DC Comics Blog

Adventure Comics #528 Review

The Legion Academy students get a rude surprise on Graduation Day.

Scalped #48 Review

Scalped #48

Everything is coming to a head. Today I will be reviewing Scalped #48. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think.

So let’s talk about the book. To begin, I must apologize for not reviewing the last two issues. Life and time constraints were the cause. Onto this issue. Everything at the reservation and many of the hanging subplots are being addressed. Dash and Shunka have another stare-down. Red Crow takes Dash on another trip of cleansing. After that, Red Crow reveals all of his secrets to Dash as Dash commits his trust to Red Crow. Immediately after, Dash goes to see Agent Nitz and lets him know that in two weeks, he will have all the evidence he needs to put Red Crow away forever. Catcher also confronts Dash and makes him choose between saving a man’s life and ending the life of his mother’s killer. Dash chooses vengeance and the two head out into the night. And that’s the book.

So let’s talk opinions. This story arc, which I apologize again for not reviewing in full, is amazing. We really are starting to get some closure heading into the landmark 50th issue. A lot of things are probably going to happen. I feel a confrontation between Dash and Shunka is now inevitable. I love the way the hate they feel for each other practically radiates off the page. I also find it ironic that Catcher is helping Dash to kill himself (sort of, since he did kill Gina) but is surprised when Dash accepts. I can’t wait to see what kind of hell Catcher has in store for Dash. after the way he tortured Falls Down, this could be one freaky quest. I also understand that you have to have a little bit of faith and belief in spirits when reading this book, but I appreciate it not being harped upon. There are many myths and legends associated with the Indian culture and its nice to get an occasional look into their lifestyle. The art is amazing and has been consistently so. There is so much detail in every panel that you really have to look close to understand everything there. Guera has a real mastery of shadowed faces, fine line work, and complex details. Just take a look at the spider web on the first page. That looks like it took hours to draw all by itself. All of those individual droplets of dew. The way the shadows fall on the tree and Dash’s face. Pure perfection. That’s my opinion folks. Take it or leave it.

Zatanna #12 Review

Zatanna #12

I have very much enjoyed the work of Paul Dini in DC Comics. I think he’s one of the best writers they have these days. Now, while I don’t think that means what it once did, as I believe DC has had a lot of issues with their writers of late, in this case I don’t mean that to be a diminishment of Paul Dini. He created Harley Quinn, and did a great job when he started Gotham City Sirens. But, he’s been off that book for some time now, despite his statement that he was returning to it “soon.” I also really think he’s done a great job with Zatanna. However, in addition to his vanishing from Sirens, Zatanna #12 is also the second issue with a fill in writer in just a year. I don’t know if his tv work is keeping him too busy, or if he’s got other projects on tap, but the overall effect is less of his work on “his” books.

Matthew Sturges is the writer on “Symmetry,” a one shot story with a thoroughly unlikable villain who calls himself Backslash. He has a magic sword that can rewind time for a moment, long enough to undo whatever someone’s most recent action was. It makes him hard to beat, when he can erase your attack. Backslash has a captured fairy he tows around with him for no real good reason, and he opens the issue by slaughtering some mer-folk who are using San Francisco’s Sutro Baths to relax in. One of the several points I will give Mr. Sturges in this issue is that he has a scene of Zee with her stagehand Mikey, practicing saying words backwards, so she isn’t at a loss for how to say something in combat. It’s a great idea, and I like it. About the only thing here that really doesn’t make sense to me is Zee changes into street clothes afterwards to go on patrol, which she does by flying. Think about this, if you want to occasionally be able to maintain a low profile, wouldn’t you do flashy things like flying in costume, and do your regular stuff in street clothes? Just a thought.

Zee finds the dead mer-folk ,and of course ends up fighting Backslash, who proves to be even more annoying be revealing he’s a wannabe rapper. The little Tinkerbelle-ish fairy proves to hold the key to this fight after Zee loses the first part, waking up tied to the Grant statue. The fae drops enough hints, and Zee starts speaking in palindromes. Since those are the same frontwards and backwards, Backslash’s rewind doesn’t undo anything, and she wins after several truly odd incantations. There are two funny bits at the end, where Zee keeps using palindromes and drives her friend, Detective Colton, away, shaking his head in disgust. She also frees the fairy, who tells Zee her name- in a story based on palindromes, what else would it be but Hannah?

