Apparently, Commodore puts together underground expos to look into new developments in science, with a heavy element of budding mad scientists. Our main characters are Commodore Murphy, who is supposedly beyond obscenely rich; JP, who is from a rich oil family and dresses like a cowboy, Cecilia Sunbeam, a blonde movie star, and JP’s younger sister “LL” who seems to fill the cute and awkward slot. Oh, and Mohammed is a Royal Prince. So, basically, it’s a collection of stereotypes.

There’s a lot of techno-babble and weird slang, and ominous hints. Apparently someone is trying to hunt down JP, or his tech shows. The movie star has a very odd looking cat with her everywhere she goes, and I expect it’s going to end up being something weird and/or dangerous. Mo, not knowing better, uploads several photos (see how modern they are?) and attracts the attention of a supervillian, Riot. Riot has the power to create duplicates of himself, and he/they attack the expo for our cliffhanger. Commodore activates some experimental tech-armor to try and fight him off, but the dupes grab his friends.

The Green Team #1

This didn’t really wow me. The mains are young, beautiful, and rich. Not a group I really identify with. The youth slang felt a bit forced, especially as at least one of them didn’t get it so we got an explanation after it was used. I liked the other book that was being promoted with this one, The Movement, a lot better. It just felt kind of flat to me.

It was written by Art Baltazar and Franco, who I’ve never heard of. Nothing really grabbed me here, and I don’t hugely care about the characters. LL is kinda cute, but the adorable/awkward thing is getting overplayed. I’m giving the plot a low 2 out of 5.

Ig Guara is the penciller, who I also never heard of. The art isn’t bad, but isn’t great. I’ll give it a 3 out of 5. I’m curious about Cecilia’s cat/leopard whatever it ends up being. It certainly isn’t quite drawn like a house cat.

I’m going to get the second issue, but it better really ramp up to keep me after that. This is a set up issue that doesn’t really hook me, which bodes ill. I don’t really care that much about anyone in here so far. Hopefully that will change.

While it’s a good twist, I felt last issue was setting up for some fairly obvious plot twists, and that’s just what they did. Calvin persuaded the youngest of three Talons to turn on his older family members, who were always running him down. Rose manages to trip some security devices that wipe out the computer records that were part of the goal of his mission here. The villain gets away in a last minute escape pod, which Calvin grapples on to in order to get out of the locked down base.

Back at Clark’s place, Casey has also figured out who Clark is, and there’s a lot of tension/intrigue between them, with Casey’s daughter Sarah used as pressure against Casey. The few twists that pop up are a Calvin Rose/Batman run in (Batman catches him, Rose gets away via escape artistry) and who we learn Clark’s ally is. With no past hint of it, Clark is suddenly revealed to be in close contact with one of Batman’s deadliest foes: Bane. The Batman bit was kind of funny, in that Rose is so worried about getting to Casey and Sarah his initial reaction is “I don’t have time for this.” Not the reaction Batman is used to evoking. The issue ends with Bane smashing Rose into a wall, which for some reason Clark assumes killed him. I guess it convinced the captioner, too, as the next issue box says “Calvin Rose, RIP.” I guess they’re trying to tap into some of the buzz from the recent Robin RIP story and crossovers?

Talon #7

For plot, I’m going a low 3 out of 5. The twists seemed a bit contrived, possibly in part because of DC’s month of random surprises. It was originally going to be “WTF” month, but DC once again got hit with some bad public reaction over the poorly chosen title. Bane came out of nowhere; it really had the feel of “Oh, I need a big shock this month… ummm… who’s not being used in the Bat-books right now?” I’ve been liking Tynion and Snyder’s co-plotting, but this one fell a bit short.

For art, 3.5 out of 5. Gullien March really wasn’t impressing me back when he first started doing the art chores on Gotham City Sirens, but it seems he has improved since then. He’s not a favorite, but I think he’s finding his footing much better now.

