm, no compassion when he responsibility is invoked. And maybe now we know why. We see more of the little girl Dream picked up last issue, and her name, Hope, invokes the classic duel from Sandman #4, "Hope in Hell," so I wonder how integral she will be to this final battle, for good or ill (ill, probably, if the Wyrd Sisters are to believed in issue three, but they see things differently than most). The art is stunning, too stunning for someone with my limited vocabulary when it comes to art to even define, but this is Williams at the height of his powers. Sandman: Overture is a comic that, when I open the book, I hold my breath, and it stays held until the very last moment, it is such an immersive experience; maybe once every quarter is all I can take, but I'm waiting for that next one with that same held breath.

Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman #5
Story: Corinna Bechko & Gabriel Hardman
Art: Gabriel Hardman

I wasn't sure how much Wonder Woman I'd be reading after the Azzarello/Chiang run ended. And while I'm not sold on the direction of the ongoing, Sensation Comics, the anthology series in the style of Legends of the Dark Knight and Adventures of Superman has given me my monthly dose of Diana. This issue is a full issue story from Star Wars: Legacy Vol.2 creative team Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, with pre-Flashpoint Diana infiltrating Apokolips to save two of her Amazon sisters who had been sent to spy on Darkseid. I think it was George Perez who conceived of the antagonism between Themyscira and Apokolips, and I have always thought the two mythic realms make great foils. Diana fights the Female Furies, Darkseid's elite squad of women warriors, and faces down the despot of Apokolips himself. She finds out exactly what the Amazons on Apokolips are up to, and in the end she does the right thing, saving the planet despite all the evil it contains because she knows that not every life on the dread world is evil. And she inspires. She inspires the people of Apokolips with her strength and compassion. The issue's final line is a perfect ending to an issue where we see Diana at her most inspirational. I like that aspect of Wonder Woman a lot, one that was used in my favorite run on the character, Greg Rucka's, that Diana is a person whose mere presence and attitude makes people want to be better. Bechko and Hardman get that, and that makes for a great Wonder Woman story. I really enjoyed Hardman's take on Apokolips; he's an artist with a gritty style, and that perfectly suits the world of evil, it's master, and his servants. This is a good done in one story for anyone who has missed traditional Wonder Woman stories in recent years, and well worth picking up.

Terrible Lizard #2
Story: Cullen Bunn
Art: Drew Moss

A girl and her dinosaur fight a giant ape. Do I really need to say much more than that? Ok, here's a bit more. Jess, the daughter of a leading scientist, and Wrex, the temporally displaced T-Rex she bonded with in the previous issue spend much of this issue throwing down with a giant ape who has a crab arm. It's a gorgeously drawn battle from Drew Moss, full of all the action you'd expect from that simple, yet awesome, set up. But after the fight, the issue finds its heart. Jess and Wrex spend the day after the fight doing everything you'd do with a favorite pet, just to a scale where your pet is gigantic, another brilliant series of pages by Moss. But there are storm clouds on the horizon, as the mystery of how the ape was pulled into the present, the army's distrust of Wrex, and Jess's father's experiments all hang overhead. Cullen Bunn does a good job establishing Jess and Wrex's bond. For a writer whose work I think of as action and horror, he's doing a bang up job crafting an all ages book.



And, from the desk of Dan Grote...

Ms. Marvel #10

Story: G. Willow Wilson

Art: Adrian Alphona and Ian Herring

During the past year, Kamala Khan has experienced a lot of firsts: Getting powers, finding out she has them, using them, using them for good, wearing a costume, fighting an archenemy, teaming up with Wolverine and getting a pet.

(Yes, Lockjaw is not technically a dog, but I still want to scratch him behind his giant ears and kiss his wrinkly forehead.)

In issue 10, Kamala gives her first superheroic speech, inspiring a group of teens to rise up against their captor, a cockatiel/scientist named the Inventor, who has been harvesting their bodies as a form of alternative energy to, among other things, power his giant robots.

Let that last sentence sink in a minute. Drink in every ounce of its Silver Age flavor. Mmm, satisfying.

