I can't say I really liked any of this, except the art which wasnt even CAFU but, a pretty good stand in. I always try to be positive with my reviews and I honestly dont give low scores too often but this was a dud. If this arc doesnt have a decent ending I'm off this series.

Bendis' dialogue in this issue is some of the worst I've seen from him since he's come to DC. We get a whole issue of exposition telling us what we already know from the Naomi series, as well as several pages of Superman telling his teammates that Black Adam is a hero now and they should trust him even though they have no reason to. The art is great though!

The Justice League Dark backup by Ram V is very good and is the only reason to pick up this book more

Justice League (Bendis): The art is great, but Bendis' scripts are rough, such a forced and week story (1/10)

JL Dark (Ram V): Great and interesting plot, good dialogues and the art is also amazing (8/10)

Cringe, or in other words, classic Bendis by now.

So... the new direction for Wonder Woman is to make her a Sif expy?

Huge breath of fresh air. This issue felt a lot more like the action and events took the story forward rather than just the classic Bendis decompression. It feels like big events are happening. The premise is not unique, but I like the twist that Jon seems like the focal emotional point here. As others have stated, even if it does go through with its premise, it is very likely to be temporary or a fake out. Still excited to keep reading a new voice for Superman. more

Not very fond of the art, but PKJ really writes a touching story, which makes me heartbroken.

Nowhere near as good as DC Rebirth. Also, as someone else said, with Future State being so goddamn bleak, you can't help but to see this and think "whelp, we're gonna go downhill from here"

I vomited after seeing the last page.

I'm excited for John's Stargirl, Ram V Swamp Thing, Suicide Squad, and Williamson Robin. I might check out PKJ Superman and the new Wally Flash series (but Brandon Petersen's art is absolutely horrendous).

Regardless, I new the Quintessence was going to get offed because of the leaks that came out a while ago and it really blows that high level cosmic deities are taken out with no build up. I'm assuming that they are ramping up for an Earth Omega Darkseid event at the end of the Infinite Frontier storyline/publishing initiative/Rebirth 2.0, but I can only hope that they don't get Romita on art because he's lost it hard.

And by the way, literally no one in Brasil says fucking "Queijo" when taking a picture. Stop using Google Translate Joelle Jones. more

There are good and bad glimpses of stories here. I'm not looking forward to Bendis' JL, Becky Cloonan's Wonder Woman, Tim Sheridan's Teen Titans, Geoffrey Thorne's Green Lantern or Geoff Johns' Stargirl. The rest though, I'm optimistic about for now. This read much more like a previews magazine than like another DC Universe: Rebirth. But it wasn't too bad.

With this Future State -nonsense DC has been releasing these past months, this book is currently the only one I'm really invested in. While I really liked this one, I'm a bit annoyed hopw miss-leading the cover is. As a huge Red Hood fan, it's a bit disappointing to see Jason here when they aren't really doing anything with him. That seems to change in the next issue.

And the biggest annoyance is that due to Murphyverse being so different, I'm really interested to see Jason's backstory.

But that problem aside, it's still a really strong series. Collins writes Harley so well and this version is so much better than the one we have in the main universe. more

Dark Detective "Finale" (eye roll) Issue #2 (I mean #4) ends with a bang, but no real conclusion (of course), after stretching out 2 issues worth of story into 4 issues at $6 each. Was it worth $24? DC and writer Mariko Tamaki thinks so. And we have gotten interesting art from Dan Mora and great coloring from Jordie Bellaire. The lettering is intended to be "futuristic," and Aditya Bidikar continues the same annoying lettering from previous issues.

It wasn't as bad or as expensive as "The New Batman." So there is that. But of course, there was never any intent to have a "story" with any real conclusion.

We have a Bruce Wayne who is struggling with uncertainty, guilt, self-blame, doubt. The same Batman who defeated countless world threats, organized teams to defeat threats to entire Earth, struggles to find the resolve to defeat the punk of The Magistrate regime.

Bruce Wayne continues his efforts to undermine The Magistrate and stop its surveillance system of nanobot drones everywhere. Supporting character Hannah ends up aiding Bruce and has been secretly recording The Magistrate's own work. She believes she has information about The Magistrate that will help to prevent "the end of all democracy in Gotham." Peacekeeper-01 wants to fight "scum" like Bruce Wayne to the end.

