Teen Titans #3 today. Another rockin' issue! Geoff Johns is the master of the cliff hanger ending! Three for three on this series. I defy you to read an issue of Teen Titans and not salivate for next month's issue! And the best line this week goes to Robin:
"I lie to Batman."
That reads better within the context of the story, but trust me. It's the best line this week (and maybe this month).
DCU : The Original Universe
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Eternal Padawan
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I re-read Batman #618 last night. Not as bad as I'd thought. I think maybe the fact Jason wasn't Jason bugged me more than I'd thought.
In fact, I rather liked the story. A bit oddly paced, but something in the last panel hit me like a ton of bricks and made the entire storyline click. (I'll tell you about that in a bit. Don't you love suspense?)
Here's some things I realized:
1) I wasted my vote at dccomics.com.
2) Tommy Elliott is not Hush.
3) There is no Tommy Elliott.
4) Harold is very much alive, but Clayface is dead.
5) Batman is in a coma after falling in part 1. Hush is the Bruce Wayne side of Bats, emerging into his psyche during his coma.
Wha-wha-what? The idea everyone, myself included, pooh-poohed not that long ago?
Here's why I say this (and hopefully this will be proven right, unlike a certain list of facts pointing to Jason that I posted):
1) "I told Mom I never had any friends, but I lied. Tommy Elliott was always there." So his mother didn't know about Tommy. Why then did his father know so much about him, even taking him to Metropolis? It doesn't make sense. Tommy Elliott was an imaginary friend created by a lonely boy. He would've outgrown Tommy in a normal, healthy fashion. . . but his parents were gunned down before his eyes and the imaginary friend grew into the Batman persona.
2) A lot of the story so far has focused on what might be Batman's subconsciousness. What would happen if he actually had to fight Superman? Or had a real relationship with Catwoman? What would happen if he let go (allowing himself to "kill" R'as al Ghul) or lost control (almost whonking Joker to death)? Jason is there as a reminder of what happens when he failed. Tommy is there for the same reason, and as an image of what Bruce Wayne may have become (a brilliant neurosurgeon, possibly even better than Thomas Wayne). Other "might've beens": the adult Jason, a restored Harold, Harvey Dent sans Two-Face, Krypto.
3) Batman constantly (even a few times during Hush, IIRC) says Bruce Wayne is the mask and Batman is the reality. (Perhaps the coma is causing Bruce to come to the forefront, or maybe it's a survival technique of sorts.)
4) The woman who saved Batman in Crime Alley (possibly in a barely-perceived reality as well) suddenly goes completely nuts for no reason. Just after that, something affected Bats' mind so that Scarecrow couldn't do so. Almost immediately after, he practically blows off Jason's presence and doesn't notice when it turns out to be a dead villain. And then Hush shows himself.
5) Tommy Elliot "died" in Crime Alley, and a lot of the major events in the story have taken place in Crime Alley (the fall, the meeting with Harold) or random alleys that look exactly like Crime Alley (Tommy's death, the fight with Huntress that suddenly ends up in a graveyard).
6) Most of Batman's major foes have shown up, and their roles have been pretty consistent with their overall threat and importance. Joker got two entire issues, Riddler and Scarecrow got a few pages each. Only three have been noticeably absent. Mr Freeze, well, I imagine the brass at DC would, like me, be happy if he never ever shows up again. Penguin is semi-reformed now. Bane was a bit of a puzzler at first, but thinking back on his history, it became obvious. He's simply washed up as a baddie. The venom has been gone for quite some time, and physically he's no match for Batman (his jailroom brawl fighting style doesn't cut it). Mentally, he's still strong, but he seems to have almost given up. Vengeance of Bane ends with him saying to Batman, "Soon you will know my name." Vengeance of Bane II ends with him more or less apologizing to Batman and saying he no longer has any beef with him. Obviously someone didn't like the idea of a good Bane, so he showed up as R'as al Ghul's henchman shortly afterwards, then R'as drops him and he becomes basically a hired thug. No mental effort required. No real threat.
7) In the DCU, a hero can't even blink without it being acknowledged in every other book. In that respect, this is more of a Marvel comic. "Punisher spends a year in jail and then disguises himself by changing his race? Meh. That won't stop him in his other two titles!" Or, "Emma, don't worry reassuring the kids. I'm sure they didn't see that most of Generation X was just crucified and left to die on the lawn." Here we have, "Batman is banging Catwoman, but even his own books don't acknowledge it." Weird.
Carefully re-read the ending. Notice what Hush drives up in. Go ahead. I'll wait.