Kamala’s speech is meant to motivate not just the captive teens but millennials in general, countering stereotypes of a generation of shiftless smartphone junkies. The teens initially don’t want to be rescued because the Inventor has convinced them they are worth more as energy than as human beings.

There’s also a concern about overpopulation that was also stated in another Marvel book I bought last week, but I’m not sure if that’s coincidence or part of some editorial fiat.

Anyway, like any good villain, the Inventor teaches Kamala that heroics often endanger those close to the heroes, and so he kidnaps Lockjaw.

The last page ends with the words “To be concluded,” meaning this crockpot meal of a first arc is finally about to ding. I've very much enjoyed how Wilson and Alphona have taken their time developing Kamala this past year, but I’m also ready to see how Ms. Marvel’s second act plays out.

All the News That Excited Me From San Diego Comic Con

So, like all comic fans, I spent this weekend waiting on bated breath for announcements from Geek Mardi Gras, better known as San Diego Comic Con. And, like most comic fans, I wasn't able to attend. So I relied on sources from around the internet to give me all sorts of cool announcements. And if you aren't one of those people who kept refreshing their browser all weekend, well, here are a handful of announcements that got me excited.

-Ok, I'm going to get one of the biggest reveals out of the way first. The first official image of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman from Superman v. Batman: Dawn of Justice. At first blush, I wasn't sure if I was impressed. The muted color palette isn't something I'm a big fan of, and is something that I wasn't in love with when it came to Superman's costume in Man of Steel. But since the whole image seems muted and sepia toned, I moved past that and looked at the costume and the image itself, and she looks wonderful (pun intended). She's regal and tough, but not masculine, which is exactly how I picture Wonder Woman. I can't say anything beyond that about the movie, but at this point, my excitement is increasing for DC's big universe builder.

- And while on the subject of DC on film, the announcement that Ra's al Ghul will be the big bad for season three of Arrow is big news for me. Ra's is a villain with a lot of possibility for interpretation, and the producers of Arrow have said they don't want to compete with the vision from Batman Begins, so they're going at him from another angle. Arrow has been consistently enjoyable since the beginning of the series, and has been slowly building a mythology, with the League of Assassins a large part of that. That slow build will hopefully pay off with Ra's making an appearance. Oh, and Brandon Routh appearing as Ray Palmer, better known as the Atom, is exciting too. From appearances in other genre shows like Chuck, it's clear Routh is a stronger actor than Superman Returns showed, and I think he'll be a great addition to the world of Arrow.

- Marvel has been making a lot of announcements the past few weeks that, in a bygone era, would have been Comic Con announcements, things like the new female Thor and Falcon becoming Captain America. And while the announcement of a new series that brings the characters from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. into the Marvel Universe isn't on par, PR-wise, with that one, the series being written by modern comics legend Mark Waid, whose Daredevil is still in my top three current Marvel titles, and drawn by a big name artist doing series of done-in-one-issue storieis pretty darn exciting. I think I've made it clear in the past how much I like one off stories, both as a fan and as someone who likes being able to hand any issue of a series to a customer and say, "Here, try this," so if this has the same feel as Warren Ellis's similarly formatted short run on Secret Avengers, than I'm in for it.

- Now, onto another Marvel announcement that I've been mulling over since it came out. As a Star Wars fan, I've been waiting to see what Marvel is going to do now that they have the comics license. And with the announcement of three Star Wars series, it's pretty sweet; Jason Aaron and John Cassaday on Star Wars (set in between episodes 4 & 5), a Darth Vader series from Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, and a Princess Leia mini-series from Mark Waid and Terry Dodson. While I'm a little disappointed and not surprised that all these books are clustered around the classic trilogy (disappointed because there's a ton of other times to play with that won't impinge on the new trilogy, not surprised because this is the most profitable era for Star Wars publishing), I can't argue with the creators. I've already talked about Mark Waid, and Jason Aaron is a writer I've written about plenty. It's the Vader series that has me most curious. Larroca drew some great space stories during his tenure on the X-Men books, and drew plenty of high tech and armor during his time on Invincible Iron Man, so I think he's a good fit. But it's Kieron Gillen that has me very excited. A writer who does great character work as well as high concept sci-fi (see his short lived S.W.O.R.D. series), he was one of Marvels' stable of writers I thought would best fit Star Wars, so I'm pleased to see that he's getting a spot right out of the gate.

