There were some coloration issues here that really kind of threw me off. It may sound minor, but Scandal's hair being so light it's almost red was actually a bit distracting to me. I find Lex a good villain for Superman, but overall I don't hugely care for him. The non-powered, "I'm just really clever" ploy gets old after a while to me with Lex, I'm not wholly sure why. I also don't know what's going on with all the femme-bots running around, but I'm finding it a bit creepy.

In the Atom story, I'm mostly confused by what seem to be several retcons that seem to be creeping into Ray's story. For the longest time, he was the only one who could use his belt without causing an explosion after a few minutes. It was even referenced in a JLA story a few years ago. Since then, more and more people are using his gear without issue, including the Atom that was with the Suicide Squad, Jean Loring, and the most recent Atom Ryan Choi. Further, in this story, Ray complains that his uncle gave away his secret ID to the Colony. Ray himself wrote an autobiography revealing his secret ID years ago during his "Sword of the Atom" phase. I wish they'd tell us when they are retconning things, it really is unclear as to whether this is a retcon or a writer error.

I don't understand why Mon-El getting weaker turned his costume back to his normal one- they've already shown it as a separate one from his "traditional" LSH costume, not a will power construct. Sun Killer could be an interesting villain, but introducing himself as "Kodama-San" is rather odd, as "san" is suffix meaning friend in Japanese- not something one says on first meeting. On a final note, yes I know this seems to be an accepted comic book trend (why it's acceptable is another issue), this cover was even worse than most. Of the five characters shown on the sort of "women of the Legion" cover, only one shows up at all inside, and she's out cold in a med-tube.

Personally, I like the book more as an anthology title than a second Legion book.

As I said, there's a lot of cliche here. It still feels to me like we've seen this before, from the New Mutants to Harry Potter, and many others. I'm sure the kids will save the day, defeat the villains, and somehow either get out of trouble for breaking the rules and/or get some humorous punishment at the end.

I don't like that Levitz seems to keep going after the Legion romances. He broke up Shady and Mon-El, off screen, and has done the same with Night Girl and Cosmic Boy. The story with the younger kids I just don't really care for, it's not doing much for me. I'm hoping they do better next month with the Legion's speedster, XS.

Overall, I didn't really care for the Academy story, and found the back up hugely out of character. I'd much rather have seen more of Power Boy and the other, older students, who are all missing from this issue.

I don't like when seemingly needless bad things happen to characters, and I don't know why they decided to do this to Comet Queen, who has always been a fun, if not the most effective, ditz. And maybe I'm just overly sensitive to things right now, but they essentially just re-booted the character here, which there's been more than enough of, with apparently much more to come.

There aren't really any negatives here (aside from the Subway ad, which isn't Levitz, or the Legion's, fault). I don't see how the kids are going to beat Cosmic King, or necessarily even survive the encounter, but it should be interesting. I just wish this title, too, wasn't among the many casualties of DC's reboot/relaunch/relapse/re-ridiculousness.

We shall have to see what happens to the 31st century as the LSH book ends, and then the reboot comes.

The art is gorgeous, but still flawed in a few places. Not that things are drawn badly, but they are done in such a way as to not make a lot of sense. One scene has Batgirl breaking into the abandoned amusement park where her trap is set, cutting the chain on the fence with huge bolt cutters. Batgirl is certainly good enough to get in without destroying the chain, and where would she keep such a large tool? It's shown as one of the large style about as long her arms. There's also a scene in the fight with Batgirl leaping down from something above Mirror, getting ready for an elbow strike as she descends behind him, yet somehow the blow hits him dead center in the chest.

I didn't like most of this issue actually. We still don't know what the deal is with the new Catwoman and her apparent replication power just makes things more confusing.

What I didn't- Terry spends most of the book out cold, then being operated on. Waller lost control of one of her own creations with no viable back up plan? I don't buy it. And Dick hasn't been ok since he was eight? Wow, that's wholly out of character. And our bad guy is an evil clone that is part Waller's fault and part Cadmus' fault… this just seems a bit odd, especially since Waller helped create Terry McGinuess in the first place, replacing his father's DNA with Bruce Wayne's all those years ago. It seems like a slightly re-treaded tale, over all.

This series sold well enough that an ongoing is forthcoming. I will not be getting or reviewing it. Much as I'd like to say otherwise, I won't be getting it. I do like this world, but Mr. Beechen's handling of it is not to my taste. But I encourage Beechen fans and Batman Beyond fans to give it a shot, and thank Mr. Beechen for a very friendly and civil exchange we had on the DC Boards recently about Zatanna.

I don't really like a lot of the things here that I've seen before. The big American hero arrives to find his foreign counterpart just in time to help him with something he can't handle on his own has always stuck me as a bit contrived. Also, this whole heroes all over the world thing reminds me of those Planet DC annuals a while back that created a lot of new characters who were never seen again. I'm not sold on the whole Batman, Inc. idea, it seems a bit odd to me, and this really did nothing to sell it to me. Also, Selina keeps being drawn with these goggles on her cowl, but she always has them pushed up on her forehead. What do they do, exactly?

It's an interesting series of ideas, and there's some decent potential here. I'm not positive I'll be getting this one for long, but it's got a decent start.

On the negative side, David using the dart gun on Matu seems to be taking things a bit too far for my tastes. Disagreeing with your allies, fine. Attacking them, not so much. Also, this is one of the DC-nU books that feels the need for blood spray and gore, which I'm just not a huge fan of in my hero comics. Winnick's writing here, at least, is several times better than the mess he made of Catwoman. However, if the bloodshed continues at this pace, I'll likely drop this one soon.

The fight was decently done, but seems to be dragging out a bit. We get it, Batwing's hurt, but he's too much of a hero to give up. Can we move on a bit?

It feels to me like this is losing steam. This story didn't need to take the whole issue. It feels padded, like the dreaded "writing for trade," where writers make their stories run longer than they need to for the later collection of the issues into trade paperback form. We got a kind of cliched background at the cost of no plot advancement. I'm going to stick with this book through the first arc, but if they don't start impressing me soon, I'm likely to drop it at that point.

Overall, enjoyable, but I'd like to see this story go somewhere. There was no real build here or learning about new things aside from their armorer.

The only thing I don't like is the same thing that prevented my getting Kate's run when she was the lead in Detective Comics. This art is too stylized for my tastes. Kate, with her very pale skin and vibrant lip color make her look like the Joker. I also find the oddly shaped inset pictures to be visually jarring.

What I didn't like: Last issue ended with the preview of one word "SHIVA!" who never even appears or gets mentioned in this issue. Dinah seems a bit too willing to abandon her home and friends to go off with this madwoman she barely knows who is a confessed murderer and recent near lethal adversary. I presume we'll hear either “Shiva must be stopped” or “I was protecting you guys” as a justification, but still… I think Zinda is fighting out of her league here. Even Huntress comments that Zinda is a great bar room brawler, but she is holding her own way too well. Dinah doesn't actually threaten her friends, but the costume change is just a bit disturbing to me. I wonder if she's just sort of in emotional shock between her marriage ending, Roy's maiming, and her ID being made public. And we STILL have no explanation about the whole "Avatars of War and Peace" bit for Hawk and Dove.

It was overall a very good issue.

I have said before, and repeat here, that I don't like the changes in Hawk and Dove. Now she changes when out cold, not speaking her name to trigger it, and the Chaos/Order vs War/Peace change has still never been explained. Gail is usually good at detail like that, so I hope we eventually find out why, even if it's an interview saying "the editors made me do it." We see Misfit mentioned, and she was last seen placed in Huntress' care… so where is she? There are a few unclear panels that show what might be supposed to be Babs' double with the Birds at the club, but as I said, if this is a set up on her part, it's badly done. I'm also not sure what's up with the apparent psycho drama with Hank.

