Batman Jones's Profile

Tom King is the best writer (and the best Batman writer) in years. I can't get enough. This is why I read superhero comics.

Perfect. Very few comics (or anything) merit a 10/10 rating. This one does.

This is damn good comics. Snyder gets better and better. I found his Batman run to be mediocre apart from the Court of Owls arc, but Metal was good, Batman Who Laughs has been very good, Justice League has been great, and Last Knight on Earth has been super-great. This is what I want out of shared universe DC comics. This book is as epic, surprising, and well-told as pretty much any other Elseworlds story that's come before it, including its spiritual predecessor DKR. The only strike against it is that it can't last longer.

I am so disappointed this is over and I hope it's not the last we see of Doctor Star. As a mostly DC-only fan, I picked up the first issue because I'd read it was a sort of love letter to the JSA and I think all DC fans have been missing JSA too much for too long. Doctor Star was an incredible remedy to that and I give each issue and the mini as a whole 10/10. It got me into the Black Hammer universe too and now I can't get enough. There isn't enough out there to satisfy my taste for all things Black Hammer. Doctor Star and, as a result, Black Hammer has done a thing very few comics could do which was to add non-DC titles to my pull list. Now I'm on the lookout for all manner of creator owned work from writers I like but don't love. And that's how I've felt about Lemire with his work at DC. Like he was a good writer trying to turn into a great one. I had it backwards as it turns out. His own work (Sweet Tooth too!) has been so much stronger than his DC work. As a DC fan though I'm delighted to learn he's much better than I'd known and it makes me very hopeful about his future DC work. Now I'll be on the lookout to buy nearly everything the guy writes. Black Hammer and Doctor Star before it have made me a huge fan.

Perfect.

Just fantastic. Bummed about the long delay at the halfway mark but in a way it reminds me of having to wait for a second season of a TV show I love to air. I find this series so satisfying in so many ways. Like masterworks Mister Miracle and The Vision before it, this series represents everything I want out of comics.

Just a perfect ending to one of the wildest rides in DC history. I wasn't prepared to love this comic as much as I did. This is one of the most touching Superman-Batman stories I've read and there have been so many great ones it almost seems like there'd be nothing more to tell. Now that I've read it I can't imagine ending this terrific series in any other way. Injustice/Injustice 2 took us to every corner of the DCU and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. But at its heart it was a Superman-Batman story. I'd almost forgotten that until the final issue brought it all back home. I'm trying really hard not to give out 10's lately but that's been so I have somewhere to go when I'm beyond blown away. This kind of issue is what I've been saving my 10's for. I'm really going to miss this series. Tom Taylor is a gift. I'd like to see him write so much more for DC and I think he's earned carte blanche to choose whatever he'd like to write next. I'd love to see what he'd do with JSA but more than that I'd love to see him write whatever he wants to write. He's demonstrated again and again that he knows the DCU as well as any writer and he's one of the freshest voices in comics today. This was splendid.

How is it that each issue seems to be better than the last? Each issue punches me somewhere. This one punched me everywhere. It knocked the air out of my everything. King and Gerads are playing this title with the sensitivity and relatability of (pick your favorite) Elliott Smith.

Fantastic ending to an incredible series. I realize many will be disappointed the ending wasn't clearer. To me, for it to be clearer would have undermined the entire series. I'm reminded of the LOST finale and Evangeline Lilly's words about it, which sum up my feelings about the LOST finale, the Mister Miracle finale, and all art I love. She's more eloquent on the subject than I'd be so I'll quote her here. I can't explain my feelings about this issue any better than she does here: "Well, I'm going to have to go straight to the finale. Vote of confidence, who liked the finale? [The room broke out into cheers] Who did not like the finale? [about the same amount of cheers] About 50/50. So, for those of who you didn't like it; you loved our show, because at the end of every week, it would leave you with an impossible and pressing mystery. It would force you to the water cooler, or the dinner table, asking each other the most difficult questions. Usually philosophical questions. Sometimes questions that touched on God or religion and reality, and what it means to be human. "And then, on the finale, you sat waiting with baited breath, thinking 'they're gonna give us the answer'...well, that's what religions do. So if you want the answer to the great big question of life, go to church, go to God, find the answer, but art...art is supposed to, every time without fail, turn the question back onto you, and asks you to look at what you're seeing, listen to what you're hearing, experience it, and then look at it in the mirror of your soul, and figure out what it means to you. "And so there is no one interpretation of the finale of LOST, for as many people that are in this room, there are that many true, real, endings for LOST. "Because it's just a reflection of who you are, and it's the ultimate question being posed to you, not the ultimate answer being handed to you." - Evangeline Lilly

This was one of the most satisfying single issue comics I've ever read. It made me smile and laugh over and over again. It will give you all the feels. The character work is divine throughout. I've never connected with Lobdell's writing before this series, but this series has been uniformly great with this issue being the best so far. A comic fan typically dreads a fifth week so it's awesome when we get these fifth week gems. I was thoroughly entertained and much, much more. Don't walk, run to get this issue. 10/10 for perfect.

Damn. When Tom King is good there's no one better. And I can't overstate the beauty of the art. Reading this comic gave me the exceedingly rare memory of how excited I used to get about the very greatest comics of my youth, how wonderfully surprised I was page by page, unprepared for their greatness in advance, the way I'd spend hours poring over every bit of the artist's line work and emotional storytelling, allowing the coloring to wash over me like a wave, reading and rereading every word, marveling at every word choice, taking it all in slowly in the sad knowledge it would soon be over. (I'm 52. I was a teenager and in my early 20s when Vertigo launched and peaked, when DKR, Watchmen, Batman: Year One and many other great comics hit the stands without much forewarning at all. I don't think we even had solicits then apart from house ads. So series' as high-quality as this were always a surprise.) DC: please keep giving King these sorts of Black Label series' where he shines the brightest. And he's getting even better with each passing series. That this and Rorschach (and Strange Adventures and Batman/Catoman) are running at the same feels like a miracle, pun intended. Comic books are outrageously expensive nowadays. They have to be pretty great now to make the price seem at all worthwhile. We buy them anyway because most of us are super fans, but even when I find a comic to be good or even very good, I can't help but feel I haven't quite gotten my money's worth. And then there are the incredibly rare times I feel like I've gotten a bargain, or that I even feel a little guilty somehow for buying something so precious for so little in return. Those times are so rare one almost forgets the feeling of it. This was that for me. This is episodic storytelling at its very finest, To me, it's already the best Supergirl story of all time.

This whole series has earned a 10 so far. I keep saying this feels like this could be the best Supergirl story of all time and each issue makes me more confident that it could be.

I didn't want this series. Before it there wasn't anything about Jon Kent that I enjoyed, including Super Sons which was too saccharin-sweet for my tastes. Those series' though were inoffensive. The Bendis run made me actively avoid the character with the purposeless Oz/Jor-El/age up/everything (you suck, Bendis). I never hated Jon, I was just nonplussed by him. I didn't understand why he existed or who ever thought it was a good idea to make him more than a cutesy plaything for Tomasi. He seemed a total cypher to me. So I wasn't even going to give this book a chance. I was a little irritated that it even existed. Boy, have Taylor and Timms proven me wrong. I'm reminded once again that it is creators, not characters, that make good comics. And that great creators can take a sort of nothing of a character and turn them into a great one. I did not want this series, but now it's one of my very favorites. Between this and Nightwing, Taylor should be given the keys to the kingdom. He is on fire lately. DC is also firing on all cylinders. I guess this is what happens when an editor-in-chief gets out of the way, regardless of their own strongly held preferences, and allows the creators to be their best selves. Thank you, Marie Javins for the incredible turnaround at DC. The last 10 years have been pretty rough, but you are rocking it. Never leave.

That was all kinds of wonderful. When Tom King is great, he is SO great. A perfect issue of Superman.

I feel sincerely sorry for anyone that can't enjoy this series, because they are missing out on something truly special. Something I would call exquisite without concern for hyperbole. It's especially rewarding for a fan like me that grew up in the 70s, reading the relevant Teen Titans run and the issue of JLA where Black Lightning is offered and declines membership. Each issue has had as much to say about the JLA and the Teen Titans as about the titular characters and it's just so well done. And Jefferson, Karen, and Mal aren't being written "out of character," as another user reviewer here said. That's impossible. They never had any character to be "written out of." They were cardboard cutouts. (What passed for "character" with these guys back then was Black Lightning calling everybody "jive turkeys.") How terrible that a writer might give them voice and breathe some life into them. And, for all you continuity geeks out there, having read the stories that provide the settings for each of these issues, this series could not be more canon-accurate. Every story beat having to do with the Teen Titans, JLA, or other DC characters that appear in these issues happened in comics that came out 50 years ago. It's a remarkable accomplishment to take 50-year old stories and to make them feel so immediate. I can't remember the last time a series was so nostalgic and so fresh at the same time. And I can't remember the last time DC published something so perfect either. p.s. to the 1-2 star folks on this page, I know what your problem is with this series and it isn't a problem with the series, it's a problem with you. Yay Comicsgate, amirite?

I can't remember the last time I gave a 10 but what a perfect first issue, especially on WW, whom nobody seems to know what to do with. Apart from the Perez and Azzarello runs I've never been able to get into her monthly title. I am freaking hooked now. This is probably my favorite thing DC is publishing right now.

I really didn't want to give #1 and #2 a 10. I hold those back for something incredible. To me, this is that. Getting me to care about a WW monthly is a true feat, since there have been so few decent ones. Loved Perez, loved Rucka, liked Azzarello a lot and there's a lot of room for this to change but, so far, this is far and away my favorite WW title ever. Ever.

This is King at his best with exquisite art, colors, and lettering. Wow. Instant classic.