I must admit, I liked this more than I thought I would. It was an enjoyable issue, and while I still hope Dini doesn’t fade off this book as he has Sirens, if he does, I nominate Mr. Sturges here to replace him. Sturges seems to have a good grasp of the character, used some clever bits in the story, and did something Dini hasn’t. This story had many small references to the sites in San Francisco itself. While I’ve enjoyed Dini’s stories, the city could have been any city, New York, Gotham, whatever.

What I like and what I didn’t:

The references to the city were well done, and the practice scene was brilliant. Zee, in my view, is a character best written with some humor, and that is done well here. We know she’s good with wordplay to cast her spells, and the palindromes were amusing, if verging on silly toward the end.

There were few things I didn’t like, really. I don’t like the trend of the Disappearing Dini, but as I said, Sturges more than made up for it. We get no back story on Backslash, where he got the sword, how it works, why he has Hannah the fairy. And the costume/street clothes thing really didn’t make sense. But it was a really well done issue, especially for a fill in.

Freedom Fighters #8 Review

Freedom Fighters #8

DC has announced a wave of cancellations in the near future, and Freedom Fighters is among them. This, in fact, is the penultimate issue. The vast majority of this story is a major fight between the Jester, patriotic villain, and Uncle Sam, symbol of the nation. They clash on both the physical and rhetorical levels, arguing as they battle, about the country, the direction it should take, and how to get there. The Jester, but likely no one else, is absolutely stunned when Sam wins. There’s a brief funeral for Firebrand, who does, in fact, actually seem to be dead.

As an aside, let’s review that name’s history in DC for a moment. Firebrand I was Rod Reily, wounded at Pearl Harbor in his civilian guise, and then later killed by the villain Silver Monkey. Firebrand II, his sister Danette, got powers in what became the All Star Squadron’s first case, was a member of that group, and later killed off panel by the Dragon King. The third was Alex Sanchez, who was a cyborg who briefly had his own title, and was killed in Roulette’s super powered arena. And now Firebrand the Fourth, Andre Twist, killed in action by the evil grandson of a World War II hero. Personally, I’d not take that name were I to embark on a heroic career in the DCU, but that’s me.

Because the funeral wasn’t depressing enough, the villains from the super prison earlier in this arc are shown escaping the wreckage of the place that held them, swearing vengeance on the Freedom Fighters. Joke’s on them, as the President holds a meeting with Miss America and Uncle Sam and announces he’s disbanding the team due to budget cuts, so there IS no more Freedom Fighters for them to go after.

One of my ongoing issues with this book has been the team’s utter lack of clear-cut victories. That happens again here. They beat the Jester, in the process burying one of their own and getting essentially fired by the President. I think this is one of the reasons the book may have failed- the heroes keep almost winning and not quite losing, but that’s about as good as it got. That, and every single foe they fought had either some weird political agenda or ties to some government project/secret. You can only do that so many times before it gets old.

I like the idea of the Freedom Fighters, and I’ve really enjoyed some of Palmiotti and Gray’s past work- I think they were amazing on the first year of Power Girl. But something here never quite jelled for me, and since it’s being cancelled, I am guessing I’m not the only one. Next month will be an interesting challenge for them to try and wrap up the “we’ve been fired” aftermath with the escaped super-cons as well.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

Ok, this will sound odd, but I give them credit for Firebrand staying dead. I was half expecting some last minute really weird resurrection. They didn’t do that, and I give them points for that. The funeral scene was well done, and they included characters who haven’t been in the book so far, like Red Bee II, which made for a nice sense of history.

On the other hand, as I said, they can’t win for losing. They beat a non-powered villain with a few magic trinkets, who apparently staged all this to try and kill Uncle Sam and take his place, and lose Firebrand in the process. They suffer through the funeral, and then get fired. My, how uplifting. Nice to see Sam back, but his new look is a bit odd, especially the Sgt. Pepper wrist-bands on the sleeves of his jacket.

Zatanna #11 Review

Zatanna#11

“Unstrung” concludes the multi-part evil puppet story in Zatanna. As seen last issue, Zee’s been turned into a puppet and Hempel has had his humanity restored thanks to some mis-firing magic. Zee, as the puppet “Miss Zee Zee” is to be donated to the Museum of Magic we keep seeing in this book. Hempel’s plan is foiled by Zee’s stage carpenter, Mikey, who gets into Hempel’s dressing room by playing make-up artist for his tv appearance, and dressing like trailer-trash Barbie to get close enough to drug him. Mikey managed to figure out Zatanna was missing, and made the connection to the Zee Zee puppet. There’s some amusing byplay between them, and some good natured teasing about Zee liking Detective Colton, which she denies in one breath and then asks if he said anything about her in the next.

