All-New, All-Different Marvel Point One #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Beyond carrying the most complicated title and numbering of any issue in the history of comic books, this issue itself is a confusing and jumbled mess.

In theory, this issue is supposed to shepherd us into the "All-New, All-Different" era of Marvel.  "Secret Wars" has ended (even though we're nowhere near that actually happening in reality) and, if I understand correctly from the solicitations, eight months have passed.  This issue is supposed to get us excited about this new status quo, but reads more like an extended preview of the "Contest of Champions" series.  (I really find it hard to believe that this series is going to last more than 15 issues, tops.)

It doesn't help that the issue starts awkwardly, with the unseen narrator setting the scene for us by intoning:  "hanging by a thread at the farthest edge of all that is, the broken shell of what was once God Doom's reality...the Battlerealm."  Now, we all pretty much knew that Doom wasn't going to win "Secret Wars."  As such, it's not really all that surprising that his "reality" has been reduced to two coliseums floating on the edge of reality.  The surprising part is that the narrator, eventually revealed as Maestro, remembers that era.  It's a reminder that we still have no idea what this new post-"Secret Wars" status quo actually is.  Maestro refers to the "Omniverse," implying that Marvel's Multiverse no longer exists.  However, even that assertion appears dubious, since Maestro's opponent in Battlerealm -- the Collector -- is apparently choosing his champions from "his" version of Earth.

This contest is the framing device for the issue:  we learn that Maestro has to select five champions to act on his behalf against the Collector's champions.  His first option is Carnage, and we're accordingly given an introduction to Gerry Conway's "Carnage" series.  Talk about a dud.  If you read my reviews of the "Spiral" story that ran through "Amazing Spider-Man," you'll know that I heart Conway.  But, he seems to have lost his way with words here, using a cumbersome and repetitive first-person narration that makes you think that Cletus Kasady is more a brain-damaged child than a symbiote-possessed sociopath.  (He spends the entire issue telling us that he's not lazy, insisting that he only sleeps a few hours a night since he spends so much time killing people.  Seriously.  That's it.)  We also have a "Rocket Raccoon & Groot" story that feels like the editors forget to include the ending.  (Did the shape-shifter control the minds of the trick-or-treaters, or were they also shapeshifters?  Like how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.)

On the plus side, the "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." story is probably the best of the bunch, with Guggenheim really nailing the tension that makes for a good spy story.  That said, something about it still feels like it's meant to supplement the TV show; if you're not watching it, it doesn't feel like this story is for you.  Also, the "All-New Inhumans" story isn't bad, per se, but I refuse to indulge Marvel's attempts to force me to care about the Inhumans.

Finally, we're treated to the introduction of Soule's new sidekick for Daredevil.  The idea isn't bad, but the introduction is rushed, relying on excessive exposition and narration that weigh down the story.  The segment reads like the first few pages of "Daredevil" #1, and, if it is, I'm surprised that Soule didn't take his time in establishing the sidekick's past.  Instead, the kid might as well have turned to the reader, broken the fourth wall, and told us what we needed to know.  It would've been more intellectually honest that way.  Moreover, the political overtones -- the sidekick is an illegal Chinese immigrant -- make for a tricky dance, since Soule will always run the risk of falling too heavily on the side of liberal moralizing.  That already happens here, in no small part due to the rushed first-person narration.

In other words, take a pass on this one.  Unlike previous "Point One" issues, nothing here makes for required reading (or reading that you likely won't see in the titles themselves), particularly not at the $5.99 price tag.

* (one of five stars)

Amazing Spider-Man #161-#165 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

In my last review, I called issues #156-#160 "off-beat."  Unfortunately, I think that I have to call issues #161-#165 "bad."

I actually had high hopes for these issues.  Issues #161-#162  involves a number of firsts.  Spidey meets Nightcrawler, and the pair eventually team with the Punisher to track down a mysterious assassin impersonating him.  They come to discover that it's Jigsaw, in his first appearance.  Cool, right?  But, as usual with Wein, we take a number of detours along the way that make little sense and weigh down the story.

To start, issue #161 isn't terrible, but it has a number of logic gaps that resulted in a flood of "No-Prize" requests in a later issue.  Overall, the premise works:  Nightcrawler has come to Coney Island to investigate the assassination of a friend from his circus days.  Coincidentally, Peter is there with Mary Jane, and both he and Nightcrawler witness the assassin striking again:  this time, he shoots someone on the roller coaster.  Nightcrawler chases the assassin, and we run into our first set of problems.  Despite creating Nightcrawler, Wein doesn't seem to have a good grip on his powers.  When the assassin locks a door behind him, Nightcrawler simply stares at it instead of teleporting through it.*  Spidey arrives on the scene, and the two heroes then engage in that most time-honored tradition of comic books:  the mistaken-identity fight.  Nightcrawler eventually flees, but realizes that Peter took photos of their encounter.  Later, Spidey visits the "Bugle," and Robbie tells him that word on the street is that the Punisher is behind the shootings.  However, we learn that it's someone impersonating the Punisher, and Frank is trying to discover the guy's identity, since he's ruining his reputation.  Later, Nightcrawler ambushes Spidey as he sits on the Roosevelt Bridge.  He wants his camera, since he has to destroy the film so no one knows about the X-Men's existence.  (They're apparently not publicly known at this point.)  The Punisher then arrives on the scene, because (coincidentally, again) his contact told him that the assassin would be there.  He is convinced, as a result, either Nightcrawler or Spidey is the assassin.

Also in this issue JJJ, Jr. receives a mysterious package of photos that shows Peter disposing of the clone's body (from issue #151).  Wein is obviously going to milk this "mystery" for a while, but I can't see any chance of me actually buying the explanation.  The only person that I could see sending the photos to JJJ, Jr. is the Jackal, but why would he?  Ruining Peter's secret identity seems pretty small potatoes.  (Plus, he's technically dead.)  Also, I'm not sure what JJJ, Jr. thinks (or, more to the point, what Wein wants the reader to think that JJJ, Jr. thinks).  Does he think Peter was killed by Spider-Man?  That makes sense, but what does he make of "dead" Peter being in a Spidey suit?