A perfect issue in a perfect series.

This was an extraordinary series that will have a life well beyond that of its creators, like so many of King's 12 issue series'. I really appreciated the complexities that, again and again, required me to reread the prior issue before reading the most current one. This is a whip smart story, employing elements so fresh as to be unprecedented in comics. The coloring work alone is demonstration of that. I can't wait to read the whole series in one sitting. What a gift this series has been. I hope King writes for DC forever and forever brings along the astoundingly good artists with whom he chooses to collaborate.

I avoided all spoilers and didn't know any of the deaths going into it. If you want to do the same don't read this review, even though I'm not naming names. The deaths were hard to take for sure, especially outside of the context of what happened to them, but they were meant to be hard that way. The craft was beyond reproach and the story so far is filled with feels but manages to pull off the grandiosity inherent to a great first issue of an event launch and too the promise of many intimate stories to come. Those one-pagers in front of the Sanctuary icon were King at his best. And the Harley/Booster arc has me on the edge of my seat. I was stoked for this series and, despite being upset and shocked by the many deaths, it exceeded my expectations. I'm reserving my 10's and being a touch more moderate with my scoring but I was sorely tempted to give this a 10. It was more 9.7 than 9.5 but that's not an option so 9.5 it is. Because this series needs room to grow. I'm thrilled they've added two issues and the amazing guest artists Mitch Gerads and Lee Weeks.

We're two issues in and now I can say with certitude: I have never read a comic book series like this one before. I've read a million comics but I have never read a comic book series like this one before. I want to give every panel a 10 but I have to hold back for the issues that I anticipate will pack an even greater emotional wallop, because I can feel them coming. I remain saddened by far too many deaths of characters I dearly love, but when I can look past the fact of the deaths (it takes some effort), I find virtually every panel of these two issues to be exquisite. Two issues in Heroes in Crisis feels like a matter of two amazing creators making their best work while telling one of the most impactful stories in modern comics. To me it feels like a masterpiece in the making. When I can get past the deaths. It's not nothing; it's hard. By the time I re-read #1 last night, the shock had receded somewhat for me. I'd become accustomed to the fact of it. I'd processed it a bit I guess. It took that time for me to fully separate the story and the quality of the story and the impact of the story from real feelings of grief at having lost loved ones. We lifelong readers of superhero comic books, even those of us with a lot of friends and family IRL, come to think of these characters almost like they're family too. We take what happens to them personally. Of course we do. So it hurts to lose them and the anger from many fans over that is real and understandable. I'm familiar with the anger that inevitably comes with grief, so I wouldn't argue with someone that disagreed entirely about this series and couldn't get past the deaths sufficiently to appreciate the story or even give it a chance. After all, anger is as valid a response to grief as any. But this story wouldn't be what it is without the deaths. They're a necessary ingredient. That so many storied characters could be wiped out so suddenly is reflective of the arbitrary nature of the human cruelty and violence that's become increasingly common as we see one mass murder after another until, sure, we're still shocked every time but we're no longer surprised. Are the deaths in this series cruel to fans? I would say "yes." Are they callous? I think they are. Editorial is cruel to have stolen these characters from us, these characters with so much potential that we loved so dearly. So are the creators. They also robbed us of these characters we love. But they did it in service of a deeply sensitive, deeply emotional story. I'm reminded of the old Nick Lowe song "Cruel to Be Kind." As for issue 2, what a whirlwind! It felt so full and yet by the time I hit the cliffhanger on the final page I couldn't believe it was already over. That issue took me everywhere but it did it so quickly. And the economy of the storytelling, the gut-punch of the smallest line, puts me in a mind of Samuel Beckett more than any other artist. As for the mystery at the center of the series, I feel certain many clues were dropped in this issue, but I was so busy feeling that story I couldn't play the detective. I can't wait to read it again to pore over every detail I failed to absorb on my first reading. This story is supposed to hurt and it does. Thank you, Tom King. Thank you, Clay Mann. Thank you, DC Comics. Screw it, I'll even thank Dan Didio. You guys are breaking my heart. Please don't stop.

No words. This issue destroyed me... Editing to add some words: Very few are talking about the final panel. I viewed it as a major reveal that should make everyone question if anyone is who we think they are. Nemesis is a master of disguise. He can look like anyone about as well as Clayface can. And we've seen how many times a character has been revealed to actually be Clayface in disguise. Though the Lagoon Boy/Booster Gold/Wally West arcs were the meat of this heartrending issue, the final panel felt like the headline of this issue with regard to the mystery. I suspect others aren't catching the significance of the final panel because the character has been away for so long. Could be a red herring of course but it's not for nothing he appears in the final panel. Editing again to add clues many are missing, as pointed out by the always excellent @Rikdad: https://bit.ly/2BGlPyD Much good discussion about the relevance of Nemesis in CBR's DC board in the HiC mystery thread. @Bored at 3AM draws terrific connections work here. Nemesis stuff begins on page 3 but really gets going in the following pages: https://bit.ly/2KK92hB

I've never taken a comic book so personally nor identified with a comic character so completely.

Damn. I hope Morrison's final DC story is not indeed their final one. DC should give them their whole imprint to tell incredible stories like this one. Nobody loves or understands the DCU better.

Damn. This, Rorschach, and Supergirl have all been fantastic. King and his artists have been on fire. I think all 3 will be evergreen books. It's hard to save my 10's, but I'm doing my best.

I would love it if comics were judged on the quality of the story and art and not on how upset fans get when their favorite imaginary characters are 'mistreated.'

I have loved every single thing about this series so far. I hope the writer follows it up with something more for DC. And the art is incredible as Sorrentino's always is. Though this has been so good in every way so far, the panel that really got me in the feels was Bruce Wayne's childlike signature in #1. It's emblematic of this not being just one more alt-Batman story. There are a lot of good ones but this one is really special.

This is why I love comic books and why I love DC comic books in particular. Let Tom Taylor do whatever he wants please.

Most issues of ESL: Snagglepuss Chronicles get an easy 10 from me. They've been brilliant and Russell's work has been brilliant generally. I'm knocking off half a point only because I wasn't utterly blown away by the finale. I wish this series had been an ongoing. It's been as strong as anything on the stands these days. Beautiful art as well.

I loved everything about this issue. It was a joy to read.

Supergirl #21, or more to the point Mark Andreyko and Kevin Maguire, did something Brian Bendis hasn't been able to make me do in any of his now-pretty many Superman comics: they made me care about a comic with Rogol Zaar as the antagonist. That really was a feature. I found myself thinking, "Oh, this is what Bendis must be going for." I came for the Kevin Maguire art. So rare and special that he drew a monthly and I dearly hope he sticks around. I'm in as long as he is for sure. But the creative team together made me care about Supergirl comics again. With clever writing, gorgeous art, high stakes, and several fun guest stars (fun because it's always a treat to see Maguire draw any known character and fun in the course of the story), with it's 21st issue Supergirl goes from off my radar entirely to a pretty near perfect comic book. If this team sticks around soon I expect to go from convert to preacher, proselytizing on its behalf. But pretty much any monthly from Maguire would get that treatment from me. Still, really well done. Edited to say that there's a great sequence from Krypto that will give every dog-lover warm fuzzies. Maguire scores an extra special Krypto cameo.

"Tales from the Dark Multiverse" held so much promise for me but this was the first of four installments that wasn't a slog to get through. It also has the distinction of being, actually, great.

Please let Priest write the whole DC Universe. DC fans are so lucky to have him. Another great issue.

Wonderful. Taylor is by far the best mainstream writer DC has right now. I say let him write whatever he wants and we will all be the better for it.

I'm all in.

Terrifically written and drawn. i fully believe is going to an evergreen story. In spite of its silly title (and premise) it's just such a great DCU-wide Elseworlds. I hear Rosenberg's voice in the dialogue well more than Tynion's and I'm glad he's getting so much work at DC lately. Nobody's out there exactly raving about him (yet) but he gets those characters, he provides them the freshest takes in ages, and he seems to get better all the time. I'm sure Tynion had a lot to do with the plotting and I think he's a fine writer but the dialogue in this issue is beyond him. Schmidt's fantastic here and was an inspired choice. This was a really good issue of a surprisingly compelling series.

Holy wow, Johns wasn't kidding about turning a corner! What a thriller! Frank's art is extra special for how different it is from his traditional style, which is cleaner and less rough-hewn. His Superman, in particular, owes less to his usual Christopher Reeve take (always a treat) and more in the direction of the great Joe Kubert. His Batman is even more so. The relative roughness of his art here, since Frank is always a clean but dynamic artist, is in perfect keeping with the narrative. They feed one another. And I wasn't ready for so much plot advancement. I wonder how this is going to read collected, instead of with truly too-long waits between issues, and I have a feeling there's a level it's going to jam on that we can't get now for the constantly retarded rhythm of the story. Still, can't do a whole lot better than 9/10. This one earns that rating easily. Between this and Heroes in Crisis this is an incredible week to be a DC Comics fan.

Just great. The only problem now is that there's only one issue left. I feel like this series could have been twice as long and would be all the better for it, with the obvious caveat of how long it's taken to get to #11. I'm happy that Johns is involved with DC film and TV but boy do I miss him as a full-time comic book writer. I love a lot of DC's writers over the last 20 years but I probably love Johns most of them all. Especially when he works with a stellar artist like Gary Frank.

This has become one of the comics I look forward to the most. The art was rough this issue but I'll forgive it for one of the freshest takes on the GLC in memory. It's night and day from FS GL which I didn't care for at all. Here's hoping we get more of this Geoffrey Thorne than that one because the last three issues have been out of this world.

Loved it. Much stronger writing (and even art) than Harleen #1. One of the better Harley stories I've read.

