Week Nine

After hearing about Lex Luthor’s plot to create a procedure designed in order to turn regular saps into super heroes, we finally get a glimpse of what he’s capable of (other than turning John Henry Irons into actual steel). That’s right, folks, he can turn average people into a bunch of foolish looking tough guys who wear purple spandex and have big green L’s emblazoned across their chests. What are their powers? Well, I’m guessing we’ll have to wait a few weeks for the writers to figure out some good generic ones for the entire lot. Apparently, Natasha’s power is to whack people real hard and to whine like an ingrate.

So, what actually happens in this issue? Luthor’s Generic Six debut; Natasha beats up her uncle, eventually depositing him into the harbor (let’s hope all that steel doesn’t hinder his swimming abilities); Adam Strange, Animal Man, and Starfire escape from Devilance the Pursuer (the gods are pissed because those guys saw through the layers of Heaven during the Rann-Thanagar war, which, by the way, they shouldn’t mention that sort of thing, because it makes me think, well, shoot, why don’t they show US the 12 layers of Heaven, and I’d like to see an artist try to capture THAT!); meanwhile, the Question reveals the first of many answers to Montoya–Intergang is targeting Gotham City–and, at the very end, they show some weird Batwoman person lurking on the rooftops. That was a long sentence. Permit me to have a cigarette and catch my breath. How’s that possible? Who are you, Bill Nye? Forget about it.

With all of that out of the way, the question is, is it any good? Kinda. There’s not enough (any) Black Adam, and the Steel story is really uninteresting to me. One element of this issue that really amazes me is the interaction of the characters out in space. Imagine if you had just witnessed the events of the Infinite Crisis, and your main hope over two months later is, “I hope the world made it.” That’s such a cool idea.

Still loving “52,” I just wish they’d cut that afterward crap out so that the issues had a bit more space to, y’know, tell us stuff we haven’t seen before. Oh well. That’s all for now, folks.

See ya in seven.