142 Justice League Of America: The Nail - The Complete Deluxe Edition

DC has finally collected both Alan Davis mini-series into one beautiful deluxe edition.  What an amazing book to sit and soak in.

Alan Davis wrote and drew a love letter to DC's Silver Age.  It doesn't quite get the love that something like Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier does, but it should.

Quite simply, Ma & Pa Kent get a nail in their tire the night they were supposed to find baby Kal-El.  They never leave the house and Kal-El gets adopted elsewhere.  He never becomes Superman.  So the story follows the DC Silver Age with that one alteration.  And what it turns into is a scene that is very reminiscent of what's happening today in America.  Except replace minorities with meta humans.  Meta humans are no longer trusted and they're feared.  There's a giant conspiracy against them, but the heroes do get their shit together and take care of matters.  It's a very compelling story.  It grabs your attention and doesn't let it go.

A follow up story was done called Another Nail.  This one I struggled a bit with.  It starts off going further into detail an event that happened in the first book, which leads to the new story.  Or so I guess it does.  The second book felt like it was a lot of plot points, but I was waiting to figure out what the actual plot was.  If that makes sense. 

Both series are some of the best work Alan Davis has ever done.  He's amazing.  I could look at this book for the rest of my life and never get tired of it.

Justice League Of America: The Nail - The Complete Deluxe Edition

Writer: Alan Davis

Artist: Alan Davis, Mark Farmer

DC Comics

141 Doctor Who - The Tenth Doctor Vol 6: Sins Of The Father

Okay, so I've read a lot of Doctor Who this week while being cooped up at home.   This is the third book (and the last on my backlog shelf of books to read) one.  What I love about the Doctor Who comic series is it takes a page from the tv show and stages out seasons of storytelling.  Like on the tv show, there's a big, over-arcing story being told at the same time as single, smaller stories are unfolding.  But the catch with that is if you don't care for the big story, all the rest of the smaller stories don't do it for you.

This volume deals with two big over-arcing plots, neither of which I care much for.  There's this storyline with the Nocturnes that has been unfolding since the fourth volume of this book and another storyline dealing with Anubis which is been going on since maybe the third?  I really don't care for either and that's distracting from any enjoyment I might find in this book.  I'm anxious for all these arcs to reach their conclusions so that I can get back to really liking the Tenth Doctors' adventures.

On a happier note, the art is as gorgeous as ever.  There's that, at least.

Doctor Who - The Tenth Doctor Vol 6: Sins Of The Father

Writer: Nick Abadzis

Artist: Giorgia Sposito, Eleonora Carlini, Leandro Casco, Simon Fraser, Walter Geovanni

Titan Comics

140 Deadman By Kelley Jones: The Complete Collection

I'm sure I've mentioned on the blog my love of Deadman.  He's a character who always always always appeals to me.  And this collection is a great one.  It collects together three separate series drawn by Kelley Jones.  And this is why when I think the name Kelley Jones, the first thing that springs to my mind of Deadman.  His stylized version of the character is amazing.

What we have here is an 8 part story that originally ran in Action Comics Weekly.  It involves zombies and possession and all that good ol' New Orleans voodoo nonsense.  Mike Baron wrote the tale, as he did the other stories in this book.  It's followed up by the two part mini series Love After Death.  Deadman meets, well, for lack of a better term, Deadwoman and instantly falls in love.  It's a great tale of the supernatural, love and betrayal.  And finally, the mini series Exorcism, which follows up both of the previous stories in this volume.  Deadman is distraught after the events of the Love After Death series and his basically lost his mind.  Madame Waxahachie, a character first introduced in the Action Comics Weekly series is brought in to help fix what's happened.  It's a great, but disturbing tale (and it also features the Phantom Stranger, another of my favorites!)

If you're a Deadman fan, this book is for you.  It's such a great read, cover to cover

Deadman By Kelley Jones: The Complete Collection

Writer: Mike Baron

Artist: Kelley Jones, Tony DeZuniga, Pablo Marcos, Vince Giarrano

DC Comics

139 Mister Miracle By Jack Kirby

I'm going to say something very controversial.  I don't like Jack Kirby.  I don't think he's the shit like everyone else does.  I'm not a huge fan of his writing.  I'm not a huge fan of his art.  I appreciate that he's a creative behemoth and he's responsible for some of the most well loved and most enduring properties in comics, but I'm just not a fan.