The art is great, which surprises me as I really didn't care for Gulliem March on Sirens. At least he's figured out that women have noses, and his Batman is stunning.

My personal guess is that Hawk was on the chopper, accounting for the life reading the HIVE guys were getting, and he should be able to withstand the blast decently enough. But, that's just a theory. I rarely manage to outguess Miss Simone.

I consider myself a huge fan of Gail Simone, but this is not up to her usual excellence, or not in my view at least.

But hey, overall, a great issue.

There are a few minor holes here I hope get filled in during part two. Why, exactly, did Tripe and/or the building come to Oracle's attention in the first place? That's never actually mentioned, and leaves me somewhat curious. On a related note, what did they learn that made them try the "help with a blackmailer" approach? I'd wonder how Huntress managed to track down Question out on the streets so easily, but all the Bat-family and the adjuncts seem to have the "find anyone in Gotham at any time" power. I'm also not entirely sure about either why Huntress knows who Junior is (did Catman tell her about their run in during some as yet unseen date?) or why she panics so badly on learning that's who the team is facing. Junior is a nasty piece of work, I grant you, but I've never seen anything to make me think that Black Canary, with both world class fighting skills and her sonic powers, or Dove, with her various abilities, would have anything to fear from Junior.

The Golden Age characters and the modern flow together well, and we get enough about what's going on to be curious, but not enough to reveal all. Andreyko's writing is good, as it usually is, and the war veterans, the relationship between Phantom Lady and Manhunter, Black Canary finding about bits of her mother's history, all were well done.

I don't like that it's the end of the book, that Gail is gone, or the new line up. For that matter, up until this story, Hawk and Dove were part of the team, but are missing from this one with no explanation. It was a good story all around, if not really seeming to fit as the team's good-bye, which so many other titles got a chance to do (see this week's Batgirl for a wonderfully done example of that).

I didn't like the Babs/Dinah scene. Whether or not the old Birds of Prey happened in the DC-nU is unclear. Dinah makes references to being framed for murder, which was issue one of the last run, but it seems odd there's no mention of Babs and Dinah working together in the past. And the old comic tradition of misleading covers continues- while Katana and Poison Ivy are featured on the cover, Ivy is not in it at all, and Katana only appears in a picture. And oh dear god Canary's new costume needs to be burned.

I still strongly dislike all the costume redesigns. It's not that they don't look how they used to, it's that the changes don't make sense to me. Canary is wearing sandals to fight in? Katana looks like a Heavy Metal reject, and Ivy seems to have taken on fall coloring in her foliage/costume. This books seems to have bought into the Nu-DC line of high body counts are desired, which isn't something I like in most of my heroes. As an occasional thing, I can see it, but if they are killing bad guys left right and center, what makes them heroes and why aren't the police hunting them down harder. For that matter, why is Batman allowing this carnage in his city? Or has his no killing rule changed, too?

I'm trying to put my finger on what I find not working for me in this series, and I think it's a combination of the tone/attitude. I think I'd be fine with this book if it were new characters, but I keep thinking "That isn't right," as I see them do things, especially Canary. The writing is good, I just can't seem to adapt to the new "killing is ok" mind-set they have, especially Dinah. Dinah's always been an out and out hero (barring a few bits back in the Longbow Hunter days), and I'm finding this a really jarring transition. I think I'm going to give this till the end of this arc and then, unless things change, drop it, sadly. I consider myself a huge BOP fan, but this just isn't quite them. And I must admit, I still loathe the new costumes.

Katana seems to be a one note killer type. She talks to/about her dead husband in her blade, and kills folks, and that's about it. Ivy is seeming very quiet and mellow for her, taking orders and saving innocents, nothing at all like how she usually is. Yes, it's a new continuity, but Starling has made comments about her being a killer as well, so it's not all just me drawing on her old history. I'm not sure what it is about this team, but it's just not gelling for me.

At the risk of beating a dead horse, the heroism vs killing issue continues to bother me, even more so if Batgirl's suddenly onboard. I also don't like Starling's reveal here. I suppose if you're going for the 18-34 year old demographic, you can't have a team of females and have them all be straight these days. And before I hear cries that I'm anti-gay, I'm far from it, but something here just felt wrong to me, I guess almost like tokenism in a way.

The contrary nicknames were a bit overdone as a recurring theme. The "send the hot shot on the secret mission" cliche has been done too many times. Actually, there's a lot of cliche here- the field ops disdaining medical treatment, the government rep in a suit, etc. Also, the bizarre "super hero origin" bit with Kunoichi seemed really out of place here, as if two different plots were put in the same book. And I believe "nanities" are pretty well known in sci fi/adventure, did we need a new version here? And what was the point of putting this version of Lady Blackhawk, sure to be a talking point, in the opening, or even the first issue, at all if she's only in one panel with no lines?

I loathe what they did with Paco here. I'm worried about Milagro, and don't really like the other changes in Jaime and his family.

On the other hand, we once again have what appears to be a normal, if talented, martial artist actually hurting Hawk, who is described as having "skin like concrete." How does this keep happening? While I liked the art over-all, Hawk never quite looked right to me, and his flipping over someone to deliver a carefully placed set of strikes is just NOT how he fights. Since this title replaces BOP this month as I understand it, it might have been nice to at least hear mention of Canary, Huntress, or Lady Blackhawk, but I guess they are caught up in the main book over in Asia.

I just did not like the changes here, and everything seemed to be lifted from somewhere else. Hero with new powers, cranky mad scientist, hero losing control of his powers, nothing really seems new here.

I liked about everything. My only minor quibble is we never do learn what happened to the guy who'd been wearing the Gizmo-Duck armor before. There are plotholes, of course, but it's a comic based on a cartoon, and I'm more than willing to, for once, sit back and just say 'Ok, that was fun.'

I'd argue that the public turns on DW too quickly, but the average citizens of most cartoon worlds aren't exactly shown as overly sophisticated. I kinda hope there is at least some mention of Goslyn's previous attempts to be a hero, such as her archer identity of Quiver-wing Quack, which I liked better than the "Crimson Quackette."

There wasn't really a bad note here. This is the part where I'm supposed to point out what went wrong, but I'm really not seeing anything.

My only drawback at all is that maybe it's a bit much at once, with NegaDuck/Magica, the Darkwing Duplicates, and Paddywhack all attacking at the same time, but somehow it keeps working for me. This is that rare ongoing title that adult collectors can enjoy, and share with their kids.

The only thing at all I didn't like was on the page when we switch from Quiverwing to the main heroes. The caption boxes read "So this is still a thing. Attacked! Trapped! Werewolfed!" I have no idea what "So this is still a thing" is supposed to mean. I went back a few times, reread it, looked at the context, I still don't get it. But that's pretty minor in a great book.

I can't put my finger on it, but this one was not quite as good as past issues. It was good, but not quite great. Maybe it's that DW's ego was more in control on this one, which I don't like quite as much. It's still a great title and worth the read.

As I've said with this book before, this is supposed to be my negative part, but really… I don't have anything. Tons of silly fun.

I predict we're going to learn that Femme is some kind of double agent, either out for herself, or a plant from SHUSH or some other agency. Steelbeak will realize how bad this is and help DW for real, and Goslyn will do something improbably well timed to help turn the tide. This book remains a lot of fun to read, and rarely for comics these days, is truly an enjoyable read that works for all ages. Oh, and BOOM! seems to have changed their name to "kaboom" for some odd reason, but hey, I can follow Goslyn's logic better than that of company's usually.

