Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 3/23

Batman #50
Story: Scott Snyder
Art: Greg Capullo, Danny Miki, and FCO Plascencia & Yanick Paquette and Nathan Fairbairn

While next issue will be a one off epilogue issue, Batman #50 wraps up most of the threads that Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo have been weaving throughout not just the current arc, "Superheavy," but their entire fifty issue run. Bruce Wayne is back as Batman, and he and Jim Gordon team up to stop Mister Bloom and the people he has infected with his seeds. It's a double-sized issue, and deservedly so, because there is a lot going on. Bruce is fighting Bloom while Gordon is heading to the Powers building to shut down the the collider under the building that is generating a "strange star" which will obliterate much of Gotham at least. And if that weren't enough, Duke Thomas has discovered the person responsible for Bloom and is headed to confront him.

The thing that Snyder spends the issue really talking about, when it comes to theme and more than a bit of dialogue, is about Batman as hope and an idea. About how the person behind Bloom wanted to e power the people of Gotham, to allow them to be their own Batman. Bloom continues to spout his usual brand if nihilistic, every man for himself, philosophy. And Jim Gordon, the Batman who should never have been, gets the big speech as he saves the day. He gets in the speech about how the world needs heroes, not super heroes. How Batman is there because he, "fights our nightmares to teach us to fight the real terrors by light of day." It's a big, climactic scene, and while Batman's return inspires the hope that people need to remove their seeds and weaken Bloom, it's great to see Jim, who has always been a hero, get the final win on this one. The epilogue to the issue has Gordon, recovering from grave wounds, thinking about the first time he saw Gotham, and talking to Batman about it, and so it brings the series full circle; issue one had narration about what Gotham was to the people of the city, and it ends the same way.

For his big finale, Capullo pulls out all the stops, drawing legions of Bloom's freaks and different generations of Bat armor. The final big fight, between a giant Bloom and a giant Bat-Mech is a sight to behold, Capullo also debuted a new Batman costume, a slight variation on the classic theme, that is a nice final touch, a little something to remember him by.

With the announcement of the changes in creative teams coming with Rebirth, Batman #50 is a perfect coda to everything that Scott Snyder has had to say about Batman. It talks about hope and people, and while there's plenty to mill over about the nature of heroism and superheroism, there's still a ton of things going boom. This issue finds the right balance between destruction and thought, like the best blockbusters. I'm looking forward to what Snyder has planned for All-Star Batman, but he's got a tough act to follow after this.

Birthright #15
Story: Joshua Williamson
Art: Andrei Bressan & Adriano Lucas

Like all of Joshua Williamson's series, Birthright has a strong mix of character, action, and big surprises that makes it a rewarding read, and this issue, the end of the series' third arc, is a perfect example of this. Two confrontations of very different kind take place in this issue. While Wendy, mother of our leads, and winger-warrior Ryo are trapped in a cage by Mastema, one of the mages barbarian Mikey is hunting, Mikey and Brennan are surrounded by a SWAT team and Agent Kylen, secretly another of the mages. The two scenarios play to all Williamson and Bressan's strengths. The scene with Wendy and Ryo discusses the nature of prophecy, exactly what Mikey's journey was like in the fantasy world of Terrenos, and Wendy coming to terms with what her son now is. A spread over two pages shows Mikey growing up, and it's very cool to see the intermediate steps between the young boy we see in his origin flashbacks and the looming barbarian he is now. And Wendy's journey to truly believing that all this is real has finally reached the place where she's ready to embrace Mikey as her son, which makes me hope for a reunion soon.. Mikey's fight with the SWAT team is short and brutal, and it's in the reactions and expressions of his brother, Brennan, and his father, Aaron, manipulated by Kylen into leading him to Mikey, that really carries the scenes impact. That and the smugly satisfied look on Kylen's face. But that expression leaves when Sameal, the final sorcerer appears, and instead of fighting with Kylen's men, quickly dispatches them. The "spirit smoke" he uses moves across the pages, undulating and terrifying, as the ninja-like Sameal picks off the SWAT team one by one (and boy howdy, if these pages don't say Bressan should do Batman at some point in the future, I don't know what would). I will also admit I did not see the big last page reveal of Sameal's identity coming, and when I saw it, I realized how much sense it makes, and how much it's going to change things for Aaron especially. There's a two month break before arc four begins, so that's plenty of time for everyone out there to get the first two trades, and volume three when it hits, and be caught up when Birthright returns, so what are you waiting for?