DC has never had a magic title that was as much fun as this one is. I love the new line wide philosophy of liberally sprinkling in guest stars beyond the team rosters. It's been happening in both JL books, in all of Bendis' Superman books, in Supergirl, with the building of the new Outsiders in Detective... It seems like a company edict and I'm all for it. I love special guest stars. This book is filled with them and they're handled surprisingly well by James Tynion IV. I don't mean it's surprising that he handles them well; he showed he could write a banging team book in Detective. I mean it's surprising just how interesting the characters and their various stakes can be. I've enjoyed the magic side of the DCU before but I've never been thrilled by it like I have been by the first two issues of JL Dark. Great art team too! They captured Fate's tower beautifully and did great character work.

8.5 plus "A Neal Adams Thing" equals 9.

Mark Russell has found a perfect way to do what he does so well but with superheroes. Wonder Twins was almost it but, as a fan of his social satire and of C-list characters, each of which features in both, I find this book more satisfying. And the art is perfect. I would be so happy for this to become an ongoing title. Since that probably won't happen I'll just hope Russell and DC can find similar success with more superhero stuff together. This has been one of my favorite series' from DC in years.

This issue exceeded my wildest expectations though I'll admit to having had them set pretty low. This is a fantastic comic book. The surprise read of the week. If the series is anywhere near the quality of the special, I can't wait to read it.

Perfect. Hope it leads to an ongoing with the same team. Every issue so far has been a pure delight.

Wonder Twins has been just terrific. Happy it's been extended to a 12 issue run. An ongoing series would be even better. I'll be sad when it's over.

Only Mark Russell could convince me that one of the things DC needs most is an ongoing Wonder Twins series. This guy can do no wrong.

The Tynion/Bueno Justice League Dark experiment has been a total success. Merino is a welcome fill-in artist though Bueno has really made the series his own. I absolutely love what Snyder is doing in JL; it's my favorite writing from him ever. But Justice League Dark is the surprise hit of the "New Justice" line. High stakes, beautiful craft, and the otherwise slowly eroding sense of FUN in comic books are all elements that set this run and this issue apart. The character work is delicious from Wonder Woman to Man-Bat (my personal favorite so far) to Zatanna to... I should have just said the character work is fantastic. I was about to list every character we've seen so far. I was expecting the launch issue of an event comic to be less good than the main book but I was so wrong. Another dynamic and dynamite issue from an almost-ideal creative team (I do miss Bueno when he's gone though Merino is a very good sub) on the perfect book. p.s. a rather random note: the main cover of this issue and WW's depiction in it put me in the mind of a character I miss a lot, Emily Sung/Element Woman. Someone should use this character for sure; she has so much untapped potential and faded into obscurity very shortly after her introduction. I would absolutely love for her to make her comeback in this book because I'm enjoying the creative team on it so much. But I'd be happy to see her turn up anywhere.

I had to go to three LCS's to get this issue at noon yesterday. It was sold out at the first two. Good! This was as great a beginning to a new direction for Aquaman as I could have wished for. I was eagerly anticipating this issue but it well exceeded my expectations. Aquaman's on my must-read list again.

Great issue. My favorite by DeConnick so far. It's got me excited about this book again.

The guy that wrote Preacher takes on Batman with Liam Sharp channeling Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean and I almost trade waited this one? What was I thinking? Great creators, not great characters, make great comic books and this was no exception. It was the best thing I read this week and one of my favorite takes on Batman in forever. Not in spite of Bruce seeming different but because he did. DKR couldn't be more different than Batman '66 but they are both unquestionably Batman. This issue's Batman is too. But thank goodness he's also being portrayed in a way he hasn't been in the past. That's a thing writers, especially of such established characters, should aspire to, not shy away from. To those that feel Batman is being written "out of character," first it's not the DCU, it's Black Label, a place to be bold and to experiment. More importantly, since that out of character stuff is a cloyingly constant complaint around here, that's how characters evolve, they are written differently than in the past. And some of that sticks or none of it does but either way it's a lot more interesting than a story you've already read. And if Batman had always been written "in character" he'd still be carrying a gun and killing people. Superman wouldn't be able to fly. Wonder Woman would be a dominatrix. And a Justice League with those three "in character" characters would have been unimaginable, which reminds me why this drives me up a wall-because it comes, more than anything else, from a failure of imagination. I would hate to live in a world where comics characters never changed. Or rather, I wouldn't care because I would have stopped reading comics when I was a child. Because they wouldn't have remained interesting to me because they'd never changed. Or, to put it a bit differently, nobody would have had the imagination or guts to have written them "out of character." If that's what really matters, might I recommend Peanuts? You won't ever have to worry about somebody experimenting with Charlie Brown.

This series has been a delight to read and a feast for the eyes. Ennis's approach to Bruce and Alfred should serve as a master class for future Batman writers. And is there anything that Liam Sharp can't do? His style in this book has been a case of marrying Sienkiewicz with Dave McKean and managing to outdo them both. I couldn't ask for more from a Batman story. I wish there were some way this could be an ongoing series, not because it would be better that way; it wouldn't be. I just don't want it to end.

King's Batman continues to be the most intrepid run on the character in all these 80 years. There is no comic book I look forward to more each couple weeks. Even his lesser stories are told in boldly interesting ways. And when he's great, he's really freaking great.

That was fantastic. Who knew we'd get so many surprise duos in the lead-up to the wedding? Each Prelude to the Wedding is 'false advertising...' Ra's vs. Robin was about Robin and Catwoman Hush vs. Nightwing was about Nightwing and Superman And Tom King is really not a writer that repeats himself. After last issue's monologue we got all kinds of terrific insight into Batman's rogue's gallery and how Catwoman was always different. And we get a clear discussion of Batman's quest for happiness, the most special thing about King's run. And we got Janin's Joker again. To me only Jim Aparo and Neal Adams hold a candle to Janin's interpretation. He draws a great Catwoman too. This whole event has been so wonderfully satisfying.

WOW. That was NOT the comic book I wanted to read. After 4+ years of build up I really wanted to see Batman and Catwoman embark on a happy life together. But that would have been too easy. 50 issues, it turns out, is genuinely not enough time to earn that enormous sea change. I gotta say I had a sinking feeling ever since spoilers were posted though I did manage to avoid ALL of them. The book was a total surprise to me. I found the pinups that made up so much of the book to be a letdown and it was hard to see Selina leave Bruce at the 'altar' as in it hurt. This book often hurts and I give it extra marks for that. The pinups were extra and any fat on what was an otherwise brilliant issue felt extra but so I'm docking it half a point. But those that could hang in long enough for the last page reveal, well, it was absolutely everything. We all thought the question was would they marry or wouldn't they but we found out there's so much more going on! King's Batman has already been so surprising. Now we find out the whole arc has been manipulated by Bane to break Batman way worse than he did when he broke his back. And I've gone from enjoying the heck out of this series under King's pen to being on the edge of my seat, trying to figure out how this could all possibly be true. Nothing could have gotten me more excited for the next 50 issues to come. What a run! You got me, Tom King. You took away the thing I thought I wanted and replaced it with so much more. This almost never happens in superhero comics. King is transcending the medium and thank goodness for him.

The anti-King bias is incredible. This issue was freaking amazing. Nobody has ever written a better Batman than Tom King. I say that as someone who loves Batman more than any other thing and has read every single run. This issue was powerful as hell.

Holy man, that was amazing. And that art. And that final panel. A perfect example of how and why when this book is great it's the best thing on the stands. I thought this was solicited as a two-parter but maybe I'm wrong. There is obviously a third part and I, for one, can't wait for it.

WOW. I'm practically speechless. I think that was the most perfect issue of a Batman comic I've ever read in my life. That was a perfect comic book. I almost regret giving any other comic a 10 because if anything else got a 10 this issue deserves an 11. WOW.

This issue was thrilling to me. So excited to see how this opus of a run turns out. There are so many threads seeded from all points during the run, including its very slow start, and they all seem to be starting to converge with one another. This is my favorite take on Penguin since I don't know when--probably ever. I've always appreciated the Penguin but I've rarely been moved by him. These last two issues have me caring for him like probably never before. And it's so fulfilling to finally be getting a followup to that stunning page at the end of #50. Just my opinion but I think this run is going to be much more widely appreciated when it's finished. I wish there were a way for collections to be reviewed on their merits as collections/full stories/full arcs rather than the aggregate we get of the past reviews of single issues. Comics are episodic so it's very fair to judge each individual issue on its merits or deficits but there's a whole other thing to review that rarely gets reviewed and that's the whole story put together. I think that's as true of this series as of any other one. Not trying to tell anyone to like something they don't like. Only saying I think this full run is going to be a very different experience than judging chapters of a story that's still in progress.

WOW. To those that are disappointed that Batman's acting 'out of character,' I'm here to tell you that's what often happens when someone is brutally traumatized, particularly when it happens over and over. Of course Batman isn't himself. That's the point. On a personal note, I'm relating to this run as I am partly because after 10 years of chronic illness (physiological and mental), I'm not at all myself either. I'm not who I was. To depict me as if I were would be to get me completely wrong. I think some people that have been through intense trauma over and over again and clearly have PTSD as a result of it may identify with King's Batman. That's what's happening with me. It's at least equally likely folks with similar difficulties won't identify. Ever person's experience of trauma is different. I can only speak for my own and how it informs my appreciation of this series. For those of us on the edge of our seats re: the final panel of #50 and all the promise that held, this is an incredible issue. If you just dislike King's writing probably nothing is going to change that. Folks are dug in, one way or the other, it seems. If you have any appreciation for his Batman run you're likely to find this issue to be a jaw dropper. I certainly did. Even two weeks feels like way too long to wait for the next issue.