Okay, assuming this isn't an hallucination, how many people could possibly drive the Batmobile, or even know where it's kept? Clark, Lois, Alfred, Dick, and Tim are completely out of the question. I have no idea if Jean-Paul is still alive, but he seems to have faded from view as badly as ol' Anarky. Babs can't walk. Batgirl, well, she's a girl. Same goes for Selina. Harold probably didn't drive up and shoot himself in the head. Shondra's brain-dead for all intents and purposes, Hugo Strange and Jason Todd are dead, Bane is too big, and if Ace can drive, I'm abandoning all DC comics forever.
"What is a friend? One soul in two bodies." Or should it be "Two souls in one body"?
Maybe the Loeb/Lee followup story will deal with who cut the batline, and who masterminded Croc's crimes (and who's mutating him).
In fact, I rather liked the story. A bit oddly paced, but something in the last panel hit me like a ton of bricks and made the entire storyline click. (I'll tell you about that in a bit. Don't you love suspense?)
Here's some things I realized:
1) I wasted my vote at dccomics.com.
2) Tommy Elliott is not Hush.
3) There is no Tommy Elliott.
4) Harold is very much alive, but Clayface is dead.
5) Batman is in a coma after falling in part 1. Hush is the Bruce Wayne side of Bats, emerging into his psyche during his coma.
Wha-wha-what? The idea everyone, myself included, pooh-poohed not that long ago?
Here's why I say this (and hopefully this will be proven right, unlike a certain list of facts pointing to Jason that I posted):
1) "I told Mom I never had any friends, but I lied. Tommy Elliott was always there." So his mother didn't know about Tommy. Why then did his father know so much about him, even taking him to Metropolis? It doesn't make sense. Tommy Elliott was an imaginary friend created by a lonely boy. He would've outgrown Tommy in a normal, healthy fashion. . . but his parents were gunned down before his eyes and the imaginary friend grew into the Batman persona.
2) A lot of the story so far has focused on what might be Batman's subconsciousness. What would happen if he actually had to fight Superman? Or had a real relationship with Catwoman? What would happen if he let go (allowing himself to "kill" R'as al Ghul) or lost control (almost whonking Joker to death)? Jason is there as a reminder of what happens when he failed. Tommy is there for the same reason, and as an image of what Bruce Wayne may have become (a brilliant neurosurgeon, possibly even better than Thomas Wayne). Other "might've beens": the adult Jason, a restored Harold, Harvey Dent sans Two-Face, Krypto.
3) Batman constantly (even a few times during Hush, IIRC) says Bruce Wayne is the mask and Batman is the reality. (Perhaps the coma is causing Bruce to come to the forefront, or maybe it's a survival technique of sorts.)
4) The woman who saved Batman in Crime Alley (possibly in a barely-perceived reality as well) suddenly goes completely nuts for no reason. Just after that, something affected Bats' mind so that Scarecrow couldn't do so. Almost immediately after, he practically blows off Jason's presence and doesn't notice when it turns out to be a dead villain. And then Hush shows himself.
5) Tommy Elliot "died" in Crime Alley, and a lot of the major events in the story have taken place in Crime Alley (the fall, the meeting with Harold) or random alleys that look exactly like Crime Alley (Tommy's death, the fight with Huntress that suddenly ends up in a graveyard).
6) Most of Batman's major foes have shown up, and their roles have been pretty consistent with their overall threat and importance. Joker got two entire issues, Riddler and Scarecrow got a few pages each. Only three have been noticeably absent. Mr Freeze, well, I imagine the brass at DC would, like me, be happy if he never ever shows up again. Penguin is semi-reformed now. Bane was a bit of a puzzler at first, but thinking back on his history, it became obvious. He's simply washed up as a baddie. The venom has been gone for quite some time, and physically he's no match for Batman (his jailroom brawl fighting style doesn't cut it). Mentally, he's still strong, but he seems to have almost given up. Vengeance of Bane ends with him saying to Batman, "Soon you will know my name." Vengeance of Bane II ends with him more or less apologizing to Batman and saying he no longer has any beef with him. Obviously someone didn't like the idea of a good Bane, so he showed up as R'as al Ghul's henchman shortly afterwards, then R'as drops him and he becomes basically a hired thug. No mental effort required. No real threat.
7) In the DCU, a hero can't even blink without it being acknowledged in every other book. In that respect, this is more of a Marvel comic. "Punisher spends a year in jail and then disguises himself by changing his race? Meh. That won't stop him in his other two titles!" Or, "Emma, don't worry reassuring the kids. I'm sure they didn't see that most of Generation X was just crucified and left to die on the lawn." Here we have, "Batman is banging Catwoman, but even his own books don't acknowledge it." Weird.