However, Mister Miracle may be my absolute favorite Kirby creation.  Everything about his sings to me.  His costume is simple, yet complex.  It's bright and shiny and happy.  His back story is tragic but his current story is positive.  He's a fun character and he has great adventures.

Sure, most of the stories in here are kind of awful, but they're fun awful.  And we get all 18 fun but awful action packed issues of Kirby's run.  We get a lot of Kirby's Fourth World characters showing up for different stories, which is neat.  He was writing, drawing and editing the whole Fourth World set of books for a number of years.  I don't know how he did it.  Granted, they weren't monthly books.  Bi-monthly at best, but that's a lot of pages to be putting out on a regular basis.

Anyway, if I was going to pick on Kirby book to love on for his 100th anniversary celebration, it would be this book.

Mister Miracle By Jack Kirby

Writer: Jack Kirby

Artist: Jack Kirby, Mike Royer

DC Comics

138 JLA Year One: The Deluxe Edition

I suppose there was a need for this book.  Crisis On Infinite Earths had made the JLA's origin obsolete.  Things needed to be shuffled around to make it still work.  And this book put it all down on paper for us.  I remember enjoying the book when it first came out all those years ago.  But reading it with a fresh set of eyes, all these years later, I kind of feel like this story is a big waste of time.  In the years since it was published, this story, too, has become obsolete.  Events have made changes in history and this doesn't hold up anymore.  And maybe that's why I feel like it was a waste?  I don't know.

There were a lot of things that bothered me about this book.  I love an Easter egg, but it felt like this book when above and beyond the call of duty to shove as many of them in here as possible.  It's distracting.  Some of the characterizations also annoyed me.  Black Canary especially.  She was insufferable to me.

I heard a lot of behind the scenes stuff about the production of this book back when it was being published.  There was a lot of talk about Mark Waid being furious with Brian Augustyn's scripting and that he had to rescript an awful lot of this book.  It may be true.  I've never been a big Augustyn fan.  I don't feel he's a very good writer.  It may be his presence here that brings the book down for me.  Because it's not Waid.  He's still got a million ideas and they're all good.

It was nice to revisit this book, but I don't know if it was necessary.

JLA Year One: The Deluxe Edition

Writer: Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn

Artist: Barry Kitson, Michael Bair, Mark Propst, John Stokes

DC Comics

137 Batman '66 Meets Steed And Mrs. Peel

I read the Batman '66 series when it first came out and while it was fun at first, it got old quick.  At least for me.  However, these occasional mini-series have more than redeemed the book for me.  This one was particularly fun.

Here we have Batman and Robin teaming up with Steed and Mrs. Peel.  I have to admit I never watched the Avengers and have read very little Steed and Peel, but knowing a lot about them isn't necessary.  

This adventure starts in Gotham City and spans all the way to England, covering both teams' home bases.  I'm not familiar with the Steed & Peel villain, so I don't know if they're brand new or canon, but they mesh well with the choice of Bat Villains used in this tale.

There are two highlights of this book for me.  The first is the tone of the book.  It's not as campy as the Batman '66 books can be, but it doesn't lose the camp, either.  It's a controlled camp and it makes the book extra enjoyable.  The other highlight is the art of Matt Smith.  I think he's incredible every day of the week, but this was really beautiful to look at.  I don't know if it's all free hand art or if he used video stills for some of the panels.  I can't tell.  Either way, it's gorgeous art that fits the book like a glove.

Batman '66 Meets Steed And Mrs. Peel

Writer: Ian Edginton

Artist: Matthew Dow Smith

DC Comics / Boom! Studios

136 Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 5: Arena Of Fear

I didn't care for the 4th volume in this series, but volume 5 was significantly better. 

Two tales in this book.  The first picks up where the last volume ends.  There's a group of travelers consisting of Captain Jack and Cindy (among others) who are wandering the earth.  They really have no idea of who they really are or what they're doing.  They eventually cross paths with the Doctor, who is in the same situation.  And that's when memories begin to return.  A fun adventure to kind of undo the boringness of volume 4.

But the better story is the second one in this book.  The Doctor, Gabby and Cindy try to take a vacation but end up in the middle of an adventure featuring a witch.  Sounds boring, but it was actually quite good.  And this being Doctor Who, you know there wasn't really a witch.  But what was it?  Hmmmmmmm.....

Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 5: Arena Of Fear

Writer: Nick Abadzis

Artist: Eleonora Carlini, Elena Casagrande, Iolanda Zanfardino, Simone De Meo, Luca Maresca

Titan Comics

135 The Legion By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Vol 1

I have to say I'm rather surprised that DC has published this book.  At this time, I mean.  They just started collecting the Legionnaires and Legion Of Super-Heroes books earlier this year.  This book shouldn't be out already.  I thought it would all get collected chronologically.  But I'm wrong.  And I'm happy.  I particularly loved this run on the book.

According to the afterword in the book, both series were losing readers and Abnett & Lanning were brought in to spark new interest with a new direction.  Now, if you've read any of my mini-reviews, you know one thing I hate is when a new team is brought in to give a book a "bold new direction" and they start things off by discarding what's come before them.  Well, Dan and Andy did just the opposite.  They had a big idea, but they lead into it.  Quickly, but without throwing anything away.  Their first story introduces the Blight, their second story sets characters in place for the Blight storyline and then BAM, we're smack in the middle of the story.  And it's a good one.  And from there they start making the changes they want to make in the book.  All the changes are plot dictated and very organic.  And that, my friends, is how you change the direction of a book.

I remember being kind of upset when this book first came out.  Olivier Coipel's art was so ugly to me.  But as the story progressed, I realized he was the perfect artist to draw the whole Blight storyline.  It works incredibly well.  It holds up to this day.

I love the Legion.  I love this book.  I'm so glad DC is showing the Legion some love right now.

The Legion By Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning Vol 1

Writer: Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning

Artist: Olivier Coipel, Adam Dekraker, Jeffrey Moy, Angel Unzueta, Chuck Wojtkiewicz, Andy Lanning, W.C. Carani, Jaime Mendoza, Dexter Vines

DC Comics

134 Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 4: The Endless Song

For the most part, I really like the Doctor Who comics.  Especially because there are so many more things they can do here than they can do on tv.  But just because it's something you can't pull off on tv doesn't mean you should attempt it in the comics.

This starts with an awful story about living music creatures or some such bullshit.  Honestly, I hated it and didn't finish it all the way through.

Thankfully it's followed up with an earth based story involving cavemen.  And a side story about Cindy, friend of the Doctor's current companion, which expands into the next volume

But all in all, this book felt like a waste of my time.

Doctor Who - Tenth Doctor Vol. 4: The Endless Song

Writer: Nick Abadzis

Artist: Eleonora Carlini, Elena Casagrande, Leonardo Romero

Titan Comics

133 Justice League Of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

I'm dying.  Or at least it feels like I am.  I woke up Sunday feeling under the weather.  Monday was bad enough that I told work I wasn't coming in Tuesday.  It's now Friday and I still haven't gone back to work.  I think I'm on the verge of kicking this finally.  But as I've sat home sick, I've been reading.  Because there hasn't been anything else I've felt up to doing.  The first thing I grabbed was this beauty.  850 pages (give or take) of Bronze Age JLA goodness.

This volume picks up roughly where the Archive books ended, so I'm happy for the continuity of the reprints.  Black Canary has just left Earth 2 and joined the JLA.  It's been fun watching her in these comics most of all.  She developed a superpower but is having no luck controlling it.  In a couple issues she practices her canary cry, but with no luck.  Later on, her canary cry gives her psychic powers (which were quickly forgotten about).  Most of the use of her actual canary cry takes place in the Green Lantern book.  In this run of JLA, with the exception of her botched attempts at it, she uses it only once in a blink-and-you-miss it scene.

Otherwise, this was a joy to read.  The book has two running themes, I've noticed.  The front half of the book has a ton of stories about the ecology, the environment, civil rights, that sort of stuff.  The second half, however, is all about pure super-heroic action.  I guess I never realized how much I loved Len Wein's contribution to the series until I reread these stories.

I have nothing bad to say about this book.  Nothing.  It's a pure joy, plain and simple.  So much Dick Dillin beauty, too.

Justice League Of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol 1

Writer: Denny O'Neil, Mike Friedrich, Len Wein, Robert Kanigher, Gardner Fox

Artist: Dick Dillin, Neal Adams, Murphy Anderson, Ross Andru, Nick Cardy, Carmine Infantino, Gil Kane, Mike Sekowsky, Joe Giella, Dick Giordano, Bernard Sachs

DC Comics

131 & 132 X-Men Blue Vol 1: Strangest / X-Men Gold Vol 1: Back To Basics

This is the first time I'm throwing two books into the same entry.  It seemed fitting to me, though.  X-Men Blue & X-Men Gold are the new X-books, setting the stage for the post Inhumans Vs X-Men event.  These books give me a very mixed outlook for the future of the X-Universe.