Issue #162 is an improvement and, frankly, one of the most solid issues of Wein's run so far.  It contains the introduction of not only Jigsaw, but Marla Madison:  JJJ, Jr. approaches her, presumably, to build the Spider-Slayer.  (I didn't realize that she was the daughter of one of his friends.  I'm also surprised, though not in a bad way, by how brusque she is.)  Focusing on the issue at hand, the Punisher realizes that neither hero is the assassin when the assassin himself opens fire on them.  Frank offers to work with Spidey to track down the assassin, and Peter agrees.  Frank's miraculously discovered that the assassin is going to strike a block party (just as he discovered that Nightcrawler and Spidey were at the Roosevelt Bridge last issue).  He and Spidey comb the neighborhood, but Jigsaw's men get the jump on Spidey and somehow manage to defeat him in just four panels.  (Seriously.  Four.  It's one hit with a pipe, a strike on the back of the head, and a kick to the jaw.)  They deliver the unconscious Spidey to Jigsaw, who politely doesn't unmask him, using him instead as bait for Frank.  A fight ensues, and I have to say that it's really thrilling.  Wein did a great job building to this point, so, when Jigsaw finally emerges from the shadows, it's definitely a moment.  That said, we again have gaps.  Jigsaw exposits that he killed four people to get the Punisher to return to New York, but we don't know how he chose those people or how he managed to get the underworld to think that it was the Punisher (since they likely knew that he wasn't in New York in the first place.)   One of the better moments was Wein winking at the reader when he has Spidey comment, "This looks like a job for -- Spider-Man!"  It's a nod to the recently concluded "Superman vs. Spider-Man" cross-over event that they'd been mentioning every month on the letters page.

In the end, even with the bumps and weaknesses, these two issues were still pretty fun.  Even if it was one of the weirdest team-up stories ever, Wein made it work in the end.  Unfortunately, I can't say the same for issue #163.  In terms of the ongoing story at that time, it's significant, because we finally learn the identity of the villain that hired the goons that we saw in issues #153, #154, and #160.  The problem is that we don't have to look any further than the cover to know that it's Kingpin.  (Why do they do that?  Seriously.)  Moreover, the issue doesn't start off that well.  With no explanation, we see Spidey riding on the roof of a car in a suburban area.  In so doing, he just so happens to observe a helicopter that the aforementioned goons just so happen to be using to steal an armored car.  Talk about luck!  (Eye roll.)  Spidey engages in a mid-air fight with the goons, but they manage to achieve their goal, stealing a device from inside the car.  (I have no idea why the couldn't have just stopped the car and gotten the device, since using a helicopter to lift it into the air and then rocket packs to break into it seems...excessive.)  The goons flee, and Peter heads to MJ's apartment but she's not there.  He soon learns that she's at his place with all his friends:  Glory has thrown him a decorating party where everyone brought an item they don't need or want anymore.  It's a significant moment, since it introduces the cigar-store Native American statue that stays in Peter's life for a long time.  As the party progresses, Peter grows frustrated at Flash putting the moves on MJ, so he flees (apparently right into the plot of "Spectacular Spider-Man" #1).  Off-panel, Peter went to Con Edison where they very conveniently pointed out the one building in New York using more power than it should.  (Apparently, Peter's glance at the device that the goons stole let him know that it requires a lot of energy.  He really is a genius!)  Surprise, surprise:  the Kingpin is there.  He decides that he wants to engage Spidey in combat personally, and he eventually knocks him unconscious.  Peter awakens to discover that the Kingpin has him hooked to a machine (once again, conveniently leaving on his mask) and his grand plan is revealed:  Kingpin is going to transfer Spidey's life energy to his dying son.

At this point, if I'm not mistaken, the Kingpin has stolen the final component of the W.H.O. computer (issue #153), a freeze ray (issue #154), some furs (issue #160), and the device that he stole in this issue.  How the hell is that going to transfer the life essence from Peter to to Richard Fisk, you may ask?  If you expected us to get an answer in issue #164, well, you'd be disappointed.

I've been really trying to like Wein here, but the conclusion of the Kingpin story makes it feel like he isn't even trying to make sense.  I mean, sure, it's a different time, and I don't expect the same sort of realism in comics from the 1970s that I expect from today.  But, Wein doesn't even seem to have a basic grasp of physics here.  First, we never learn how the W.H.O. component or the furs are connected to anything.  The freeze ray -- or "cryogenic converter" -- from issue #154 makes a lot more sense, because we learn here that Kingpin put Richard into a cryogenic freeze after he died in some ridiculously convoluted fight with the Red Skull in "Captain America."  (Maybe the Kingpin needed the furs to stay warm when he used the freeze ray?)  But, I think the converter would only help thaw him.  I guess we're left to assume that it's the device form last issue that really completed the "vita-drain."

Moreover, assuming even that we accept the fact that such a transfer of life force is possible, the mechanics of the "vita-drain" are bizarre.  Wein treats life force like a set of hit points where the transitive property applies.  If Peter had 36 hit points and Richard 4 hit points, then the transfer completely reverses those numbers.  No, really.  Kingpin magically knew that Richard only had six hours to live before the procedure, so he tells Peter that he now similarly only has six hours to live.  Of course, Peter high tails it to Dr. Connors, and he takes a stun guy that he had been crafting and magically converts it to a device to reverse the vita-drain.  (At this point, don't ask.)  Peter tracks down Richard and hits him with it, and I thought that Wein was finally getting somewhere interesting:  after all, Peter is essentially killing Richard here to save his own life.  But, alas, Wein incorporates a dodge here:  Vanessa, the Kingpin's wife (and Richard's mother), exposits that Richard had possession of Peter's life force long enough to "rejuvenate" his body.  Um, what now?  If he didn't need all the life force to rejuvenate, then wouldn't it also be true of Peter?  Eventually, wouldn't he have just...felt better?

[Sigh.]  At least we won't see the goons again.

Issue #165 is marginally better, if only because it's more focused.  Stegron breaks into a S.H.I.E.L.D. installation to get some sort of device to reanimate dinosaurs, so they can conquer the world and he can rule them.  He also kidnaps Dr. Connors' son to blackmail him into creating yet another device, but Connors is unable to complete it because he turns into the Lizard.  (Apparently the effects of the explosion from last issue -- when he was helping Spidey -- and the stress of Billy's kidnapping pushed him over the edge.)  Meanwhile, Peter confronts Flash about Mary Jane, and he tells Peter that MJ told him that she was a free agent.  However, since she apparently isn't allowed to have free will, Flash berates her off-panel for playing games, and Peter and she go on a date this issue.  (Did I mention that Peter threatened to give her a fat lip in issue #160?  No?  That Peter, he's sure a swell guy.  That said, I could see why MJ returns to him, because his hair is pretty amazing in this issue.  I wish that I could pull off that front curl!)  Also, Marla Madison is scanning JJJ, Jr.'s brain for...science?  I just don't know.

At this point, the problem is that these issues read more like they're from the 1940s than the 1970s.  Wein puts all his faith in various devices that go beyond the usual deus ex machina role.  So many villains employ devices that magically achieve their goals here that you have to wonder why Peter just doesn't swing around Manhattan with a device to change people's alignments.  (Paging "AXIS.")  It's just excessive, and it robs these issues of any natural tension arising from a challenge that Peter or the villain has to overcome to win.  Instead, they just pull out a device and their problems are solved!  [Sigh.]  At this stage, I'm much more interested in Peter's social life, particularly given that we're in that iconic period where he's starting to date Mary Jane.  But, given his bro-ish behavior towards her (no matter how time-period relevant), it's even hard to care about that part. 

Spider-Island #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I had really warmed to this series, so I'm disappointed to say that I don't feel like Gage really stuck the landing here.

