Week 39
James : We start off this week following Natasha and some other new hero whose name I can’t be bothered to remember as they try to get to the bottom of what caused all of Luthor’s heroes to fall out of the sky like caped lemmings. One of the scientists is blown up in his lab, removing most of the incriminating evidence. Things get worse for Natasha when her new boyfriend turns out to be Everyman who has been eating said boyfriend to take his powers. Classy.
Mark: An explosion in Lex central. God this issue and next are going to be torturous to review. I suppose we should care about these characters, but…
James : Ralph is in the remains of Atlantis and comes across the “new” Aquaman. Not reading the new title, I’m not sure how this fits in with the OYL book?
Mark: Looking in on Ralph and the Fate helmet also gives us a glimpse of the original Aquaman during the missing year. Once again you have to wonder about the timeline they came up with for the One Year Later as I cannot fathom (sorry) how we are supposed to figure that in 3 months we get to the position of the original Aquaman being the Watcher for the new Aquaman. Quite a nice touch with the ring being given away as part of Ralph’s trials. Not an ominous choice at all.
James : Obtaining the link from the sea beastie is quite good, I didn’t think Ralph would give up the wedding ring though.
James : And we’re back on Monster Island with the mad professors. I think there are some big clues as to some developments obviously put in here, such as the suspendium, and the unknown whereabouts of Mister Mind. Doctor Tyme is kind of a funny chap, I assume he will be bumped off in the near future.
Mark: 52 seconds still missing. Three Horsemen still equalling four. Will Magnus might not be mad. I just feel sorry for the Metal Men. They get cut up in JLA and then superstar Pat Lee will be drawing them. What a life for those poor robots.
James : Good to see a Metal Man, looks like being starved of drugs hasn’t been a hindrance to Will Magnus at all.
James : The Black Adam family have a gardening problem this week.
Mark: Tragedy is coming to Kahndaq – wonder where the Four Horsemen went to. It’s this sequence that suffers from the weakest art of the issue.
Mark: Tragedy also comes to Jake from Infinity Inc. Though we hear he goes great with a nice wine. This is one of the weirdest sequences, setting up Everyman as a loony villain who must be due a big action sequence where he is brought down. What do you think? Now, no sneaking a glance ahead.
Mark: And we finish on Luthor getting super powers. The man who fought the alien with his human prowess and abilities, always finding himself forgotten when the city he had built up looked to the flashy guy with the cape. As the DCU writers push Luthor back towards his old evil scientist shtick it seems to be at odds with the character we’ve been following since Man of Steel.
James: Things get worse when Luthor manages to give himself superpowers and proceeds to smack Natasha about. Well, at least some good came from this issue then.
James : Origin this week is the modern Mr. Terrific. Mr. Terrific is a great character and hopefully this will make him a little better known. Nice art by Van Sciver.
Mark: The art on the origin this month is an improvement on the last few weeks. A nice eye on the layout and it looks a bit more special.
Week 40
Mark: I went into this issue hoping for either a) mass deaths of all those connected with the dullest plot ever, or b) some spectacular issue that makes the whole boring sequence worthwhile in the end.
James : This is probably the most clichéd opening page I have seen for a damn long time. Oh, no, the baddy has your niece, quick - suit up and go and rescue her! Still, even I have to admit it’s good seeing Irons in the armour again and kicking some ass on his way to Luthor. Well, at least until he gets attacked by a giant crab.
Mark: Everyman after the weirdness of last issue is despatched in a bizarre sequence that further emphasises the pointlessness of this whole storyline.
James : The Luthor/Steel fight is like watching a Michael Bay movie. How come Steel is burnt to pieces by Luthor’s heat-vision? Or how does having a steel hammer rammed through you not really, really hurt and cause you to bleed all over the floor?
Mark: The fight between Luthor just does not make sense. How is he not hurt by the laser blasts or the impaling? No one seems to where the robotic hand he sports comes from. Why is it even here? Why is Lex Luthor acting like this?
James : Hmm, I am out of the loop, when did Steel get a robotic hand?
Mark: After all this time this is how we ended the Infinity Inc storyline. What a monumental waste of time and characters.
At least it’s over. The fight wasn’t even interesting. If anyone can figure the point of all of this then please let us know. 12 issues left. Please DC no more Steel.