Let's start with Gold.  Kitty Pryde has taken leadership of the team.  She's assembled a small, but mighty, team of heavy hitters.  Colossus, Nightcrawler, Story, Old Man Logan and Rachel Summers, though now she's known as Prestige.  This book is one I was looking forward to more than the other.  It's the real, current X-team.  This should be good.  Marc Guggenheim is writing it.  I love his work.  This book felt like one giant fill in issue.  Nothing felt like it should.  Like he wanted to tell a story, but didn't want to disturb anything else that might be going on in the Marvel U.  It's weird.  It's a fine story, but it felt unnecessary.  I hope this changes with the second volume, or I'm done with it.

Conversely, X-Men Blue was the book I wasn't really hanging much hope on.  It's the time displaced original X-Men.  They were fine during Bendis' run, but can't they go home again.  But Cullen Bunn shows how you start a new series.  He's got a mission for the team.  He's got subplots he's slowly laying down.  He's setting his pieces all in place for when he needs them.  He's not discarding any history.  This is going to be my X-Men book, I have a feeling.  Excellent job, Mr. Bunn!!!

X-Men Blue Vol 1: Strangest

Writer: Cullen Bunn

Artist: Jorge Molina, Matteo Buffagni, Ray-Anthony Height, Julian Lopez, Jose Marzan Jr, Walden Wong, Cory Smith, Ramon Bachs, Marc Deering, Tarry Pallot

Marvel Comics

X-Men Gold Vol 1: Back To Basics

Writer: Marc Guggenheim

Artist: Ardian Syaf, Jay Leisten, Craig Yeung, R.B. Silva, Adriano Di Benedetto, 

131 Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77

You want a fun book?  This is a fun book.  I swear to God.  It's like a big wad of cotton candy in a hardcover book.  

I had no idea how the story would transpire.  I figured that it was going to have a time travel element, but I was wrong.  Marc Andreyko and Jeff Parker were given the pieces to a puzzle and they put them together to make them work flawlessly.

This is kind of three stories in one.  The first chapter is a flashback to when Bruce Wayne was a boy and Wonder Woman (from season 1 of her show) ended up at Wayne Manor to battle Nazis.  The second chapter takes place during the Batman '66 run.  Diana is on Paradise Island and that's where the action moves to.  The last chapter takes place in 1977 when Diana is back in America, Batman is retired, Robin has become Nightwing and Batgirl is now Police Commissioner AND Batwoman.

Bravo to all involved making this book work so wonderfully.  Every once in a while you just need something that is pure sugar.  This is that book.

Batman '66 Meets Wonder Woman '77

Writer: Marc Andreyko, Jeff Parker

Artist: David Hahn, Karl Kesel, Bill Williams

DC Comics

130 Batman: Zero Hour

Collected together for the first time are all the Zero Hour crossovers from the Batman Universe.  It's an odd book, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.  I would have loved it if they devoted one page (as a forward, maybe) explaining what was happening in the Zero Hour mini series so that thing would have been a little bit clearer in this volume.  

Basically, the book is broken down into two sections.  The first have are the actual Zero Hour tie ins.  Time has gone screwy, different realities are popping up here and there, the Bat Family are being drawn to different realities and they have to deal with it.  Fun stuff happens, like the return of Batgirl, in full costume, though from a different reality.  In her reality, Commissioner Gordon was killed by the Joker rather than Babs getting maimed.  A young Dick Grayson shows up and teams up with Robin.  Batman is drawn back in time to where is parents lived but he was shot in Crime Alley.  Fun stuff all in all.

The second half of the book showcases all the #0 issues that were published after the mini series ended.  These were basically jumping on points for the characters, showing the new realities they're living in.  This being the Batman Universe, though, there really weren't many changes or tweaks at all.  You know how that goes.

Batman: Zero Hour

Writer: Chuck Dixon, Archie Goodwin, Alan Grant, Doug Moench

Artist: Bret Blevins, Mike Manley, Joe Rubinstein, Vince Giarrano, Graham Nola, Scott Hanna, Bob McLeod, Tom Grummett, Ray Kryssing, Jim Balent, Bob Smith

DC Comics

129 Red Hood And The Outlaws Vol 2: Who Is Artemis?

I'm sure I've said this before.  Scott Lobdell is far from my favorite writer.  I enjoyed him back in the 90s, but his recent output has left me really cold.  Except this series.  The first volume was highly recommended to me, so I read it and I actually liked it a lot.  The same with the second volume.  Though I liked the first one better, this one is nothing to sneeze about.  Scott has a cast of characters that doesn't seem like would work together, but it surprisingly does.