Flash's "Hail Mary" play is actually a pretty solid one:  he uses Spidey's sonic suit to get past the Queen's scream and then has the symbiote take possession of her.  (On the downside, the cover totally spoils that surprise.)  The symbiote does as Flash asks, and it's actually a poignant moment:  it knows that it's sacrificing itself, and it does so because of its bond with Flash.  In possession of the Queen, it jumps off the skyscraper where the heroes have been fighting with her.

The problem is that this outcome is the exact opposite of what I expected it to be:  the Queen somehow survives and the symbiote dies.  Since when does a fall destroy a symbiote?  It's not like the rules of physics have ever seemed to bother them.  Conversely, no matter how strong the Queen is, how could she survive that sort of fall?  It just made no sense to me.

Moreover, the ending is a stretch, with Gage alleging that everyone lives happily ever after since they've all embraced their mutated states.  Instead of the Utopia that we see here, with everyone loving each other and playing together, I think you'd be much more likely to have some folks fraying at the seams.  After all, it's a pretty big deal to suddenly find yourself a vampire.

Overall, it was a solid tie-in series, but I do wish Gage had found a way to use the license to do anything he wanted to give us a better ending.   I sort of thought that this series might be the one where the heroes lose, and I'm disappointed that they didn't, as weird as it is to say that.

** (two of five stars)

Siege #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Of all the issues of the "Secret Wars" tie-in series that I've read (and it's a lot), this issue is the one with the most connection to the main event.

As we saw in "Secret Wars" #6, Thanos has a conversation with Ben Grimm that makes him realize that Doom has been playing him all this time.  By using Ben as the backbone of the Shield, Doom was able to get revenge on him for their years of animosity.  In this issue, we learn why Grimm would trust Thanos in the first place.  (Honestly, I hadn't even focused on that part in "Secret Wars" #6.)  Ben asked Leonardo da Vinci to use his "enlightenment canon" on him, allowing him to see the truth about Battleworld.  (Talk about a deus ex machina.)  Moreover, we learn that Thanos is responsible for uniting the denizens on the other side of the Shield.  From his comments, it's pretty clear that he created (or, at least, inspired) the Prophet, the mysterious revolutionary that we saw leading an army to Doomstatdt in "Secret Wars" #6.

In other words, if you're only reading the main title, you might want to pick up this issue.  Sure, the enlightenment canon is fairly ridiculous, but it answers questions that, as I mentioned, it didn't even dawn on me to ask when I was reading "Secret Wars" #6.  You don't even need to read the previous three issues of "Shield."  This issue can function as a stand-alone one.

If you have been reading this series, I'll say that Gillen wraps it up nicely.  That sense of camaraderie that I mentioned in my last review hadn't yet fully coalesced finally does so here.  After all, how else could this series end but with Abigail and Scott holding hands and facing the coming horde?  My only real complaint is that I didn't fully understand the purpose of Kang's time travel.  He used the Fury to clear the "chronomines" in the last issue, but I don't get why he wanted to return to the past in the first place.  It seems like he intended to do something more than just warn Abigail of the coming of Thanos (as he successfully did in issue #1).  But, I don't know what it is.

Overall, though, it ends better than it started.  In fact, Gillen seems to have written for the TPB here, since the series reads better as a continuous story than individual issues.  Now, we just have to wait to see where it all goes.  The end page says that hope now exists because the Shield fell, and I think that it's probably right.

*** (three of five stars)

Secret Wars #6 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'm going with bullet points here, because Hickman is (quite ably) juggling a lot of separate stories all at once:

- Timing remains an interesting issue in this event.  In this issue, Madelyne Pryor is the baron of Inferno, meaning that it happens after the events of the "Inferno" tie-in series.  However, Apocalypse is still the baron of the Domain of Apocalypse, meaning that it happens before the events of "Age of Apocalypse."  At some point, a fan-made timeline would really be helpful.

- Reed has sent out drones to trace the energy in Battleworld.  It all leads to Doomstadt, and Reed sends the Spider-Men to follow the trail.  Not surprisingly, they find themselves at the Molecule Man memorial.  They encounter Valeria there, since Franklin and his team also tracked Doom's energy signature to the statue.  To agree to keep their presence quiet, Valeria asks them if they (or any of their companions) killed Stephen Strange.  When they confirm that they didn't (and thus her hunch), she allows them to enter, and they come face-to-face with Owen Reece.

- Meanwhile, a lot of people are working to dethrone Doom.  Someone that I don't recognize named the Prophet is leading an army to Doomstadt, and Doom orders Apocalypse, Madelyne, Maestro, and Mr. Sinister to put down his rebellion.  (Mr. Sinister is not surprisingly plotting something separately.)  "Our" Reed is arguing with Ultimate Reed over whether they should kill Doom, since "our" Reed fears that doing so might destroy creation itself.  Elsewhere, Thanos convinces Ben Grimm -- the backbone of the Shield -- that Doom has been lying to him about the nature of Battleworld.  Finally, Namor and T'Challa arrive at the Hidden Isle of Agamotto, where they discover that Dr. Strange has stashed an Infinity Gauntlet and a "Siege Courageous," which lets the bearer transport between Battleworld's domains.  A recording that plays when T'Challa correctly provides the password ("Illuminatus") tells them that it may be the only way to stop Doom.  (One small note here is that I'm not sure how they learned of the Hidden Island.  Did that happen last issue?  Maybe in a tie-in series?)  For his part, Doom is aware -- at least indirectly -- of the numerous plots in action against him and seems to be getting concerned.

- We also get an example of pet peeve #1 here, since Thanos doesn't fight any zombies (as the cover depicts).

I had thought that this issue might provide a little more information about Doom.  After all, some of the tie-in series that recently ended -- particularly "Guardians of Knowhere" -- implied that the heroes have learned that Doom hasn't been truthful in saying that he needed the power of a god to save reality.  Although we've had hints of that in the main series, we don't have anything to even remotely confirm it.  It's still hard not to argue -- based solely on the main series -- that Doom did what he had to do to prevent all reality from imploding.  It looks like we're going to have to wait at least until next issue for that revelation.

In the meantime, it seems like the real test of Doom's power is going to be whether he can fight off the various threats on the horizon.  In addition to the hints about the origin of Battleworld, we've also had hints that Doom might not be as powerful as he claims.  I wonder if it'll be one of the rebels -- in opposing Doom -- that proves that he's not who he claims that he is.

*** (three of five stars)

Bloodshot Reborn #7 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Holy crap, I practically screamed at that last few panel.  Ray realizing that the "Hunter" cut off his hand and left it in the field to distract him with the nanites in his blood?  The Hunter holding a pitchfork and standing behind an unaware Magic?  Oy.  It was "Blair Witch" all over again.