My only objection is the loss of Morgana. Every hero needs a love interest, and she and Dark have always clicked well. What's the world coming to when even a comic book based on a cartoon has to have a darker ending? I'll just have to hope she's back soon, I suppose.

I still miss Morgana, and I hope they don't turn DW and LP against each other. Aside from that, no complaints.

The only negatives really are my concern about Suff-Rage being Morgana and not quite being clear if Bob is Suff-Rage, working for her, or someone else. Aside from that, great fun as usual.

My only real reservation is, with Darkwing, it's hard to walk the line between goofy hero and outright buffoon, and this got a little close for my tastes. And, since Suff-Rage isn't Morgana, we still don't know what became of her. I'm also getting really unclear on what this strange stuff is that keeps making villains and where it came from. But overall, still great fun.

So…. farewell Darkwing. I'll miss you. I counted on this book for some good goofy fun, which, especially in the era of "Dark Avengers" and the "DCNU," is harder and harder to find. IF the title comes back, and IF they keep the same tone, I'll resume my reviews on it.

As often happens with this book, I don't really have any negatives to rant about. It's fun, silly action, and Darkwing is a great heroic parody. The supporting characters like LP, Goslyn, and Honker were all well used…. no complaints. If you're looking for serious, epic, heroic action, you won't find it here…. but then, you'd be looking in the wrong place.

Retcon Watch: Aside from some possible sliding of the time line about who appeared when, I didn't catch any major retcons in this issue. That's the first of the series I can say that about.

This is making a bit less sense as time goes on. Paul was about ten in World War II, which would have made him about fifty during the Crisis- and he looks damn good for that age, although he looks a lot older "now" whenever this tale's "now" is. I'm not sure why the memberships of the JL Detroit and International got shuffled, I really don't think it adds anything. And I have a feeling that Jimmy's being crippled will change due to his work at STAR Labs, which just seems too pat, somehow. Paul's partner continues his rabid dislike of the heroes, but we still have no explanation as to why. The back up was just goofy. Keith Giffen's art is really hit or miss with me, and this was a miss.

Paul's aging still seems to not match the passage of time. Again, he was a kid in the 40s; and seems about 30-40 in the 90s when the two main stories take place. And some of these retcons and reshuffles just seem odd. Why change John Stewart's debut, or make Doomsday and Bane at the exact same time?

I don't see how this guy, Paul Lincoln, who so far seems to be a normal human, knows what happened both inside Engine City, in outer space, and on Oa. And while I like to think I know a good bit about DC in general, and the New Gods as part of it, I have no idea what that back up was about.

This issue just seemed to happen, no real new revelations, no changes, and it just didn't do much.

With the ending they chose to do, I must admit, if I were asked if this was worth reading, I'm really not sure I'd say yes. It's an imaginary tale, but it's not, but the main character ages inconsistently and knows things he couldn't… I think this story needs some clarity and maybe some better editorial oversight. Oh, well, at least we didn't get to the Superboy Prime reality punches.

I think this story demonstrates that sometimes it's more the writer than the characters who make a story. Keith Giffen is quite good, and I like a lot of his work, but this one just didn't have the same feel as the ongoing Six title. The characters just weren't quite on. There was also some odd problems with the art and lettering- in one panel, Scandal is helping Bane to his feet, and the very next one she's in the midst of a fight, side by side with Catman, who wasn't shown anywhere near them. Similarly, Deadshot is both talking to himself and not sounding right, and one panel has misplaced word balloons- what should be Bane asking him something makes it look like Lawton's gone totally round the bend and is having an actual discussion with himself. Overall, this just felt to me like it was trying too hard to be weird.

I have enjoyed the Freedom Fighters a lot in the past, and I really like some of the characters, but so far, this arc really isn't doing much for me. If the whole team has been taken out that easily, how are we supposed to believe they are going to come back from this? I suppose they could call on reserve heavy hitters like Miss America/Cosmos and Neon II, but the writers have said in interviews they intend to keep the team smaller to start, so I'm not sure that's going to happen. Firebrand is hugely out of his depth here, and barely makes an appearance. The Ray, a personal favorite, is downed what seems to me to be a bit easily for someone of his power level. Right at the moment, I'm leaning towards finishing out this arc and then dropping the title, but we'll see. Maybe they will pull the proverbial rabbit out of the hat next issue. This team was fantastic on the first year of Power Girl, which I loved, but this seems to be written by totally different people.

I didn't like the arrival of the vastly powerful Miss America, with a never explained name and costume change, after the fight. "Now that I can't help, I came to take over." Gee, thanks. Human Bomb did a now you see me, now you don't in reverse- he was mentioned as missing then just suddenly there. And as I said last month, if your team is getting beat on that badly, why wouldn't you call out the reserves, especially powerful ones like Miss Whatever Her Name Is Now and Neon II/Ray I? And Phantom Lady seems far too powerful with these bizarre bracelets of hers. Some teamwork would have been nice, and Black Condor "won't admit he's in love" with her? When have they ever even been shown to be interested in each other?

There just doesn't seem to be a lot good going on here. The team isn't working well together, another Golden Age hero goes bad, the story is confusing, and the art is odd. They actually manage to make Phantom Lady unattractive in her first panel, and that takes some doing. I was also really thrown by the fighting bad guys we the readers can't see bit, as well as where this fight came from. I had high hopes for this series, but it's just not meeting them. I'm having trouble believing this is the same team of writers I liked so much on Power Girl's first year.

I wanted to like this book, but at this rate, when this first arc is done, so am I.

It was good to see the heroes finally give a good accounting of themselves.

Ok, back to my earlier comment/rant. The Sherman's Wrath bit I can understand, but Paul Revere's lantern? Quick history lesson- yes, Paul Revere was one of the riders who warned the Minutemen of the British coming. And yes, there was even a lantern hung in the Old North Church to give him the signal. It was needed to signal him because he was across the water to get a head start on his ride. He never handled it, just looked at it. From a great distance. So for him to have a magic lantern from that exploit smacks of someone not doing their homework.

On the other hand, as I said, they can't win for losing. They beat a non-powered villain with a few magic trinkets, who apparently staged all this to try and kill Uncle Sam and take his place, and lose Firebrand in the process. They suffer through the funeral, and then get fired. My, how uplifting. Nice to see Sam back, but his new look is a bit odd, especially the Sgt. Pepper wrist-bands on the sleeves of his jacket.

Anyway, just some of my thoughts on what could have been a great series but I found somewhat disappointing.

Overall, an ok piece, but nothing fantastic.

Catwoman should NOT be "easy to capture," as was referenced here. She is not given enough credit in this book in general, and certainly not in this story. There has been a lot of talk among Catwoman fans of late that she deserves better than what she gets in this book. Based on this arc and the one before, I agree. I also can't really get worked up about them "erasing" Bruce from Selina's mind since over in Batman Inc, Bruce is back and they are together. I find it hard to believe Shrike can be protected from Zatanna's spells, and that he managed to escape from both Ivy and Zee. I think this book is still suffering from Dini's absence, and if he doesn't come back soon, he might not have a book to come back TO.

I really think this book is suffering from Dini's absence in two ways. One, I find him to be one of the best writers at DC these days, particularly adept at writing strong females, as he does in Zatanna. Two, it's hard to have ongoing subplots when playing musical writers. What's happened to Ivy's job? Harley's Hyenas? If for some reason Dini was mistaken when he told me he was returning to the title, could we get a steady writer who knows the characters' histories and personalities? Zatanna, Harley, and even Talia to an extent seemed out of character here, and I'm really tired of Selina being the helpless victim and/or prize to be found/rescued.