- On a note that is tangentially comic related, the Star Wars book panel announced a novel based on an unproduced Star Wars: The Clone Wars script featuring two characters who had a very heavy presence in Star Wars comics. Asajj Ventress was created for the initial Clone Wars short cartoons and was defined during Dark Horse's Clone Wars comics. Quinaln Vos was created by John Ostrander for his run on the prequel set comics, and is my favorite EU comics character (and second favorite EU character of all, right behind Grand Admiral Thrawn). These are two characters of mixed morality who are haunted by their past. They're an interesting pairing that has minimal interactions in their past (and none in the new official canon). I'm happy that these two great characters aren't being forgotten with the focus on the new future.


- DC didn't make many announcements this year, instead focusing on creators expounding on the upcoming work we've already heard about. There was one really cool bit of art shown, the map of the Multiverse devised by Grant Morrison for his Multiversity series (track it down somewhere where you can get better resolution than I can provide). And after I recently talked about Batman '66, I would have had to mention the digital publication of an adaptation of a lost episode, even if it wasn't written by legend in the annals of the bookstore, the comic shop, the Hollywood studio, and the courtroom, Harlan Ellison, and feature the first '66 appearance of my second favorite (pun not intended this time, but willingly accepted) Bat villain, Two-Face.

-Finally,  Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics announced twelve new series each, and there are some from both companies that I'm looking forward to, but two really jumped out at me. As a big fan of the B.P.R.D. and the whole Hellboy universe, it's cool to see the creators that Mike Mignola has brought to work on those books do other work, and two of these series feature that talent. John Arcudi, regular co-writer on B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth, and James Harren, who has worked on his share of arcs on that title, give us Rumble from Image, featuring a scarecrow barbarian. And Tyler Crook, previous regular artist on B.P.R.D. and who drew the excellent Bad Blood mini-series from Dark Horse earlier this year, returns to that publisher, this time teaming with Sixth Gun and Helheim writer Cullen Bunn for Harrow County, a spooky tale of a girl with strange powers in a haunted wood and a town that seems to want her dead. I like Bunn's superhero work for Marvel, but when he's doing his creator owned horror books he dazzles, and Crook is the perfect artist for something like this.

And as one final, non-Comic Con related note, friend of the blog Michael Calia, one of the guys at the Shut Up Kids podcast (celebrating fifty episodes this week), who writes for the Wall Street Journal, wrote a piece for their Speakeasy blog about what to do if you're a first time shopper in a comic shop, and yours truly is quoted, so go check that out too!

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 4/16

Batman #30
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo

The final arc of Zero Year begins here, and "Savage City" answers some questions that have been in this book since the first page of the first part of the story. After the end of the last issue, we see exactly what the Riddler has had planned for Gotham all along, and its not what I expected. There is a touch of the Dark Knight Rises in the story, but Snyder has done a great job over the course of Zero Year of picking and choosing the best of Batman's history and working them together, and his use of the last of the Nolan films is no different. Bruce is recovering from the trouncing the Riddler has given him so far, and its good to see a young Batman who still has doubts; Miller's Batman in Year One, while inexperienced, had that singularity of purpose that epitomized Miller's Batman, the Batman who was always right on the edge of madness. Here, Bruce isn't sure if he can really beat Nygma for a moment, despite feeling he needs to and of course making the decision to with little doubt. It's also great to see Snyder's Jim Gordon as a man of action who doesn't give up. Gordon as tough guy also really has its origins in Miller (although there were times in the earlier Bronze Age before where Gordon proved that he was a good cop), but here we see him working with whatever and whoever he can to get Gotham back. After the somewhat tenuous relationship between these two characters the story started with, it's nice to see that they've now grown to the point where the friendship readers are used to is something that can be built over time. The Riddler is often a character who is hard to write, coming off as silly or simply obnoxious, but Snyder gives him a real air of menace, of being a threat to Batman. Snyder has each of his characters pitch perfect, and does something fun with his new character, Duke Thomas, the young boy who saved Bruce Wayne. Snyder has spent the past year fleshing out the early days of Gotham, and now the endgame is in motion. Buckle up; it's going to be a bumpy knight.