The issue had some good moments. Batman finally getting directly involved in an ongoing issue in his own city was one of them, and Casey turning the tables on Clark, refusing to play damsel in distress, was another.

A bit less good was the ease with which Rose escaped from Batman, the seeming randomness of Bane showing up, and the predictable “turn picked on family member against the others” plot device.

I’m hoping Talon rebounds to the level of talent in the first five issues, and that the last two aren’t indicative of a slide in overall quality.

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While there is the genre-required initial mistrust between heroes, they don’t actually fight, so points for that. Booster is played as kind of a buffoon here, a slant on him I’ve never really liked. He foolishly agrees to go drinking with Hex before they go after the bad guys, and spends the end of the issue hung over and puking. Yay,heroism. There’s also the obligatory bad guys destroying a town to show how bad they are.

It remains unclear whether or not Booster’s costume is working. If not, I’d like an explanation, as he’s certainly time traveled before without it being affected. If it is, let’s face it, he’s more than a match for just about anyone in the Old West.

The backup continues the 1800′s Stormwatch as Adam One continues going around recruiting people for his group. This story focuses on “The Master Gunfighter.” Cody Masters is the sole survivor of a traveling show of trick shooters, knife throwers, and lasso artists, who were killed by a group of vampires. Masters now travels the west and south seeking out supernatural monsters, and here saves a wagon train from a werewolf attack.

This wasn’t one of their better issues in my opinion. The break between stories is horribly handled, you literally turn the page and go from one to the next. No transition, no real clear break. I don’t know why it’s become so popular to put the story title and credits at the end, but it really led to some confusion here. I also wasn’t really impressed by the Jonah/Booster story.

Splitting them for ratings purposes:

For the main story, I’ll go 2 out of 5 for plot. Booster looked like an idiot, we don’t know if his suit is working, and bad guys’ killing spree just seemed kinda cliche to me. I generally enjoy Palmotti and Gray’s work, but this just didn’t do a lot for me.

Moritat’s art is ok, and growing on me a bit. I’ll give him a 3 out of 5 here.

The backup was pretty good, aside from the rough transition. And that’s not the story’s fault, this was a place an editor really should have stepped in and made some changes. I’ll give “Master Gunfighter,” by the same writing team, a 3.5 of 5 for the plot. As an origin/set up piece, this has some potential.

Staz Johnson is the artist on this, and I like his work a bit better. I’ll give him a 4 out of 5.

Positives include an interesting introduction in the backup, and Staz Johnson’s art.

Negatives are a lot of unclear things about Booster in the main, and a really wrenching transition from one story to the next.

Ivan Reis art is once again amazing, and I particularly like his rendition of the Atom and the surprise villain who is revealed at the end of the story. From the Batcave to the Satellite, and from action to character interaction, Reis’ bold and detailed pages standout and make this issue one of the best visually.

Johns and Frank deliver a solid story on the Shazam back up again this month. Billy hangs out with the other orphans as Black Adam searches for the new champion, Shazam. We also get a sneak peek into the origin of Black Adam and some possible implications of it. This story has really grown on me the past few months and I would love to see it grow into a title of its own.

Plot: 3.5 out of 5

Artwork: 4 out of 5

Justice League #19

Vibe is actually out on patrol as part of this book, which you about never see from the heroes anymore. His brother, in on his secret, mocks him for it, but I like young Cisco’s spirit and his desire to do right, so rare these days. Vibe wants to help people. Agents Waller and Gunn, his handlers, want a plan in place to fight the Justice League. Here’s one flaw in this idea: if you’re worried that a group of heroes is going to go rogue and turn on you, why would you recruit new supers with a much less established track record to counter them? What’s to prevent THEM from turning on you, especially when they see your attitude towards other supers?