I have noted in various places, especially the DC Message Boards, that many people seem to actually loathe this book, and actively wish for its demise. Most vocal are those who identify themselves as Catwoman fans. I loved the book when it started, but am really beginning to wonder about its future. They can't seem to balance the three cast members- two get screen time while one becomes background, in this issue, Ivy. We've lost a lot of the subplots that were interesting, and DC for the longest time was misleading about who was writing the book. I hope they either manage to improve it, preferably with Dini coming back, or finally admit this isn't really working anymore and cancel it.

I think this is one of the best issues we've seen of this books since Dini vanished from it. Calloway shows much better promise here than he did in the recent mess with Talia and Zatanna.

Three is a hard number to juggle, and this is apparently no exception. Harley is center stage, and the others don't really do a lot. The non-stop bickering between Ivy and Selina is getting old, and their big build up to that "good bye" feels rather meaningless. Unless they've kept the book's cancellation a secret, a near impossibility these days, we know they will reunite eventually, likely next issue to save Harley from the Joker. Again. Which brings me to my other big let down this issue. Of all the twists and turns they could have done here, it's just the same old Harley can't resist the Joker? There could have been a great story here, and I felt there was, right up to that point. Maybe they'll really surprise me next issue, but I confess to disappointment in this so far.

And did we really need another crazy Azreal? Is it part of the job description?

As I've said before, this book has been flailing around since Dini left, and I really don't see how the three are going to get back together after this go around.

One quibble here really is that I'm not sure I see the need for two more issues. This really could have been the end quite nicely. In the future, we've seen a barely dressed Harley will be on Suicide Squad, Ivy is improbably in the new Birds of Prey, and Catwoman is going back to her own title. Oh well, it was a good read. I'm a bit disappointed that Harley went back to Joker, I was hoping she'd finally wise up, but it was very in character. I do wonder how that's going to work with the Squad" not even Waller (if she's part of the new Squad) is nuts/overconfident enough to put Joker on that team.

There was nothing great here, and nothing really bad. It was a decent, if not exceptional, issue.

For fans of the characters- Catwoman is getting her own book, Harley Quinn in an incredibly ridiculous new costume will be in Suicide Squad, and Poison Ivy is very improbably on the new Birds of Prey. Goodnight, ladies. It was fun, mostly.

Overall, this was pretty good, and I look forward to seeing where it goes. I do like Huntress, I just personally wish she was back with the old Birds of Prey.

Paul Levitz has been writing comics for a long time, and he created the first version of Huntress way back when. He writes her fantastically here, and shows you can write a good story without resorting to the stunts that seem to be almost requirements for the DCNU. I wish more of the writers would follow his example.

What I liked and what I didn't:There's plenty of good heroic action here. Huntress is fighting the good fight, and, as I said about last issue, managing to not kill anyone or do massive property damage along the way. I still find it amusing that, given her history, she is now one of the more moderate characters in the DCNU. The writing is good, and she comes across believably and heroically.About the only thing I didn't like here is that the issue almost seems a bit like filler. Aside from the information about the Middle Eastern ruler involved here, almost the entire issue is one long fight. I like the action sequences, but things like this make me wonder if maybe the old approach of miniseries being four issues long, instead of six, eight, nine, or twelve, was the better way to go.

I had no real downsides to this issue. It's great stuff. I'm a little curious where she's getting her high tech toys from, like a jammer she used on the boat to take out radio, cell, and wifi, but it's not a big hole and there are several possible explanations. As I said, it's more I'm curious.

What I didn't: Ragman as a JLA-er (since when?), the random Power Girl appearance, Wondy and Kara in Bat-Lust, the lost chance to do a story that could have been great and let some of the little guys shine. This could have been great. Instead, it was more like "Who can I shoehorn in here?"

Ok now" this issue was just a bit odd to me. The writing was ok, but nothing really happened. There were several apparently pointless fights, the New New Gods (no, that doesn't work either) managed to set up their new toy (no good can come of this), and the team lost members left right and center. You know, this kind of illustrates a lot of what seems to be going on in the DCU. The JLA should be their flagship title, and yet they are flailing around, don't know what they are doing, and can't keep members.

The art was good, not great, but not bad. Far better than anything I could do, but that doesn't say much.

Robinson is improving a bit as a writer, which is nice, as I hold him to his former high standards from Starman and Golden Age, not the (IMHO) horrible Cry For Justice and his first few JLA issues.

Did anyone else see "Single White Female"? Oh well, it should be interesting to see what calamity befalls their proposed photography business- sorry, but with two JLAers working together, and being written by James "watch me break things/kill people" Robinson, you know something bad will happen.

This has the potential to be a great arc- the JLA vs the CSA, and these new Faux Gods thrown in for good (bad?) measure. This is a chance for Dick to shine. I also can't help but wonder if Robinson didn't in part do this to show "Hey, this IS the real Justice League" by having them face off against their evil counterparts.

There were several things I didn't care for here. Jade seems to be heading down the path to going dark and out of control once again, and not content with that, they do it to Supergirl as well. Two in the same issue? The Donna/Superwoman fight seems to be going nowhere, they just pound on each other. Donna, at the least, should be smarter than that, but she seems to keep being written as "Oh boy, I get to smash something/one" lately, which is really unlike her, as is the swearing. Omega Man still looks like a jazzed-up Darkseid to me. The Tangent GL is misused horribly here. Her power is to help bring back the dead to let them accomplish something. Well guess what? The whole planet is in danger, she's standing near a room full of dead heroes, and she just makes comments. And Congorilla just deciding to wander off and look for Starman seems odd. The art is overall good, but the colorist one again screwed up Wally's eyes in his few panels, and he's wearing the wrong costume.

My guess is that down the road, the different personalities inside Omega Man will somehow get called forth by the Tangent Green Lantern (remember, she lets the dead perform some unfinished task).

There's lots of little bits of things that don't work here.

This is all set up to whatever major plot Robinson has cooked up next, and it's very hard to judge from this piece. There's really not much to go on here. Robinson picks up an interesting team of darkness-powered characters to include. I do give him points for knowing who the very obscure Acrata is. I find mentioning Alex Montez, while excluding the massacre of the Shadow Fighters (another article I'm doing later if you don't know who they are) an odd choice. Nothing here is really bad, but nothing made me really look forward to what comes next either. I suppose we'll see more next month.

What I didn't goes on a while, and I touched on most of it above. The cover gives away a surprise from the issue, as well as showing characters who aren't in the book and the team beaten on the ground. Doomsday and Eclipso are one trick ponies, back doing their same old thing for the most part. To really get what's going on here, you need to have read JSA, Reign of Doomsday, and the various hues of Lanterns. Jesse's sudden power loss and need to talk to someone without ever even thinking of her husband is just weird. I'm sorry, I know Robinson's JLA is popular in some circles, and I thought it was getting better, but this one was just bad in my view.

Some predictions: Obsidian is not under Eclipso's sway, and he just saved the team. Eclipso's inevitable defeat will combine a masterful plan from Batman, Saint Walker's light power which is based on hope, and freeing Jade will likely be essential to the plot. At some point, someone will most likely exclaim once again "This IS the Justice League." Is it?

Every Eclipso story goes the same way. He shows up full of malice and evil, he possesses several heroes, seems unstoppable, and then something beats him, usually involving light, magic, or a combination. This one has a few twists, but really isn't grabbing me and seems very drawn out. Did we need a double splash page of the Spectre being bisected? I have never really liked Eclipso as a villain, and I'm unclear here whether he's going after Spectre over "Dad liked you best" or "Hey, you took my job." I know it's just a stepping stone in his plan to kill God, but it seems to be just getting silly. And while Robinson in the past has been criticized for huge property damage in his stories (he seems to like destroying cities), now he's taken out the moon. Gee, I bet that will last till… the end of this story. Which I kinda hope is soon.