The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives #4
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto De La Torre, Al Barrionuevo, & David Baron

The second mini-series starring Valiant's supernatural heroes Drs. Shan and Hwen Mirage ends with an exciting ghost battle and some amazing visuals. The showdown with the ghost of evil sorcerer Denis De Walt is on the horizon, and so Hwen, himself a ghost, enters into the magic scroll known as the Vita Secunda to learn what it will take to stop De Walt. The pages with Hwen inside the scroll are stunning, some of Roberto De La Torre's most impressive, reflecting a strange world at first beautiful and then corrupted by the abuse of the primal magic. It's trippy in that classic Ditko Dr. Strange way, and aided by David Baron's colors. The thing that really sets this comic above and beyond and that drives not only the story engine but the readers interest is the wonderful relationship between the living Shan and the ghostly Hwen, and so as the two set their plan in motion to stop De Walt, the palpable sense of dread that Hwen might have to sacrifice himself to win makes the book all the more tense. The final battle is won more through cleverness than brute strength, something Shan excels at, and it's nice to get a comic with a happy ending. That final battle is again really benefited by Baron's colors, both in the way that he makes the ghosts look, each one of the important ones a slightly different color to help easily remind the reader who's who and who's dead. Also, as Hwen and De Walt cast spells at each other, their word balloons stop having words but instead symbols and colors, which I think is a fascinating representation of magic, being more feelings than actual words, and I wonder if that was handled by the artists or the letterer; one way or the other, I hope it's used again when we get another Doctor Mirage tale. The final pages, as Shan starts up the old TV show she and Hwen had before he died with actor Alex standing in for Hwen has a couple teases;  Hwen's expanding powers and the ramifications of Alex's brief possession by De Walt, setting up a third mini-series in the not too distant future. Each Valiant title has a very different feel, and I like that the supernatural adventure and romance of Death-Defying Doctor Mirage makes it a fairly unique series on the racks, and one that I enjoy each time a new issue comes out.

Secret Six #12
Story: Gail Simone
Art: Dale Eaglesham, Tom Derenick, & Jason Wright

I'm putting this review last so you can stop if you're shy about spoilers and don't want to know about the end of this issue. So HERE THERE BE SPOILERS...

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Writing about the new issue is Secret Six is tricky. Not because it is at any point lacking in the usual brand of off kilter friendship as any other issue, or lacks in brutal action. But because at the end of the issue, a reunion between two characters happens, and it made me, a grown man, squeal with joy. There are certain characters in comics that you just love. And for me, among those characters are Ralph and Sue Dibny. I wrote in the review above about how I love the relationship between Shan and Hwen Mirage. That goes triple for Ralph and Sue. They are characters that belong together. Ralph might be a pliable and hilarious detective on his own, and Sue might be a whip-smart globe trotting socialite, but through their fifty plus years in comics, they have been the best couple; they make each other better, like the best couple do in real life. They have inside jokes and tolerate each other's foibles (although most of those foibles are Ralph's). So the end of this issue, when Ralph comes home and finds Sue back, her memory restored, and they embrace? God, my heart grew three sizes. Gail Simone, congratulations on making me smile so hard my face hurt.

Aside from that, the issue also spotlights the thing that makes Secret Six such an interesting comic: no matter the version of it, these characters are a family more than a team. They're all broken in some way, and in many ways completely insane, but they care for each other. Facing down Lady Shiva, a character who has been used sparingly since Flashpoint, it would have been easy to make the issue a wall-to-wall fight, but Strix, who Shiva is seeking, won't let that happen. Because these people are her friends and family, and she won't let them enter a battle that she knows will get them killed. And so we get a sad farewell between the conscious members of the Six and Batgirl for Strix, and then she's off with Shiva. And while Ralph gets his happy reunion, the others think about what to do next. The growth these characters have gone through in twelve issues, from the disparate band of loonies into this family us never clearer. It's great how these characters, who mostly exist just on the verge of doing something monstrous, can also tug at the heart strings. I'm going to miss Secret Six when it bows out soon, but until then, I'm going to enjoy this crazy ride for as long as I can.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 12/24

