New Comics - The DC Edition! (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Batman Incorporated #5:  This issue is an improvement over the previous two issues, in that it actually has a (mostly) linear narrative, so we actually got somewhere.  Batman and El Gaucho follow Scorpiana's trail to the Falklands; Batwoman has also followed the trail of the missing Marines there as well.  Moreover, a new player (the Hood, who I initially thought was Azrael) joins the search.  We learn that the Argentines and the Brits are going to go to war over ouroboros, which is allegedly some fifth form of matter and under the control of Dr. Dedalus.  However, beyond that, Morrison leaves several loose ends.  Batwoman was, if I remember correctly, following the trail of the three murdered Marines; we learn they were killed and replaced before arriving at the Falklands, but it's unclear why they were killed and who replaced them.  My guess is the Leviathan figure who rescued Dr. Dedalus, since one of his henchmen utters "Hail Leviathan" before he dies.  But, it's still unclear what Leviathan's motives are.  (I had to do some Internet research to chase down my vague recollection of the character who -- thank you, Internet -- appeared in "Batman:  The Return.")  It's also unclear how he sprung Dr. Dedalus, who was allegedly so trapped on the island that he had been unable to leave for decades.  However, we were never really told how the British superheroes who were killed trapping him on the island did so, so I guess it makes sense that we're not told how whatever they did was undone.  We also never really get any clarity on the Kathy Kane issue, other than Batman, Batwoman, and El Gaucho referencing her in passing.  I know it's not Morrison's style to spoon feed us information, but I still feel more annoyed by the way this arc unfolded than intrigued.  The art continues to be beautiful, but I just don't know if it's enough to keep me going.  I loved his run in "Batman and Robin," but here I'm just not sure if I'm sufficiently intrigued to do the work a Morrison book requires.  I guess if I find myself in a lull of comics, I could re-read "Batman:  The Return" and the first two issues of this arc.  But, am I going to have to do so with EVERY issue of "Batman Incorporated?"  At this point, I think I'll have re-read issue #3 four times and issue #4 three times!  Given how much I hated issue #3, it's really hard to motivate.  I think I'm just going to consider it done and hope we get somewhere next issue. 

Detective Comics #876:  Scott Snyder gives us a brand new mystery here while at the same time developing a key ongoing sub-plot.  A killer whale's body is found in a bank's headquarters, and its stomach contains the dead body of the personal assistant to the owner, Sonia Branch, who just happens to be the daughter of Tony Zucco, the man who killed Dick Grayson's parents.  Dick and Commissioner Gordon have another of their meetings in the Wayne crime lab, where the Commissioner tells Dick that his son has returned to Gotham and asks him to meet with him and give the Commissioner his honest assessment.  Batman approaches Branch, who rebuffs him, but then eavesdrops on her conversation with a man blackmailing her.  Her blackmailer is a luxury-car dealer cum gun runner, and Bats finds himself in trouble when the dealer's henchmen get the jump on him.  I continue to be impressed by how well Snyder paces a story.  I particularly liked the seven pages Snyder dedicated to Dick and Commissioner Gordon's conversation.  The art in this sequence is evocative of the first time they met in the crime lab a few issues ago, reinforcing the sense that we're seeing Dick and the Commissioner really build their relationship here, case by case.  I can't say I'm overly intrigued by the immediate case at hand -- why the car dealer/gun runner is blackmailing Branch -- but I am intrigued by Dick's eventual meeting of James Gordon, Jr. and how the connection between Branch and Zucco will become relevant to this story.  Even if the primary plot doesn't interest me all that much, it's still a joy watching Snyder unfurl a story.

Teen Titans #94:  I had already decided to drop this title before I read this issue, but reading it didn't convince me I had made a mistake.  This issue is b-o-r-i-n-g.  We're supposed to be all a-twitter because Wonder Girl is missing, but I really can't summon the energy for it.  I've been collecting this title since issue #81, and I have to say that it's just been aggressively morose.  I get that it's about teenagers, but I've never really gotten the sense that anyone is even remotely enjoying themselves.  (Superboy himself alluded to that in his own title.)  I'd normally keep going until at least the current arc ended, but I can't say I care, so it's gone.  Bye, Titans.  Hope you all get sorted soon. 