With some help from Zee, and some stupidity from Hempel, the spells are reversed. This also happens, in part, due to the odd “immunity to magic” that Mikey has which was mentioned earlier in the series, here described as a blessing, although still not explained. The re-transformed Hempel, or Stringleshanks as he calls himself in this form, tries to escape, and is, ironically, sealed inside one of the large milk cans Houdini used to escape from. The epilogue features Zee back at the otherwordly psychiatrist we saw earlier in this arc, as Zee’s fear of puppets is explained and resolved by all she’s learned. Oddly, Brother Night is here as well, awaiting his turn to see the doctor. Night tells her he is “focused, rested, and ready,” which I suppose sets us up for the next arc.

This is a great example of Dini on top of his game. Lines dropped as an aside months ago become pivotal, like Mikey’s magic immunity/blessing. Zee wondering if Colton had asked about her, even in the middle of the magic crisis, was a nice, human touch, as was Mikey’s loyalty to her boss and friend, Zatanna. Brother Night, the villain from the first arc of the title, has been slowly building up to his comeback, no doubt next issue or the story past that.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

As I said, this was a well written piece, displaying Dini’s many good touches. His characters are believable and interesting. We still don’t know why Mikey can’t be bespelled, but it’s certainly something I’m interested in learning. Zee’s bit about Colton was both believable and amusing. Night’s slow build in the background of this arc was also nicely done. I like Dini’s layering, and his supporting cast, like Mikey and the therapist here and the Broker in the Bat-books, a real estate agent type who specializes in finding custom hideouts and places of interest to the variously themed villains of Gotham.

My only real gripe here is something I commented on last issue. Zee is missing for months, and Mikey is the only one to put it together? Zatanna is part of the super human community, and has been shown to be particularly close with Batman. You know, the World’s Greatest Detective? I find it unlikely at best that Mikey worked this out, but Bats, and even Nightwing/Batman didn’t. It’s one of the problems with being in a “shared universe,” if you want to handle things in house, sometimes you have to do things that don’t quite make sense like this. But, it’s a small complaint in a well executed story.

Legion of Super-Heroes #11 Review

Legion of Super-Heroes #11

Paul Levitz continues to do a fine job juggling the immense cast of the Legion of Super Heroes and their supporting characters. Just recently, in addition to the main book, he’s been writing a multi part Legion Academy story in Adventure Comics, and has done both the Legion Annual and a special featuring the Legion of Super Villains. It’s after that last special that Legion of Super Heroes 11 picks up. A decent sized team of Legionnaires goes to just shy of completely lawless Rimbor and hunts down several of the escapees from Takron-Galtos, that breakout occurring during the aforementioned LSV special. Back at LSH HQ, Brainy is dealing with being deputy leader, especially busy as newly elected leader Mon-Lantern hasn’t managed to get back to Earth yet. Brainy is deploying Legionnaires to deal with the various crises in play, as another team cleans up the rubble and assists with rescue efforts on Takron-Galtos, very much the worse for wear after the LSV-led break out. Vi is shown as a bit harder edged than she’s usually depicted, glad of the passing of her old foe Micro-Lad, but given their history, I can understand it without liking it.

Brainy tries to deal with one of his teammates who’s as strong-willed as he is- Dawnstar. She’s off in pursuit of what put her in a coma a while back, and has mysteriously acquired her costume after leaving the medical station without it (I’m betting artists’ error/not communicating with each other). Very interestingly, Brainy dismisses Dawnstar as “off chasing blue phantoms” (more on that in a bit). Dream Girl also arrives at LSH, having retrieved Star Boy from his mission in the 21st century with the JSA, and demands that Brainy help cure the schizophrenia that was allowed to run unchecked as part of his cover for the mission.

Brainy is relieved of leadership when Mon finally shows up. It’s never outright stated, but I am fairly sure that Mon didn’t actually return to Earth, and this is some kind of hologram-like image of him created via his recently acquired Green Lantern ring. Brainy stalks off to try and treat Star Boy, fuming about priorities and muttering about Colu, his homeworld, having suddenly cut all off-world communications (no doubt due to the LSV team dropped there in the special). We also finally get a number on the outstanding escapees from Takron-Galtos (37, for those keeping score).

