REYNARD's Profile

Mark Waid has forgotten that comics should be poetry. He is now debasing his craft to write brain-dead smash-em ups that cannibalize the Silver Age in the most uninteresting ways. This is truly the darkest era in DC Comics history.

"I hope you don't mind my saying so, sir but...that growl in your voice-the one you used to have to practice before you went out as Batman?" "mm." "You're doing it all the time, sir."

"If there's one thing I hate, it's art with no content."

"Enough! You dishonor your sensei with this loss of composure! Your rage is born of fear and is unbefitting in a student of the martial arts!"

"What was your father like? Was he tough?" "He was a good man. A doctor. He died when I wasn't much older than you are now."

"Life...and death. The joke...and the punchline"

"Sick sweet smell of human flesh past its sell-by date. The crawling sixth sense that tells me I'm on to something rotten. I'm opening a can so full of worms you could bury your head in there and they'd be bones by morning."

"Look at you, all beat up to hell. Why did you have to choose an enemy that's as old as time and bigger than all of us, Batman?" "Same reason you did, Jim. I figured I could take him. This isn't over."

"Funny. What happened to my dad paved the way for a Batman like me. Too bad for you." "Blood?" "I'm surprised the son of Satan doesn't remember what they did to the son of God."

"There's something that's always fascinated me. What do eccentric men who have everything do when they get bored?"

"The Black Glove has chosen you to represent good in a contest between good and evil. You are losing. Shall we raise the stakes gentlemen? We have your children. Advantage evil." "Hh, I don't think so."

"The Black Glove is closing around you, Batman, while I...I can't be touched!"

"Tell him it's time. 7:35 last night. The Bat-Signal came on in my brain. The sleeper awoke."

"I must be around five years old when I first sense the presence of a gaping, toppling void in the center of existence. For the first time in my life, I suddenly grasp something. Mom and Dad are going to die. We're all going to die."

"You're only having a flashback. Don't worry...pain'll wake you up."

"Damian is a wonderchild. And Batman, his father, belongs to me. Not to her."

"We are operators at the highest level." "Believe me, everything you've heard about the Black glove is true. Call me Doctor Hurt. Come, take your place for the Danse Macabre."

"What we are about to do will be a work of art. Nothing less than the complete and utter ruination of a noble human spirit."

"It would be far easier to consider this a dream. But how can I? For in my hand...I hold the Bat-Radia. And I...I am the Batman."

Gene Luen Yang's Batman/Superman was a glimmer in the void, immediately snuffed out when it was cut short. Every issue tried something new with the medium, tossing the World's Finest into worlds more unknown and more dangerous as the Archive of Worlds descended on our heroes. The final issue was my favorite of the meta-experiments that came out in 2021; our favorite fiend from Dimension Five Mr. Mxyzptlk empowering the recently deceased Calendar Man with 5-D powers, allowing him to look beyond the panels and pages. He almost triumphs against our heroes, but hubris comes for all as he learns pain, compassion, and mercy. Mxy ponders and questions the reader on the nature of the never-ending story: why do we keep coming back when we know how it's always going to end? Well, because we prefer to choose good over evil. Satisfaction derives from desire, and as perfectly imperfect human beings, we are gifted with free will and the ability to choose between good and evil. In a world of Men of Tomorrow and Caped Crusaders, they can't help but choose good, and we can't help but choose good and desire good for them. We create our heroes, projecting our conflicts and emotions onto the lower dimensions that are little boxes of the comic medium. At the same time, their fictions inspire us and actively influence/affect our own reality. The never-ending story extends to humanity, and though there is still tragedy and strife that exists in humanity, we can't help but love to see our heroes win.

It's fascinating to see competent and skilled writers tackle a showdown story between two heavy hitters: something so simple to conceive but so simple to execute in an uninteresting and uninspired way. Priest both presents the clash in an unexpected and innovative way as well as loading it with powerful and relevant dialogue and stakes to give it some weight.

Absolutely fascinating. Even with a couple story strands left to the winds, the main pathos Black Adam has been tackling across these twelve issues is brought to an impasse: the Red Sea is pulled apart by mortality's revelation as Theo Adam embarks on a new dawn. He is no longer a slave to a legacy of ebony lightning that has chained him to the Sinai. He's emerged from a staring match with the abyss, scathed, and yet liberated. Black Adam will return, but Theo Adam's long march is just beginning.