As a test, Gunn and Waller (sounds like a law firm) set up Vibe to fight Kid Flash, telling Vibe that Kid Flash is a thief and arsonist. Now, here’s a flaw: the Teen Titans, back before I dropped that book, had gotten a fair amount of press. I guess Vibe missed all that? Anyway, Vibe and a team of ARGUS agents track Kid Flash down in the New York City subway tunnels. They clash, and, oddly, when Vibe touches Kid Flash, he can read parts of the Kid’s past.

The two theories here that ARGUS was working off were that Vibe could screw with speed powers, making him a counter to Flash, and wanted to test him, and that Kid Flash might be from another dimension, or at least that’s what they told Vibe. After they fight some, Kid Flash escapes, leaving Vibe with a lot of doubts. Kid Flash had several opportunities to hurt or even kill Vibe, and didn’t do so.

Vibe being a pawn of ARGUS is a plot that can only go on so long. Vibe is young and even naive, but he doesn’t seem stupid to me. How many times can he be told “Oh, this is a bad guy” and find out they aren’t, before he starts to question his handlers?

When Vibe and Kid Flash touched, it produced a lot of energy feedback. The feedback not only took out their spy devices on Vibe for a while, but it messes with ARGUS’ base back in Chicago. This isn’t explained, but at least it’s a story element, as Waller is also wondering how that happened. One side effect is that Gypsy’s power negator fails, and she manages to trick a guard with her illusion powers and escape. I’m betting Vibe is getting sent after her soon, with some other weird cover story about how bad she is.

Plot wise, this was ok. I’ll say a sold 3 out of 5. The hero fights hero bit is a cliche, but it works with two young heroes, one of whom is being fed bad information by people he trusts.

The art was good, Pete Woods and Fabiano Neves turn in some good work. Vibe and his powers look good, as does Kid Flash. My only gripe is that as Kid Flash finds the spot he apparently arrived in the present, it has damage in a sphere all around it which looks like a rip off from the Terminator movies. I’ll say 3 out of 5 here, too.

I’m still curious enough about what happens next to keep coming back for at least next issue. Vibe was pretty much a joke character his first time around. So far, he’s at least better than that, and I’m kinda glad.

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Chicago is vehemently anti-hero. In fact, Nightwing spends much of the issue running away from, being shot at by, and rescuing from their own stupidity, various members of the Chicago police. Batman’s early clashed with the Gotham PD were, in part, because so much of that organization was so corrupt. I can’t help wonder if Chicago is going to be shown in the same light. Police show up and order Nightwing to surrender, he leaves, and they start shooting. That’s not only bad police work, it’s actually unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court decided many years ago. Police aren’t allowed to shoot at someone just because they run away. The only options here that I see are the writer, Kyle Higgins, being ignorant of this, or the Chicago PD being as bad as Gotham used to be. If it’s the first, he needs to do more research. If it’s the second, then this is really just Nightwing acting out what Batman’s already done. I can’t say I care for either option.

Among the other pieces in play here, there’s some strange hacker called the Prankster who seems to be attacking various systems in Chicago. Pre-reboot, the Prankster was Toyman knock off who usually fought Superman. Prankster also apparently tipped off the police that Nightwing was in town. Considering Nightwing just got here, and what we see is apparently his first outing in the Windy City, I kinda wonder just how Prankster knew that. Prankster is also shown meting out a very vicious justice against some local official he has judged to be corrupt. This version of Prankster seems to be a cross between Oracle and Anarky.

We also meet Johnny Spade, a low-life information broker, who Nightwing hires to find any info on Tony Zucco. There’s a fight with a blond woman called Mali who is almost as skilled as ‘Wing, as well as a bit crazy and, we’re told, “something of a mimic.” Towards the end of the issue, the mayor orders various steps taken to capture Nightwing, and then gets in his limo. Driving the limo is Tony Zucco, and it seems the mayor knows who he is.

