Detective Comics #961: The novelty of the DCnU has generally waned after six years, but every once in a while someone surprises you. Here, Tynion has Luke working to create a new suit to replace Azarel's Suit of Shadows. He's been trying to figure out a way to replace the Order of St. Dumas' dogma as the artificial intelligence powering the suit. After all, he can't just create a new moral code for the suit: it would be like creating a new religion. But, he realizes he actually has a moral code on hand when he realizes Ascalon wasn't able to take over Rookie like he was Luke's Batwing suits: after all, it was programmed with Batman's moral code. Enter the Batsuit Azrael wore when he took over the mantle of the Bat during "Knightfall." Honestly, I got shivers. Well played, James. Moreover, Tynion does a stellar job with the characterization throughout the issue, from Kate's wry commentary as she and Cassandra take on Azrael to Zatanna's heartfelt recounting of her heartbreak when her teenage self realized Bruce would never stay with her. It's a really stellar issue in a really stellar series.
Rebels: These Free and Independent States #5: Wood gives John a happy ending I'm not entirely sure he deserves, but it's not an unrestricted one. His mentor gets James Madison to agree to release John from prison (where he lost an arm to an infection while serving his sentence for mutiny), but it has a catch: he can work in a shipyard building the Navy he loves, but he must be anonymous lest Madison be seen as supporting a mutineer. His mentor correctly assumes John doesn't care about fame, so the arrangement will suit him well. That part, I like. But, Wood gives John his love interest here, the woman he met in New York while playing in the rigging years earlier. She claims she didn't wait for him, but she was still unmarried at 40 years old so Wood isn't all that convincing. It's pretty hard to believe she fell for taciturn John so hard after just one night she waited for him for two decades (I think). But, it is what it is. Wood is on firmer ground when he has John return to his childhood home. Members of his mother's family are going to buy it, and he stands by his parents' graves with a real sense of loss. He also shows uncharacteristic emotions when he refuses to enter the house, so it's left to his wife to say good-bye to it, finding some of his childhood etchings. She tells him his parents would be proud of him, as he surpasses his father (an American yearning, Wood reminds us). It's probably true, since Seth Abbot wasn't really one for formality; mutiny probably wouldn't have bothered him too much, and he'd indeed be proud if he learned John took command to save lives. Wood also draws a parallel to today, as John leaves behind the woods his father so loved for the city. It's a wistful ending to this story, and I'm excited to see what else Wood has planned.
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