The really big action sequence is Timber Wolf, who went looking for Sun Killer in Kyoto, but instead found a former LSV member who many have wondered about- Sun Emperor. The fight, featured on the cover, is brutal, with Sun Emperor’s burning solar powers vs. Timber Wolf’s speed, agility, and just plain will. T-Wolf suffers some very nasty burns, but beats the villain single-handedly. As Brainy starts to try and help Star Boy, enigmatic supporting cast member Professor Harmonia Li makes a re-appearance. Li ends the issue with the announcement that what’s happening on Colu is all her fault, which makes for a good cliff-hanger.

Now, back to Dawny’s “blue phantom.” Saturn Queen was being aided by a being of immense power, who increased her own, and her followers’, powers, as well as gave her information. It appeared to her as a blue flame. I’m betting that whatever took out Dawny and Wildfire back in Adventure Comics is the same being, entity, whatever the right word is. What it’s up to, why it’s causing Saturn Queen to go after her various targets, I have no idea yet. But it’s an interesting puzzle. I am guessing at this point that the mysterious blue entity may well be connected to Harmonia Li. She’s older than she should be, she knows of, and despises, the Guardians, and one of the blue flame’s targets is Oa. That seems too many coincidences to me. Just who and what Li is, I’m really not sure of, but I suspect her past and more on the blue flame will be revealed as we go.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

I love that Harmonia Li came back. I’m very curious to learn more about her, her past and her longevity. The many small teams handling problems all over United Planets space is a great reminder of why the Legion is so big, and the vast responsibilities it has. It was also nice to see Star Boy “rescued” from the 21st century and reunited with his friends and his love Dream Girl, even if he hasn’t recovered enough to realize it yet. It was nice seeing the so-far missing Sun Emperor finally turn up, and his fight with Timber Wolf was great.

There was very little I didn’t like. Dawnstar’s costume glitch was annoying, but it happens when it’s multiple artists in different books, I suppose. Maybe we’re going to learn at some point that the Legion Flight Rings now all store costumes like Barry Allen’s does. There were plenty of hints dropped about what was going on with the LSV, but no real progress on that plot- they actually didn’t even show up. But, as I said, it’s a huge cast, so I can understand that. Also not wild about the harder Vi, but a lot like that, so maybe it’s just me.

Superman #709 Review

Superman #709

I have to say that I’m enjoying the Grounded storyline these last two issues, but less because of Superman walking the earth, and more because of the details that Roberson is adding that make the read something that has been lacking from Superman for some time.  Last issue it was science fiction, this issue we get more sci-fi, a Flash vs Superman race, plus the return of Saganowhana (Super-Chief)!  Read on if you would know more.

The legacy connection continues with the hint that Saganowhana’s Manitou stone may be Kryptonian in origin, even though Superman doubts it, but seeing the shield on Saganowhana’s jacket and the reference to Man-of-Bats, is Roberson’s drawing the parallel of the World’sFinest Team, and actually making me want to see it, like he did with Crisis in Inifinite Eras.  Superman gets to interact with the Flash in a contrived, though still plausible manner, and they spend an hour talking at super-speed, so only actual seconds speed by.  When the Flash leaves, the storyline hasn’t been advanced an iota, but it was still fun read.

Roberson engages the Flash vs Superman speed question in an entertaining manner.  Superman can catch, and possibly beat the Flash in a race, but he’ll have to work for it.  The Flash is living at the speed of light, while Superman lives like a regular lad, until he dials up.  That’s an interesting and fair way to look at it, if you can stand seeing Superman hunched over and winded from chasing down the Flash.  The conversation they have while the waitress falls is classic, and what’s more, it brings sci-fi back to Superman.  These guys can exist at a speed where time seems to stand still, perceive events at attoseconds, it’s Silver Age goodness and its fun.

The trouble is that the story goes nowhere.  This issue would have been great inside of an 80-Page giant or annual, but for value, for those of us who have to decide what to buy and what not to, it just doesn’t provide any conduit towards closure.  The art is great, the colours, bright and inviting, heck, I even like the thought bubbles, but the story goes on, without any idea of where its going.  Hopefully Superman will end up in New York City before this is over and do something worthwhile, like walk up the Empire State Building.

Cover of the Week: February 2, 2011

Every week I pick my favorite cover from all the comic books that came out during the week…today’s pick goes to Brightest Day #19 by David Finch and Scott Williams.