This volume is mostly about Artemis' back story.  I wish they held off just a little longer telling it until they get Wonder Woman's current back story all straightened out because Artemis' story hinges somewhat on Wonder Woman's.  But they didn't wait.

I hate that we have to get a new back story for Artemis.  She was a character I didn't much care for when she first appeared, but I grew to love over time.  We're starting at square one with her again.  I hope they don't fuck this up.

Red Hood And The Outlaws Vol 2: Who Is Artemis?

Writer: Scott Lobdell

Artist: Dexter Soy, Mirko Colak, Tom Derenick, Kenneth Rocafort

DC Comics

128 Green Arrow Vol 3: Emerald Outlaw

Ask me what my favorite Rebirth book is currently and I'll tell you Green Arrow.  This book is fun.  This book is interesting.  The action is great.  Everything about it is very appealing to me.  Ben Percy took a few elements from the Arrow tv show, introduced them, but didn't let them crowd anything else out.  

Ollie (and Team Arrow) are fighting to take down those that took Ollie's fortune and framed his as Seattle's big bad.  It's a really well thought out story and a joy to read.  I read this on the plane from Albany to Baltimore a couple weeks ago.  I was so afraid we were going to land before I could finish it.  Luckily the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

If you were to read only one Rebirth book, this is the one I recommend.

Green Arrow Vol 3: Emerald Outlaw

Writer: Benjamin Percy

Artist: Otto Schmidt, Juan Ferreyra, Eleonora Carlini, Carolos Rodriguez, Gus Vazquez

DC Comics

127 Wonder Woman Vol 3: The Truth

This still remains one of my favorite of the Rebirth books.  While I hate that we are yet again reinventing Wonder Woman (that is getting so fucking old), I feel like this is the version that is going to stick.  I like that this is the proper opportunity to tie in aspects of the movie to the comic.  While they aren't going to be on the exact same page, there are a lot of similarities that people who saw the movie will recognize.

This is the Wonder Woman that the New 52 WW should have been.  I enjoyed that run, but it felt like a giant Elseworlds story to me rather than canon.  I like that it's been addressed and we're moving forward.  

I like how the whole Doctor Poison thing is worked into this book.  Logical and sensible to me.  

The art seemed a little off to me, though.  I don't know why.  I ate up the art in the first volume.  This one it seems slightly rushed or something.  I can't place my finger on it. 

All in all, one of DC's best books. (for now)

Wonder Woman Vol 3: The Truth

Writer: Greg Rucka

Artist: Liam Sharp, Renato Guedes, Bilquis Evely

DC Comics

126 Justice League Of America Vol 1: The Extremists

DC has high hopes for Steve Orlando.  They gave him two high profile books (this and Supergirl) to write with the Rebirth initiative.  So far, he's falling slightly short for me.  And I don't know why.  I love love love love love his Midnighter work.  It's been one of my favorite books from DC in a long time.  But dealing with mainstream DC stuff, it's just not clicking with me yet.

This books has two stories.  The first is the modern day reintroduction of the Extremists.  Lord Havok and his bunch.  While the story itself wasn't bad, reading it all in one fell swoop didn't do it much justice (pardon the pun).  The timeline of the entire story is unbelievable to me.  Things happened entirely too fast for them to seem (even in comic books) plausible.  

I am enjoying the interpersonal exchanges between the characters and look forward to a lot more of that going forward.  It's an interesting line up for a team and I'm anxious to see it succeed.

The second story was my least favorite of the two.  It felt like the team was dealing with a Maxie Zeus knock off.  Yawn.

Justice League Of America Vol 1: The Extremists

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Ivan Reis, Felipe Watanabe, Diogenes Neves, Andy MacDonald, Joe Prado, Oclair Albert, Julio Ferreira, Scott Hanna, Ruy Jose, Marc Deering

DC Comics

125 Batman Vol 3: I Am Bane

Tom King is a solid writer and I'm enjoying his Batman run so far, but not as much as Scott Snyder's run.  I think Tom King is a far better fit with Nightwing, but that's just my opinion.

