"Andy Kubert"

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #3 Review

Nite Owl and Twilight Lady take their unusual partnership to the next level.

Joe Kubert Passes. Leaves Us His Incredible Legacy.

Legendary might not even be the kind of word that can best describe the life and career of Joe Kubert; being a two-time Eisner award winner, inductee to multiple comic book Hall of Fames, co-creator of Sgt. Rock, founder of The Kubert School, and father to Andy and Adam Kubert who themselves are successful comic creators are just some elements to his lengthy resume.

On Sunday morning, August 12, he sadly passed away at age 85.

It’s too bad guys like this can’t live forever.

Join us in taking the time to remember one of the greatest men and careers in the medium, we’ve collected some good reads, links, and videos from around the internet:

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #2 Review

Nite Owl meets his one true vice, the Twilight Lady.

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl #1 Review

Before Watchmen: Nite Owl examines the early days of Dan Dreiberg’s life of heroism.  What did we think of issue #1?  Find out below!

The Watchmen Set to Return in Summer of 2012

DC Announced on February 1, 2012 that the Watchmen will be returning.  It’s probably not as much of a surprise as some thought, for others, it’s the news they never wanted to hear.

Flashpoint #5 Review

With planet Earth on the brink of total destruction, Professor Zoom finally reveals himself and tells Barry the shocking secret of the Flashpoint world.  As old heroes and new friends unite to save a dying world, does Barry Allen have what it takes to sacrifice the one thing he truly wants for the greater good?  Only Time will tell…

And Just Like That…

Thanks to a midnight Justice League release party from my local shop I was lucky enough to grab Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1 within minutes of it’s release. My heart was punching out of my chest. I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a comic book event since Marvel vs. DC (yup, I was 12 and it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen up to that point). We’ll have full reviews of both issues soon but I can’t help sharing some quick one-liners…

Where To Start Reading: Wolverine

Our “Where to Start” articles act as a guide, giving you our best suggestions on where to start on a certain character or creators work. Every article lists several books, each in the character’s or creator’s chronological order despite it’s publication date (so the first choice is at the beginning of a characters career, the last is the furthest along). While in order each book was specifically picked as a good individual starting point; so feel free to start at the beginning, in the middle, or towards the end if you want to get caught up quickly. And if you have any more suggestions or questions just leave a comment.

Flashpoint #4 Review

After being saved from the forces of Project Superman by Element Woman, the new team of Flash, Batman and Cyborg convince the young kids of S!H!A!Z!A!M! to join them.  As Barry Allen’s fears begin to grow that the changes made to the world by Reverse-Flash are permanent, Wonder Woman and Aquaman begin an all-out war that could destroy this new world in Flashpoint #4.

Flashpoint #3 Review

After a second lightning-strike returns the half-dead Barry Allen’s super speed, he and the Thomas Wayne Batman join forces with The Cyborg, this world’s greatest hero, in order to find and free Superman from Government control.  Meanwhile, Lois Lane discovers that the war between Aquaman and Wonder Woman will enter its final phase tomorrow, just as she finally meets up with the super-powered Resistance fighters.

Flashpoint #2 Review

After convincing Thomas Wayne to help him fix the time-altered world, Barry Allen tries a desperate experiment to regain his super speed.  Meanwhile, Aquaman and Wonder Woman both deal with invaders to their sovereign domains.

Flash #12 Review

Flash #12

Professor Zoom reveals himself as the age-stealing killer Barry Allen has been tracking, and tries to murder Barry’s colleague Patty Spivot.  In order to save another woman he cares about from Zoom, The Flash has to team up with not only Kid Flash, but also a Barry Allen from another universe.  But when the dust settles, one hero is dead, and the others must ready themselves for Zoom’s ultimate plan… leading directly into Flashpoint!

The Road to Flashpoint concludes, ending a story arc that was mostly set-up for another, bigger story.  The death of alternate-Barry, or Hot Pursuit, was pretty expected.  Although I did like Zoom’s line about finally getting the pleasure of killing a Barry Allen without screwing up his own history.  I really wanted to like alt-Barry, and care about his death, but he was just so unlikeable.  He was a typical character who shows up, thinks he knows everything, realizes he was wrong, and dies.  There was very little “heroic” about him.  And although it would have been another cliché, I would have liked to have seen him sacrifice himself to save Bart or hamper Zoom in some lasting way.  He was a Barry Allen on the surface only.

It seems that our Barry is finally ready to get over the angst he’s been dealing with this whole arc.  We finally learn the reason for his relapse: his mother’s birthday would have been tomorrow.  Hopefully he sticks to his promise, and acts less distant towards his friends and family.  I would have liked it if a deeper comparison had been drawn between the two Barrys.  Like if Barry had seen in Hot Pursuit where he was heading if he didn’t open up to his family, causing him to make a change.  But since we knew nothing about the other Barry’s life and history, that would have been pretty hard to pull off.

The fight with Zoom was pretty underwhelming, especially considering that it plays out like a lite-version of the final fight from Flash Rebirth.  It’s just a lot of generic super-speed running and punching, with none of the cool slow-motion action shots we got in the earlier issues when Barry was fighting the Rogues and saving people.  And after everything, Zoom gets away.  So what was the point of all that?

Scott Kolins art was a plus, as he has a real gift for heavy emotion.  Francis Manapul returns for like 5 pages.  It’s odd that he’s only used for some soap-opera stuff at the end, and not for any of the big fight scenes.  Thankfully, their styles are similar enough not to be totally jarring when the switch occurs.

Overall, this story didn’t reveal much about Flashpoint that we didn’t already know.  It’s coming.  And Zoom is responsible.  That’s about it.