Batman and Wonder Woman #30
Story: Peter J Tomasi
Art: Patrick Gleason

The quest for the body of Damian Wayne continues, as Batman heads to Paradise Island, chasing Ra's al Ghul, who plans to resurrect his grandson, and Batman's son, by using a Lazarus Pit he knows to be on the island. One of the first things that impressed me about this issue was how it deals with a lot of the events that are currently playing out in Wonder Woman (it didn't hurt that I has just read the most recent issue of Wonder Woman right before this issue). I'm hoping that this gets some people who might not have tried Wonder Woman to give that book a try, as it is excellent as well. We see Aleka, Wonder Woman's chief Amazonian antagonist, interact with Batman, and we see just how near the edge of things Bruce is right now. It's interesting to see how Tomasi deals with Bruce and his feelings for his lost son, and Wonder Woman and her feelings for her lost mother. The emotional connection between the two characters is something I've always enjoyed, be it in Joe Kelly's JLA where he teased the possibility of a relationship, to other Justice League stories that simply play the two as good friends. And the end of the issue, where Bruce reflects on the choices Damian made in life as a sun rises over Paradise Island, is touching; writers are mining some excellent character material out of Batman through the death of Damian. In the middle of the issue, between the Amazonian politics and the introspection, we get a battle between our heroes and Ra's al Ghul's League of Assassins, as well as an ancient monster trapped in Paradise Island's Lazarus Pit. Artist Patrick Gleason draws the hell out of that monster and the combat. He also does the introspection well, with great facial expressions from Batman as he rages at Aleka, but boy, that monster was something creepy. The team-up book has a long tradition in comics, and Tomasi and Gleason have done a good job with this one. As the end of the "Search for Robin," story nears its end, as much as a new Robin centric book will be nice, I'll miss this format when the book becomes Batman and Robin again.

Justice League #29
Story: Geoff Johns
Art: Doug Mahnke

As Forever Evil limps to an end, we actually get one of the best tie-ins yet, with the resolution of Cyborg's battle with The Grid in Justice League #29. So much of The New 52 is gory, and dark, and at times hard to look at. While this issue does have a couple of gorier moments, it is actually full of happiness and hope. The Metal Men are inherently silver age characters, crazy robots who want to be human, but it would be very easy for writers to try to make them edgy and modern. Instead, we see them as they always have been: hopeful, helpful, and just a bit goofy. It's also good to see Cyborg out there, really up front and making a name for himself. The problem with a team book is usually that the characters in it are in their own books and that's where the that character gets most development; this is why a team book usually has one or two characters who are unique to that book to allow character growth and a central arc. This issue wraps up Cyborg's development from his first appearance, with Cyborg coming to terms with his own dual nature. As for the villain, The Grid, his arc is also wrapped up, with him dealing with his inability to feel emotion; that Pinocchio syndrome ends with a dark little twist. The issue ends with a cliffhanger that ties into the final issue of Forever Evil, which is still three weeks to a month off, but if you ignore that last couple pages, it's a great resolution to one of the plots that has been running since the first issues of the New 52. It feels like the end of the first act of this new regime is really playing out.

The Unwritten: Apocalypse #4
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Peter Gross

Speaking of endings, the first arc of the final year of The Unwritten ends with the return of a couple of characters and a revelation or two. Tom Taylor gets to finally have it out with his father, the manipulative Wilson Taylor. Tom has been through so much, and has learned so much about his past, its good to see Tom confront Wilson and have it out when they're both in their right minds, have their memories, and are alive. Tom gets a pleasant moment where he gets his private reunion with Lizzie Hexam, his love interest, and after he drifts off to sleep, he heads off to meet with the person he thinks can help him defeat Pullman, the man responsible for the collapse of stories. Madam Rausch, the puppeteer who can effect reality, makes her final plans clear, and how Tom factors into them. It's a strange and somewhat creepy confrontation, when Rausch demands her boon for giving Tom the information he needs, and while he accepts it, I feel there's more to this than what we've seen, despite Madam Rausch saying this is the last time she will see Tom. The presence of the fictional friends Sue Sparrow and Peter Price, which seem to be with him even when he is out in reality, and who seem to see him as Tommy and not Tom, is a sign of the continuing slippage between reality and the fictional world. With these deeply nested stories, the wheels within wheels, I am going to miss The Unwritten when it wraps in less than a year.