Add in the element of Dick subletting an apartment from someone, so he now has a roommate (shades of Batgirl), and his claiming to be broke, and we’re setting up for all manner of cliche storylines. Apparently Dick lost all his money when Joker destroyed Amusement Mile, and Dick’s too proud to ask Bruce Wayne for any money. Continuity issue, isn’t Nightwing part of Batman, Inc, and isn’t that a paying gig? And, if he has “two dollars to his name’ as he claims, where’s he getting his little throwing weapons from as he uses them? Or fueling up his bike?

For plot, I’m giving this a 2 out of 5. I just didn’t care for this set up. Dick has now lost his money, all his supporting cast, and is in yet another apparently massively corrupt city. None of this is new.  His main foe is a villain that used to be part of someone else’s rogues gallery, which is a lot like how Nightwing’s time in Bludhaven started. Basically, there’s a lot of “Haven’t I seen this before?” in here.

Brett Booth’s art I’ll go a sold 3 out of 5. It’s decent, NW in action looks good. I’d go higher, but for one scene. As NW fights Mali, he opens the fight with throwing one of “Wing-dings” and impaling her hand. Dick has never drawn blood casually, and I really, really don’t want that starting. Too, his costume has further morphed, and now he has random red slashed at his waist. I thought changing his costume accents form blue to red made no sense at all for a character that relies on stealth, and Mali crying out “.. He’s so colorful! So bright!” just really seems like the wrong approach for a Bat-character.

Nightwing has long been my personal favorite. I really hope they do him justice here, but, so far, doesn’t seem like it.

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When you talk powerhouses in the Legion, one of the first few that always comes up, rightfully, is Mon-El. Mon is from Daxam, a colony world of Krypton (unless they’ve retconned that), so he’s about on par with Superman. Mon is one of the Legion’s big guns. Much of this issue is the Legion fighting the Emerald Empress, who is a LOT more powerful than she used to be pre-reboot. In fact, as some Legionnaires look on,
horrified, the Empress beats Mon-El. I don’t mean just defeats him and sets up for a rematch later, either. Mon is near death, costume obligatorily shredded, and his left arm is gone above the elbow.

The Legion was overconfident here, and they paid for it. They let Mon square off against the Empress by himself, even with a powerhouse like Element Lad right there. In fact, after Mon is nearly killed, Element Lad and Brainy step in and contain her with what seems to be minimal effort. You could say this is bad writing, but really, who expects someone at Mon’s power level to get hurt, especially that badly? It’s a very believable bit of hubris for Mon-El personally and the team as a whole.

And things aren’t looking too good for the rest of the team. Marooned on a Promethean Giant, Phantom Girl sees Polar Boy and Invisible Kid possibly killed by the Giant, which is under Tharok’s control. Personally, I’m betting, and hoping, that Invisible Kid made them both vanish in an attempt to get away from the Giant.

On Sorcerer’s World, Glorith has gotten herself, Chameleon By, and Ultra Boy there from Rimbor, which is good. Less good is that apparently Validus, the rampaging, nearly unstoppable brute force element of the Fatal Five, is there also. If there was ever a good time for the missing members of the Legion who were in the Legion Lost book to return to their own time, this would really be it. I’m hoping that’s coming, because the Legion needs the help. For that matter, it’d be a good time for the Wanderers, the Subs, the Heroes of Lallor, any 31st century Green Lanterns, or anyone else to come help, if any of those others exist in the rebooted era.

Paul Levitz has made this a huge, surprising, and ugly storyline. The Legion is huge, yes, but they’re in a lot of trouble. I can’t help wonder, in passing, how he’s writing this with such a huge cast and griping storyline, but seeming to have such trouble with Worlds’ Finest.

Plot I’m going 4.5 out of 5. I don’t like random death and maiming in general. This, however, seems to be a major story, and the stakes are higher. It might almost justifiably be called that much over-used word these days, an epic.

Art I’m less enchanted with, and I’ll say 2 out of 5. I know some folks like Scott Koblish’s cartoony style, but I’m just not one of them. He tones it down in some places; the Mon/Empress slugfest looked good. But especially the scenes of Phantom Girl on the Giant just looked wrong. He seems to have problems with female faces.