James : Back over to the Black Adam family, and it looks like Osiris’ powers have gone bad and are corrupting the lovely land of Khandaq. We all know this isn’t going to go well. Cross your fingers for a Kid Miracleman moment.
Week 41
James : Do you think there are swathes of bounty hunters that all have names like “Fred the Hunter” and “Barry the Hunter”? Anyway, Molek the Hunter has appeared out of nowhere and is attacking what’s left of our stranded space heroes. Starfire gets injured, making her the 500th character to be injured in this series so far.
Mark: Molek is recently out of Bounty Hunting school. George the Hunter was just behind him, but pipped at the post.
James : As seems to be the case with this ever-fluctuating series, the last 5 pages are excellent. Adam Strange has one of the best monologues in the series here, given more emphasis because we’ve been there with them for all this time. And of course, the appearance of at least one decent Green Lantern.
Mark: It still doesn’t offer the awe and majesty a sequence like this should do.
James : Nanda Parbat, and did I miss a memo or something: the Question is dead? I don’t think that was made all that clear when his last words were to do with butterflies. Hmmph. I haven’t seen a body yet, so I believe nothing.
Mark: No I think we were supposed to accept that that was his death sequence. I do hope that this was all a big fake out by the Question. Roll on the retcon that can return him to us.
James : Ok, I’m tired now, who is the other woman with the monks? Is it meant to be Wonder Woman?
Mark: Probably, though it does mean she’s not long been in position as a secret agent when her own series starts. Another inconsistency in the timeline.
James : Say hello to Ralph Dibny, cripple tormenter! Nice work Ralph, I think the Helmet of Fate is taking you for a ride here, no good will come of it.
Mark: Ralph is in fact building a go cart and the helmet of fate is in fact his crash helmet. I quite like the use of the Demons Three. They appeal to the old JLA fan in me.
James : Starfire origin this week. The artwork is awful. I’m not sure if it’s meant to be some sort of mix between an Image comic and the Teen Titans cartoon, or just plain bad.
Mark: I think we are sensing that this was not art to James’ tastes. All in all this issue was one of those where they were just filling time.
Week 42
James: Week 42 opens with Montoya still sat in the ice cave, confronted with possible visions of her fate, namely not having to worry about putting make-up on again.
Mark: You’d think 42 weeks in she’d have picked up on the subtle hints by now.
James: The majority of this issue focuses on Ralph Dibny as he enters the endgame of his spiritual quest to be reunited with his wife, Sue. Events move forward in this storyline rather quickly here, effectively bringing Ralph’s quest to a rather definite end. In Fate’s tower in Salem, they are putting together the last parts of the ritual that will enable Ralph to step into the underworld and hopefully pull Sue out. What actually happens is that Ralph places the Helmet of Fate to his skull and pulls the trigger…
James: It would appear that Faust has been masquerading as Fate as this time in an attempt to trade Ralph’s soul to Neron in return for his own. What follows is a lot of Ralph relating that he has in turn being playing Faust for a long time with the intention of using Faust as a bargaining tool with Neron.
Mark: The reveal of Faust is not unsurprising as it’s been guessed by various people. It does beg the question as to why the assembled magicians of Shadowpact did not notice something magical was going on when this all started.
James: The crux of the story appears to be the wishing gun that Ralph has been carrying around all these weeks. More than an ordinary revolver, it allows the user to ask for a wish when they pull the trigger. It turns out that Ralph made a wish a while ago that has driven Faust to the point we find them at. I find this rather a lot to accept, but as a piece of writing from left-field, I’ve seen a lot worse. And it is kind of good to see a number of plot points pulled together.
Mark: I wonder if I’d have accepted it better in a monthly format, because after all these weeks following Ralph around you do have to wonder what was the point for the reader. The reveal is not strong, relying on some obscure continuity that might have been better to have been reminded of at an earlier stage. It does sort of make sense.
James: After pages of back-story revealing the machinations of Ralph, he manages to spring another surprise by showing his stretching powers are back by smacking Faust up a bit. With Faust at his mercy, Neron appears to take his “toy” back to the underworld. This is what Ralph has been waiting for, thinking he can trick the devil into bargaining Faust for the return of his wife. It’s a huge gamble, and something Neron is not interested in. Neron removes the wishing gun from Ralph along with some of his fingers, and then fires Ralph’s wedding ring right through his chest.