The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage: Second Lives #1
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto De La Torre & David Baron


Valiant's The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage returns with a second volume that starts out with an issue mixing, action, emotion, a touch of humor, and some solid supernatural shivers. After the end of the first series, medium Dr. Shan Fong-Mirage has retrieved the spirit of her husband, Hwen, from the afterlife, and you'd think they'd get a happily ever after. But when one of you is a ghost who can't physically effect the world around him, that happily ever after doesn't come easily. If you'd never read the first series, the first page does a great job of establishing where Shan was with her husband without being a recap page, and the first scene, at a haunted wedding, not only establishes their current status quo, but Shan's power set. It's the lightest part of the issue, as Shan is called in to break up a haunted wedding. We learn the rules of ghosts in this universe, we see how Shan makes money as an exorcist/TV ghosthunter, and we get the first inklings of how strained things are since Shan and Hwen can't interact physically. We're also introduced to their friend/agent/producer Leo, whose suggestion upon arriving back at Shan's place, that they find a willing host for Hwen so he can interact with the camera, meets with such a vociferous negative you know that's going to be important later on in the series. The plot of the issue follows Shan and Hwen as they try to recover a scroll that potentially possess a spell to grant Hwen a more physical form, but when their copy turns out to be destroyed, they visit their old friend Seline and her family, both the living and the ancestral spirits, who might have one of the few remaining copies of the scroll. But something goes horribly wrong when the scroll is opened, and something is freed. The thing that makes this book so engaging are the characters. Shan and Hwen's relationship and dynamic is delightful to read, and Seline and her family are charming. Jen Van Meter always has had an ear for dialogue and character (I'm super excited that my copy of her new Hopeless Savages OGN arrived last week and I can't wait to dig into it), and she provides a great mix of character and supernatural suspense. Robert De La Torre's art both proves to be perfect for when Shan and Hwen are just talking and interacting as a couple, and when they're dealing with ghosts; I enjoyed his work on the first series, and this one is even stronger. This is a great jumping on point for readers who haven't tried this series or any Valiant book before, a thrilling ride, and good for fans of both super heroes and supernatural stories.

The Rocketeer at War #1
Story: Marc Guggenheim and Lisa Morton
Art: Dave Bullock

IDW's Rocketeer mini-series have all felt very different, from the wild high adventure of Cargo of Doom to the mystery of Hollywood Horror. Rocketeer at War sees Cliff Secord, the Rocketeer, as a grunt in North Africa, fighting the Nazis as a solider is World War II. The issue is a classic war story with a pulp twist, as Cliff saves a pilot from a shot down plane, and chases a Nazi spy trying to steal a component from a plane. The pulpiness happens when Cliff grabs the spy who turns out be wearing a glider suit, and so we have gliding Nazis versus the Rocketeer, even if Cliff doesn't have his rocket pack. It's an exciting issue, with a lot of set-up for what's coming, as we also see the Nazis developing a superweapon, Betty join the WACs, and we meet the pilot Cliff saved, a feisty redhead named Molly O'Hara, who greets Cliff with a kiss. Its such a standard Rocketeer trope to see Cliff as almost pathologically jealous when it comes to Betty, I'm curious to see how it works with a flip, as Cliff has another love interest this time. I don't think it's surprising that Cliff is back in his Rocketeer costume by issue's end, ready to serve his country. A Rocketeer story wouldn't be a Rocketeer story without a cameo from a historical or pulp figure, and this issue has Howard Hughes pop up, which is a great nod to the Rocketeer film, where it was Hughes, not Doc Savage, who designed the rocket pack. Dave Bullock's art is perfect for this series; he's an artist with a style that hearkens back to the classic age, and his work with Darwyn Cooke on New Frontier established his chops of stories set in the 40s and 50s. The comic also has the first chapter of a prose story, "The Rivet Gang," from writer Lisa Morton. This first chapter has Cliff and Betty going to a fancy party and Cliff tearing off after robbers to find himself in a... sticky situation. Read the story and you'll see that's a pretty bad pun, but those are the best kind.