The plot thickens here, though it does so slowly.  Festival and Hoyt talk to the mother of the boy that the Hunter killed last issue, and they learn that it wasn't Ray that did it.  They also meet Hoyt's CIA friend, and he gives them the information that he has on "Project Rising Spirit."  That information will apparently send them to New Mexico and possibly to something called Bloodshot Island.  The interesting part about these developments is that I'm now actually wondering if Festival and Hoyt don't wind up helping Ray in the end.  If they realize that it's Rising Spirit, and not him, that's the enemy, then I wonder if they're going to work together to put an end to it.  Or, maybe they'll just try to kill Ray.  Or, maybe Ray will have to kill them.  It could really go any way at this point.

Meanwhile, Kay returns , but Bloodsquirt has apparently jumped ship to the Hunter.  I really didn't see that coming, and Lemire uses that revelation to remind us just how powerful the Hunter is.  We really do have two Bloodshots at this point.  Of course, it's pretty much like Highlander:  there can be only one.  I'm sure that'll end well for everyone involved.

*** (three of five stars)

Midnighter #4-#5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I honestly don't have too much to say about this two-issue arc.  Midnighter kidnaps Dick to help him take down one of the guys using God Garden tech, though it seems pretty clear that the only reason that he did so was to see him naked in a sauna.  (Fair.)  Dick decides to stay on the case since the thief, named Akakyevich, experimented with the technology on innocent people.  For Akakyevich's part, he used these people to create something called the Beast Battalion, splicing together their bodies with animals and the tech.  However, he really wanted to get his hands on Midnighter's computer brain so he could sell it to militaries around the world.  Not surprisingly, the Abdominally Gifted Duo make pretty short work of the Battalion and him.  Along the way, we're treated to an incredible amount of flirting, like when Midnighter lets Dick save him in the aforementioned sauna simply because he enjoys hearing Dick scream his name.  Needless to say, it's all good fun.

*** (three of five stars)

Detective Comics #45 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This issue is really solid, from start to finish.

After reading "Batman and Robin Eternal" #1, I realized that we never really saw the Bat-family members mourn in the period of time when they would've thought that both Bruce and Dick were dead.  I imagine that they would've been devastated by the loss of both their guiding lights.  But, we never really saw a story focus on that loss.  It might've happened in "Red Hood/Arsenal" or "Teen Titans," but it didn't in "Batgirl," "Batman," or this title.  On some level, it's a reflection of how Bruce- and Dick-centric the Bat-family is:  DC can't keep them on the sidelines in the main titles long enough to focus on the other family members.  It's a shame, because the brilliance of Snyder's "Black Mirror" arc in this series was that he fully explored Dick's keen sense of Bruce's absence.  Instead, Snyder rushed introducing the amnesiac Bruce Wayne into "Batman."  To be clear, I'm really enjoying the story, so I'm not complaining.  But, I'm left feeling that we're missing an important piece of the puzzle.

That said, all the Bat-family authors have done an excellent job in dealing with the amnesiac Bruce (now that we have him).  They've shown the fine line that everyone has to walk around him.  In this issue, the Justice League arrives to recruit Bruce (and his detective skills) to solve a particularly pressing mystery.  Alfred is the ever-vigilant gatekeeper here, but Bruce overhears the conversation and allows Diana to use her Lasso of Truth to see if any semblance of the old Bruce remains.  It doesn't, and Takara makes Diana's conflicted emotions over that revelation obvious.  We're also treated to a poignant scene of Superman clasping Bruce's hands in his own hands and thanking him for his previous assistance to the League.  Both Tomasi and Takara make it clear that the League feels Bruce's loss keenly.

Instead, as Jim himself later says, the League is forced to go to Plan B:  namely, Jim.  They find him fighting off a group of F-15s whose pilots fell under the control of the Mad Hatter.  This fight scene is awesome, like "Top Gun" meets "The Dark Knight."  Takara can stay as long as he wants.  In fact, Takara really shows his range in the scenes preceding the fight sequence, where Jim is taking in a Little League game and realizing why he does what he does.  Jim looks relaxed for the first time (possibly ever), and it really matches the emotion that Tomasi wants us to feel, of a proud if weary warrior.  He also shows Jim's anxiety when the League asks them to solve the mystery that brought them to Wayne Manor.  After all, it's not every day he gets teleported to the frozen tundra to examine a giant skeleton.  But, it's also a reminder that Jim is a detective in his own right, and Diana essentially tells him that they'll focus on the super-heroics if he focuses on the mystery.

In other words, it's an emotional journey that captures this feeling of loss that I realized had been missing.  With the loss identified, everyone is now patting each other's backs and trying to find a way forward.  We'll all see where we go.

*** (three of five stars)

Batman and Robin Eternal #1 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I'm going to warn you now:  this review is not short.

Yes, I've returned for the second season.  After the unmitigated horror that "Batman Eternal" was, I pledged that I wouldn't do it to myself.  I all but took a blood oath.  Then, I discovered that it was going to be about all the Robins working together.  I still resisted subscribing at that point, because I figured that it'd be more of Bruce acting like an asshole and Jason fighting back tears all the time.  Then, I realized that Bruce wouldn't be part of the story (at least in the present) because he was no longer Batman.  Suddenly, I just couldn't help it.  What can I say?  I'm a sucker for sidekicks.

The good news is that it's a great start.  For one thing, DC (at least initially) avoids the mistake that it made with "Batman Eternal," where the cast of thousands of authors and artists made for inconsistent storytelling.  Instead, we've got some of the best doing what they do best here:  Snyder and Tynion on the plot, Tynion on the script, and Daniel on the pencils.  You can tell the difference immediately.  The guys sound like the guys.  Dick is charming, Jason is snarky, Tim is arrogant.  Most importantly, they interact in the way that you want them to interact.  I don't have to worry about Bruce's shadow remaining ever present.  When Dick talks about Alfred leaning on him to clean out the Batcave, Jason calls dibs on a few Batmobiles and suggests that they all hit a bar.  Tim reminds him that he's only 16 years old, and Jason tells him that they can find somewhere in Gotham for him to drink.  Tim asks Dick respectful questions, and Dick clearly exults in sharing the experience with the guys.  It's all exactly how I wanted it to go:  they're brothers on the town without dad watching over them (perhaps for the first time).  Moreover, Daniel is maybe the first artist that draws them in a way where they look different:  Jason and Tim are no longer just clones of Dick.  They're visually distinct, and it helps you seem them as clearer individuals, making for stronger bonds between them.  As I said, it is tight storytelling.

But, it's not all family reunions.  As happy as I am that the tone and tenor of the relationships are exactly how I want them to be, we also have a pretty intriguing plot.  I'm going to deliver a detailed summary here, because, if I learned anything from "Batman Eternal," it's that small details are going to be really important later.