Very good! Jim Starlin's art is terrific, his captions maintain a classic Marvel poetic thrum. I enjoyed the psychological crucible of Mar-Vell and his rebirth at the hands of Eon in order to take down Thanos. This Marvel cosmic is way more interesting than the movies.

Geoff Johns Final Thesis: Fuck Comics, go outside.

This comic epitomizes what is wrong with DC. You have two mercenaries in Snyder and Williamson leading the pack of mundane and uninspired writers. These are cannibals, picking at the feet of their betters, scraping the tombstone library of story-past for any epitaph to sustain an event or story arc or whatever you want to call the derivative droll they put out. Long gone are the days of wonder, the imaginary beyonds of Fox and Broome and Haney and Kanigher. Julie Schwartz would be turning in his grave. Jack Kirby too. There is a reason for the alienation of true auteurs in this industry: Morrison, Moore, Gaiman. Because even as they try to bring comic books back to their roots of poetry and mythology, the Empty Hand manifests itself to reap. They came, they conquered, and they departed after realizing there were better things to do than play back & forth with the carrion crows who run DC. DC has been hanging under the fangs of the Empire of Mammon since the Golden Age, when Liebowitz and Donnenfeld stripped the company from its original owner, Major Wheeler-Nicholson. What's happening now is more insidious. An ultra-pollution of the narrative, a sacrifice submitted to strobe-torture before being disemboweled. These people are going to ruin everything just to feed their wallets. If you don't believe me, read this book: "WHAT IF EVERYONE JOINED THE JUSTICE LEAGUE?" "WHAT IF DARKSEID AND THE SPECTRE MERGED?" "WHAT IF DARKSEID FOUGHT EVERYBODY AND BEAT THEM WITH HIS LAZER BEAMS?" "WHAT IF HE MADE A BAD UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS BADDER AND MORE BAD?" "wait, don't we already have Earth-3 and the Antimatter Univ-" "WHAT IF EVERYBODY WAS A DARKSEID AND THEY HAD HIS LOGO?" "WHAT IF EARTH ONE WORKED OUT BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN BY US AND WE MADE EVERYBODY TOTALLY EDGY AND ULTIMATE AND MARK MILLAR AND METAL AND FRANK MILLER AND BRIAN AZZARELLO AND SO COOL?" "DO YA GET IT? 52 DAYS EARLIER? 52 DAYS LATER? REMEMBER THAT WEEKLY BOOK WRITTEN BY TALENTED WRITERS? REMEMBER THAT PUBLISHING INITIATIVE THAT FUCKED EVERYTHING UP?" "WHAT IF DARKSEID WAS MAD ABOUT BEING DARKSEID, BUT WHAT HE REALLY WANTED WAS TO BE DARKSEID IN DARKSEID LAND, WHERE BEING DARKSEID WAS COOL?" "WHAT IF ALL OF OUR CHARACTERS EXPLAINED EVERYTHING THAT WAS HAPPENING AND SAID EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE THINKING AND FEELING AND THEIR MOTIVATIONS WERE SIMPLE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND? MAN, WRITING COMICS SURE IS EASY!" "HEY, IT'S THE MIRACLE MACHINE! REMEMBER THAT? I READ A GRANT MORRISON COMIC GUYS! I LOVE LOOKING AT ALL THOSE PRETTY PICTURES IN THAT GRANT MORRISON COMIC!" "DARKSEID DARKSEID DARKSEID OMEGA BEAMS DARKSEID APOKOLIPS I DIDN'T REALLY GET FINAL CRISIS BUT I READ THE DC WIKI PAGE DARKSEID DARKSEID DARKSEID!" If there is one redeemable quality, it is the art. Sampere and Craig are very talented. It's a shame they have to waste their time drawing absolute nonsense. At least they get a check.

At the end of the day, I express great pride in saying that I spent $10 on this book solely for the Grant Morrison story. And you know what, it was totally worth it. And it said to be continued at the end! Please Moz! Multiversity Too! Also, that Rachel Pollack tribute was beautiful. I wish DC would do that for more creators when they pass instead of just one page ad. Having writers recount stories and their own experiences with the deceased I feel allows the readership to unlock a new dimension of that writer, and truly cement them in the tapestry forever. The people who make these books are just as important as the characters that appear in them, and I would love to see more of their stories told.

Wow. Just incredible. This creative team is fantastic. The Muertos echo a twisted Thomas & Martha, their machine-like beasts are a terrifying foil for our creature of the night. The hallucinations of the Sybil flower haunt Batman with alien figures, an exorcism of the Silver Age sci-fi romps. The finale is a triumph of macabre glory, waiting for the fall that was promised on the very first page.