Saga #32
Art: Fiona Staples
Story: Brian K. Vaughan

Saga is about sixteen comics in one. There are issues that are love stories between leads Alana and Marko, while others are domestic dramas with those two and their daughter Hazel. There are political intrigue stories featuring Prince Robot IV. The previous arc wrapped up with a quest story featuring The Brand, Sophie, Lying Cat, and Gwendolyn. The stories with D. Oswald Heist spent a lot of time discussing morality and war. And this are just a few off the top of my head. This month's issue hits one of my favorite genres: it's a caper, as Alana and Marko break into an administrative building to get a lead on Hazel's location. As Hazel points out in her narration, Alana and Marko are closer now then they ever have been, working as a well oiled machine to find their stolen little girl, and it's important to remember they've been doing this for YEARS,and they're still at it. The issue sees them knock out a guard, use technology and magic, and jump out of a window into their passing tree-rocket in the tradition of the best caper movies.Between this and the previous issue, we've reset where our principals are, and know exactly what the stakes are at this point. And while I love Saga's story, it's one of the best marriages of art and writing in comics, as Fiona Staples is a master of design, and this issue's new creatures/characters, the constables on the world of Variegate, are nightmares out of a fever dream dreamed after reading Fahrenheit 451, but as you read the issue, their looks as unstoppable monster are pretty misleading. We get reacquainted with a couple more Saga favorites by issue's end, including Sir Robot IV, his son Squire, and adorable little seal-man Ghus and his walrus pet, Friendo (I had to write all them out because it's just amazing to have that assortment of characters with such amusing names), and the stage is set for what might be a big jailbreak story, another new story type for Saga Thirty-two issues in, and Staples and Vaughan are still world building like no other comic, and that's what keeps me coming back to Saga month in and month out.


This week, Dan Grote looks at the debut issue of an All-New, All-Different Marvel title...

Patsy Walker aka Hellcat #1

Story by Kate Leth

Art by Brittney L. Williams and Megan Wilson

What is it about 68 Jay Street that produces such wonderful books? She-Hulk was arguably Charles Soule’s best Marvel work, Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones have set Howard the Duck in the same Brooklyn building, and now Kate Leth and Brittney Williams have given Shulkie sidekick Hellcat her own book that may be even more fun than the other two.

Historically, Patsy Walker is something of a continuity mess. She started out the star of the company’s early teen-romance comics, then was rebranded in the 1970s as a superhero whose early, Archie-esque stories were written by her exploitative mother. She married Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan, and she was written into Marvel Divas, the company’s less-than-beloved attempt to craft its own Sex and the City-style book, alongside the Black Cat, Firestar and Monica Rambeau.

Soule’s Patsy – a feisty, hard-partying, charge-ahead PI bestie to Jennifer Walters’ She-Hulk – began the character’s rehab, which makes fitting the new series’ inciting event: She-Hulk lets her go because she can’t afford a PI anymore, and Shulkie’s landlord figures out Patsy’s been living in a storage closet in the building and kicks her out (politely; they’re friends).

If you’re coming to this book from Netflix’s Jessica Jones, these are not the droids you’re looking for. Comics Patsy is, first of all, not “Trish.” She’s not a talk-radio host with a fortified apartment and funky trust issues. In fact, if this book contains any DNA from a Netflix original series, it’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, with the title character’s infectious optimism amid a sea of troubles and unwanted past publicity.

(Inserts break to let everyone quietly sing a few bars of the Kimmy Schmidt theme. Dammit!)

Patsy needs money. One would think that being the star of a long-running series of comics would open her up to royalties, but after her mother died, the rights went to her longtime frenemy, Hedy. After a run-in with a wannabe baddie Inhuman with the unfortunate nom de crime Telekinian (He can move objects with his mind, and his name is Ian), she realizes there are many down-on-their-luck Inhumans, mutants, and otherwise powered folk who need jobs, and not necessarily hero or villain work. So she pitches The Patsy Walker Agency for Heroes and Other Cool Friends What Are in Need of Work, a job-placement agency, which she’ll have to fund by working retail.

Oh, and she moves in with Ian. It’s OK, though, he reformed after she beat him up. Also, just like Kimmy and Titus!

Seriously, though, this first issue was a lot of fun. I was already a Kate Leth fan from her Adventure Time work and following her on Twitter, and artist Brittney Williams draws Patsy as an adorable go-getter ready to show Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl they didn’t invent young, female superheroes with moxie. Definitely pick it up.