And on a couple of Batman 75th Anniversary related notes:

I really do intend to get around to writing some general Batman posts in celebration of the 75th anniversary, I swear, despite having missed the actual 75th anniversary.

I will be doing weekly analysis of the weekly Batman: Eternal series. The next couple weeks are busy for me, but I will be doing the first four issues daily after Free Comic Book Day, and then moving on to a weekly piece after that.

And if you haven't seen them, check out the two animated shorts that have been released for Batman's anniversary from Bruce Timm (Strange Days) and Darwyn Cooke (Batman Beyond). They're amazing.

Recommended Reading for 3/7: JL8

And now for something slightly different...

I've written about Tiny Titans before, the Art Baltazar/Franco Aureliani book about the sidekicks of superheroes as little kids in Sidekick Elementary. Well, this week I'm writing about a webcomic, the first one I've ever specifically recommended. It's called JL8, written and drawn by Yale Stewart, and when I heard about it, I thought it was going to be similar to Tiny Titans, only featuring the Justice League. But it's something else entirely, and something really great at that.

JL8 centers around the students at Schwartz Elementary (named for DC Editor Julie Schwartz, the editor known to be principally responsible for the Silver Age at DC Comics), and their adventures in and around school. It's a blend of schoolyard hijinks, character pieces, comedy, and a little bit of action here and there. Stewart does a great job in balancing the humor with the character, like many a good comic strip does. The characters are all eight years old, and the plots maintain a threat level that works with small kids; the main nemesis we've seen the young heroes deal with is a schoolyard Legion of Doom, but we'll get to them later.

The principal cast of the strip are most of the traditional Justice League, and read perfectly like younger versions of those characters. Clark (Superman) is kind and thoughtful. His best friend, Bruce (Batman), is brooding and a bit standoffish, but is a great friend to Clark. Barry (Flash) is always in a hurry, and talks faster than he thinks. Hal (Green Lantern) is swaggering and confident. Diana (Wonder Woman) is sweet, but maybe the toughest of the kids. J'onn (Martian Manhunter) is the transfer student from Mars, still learning what it's like to be an Earth kid. The one main cast member who isn't one of the original JLA is Karen (Power Girl); it's nice to have another girl in the cast to give Diana a girl friend to talk to. She's spunky, and loves ponies.

Stewart's webcomic works like a classic comic strip, where each installment stands on its own, but if you read for a little while, you get caught up in the larger plotlines that he's been building for some time now. The strange little kid "romance" between Bruce and Karen has been going for a while, with Bruce revealing he likes Karen, and her being interested since he has horses. Or the various scenes of J'onn learning about what it means to be an Earth kid.

There have been a couple of major arcs over the course of the series. In one, Bruce, Clark, and Hal save a grandma from a mugger, and when the paper calls them "kids," they get tough new costumes to show what big guys they are (costumes that funnily resemble the New 52 versions of their costumes), but there's a lesson about heroism and what it means to be a grown up that is smartly done. There's also the story of Diana's birthday party, where we see a lot of typical kids party tropes, mixed with a bunch of party chaperones who are Amazons and a clown that Bruce really doesn't like.

There are some strips that really stick out for me. A personal favorite of mine is strip 27. In the previous strip, Bruce left Clark at Clark's house, and after seeing the warm welcome Clark got from his parents, Bruce walks away looking sad. So the next strip picks up right after.

That little bit of character there, developing the relationship of Bruce and Alfred, is not just heartwarming, but it does a good job of fleshing out Bruce, who is often portrayed a grumpy and a know it all.