Not at all what I was expecting. Fascinating to see Langstrom as an ambivalent figure in his first appearance, and I like that they play into the Dracula/Werewolf schtick with his Victorian dressing (similar to how he's dressed in Batman #655), but the Jekyll/Hyde trope is avoided by reducing the counter-persona. The Blackout gang is cool, fits the theme of criminals finding novel ways to operate effectively in the DC Universe. Also, a very charming sequence of Batman and Alfred testing out his new sonar earplugs.

Damn good. My introduction to Enemy Ace was through Rick Veitch's Swamp Thing #83, his pathos as a character is extremely ripe for exploration. The O'Neil/Adams globe-trotting Batman is unmatched in terms of potential, and this was so much fun. The framing device of Bruce Wayne funding a film in Spain is awesome, and the final climactic dogfight is compelling. Hammer's ghost intervening on Batman's side sends chills down my spine, and the fate of Franz is a shocking tragedy. O'Neil's prose captions are also impressive, both him and Len Wein clearly laid the groundwork for the British Invasion of the 80s.

The Neal Adams pencils are missed, but Bob Brown does a sufficient job. My main appreciation for this story comes from the wonderful remix done in Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated #2 where the story is told from Talia's perspective.

"Multiversity: Pax Americana" did it better, but this was a great read.

In regard to the back-up story, "What Can One Man Do?": Very depressing story about the relative powerlessness super-heroes have on society versus cosmic cape-conflict. Do the watchmen truly have the authority or ability to enact change, steer the path of humanity? No! Which is why Oliver lays down the costume and resolves to use the system to help Star City. I'm not saying that being a hero is bad, obviously in this world of alien invasion and ultra-crime there needs to be an answer, good Samaritans defending their planets and communities... but they can't force the weak to act a certain way, they cannot hamper free will, even as destructive as it may seem.

I fucking loved this. Morrison at his finest, with Sharp's pencils only amplifying the sense of amazement. The Final Crisis tie-in and the multiversal elements are just the perfect finishing touches to this book. I hope that they come out with a volume containing all 12 issues instead of the two trades.

Best book DC is putting out right now. Much needed refresh opposed to the constant universe ending eventgasm spewed from the Depressoverse. I love the experimental art styles Sharp has been alternating between this season. Him and Morrison are really the last bastion of true artistic ingenuity and character driven storytelling at DC. Great Silver Age cuts, awesome fights, and tight dialogue that maintains the gripping flow of this series. PREPARE FOR THE ULTRAWAR! THE MULTI-CRISIS IS NEAR!

Wow. Morrison's departure following the conclusion of this series will leave an immense void, a hole in things if you will, that will never be repleted in this generation.

Absolutely brilliant. The true war with the anti-world is not between the Lanterns and the Weaponeers, but between 666 and the Qwa-Masters. "HATE DEATH PAIN KILL!"

MULTI-CRISIS ON INTIMATE EARTHS Never did I think I would see a Green Lantern book that looked like a flagship Vertigo title. Sharp & Morrison are revolutionaries as far a I see it. Incel Lantern made my week. As the Wedding of Hyperboy and Princess Illistra enthralls the denizens of Kranaltine, the true Union of the Trillenium shocks the Multiverse as Will and Love remain in constant synchrony across endless worlds.

The highlight of my month. Worlds will die, hearts will break, and the union of will and love shall shock the multiverse like never before. Multi-Crisis on Intimate Earths!

Absolutely phenomenal. Morrison's mike drop is one for the ages as the Emerald Knight takes on unimaginable odds; nothing new of course. I love how, just like the Gentry and Empty Hand from Multiversity, the final enemy could be considered analogues for corporatism and manufactured story control while the new guardians are placeholders for his own disillusionment with DC's new regime over these past few years. One more to go, and I'm sure I won't be disappointed! "In Brightest Day, In Blackest Night..."

I can't believe it's over. In my opinion, Grant Morrison is the greatest comic book writer of all time. So you should know how much it hurt to learn that this would be their last work at DC. Though Wonder Woman Earth One Vol III and Superman & The Authority came out after the fact, The Green Lantern was the true curtain call on the DCU. And what a way to drop the mic... In a two-part finale, a powerless Hal Jordan faces off against a cabal of his greatest enemies puppeteered by the Golden Giants of the Nomad Empire. Hal refuses to annihilate his enemies, instead giving up the Cosmic Grail and freeing the people of Athmoora of the Intelligence Engine that keeps them in medieval perpetuity. Reflecting their status within DC and the current comic landscape, both Hal & Grant depart from their respective regimes into the unknown. In my opinion, Morrison's Green Lantern run, both seasons including Blackstars, surpassed even Johns and Vendetti in quality of GL runs, so the only we can do is look back at what an epic ride Morrison took us on. Till we meet again King Moz!