The Legion has long been a favorite group of mine, and they have been largely untouched by the reboot. This new version of the Fatal Five is an exception, but they’re very impressive. I am looking forward to the rest of this story, and am not really sure how the Legion’s going to pull this one off without reinforcements at least.

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Layman and regular artist Jason Fabok supply The 900 story for our reading and viewing pleasure. This story continues on with Emperor Penguin, but he takes a backseat to Zsasz and Kirk Langstrom / Man-Bat. Again, we have great dialogue and fantastic visuals; Fabok was born to draw the Caped Crusader.

Backup Story – Review
Birth of a Family, the first of the short stories, is handled by Layman and artist Andy Clarke. Again, this duo focuses on bringing another great bat-villain into the New 52 universe and the results are terrific. We discover why Langstrom began his research, how he and his wife Francine met and later married, and how she is dealing with the repercussions of The 900 story. Clarke’s art once again is gritty and dark and I would like to see him take on a full Batman story someday.

Ratings for Backup Story
Positive: Glad to see another classic Batman villain appear in the New 52
Negative: Clarke’s open mouth smiles are a little weird
Plot: 4 out of 5
Art: 3.5 out of 5

Once again, Reis’ art was stunning and I thoroughly enjoyed his rendition of Orm. He is brutal and regal at the same time, and the double page spread of him leading the Atlanteans out of the water was breathtaking. I also like his take of Superman using his heat vision in a way I’ve never seen before (read for yourself to see what I’m talking about) and when Orm delivers a beatdown on the League in a one page splash.

I’m also very interested in the subplot involving Dr. Shin and Vulko, and cannot wait to see where this leads. This is yet another solid story by the creative team, and the cliffhanger left me eagerly waiting for more.

Justice League #16

Nightwing goes to his Amusement Mile project, fights the Joker, loses, and all Dick’s hard work is undone as the Mile gets blown up by Joker. Once again, we have to go through a competent hero losing to a villain in a not overly realistic manner so someone else can shine. Let’s face it, it’s a huge Joker story in several books, Batman’s going to be the hero. Everyone else is pretty much bait/props. Joker is utterly insane, as ever, in this issue. He digs up about every dead member of Haly’s Circus and mounts them as a giant display to rattle Nightwing. Once again, if Joker’s all over harassing every Bat, where did he get time for this massive project? I’d also kinda like an explanation as to why Batwoman and Batwing aren’t targeted.

Similarly, even though Dick evacuated all the current Haly crew from the city, Joker has captured and “Joker-ized” all of them. Again, how, and when? Nightwing, after a lot of gas-induced psycho-drama, cleverly manages to get stabbed in the leg with a screwdriver by Joker before being beaten to a pulp by his former friends from the Circus. This issue, as most of the ones I’ve seen this month, ends with Joker presenting some kind of a serving dish and starting to pull off the cover.

Ok, I don’t like crossovers, I admit. And I don’t see how Joker is everywhere at once, doing projects that take far more manpower than he has. This issue does utterly remove one question in the crossover. Joker has claimed to know all the Bats’ ID’s, and Batman has been in utter denial about it. While Joker targeting both Alfred and Mrs. Gordon can be explained away, the Haly Circus crew/Amusement Mile settles the issue. Joker knows who Dick is, at least. Which means he knows who Bruce is. And the zero issue of Red Hood pretty clearly stated he knows who Jason Todd is. So really, why are we still wondering? This is another of my dislikes in the DCNU, Batman seems to have had his deductive abilities greatly reduced.

Hopefully, this insanity ends next month, with whatever big reveal the Joker has left, and epic drama flakes to make the Bats’ not trust each other for a while. I’d like to see Nightwing get back to being a fun hero, but I’m not sure that’s allowed in the DCNU. I guess we’ll see in two months or so, depending on how much fall out there is.

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