@ohhaimark's review was close enough to my own I'm just rating this one. My further thoughts are in the comments section of @ohhaimark's review.

Transcendent.

I'm going to be so sad when King's time on Batman (and Batman/Catwoman) is done. 50 years as a Batman fanatic and I've never loved a run better.

Damn, that was good.

WOW.

It just keeps getting better. And Tony Daniel's contributing the best work of his career. I've always liked his art well enough but he's been out of this world on this arc. I've loved the slow burn/long game of King's run but we're nearing the endgame now and pace has really picked up and the urgency has too. The last two issues have been fantastic. I see a bad end coming for Flashpoint Batman and Gotham Girl but I really hope they manage to stick around, especially FP Batman. I haven't been so excited by a new Batman villain since Ra's al Ghul.

Holy ****.

Exquisite.

I think I'm probably in the 99th percentile of lovers of King's Batman but this issue was disappointing by every metric. Here's hoping King has 4 great issues left in him. The last couple have felt like steps backward.

Nice art. Pedestrian writing.

That's more like it. You have my attention, Tynion.

I liked it. I didn't love it, apart from the art. But this is now the last three Batman runs, back-to-back-to-back, featuring what amounts to: City of Riddler City of Bane City of Joker Have a new idea, y'all.

Jimenez is always incredible. Tynion's introducing a new character about every issue, apparently hoping one will stick and he'll get that sweet IP money, but that's pretty much all he's doing. And I'm about out of the rope I'd been giving him hoping it would eventually get better. Which is all disappointing. His run on Detective was special. Man, I hate writing bad reviews.

When Tynion prepared to take over the main Batman title, he promised to make Scarecrow into a major villain. I'm only a fair to middling fan of his writing but giving Scarecrow his due? I was thrilled. Fear and dream villains like Scarecrow or Dr. Destiny give us insight into our heroes' unconscious minds, which is where the action is at with all fictional characters and all human beings as well. So those characters aren't used enough. They can't be used enough. And Scarecrow has been the most overlooked and underused villain in all of Batman's gigantic rouges gallery. So great, I thought! Finally, I thought! A run that focuses most of all on Scarecrow? I wanted to buy every issue twice. Jimenez is my favorite DC artist in a long, long time and that made me doubly excited. But however many issues in now (it feels like 50), the character has yet to be used in really any way at all. He's been made a bit player in a Magistrate story that doesn't know how to end, hardly knew how to begin, and has been running in place ever since Future State. But not only has he been window dressing in a Magistrate story, he's also taken a backseat to somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 new characters. (Way to go after that sweet IP money, JT. Throw as many new characters as you can at the wall and maybe one of them will stick.) Meanwhile his eyes glower yellow in a pretty terrific new look from Jimenez and he does absolutely nothing. It is just so damn disappointing. With The Scarecrow, that potential that has lain dormant for somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 years now remains untapped. Nifty new look, truly. But that's about the size of it. He's an empty suit. Overall Tynion's run hasn't been especially bad, it's just been blah. I'd rather a story swing for the fences and be bad for missing. But no story at all is better than a boring one. In this issue the disappointment wasn't even fully leavened by Jimenez's gorgeous art because he only drew a few pages. This issue and this run gets a (very generous) 3 from me and not less for three reasons: 1) Jimenez (even if he only gets a few pages in this issue) 2) Miracle Molly, along with her Unsane Collective, is probably the only interesting new character from this run and she gets focus here 3) It's not TV's Titans, which I won't even get into here. The bastardization of The Scarecrow in that series has been laughable but that series is at least dependable in its awfulness. In the comics and on TV we were promised great things from The Scarecrow. That his treatment was so bad on TV was unsurprising. I expected more from Tynion. After a year like this, it seems Scarecrow fans will probably have to wait another 60 years before he finally gets his due if he ever does. I never really thought I'd look forward to a Williamson run on Batman, but here we are. What a drag.

Great art but for a fine-but-mediocre writer Williamson is spread too thin. I'd be totally cool with reading two monthlies from him and I'm sure I'd like them fine as I did his Flash but I'm also sure that, like his Flash, they wouldn't be anything special. I don't think he's bad, I just don't think he's particularly interesting. His enthusiasm for DC Comics and its characters goes a long way with me though and I'm genuinely looking forward to Dark Crisis. A lot. Even though I found his IF mini only okay and his JLIncarnate mini to be a slog. Just, not the main Batman title please. I know it's not a popular opinion *here* but I freaking loved King's Batman run. That it should be cut short for the aggressively dull Tynion run followed by this could-it-be-more-of-a-fill-in run, when he only had like 15 issues to go, when I was 85 issues invested in it, was a crime. That's in the past though and I'm glad this run will be soon too. Well done with Zdarsky, DC. Even if it's not great, even if the non-continuity series or in-continuity miniseries' are better (and they almost always are), the main Batman title should at least be interesting and good and it just hasn't been in too long a time.

Strong start. Hoping and expecting it to get better as it goes according to a great creative team.

I'd love to see this team on a regular Bat-book.

Ellis writes a fantastic Batman. Would love to see him on a monthly Bat-book.

I love this series and I don't understand why it's not getting more attention. Where did all the fans pushing for Batman to return to his roots as a detective go? Because this is certainly that. More importantly, to me anyway, is that Bruce's interactions with Alfred and Gordon are some of the very best I've ever read.

This issue was thrilling and so satisfying for a Batman fan like myself. My only disappointment is that it's a limited series. I could read this team on Batman forever.

SO MUCH FUN!

I'm as surprised as can be I liked this as much as I did. Dick Grayson is my favorite comic book character ever. This was NOT Dick Grayson but that was the point. Sometimes something can happen that is so impactful it can devastate one's sense of self, but we almost never see such things in superhero comics. As someone that's been through a number of such things, too many for any one person, Percy's take on a brain-damaged "Rik" Grayson is remarkably apt. This is what can happen to a person and this is how it can manifest. And things can happen that are so bad that they turn us into different people than we were, ones that are totally at odds with our very fixed and complex senses of self. This comic book demonstrated far more insight than I'd have thought Percy was capable or that almost any comic book writer is capable. I found it incredibly powerful and, on the strength of Red Hood et al, I'm even glad Lobdell is going to carry this story forward. I'm ignoring my feelings about his work on every other book because Red Hood shows me he can handle this type of material and possibly shine his brightest while doing so. I expected to love Justice League, Batman, and Green Arrow this week and I did love them. I did not expect to love this issue of Nightwing but I have it as my top DC book of the week. I don't expect anyone to agree with me and that's okay. Nobody could put a dent in my feelings about this issue. It hit so close to home.

This book feels like it's been treading water ever since 'Ric's' injury but I liked this issue well enough. I'm much happier to read Jurgens than Lobdell and I liked the art too. There was one major no-no, though... I think superhero comics (the ones involving secret ID's at least) should *really* avoid acknowledging facial recognition software and to the degree they just pretend it doesn't exist. If it *does* exist in the DCU everyone on earth would know the secret identities of anyone that doesn't wear a mask that covers their entire head. If facial recognition can ID Dick Grayson there's no way it can't ID Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne or Barry Allen or, well, pretty much everyone.

I can't believe this is still happening. Who likes this? Who is this for?

1.I'm getting a little tired of some fans saying Taylor is a bad writer. I'm not sure that anyone is writing a better series than this one, possibly at any company. He has also made me a fan of Jonathan Kent and even of him in the Superman role in one issue flat. I didn't think any writer capable of that. The guys is shitting gold lately. DC should give him the run of the place or at least give him JL which needs a new writer, stat. 2. I'll go even further with this surely controversial opinion. If we had to suffer all those awful Ric Grayson issues-and I paid real money for every single one-so we could get this series, I call that a bargain. This book is that damn good. This is only a part of why the new Infinite Frontier initiative is working so well across the board, the Bendis JL being the only true stinker, but it may be my favorite example of how great the new DC has been..

To think that before this run Nightwing was the worst, most soulless book DC was putting out when now it's the best and certainly the most soulful. This run has been tremendous. Taylor is making the best use of DC's 'it all happened, just tell good stories' guiding principle lately and it's not flashy, it's not showy, it's not even in direct corroboration with the new philosophy, it's just there in service of the story, in the very best ways. The art was very good this issue but Redondo has grown so much as to be actually outstanding and has become vital to this just delightful run. So in praising the title generally I gotta give him all the credit I can because he's been perfect (and those covers!) And as Taylor has risen to the rank of one of my very top DC writers lately, Redondo has become one of my favorite artists. Obviously I love this book. Obviously I love this creative team. And if it's not obvious I very much love DC's status quo when it works this well. I think DC's new direction has spawned a lot of good to great titles, just none more so than the Taylor/Redondo Nightwing.

Pretty sure this will be the lowest score I'll give Taylor's Nightwing. It was terrific before Tyrion's nothing-event infected the whole Bat-line. He's not a bad writer, just a bad Batman writer. I wish him the best but as a DC fan I won't miss him. It will be great to have Taylor writing the book he wants to be writing again because that book has been dynamite.

If this comic isn't a 10 I honestly don't know what is.

Derington is always a great treat. Bendis's script was fun too.

Fun writing. Terrific art.

A solid pilot that left me eager for the next issue. Great work by all involved and great to see these underutilized characters getting some love.

8 is about as low as I'm going to go with Flash War I think. This wasn't one of the more compelling episodes of the arc but the arc itself is so compelling it hasn't dipped beneath 8/10 for me.

It was fine. Nothing special. At all.

The whole issue was terrific and it was great to see Jay Garrick and the Ray, but most of the reason for my high score was that fantastic final page. Spoilers below because I really don't want to spoil this for anybody. Wally is becoming Reverse Flash in the Legion of Doom straight out of Super Friends?! What?! They're going much farther with this it-all-happened idea than I'd ever have imagined. That page blew my mind.