New Comics!: The Teens Edition (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Avengers:  The Children's Crusade #5:  OK, now we're getting somewhere.  After the somewhat odd (and ridiculously-named) "Avengers:  The Children's Crusade - Young Avengers" one-shot, we see Iron Lad fully intervening in the timestream, not only by saving Wanda and Billy from Wolverine (as he did last issue) but by bringing the Young Avengers and the Scarlet Witch into the past, or, more precisely, the moment Jack of Hearts blew up Ant-Man at the start of "Avengers Disassembled."  I'm torn on how I feel about the events in this issue.  Focusing just on the issue itself, it's exactly what I was hoping we would get.  The action moves quickly, it has funny lines, and we at least get to see some progress in the plot.  I actually gasped at the last page, the reveal that the Scarlet Witch was back, so clearly Heinberg is doing something right.  Focusing on the larger story the series is telling, though, I'm worried.  I liked Ant-Man so, to be honest, I'd be excited to have him return.  If it ends there, I'm good.  But, this issue reads like a thinly-veiled attempt at ret-conning not only "Avengers Disassembled" but also "House of M."  I mean, on some level, it makes sense that Iron Lad would want to make Stature happy and help her to see her dad again.  I can see how Patriot would be unable to stop him from doing that, despite accurately predicting what would happen in that event.  But, the fact that Iron Lad swears his technology works and, surprise, it doesn't just strikes me as overly convenient.  The fact that it's such a deus ex machina makes me feel that the editors are more concerned with undoing Wanda's actions than making us believe the story.  If they go all the way here and undo the mutant genocide, I have to wonder what the whole point of "Second Coming" and Hope Summers was.  I mean, it won't have been that big of a deal that Hope activated five new mutants if, a few months later, the Scarlet Witch is just going to re-activate all the depowered mutants anyway.  The "House of M" event has brought something unique to the X-Men, giving the team a certain focus that it lacked in previous years, when it was just Magneto v. all.  The introduction of Hope (who herself veers toward deus ex machina status) was at least allowing it to be undone slowly and elegantly.  Having Wanda just wave her hands and undo it would be cheap, and it would make some of the interesting stories still left to be told in a post-"Second Coming" world moot.  I complained before that not enough was happening in this book, but, now, I wish I was more careful in my wishing, because I'm worried where we're going here.  If it ends with the resurrection of Ant-Man, cool.  If it goes further, I'm concerned. 

Batman Beyond #4:   So far, "Batman Beyond" stories have existed on two levels:  the plot itself, focusing on the near-future present in which the comic book is set, and the back story, revealing - slowly - where this universe fits in Batman continuity.  This issue incorporates two significant elements of the current Bat-books -- "Batman, Incorporated" and the Unternet -- into the Batman Beyond Universe.  After having his identity revealed publicly, Dick Grayson announces that he was, indeed, Nightwing, the first employee of "Batman, Incorporated," and ceased being the costumed hero due to a catastrophic accident (he's wearing an eye-patch, which I'm guessing was part of it).  The back-up story involving Batman's best friend, Max, mentions the Unternet, which has appeared frequently in "Red Robin."  The "Batman, Incorporated" angle is clever; we see here more of the idea, elaborated in the other Bat-books, that "Batman" could've been multiple different people, a clever dodge that, to be honest, I didn't initially anticipate when Bruce revealed himself as Batman's financial backer.  As always, the Bruce/Dick relationship is the core of the Bat-books, so it'll be interesting as more is revealed showing us why the two aren't speaking.  The plot itself isn't super strong independent of the back story, but Beechen is building a world here, so I'm happy to give him the time to do it. 

Teen Titans #93:  Meh.  I continue not being super-impressed with this series.  This story's OK in a totally formulaic way.  Red Robin narrates about how they're all trying to be more than sidekicks, someone gets zapped into another dimension and the other Titans have to go find her (because it's never a boy), Kid Flash acts impulsively, Ravager is a jerk, etc., etc.  Even the love triangles are pretty boring.  I miss Damian, whose all-too-brief stay was the only thing that seemed to move the characters outside their very well-established portrayals.  We saw a positive side of Rose (and a negative side of Cassie and Connor) that we hadn't seen before.  I'll stay for the conclusion of this arc, but, if it doesn't get better, I think I'm done, sadly.

New Comics! (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

People, I'm reading comics like it's my job.  This double shipment is killing me!  OK, onto the show... 