James: Ralph has finally got what he wanted, to be with Sue again. Dying on the floor of Fate’s tower with a smile on his face, Neron realises he has been trapped in the tower along with Faust by Ralph. A great ending ruined by the fact we’ve seen Faust in the OYL JLA. DC shoot themselves in the foot again. Oh, and the fact they’ve murdered another JLI character. No wonder Fire is crying, she’s probably next.
Mark: Yep not much of a trap at all. So not only do they kill a great character after having ruined him with the death of his wife, but they also make his sacrifice meaningles. God they better have a good pay off for this coming up. I am getting the feeling though that we may end up in issue 52 with a new team put together formed from the multiverse versions of all these dead characters.
James: The artwork is by Darick Robertson this week, and it is completely at odds with the artwork we are use to on this series, insomuch that it actually spoils the issue, considering the content and importance. That’s not to say Robertson is a bad artist, it’s just so far removed from the portrayals we are use to despite Giffen’s layouts.
Mark: Darick’s art is usually great, but here it feels very oddly inked and almost grubby. An artist to give a more shadowy, mysterious feel to the piece would have suited the issue better. A few more allusions to Ralph’s past would have been good, but this is not the end. They’d better make up for it. For a change though I thought this issue read well when I first read it, but it’s coming back to it that it doesn’t feel right.
James: Origin this week is a rather perfunctory Green Arrow. Stripped right down to the basics, it at least has nice artwork by Scott McDaniel.
Week 43
James - I really enjoyed this issue. My guilty pleasure of seeing Jurgans and Rapmund on art duties probably helped that opinion, I love the look of the artwork throughout.
Mark: Certainly after last week’s issue is does seem to suit the tale. At least at the start of the issue. Jurgens is a good clean storyteller.
James - The bulk of the story this week is taken up with the Black Adam family, notably Osiris. He believes his murder of one of the “new” suicide squad is responsible for the famine blighting Khandaq and seeks out Captain Marvel to take his powers away. Obviously, Black Adam isn’t too happy that Osiris is willing to give up his “gift”. Osiris flattens Black Adam in rage at the problems he believes Adam is ultimately responsible for. Isis is the one who brings everyone to order with some sound reasoning.
James - Cut to Buddy Baker. A great scene with aliens once again experimenting on Animal Man. His “resurrection” is great when he thinks he is going to die, but then manages to absorb the powers of some nearby Sun Eaters. The reunion with his family is going to be great.
Mark: The Animal Man stuff does to a certain extent make up for the space storyline. How they power him down to be useable as a protagonist I’m not so sure about, but I do like that the aliens are back.
James - Interlude with the rather gruesome rebirth of Lady Styx. Obviously to ensure she is capable of killing Captain Comet once again.
Mark: Woohoo she’s back. This is a very well put together sequence, highlighting Giffen’s storytelling. What was the point of killing her again?
James - And so to the end of the issue and back to Osiris and Sobek. Osiris gives up his powers by shouting the name of Black Adam, in the belief that he will be happy again without the “curse”. Unfortunately, Osiris plays straight into the hands (teeth?) of Sobek as he, in one of the most gruesome scenes I’ve seen in a mainstream DC Universe comic , crushes Osiris between his jaws. I honestly didn’t see this coming (because I’m a tad slow, maybe) and it was all the better for it, delivering a truly shocking moment. Great stuff.
Mark: Osiris’ fate is gruesome and well done. Jurgens’ has handled similar horror sequences in Superman/Aliens and Kevin Nowlan on inks made it work then. With Rapmund on inks this sequence relies on colouring to convey the horror. Guess we found the Fourth Horseman then.
James - Origin this week is Plastic Man. Nice artwork, nothing exceptional from Waid. Can’t complain too much, heck, even Offspring gets a mention.
Week 44
James - You know I said the end of the last issue was gruesome? Well the opening scene here is just as bad, as Isis and Adam find the eviscerated body of Amon. We also get the fourth horseman’s tale of how he came to be ingratiated into the Black Adam family.