There are WAY too many loose ends here. I suppose Donna's "death" was a Blue Lantern illusion, but was Spectre's as well? How did they fix the moon? There's a weak attempt to link this story and Alan Scott being back to normal with the ugly traffic light, "I am paralyzed even though I'm made of energy" costume he's had in JSA, but it really doesn't work. Even the big crowd battle scene in Eclipso's head doesn't make sense- Captain Atom gets knocked around by energy blasts from Booster Gold? I guess more for the sake of riding it out than I really am liking this, I'll see what happens next month, and why Dick is disbanding them.

This was a mediocre issue of an odd series that I won't miss. Of course, the new JLA with it's history changing and random oddities doesn't really excite me either. They've leapt to stereotypes already- the cover for Justice League 2 features a Superman/Batman fight. Gee, that's never happened before. Behold the "new" DC.

I've not liked this story line from near the beginning. We've seen heroes out of character, acting stupidly, in the wrong cities of operation, and drawn wrong. Those who were defending the series kept saying things like "Oh, it's ok, they are just building Prometheus back up to be an incredibly dangerous foe, like he was supposed to be." Well" great. Now he's dead. So no real big build up there, was there? So we end with what here? The villain won, many characters died, and Green Arrow decided to become a murderer. Interesting that Prometheus can outfight the Flashes and Kryptonians, deflect energy blasts away, but can't stop a simple incoming arrow. I've tried to stay semi-objective on these reviews, but I just can't anymore. This was badly done all the way along.

Over all, I think it was very well done. I don't like a lot of what happened in Cry For Justice, but I think Mr. Krul is doing a fine job with the pieces he's been left.

In the past, Karate Kid had a series set in the present, Timber Wolf had a mini in the present, and around the Final Night era, a whole team of Legionnaires was trapped in the present. I guess what I'm saying is, while I like many of the elements going in to this story, we've seen this before. DC annoyed me enough with their reboot that they need to impress me fast to keep me on any of the new books. This one, sadly, didn't manage that.

Now, let's review here- in the recent past, Earth-Man has: taken over Earth, imprisoned and tortured many of Shady's friends, told massive lies to further his own xenophobic hate, and been shown to be hugely anti-alien. He's even still throwing around terms like "Earthborn like you," this very issue. So he has suddenly had a total change of heart, turns on his former allies, and sleeps with a very obviously non-Terran woman? And Shady thinks sleeping with this recent major foe is a good idea? Sorry, I absolutely hate this development, and find it at best unlikely for both of the characters most directly involved.

The art was sloppy- Earth-Man has a vanishing/reappearing arm band in the same scene; Power Boy is specifically mentioned as being away from the Academy, but drawn into one of the crowd scenes. The cover was even odd- it showed Earth-Man getting out of bed, having slept with a Legionnaire whose identity was hidden by shadow- but this was revealed last issue. I still don't get the Shadow Lass/Earth-Man hook up, nor her break up with Mon-El, rapidly becoming "Sir Not Appearing in this Issue." And that Projectra scene was just… bizarre. Sleeping with your dead husband's uniform while you wait for him to be reborn? Bleh. Are there psychiatrists in the 31st century? I recognize that things need to take turns in this book, but I admit I want to know more about the 31st Century Green Lanterns as well as the strange supporting character, Professor Harmonia Li, both of whom aren't touched on this issue.

The scene with Earth-Man and Mon-El just seemed odd to me. It felt like we came in the middle of something, and it remained unclear to me. Also, why did it take so long for Earth-Man to get back after Mon-El tossed him, unless the power burned off that quickly. What was Shady telling him he won? Her? Is this the real Shady? I hope not. I'm also not sure what's up with Dream Girl and her odd hissy fit about her hair.

Wow, talk about power. Mon-El is a Kryptonian class hero, now with a Green Lantern Ring, and leader of one of the largest and most powerful teams around.

It's hard to keep all the balls in the air with a cast so huge, but it seems like so much got dropped here. Nothing about Earth-Man, Shady, Mon-Lantern, Harmonia Li, the new Karate Kid we've seen hinted at, or the powerful being that ambushed Wildfire and Dawnstar. Honestly, I find about all of those more interesting than the Durlan plot, but maybe that's just me. I'd also really like to know why B5"s anti-Durlan toy didn't work, unusual for something of his.

As I already commented, Dawnstar running around undressed with no back up seemed a bit silly and indulgent to me. As ever, with so many plots and such a huge cast, you can't do everything at once, but I really would like to see more of Harmonia Li, and whatever Dyogene is so worked up about.

There was very little I didn't like. Dawnstar's costume glitch was annoying, but it happens when it's multiple artists in different books, I suppose. Maybe we're going to learn at some point that the Legion Flight Rings now all store costumes like Barry Allen's does. There were plenty of hints dropped about what was going on with the LSV, but no real progress on that plot- they actually didn't even show up. But, as I said, it's a huge cast, so I can understand that. Also not wild about the harder Vi, but a lot like that, so maybe it's just me.

I'm hoping we see more about what's going on here soon, and learn which world the Blue Flame has targeted before Saturn Queen and her followers launch their attack on Oa. For that matter, more info on what the Blue Flame is would be nice. I really can't think of a blue fiery creature/entity/being that's been featured in DC before.

The pace seems to be a bit slow, but it's being managed well. I'm honestly not sure if it's too slow, or if it's just that I really want to see what happens next. This is a major story with a lot of possibilities, and Levitz is handling it well.

About my only complaint here is that the all action issue didn't do a great deal to further the plot. I do wonder a bit about the coming reboot and the effect it has on various titles. This almost seemed like it was just extended action to make sure the story lasted to next month, but I may well be wrong, and allowing my admitted bias about the reboot to sway me.

On the down side, this was kind of predictable. The outsider who no one liked (save Shady) gave his life for the team, showing he was really a hero. The build up of this story made it seem like something truly cataclysmic was coming, and it didn't happen. Earth-Man's death was predicted by most fans, and every time the Legion fights the LSV, a Legionnaire dies. It's almost as bad as Flashes during Crisis events.

It would have been nice to see more of some of the other underused characters here- a Black Witch vs Emerald Empress would have been interesting. I know, you can only do so much with a huge team. My only other gripe here are the nude scenes. Personally, I'm a great admirer of the female form. But, you keep hearing the comic industry complain they have fewer and fewer young readers. Well, this may be part of why. I'm not sure I'd want to explain to my friends' kids why the women (almost always women) in comics keep ending up naked. I don't feel the nudity added to the story in any way at all. If you want to make it an adult comic, do so, and show everything. If you're still trying for the all ages range, keep their clothes on. Or am I the only one who feels that way?

Colossal Boy quitting seems rather sudden. There's also a comment about "not having a telepath handy," which makes me wonder what's become of Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl. I'd also like some clarification on where Harmonia Li's powers suddenly came from, and for that matter, anything on her background. Shadow Lass is also MIA, possibly grieving after Earth-Man's death.

I don't have any real negatives here, aside from the prior story being dropped so quickly. This was a decent issue. It wasn't great, and I can't put my finger on why not, but it was good.

They seem to be making Shady not only less likable but less useful as time passes. In the last run of the book, pre-reboot, she had the inexplicable off-screen break up with Mon-El, then affair with Earth Man. Now, she passes out after keeping her darkness field up for a few minutes? What, it's harder to keep more powerful people in the dark? That makes no sense.