Avengers #10:  I'm digging the Infinity Gems storyline.  It occasionally gets a little confusing keeping track of the three different teams of Avengers involved in the pursuit of the gems, but Bendis does a reasonable job keeping everyone well defined.  It's fun to see characters who don't normally interact get to do so (Ant-Man and Iron Fist, etc.).  Although I normally enjoy JR JR, the art in this issue looks a little rushed, particularly the fight in the Danger Room.  Again, it's probably hard to draw that many characters in one book, but the sloppiness of the art did kind of detract from the plot, since it was occasionally hard determining who was doing what to whom.  At any rate, I'm looking forward to the Thor/Parker throw-down coming next issue! 

Captain America #614:  OK, it's kind of a ridiculous complaint, but I think Ed Brubaker is actually doing too good of a job here making me care about the characters and the story.  I'm fully invested in the Bucky Barnes story and, honestly, it's starting to get stressful to read.  I mean, we really haven't had a win in a while.  After the "Trial of Captain America" arc ends, I'm kind of hoping Bucky gets to go to Tahiti with Natasha to investigate, I don't know, a cult of evil bunny worshippers or something.  You know, face something a little less stressful than having to decide to let a super-villain spring him from jail, where he's cooling his jets while he's on trail for murdering thousands of people while under mind control, so that he can save his girlfriend and best friend from dying when the daughter of his arch-nemesis blows up the Statue of Liberty with them in it.  I mean, hell, having to fight Dr. Doom naked would probably be a vacation at this point.  But, stressfulness aside, this arc continues Brubaker's amazing work on this title.  Also, the Nomad back-up feature continues to be a great surprise.  I didn't think much of Nomad when her back-up feature started, but I'm definitely reading as much for her as I am for Bucky.  This book is one of the few that merits the $3.99 price tag. 

Detective Comics #873:  Scott Snyder continues to write Dick Grayson better than anyone out there, making "Detective Comics" far and away my favorite Bat-book (which, after all, is saying a lot, considering how many of them there are).  When Daniel and Morrison focus on characterization in "Batman" and "Batman and Robin," it's generally just on the Dick/Damian relationship.  "Detective Comics," however, is much more about Dick Grayson as Batman, and I really find that storyline the most compelling.  In terms of the plot, this arc wraps up really nicely.  It's the kind of straight-forward detective story done really well that you expect from the title.  We see the totality of Dick's world here (his interactions with Commissioner Gordon and Babs are both poignant and funny), and it's a difficult one, with glimmers of hope but still a lot of shadows as he struggles with becoming the Bat.  I loved the art (and not just because Dick was so often in his underwear).  Jock really conveys a gritty, unseemly Gotham City that is all its own and matches Snyder's vision of the city perfectly.  It's not just a dirtier New York City that I feel like most artists give us; it's its own monster.  Honestly, this arc is going to be considered a classic in a few years; it's the best Batman story I've read in a long, long time.  Well done all around, gentlemen! 

Red Robin #20/Teen Titans #92:  Yay, Teen Titans cross-over!  Nicieza has done a great job of keeping "Red Robin" moving forward an ongoing storyline, issue by issue.  Everything builds off the previous stories, and the first issue of this cross-over is no different, bringing us the repercussions of Tim's shenanigans in Moscow from the previous arc.  This issue sets up the plot of the cross-over, with Tim needing to track down the Calculator, who's trying to maintain his control over the Unternet.  I'm a little confused why the Calculator doesn't take the same approach to Mikalek, who appears to be controlling the Unternet now (which you'd figure would piss him off more than Tim's cyber-squatting).  But, at least it makes sense that he wouldn't be happy with said cyber-squatting regardless.  The second issue of the cross-over, "Teen Titans" #92, reminds us just how bad the Tim/Damian relationship has gotten.  I've got a soft spot for Damian, so it's tough to see him get rejected by the Titans and, implicitly, Tim.  But, the title is "Teen Titans," after all, and it's totally believable that a group of teenagers would have less patience for a kid like Damian than Dick would.  I'm glad to see Tim re-join the group, because I could only handle the Cassie/Conner drama for so long.  It'll be nice to have a new element to shake up the title a bit. 

Secret Avengers #9:  I keep forgetting Ed Brubaker is writing this title until I get to the end of an issue, realize how much I enjoyed it, and look to see who wrote it.  The first few issues had me whelmed, but I've enjoyed this arc.  As he does on "Captain America," Brubaker keeps adding layers of complexity to the plot without getting lost in the details.  (Most of the Bat-book writers could really learn a lesson from him.  I'm looking at you, Tony Daniel.)  Mike Deodato keeps giving us shirtless Steve Rogers, so I'd be remiss if I didn't thank him.  I'm excited to see what happens next issue, particularly if we get some more insight into the Shadow Council.