Week Twenty-Eight

Aside from an incredibly decent cover and a neat splash page featuring Batwoman laying the smacketh down on some Intergang thugs, this week’s issue is surprisingly dull. For the sake of ritual, though, let’s address what actually happens this week, and I’ll tell you why it sucks so much.

First off, we find Renee Montoya and the Question back in Gotham (that was abrupt!), and they’re trying to warn the Batwoman that she’s been prophesied to be killed by Intergang in the old Book of Crime. Uh-oh, Spaghetti-O’s! The Batwoman eventually takes the fight to Intergang and Manheim, who beats her up, talks about the prophecy, and is interrupted by the Question and Montoya (who he refers to as “The Questions”). He tosses Batwoman aside and runs ass over tea-kettle out of there.

Meanwhile, some Australian stereotypes get into an argument in the Outback, only to be attacked by the newly salvaged Red Tornado, who has a stupid looking body (remember, he was almost finished, like, two months ago). He beats up a guy and then gets beat down by a bunch of angried up Aussies. They toss his scraps into the back of a truck, which sports a logo of who owns the junk–Ridge Ferrick. You’ll remember that the bidness with the Question/Montoya/Batwoman/Intergang all started in a Ridge Ferrick warehouse in Gotham, way back in week seven or so. That reminds me, whatever happened to the editor notes? Marvel still uses those.

After that, we’re taken back to the storyline with Animal Man/Adam Strange/Starfire/Lobo/the Emerald Ekron thing for some good old fashioned SPACE BOREDOM. Turns out the Ekron nonsense is a Green Lantern, and it was forced to watch its entire system turned to dust, since it can’t use its power without the Emerald Eye. Whoops. Now, our space adventurers (see: boring idiots who can’t find their way home) are the only people standing between the Stygian Passover (see: unknown, all-powerful space force of mystery and doom) and Earth.

The stuff in Gotham works for me, as does the stuff in the Outback, but that nonsense in space really tanks every issue for me that it’s in. I’ve no reason to care about it yet, and that’s saying something, since it’s been given so much time to develop. Lobo’s not funny, the trio of marooned adventurers are one-dimensional, and the threat they’re facing is too silly to care about. Not to mention that the way the whole sequence is written in this issue is so darn confusing that you can’t tell what’s going on until the last two pages where they sum up what just happened on the previous eight. Should’ve hit the snooze button this week.

See ya in seven.