Mark: The vision of Amon lying as a disguarded meal on the floor is certainly not what you expected to see. He does seem to be in a different place to where he was killed. The tale of Famine does highlight why you should not trust talking animals.
James - What follows is the full-on attack of the Four Horsemen. The action is really pushed here as the issue becomes a slugfest between Isis and Adam against the engineered Intergang weapons. It’s great to see Adam unleashed again when he splits Sobek’s mouth in two.
Mark: As I’ve said before I wished the Four Horsemen had strong visual designs. Given how quickly Adam rips through them here it doesn’t seem to matter anymore.
James - And so Isis dies, as we all knew she would. Finally releasing Black Adam to go monkey-crazy and avenge his wife. I suspect he will be finishing off the remaining horsemen next week.
Mark: Yes, the death of the Black Adam family was one of those things that was certain at the beginning of all this. Is it me or is repeated death in this series just leading to the reader becoming numb to it? It also never seems to happen to the characters we would not mind dying.
James - In Nanda Parbat, Montoya takes another step towards becoming the new Question. Or she attempts a Michael Jackson Smooth Criminal, I’m not sure which.
Mark: Maybe she’s got Indiana Jones’ hat and we’ve all been wrong and she’s the new Tomb Raider.
Week 45
Mark: Now I think the art on this issue, particularly on the funeral sequence, is great. If Black Adam is to get a series then this should be the art team.
James - Montoya goes to Khandaq and Isis and Osiris’ funerals to try and reason with Black Adam. Now, this seems a little futile to me, what could Montoya do to persuade Black Adam of anything? The only real reason for the scene is to set the scene and get readers up to date quickly.
Mark: It also serves to send Montoya back to one of the other tedious characters - Bat Lesbian. Like James I am at a loss as to whether Montoya going to see Black Adam makes sense for her character, or just merely as a way of the writers propelling her story along.
James - And so, the small country of Bialya is to become the latest casualty of the DC Universe. That staple of inventing a little country and then killing all of its inhabitants starts here.
Mark: This is actually another casualty of the JL purge. I find it bizarre that no heroes go to try and save innocents. Where for example is Captain Marvel?
James - We at least get some reaction shots from various authorities such as the Pentagon and the JSA. Not that they do anything.
James - Black Adam mercilessly slaughters every single person, innocent or not. This is off the rails stuff, but it just looks a little off, rushed even.
Mark: James would obviously have preferred a few more arm rips or people torn in half. The good old days as we like to call them.
James - Our Chinese super-heroes manage to spout a load of nonsense whilst not actually helping anyone, glad to see it’s not just the Western heroes. I fear for the Great Ten’s prolonged survival, but there does appear to be a spin-off series in the works, so maybe there is hope.
Mark: Now James, you’re forgetting that I think we saw them in Green Lantern post One Year Later. But at least it establishes that inaction is a universal superhero trait in 52.
James - After the defeat of Death, Adam has the information he needs. Cut to Monster Island where the creators of the four horsemen realise they are going to be Adam’s next targets.
Mark: Got to admit I’m not looking forward to this as I don’t think I enjoy the mad scientists as much as I’m supposed to. Please bring back Booster. He’s the only storyline I really am interested in.
Week 46
James - The assault on Monster Island has begun. The collective of mad professors and super-villains chuck everything they can at Black Adam. I liked the way this issue played out, the relative craziness of the different geniuses and the hopelessness of their task has an endearing quality.
Mark: I just found it overplayed. Maybe if the design work or the storytelling had been more interesting to show that spark of madness and lunacy then I might enjoy it more. As it is I think the deadline and, for once, Giffen works against this working for me.
James - It is apparent that Doctor Cale is predicting the forthcoming events in Countdown with all her talk of “Others”. New Gods and Darkseid anyone? Hmm? Actually the utter despair of her character is great throughout the issue, moving from arousal through to depression and acceptance. It’s made even better when her act of letting Black Adam into the base is the reason she survives.
Mark: I am not certain at this point though whether Will Magnus is off the deep end or not though.
James - I was actually quite surprised that they manage to subdue Adam. I can only assume he will become the pawn that leads into World War III.
Mark: Yeah that actually surprised me too. It does make sense as we’ve heard rumours of a mad scientist story in One Year Later as well as the forthcoming Checkmate and Outsiders crossover will be partly set there, so it makes sense it did not end up totalled.