The issue starts with a kid in Cairo seeing his/her parents killed in an alley, mirroring Bruce's story.  We then return to Gotham in the present day, where Dick is in a motorcycle chase with, in the words of his partner, Poppy, a "drugged-up techno-futurist weapons designer that has nothing to do with what Spyral sent [them] there for."  Tynion doesn't exactly make it clear why Dick is chasing the designer, since he doesn't seem at all connected to the subsequent plot.  But, it does set up the aforementioned reunion of the Robins, so I'm not complaining.  He narrates that he pulled in the Robins for help since he was working on a deadline:  his mission for Spyral was preventing someone from detonating a dirty bomb during the reopening gala of Gotham State University's Tower of Enlightenment.  (Dick wonders why Spyral would send him after such a small target, but Poppy tells him that it's not their job to ask questions.)  Once the guys finish the job, Dick changes into a professorial costume and arrives at the gala.  He also enters a long flashback sequence, telling Poppy that the Dynamic Duo confronted the Scarecrow there years earlier.  In fact, it was Dick's first case with Bruce, and they later traveled the world trying to find the Scarecrow after he slipped through their fingers that night.  Dick gets lost in the memory, until a group of armed children try to kidnap him.  (Ah, Gotham.)

The children tell Dick that Bruce never respected him and, ominously, that he paid "top dollar" to "upgrade" to the new model.  Dick evades their gunfire, and the kids tell him that they're not trying to kill him:  someone named "Orphan" will do that.  They tell him that "Mother" needs to tidy up her mistakes and that Dick is exactly that type of mistake.  Dick leaps through the window and heads to Poppy's van, but we learn that she's working for Mother as well when she opens fire on him.  He manages to grab the motorcycle in the van and flee.  Poppy notifies Orphan that they may now need to take "the others" off the table immediately.  Orphan reminds her that s/he doesn't work for Poppy as s/he watches Dick drive from the scene.  Poppy asks which target is the priority, and Orphan announces that s/he's going to take out the one that could lead them to Mother if they knew "how to look."

In flight, Dick finds that his communications are blocked (just as his hypnos failed against the children).  He's then knocked off his cycle by Cassandra Cain!  She makes short work of him, but he realizes that she's pulling her punches.  He asks why she is, and she then hands him a thumb drive.  (She also merely responds, "Mother," whenever he asks her a question.)  Elsewhere, Harper Row uses a device that she created to fry the computer in Batman's suit, preventing him from detaining her.  (He's still hunting down costumed heroes in Gotham.)  She goes home, and Cullen tells her that Spoiler left in a huff after Harper went patrolling on her own.  Cullen expresses concern that she's going to wind up dead like their mother, since she's insisting on going on patrol without the training that she was supposed to receive from Batman.  Harper tells him that she'll be fine, only to find Orphan waiting for her in her bedroom.  S/he announces that Harper is the "key to everything they cannot know" and the she must correspondingly die.

At the Batcave, Dick asks the Batcomputer about Mother and the Orphan, but it reveals that it has no records on them.  He then loads up the thumb drive, and a list appears.  It says that Mother's "children" must die before Phase 3, and it has a list of names that includes Dick, Jason, Tim, Harper, and Cassandra, as well as other names that I didn't recognize.  Dick expresses shock, and his voice activates a recording of Bruce.  Bruce tells him that this recording is his confession.  He sent Cassandra with the thumb drive if he fell "tonight," and he tells Dick that their international journey to capture the Scarecrow all those years ago was cover for a mystery that ran much darker.  Bruce thought that it was over, but he realizes that it wasn't if Dick had gotten this recording.  He warns Dick that Mother is more dangerous than he can imagine and that anyone could be under her control.  He tells Dick that Mother is his greatest sin and beseeches him to stay alive.  In the epilogue, the kid in Cairo kneels over his/her dead parents, and Batman is revealed to be the gunman.  He tells Mother via a comms link that everything went according to plan.

Honestly, I don't have all that much more to say, since Tynion is really just setting up the mystery here.  The big questions are obviously the identity of Mother and why Bruce would help her in killing the kid's parents.  (It seems possible that the kid is either Orphan or, a more remote possibility, Harper.)  But, we also have a more immediate mystery here, in the form of the recording.  Bruce seems to imply in the recording that he was going to confront Mother the evening that recorded it.  If he died, he left instructions for Cassandra to provide Dick with the thumb drive.  However, it's clear that he didn't die, raising the question why Cassandra is just now providing Dick with the information.  Did she hear Bruce had died and figured the instructions stand? 

As I said, it's too early to talk about the mystery, because it'll probably be a few issues before we understand the full extent of it.  But, if this issue is any indication of the story that we have coming, we really could be onto something here.

**** (four of five stars)

Inferno #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I initially gave this issue three stars, but, upon reflection, I decided to upgrade it to four stars, because Hopeless really delivers a kick-ass surprise here.  (As expected, we don't get a happy ending.)

The issue starts exactly where we left the team last issue, contemplating Sinister's offer of help to take down Illyana.  Sinister has used Tabitha's DNA to create clones but mixed said DNA with demon DNA:  he now has his own demonic Boom Boom Army.  Combined with Colossus' control of the Soulsword, you have a moment here where you think that the team might just win.  But, then, it all goes to hell.  Seeing the chance to avenge the years that she spent as Sinister's puppet, Madelyne uses her telepathy to have one of the Boom Booms incinerate him with a plasma bomb.  His death frees the Boom Booms from his control, and they systematically start killing X-Men, starting with Havok.  To make matters worse, Illyana appears with her own demon horde, after N'astirh told her about the gathering of her enemies in the sewer.  The X-Men are quickly overwhelmed, and Colossus makes his way to Illyana, with Domino and Tabitha in tow.  Illyana frequently reverts to her childhood self to prevent Pete from killing her, but Domino throws herself into the mix, convincing Peter to do the deed to save her.  (Good call, Dom.  Seriously.)  With the X-Men all dead, the trio leaves the domain as its completely overwhelmed by demons.  Madelyne steals the Hellfire spewing from Darkchilde's body, completing her takeover of the domain.

This entire series has been a solidly told story that answers all the questions that we had at the start.  For example, Madelyne does take over the domain, explaining why she was in charge at the start of "Secret Wars" #1.  Moreover, it's the sort of dark ending that I want more authors to embrace.  I mean, Hopeless kills off all the X-Men and the domain falls to a bad guy.  It may not affect the larger "Secret Wars" plot, but I'd call it one of the better tie-in series.

**** (four of five stars)

Hail Hydra #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This series continues to be one of the most solid of the "Secret Wars" tie-ins.  It helps that Remender is telling a narrowly constructed story.  Rather than trying to update the setting of a previous event, as many of the other authors are struggling to do, we know as little about this world as Ian does.  As such, we have the same goal as him:  defeat Zola, regardless of the details.

Ian puts that plan into action here, taking Ellie with him to see Zola, since he knows that Zola's too arrogant to see them as threats.  He's right, and, as usual, this arrogance costs Zola:  Ian is able to use Iron Man's device to lock Zola in Steve' body.  (Ian also knew that Zola wouldn't be able to resist possessing Steve's body.)  But, before Ian can kill Zola, Ellie succumbs to the symbiote disease and Captain Hydra and his men arrive to take down Ian.