Carefully re-read the ending. Notice what Hush drives up in. Go ahead. I'll wait.Okay, assuming this isn't an hallucination, how many people could possibly drive the Batmobile, or even know where it's kept? Clark, Lois, Alfred, Dick, and Tim are completely out of the question. I have no idea if Jean-Paul is still alive, but he seems to have faded from view as badly as ol' Anarky. Babs can't walk. Batgirl, well, she's a girl. Same goes for Selina. Harold probably didn't drive up and shoot himself in the head. Shondra's brain-dead for all intents and purposes, Hugo Strange and Jason Todd are dead, Bane is too big, and if Ace can drive, I'm abandoning all DC comics forever.
"What is a friend? One soul in two bodies." Or should it be "Two souls in one body"?
Maybe the Loeb/Lee followup story will deal with who cut the batline, and who masterminded Croc's crimes (and who's mutating him).
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Eternal Padawan
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Whaaaaat? Batman drove to the rendezvous with Harold in the Batmobile. Reread the three pages BEFORE the final splash. It was there the whole time.
The Catwoman comic acknowledged her relationship with Bats.
If this is all in Bat/Bruce's head, why the segues into conversations with Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon?
I guess we'll find out in two weeks!
The Catwoman comic acknowledged her relationship with Bats.
If this is all in Bat/Bruce's head, why the segues into conversations with Harvey Dent and Jim Gordon?
I guess we'll find out in two weeks!
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Eternal Padawan
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What else is happening in the DCU? Today I picked up Robin 118, SuperBat 2 and the latest issues of Wonder Woman.
Robin was supposed to be a jumping on point with a new writer, but not much was happening except for a lot of reference to confusing stuff from previous issues (Time Travelling Alfred? What the hell??. The art is also nothing spectacular. You gotta work for my cheddar if you're a DC book and this one ain't getting picked up next month.
SuperBat was better. I dig how Loeb juxtaposes the two very different heroes against each other with the thought captions. I don't dig how they are inferring that Metallo was the killer of Bruce's parents. Even when it turns out to be false (and it will), it's still annoying.
Wonder Woman is a lot of political hooey and not much Sooper heroing. But I dig Drew Johnson's artwork and possible hot Wonder Woman lezzie action down the road is intriguing. Rucka is getting his footing, but it's interesting to read. I'll give it a few more issues. Did I mention Johnson draws hot babes? Just check out Aphrodite wrapped in nothing but a scarve in 196. Hoo-wah!
Robin was supposed to be a jumping on point with a new writer, but not much was happening except for a lot of reference to confusing stuff from previous issues (Time Travelling Alfred? What the hell??. The art is also nothing spectacular. You gotta work for my cheddar if you're a DC book and this one ain't getting picked up next month.
SuperBat was better. I dig how Loeb juxtaposes the two very different heroes against each other with the thought captions. I don't dig how they are inferring that Metallo was the killer of Bruce's parents. Even when it turns out to be false (and it will), it's still annoying.
Wonder Woman is a lot of political hooey and not much Sooper heroing. But I dig Drew Johnson's artwork and possible hot Wonder Woman lezzie action down the road is intriguing. Rucka is getting his footing, but it's interesting to read. I'll give it a few more issues. Did I mention Johnson draws hot babes? Just check out Aphrodite wrapped in nothing but a scarve in 196. Hoo-wah!
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Eternal Padawan
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Eternal Padawan
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Eternal Padawan
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(ahem) So my exploration of the DC universe continues.
I picked up Flash 201, Green Lantern 168, and JLA 84, and 85.
I didn't much care for the art in Flash. Very rudimentary and not in a minimalistic Matt Wagner, Mike Allred, Bob Kane kind of way, but more of a I am learning to draw on issue at a time kind of way. Plus Wally West is walking around Keystone City and doesn't know he's Flash, nor it seems, does anybody else. I thought his identity was public now. And he has a wife and she doesn't know he's Flash either. This was supposedly a jumping on issue, but it leaves me with more questions than anything. And the art just tips in favor of not picking up next month's adventure to find out what the dill is going on...
Green Lantern. Better. So Amon Sur (or Amon Sur Jr. actually)is the head of a new interstellar crime syndicate and Kyle is trying to bust it up. Kinda cool. The assassin Shiro Nova has potential to be cool. It sucks having missed 100 issues of all these titles. My last GL was 67. My last Flash was 99. A lot has happened....