James - The writing smacks of Morrison, and there are some great scenes throughout. My favourite line though – “Feel free to cackle hysterically, gentlemen!”.
James - Sweet Jesus, who the hell let Steel ruin the issue? The whole “we’ve captured Luthor, oh, no, we haven’t!” is awful. Really, the whole sequence made me want to gouge my eyes out. Particulary when the reason Clark Kent realises they’ve got the wrong man consists of a retcon to him knowing Lex since they were small.
Mark: The Everyman reveal was ruined in Manhunter this month and you do have to ask yourself why anyone thought he was an interesting enough villain to not kill.
The Clark and Lex childhood connection has been around since Birthright as they worked to bring Smallville and the old why Lex lost his hair explanation back into continuity.
James - The JSA turn up far to late to actually do any damn good. Oh, well. We get an insight into where we are at the beginning of the new Justice Society of America series here, with Wildcat, Alan Scott and Jay Garrick ruminating on the future.
Mark: Still too late to help anyone though.
James - The origin this week is Batman by Waid and Andy Kubert. It is a solid origin, nothing too drastic in terms of retcons as far as I can see, and tells you everything we already know about the Batman’s origin.
Week 47
James - Week 47 and this is mainly a Bat-centric issue, what with Tim Drake, Bruce Wayne, Nightwing and Gotham all making appearances.Tim and Bruce have ended up in Panda Narbat, which is where a certain Diana Prince is also currently holed up. Bruce is being sealed in a cave so he can “find himself” or something similar.
Mark: It does help explain why none of these people went to try and stop Black Adam as they were sealed away from it. Panda Narbat is becoming quite the tourist destination.
James - Intergang are still at it in Gotham, seeking to bring about the end of humanity by murdering people. The only possible good that can come from this is that it does seem likely that Batwoman needs to die. My, what an emotional investment that is going to have to be, seeing as she has hardly been in the series.
Mark: It’s about standard for this book. The writers really do believe they have made us care about these characters, whereas some of us are actively willing some of the characters to end up dead. C’mon Intergang, we know you can do it.
James - There’s a new Metal Man in town, and he’s built to destroy. Love the miniature Metal Men in the Prof’s pockets. Oh, and Black Adam is being tortured, so the brainwashing continues.
Mark: Now are those little Metal Men or just figments of Will’s delusion. It’s quite a nice sequence, but again we know where he should be in a few weeks thanks to JLA 1 and we can probably guess his escape route thanks to that same issue.
James - The Animal Man section is interesting. Buddy appears to be more powerful than before, but the fact he can step outside of reality is rather worrying for us mortal readers, as it suggests an impending multiverse attack, methinks. And is that Alan Scott stepping out with Mrs. Baker?
Mark: Stepping out with Mrs Baker is supposed to be Buddy’s Manager. This was revealed in the weekly chat on Newsarama, but I do think that keeping the face hidden means the readers who haven’t got a clue who that is are more likely to make up their own wild speculation like James just did. I’m not keen on the art on this sequence at all.
James - Pointless interlude with Steel and Natasha. So rubbish, I refuse to comment further.
Mark: If this had been week 7 or so that might be interesting, but you have killed any interest most people had in Steel with this book. Not even Peter Milligan can ressurect it.
James - The title of the issue “Revelations” would probably best be summed up by the end of the issue, with both Wonder Woman and Batman reaching the points where they can renew their crusades anew. Bruce’s second (third, fourth,, etc?) coming looks cheesier than Diana’s, mind.
Mark: I’m not a big fan of this being the reason that Batman is the way he is One Year Later. Some actual male bonding and getting his head straight with Robin and Nightwing would have suited me just fine.
James - Not sure about the artwork in this issue. It is good, but I just don’t know if it fits the content that well. I’d be happy to see more of the artist, but maybe away from 52. It has a cartoony element to it, but isn’t as extreme as what lurks in the Origin this week…
James - Teen Titans this week, and the main focal point is the artwork. It looks like the Teen Titans cartoon.
Mark: Now I quite like the art on this origin. At least it does something interesting with the comic page. It’s enough to get me to look at the Teen Titans: Year One when Kerschl does it later this year.