I'm still not 100 percent sure if Ian is going to win this one, making it all the more exciting.  But, the best part of this series is bound to be the conversation between Ellie and Ian, where they talk about their shared struggle to live with the heroic legacies of their parents.  It's nice for Ian to get to express these feelings for the first time, even if it's to a sister that he never meets and loses quickly.  For Ian, it's as close to family as he gets.

*** (three of five stars)

E is for Extinction #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've previously mentioned that one metric for assessing "Secret Wars" tie-in series is whether they portray a realistic future of a previous event.  Burnham and Culver definitely accomplish that here.  Even better, they also satisfy another metric, using the "Secret Wars" setting as an excuse to kill off some major characters, maximizing the issue's impact.

We learn that Cassandra and Jean were both reading Professor X's mind when he shot himself all those years ago.  As a result, Jean "died" and formed the Phoenix Egg that we've already seen in previous issues.  However, it also meant that Cassandra and Charles' consciousnesses joined hers in the Egg.  The twins battled for control for years of Jean's mind for years until Cassandra finally won.  As we saw last issue, Charles then took control of Quentin's dead body to try to warn the X-Men.

In this issue, Cassandra has taken over some of Magento's students, and the X-Men and the remaining students have to hold off her army while Charles tries to defeat her.  However, as we've seen, the X-Men aren't as strong as they used to be, and Burnham and Culver use some of the Professor's cheesiest lines to show that he's not really in touch with this reality.  ("Hold the line, my X-Men, while I fight this battle on the psychic plane!")  "Jean" kills Scott when he tries to connect with her telepathically, Martha quickly takes out Glob Herman, Emma allows Sooraya to kill her as she grieves for Scott, Angela and Beak's kids are implied to have killed them (since they can't muster the will to fight them), the Stepford Cuckoos kill Hank, and Basilisk kills himself when he tries to kill Ernst.  It's a pretty efficient slaughter.

In the end, Logan convinces Charles to possess him, creating Weapon X.  It's Logan that gets to Jean's consciousness (since, unlike Scott, he still loved her), and they kill each other, ending Cassandra and Charles' lives as well.  In the end, it's seemingly revealed that the entire sequence of events was part of Xorn's plans to balance the cosmic scales.  (We seem him not wearing his helmet, with the Phoenix effect serving as his head.)

For me, the best part of this issue was the trolling of Charles' self-centered recklessness and Scott's eye-rolling earnestness.  It makes you realize just how better off the X-Men are without them.  (Sacrilege, I know.)  The ending is a little ambiguous, but, in a way, the authors are (good-naturedly) trolling Morrison in leaving it that way.  After all, does anyone really know anything about Xorn?  Is it surprising that he (and his origin and powers) are again an enigma here?

If I were Grant Morrison, I'd be really happy with this story.  I wasn't into the original version of it and this series took me a while to like.  But, the slow burn was worth it, because I think it's one of the more solid "Secret Wars" tie-in series by the end.

**** (four of five stars)

Justice League #44 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

O...K...let's try to figure out this one, shall we?

In the first story, Batman and GL travel the multiverse to get more information about the Anti-Monitor.  They go to the Crime Syndicate's Earth-3, and Bruce somehow picks up the Anti-Monitor's trail from his rampage across the planet.  They follow it to Qward, and Bruce realizes that the Anti-Monitor got his "powers" when he discovered and unleashed the source of the creation of the "anti-matter universe."  It appears to be the Anti-Life Equation, though I'm not totally sure of that, to be honest.  Meanwhile, in the secondary story, Diana and the rest of the League are trying to contain the damage from the Anti-Monitor's fight with Darkseid.  Power Ring manages to separate the two of them, and a frustrated Darkseid calls upon someone named the Black Racer to kill the Anti-Monitor.  However, the Anti-Monitor later merges him with the Flash.  This Black Flash drives straight through Darkseid as the Anti-Monitor fires a cone of energy at him, (allegedly) killing Darkseid.  Finally, on Apokolips, the anti-Superman appears ready to kick Lex's ass.

Although Johns does a good job of making this issue flow nicely (and Fabok is as on fire as he's ever been), I'll admit to being a little loss.  We're deep into the mythology of the DC Universe here, with the Anti-Life Equation, the Black Racer, Qward, etc.  If you're a loyal reader of DC Comics and a veteran of all the various Crises, it probably makes a lot more sense to you than it does to me.  But, I guess we'll see.  One of the reasons that I'm excited about this event is that it actually seems to be doing exactly what I need, introducing these "high mythology" concepts to new readers.  I can handle a little confusion for dramatic purposes, but Johns should probably spend next issue laying out the basics of these concepts as if they are new.  For the time being, I'm happy to be as lost as the main characters are.

*** (three of five stars)

Grayson Annual #2 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I get where Seeley and King were trying to go here, but I'm not sure that they actually got there.

For reasons that I don't think we learn, Superman is in Gotham and conveniently mistakes Dick parcouring for someone trying to commit suicide.  He manages to catch him mid-fall, and Dick then reveals himself by dropping his hypnos.  After that, we get an awkward few panels of terribly scripted exposition where each hero brings the other au courant on his situation.  (Dick is now a Spyral agent, Superman is now less powerful.)  Their reunion is interrupted when the Fist of Cain suddenly arrives to kill them, with the victor winning a lot of points in their assassination competition.  We spend the rest of the issue watching the duo try to evade the various assassins.  (I'm not sure we ever learned how they knew that the two of them were together.  It's possible that they were only after one of them and stumbled upon them together by accident.  But, I'm not going to re-read the issue to confirm that hunch.)  They soon discover that the Cainers are using Blockbuster's blood to give them metahuman powers, and Clark remembers that Bruce constructed a device to block Blockbuster's powers when they battled him together years earlier.  Since neither Clark nor Dick is a technical genius, Clark calls in Lex Luthor, who builds the device for him so that he owes him one.

Beyond the Lex ex machina ending, this issue suffers from the fact that Seeley portrays Superman like he's a teenager.  I don't follow Superman regularly, but he's not just different here because he doesn't have his powers.  His use of slang is just downright weird, and it got to the point where I actually felt like Seeley got Clark and Conner confused.  I'm giving it two stars only for Dick's meditation on the fact that he's a different guy from the hopeful one that Clark used to know and Clark's refusal to believe that (the only moment when Clark sounds like Clark).  Otherwise, the issue doesn't have much to recommend it, unless you enjoy Dick constantly joking about Clark catching him in his arms being emasculating.

** (two of five stars)

Batman Annual #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

One of the most infuriating parts of the "Superior Spider-Man" debacle was that Slott and Wacker insisted that Peter was truly dead.  It's not that I could never believe a story where Peter died; it's just that I didn't believe that one, where he loses his identity to one of his greatest enemies.  It's just not how Peter's story is going to end, and we all knew it.  Slott and Wacker insisting (in fairly obnoxious ways) that it was the end made it all the more frustrating.  Every time they went to great lengths to prove that Peter was dead, I'd roll my eyes harder.  At a certain point, I felt like I was dismissing 40 percent or so of everything that Slott wrote.

