Category: books of doom

This week, we chose Action Comics for our Book of Doom, because it’s the conclusion to the quite entertaining New Krypton story-arc, and we were all interested in seeing how that wrapped up, as well as what the new status-quo is going to be in the Superman books.

And now I really don’t care.

I’m not going to buy any more Superman books for awhile. For a big, climactic finish, this issue seemed to have three pages of fighting and then it was over. It felt incredibly rushed. Because of this fact, I’m also going to rush my review, in protest. So that’s all you get.

Oh, one last thing, since when can Zatanna call down the power of Shazam for Freddy? Shouldn’t he have to say the magic word himself?

Oh well. It’s magic. It doesn’t have to make sense.

Here’s what everybody else thought:

Jim Doom: (more…)

Sorry it took so long for this review to get up, but we’ve been behind in getting our comics, and we’ve all been pretty busy with other stuff. Hope you can forgive us, because this is the last time I’m ever apologizing for anything, ever again.

Incognito #1, to me, seems like a perfect first issue. The groundwork for this universe is laid out, the main character is firmly established, and the general direction of where the plot is headed is given a big, menacing push at the end. All in all, you can’t ask for a more solid first effort.

Based on the reputation of the creative team, I was fully expecting a home-run opener, and this surely doesn’t disappoint. Aside from that, I don’t have much else to say, other than that I’m really looking forward to what comes next, and I’d encourage anybody who missed out on this issue to track a copy down and get up to speed.

Here’s what Jim Doom has to say about it: (more…)

This week we took a look at Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1, the book that carries us from the closing pages of Secret Invasion #8 to everything else that comes next. The end of Secret Invasion left me intrigued, but I’m not sure how much I’ll be following along. Now that the Marvel Universe has changed fundamentally and many comics are going to be $3.99 per issue every month, I doubt I’ll be keeping up on former regular books like New Avengers or sampling new ones like Dark Avengers. So I pretty much judge this book on “Will I feel like I’m missing out on something?” as opposed to “Will I keep buying this?”

I was actually pretty reluctant to pick this, because I know Fin Fang Doom isn’t a Bendis fan, and if you’re not a Bendis fan, the idea of a comic book that is very little more than a group of people sitting around a table and talking is probably the exact representation of what you would hate most. But at the same time, at least it’s not just a Brave New World or DC Universe #0 where it just charges you for 3-page ads. It’s an actual story that acknowledges there’s some explaining to do.

For what it was, I really liked it. It creates an easy-to-follow road map of where the Marvel Universe is and where it’s going. There is a cohesive umbrella over everything, and individual books will be able to function under this umbrella without having to do something drastic, such as making the world be overrun with anti-life zombies for a few issues or risk seeming disconnected and irrelevant.
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Having just read Batman #682 for a second time, I’m still not quite sure if I liked it or not. But I guess considering my usual reaction to Grant Morrison’s work, that’s an above-average result.

I like the trip through memory lane that Morrison wrote out here. You don’t see Batman’s Golden Age roots mentioned very often in today’s comics. I guess that might have something to do with the fact that post-Crisis, Batman didn’t exist in the Golden Age, but who knows?

Something that stood out to me is that Batman doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of milestones in his career. There’s the night he decided to become Batman, the debut of Robin, Robin turning into Nightwing…is that it? I guess we’re only halfway through the life and times of Batman, so we’ve still got The Killing Joke, Bane and several more Robins to go through, but this issue just made Batman seem a little unremarkable.

One thing that this issue didn’t even begin to clear up though: how did Batman go from “dying” in a mysterious helicopter crash to being strapped to a weird chair in Final Crisis? That’s kind of what I was expecting this to be about, but I guess that’s what’ll happen next issue.

Doom DeLuise: Well, that was…something.

After last week’s finale to RIP, this week’s issue of Batman seeks to bridge the gap between Batman being blown up in a helicopter crash in the harbor and the first issue of Final Crisis, where we’ll eventually learn the “ultimate fate of the Dark Knight.”

Did it succeed in that? Hell no. I have no idea how Batman got from being blown up and finding himself captured in the EVIL FACTORY by Darkseid’s minions. This issue doesn’t even try to explain it. Instead, we’re given a bunch of flashbacks of bullcrap. It’s not until the last couple of pages that we realize where Batman even is. And, really, I’m sorry, but I can’t get past that stupid F*%#ING name. THE EVIL FACTORY? For crying out loud, that might be the dumbest name for anything ever. (more…)

Well, I was way off. Several weeks back, I predicted that the man behind the Black Glove and the “most ignoble betrayal” to Batman was going to be Nightwing. Failing that, I thought there’d be a good chance of it being Robin. Turns out, I was wrong. The ultimate badguy behind the Black Glove is… well… uh… I don’t really know.

This week’s Book of Doom was probably the most anticipated issue of Batman in years, and the most anticipated comic for this guy since the conclusion of 52, which was about a year and a half ago. With all of that anticipation, the most important question to ask is whether or not it lived up to it. And, in my eyes, it did. It wasn’t the best story ever told, and it wasn’t the greatest betrayal of the past seventy years of Batman, but it certainly was an enjoyable issue, and I’m glad I bought it. The biggest problem for me, I guess, is that I’m still not 100% sure what the heck happened in it.

We’re led to believe that Batman was defeated by the Black Glove, but, yet, it’s also implied that the Black Glove was responsible for the creation of Batman, all those years ago. They hired Joe Chill, and they’ve taken great pleasure in watching the career of Batman throughout the years, and, now, their masterstroke to kill him finally came to fruition. I guess that’s what rich people do with all of their time and money: Orchestrate giant games to pass the time.

It’s also implied that Batman comes face-to-face with the Devil when he finally confronts Dr. Hurt (if that’s his real name). I’m not so sure about that. It ties in with Batman #666 perfectly, but, still, it just seems pretty hokey.

As a finale to a pretty entertaining story-arc, I think Batman #681 is a success. As a finale to the Batman, it seems quite incomplete, and I’m looking forward to what comes next in the way of some explanation. If this was the final issue of Batman, forever, and we were never to see or hear from him again, I’d say this is pretty damn stupid and pathetic, but I see it more as a bridge to more interesting stories, so I’m okay with it. For now.

Let’s turn things over now, to Fin Fang Doom: (more…)