The "villain is defeated by absorbing too much" trope is overused as hell but WHO CARES because we get a happy ending and the JSA too! It's so refreshing to read a book that doesn't have grand multiversal/world ending stakes, or in this case one that does but doesn't overblow it and keeps it character focused. Excited to see Carter and Shiera back in the 1940's alongside our dear Society.

Betty/Red Harpy and Joe Fixit are such a fun dynamic that will be greatly missed. Though Gamma Flight seems to have a good amount of correlation with Immortal Hulk, I wonder if Ewing's Defenders will be the same way. And also, 80 pages for issue #50? Count me in!

I still think the Fantastic Four/Hulk dichotomy is absolutely genius. Issue #50 can't get here fast enough!

There isn't much to say about Immortal Hulk that hasn't already been said by hundreds of thousands of other comic readers. Al Ewing and Joe Bennett created an undisputed masterpiece for the Jade Giant that is easily one of the best long form comics of the 2010's. Combining biblical mysticism, Kabbalistic lore, cosmic horror, and a cross-country scramble across the Marvel Universe, Ewing crafts an unpredictable and yet consistently powerful narrative that sucks you into the emerald hurricane that is Bruce Banner's mind. The final chapter is the perfect subversion of reader expectation, in the sense that it yields a result that was better than anything we could have expected. In a medium where so much of the content put out is tired and recycled, the act of allowing characters to choose the third path will always be compelling to anything else. Savage Hulk chooses mercy over rage, ending the conflict-chain to facilitate a new beginning or the character. Of course, the Hulk immediately reverted back to base once new writers took over, but the point is that comics like these prove that archetypal characters like the Hulk are capable of change. Hyper-ideas can evolve, and they always are. It's the duty of the creators and the consumers to allow changes like these to continue occurring so that the never-ending story can truly stay never-ending.

Never been much into Kurt Busiek, but this was a lot of fun. George Perez is brilliant. Pairing the then current JLA squad with the pre-Disassembled crew was very nice.

Spotlight on some of the underused leaguers: Aquaman, Elongated Man, & The Atom. Ray's internal struggles of inferiority and feelings of uselessness among the other leaguers brings a lot of depth to his character, while the new arrivals of Willow and Construct are a blast to read. Construct is essentially a pre-Cameron Terminator, hellbent on annihilation and oppression. Willow is a confident and powerful elemental on the run, helping Ray get his mojo back while kicking some ass.

Crisis of Confidence amongst the JLA! Doubt and mistrust strike at the heart of the league as the wicked Construct orchestrates doom for the heroes. To be a League united, there can be no cynics, and as this issue shows, true belief in the power of good and your own allies will combat any enemy that dares stand against you!

Engleheart takes on a herculean endeavor of establishing linear continuity in the DCU, tying the history of the JLA with the sprawl of the Silver Age. Though Crisis was around the corner, this issue is seminal to the team's history.

Never picked up an Xmen comic in my entire life, and this did not disappoint. Cat Beast is the only thing to get used to.

Great tight dialogue and Quietly's pencils always knock it out of the park.

Loved this! Hilarious iconography to have Superman munch on Kryptonite. Morgan Edge is a great inclusion, and I'm pretty sure this was being released concurrently with Jack Kirby's Jimmy Olsen run. Excited to see how the Sand Superman saga plays out.

The Guardians gaslight Supes to reevaluate if his work on Earth is holding back humanity from its full potential. Very interesting concept, but I will admit that I was left underwhelmed by the sudden finale. The art was great, Curt Swan never misses. I do appreciate the sense of uncertainty left in Supes at the conclusion, it fits the nature of the never-ending battle/debate. I also appreciate how messy Supes interaction with the strikers were, a very good complement to the stuff Denny O'Neil was tackling around the same time.