This book feels like it's the point where everything is about to change.  The whole Bane storyline from the last volume gets wrapped up, though the ending left me cold.  It's like "Batman punched out Bane.  Batman wins.  Fade to black."  It was an abrupt finish to the story and it sat funny with me.

This run has been all about reinventing Catwoman again.  I guess the New 52 version was that awful that they decided to go in a new direction.  She's not quite where she was when the Flashpoint hit (that was my favorite era of Catwoman.  The last couple years up to Flashpoint), but it feels like that's the direction they're trying to take her in.  I'm not complaining (much), but I just want it done right, not rushed, not fucked up.  That's my wish.

I love that all the Robins get a chance to pop in and out of this book, too.  I don't know why, but that brings me joy.

Batman Vol 3: I Am Bane

Writer: Tom King

Artist: David Finch, Mitch Gerads, Clay Mann, Trevor Scott, Sandra Hope, Danny Miki, Seth Mann

DC Comics

124 Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Dan Abnett is continuing his stellar run on Aquaman.  He's been slowly laying down the pieces to make this book his own.  He's not ignoring anything that came before, but instead building on it.  He's developing the vast supporting cast and laying down stuff that seems like it will take him quite a while to get to the pay off stage.  I like that.  It's how comics used to be.  It's nice that someone will take over a book, do a six or twelve issue run and then go on, but it fucks with continuity.

While I'm enjoying this book, there are parts that irk me.  The Aqua Marines.  They're stupid.  They feel like a rejected late 80s or early 90s concept.  I really hope this is the last we see of them.  Seriously.  I do not care for them at all.  

This book also features yet another "Aquaman isn't fit to be King" story.  We get them all the time.  But I don't really mind this time around.  I'm interested in seeing where this will lead.

Aquaman Vol 3: Crown Of Atlantis

Writer: Dan Abnett

Artist: Scot Eaton, Philippe Briones, Brad Walker, Wayne Faucher, Andrew Hennessey, Scott Hanna

DC Comics

123 Batman/Two-Face: Face The Face Deluxe Edition

I read this back when it was originally published.  It's been over ten years, so it was definitely time to revisit it.  And thankfully, DC has collected it in a deluxe hardcover.

James Robinson has that unique ability to hook me on page one and keep me involved until the last page.  This story is no different.  

After Infinite Crisis, Batman left Gotham for a year.  While he was gone, he didn't want to leave Gotham unprotected, so he enlisted Harvey Dent, the former Two-Face.  Harvey was finally cured of being Two-Face, both mentally and physically.  And he took on the role of Gotham's protector and excelled at it.  But now Batman is back and Harvey feels like he's out of a job.  In the meantime, it appears that he's falling back into his old, criminal ways.  Some D-List Bat villains are turning up dead and all the evidence is pointing to Harvey.  Batman doesn't believe it and sets out to prove Harvey innocent.  But with everything that's going on, it's driving Harvey nuts and he's losing his grip on sanity, eventually reverting back to Two-Face.  Which is all unfortunate because Batman discovers that Harvey is indeed being set up for the crimes.

This is a fascinating story and one that I will definitely read again sometime in the future.  James Robinson is one of my heroes.

Batman/Two-Face: Face The Face Deluxe Edition

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: Leonard Kirk, Don Kramer, Andy Clarke, Wayne Faucher, Keith Champagne, Michael Bair

DC Comics

122 Midnighter And Apollo

Let me start out with everything I don't like about this book.  The first one is kind of big.  I hate that this book is called Midnighter And Apollo and not Midnight And Apollo Vol 1.  Having no volume number suggests to me that this is it.  One volume, no follow up.

I loved everything else about this book.  Steve Orlando gets Midnighter and it's super evident.  The regular Midnighter series was so much violent fun.  This book is no different.  There are a few fight scenes where I found myself actually laughing out loud.  Midnighter is a fucking badass and he's amazing.  

This book focuses on Midnighter and Apollo getting back together.  During the Midnighter series, they have gone their separate ways, but they're working back to what they are meant to be.  Until Apollo dies.  Oops.  Midnighter isn't ready to give up, so he fights his way through Hell (literally) to save Apollo from the clutches of Neron.  And as much as I really don't like the character of Neron, I felt that this was the very first time that Neron was actually written properly.  He was interesting.  He was used correctly.  I'm ready to see him pop up again, provided Steve Orlando is writing the story.

This book is a must read.

Midnighter And Apollo

Writer: Steve Orlando

Artist: Fernando Blanco

DC Comics