About all I didn't like here was the odd Shady/Mon-El scene. Yes, I was among those who really disliked the breakup, but this seemed to just come out of nowhere. I wouldn't mind if they end up back together again, but I hope it's handled better than this somewhat jarring bit.

About the only thing I didn't like here was the art really. Special guest artist Walter Simonson is a fan favorite, and I think he worked great on Thor, several years ago. Somehow, to me at least, it just looks odd here, almost cheesy here a few times, especially when characters smile. It's always featureless white, no details of the teeth. Ultra Boy's training was a bit odd, too; instead of using his powers, he seemed to be just hurling balls at targets. When has he been worried about being a pitcher?

I actually don't have any negatives here. We'll see what happens as the story develops, but it looks like a good start at expanding the beginnings of the largest super hero team in the DCU (or Nu).

About the only thing I don't like is the slow build. They need to do it, and I get it, but I keep waiting for more Legionnaires to show up, even ones that I know came later, like Ultra Boy, Wildfire, Timber Wolf.

I'm still enjoying this series, looking forward to more of the team actually linking up, and seeing how they resolve the threat of these extra-dimensional invaders.

I wanted to love this, and I was ok with it, even with the continuity glitch, right up to that last page. I don't want Marc Spector: madman. I want Moon Knight, the hero. At this point, it's really open to interpretation whether the first meeting with the Avengers, where he actually got some respect from both Cap and Spidey, even happened. I don't need another story where you're always going to be wondering "Ok, is this happening, or is he in the Land of Make Believe?" I really hope they get this insanity issue squared away, or I, for one, will drop this book at the end of the first arc. It's ok, though, it's Moon Knight. With Marvel lately, it will probably be cancelled and yet another new series announced within a year.

Part of the appeal for Moon Knight, to me at least, was his established supporting cast, his base of operations, the touch of mysticism from the god Khonshu. None of that is here, and he's apparently crazier than ever, which perceptive people like Steve Rogers, Sharon Carter, and the Black Widow don't notice. Ok. Whatever. Two issues is, I think, the shortest run I've ever given a book about a character I like, but I'm just not interested in this take on things. Not wild about the art, either- the strippers are plotting their evil in front of a background of random green and white swirly something or others, what they are? Dunno. Don't care. I'm done.

There actually wasn't really anything I didn't like here. It was a nice, tight issue with a good story, great characterizations, and some good art. I don't recall Calculator ever using robot doubles before, but I don't know of anything that says he couldn't.

I very much enjoy Gail Simone's writing, and she depicts these twisted souls quite well

I still am not wholly clear on the need for this Spysmasher vs Waller sub plot. It appears that the attack in Skartaris is either part of it or just a distraction, I'm still not wholly clear which. I had also thought that Black Alice just couldn't bridge the divide back to Earth to steal powers, but she apparently can't dupe either Giganta or Jeanette, who are both here and she's done before. Overall it was a very good issue, as I've come to expect from Gail.

Over all, enjoyable as usual, and some nice plot threads left open for later, as well as possible future story hooks.

Oh, and fans of the Secret Six's resident knife-using tracker should check out next month's Red Robin, when Cat-Man shows up.

I thought Alice had left last issue, so I was clearly mistaken about that. I don't mind the team being called Secret Six and having seven members, but I wouldn't mind losing Shark. Even Gail can' t make me like that one, at least not so far. I'm not wholly sure about this Eric kid becoming a tuxedoed villain so easily, but I'll certainly give Gail the benefit of the doubt.

Personally, I think the Six, or maybe just Scandal, were lured to Hell to further someone else's scheme of some kind. My two main suspects are Blaze or Neron, but I may well be wrong. Gail is skilled writer, great with twists, and I usually am wrong when I think have her plots figured out in advance.

There's not much I didn't like here. Catman running off seems a bit odd, and going to see his father odder still, but I will hold judgment until we find out why he did this. For all I know he's going to beat on the man some, and Mr. Blake Sr certainly has it coming. When Catman is confronted by a demon along the way, he bests it very easily, which seems a bit odd to me, but maybe the rules are different down in Hell. I'd also like an explanation as to how one of the New Gods ends up in the "regular" Hell.

My one picky bit here, that's never explained: how does a New God, born on Apocalypse and eventually fleeing to Earth, end up in Hell? Are all the other New Gods down here somewhere? It's not a big deal, but it bothers me enough to wonder about, and be mildly disappointed that Gail never addressed it.

I truly hope DC doesn't get rid of this book in the midst of what seems, to this long time reader and fan, to be a fit of collective insanity, but I worry that's just what they are going to do.

About the only thing I didn't like was the glaring omission mentioned above, of Alfred and Leslie on the hit list. Taking Huntress off made perfect sense to me, and Oracle not being there fits with her faking her death recently. I also sort of wonder what happened to Liana, maybe she's still in the hospital.

Goodbye, Secret Six. I'll miss you.

There was little I didn't like. The new costume was a bit jarring, but I'll see how it rides and what Hardware did to it. My only real gripe here is an omission about one of the things I loved about Virgil. He was a wisecracker on par with Spider-Man, and usually throwing out sci-fi references every other word balloon. That one aspect seems to be gone, and I miss it, it made him more accessible to geeks like me. I also have a pet peeve with changing the comic to reflect the cartoon, which they did with the title, but I understand it. And I really hope they haven't maimed him this early. Static was always about fun, not "OH MY GOD DRAMA," not to mention it would make the secret ID thing harder.

There were a few things I didn't like, but not many. Static seems to have gotten a bit more teen-angsty, moping about not being able to talk over his problems with anyone. He misses his best friend Frieda, but doesn't call her, and feels he's asked Hardware for too much, so he's on his own. He still isn't doing the sci fi/general geek quips he used to be so well known for, but at least he gets off a movie quote in this one. And I have no idea what's going on with Sharon and her clone or whatever that is, some explanation/recap would have been nice. As a very minor quibble, I can't believe that Static hasn't come up with some cool name for his base yet.

A few minuses amid the great stuff: As I commented above, I really miss Virgil's gamer/geek/sci-fi cracks. He makes a few jokes here, but that particular focus on the comments before made him actually seem like several of my friends, and I doubt I'm the only comic fan who thought so. I'm not sure what goes on with this weird Sharon A and B plot, but it's come from nowhere, we have no explanation of it, and thus far it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. We have no idea if anyone's even looking into it.

I'm enjoying the book overall. It's good heroic action without a lot of the problems I have with much of the DCNU. Of course, it also didn't need the reboot to make it happen, so maybe those two things are related.

I am really looking forward to seeing who Hardware's "cavalry" ends up being especially with so much of Milestone missing from the DCNU.

I had high hopes, but low expectations, for this. The expectations were right.

I didn't like a few things in here. Raven retreating into being scared to love anyone has been done before, and I personally would still kinda like to see them let her and Gar actually have a decent relationship. Cassie seems like she's about to break up with Conner for the good of the team, which I also don't want to see. While the art is great, Beast Boy now more than ever resembles his Teen Titans cartoon self, with the pointed ears and one fang on his lower jaw, a bit of "media creep" I wish would go away. And while I admit to personal bias here, I really can't stand Damian, and am sorry to see him joining the team.

What I didn't can really be summed up in one word: Damian. I don't like him, haven't any time I've seen him, and this does nothing to help. He's arrogant, hot headed, and IMHO has no business wearing the Robin costume. I am debating continuing to collect this title while he's a member. The only other thing I didn't really care for was Cass seeming very dictatorial, but it's a nice change at least from ineffectual.