That was awesome! I don't much care about Harley Quinn but I saw the great reviews and picked this up. When Sam Humphries is great (this issue, Dial H for Hero, Green Lanterns) he's pretty darn great.

Man, this issue started out SO strong. It fell flat a short ways in and didn't really recover but these tie-ins are not typical tie-ins. So far, two issues in, they each have something special to say. Here the most important, moving beats were about Clark Kent as best man rather than Dick Grayson. Well done that, but not much new on Hush and that's a shame. So far with Prelude to the Wedding I'm enjoying Seeley's writing much more than I typically do. Moore's art is strong and the writing is fairly strong too. Suffers a bit by comparison to part 1 (Robin v. Ra's) as the Selina/Damian dynamic took a wonderful leap forward. That one was possibly my favorite thing Seeley has written. I never enjoy tie-ins as much as I am so far with Prelude to the Wedding.

Each of the Seeley tie-ins has had something to offer but some have inevitably been better than others. Until this point Damian vs. Ra's has been my choice pick of the lot but this one outdoes it on several fronts. The artwork is often reminiscent of Janin which is a nice touch. He is our modern Joker artist and he's a wonderful one. I even felt the lettering mimicked Joker in the main Batman series. Those two visual approaches made me feel like this book was a cousin to King's main series. Seeley's Joker is consistent with King's but has a lot to say on his own and Harley (though I confess I don't follow any of her series') seems stronger than I'm used to her being portrayed. Maybe that's the norm now. If so, good. It was good to have her out from under The Joker's hold. All in all this was one of the best books I read from DC this week and that's saying a lot in a really great week.

Is anyone else getting sleepy?

So much fun and a great example of what the new 'it-all-happened' DC can be. My only request is more, please.

I can't believe this series is ending. Why is this series ending!

"Why is it gods always need people to suck up to them? It's a little sad that an all-powerful being needs constant reassurance." #thebible #thetorah #oldtestament #newtestament #yahweh

This is a fun comic. Being it's from Tom Taylor though I had my hopes set much higher. Cool about Dinah.

I love Tom Taylor and I want to love DCeased but it just hasn't done it for me yet. This issue was like the regular ones; it was fine. Nothing to write home about.

Not bad. I don't regularly read this book but I picked it up for "Sink Atlantis" and it was a good read. Unremarkable but a good enough episode of a superhero title.

I don't rightly know how to rate this one. I want to LOVE what Hill's doing. I've been so looking forward to it and on paper it checks all the boxes. Even the 'surprise' appearance of a new character at the end failed to really enthrall though. I can't put my finger on why I'm not enjoying Bryan Hill's run so far except to say maybe that it feels a bit paint-by-numbers? And the numbers are great which is to say the blueprint is great. As I say, I'm for this book. I'm for this Outsiders roster and I get a flash of what I feel like is missing when Batman lays down the law on Black Lightning's behalf. I couldn't tell you why that moment woke me up, only that I was flagging trying to follow an otherwise dull story, thinking to myself only, "Why is this dull? A Detective title with a burgeoning Outsiders team featuring Black Lightning, Cassandra Cain, Duke Thomas, and Katana so far, under Batman's umbrella leadership, should be awesome!" And yet... I want to love this book. I guess there are only a few issues left in the run but I want to love the rest of it and I want to love whatever comes out of it for the Outsiders. I'm such a fan of the team historically and of the modern concept of it. Just not, surprisingly, Hill's execution. So far, at least.

Eh. I like the creative team but this arc has felt really generic. I'll be glad when they're on to whatever happens next.

This book has been pedestrian since 1000. I expect more from Tomasi. He's written a great Batman in the recent past.

A good issue but by no means a great one. The art made it worthwhile. The story was blah. I miss "Batman and Robin" Peter Tomasi.

It was okay. I liked the Duce art better than Walker's few issues. The last issue felt uninspired to me too. I miss Batman and Robin Tomasi and keep hoping he'll show up again soon.

I understand why some might prefer Tomasi's Detective to King's Batman because some flat out hate King's Batman and I guess mediocrity is preferable to something one just hates. But this is mediocrity. Tomasi can and has done so much better. His whole run on this book so far has felt like one big fill-in.

You're better than this, Tom Taylor.

The first story was fine but it wasn't much. The second story was terrific. The best of Tomasi in this run so far and Risso is fantastic as always. A classic Alfred story.

So many of these anthologies have been disappointing. This is what I've been hoping for out of all of them. What a great read.

I have to give this issue and this run a 5, because it's neither good nor bad. It's just unremarkable. I loved Tomasi's writing so recently, I was excited he was taking over here, and I really don't understand how Batman and Robin was so much better than this run, except to give Patrick Gleason an awful lot of credit. I do think Tomasi is a good writer and I look forward to him returning to form. Nicola Scott's art is always a bonus but not so much of one that it can change my thesis, as reflected in my score, which relies entirely on the writing, regardless of who's on art.

This is just a straight-ahead, very good Batman book. I've loved some of the recent, more daring takes (I'm one of those Tom King lovers), but this is a terrific version of back to basics and it's become my favorite of the current Batbooks. I mean, unless you include Nightwing. If so, Detective is my second favorite. That's still pretty high praise considering how much Batman DC is publishing lately.

I understand this not being someone's cup of tea but the 1 star reviews (heck, even the 4 star reviews) are absurd. There wasn't anything to love about this issue but there sure as heck wasn't anything to hate.

What a pay-off! This is my favorite Venditti-written series I've read. Hitch's art is always delicious. But the real headline is that we finally have a Hawkman series/origin that's clear, grand as hell, and one that warrants a long run. I've always loved Hawkman but I haven't loved any modern Hawkman title, including Johns' whom I usually enjoy a lot. This feels to me like the best Hawkman series since Joe Kubert was drawing the definitive version of the character. I hope it lives up to its promise. There's so much potential here.

*YAWN*. Why am I still buying this?

I'm not as excited about Red X as I feel like I'm intended to be, but this is the kind of book that makes me love the Teen Titans, the Titans of all generations. I'm really enjoying getting to know the new characters too. I've been really happy with the quality of DC comics since Infinite Frontier began and this issue is no exception.

Stitch for president.

Okay, that was freaking awful. For one thing it was just poorly written and boring. But that happens all the time and is relatively inoffensive. I don't agree with those that complain of a character being 'mistreated.' They're characters(!). But turning Garth into an annoying afterthought tagalong is just gross, especially after so many years of essentially disregarding the fact that he was a founder. For the last several decades, Starfire and Raven and Cyborg and Beast Boy (the "New" Teen Titans) have been treated more like founders than the Fab Five. Finally a book that recognizes a Fab Four brings back the fifth then does this with him? Notice I said "with" not "to." (They're characters(!).) Regardless, I'm out.

Not a bad issue but a boring one. I like the character of The Batman Who Laughs. I love the creative team. I genuinely don't get why people are geeking out on the series. Not saying I'm right and others are wrong. Probably it's the other way around. But every month I hope and believe I'll dig this book and I haven't yet.

How much longer can this drag on? The whole Year of the Villain/Doom War/Batman Who Laughs/Infected thing stopped building stakes ages ago. It keeps trying to top itself and it just grows flatter and flatter.

7, yeah, but all for the Maleev art which is delicious. Not a Bendis hater but for the first issue of an event it felt slighter than the teases in Action and the Leviathan Rising Special, each of which I really enjoyed a lot. Between this issue and this month's Superman, Bendis is having a tough week. I fully expect him to rebound, though I will NEVER forgive the notion that Plastic Man (NOT a detective) and Elongated Man (a GREAT detective) are interchangeable. Every time I see Bendis list Plas as one of DC's "greatest detectives" I cringe out loud. #bringbackthedibnys

That art is delicious.

4.5 points for exquisite art and colors. 1 point extra for Elongated Man. And another 1 point for Bendis' not entirely terrible dialogue. But, man, this is an event comic about absolutely nothing. How does a team of great detectives, that includes 2 magic users, come to total consensus on a suspect by process of elimination, only to be proven wrong almost immediately? Every character in this series is really bad at their job. I only know Bendis from his DC work but how did he come to be known as great OR terrible? He just seems "okay" to me, never more or less. It was pretty annoying though to go through a fifth issue in which nothing happens (but happens beautifully thanks to Maleev) only to realize the entire series was going to amount to the final issue.

Ouch.

Disappointing that this was a fill-in issue on art. Peterson is really great with these characters. But after two issues and an oversized special, not to mention about 40 issues of the same title and an 8 issue mini leading into it, I am so ready for Dan Abnett to move on from Titans. I actually like this roster and the regular artist and even the basic premise of the series, its new mission statement and connectivity to New Justice/Justice League. The writing though doesn't feel up to the concept. Abnett got a new roster and a new raison d'être for the team but he's still writing Titans like he's not quite sure what he wants to say. Cumulatively it's been 50-60 issues and it's all added up to just nothing. When reading Titans anymore I can feel time passing as I trudge through, hoping it will get better. I'm finally persuaded it won't until they get a new writer on it.