JLA. Well, since my daughter picks up random issues of this, I needed to fill the gaps in the story in. It's actually a great read. Kelly writes great interaction between all the characters and it's easy to jump into the series without being overwhelmed by all the characters. I may just make this one of my regular titles.
I picked up Flash 201, Green Lantern 168, and JLA 84, and 85.
I didn't much care for the art in Flash. Very rudimentary and not in a minimalistic Matt Wagner, Mike Allred, Bob Kane kind of way, but more of a I am learning to draw on issue at a time kind of way. Plus Wally West is walking around Keystone City and doesn't know he's Flash, nor it seems, does anybody else. I thought his identity was public now. And he has a wife and she doesn't know he's Flash either. This was supposedly a jumping on issue, but it leaves me with more questions than anything. And the art just tips in favor of not picking up next month's adventure to find out what the dill is going on...
Green Lantern. Better. So Amon Sur (or Amon Sur Jr. actually)is the head of a new interstellar crime syndicate and Kyle is trying to bust it up. Kinda cool. The assassin Shiro Nova has potential to be cool. It sucks having missed 100 issues of all these titles. My last GL was 67. My last Flash was 99. A lot has happened....
JLA. Well, since my daughter picks up random issues of this, I needed to fill the gaps in the story in. It's actually a great read. Kelly writes great interaction between all the characters and it's easy to jump into the series without being overwhelmed by all the characters. I may just make this one of my regular titles.
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Eternal Padawan
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HUSH CONCLUDES.
I just wanna say that having a ressurected Jason Todd would've been infinitely cooler than how this played out.
I won't spoil it until you guys read it, but three things are left open ended.
They didn't find Hush (so he's still out there).
Batman's mind control is never fully explained (Scarecrow said something, remember?).
And Jason Todd's body is still missing (so maybe they can still toss it in a Lazurus Pit).
I just wanna say that having a ressurected Jason Todd would've been infinitely cooler than how this played out.
I won't spoil it until you guys read it, but three things are left open ended.
They didn't find Hush (so he's still out there).
Batman's mind control is never fully explained (Scarecrow said something, remember?).
And Jason Todd's body is still missing (so maybe they can still toss it in a Lazurus Pit).
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Eternal Padawan
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In non mediocre Hush finale DC news, I also got JLA today. J'onn J'onzz overcomes his fear of fire and turns into freaky uber-villain who basically hands the entire JLA their ass (except that cool Bat fellow who was to quick and teleported away.)
And I got the reprint of Titans/Young Justice:Graduation Day. Not having read the entire runs of both Titans or Young Justice, I was slightly less lost than when I picked up Teen Titnas and Outsiders recently. Can I just say how stupid it was to kill off Donna Troy? And it a totally stupid way. Here's what happens. Apparently Superman, in his infinite wisdom, built a bunch of Superman robots (Why? I don't know, because DC reasoning is lame)Anyway, all these droids went nuts and had to be destroyed <i>except one</i>(again, why? Why not destroy ALL the bad robots?) and anyway, this ONE bad robot gets reactivated ( by an android from the future) and it ends up killing Donna Troy,(who was neither Wonder Woman, nor Wonder Girl, so therefore in DC's mind was redundant and must be offed). Then the android from the future ( who caused all the trouble, gets rewarded with a position on the new Outsiders team. What a completely lame unneccesary hero death. Why do none of the recurring villains get offed?
And what happened to Dove? My memory is now fuzzy. Did Hawk off her when he went bad, or is she just meandering around the DC universe until they can get a new Hawk and she can have a series again?
And I got the reprint of Titans/Young Justice:Graduation Day. Not having read the entire runs of both Titans or Young Justice, I was slightly less lost than when I picked up Teen Titnas and Outsiders recently. Can I just say how stupid it was to kill off Donna Troy? And it a totally stupid way. Here's what happens. Apparently Superman, in his infinite wisdom, built a bunch of Superman robots (Why? I don't know, because DC reasoning is lame)Anyway, all these droids went nuts and had to be destroyed <i>except one</i>(again, why? Why not destroy ALL the bad robots?) and anyway, this ONE bad robot gets reactivated ( by an android from the future) and it ends up killing Donna Troy,(who was neither Wonder Woman, nor Wonder Girl, so therefore in DC's mind was redundant and must be offed). Then the android from the future ( who caused all the trouble, gets rewarded with a position on the new Outsiders team. What a completely lame unneccesary hero death. Why do none of the recurring villains get offed?
And what happened to Dove? My memory is now fuzzy. Did Hawk off her when he went bad, or is she just meandering around the DC universe until they can get a new Hawk and she can have a series again?