Snyder has taken a different approach here.  Sure, he's explained that the dionesium has completely rewired Bruce's brain so he can't ever again be Batman because he's lost all those years of training.  But, he's certainly been winking at us the entire time.  It's mostly small moments -- a comment here or a movement there.  But, we take that a step farther in this issue as Tynion shows us that Bruce might not be as incapacitated as we thought.

The premise of the issue is that Clayface, Mr. Freeze, and the Riddler want revenge on Bruce for funding Batman.  They're furious that he's gotten a happy ending where he doesn't remember his parents' death, so they're going to kill Alfred and Julie in front of him to re-create that trauma.  (It's a pretty solid, if super-villain-y, plan.)  But, Bruce manages to fire a shot that disables the jammer that the Riddler created to prevent Geri Powers (also captured) from calling Batman.  He also perfectly times activating a defense system that Alfred had told him existed just a few moments earlier.  It...raised my eyebrows.

Sure, it's not as if Bruce, I don't know, karate chopped the Riddler across the room and then insisted that your average Joe could've done the same thing.  It is theoretically possible that a regular human could do everything that Bruce does here.  But, something about these actions taken together clearly leaves you feeling that the old Bruce might not be as lost as everyone thinks that he is. 

That said, the brilliance of the story that Snyder and his collaborators are telling is that you wonder if it's a good thing if Batman is still in there.  Bruce has gotten his happy ending, and you have to wonder why you'd want to snatch that ending from him.  That feels like an ending.  As such, paradoxically, Snyder is making me believe that Bruce may not return by hinting that he will.  It's obviously a damn good reason to keep reading.

*** (three of five stars)

Years of Future Past #5 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

This entire series has been a mess, so it's no surprise that it ends the same way.

Cameron decides to kill Kelly given his (Cameron's) decision that mutants should all die, but Chrissie stops him and saves Kelly.  She eventually kills Cameron, since she realizes that he'd never stop until Kelly is killed and mutants exterminated.  The X-Men flee to Nightcrawler's church where they gather the remaining 100 or so mutants.  They hear sirens coming in their direction.  They assume that it's the authorities, but it could be ambulances, since the reader saw Kelly tells his troops not to kill Kitty when they had the chance.  The End.

Bennett tries to get philosophical here, ending the issue with Kitty contemplating one of the tigers that we've learned have taken over the city after the zoos were destroyed.  Cameron had used them as a metaphor, noting that they returned from the brink of extinction but did so as monsters.  Norton portrays them almost as zombies in terms of their thirst for blood, but their revival as a species has nothing to do with some sort of virus.  It's just part of their nature.  In that way, Cameron misses the most obvious metaphor.  Rather than arguing that mutants will return from extinction as "monsters," he could argue that mutants have always been monsters.  Just like the tigers, they will only engage in battle, so why resurrect them as a species?  In other words, Bennett failed even at using this metaphor in the most obvious way.

In other words, it was all simply a mess.  This issue was marginally better than the previous ones, mostly because it is the only one without a rambling monologue and excessive moralization.  But, the sins of the convoluted plot remain.  I could continue (particularly about everyone's bizarre motivations, like Cameron's sudden genocidal rage) but I won't.  Let's just forget about this one when we talk about "Secret Wars" in the future, shall we?

** (two of five stars)

X-Tinction Agenda #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Guggenheim really wraps up this series nicely.  The two teams are forced to work together to take down a resurrected Hodge, and Di Giandomenico and Woodard do a great job of showing us just how epic of a battle it is.  Unlike "Age of Apocalypse," Guggenheim and Di Giandomenico have always done a great job of making it easy to keep everyone's allegiances straight.  (I'm not sure what technique they used that Nicieza and Sandoval didn't, but there you have it.)  As such, when the two teams combine, it makes it all the more impactful, since you know why it's a big deal.  Moreover, it really sets up the ending:  Havok, Rahne, and Tabitha sacrifice themselves to kill Hodge, and Rachel realizes that the teams need to unite as the X-Men once again to resurrect a devastated Genosha.  If the test of these "Secret Wars" tie-in series is whether or not they portray a believable future of previous events, this one really succeeds.  It might not be the best of the bunch, but it's a solid entry in the contest.

*** (three of five stars)

Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps #4 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

I've been dreading this issue, since it represents Kelly Sue DeConnick's last Captain Marvel story.  As she notes in her letter at the end of the issue, DeConnick launched "Captain Marvel" in 2012.  I really think that it's fair to say that she's responsible for Marvel's commitment to improved diversity as a result of the success of the series and its successor.  It may be a bold statement, but I think that it's an accurate one.

It's hard to remember that it wasn't clear that we'd be where we are now just three years ago.  But, reading some of my posts from that time, a lot of focus was definitely put on the fact that Carol was Marvel's only series featuring a solo female character.  No "Ms. Marvel," or "Silk," or "Spider-Gwen," or "Spider-Woman," or "Thor."  It was just Carol.

Needless to say, it was a high-risk/high-reward endeavor.  If DeConnick failed to grab people with the story that she was telling, then it easily would've been seen as a referendum on diversity in comics.  Women can't sell comics!  Don't push us outside our comfort zone ever again!  I don't understand the trolls that feel threatened by the concept of diversity, but some of them seriously, seriously are.

Thankfully, they were disappointed.  DeConnick's Carol combined strength with vulnerability and resolve with humanity.  DeConnick also assembled around her just about the best supporting cast in the history of comics.  She created a dedicated (ahem, really dedicated) following, and Marvel realized that maybe, just maybe, it could sell comics that featured characters that weren't just straight white guys.

I really do think that DeConnick and her collaborators did that.  They opened that door, and I wanted to take this time to thank her for that.  Thanks, Kelly Sue, for giving us Carol and everyone that comes after her.  Trail, blazed.

(In terms of this actual issue, it's OK.  It doesn't really resolve anything, per se, since we don't see what Carol sees when she and the Banshees enter space.  But, it does underline the importance of Carol's supporting cast, as it's Helen and Kit that allow Carol to get past the Thors and into space in the first place.  Is it a little overly convenient, that they both have this sudden change of heart?  Yes.  Am I willing to buy it for DeConnick's last issue writing Carol?  Yes.)

** (two of five stars)

Book of Death #3 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

We don't directly get any new answers here, but we're certainly a lot closer to them.  It's still possible that Darque is a future version of David (returned to complete the cycle of corruption), but I'm less sure of that now.  Venditti shows us that David hasn't yet become totally corrupted, as he tries to grow a plant in the darkness and uses the telepathic link that Tama opens between them to ask for help.  But, if Darque isn't David, then we still don't know who he is or how he became corrupted.  However, it is clear that my hypothesis that corrupted Geomancers bring on the Dark Ages that the Immortal Enemy initiates in killing Geomancers isn't true; we learn here that Darque is the first person ever to steal a Geomancer's power.  Needless to say, next issue should be suitably epic.