Reviews of Comics from Wednesday 9/3

The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage #1
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto de la Torre

Valiant continues to move from strength to strength with the debut of The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage. While all of Valiant's books are superhero comics at their heart, they all exist within the trappings of other genres. X-O Manowar is really the most superhero of the lot, Bloodshot is an espionage comic, Archer & Armstrong is about conspiracies, Quantum & Woody is a buddy comedy, etc. Shadowman has been the occult comic, and with its end, it feels like this series is picking up that baton. From what I gather from a friend who reads all the Valiant books, Dr. Mirage made her first appearance in the pages of Shadowman. However, you don't need to know anything about that other appearance to get into this first issue; all I know is that it happened, nothing more, and I really enjoyed this issue. Dr. Shan Fong, also known as Dr. Mirage, is a medium and paranormal investigator who is the real deal. She can speak to the dead. The issue opens with her agent having ambushed her with a seance for a group of wealthy widows, and this sets off some issues for Shan; you see, her husband, Hwen, died and she has never been able to speak to him. Dr. Mirage is tough as nails, and she admits it freely. She isn't a warm, fuzzy character, not one of those John Edwards-esque mediums. She calls 'em as she sees 'em, and no one gets in her way. After the initial scene, that does a great job of establishing personality and the status quo, we get the thrust of where the series is going. A billionaire hires Mirage to help solve an occult problem, one that he is clearly not being entirely up front about, and unbeknownst to him, Mirage gets a hint from a creature that he is vonbed to of what might have become of her husband. And so the issue ends with the beginning of a classic Orphues in the Underworld journey. Jen Van Meter is one of those writers whose work I always really enjoy, as she has a great feel for character, and this issue does an excellent job of packing a lot of that in with all the required backstory and never feeling burdened by it. Roberto de la Torre's art is well suited to the story, with dark tones that are still realistic but with a bit of creepiness to them; I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with the much more abstract canvas of the afterlife next issue. As someone who appreciates a supernatural hero, I was pleased to see Valiant resurrecting Dr. Mirage, and this first issue makes me hope that, if the series keeps up at this pace, we'll see this five issue mini spin off an ongoing in the not too distant future.

Grendel Vs. The Shadow
Story & Art: Matt Wagner

New Grendel written and drawn by Matt Wagner is something I look forward to a lot. When Wagner is just writing Grendel stories they're still great, but that mix of his story and art are a real treat. And when it was announced that not only would the new Grendel story feature my favorite Grendel, Hunter Rose, but it would also be a crossover with The Shadow, one of the prototypes for all masked men, and a character who Wagner has written before but not drawn except for covers, I was chomping at the bit. The story starts with Hunter Rose being displaced in time from the present (well, Hunter's present, which is the 80s) to the 30s. With Prohibition ending and one of the leaders of the Five Families dying, Hunter begins to take over the gangs of New York as Grendel while making himself the toast of New York literary set as Hunter. Meanwhile, the Shadow is also preparing for the coming gang wars and learning more of this new player, Grendel. The issue has dual narrators, with Hunter narrating his own parts in his inimitable style, and the Shadow's companion, Margo Lane, narrating others. It's interesting that Wagner chooses to not have The Shadow narrate his own parts of the stories, something that amplifies the mystery of the character (it is of note that in his The Shadow: Year One mini-series, Wagner also chose Lane as the narrator). This also gives the reader a different sort of insight into The Shadow, and lets the reader really understand Margo, who is a key character in the Shadow mythos. The plot is fine, a good gangster/30s/masked man story, but the issue is really outstanding for its atmosphere. Hunter slides into the 30s perfectly; he's a man about town and a bon vivant, so he fits perfectly in this era, The looks of the piece is outstanding, with Wagner really drawing the hell out of the vintage clothing, cars, and settings. And the action scenes are equally astounding, with Grendel's usual graceful slaughters and The Shadow's appearances and disappearances and his gun play. It's also of note that the story starts in the present with the typical Grendel color palate of black, white, and red, and when he moves back into The Shadow's time, the story shifts to full color, which is a great storytelling technique. This is a great jumping on point if you're a fan of one of these characters and not the other, or haven't read anything featuring either.