I know, I know, I know, this cover falls into the category of “heroic pose” (although it’s a villain) which I frequently enjoy the opposite of but as a comic fan I can’t help but fall for the tropes from time to time, I mean come on, what a cool looking cover! One of the greatest things about comics is the vast library of characters that it can pull from, always opening up for a new look or take and although David Finch isn’t resurrecting Black Manta or even adding something to him this is the best he’s ever looked – at least for me. This cover is also a GREAT example of how much of a difference color can make. I’m not sure who did the coloring, only David Finch and Scott Williams are credited for the cover, but holy mackerel – the different shades of blue, the bright and vibrant red, the shadows from the red light coming from his helmet, the light from above, the detail in the backgrounds, it’s gorgeous.

David Finch is creating some of his best work ever with these Brightest Day covers and this is hands down my favorite so far.

Other Honorable Mentions (click title to see cover):

Iron Man Legacy #11, Deadpool & Cable #26, Ozma of Oz #4

Freedom Fighters #6 Review

Freedom Fighters #6

Legion Of Super-Heroes Annual #1

Legion Of Super-Heroes Annual #1

Back when I first started collecting comics, Annuals were special stories that just didn’t fit into the current series, usually because they were too long or too big or somesuch. They were often good stories, and I used to look forward to them a lot. Then they became parts of events, and many of them suffered in quality for it, in my humble opinion. The Planet DC and Bloodlines ones were among those that by and large were fairly forgettable overall. This month, DC has released the first Annual for the new Legion of Super Heroes series, and it’s more like the first ones I was talking about. The Legion is such a huge cast that you can always have extra stories with characters that haven’t been used much. This is exactly what Paul Levitz does, weaving in several bits of Legion history from different eras, including classic villain the Emerald Empress, and Lightning Lass and Shrinking Violet.

The prelude (One Year Ago) is a young woman on Orando, Projectra/Sensor Girl’s homeworld, running from the thugs of a very corrupt noble. She stumbles upon the Emerald Eye, and receives its power, blasting the noble who was chasing her, while of course, as seems mandatory in many stories these days, walking around naked.

In the present, a starship crashes on Orando, and the Empress finds two “life capsules” (escape pods for most sci fi fans), and inside are Lighting Lass, and Shrinking Violet, two old enemies of hers. The Empress talks of remembering all her past lives, and Ayla (Lightning Lass) wakes up in a dungeon with Salu (Shrinking Violet, often called Vi). They are wearing ragged outfits, and their Flight Rings are gone, never a good sign. They promptly escape, fighting through various guards in this medieval seeming setting. Of note to be discussed later, Ayla refers to Vi as “love” at one point. They end up breaking into the throne room, and the Empress beats them both easily.

Back on Earth, Sun Boy is pulled from his VR game by Gates as the team is notified that Vi and Ayla’s cruiser has gone missing near Orando, which also naturally interests Projectra. She says the energies of her home recently shifted, and has Gates teleport her and Sun Boy there immediately. The Legionnaires arrive and the fight breaks out, with the Empress holding her own easily enough.

As a rattled Cosmic Boy tries to arrange back up for them back on Earth, the battle rages on in the castle on Orando. Having devised a plan, the team distracts the Empress, allowing Vi to sneak up, and shrink down into the Eye itself. She sees some visions here, replicas of the changes the Empress has wrought on Orando, and then of Ekron, where the Eye came from. Vi shakes off the visions, hallucinations, whatever they are, and finds a central and important part of the eye, and then begins to grow back to her full size. The Eye is damaged and loses its connection to its host, who reverts to normal as the Eye retreats to repair itself. The former host is left behind, broken and naked again, and Projectra announces she will stay and help rebuild the planet. Vi and Ayla are taken back home by Gates to be healed, but as they leave, there is an ominous sparkle of green energy around Vi’s eye. In one of the many Legion reboots, Vi had the power of the Eye for a time. Just an interesting trivia note.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

Always good to the return of a long time foe, and the Empress is quite a powerhouse. Her Eye is a bit like a Green Lantern ring, but seemingly more powerful, as well as conveying some degree of strength and invulnerability on its host. In another reboot, Vi and Ayla were a couple, which has never been dealt with in the latest version. However, between them being on vacation together, getting a shared room at the medical base afterwards, and the “love” comment, I’d say they are together here. We finally get to see Gates, and his incredible power- planet to planet teleportation is fantastic, even if they do just use him as a taxi here.