Peak Morrison. Peak Janin. It doesn't get better than this. "All these people jumping on the bandwagon, the ones who hate you now they've got you down as a dodgy reactionary who can't be trusted? I hated you first! I can spot a trend a mile off!" I can definitely see the meta-commentary of Manchester Black as the cynical comic reader while a hardened/older Superman becomes another one of Morrison's fiction suits, taking us along for the ride. This issue is meant to convince us to embrace the story and concept, just as Supes gets Black to join his crusade.

It isn't everyday you buy a comic that's worth every penny. Give me Morrison's endless explosion of ideas that make an issue worth reading over all the crap DC is publishing nowadays while stamping it with a "Batman" logo. I live for the utilization of the actual DC universe outside of Gotham for god's sake. Sadly the only popular books on this site are the soulless stream of bat-fam content hyper-saturating the shelves. The Empty Hand has won my friends. Enjoy oblivion, you brought it upon yourselves.

The highlight of my week! Hoping we get some confirmation on the members of Ultra-Humanite's Authority; I'm pretty sure I've spotted Eclipso, Fleur De Lis, Coldcast, but still iffy on the electric girl and if that's Ibac or Iron Cross. Dreading the next issue due to the fact that it'll be the last DC Morrison work we'll get for a while.

Dear King Moz came back from the dead for one last encore, a final say on the Man of Tomorrow while passing the torch to the future in a grand departure from DC. Superman gathers a team for the new age, one that may instill substantial change where the JLA failed; a new Authority to face cosmic evil. Everything comes full circle, with Superman confronting his oldest enemies, the Ultra-Humanite and Brainiac (echoing the first arc of Morrison's N52 AC). Superman refuses the ultimatum of his adversaries, instead choosing a third path that breaks the conflict chain. What happens when an Unstoppable Force meets an Unmovable Object? And instead of wrapping everything up in a nice little bow, Morrison embraces the never-ending story while embodying the inscription on the Tombstone of Nil: To Be Continued...

The opening chapter of Alan Moore's Fourth Volume of Swamp Thing begins a transition from the classic creatures of the night featured during the first half of the "American Gothic" storyline, to the new age horrors plaguing 1980's Urban America. "Windfall" tackles the US Drug Epidemic, featuring two tales of death, delirium, and revelation. The ending is brilliant; though forbidden fruit entices hallucinogenic providence, it all hinges on the polarity of one's soul. When you chase the answers, don't be surprised if it's something you don't want to see.

Bissette & Totleben are the dream team for this run so far; everything about this comic makess me re-evaluate how I view the comics that are put out today and the lack of quality between current monthlies and this masterpiece of a run. "Bogeymen" is easily one of the best stories in this entire collection, and when looking at how good everything in this run has been, this story rising above should hopefully say something. If there's one thing I can say, just read this issue. Please.

"Ghost Dance" is horrifically fun. Watch out Mystery Gang; when four yuppies and a beast enter the house of the restless dead, not everyone is going to come out alive! Something fascinating about the standalone triptych of these past few stories is the lack of focus on our titular protagonist in favor of Moore taking us readers on our own American Gothic Road-Trip, only now Swamp Thing is the guest star as we watch flawed and helpless POV cannon fodder ravaged by new age urban horrors. Once again, Alan Moore's endings leave one shocked and hungry for more, his mark sealed by letters and ink within our minds forcing us to do his bidding; turn the page!

Really wonderful stuff. Loved that we got to see the Hairies from Jack Kirby's Jimmy Olsen run. Chronos, Anthro, and the z-list professor side-kick from Silver Age Atom were nice touches as well. Very interested to see how this plays out with Jim Corrigan in human form, Arcane's escape from Hell, and the Swamp nativity nearing! Did Hubert Sax (the doctor from #84) die between issues? And what of the Claw of Aelkhund, what is the secret of the Amber macguffin? How did it end up in the hands of Joseph of Arimathea during the Gospel-times? When will Anthro meet Swampy if he's just been consumed in the Big Bang? And what about the redemption of Roy Raymond!?! Many questions with 2 issues left!

And how wonderful it is to have Veitch's work complete. I love the idea of Abby and Swampy settling in the prehistoric era of some parallel universe before it got wiped out by the Crisis. Let the never-ending story continue somewhere far away from our lovers and their child. For me, the legend of the Swamp Thing comes to a close with this publication. A beautiful and earned finale to the saga.

Not big into current comics recently, but I felt I had to pick this up. Was not disappointed whatsoever. I pray for the day that mainstream heroes are allowed to evolve into new configurations like this, innovative status quos that stay true to the heart and history of the character. Very hyped to see where this one goes.

One of the best Lex Luthor stories ever.