Justice League #33
Story: Geoff Johns
Art: Doug Mahnke

Justice League is a comic I've had very mixed feelings about, and I've said that before. I've been unsure of the gravity of it, of the darkness, of the fact that the League, which was before sort of a group of peers and friends, were bickering like the Avengers at their worst. But things feel a little different since Forever Evil. While we're still waiting to see if that crossover will have any real long term effects, the short term effects on this book have been to kick into a much higher gear. This issue wraps up the Justice League's first confrontation with the New 52 Doom Patrol. Johns takes the Grant Morrison idea that The Chief, mad scientist and the leader of the Doom Patrol, is comics biggest ass, and plays it to the hilt. When there is a guy on the page who is even more full of himself than Lex Luthor, you know this guy has some serious chips on his shoulder. The dialogue between the Chief and Luthor is crackling, with them feeding off each other's egos. I'm not a big fan of the Doom Patrol. I don't have anything against them, but with the exception of Morrison's run, I don't think I've read more than an issue here or there featuring them, although I did like their appearances on Teen Titans and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. I do like what Johns does here, which is give each of them a unique personality and reaction to their freakishness, from Elasti-Girl's mind numbing happiness to Negative Man's apathy. I'm not sure of these are logical extensions of previous characterization or something new, but I liked it. The other moment in this issue that spoke to me was when Batman has to talk down Jessica Cruz, the young woman possessed by the Power Ring from the alternate Crime Syndicate universe, where the green ring is sentient, evil, and powered by fear. There's a scene from the episode of Justice League Unlimited, "Epilogue," where Batman finds the immensely powerful psychic called Ace, who is dying, and sits with her and talks to her and agrees to stay with her until the end. Here, Batman, the master of using fear as a weapon, talks to a woman who is agoraphobic and traumatized about his own fears and how he was able to not give in to them, and get her to come around and throw off the ring, which is fueled by her fear. It's a wonderful scene, and one that shows that Johns can really get Batman. Batman isn't some aloof, ogre, but someone who is intrinsically and at times almost painfully human, who understands fear and pain, and really wants no one else to experience it. The issue ends with the completely expected induction of Lex Luthor into the Justice League, but the scene leading up to it, between the DC trinity, gives a new context to that, once that I think will make for some great plot in the future.

She-Hulk #8
Story: Charles Soule
Art: Javier Pulido

She-Hulk is beginning to feel like Batman, in that it's a comic I review every month. I freakin' love this comic. It's smart, it's well written, the cast is wonderful, the art by Javier Pulido is beautiful. This issue, where Jen starts representing Steve Rogers, better known as Captain America, in a wrongful death suit from the 40s, is a really solid story, and write Charles Soule writes Steve so well. But this month, I want to pull back a bit and focus in a particular aspect of the issue that made me unadulteratedly happy. With Jen Walters, the lawyer also known as She-Hulk, having to go out to represent Cap in California, she needs to find a firm that she can attach herself to, since she isn't licensed to practice in the state. And the firm she chooses is the firm headed up by the character find of 2014: Matt Rocks. If you don't know your Marvel comics well enough to get the joke there, and haven't read enough about X-Factor on this blog to pick it up either, what we're dealing with is a duplicate of Jaime Madrox, the Multiple Man, former leader of X-Factor who can create duplicates of himself. Jaime sent out legions of dupes years ago to learn skills so that when he reabsorbed them, he would pick those skills up himself. Turns out, one of those dupes became a leading Hollywood entertainment lawyer who has basically been paying Jaime off with half his income so Jaime wouldn't reabsorb him. It's a weird, crazy idea, and deeply steeped in the knowledge of a pretty obscure Marvel comic; X-Factor isn't the Avengers or Uncanny X-Men, it had a pretty niche audience. But Soule doesn't shy away from it. He dives right in, explains what you need to know about the character and creates something delightfully fun with it. I'm the guy that scene was written for, someone inundated in this comic book minutiae, someone who would have gotten the joke without the prompting, and I say thank you for it. Next month, the trial will begin, and an idea that I'm shocked no one has pulled before, two super-hero lawyers challenging each other in court, will kick off in earnest for a story that I'm sure will be full of fascinating twists and turns. But for this month, well, Matt Rocks is just going to make me smile.