I feel like I've been giving Dan Abnett one more chance on Titans since Titans Hunt concluded and the regular Titans series began. It was a series in search of a reason for being other than nostalgia and shared history. As a fan I got what I wanted when we got a series about the original Teen Titans (including, wonderfully, Lilith and even some Gnarrk) all grown up, but it turns out to have been less interesting than similar attempts by Devin Grayson--who handled this team that was only ever together as adults because they had been as teens best of all who tried it--and Judd Winick who managed to make things a lot more interesting than Abnett has so far. (Incidentally, I'm looking forward to the upcoming collection of Winick's Vol. 1 on Titans.) Over the last couple of issues, though I miss the Peterson art which I felt was better than what we got with this issue, I feel like this team has *finally* found a reason for being. The retcon to Ms. Martian's new place in Titans/JL hierarchy, one that abandons and eschews all of her appearances in Geoff Johns' rather wonderful Teen Titans, was off-putting to begin with. In early issues it felt off-key and out-of-place to give her that sort of status vis-a-vis Nightwing. As it turns out the retcon really works in current continuity though and I think it worked best in this issue. As it continues it seems to get better and more meaningful for her to occupy the role she does in this book and it's a shame how badly interrupted her relationship with Dick Grayson is about to become (surely everyone has read or read about Batman #55 by now). And what will that mean for Titans going forward? And what will the events of Heroes in Crisis mean for Titans? And how soon will those continuities intersect? They can't possibly wait too much longer to address the enormity of events in other series' to their own roster and to some of their closest friends. I'm eager to read about all of *that* and I hope Donna will be the next leader of the team (as overseen by M'gann I guess). I was surprised to find myself enjoying this issue, more than during any point of Abnett's run I guess, though it also served to remind me how incredibly many issues of his run have left me utterly cold. Still, a step up, and now we're getting somewhere (finally!), just in time for that forward movement to be entirely devastated by devastating events in other books. It will be interesting to see how Abnett handles the fallout.

This is exactly what I want out of this event. This was just terrific. I loved the whole thing but seeing the character on the final page was a special treat for me. Between the compelling new characters in this issue and in FS: Wonder Woman, I'm really beginning to see the value in Future State.

Okay, now I get why they fast-tracked a TV series for a character that had yet to appear in comic books. It's no small task to create a new character that's immediately this compelling, or to build a world for them. This issue hits a home run on both fronts. I hadn't been excited about reading this one at all because, while I love Jones' art, I was nonplussed by her writing on Catwoman. I'm so glad she got another shot at writing. I'm looking forward to everything she writes and/or draws going forward.

That was brutal. As I got toward the end I kept checking how many pages were left and how much longer I'd have to endure it, since I'm giving each of the FS titles a full issue's chance. This was the worst of them so far. I can't remember the last time I gave so low a score. I don't give low scores because I don't like how my favorite characters are being treated, or because they're "written out of character," or because a writer is making different decisions than I would if I were writing the comic book, or I'm judging the artwork against artists I already love. I want writers and artists to be intrepid and I don't hold anything sacred except for how the storytelling is executed and how it makes me feel, if it makes me feel anything. I don't want to be reassured in the feeling that I was right to like what I've liked in the past; I want to be surprised and challenged. By that metric, this is a bad comic book. It was the opposite of surprising and the only challenge was bulling through the boredom it evinced in me. I think this comic book should be sent to its room without dinner, and not come back out until it understands what it did wrong and apologizes. Since I mentioned not minding when a character is written "out of character," I'll go ahead and scribble out a treatise on that topic. Because, in serial storytelling, I don't think "out of character" is actually even a thing. I think that a lot of the time what people consider "out of character" is instead a matter of evolution of character. A character has to evolve to survive just as a fish has to keep swimming to do the same. Growth, change, and evolution of characters is why comic books are the longest running story or soap opera in the history of America and the world. (Maybe I'm wrong. I can't think of another 80-year long story but, if there is one, you can bet the characters have evolved.) How many years would Batman have lasted in his original incarnation, if writers were reverent about writing him as he'd always been written? Soon after he was created, the fact of Robin changed the character extraordinarily much from the "in character" 1939 version, who killed people by the way. So, whenever it was that Batman decided never to kill people, he was being written "out of character." Fast forward 50 years and Morrison made him Batgod and that changed everything too. And there were even bigger changes, much bigger, in the intervening years. I'm not even bringing up 50s Batman or 60s Batman or 70s Batman, though they are all vastly different versions of the same character. But people don't actually care that characters are written in character. They care about the versions of the characters they fell in love with and they don't want a thing they fell in love with to change. That's understandable, but it makes for unavoidably flat storytelling. So now, if you fell in love with Batgod (an "out of character" invention from Morrison's 1996 JLA) and then he isn't Batgod, he's being written "out of character." Do you see where I'm going here? You can like or loathe Tom King's Batman but not because he was written "out of character," because he wasn't. He wasn't Batgod anymore, that's all. It was an evolution, not a betrayal of something core to Batman, to allow him to be vulnerable for the first time since his parents were killed, in the hope of finding happiness. So naturally people say 'that's not Batman.' But what they're really saying is 'that's not Batman as I've always known him before.' And yeah, that's true. Because in each case of Batman's evolution, that's always true. If an artist's ambition is to create something that people have already previously liked or loved, that artist is devoid of ambition and I'm not even sure they're an artist. Craftsperson seems a better descriptor. Waiting for Godot was panned, BADLY, in its French and American premieres. Critics and audiences didn't have a frame of reference for something they'd never experienced before so they labeled it BAD. Because they'd never seen a play like it, they declared with all authority that it wasn't even a play and, consequently, it was a bad play. 50 years later it was voted by theatre critics worldwide to have been the most influential play of the 20th century. So, was it bad or was it just different? Every new movement in any sort of art is met with resistance. In the history of art, this has been true without exception. In every case it's "that's terrible," when what people really mean is "that was terrible at being what I already liked." The pull to make something that's like another something that's had success in the past is so great, it's a miracle that any artist takes a chance at all, so it's a miracle that art even continues to exist. Because without experimental art, without taking that chance at failure, failure is guaranteed. But that's not why I came here today. I came here today to say that this comic book was very, very bad. Not because it was new, but because it so badly wasn't. It was stale and moldy because it was a matter of a writer repeating what he thought people already liked. (I guess it is what I came here to say actually.) And that's the only thing in comics (or any art form) I truly dislike. I guess you could say I dislike them because they're "in character." They're retreads. They're the same cup of coffee I had yesterday and the day before that, decades after my first cup. I still love coffee, in part because it's reliable that way. Having loved it the first time, now it's just a fact of life. And art should be grander than life. It should be more. It should be braver and it should be bolder. If you managed to read this far, I'd see a doctor because you're even crazier than I am. But, in the incredibly unlikely possibility that you read this far trying to figure out whether or not to buy this comic book, I'd skip it. You've already read it a thousand times before.

How nice to read a Nightwing comic that doesn't utterly suck. It's been literally years. Can't wait for Taylor's run. That looks fantastic but this was pretty okay too. It's about time!

Oof. This does not bode well for the Superman line. I mean, Bendis was awful but he wasn't this dull. (Not that his awful wasn't also dull. It just wasn't quite this dull.) As with Generations this was a whole lot of nothing. I'm a very easy mark with total brand loyalty-I pretty much only read DC when it comes to comics. I'm ready to go on any kind of ride they want to take me on as long as I'm not bored. To think that DC let Mark Waid leave for Marvel rather than let him write Superman. Sigh.

I have my hopes up for Zdarsky's upcoming issue but the first two issues of this series have been a bust for me. I love Black Hammer with all my heart as written by Lemire. Somehow, maybe by comparison, every BH comic by another writer has left me cold. It's not because I'm against other writers writing Lemire's characters--I would love to see other writers kick ass in the BH universe. For me, they just haven't yet, to the extent that they don't even feel like Black Hammer comics to me. In fairness, Lemire does set the bar incredibly high. It doesn't seem all that long ago that Geoff Johns was a truly great comic book writer. Then he went to Hollywood, screwed a bunch of stuff up over there, and hasn't had his comic writing mojo working ever since. Shazam was okay. The Stargirl story in Infinite Frontier felt like a wiki with the loud art of her series. For a character that's so personal to him, that was a very generic story. And now this. What is this? I'm ready to take any ride any writer wants to take me on but here it felt like Johns didn't want to take anybody on a ride or do much else than dog paddle until he'd met his page count. Scott Kolins is always fine. Not my cup of tea, but fine. I like the idea of other writers jamming in the BHU. Here's hoping future issues are better.

This was disappointing. Sejic is beyond reproach and his work is beautiful but what's going to prop up this seeming misfire when he leaves after 2 issues? Because editorial made him trash his first issues because they changed their minds about the narrative after the issues were written and drawn? I'd be miffed too. And Sejic is holding this book up with his work. The writing is unworthy of comment. I will say I expected to love a team with this roster but, though I found the art to be literally awesome, the first issue was a slog to read. So many strong characters and yet the book seems to lack a point of view. The nicest thing I can say about the writing is that the twist in the final pages was more compelling than anything before it. Maybe this book needs Darkseid in every scene in order to be interesting. I hope not, with Cyborg, Jessica Cruz, Jean-Paul Valley, and Starfire on the team. Williamson needs to step up his game to play in the New Justice sandbox. All 6 points for the Sejic art.

[My original review for posterity. I originally gave this issue a rating of 4.5.]: "I don't see what people apparently see in Bendis. I find his voice to be utterly generic. I do love me some Ivan Reis art (esp. Superman) so that's what the points are for. "If you're looking for a good Super-book this week that seems to well accomplish what Bendis seems to be trying to do I'd recommend Supergirl #21 by Andreyko and Maguire instead. Even with Rogol Zaar they drank BB's milkshake." I just gave Superman #2 a second chance and I think I just had so much bias going against him (based only on his prior DC work which I found really unremarkable) I wasn't able to enjoy his writing. On a re-read I finally felt like I got what people enjoy about Bendis and I enjoyed it too. His writing is more natural than I was giving it credit for. I'd felt he was trying too hard and not advancing the ball very much earlier and I suppose it would be fair to say I projected that onto this issue. If I hadn't had that bias this would have been a solid 8 from me, as it was on my re-reading of it, nearly a week later. On second read I enjoyed the cameos particularly much. And I love that Bendis thinks of the Justice League as potentially including Plastic Man and Hawkman along with the current membership... It gives the DCU a lived-in feeling that New 52 robbed it of... It honors the history. (Ralph would do that better than Plas but I was happy enough to see either of them.) I wonder if it's coincidence they each launched series' three issues back. Regardless, I loved seeing each in a JLA context. And Bendis' tweets since he took the gig, showing old DC books as he did his research, were very endearing. He's obviously done a lot of research and he's obviously really enjoyed it. And it's paid off. (After all, he didn't color Barry's hair like Wally's.) I'm giving it an extra point as a mea culpa. I don't have any problem with reversing myself when I come to a different opinion. And I quite like it when it happens in a positive direction, not so much when I cease to love a thing (oh, Louis CK). "I contain multitudes" and all that. We all do.