Aside from the well thought out plotlines and cute young versions of the Justice League, the series is littered with DCU cameos and easter eggs for those who know their DC Comics. Julie Schwartz, who I mentioned earlier, is the kids teacher, Darkseid is the gym teacher (a better job than his lunchlady gig in Tiny Titans), and Neil Gaiman owns the local bookshop. Other DC Comics characters pop up in the background or in cameos, and there have been a couple of great ones from Mikey and Ted (Booster Gold and Blue Beetle). In the same vein, if you know your "Bwa-ha-ha!" era of Justice League, then this strip is worth a good laugh.

The other recurring group of characters are what I think of as the Lil' Legion of Doom. They're all recognizable, but I have to admit, I love the version of the Joker the most (not exactly shocking, huh?). Not a clown yet, he's still the Red Hood, made clear by his red hoodie, which is a great touch. Aside from Joker, we get Lex Luthor, Cheetah, Captain Cold, Toyman, Poison Ivy, and Solomon Grundy.

JL8 is a webcomic that does so many things right. It takes advantage of the serialized format, and does fun things with characters that you wouldn't see in DC Comics. It's an all ages strip that you can share with your kids to help foster a love of these great characters, and isn't that something that we all should do?

JL8 is updated usually twice a week, and can be found HERE. You can also follow the strip on Facebook and Twitter.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 7/18

Bad Medicine #3
Story: Nunzio DeFilippis & Christina Weir
Art: Christopher Mitten

Bad Medicine, Oni Press's new title that debuted with a free #1 back on Free Comic Book Day this year and features a sci-fi/horror/medical/procedural mash up, kicks off its second arc this month, and it's a really solid beginning. I'm a sucker for any kind of werewolf story, so when the issue opens with a cop shooting a werewolf, I knew I was going to be into this one. As the group of CDC investigators arrive at the site to look into another strange disease, we continue to get a feel for each of these characters; DeFilippis and Weir have always been writers who do tremendous character work, and this title is no exception. Dr. Randal Horne, the principal character of the ensemble, is a fascinating character, a man who has the early Doctor Strange/Doctor House lack of a bedside manner who is trying to learn it, and who might be haunted by the ghost of a patient he didn't save, or might just have a screw loose, while Detective Joley Huffman is a tough, no-nonsense NYPD detctive who has been sucked into this world of paranormal disease. And rounding out the team are doctors Alexander Teague and Ian Hogarth, who are opposite poles; Teague is the Scully of the team, always searching for the rational explanation, while Hogarth is the wacky, geeky, almost comic relief figure. The group balances well, and as the book gets its feet under itself, they grow into more vivid life. The idea of lycanthropy as pathogen is especially interesting, since I've seen similar takes on vampirism and Zombie outbreaks, but not really with werewolves, and I look forward to seeing how it develops. Bad Medicine is a book that reminds me of the best year's of The X-Files: science and the paranormal tossed together into a creepy stew, with interesting characters trying to find the truth.

Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation2 #3
Story: Scott and David Tipton & Tony Lee
Art: J.K. Woodward & The Sharp Brothers

While I may not be as big a Doctor Who or Star Trek fan as I am, say, a Batman or Star Wars fan, I couldn't resist picking up a crossover between the two longest running sci-fi franchises in the western world, especially when it was going to be the Next Generation crew in the spotlight, since that was the first series of the franchise I was exposed to. I have to say, it's been a ton of fun. While the first two issues were spent introducing the casts of the two series, and establishing the threat of a Borg/Cybermen alliance, this issue really starts seeing the plot move forward, and features a fun flashback of the original Enterprise meeting the Fourth Doctor. All of the characters, be it the Enterprise crew or the Eleventh Doctor and his companions, Amy and Rory, are written to sound exactly like they would in an episode of their respective shows, and while the stakes are duly high, the fate of the Federation and all known space to start with, the series never loses the sense of fun and adventure that is the cornerstone of both shows. As the mystery of the Doctor's memories deepen, and the Borg/Cybermen alliance looms, I am honestly just excited to see where the story goes. And that sense of wide-eyed excitement is something that makes me remember why the frontiers of space and time are always so fun to explore on the Enterprise and the TARDIS.

Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison #3
Story: W. Haden Blackman
Art: Agustin Alessio

The second issue of this series nearly made it into last month's reviews, but was just barely bumped out by Dawn of the Jedi, and as this issue is as good as the last, it had to make it this month. The series, set shortly after the events of Revenge of the Sith, follows Darth Vader, Moff Trachta (a character from earlier Star Wars comic stories), and our narrator, a recently graduated Imperial Lieutenant named Laurita Tohm, on a desperate fight from Coruscant with a wounded Emperor Palpatine to escape a coup attempt. The story has all the hallmarks of a great Star Wars story: character, a sense of what has come before, and action. The story does a good job of getting into the heads of each of its three protagonists. There are interesting parallels between the three men, all of whom have been scarred and lost limbs; they are all broken men, and we see them all dealing with how broken they are, both physically and mentally. We see one scene of Vader in a fit of rage at the Jedi he once served with, and you can see Vader justifying the acts he perpetrated against them in his rage. Trachta gets revenge on the being who scarred him, and Tohm reveals the origin of the damage to his body. I don't want to reveal what the Ghost Prison of the title is, because it's a great moment and something I could discuss in a future review, but it continues to explore how the Jedi were compromised during the end of the era of the Republic, and how far they had strayed from their ideals. Darth Vader and the Ghost Prison is a great series for both the die hard and casual Star Wars fan to read, not being heavily beholden to continuity but still rewarding those of us who are long time readers.

The Unwritten #39
Story: Mike Carey
Art: Peter Gross

It's hard to review a single issue of one of these continuing Vertigo series, especially when they are forty issues into an epic that, while it has beginnings and endings to arcs, is pretty much one continuous story. The Unwritten has been one of my favorite Vertgo series since it launched, and the last arc ended act one of the series, and this issue continues "The Wound," the first arc of the second act. This arc has barely featured the regular cast of the series, with only Richie Savoy, lead character Tom Taylor's vampire friend, appearing for more than isolated panels. But the characters for this arc are still interesting. Australian detective Didge and Danny, former employee of the Cabal,  catch up to Lucas Filby, leader of the Church of Tommy, and find that he is more tied to the events of the series then suspected. The issue also features the origin of fan favorite character Pauly Bruckner, better known as the fowl mouthed anthropomorphic rabbit, Mr. Bun. And being that this is The Unwritten, there has to be that sense of magical realism that has existed in so few comics since the heyday of The Sandman, where the world of thugs, cults, and hitmen are set against appearances by magical prosthetic hands and prophecy spouting unicorns. Next issue looks to be the return of Tom Taylor to the book, and further revelations on the damage to the Leviathan, and a resolution to the events in Australia. I'm curious to see where Tom's journey goes from here, and what he will do when he learns about the damage his war with the Cabal caused. But for now, I just have to deal with a comic that ends with people charging off to stop the villain on unicornback. There are worse things.

Wonder Woman #11
Story: Brian Azzarello
Art: Cliff Chiang

Wonder Woman is the title that came out of the New 52 as probably the most changed title. Brian Azzarello was not a writer anyone expected to see on the title, and that has breathed a new life into the adventures of Diana. There have been controversies along the way, no doubt, but I have found the book to be an interesting combination of mythology and superheroics. This issue seems to be moving the plot that has driven the series until this point, the fight over the thrown of the dead Zeus and the fate of his illegitimate child with the mortal Zola, into its endgame. The gods are assembled, and Wonder Woman is facing them down. Azzarello has given Diana a strong voice, and understands her as a character; she is both a fierce warrior and a font of compassion. One of the things that has been spectacular about the post-New 52 Wonder Woman has also been the re-envisioning of the Greek gods by artist Cliff Chiang. This issue, both Demter and Artemis make their initial appearances, looking as stunning as the rest of the gods, with a plant based Earth mother in Demeter, and a silvery, moon like luminescence in the moon goddess Artemis. With Diana finally facing down Hera, who has plagued her since the beginning of the series, and Apollo, whose machinations are behind much of the chaos she has encountered, its time to see what the Amazon Princess and her friend's fates will be.