My dislikes in this issue are few. I don't like, and never have, Damian. He's an anti-social hot head who I question as hero in general, and Robin and a Titan in particular. But Krul's writing him well, I'll give him that. I'm also not sure about Kid Flash's line about needing to wait for the library to open to get that yearbook. I recall him having the Flash family ability to vibrate through matter, and both Wiki (which I don't trust) and Titanstower.com (which I do) say he still can, so not sure what's up there.

I have heard rumors that the Cassie/Connor break up was editorially mandated, but I don't like it whatever the reason. They made a great couple, and DC seems to be against that more or less these days. The names on Jock and Doll Face are just bad. The odd Nun-Man at the beginning just seemed a badly explained non-sequitur. How we're supposed to believe Cassie was having trouble holding on to Conner, but Gar could hold both the villains I'm not sure. And while I've never doubted Raven was powerful, this seemed to be another example of soul self as deus ex machina. What does it do? Whatever the writer wants.

Next issue we are finally promised more on Solstice, who we've been teased with glimpses of here and in the Wonder Girl one shot recently. I suspect she and the team end up dealing with whatever seems to have grabbed her parents, but we will find out next month.

Like I touched on up above, I don't like the team of skilled and competent heroes suddenly being utterly useless until the new character shows their tricks/skills/powers. It also seems that Cassie gets slapped around far too easily a good bit here. Remember Cassie, daughter of ZEUS? Some time ago, she was allegedly given a major power upgrade, and nothing seems to have come of it since then. Our opposite numbers in this seem a bit too sharply and obviously set up here, too: Solstice has glowing, light based power, and the demon is described several times as so intensely dark. I confess, I'm also a bit tired of Raven having to break contact with someone because "Their evil is too intense/powerful/strong for me to resist."

All in all, this wasn't a bad issue, but I think Krul is slipping a bit. Between Tim questioning his leadership (is this an epidemic? Dick's doing the same in JLA), Raven's snapping, and the Raven/Solstice imbalance, there are just too many odd little soap operatic developments. I'm hoping this one wraps up soon.

I am finding the "Oh, my powers are based on darkness, and this new girl Solstice is powered by light, so I don't like her" bit from Raven to be trite and irksome. Starfire's arguably light powered, and Raven never acted like this around her. The "ten little Indians" game as the team gets picked off one by one is a bit odd as well, they should be better than this.

As I said above, this just seemed to be the confluence of the cliches, and I expect better from Krul. Changeling could have been the hero, we don't need the Ravager/Superboy/Wonder Girl mess that seems to be lurking, and the Raven/Solstice oddness just seemed to come out of nowhere. Maybe that could be explored well, and some of these other things ironed out, but there are only three issues left, and even that only because they decided to bring out two Teen Titans issues in August so it can get up to 100 before they toss the numbers and history in the scrap heap.

With so much that could have been done, I'm not sure why we end up with Prime Putz again, instead of wrapping up some loose ends. Krul seems to be slipping, or he's been editorially futzed with again.

I am troubled by the absence of the originals from the group at the end. I'm also not sure where Superboy-Prime and his scientist lackey got Match's body from, last I knew that was in custody somewhere, likely STAR Labs (where nothing ever goes right). Hmm" there's a thought- is STAR in the DC-nU? Anyway, Raven's ongoing moaning is getting old, and the big mid-story leap from fight to assault on the tower was really jarring. I really think this issue could have been skipped entirely, as it was mostly just fight, and it feels like it was tacked on to pad the story to get to 100.

Anyone else find it ironic that as the DCU ends, and the powers that be have stated that most of the classic Wolfman-Perez New Teen Titans will be out of continuity, that the long awaited New Teen Titans Games is finally going to be released, and is previewed at the back of all these final issues?

I'm curious enough to read more, and unlike much of the "DC-nU," this issue doesn't seem to fall back on graphic violence, death, or sex to sell it.

I don't like a lot of things here. Aside from the conflicting bits about did the Teen Titans ever exist before, we have Cassie now as super-Lara Croft, artefact thief (I guess because they gave her former origin to Diana, now a daughter of Zeus?). There are hints about her past, in that her collection that Tim sees is too big for her to have it all as young as she is, which she sort of sidesteps. Kid Flash as Bart Allen seems to connect him more directly to Barry Allen, but that connection is still undefined. Additionally, if Flash has been around about five years, and Bart is running around as Kid Flash, this makes things look worse for poor MIA Wally West. We see Nu Solstice, but Wally and Donna Troy are still utterly missing, and Raven and Changeling/Beast Boy are just figures on a screen? And, as mentioned above, Tim's wall walking is just odd.

On the downside, the Kid Flash wipe out just seemed like a bad joke. Detritus' origin may be the worst I've heard in years. Glider wings don't CLIMB like that. I don't like "dark Solstice" but then, the DCNU seems to be a dark place. And I'm hoping the team hasn't met but is scattered all over bit comes to an end soon.

All in all, this is a decent, but not great, issue. Some nice moments and ideas are counter-balanced by a prevalence of clichs.

It wasn't a bad issue, but was far from great.

As for the rest… the new look is ugly in my personal opinion. I feel so bad for Ronnie Raymond, now having to live through high school AGAIN. Ugh. Martin Stein's apparent death I also don't like, although I anticipate that eventually being revealed as a fake. The leader of the hit squad seems to be a reboot of Ronnie's old nemesis Cliff Carmichael, formerly a high school rival, now a macho mercenary of some sort. Throw in the DC-nU near-requirement of high body count and I'm just not interested.

It seems like they are dumping a lot on Kevin at once, especially for what I told is a limited series. He suddenly has his father's heroic legacy to handle, as well as whatever the Valkyrie is coming to warn him of, the Rhino, and this mysterious collector in New Jersey. Give the poor kid a break. Hopefully, this will all be sorted out in short order, and Kevin will grow into the inheritance he has received. Personally, I'm betting on some kind of reunion with his father, however temporary, a ghost or a dream or something, in the near future.

This is a fun story, and I'm looking forward to the next issue.

The only thing I don't like is this seems a bit padded at times. Back when limited series first started, they were always four issues long. This one is billed at five, but I think it could have been four based on the pace so far.

About the only thing I didn't like was his costume, but it's better than the hideousness of the one he had last issue. Well, that and the supporting cast not being here, but then, they don't really have any place in a major battle.

I really liked this mini, it was a nicely done tale of heroes, heroism, and its cost. Hey, comic writers? This is a pretty good blueprint of how it's done.

What I didn't like includes several things: as I said, why does anyone doubt something bad happened to Ryan if he's disappeared and his house is trashed? Also, how does this Paula girlfriend square with Giganta stating she and Choi are dating in the current Secret Six storyline? Why does the team fight the inmates instead of letting them go? How are low to no power crazies a challenge for a fairly powerful and skilled team like this one? And of course, Roy Harper continues to slide deeper into drugs and uselessness, further trashing a character I really like.

Osiris is supposed to be a Marvel, on par with Captain Marvel, Black Adam, and company. How in the world is Killer Croc, who supposedly has human level strength, knocking him around? Roy and Cheshire are shown as wholly ineffective, and Ink apparently lacks the mental discipline to get past the fear gas. This story seems to be dragging out, and I'm really starting to wonder how long it will go on for.

There's less and less I like here.