Superman is in great hands with Bendis. I'm enjoying Action more than Superman but I'll buy and enjoy almost anything Ivan Reis draws for more than 2-3 issues. Rogol Zaar leaves me cold as a big bad. He reminds me of nothing so much as Doomsday without a nose. This issue made me care about him for the first time. I love how different the two Superman titles are under Bendis. I haven't been a regular Marvel reader since I was a teenager so I was worried by all the concern expressed by DC fans when Bendis signed on, but after being non-plussed by the early outings, the main titles themselves have been pretty great under his pen.

5/5 for Reis, 1/5 for Bendis. I like Bendis but this story has been sloppy

Maguire was welcome. The rest just no.

I'm not typically a great fan of Snyder's writing but boy did he turn it around on this issue! And what a time to deliver what I'd regard to be his best writing to date. Black Mirror was excellent but his run on Batman was more about ideas than emotion, more for the head than the heart, which is why I so prefer King's Batman to Snyder's. Metal wore out its welcome with me relatively quickly. Again, it was a series of "cool ideas" without much underneath. It felt bombastic and shallow. And No Justice felt like nothing other than a commercial for New Justice titles. In each case (Metal, NJ), I found everything but the epilogues to be a slog though I loved the epilogues. It's like he had to pen two major event comics to finally calm down enough to write a grounded, moving issue without giving up on the big ideas. I feel like he found his sweetest spot at the best time imaginable: on his Justice League #1. And I freaking loved it. This is a different Scott Snyder than we've known before and it's so much to the better. The art was also quite delicious.

Scott Snyder, you crazy genius! This Justice League run is without a doubt Snyder's strongest work to date. How wonderful to find that he writes DC's flagship team even better than he wrote their flagship hero. And Jimenez is turning in his strongest work too. I'd had other preferences for a creative team for JL but I couldn't have been more wrong. This team on this book is truly special. Justice League and Batman have always been my top pulls (since I was 5 years old - 44 years ago) and I've rarely been this excited for JL and have never enjoyed Batman (Tom King) more. As past JL series go, I wasn't the super-fan of Morrison's run that some were. I loved it, don't get me wrong. But it too often put me in my head (a thing Snyder has often done in the past all the way up to this series) and I'm just never going to love Howard Porter's art. I can appreciate it and I often do but it's never my favorite and it always takes me out of the story a bit. My favorite runs on JL in the past have been equal to Morrison's and include his run, of course. The other top runs for me were Waid/Hitch (directly following Morrison), Meltzer/Benes (my ONLY complaint is it didn't last long enough), and Johns' New 52 run. After reading today's issue and realizing what Snyder's doing with each member of Legion of Doom, giving them each so much attention and differentiating from past evil teams that way, I think it's possible this will turn out to be my favorite run on my favorite title ever. Good on you, guys! Just, please, keep it up!

Snyder's JL has been moving at a lightning pace so it's not surprising the first fill-in wouldn't be able to keep that energy going. This would have been an amazing fill-in if we were still suffering Bryan Hitch's JL, but Snyder's is much better than this. Still a lot going for the issue. Tynion's got a great ear for dialogue and Mahnke's art is almost edible. As usual, he can do no wrong. This issue was a bit of a letdown but only relative to the 4 issues prior. And it's so unusual for a book to come out of the gates that strongly that I don't have any trouble forgiving a bit of a drop-off. It's a pace that Snyder himself probably couldn't maintain forever, even while turning in his best work which I would argue the start to his JL has been.

This issue was everything I want out of a Justice League title. Snyder and friends are making the DCU more expansive than it's ever been before. And I particularly love the "all bets are off" when it comes to otherwise retired/limbo-bound characters and history. This issue reminded me of nothing so much as why Justice League has always been my favorite comic book, though it's been quite rare that it's been this grand or this great. This is what I've always wanted JL(A) to be. Profound personal dynamics and deep character work abound in this issue. I talked to a friend that works at my favorite LCS who said something like "it's like they're facing the end of the world with every issue." He didn't say it in a way of "I like that" or "I don't like that" but my reply to that was "isn't that why there is a Justice League and why they're needed?" He replied, "Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, but I'd like to see one issue where they just get to relax." I've always loved the old JLA/JSA team-ups because there was so much character work, so much just talking between the characters. This issue did both things with aplomb. It gave us great emotional depth with lines from (in order of appearance) Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Jarro, Shayera Hol(!), and especially Kendra and J'onn. Nice character work on John Stewart too. And the surprise of Katar(!!) was thrilling to me. I've missed the Hawks I grew up with so much and it's great to have them back with such great writing and art. I spent a long time reading this issue, poring over the art and meditating on the writing way more than with an average/good comic book. And of course the cliffhanger was fantastic. I'd have liked it if Cheung had drawn the whole issue but Segovia did a great job too. I can't complain about anything in this issue. Snyder's Justice League has been great from the start but I felt there was a dip with Drowned Earth and it felt like an unnecessary interruption, though it did set up the terrific new Aquaman arc very well and I'm SO excited to finally have Mera on the team. I've wanted to see her on the team since I was a child. So I guess I should say the issue could have been better still if Mera had been included, but then I would have had to give the issue a rating of 11 and that's impossible. For me, this was a perfect, thrilling issue with great emotional depth. I've read all of Snyder's stuff. I did not know before Justice League what he was truly capable of. He and his team are killing it and making a good argument for this being the best Justice League run ever. Time will tell but it's looking dang great to me.

I give this run a 9/10. I think it's been pretty spectacular. This issue felt like an exposition dump with a bunch of sci-fi mumbo jumbo in place of any actual exposition. Hope the next one is a return to form. I typically like Tynion's writing a lot.

So happy to have a great Justice League book again. Drowned Earth was a bit of a downturn for me but otherwise this run has been terrific.

This Justice League run has been so much fun. My favorite title from Snyder and/or Tynion to date.

BRAVO! THIS is why I love DC Comics!

I've loved this run but I feel like the creative team(s) have been spinning their wheels the last couple issues. They keep adding characters from all corners of Hypertime but they don't seem to be doing anything with them--in fact, it feels like the only exciting plot point lately has been seeing which new characters will appear (only to enjoy zero characterization and almost no lines). Nobody wanted to see the JSA come back more than I did but they've been back three or four issues now and the dialogue from them feels like it could come from any character. Why bring the JSA back to deliver generic lines? And why did the JL enlist every other hero in the DCU when they weren't going to use them? What a time for this otherwise great run to fall flat.

DOOM WAR! Evil has already won and there's no take backs, t but wait! JL just extended membership to every hero in the DCU! I wonder what will happen with this new JLU. (To be continued.) Well, they kind of dropped the whole JLU thing. Were they even in this issue? Evil has won and there's no take backs, but wait! JSA and Kamandi! (To be continued.) Well, JSA and Kamandi had a few generic lines and then they pretty much dropped the JSA and Kamandi things. Evil has won and there's no take backs, but wait! Batman Beyond and JL Beyond! (To be continued.) Well, the Batman Beyond characters were just there to hover in the background. Evil has won and there's no take backs, but wait! Kingdom Come characters and Nite Owl! (To be continued.) Every character across DC Hypertime stands at the ready, silent, and off-panel. The Trinity fights Lex Luthor. Perpetua hovers menacingly again and says some more threats. Robin has a line and there's a panel of random JLU members, including a bonus shot of forgotten full-time member (since Drowned Earth), Mera! The Beyond characters, the JSA, Kamandi, Kingdom Come characters, and Nite Owl either didn't appear or their appearances were so forgettable I forgot they appeared. But wait! Martian Manhunter lives! Didn't see that coming. Wait! Maybe that's where those green thought bubbles have coming from since he "died!" (To be continued.) Next issue: The conclusion of Doom War! Who knows WHO might show up for another thrilling, silent cameo!

The only thing that was interesting about the Justice/Doom War was the thousand guest stars Snyder kept introducing as if with an exclamation mark. And then he did nothing with any of them. First Mera joined the team and did nothing. Then every hero in the DCU proper joined the JL and did nothing. The they added the JSA, Kamandi, DC One Million characters, Batman Beyond characters, Kingdom Come characters, and even Rorschach, often at the ends of issues, indicating cliffhangers involving those characters. And none of them did anything either. Guest stars that serve purely as window dressing while talking heads repeat the same things over and over as a sigil changes colors from pink to green back to green again--like standing on a street corner and watching a walk/don't walk sign change back and forth--does not constitute storytelling. It's not that the story was bad; it's that it wasn't a story at all. That Jimenez art though... that's always a treat. Too bad it was so badly wasted. This run had such a promising start. Sigh.

I'm really liking this arc. Maybe that's the unusual lineup, which I've enjoyed. (Nightwing belongs on the JL.) Maybe it's that I typically have low expectations for comics written by Josh Williamson. He's usually fine but unremarkable IMO. More likely this arc is actually very good, especially by comparison to the deadly dull Venditti fill-ins that preceded it. Regardless of any of that I've really been enjoying it.