*** (three of five stars)

Grayson #12 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Man, this issue is solid.

The premise of the issue -- at least, the premise that you're supposed to believe -- is that Agent Zero has given Dick 24 hours to tell his loved ones in Gotham that he's alive before he returns to work for Spyral.  (She half-heartedly threatens to reveal Bruce Wayne's identity as Batman if he doesn't return.  You'd think that a spymaster would know about Bruce's current "situation.")  Dick returning to Spyral makes sense in the context of the larger story that Seeley and King are telling.  After all, it's not like Dick can exactly leave Spyral if he knows that it's still out there collecting superheroes' identities (even if we still don't know why it's doing so).  But, we also understand why he needed to return to Gotham, at least for a time.  Seeley and King made it clear last issue that he was so lonely after Bruce stopped answering his calls that he couldn't take it anymore.  Dick really conveys that loneliness here as he encounters his allies, nay, his family -- Alfred, Bruce, Tim, Jason, Barbara, and Damian.  The reunions with the last four form the emotional core of the issue, and it's the type of story that we just don't see anymore with the dissolution of the Bat-family.  Even Jason shows emotion here, punching Dick for making him go to his funeral.  You understand why Dick couldn't take his separation from them any longer.  He gives each one of them a memento -- Bruce's first Batarangs to the guys, the trapeze that Babs and Dick used on their first date to her, the sword that Bruce used to fight Ra's al-Ghul the first time to Damian -- and tells them how much they mean to him.  (The reunion with Damian is perhaps the best, even if Janin's drawing of their cheek-to-cheek hug is a little...odd.)

But, the twist is that Dick has returned to Gotham to recruit help.  His speeches to the family uses a code that Tim, Jason, Babs, and Damian recognize, telling them to break open the items that he gave them to reveal instructions.  Damian is sent to take out a member of Spyral, torturing him to give up his password.  Jason and Tim -- in a move from "Mission:  Impossible" -- use the password to send Babs a file.  She then uses Checkmate's systems to read it.  The result?  Babs is able to hack into hypnos, revealing to Dick that Agent Zero is Luka Netz.

Now, it's not all flawless, particularly when it comes to trying to unravel the super-spy stuff.  Seeley and King don't really explain how the password that Damian obtained could so easily be used to break into hypnos.  (Shouldn't it be a little more secure?)  Also, I'm not sure what they're going to do with the guy that Damian tortured.  Are they going to keep him in a cell so that he never tells Spyral that Damian wanted the password in the first place?  Also, it's unclear why Dick decides that it was so urgent to break into hypnos.  He seems to want to know Zero's identity, but, again, we're not told why he needed that information now.  We learned last issue that Agent Zero was Dr. Netz's sister, though I thought that it was Kathy Kane, not this Luka woman.  But, we don't know why she's suddenly active.  We first (and last) saw her when she killed Minos in issue #8.  We know nothing about her goals for Spyral or why her sister is warring with her.  In reality, it probably would've made more sense to send Helena after Dick.  As such, why would Agent Zero risk emerging from the shadows to do it?  Plus, even if she did risk it, why would Dick decide before she did so that he needed to break into hypnos to know her identity?  Helena is running the show right now, and he knows what she looks like.  It seems likely that it all has something to do with the developments in issue #11, but I can't for the life of me tell you what it is.

But, that said, it's still an enjoyable issue.  We finally ditch the ridiculous situation where the Bat-family doesn't know Dick is alive, and everything feels a little more straight-forward at this point.  It seems more and more likely that Dick is going to take down Spyral and then resume his life under a new costumed identity not linked to Nightwing.  But, at some point, we're really going to have to get more clarity on Spyral and stop the Morrisonesque series of distractions and diversions.  For the time being, though, it was just nice to see the family together, and I can't wait to get more of that.

*** (three of five stars)

Batgirl #44 (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Wow, this issue is a mess.  I'm as surprised as you are that I'm saying it about this title, but there we have it.

First, I've read the issue twice (and certain parts three times), and I'm still not entirely sure I understand the plot.  As best as I can tell, Jeremy's crazy ex-girlfriend, Lani Gilbert, was furious that freelancers that she hired for her defunct company, Gilcom, left.  (She apparently doesn't understand the point of freelancers?)  She blackmailed Jeremy with an old hard-drive that showed that he plagiarized his Master's thesis, getting him to use a device to swipe the bio-metric data of some students.  She then used this data to open the doors for the tigers, effectively framing them for the murders of the freelancers.  Meanwhile, she used Jo to intercept her illegal shipment of Bengali tigers, claiming the insurance on the "lost" equipment supposedly in the containers.  She also knew that she'd somehow come into contact with Batgirl, so she created a device that could activate her gadgets remotely.  Qadir later examines the device's code and finds that it essentially "re-wrote time."  (We're not told how resetting the internal clock would activate Barbara's foam bomb, but I'm trying just to go with it.)  Separately, Luke miraculously recognizes non-native code in the device's code as Ralph Dean's, and he tells Barbara that he worked for Gilcom, drawing the connection to Lani that Babs needed.  (We're also not told why Ralph's code is mixed into the larger code.  We learn that it apparently caused kernel panic, but I'm not sure if it's that or the screwed up internal clock that caused the bomb to explode.)  In the end, with the help of Alysia and (unbeknownst to Babs) Frankie, Babs saves Jo and defeats Lani.  Babs later tells Luke the story, and they share a kiss.  Meanwhile, Frankie has developed a neural link to Barbara's bike.  (It's how she helped save Babs in the fight with Lani.)

If you couldn't tell from the non-linear nature of that summary, the issue is all over the place.  Fletcher and Stewart never give us any reason why Gilbert finally lost her marbles.  Jeremy says that she's always been obsessed with people following her orders to the letter, and I think that we're supposed to conclude that the loss of her company drove her over the edge.  We're also not told that, really.  Moreover, we're not told why she's obsessed with tigers.  We're supposed to believe that she's enough of a genius to create a device that can jam Barbara's gadgets, but she apparently isn't smart enough to know that her tiger shtick would be pretty easily traced to her?  She couldn't have just shot the freelancers?  She had to release tigers into the officers?  Plus, she goes through all the trouble to frame the students for the murders, but Alysia is easily able to track the "computer components" shipment in her activist group's e-mail to Gilcom?  Really?  Moreover, we've got Barbara's sudden relationship with Luke and the unexpected fall of Jeremy to make the issue even more emotionally confusing.

In other words, it's all just too much too fast.  We needed at least another issue in this arc, to give the authors some time to delve into Gilbert's motives, at the very least.  Instead, she's reduced to just a crazed woman with control issues, making it seem like Fletcher and Stewart are taking inspiration from a particularly disliked ex-girlfriend or mother.  This issue feels like we've returned to the low points of the Simone run, with the random villain-of-the-week never making any sense beyond the immediate needs of the story.  Hopefully we'll be able to put it behind us and never speak of it again.

* (one of five stars)