As I've said before, this book has many of my personal favorite characters, and is falling further and further in my estimation. This was just a gore fest of messy murders. I was half hoping Richards wouldn't kill Slipknot, but he did so, violently. I wonder what vengeance Cheshire would possibly have in the future- Prometheus, behind the plan that killed her daughter, is dead; Electrocutioner, who threw the switch, as it were, is dead; and the man she thinks responsible for her son's death is also dead. I also note that the last page has the caption of "Why is Captain Marvel in Philadelphia? Find out in Shazam #1." The answer, of course, is that he isn't- Freddie has been called Shazam for a while now, and never just Captain Marvel. Nice job, guys.

If they don't pull off a minor miracle by the end of this story, I'm dropping this title when it finally ends.

This seems to me like it should be the beginning of the end of both the team and the title, as I don't see them coming back from this… but we'll have to wait and see.

I'm guessing what's going to happen here is that the fragments of the team are going to be forced to work together to beat Drago, at least the Slade/Roy/Jade bit. I also rather wonder if the "darkness" Isis is talking about is the evil opposite number of Shazam from the JSA arc a while back. In that story, we saw the Rock of Finality (mirroring Shazam's Rock of Eternity), and a powerful figure behind the scenes who really seemed like a bad guy. She's purged of it now, but it seems to be in Amon/Osiris, and I bet we'll see it in Black Adam if he's ever de-petrified or whatever the word is.

I keep getting this book because it has several characters I've really liked in the past. But really, Deathstroke seems almost boring (that's a feat), Roy is pathetic in his current incarnation, and Osiris has gone to the dark side. Cheshire was a good villain, but now even she seems to have lost her edge. I think, come the end of this arc, unless they really impress me, I may be dropping this one.

To the bad… ok, I don't know what happened with the art this issue. I haven't liked it much in this run, it usually looks muddy and unclear. Now, they've changed it, and throughout the issue, Roy looks like he's about 12. I know DC is de-aging people after the reboot, did they start early? Why we are supposed to care that Isis is being queen in another country I'm not sure. And Roy's sudden acceptance of Lian's death seems really forced and out of the blue to me. As another thought- if Sivana managed to make a machine that might well make people immortal, as this one is theorized to, wouldn't he use it on himself? And for that matter, how is that Cheshire, one of the world's foremost poisoners, who uses toxins as a matter of course, keeps scratching Roy left, right, and center, but has no effect?

This is not the worst ever run I've ever read (so far, Henderson's Teen Titans run still has that distinction in my book) but this was really bad. I can't fathom giving this man a new book after this debacle.

This one was just odd. Eric's pride would certainly make his story painful for him to reveal to an extent. Everyone there, I think, knows about Tara's mom. Maybe Tara revealing she cared at that point was her big dark secret. And Sam thinking Ted might be vulnerable to wood but attacking as a dog with a bottle is just… odd.

The story is seeming to drag on a bit- I'm not sure this needed to be the planned six issues. I'm also not wild about the art, which seems to leave something to be desired in terms of clarity or sharpness. As I said earlier in the series, it's odd they base this on a VERY adult show, include profanity, but shy away from nudity, in this case the teacher seducing Jason keeping her bra on during their big sex scene. I'm also not sure where the "Hey, it's my turn to die now" rednecks keep coming from, or why they don't learn to not attack and/or antagonize this creature.

Ted seems too unbeatable thus far, I'm really not sure how our notional heroes (let's face it, a lot of the folk of Bon Temps are far from heroic) are going to prevail here. So far, Sookie can't read his mind, and vampiric strength and speed are of no avail, nor is Sam's shifting thus far. Unless Sookie plays her light power trick again, I'm not sure what they have left, or what Bill could be planning. And while I know you can't get everyone in a six issue series, I'm still hoping to see Pam or Jessica, preferably in that order, pop up.

On the minus side, I'm still not really sure what an "Imp shaloob" is, nor why Larry is after Ted, or why Larry suddenly left. It feels like we missed some of the story here. I suppose I can understand Ted wanting to smack Eric around (Lord knows I've wanted to from both the show and the books), but it seems kind of an odd thing to carry a grudge about for centuries. We are also left a bit unclear about exactly what, if any, long term effect this will have on Eric. I guess we need to wait and see.

The subplot of Zee disappointing Zach is a bit cliched, down to the look on his face as he sees her empty seat at his show. While the art is over all great, Chad Harrison keeps drawing these odd lines in Zee's fishnets. They almost look like garters, but they'd be in the wrong place. Once would be just one of those odd mistakes, but it happens a few times.

I'm supposed to point out the flaws here, but I didn't really see any. Zee couldn't take a powerful demon like Mammon toe-to-toe, and she doesn't- she outsmarts him and appeals to his ego and greed. Zach was believable, her finally seeing him perform was nice without being sappy. No complaints.

For the rest, well… I continue to be unimpressed with Mr. Beechen. In the Batman Beyond mini, the bad guy is a hero's evil twin, and now it's a suit of clothes? The Zatara shades were a stretch, I've certainly never seen him wear them or speak of them. I'm also curious how a cloak belonging to Baron Winters made it into this collection, as part of his curse is he can not leave his mansion in the modern era, and it looks mighty well preserved to be from the past. I also tend to doubt Dr. Fate's boots were just left lying around somewhere. Zee complains about the attention in LA, but walks around in costume? Everything that I like about the ongoing is pretty much missing from this issue. Yes, I know, it's a fill-in issue, but still, this is just not good.

The artist has changed, once again. Cliff Chiang is good, but something doesn't quite match the skill of the previous artists. Zee doesn't look quite as good in her civillian clothes, for example. Once again, Zatara is a major part of the story- does the girl not have a life outside her father? I also don't buy that the only place Zee could go for help was the dream demon. All the other magic users, and even other types of supers (J'Onn leaps to mind) she knows, and that's the choice?

Mr. Dini has been giving up a lot of his books lately, apparently to work on his tv show Tower Prep. I wonder if that's what caused this odd back up to be in this one. Having both read his work and watched the show, I will say I find him a fantastic comic book writer, but the show leaves a bit to be desired.

I don't, however, like how this spun out. Zee loses control of powerful magical artefacts to a wholly untrained criminal scum? She gets caught in a backlash that changes her, as well? And all this happens in her family home, where a magician should be at their most powerful in most traditions? This was all a bit odd to me. Further, Hemple is doing appearances on late night tv talk shows, and using a puppet in fish nets and a top hat, called Miss Zee Zee, while at the same time Zatanna has, presumably, been missing for the weeks they are talking about on the show. No one puts this together, like oh say… the world's greatest detective who happens to be a close friend and frequent teammate of hers? Dini has been great, but I think he lost a step on this one.

My only real gripe here is something I commented on last issue. Zee is missing for months, and Mikey is the only one to put it together? Zatanna is part of the super human community, and has been shown to be particularly close with Batman. You know, the World's Greatest Detective? I find it unlikely at best that Mikey worked this out, but Bats, and even Nightwing/Batman didn't. It's one of the problems with being in a "shared universe," if you want to handle things in house, sometimes you have to do things that don't quite make sense like this. But, it's a small complaint in a well executed story.

There were few things I didn't like, really. I don't like the trend of the Disappearing Dini, but as I said, Sturges more than made up for it. We get no back story on Backslash, where he got the sword, how it works, why he has Hannah the fairy. And the costume/street clothes thing really didn't make sense. But it was a really well done issue, especially for a fill in.

Night seems to have gained a lot of power since his last defeat, and I'm not sure where it came from. I'm hoping when Zee beats him again, he stays defeated for longer this time.

Aside from DC lying, which isn't the story's fault, I think about all I would have changed is it would have been nice to see another flashback of Zee training with some of the League for her fighting skills. But that's a really small quibble overall.

It wasn't a bad issue, but it wasn't as good as it could have been, and she deserved a better send off. Eybdoog, Annataz.