That was god-awful. DC, please get rid of Bendis or at least take him off my favorite title. This is killing me.

DC has been putting out outstanding content post-FS. It is baffling that their only awful title is also their flagship book. Bendis can't leave soon enough.

I don't give 1 star reviews. Or it's exceedingly rare. I can't remember the last time I did it or really if I ever did it at all, though I'm sure I'm just forgetting something. But this comic... Wow. Just wow. How does this series keep getting worse? DC, whatever you owe him, pay him off to leave. Justice League has had some pretty poor runs but none of them, whether in continuity or not, has been this bad. None. Stop the bleeding DC and give us our Justice League back. Back to the 1-star review thing, I know I have never done it as a hit-and-run. Those 1-star non-reviews drive me up a wall and I'm not a fan of those that review bomb here. Conversely, I actually think okay to post a middling-to-high score without explanation. Maybe you loved a comic but didn't have anything to say about why. Maybe you're not articulate or don't enjoy writing in public forums That really doesn't bug me. I get that it's a double standard but it's not without cause. If you're a comic fan and you post a 1 without explanation, like over and over, like often immediately, it makes me wonder if you're a fan at all which makes me wonder WTH you're doing here unless you're just someone that is miserable and expresses It by consistent trolling. I mean, I'm pretty miserable but I don't take it out on my favorite hobby. I feel bad for those people. This one though, this one was a 1. There should be options for negative number reviews because a 1 is magnistudes higher than I'd give any issue in this cloyingly annoying series that doesn't have the first idea of what to be except for a vehicle for Bendis to show us all how pleased he is with himself. The people that have that quality are pretty much always wrong to feel so.

This book had no redeeming qualities. It could have been a panel long. It didn't even need that. It could have been the press release from January. Nothing happened, including even a single interesting character moment, that wasn't in that headline. Williamson is not a bad writer, per se. He's just a very pedestrian, very unremarkable one. That he's now DC's "superstar" writer (their words) is absolutely baffling. He had the chance to kill the JL and this is what he came up with? Wow. I've probably given out five 1-star reviews in my years here. This one deserves it more than any of the others. How disappointing.

That was a bad, boring, uninspired comic book just like every comic leading up to this event. I don't have any problem with Josh Williamson but he should not be writing comics as major as this event is meant to be and he certainly shouldn't be some sort of architect of the DC universe. It's not his fault, it's just beyond him. I really don't understand what DC is thinking. This is textbook mediocrity.

I've literally never read Bendis before his recent Superman stuff at DC. His DC Nation story left me colder than cold. I only thought, "This guy is a star? Why? This is nothing." His story in Action 1000 was utterly forgettable and I've utterly forgotten it. Man of Steel #1 though turned my head around. It was aided incredibly much by Reis's art as any Reis-drawn comic book is. And boy can he draw some classic Superman. And I enjoyed certain new touches from Bendis on the character. Probably my high point in #1 was the stuff with Killer Moth and Firefly and the warning not to yell or use key words Superman listens for. That was a nifty addition and made me feel like I got a little taste of what people have enjoyed about Bendis. #2 was a real letdown after the first issue. Always a treat to read a comic with art by Shaner, Fabok, or (especially) Steve Rude, but the writing felt very flat. I'm still undecided on Bendis and still forming my opinion of his writing but Man of Steel was two steps forward then one step back. Hoping it picks up and that I can become a convert since I mostly read DC and Bendis is obviously going to be a big part of the DCU going forward. I hope he can do a little better than he did here. I'd give the art 9/10 but the writing about 4/10. 6 feels right for the issue as a whole.

It was great to see the other DC heroes as rendered by an evolved Adam Hughes. And that's about all I have that's nice to say about this issue or this series. How does a writer so banal, so ordinary earn the name "The Great One?" I'll admit I've only read Bendis' DC work to date and it's a small sample size but so far, to me, there's no there there. Every positive point I'm giving this review is for the art.

There was nothing particularly wrong with this series. There was also nothing particularly right about it. It was about as cookie cutter an intro to a run on Superman as we could have expected. This is "The Great One?" This was nothing. Meanwhile King's Batman #50 was everything and is being roundly trashed by readers. Some fans just like their comics simple, I guess. Never rock the boat and they're happy. Not I. Bendis has proven to me he's not worth my time or money as a reader and the hype created such a letdown. At least there really is a truly great writer redefining a major character in Tom King's Batman. I will never understand fan culture.

Wow, this was even more of a slog than I'd expected. I had to force myself to read beyond the first page and I had to force myself ever harder to make it to the end. To quote a favorite play, "How boring, how boring, how boring, how boring." I don't know Lanning's work well. As for Marz, I feel like sometimes comics outgrow their writers, which sounds counterintuitive I know. But, here's a handful of cases in point: Denny O'Neil, Marv Wolfman, and James Robinson... just to name a few writers that were once on the bleeding edge, writing some of my very favorite, most intrepid comic books. And what has happened to them? As above, the medium outgrew the writers to the point that they're virtually unreadable anymore, with apologies to O'Neil who recently passed and who did so much to make Batman the great character we know today. Marz has never been a favorite, but I've enjoyed his writing alright. Many years or even decades ago. Still, it was passable then and it's just not in 2020. A through line having to do with The Flash asking each JL member how they balance life-work? How trite. And how lazy. Did he just meet his teammates? Is he in his first year on the job? There is nothing remarkable about this issue beyond the attractive Janin cover that persuaded me to pick up this issue against all my better judgment. And, while I know that Howard Porter is a fan favorite to many, his work takes me right out of any story he draws. He was somewhat better when he drew Morrison's JLA but, even then, his artwork was so grating to me that I had difficulty enjoying that wonderfully written run as much as I might have by just about any other artist. On the plus side, this is the first DC event I haven't felt compelled to keep up with in a dog's age, so at least I'll be saving some money. Also on the plus side, this event seems to be a Band-Aid to get us from the end of Death Metal (whose main series and tie-ins have been pretty darn good), Future State (which I'm quite excited about), and whatever is coming in March, which seems most promising of all. Endless Winter, not so much.

What a wasted opportunity. This could have been a City of Bane tie-in that might have connected some of the dots. Instead, in the middle of a major 'Villains Take Over Gotham" arc, we got a forgettable collection of shorts that could have come out in any of the last 30 years or so. The Risso art was nice but there was nothing else at all to distinguish this issue. .

I can't even. I can't even so many things in response to this series but mostly I can't believe I waited 4 years for such a banal story. If I were like many here, I'd have given each of the three issues a "1," because at the end of each issue I was actually angry at the anticipation created and the failure to deliver anything remotely interesting. But I reserve 1's NOT for comics I'm mad at/about, but for comics I regard to be among the worst I've read. Like Cry for Justice. That deserved all the 1's in the world. But at least Robinson swung for the fences and I can at least respect that. In many ways a "4" is worse than a "1" here. No, Three Jokers wasn't good or great or especially bad or terrible. It committed the far worse sin of being entirely forgettable. [Heavy, heavy, heavy sigh.]

Review aggregates are problematic. The critic reviews include Weird Science that gives low scores as a rule and drags down the average score. The user reviews typically include so many 10s and 1s, the aggregate is hardly instructive at all. It tends to indicate, more than anything else, how many people gave extreme hit and run scores, in either extreme. There was one user reviewer here that used to post 1s, without explanation, before they could have even read an issue. And that reviewer would give the same score no matter which issue in a run they didn't like in general. Others do the same with 10s, rendering the whole exercise meaningless. I say all that, way too many words, to say that 4 is a pretty low score for me and that to get a much lower score a comic book has to be among the worst I've read in my life. So it's a pretty harsh score on my part. And reviews of any sort are often colored by preconceived notions or expectations, whether met, exceeded, or badly dashed. It's unavoidable and of course it's true of me as well. And that is the main basis of this review. Dashed expectations. I knew that Patton Oswalt was a big comic book fan and I knew going into this issue that he was also clever and imaginative. And that's why I had been looking forward to his first attempt at writing a comic book. Wow. Was I disappointed. His story in this issue was, far and away, the very worst in a very bad anthology. I've found most of the tie-ins for this event to be mixed to surprisingly great. This one just stank all around. And you know what? Having just written that, 4 is too high. I'm knocking it down to a 3.5.

What a paint-by-numbers nothing. Empty costumes trading tired tropes. This writer cannot be the architect of the new DCU. He's too stuck in the past. You have to go back to the silver age to find such unsophisticated plotting and dialogue but the silver age was also whimsical and delightfully weird, This series, not unlike it's predecessor, is not. It somehow manages to keep everything that makes those classic comics unreadable anymore while chucking everything that was cause for nostalgia In the first place. This issue was bad. It's not that Williamson can't do anything right-books like Robin are swell. But he shouldn't be in charge of anything that requires real imagination, his is too dull.

Why oh why would DC entrust the rehabilitation of such an important character to a Scott freaking Lobdell? It's bad enough that this series (and the Dark Multiverse stuff) is framed by scenes with Dan DiDio's ridiculous character Tempus Fuginaut but Lobdell?? Here's hoping the next time we see Wally DC can spare one of their good writers. As for this series, all I keep thinking is what a pity.

80 pages of nothing.

I don't follow Marvel so I didn't know Bendis until he came to DC. I've seen enough. I'm out.

I think it must take rather a lot of effort to write such a bad comic book. I almost feel like DC is pranking us lately.

This comic book grabbed my wrist and flung my limp hand into my face again and again, whining "Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself?" And, I mean nobody's forcing me to buy this comic book. And certainly nobody's forcing me to read it. So why *am* I hitting myself?

Just stop it, DC. Will enough never be enough? The rest of the line is great lately. One of these things is not like the others. Send help.