It would have been nice to see more of some of the other underused characters here- a Black Witch vs Emerald Empress would have been interesting. I know, you can only do so much with a huge team. My only other gripe here are the nude scenes. Personally, I’m a great admirer of the female form. But, you keep hearing the comic industry complain they have fewer and fewer young readers. Well, this may be part of why. I’m not sure I’d want to explain to my friends’ kids why the women (almost always women) in comics keep ending up naked. I don’t feel the nudity added to the story in any way at all. If you want to make it an adult comic, do so, and show everything. If you’re still trying for the all ages range, keep their clothes on. Or am I the only one who feels that way?

Shazam! One Shot

Shazam! One Shot

“United We Stand” is the title of the Shazam! one shot this week. It features several members of the Shazam family, including Freddie in his role as Shazam!, the still de-powered Billy and Mary Batson, and… well, we’ll get there.

The story begins in the apartment that Billy and Mary share in Fawcett City. Mary still seems to be mourning her lost powers, Billy is still optimistic, and Freddie has stopped by for a visit, still upset about the Cry for Justice series (who isn’t?). Maybe he’s annoyed that “he” was Prometheus in almost the whole thing? Anyway, Mary gives him spiked eggnog that apparently kills him. As he keels over and falls to the floor, Blaze appears, saying “Excellent work, little sister.” Blaze and Satanus are two of DC’s powerful demon over-lord types, for those who don’t know. They are also literal children of the Wizard Shazam, who gave all the Marvels their powers. Billy is horror struck, and we suddenly flash back to last week.

Mary was approached by Blaze at the homeless shelter she’s volunteering in, taunting Mary’s lack of power and offering a deal. Blaze provides a quick review of the horrible state of the Marvel family at present (Black Adam and Isis are statues, Osiris is resurrected but evil, the siblings are powerless, and Freddie will fall soon, or so Blaze claims. Blaze claims she will get Billy and Mary’s powers back, but only if Mary kills Freddie. Back in the present, Blaze, of course, goes back on her word and prepares to kill Mary and Billy. Asked if she has last words, Mary says “Yes, but I’ll let Freddie say them for me.” Blaze thinks Freddie is dead, right up until he opens his eyes and says “Shazam,” turning back to his powered form. He knocks Blaze out through the wall (there goes THAT security deposit), while Billy figures out that Mary and Freddie set this up and didn’t tell him.

A massive slug-fest ensues, with Blaze and Shazam fairly evenly matched. Billy and Mary charge out to help, realizing quickly they are out of their depth. Blaze poisons Shazam with a dose of the river Styx, harmless to the hell-bound but toxic to all others. Mary distracts Blaze long enough for Billy to grab up a fire hose and get the gook off Freddie. Freddie then impales her on a statue and uses his magic lightning to send her back to Hell. The three good Marvels meet in the homeless shelter later, Freddie saying he will try and get their powers back. Blaze looks on in some green scrying pool, and says that while Freddie isn’t willing to kill to restore what is lost, Osiris is, and shows him. This ends with “to be continued in Titans 32.” Of course, Titans 31 ended with a confrontation between Freddie and Osiris that was to be continued here, and clearly wasn’t so… take that for what it’s worth.

What I liked and what I didn’t:

I am a huge fan of the Marvels, and always have been. It was good seeing them again. I liked the teamwork between Freddie and Mary, although I’m not sure I buy keeping it from Billy because “Blaze might have figured it out.” I admit, in the first few pages I thought Mary was going dark and evil again, as she has twice in the past, and she didn’t, which I loved.

I don’t like what’s happened to about all the Marvels. Billy is one of the ultimate heroes. Anyone else remember that during Underworld Unleashed, Neron’s whole scheme was to entrap Captain Marvel, NOT Superman like most thought? Billy needs his powers back. Mary I don’t feel as strongly about, maybe because of the horrible storylines with her going evil in the past. Points for writer Eric Wallace, the Titans scribe, on his homework on these characters. Among the things I don’t get about them at present: why does Freddie look older than Billy and Mary now? How are two kids with no income renting an apartment? Why aren’t they still with Mary’s adoptive parents? Why did Shazam fly off in a hissy fit in the JSA story he came back in, ready to strip Freddie of his powers as well, and then vanish? And seriously, don’t show a fight about to happen in one comic, say it’s continued in the next, and then not even show those two characters in the same panel, let alone show the fight. While it was a decent story, I almost feel I got cheated by them not following up on the confrontation from Titans 31, which I guess now happens in 32?

Zatanna #9 Review

Zatanna #9 Review