And the carnival barkers tell us "Bruce Wayne's adventues continue anew next month in Detective Comics #1034."

When the key is the art and coloring, you are losing your reader, but we need to be honest, there really is no serious intent to engage the reader. Just push them forward, get along little doggie, towards buying the next issue in the latest "event."

Part of the broad story line (beyond just Future State DD) is that the struggle is much of the people WANT The Magistrate, they want security at whatever cost that regime will bring. DC describes the Magistrate regime as being all-knowing and powerful, being able to clone (Batman/Superman 2) parts and versions of Superman, as a rationale to keep Superman or any other powers to stop "The Magistrate." The sci-fi storyline is intended to suspend disbelief, because the only real goal is to drive stories to the next "event."

We have writers with lean plots to serve as carnival barkers to gin up suspense and enthusiasm for the next "event." Because that is really all that DC wants to sell, "events."

In the 20th century, the events were in between periods of storylines. Now the events are really everything, and storylines are just placeholders or road signs to events. This allows DC to hire inexperienced writers to learn on the job writing major comics, because they will keep fanboys coming back with a hint that another "clue" in the next "big event" will be there. This is especially valuable for AT&T to keep internal costs down of knowledgable DC Comics talent.

This is a trick television has been doing for years. So you end up going from mysteries like Columbo (with beginning/middle/end) to semi-soap opera, constant cliff-hangers like The Blacklist. Exchange interest with plot and mystery, and replace with brutality, value abandonment, and constant "shock" value. So those of us really expecting stories will be constantly disappointed.
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You know what annoys me? The fact that Tamaki wasted the entirety of issue #1 of this series, leaving us with only 3 to tell a story that clearly needed more time to unravel and offer us a satisfying conclusion. Funnily enough every Dark Detective comic dragged at times and featured overwhelming amount of stagnant filler. Even this one, which makes its ending even worse than it actually is, because if it wasn't for the nauseating amount of exposition and filler, maybe it could have dealt with actual consequences of Bruce's actions throughout the series. Where did it all lead? To one big bang, and that's it?
Imagine A New Hope ending with Death Star blowing up. That's it. One gigantic explosion and nothing more. No conclusions to main character arcs, no (temporary) happy end, no feeling of relief, because the galaxy is (temporarily) safe once more.
That's how I feel about this short run. Complete and utter waste of time which had potential, but ultimately was wasted due to writer choosing exposition over much needed content.

As for Red Hood's additional story, I can't say I cared about its first half, and I certainly couldn't care less about this half either. While it's not the worst comic I've ever read, it just feels... cheap, like w low budget indie title made to promote a TV sitcom or something. Both art and script wise. more

This whole event starts without a solid story, with a chronological disorder, a lot of bad new characters with the exception of Yara and terrible unfinished endings. Which brings us to the story of Bruce THE REAL BATMAN.
The idea was really good, a Bruce without fortune, struggling to survive, a Batman in the dark doing the impossible to end a fascist government and Dark Detective started very well, it even looked much more interesting than what it had been doing in its usual series. But then the writing becomes sluggish and like the other books it doesn't get anywhere "Much ado about nothing."
In return we have the counterpart, the backup story despite a lousy art the twist was not bad, Red Hood is playing a dangerous game with a mysterious character are trying to unravel what is behind the magistrate, obviously they had to give him impetus to the FS Gotham. Still it has been a story devoid of emotion and the pretty bad art doesn't help.
FS was a complete disappointment for me. more

I've had a issue with Tony's characterisation this run and this issue highlighted it.

Hellcat's well written which is to be expected since she's Cantwell's fav, but I don't know why Tony comes out looking the worst in his own title.

Honestly this fell like a block of concrete from a tenth floor. The encounter between the Batmen was completely bland, with a Covid pandemic-like stay-at-home tip that made me laugh at the ridiculous comment between the two. It all felt so stagnant and a Bruce not being Bruce.
Then we have Lucius' situation where he decides in a very macabre game to betray Grifter and Huntress is the only thing that raises this number even though it is leaving the Fox family very badly off, possible breach of trust, perhaps theft (resources, technology together with a cloak that has not shown to have actually earned it, the only thing that leaves good is that he is trying to help people but putting aside the Batclan does not look good or maybe they will fix it in Nightwing in some way) and now justified betrayal or no.
The gaps in the story are not good because they allow us to say a lot about the true reasons. more

Can't wait to read what's next for Superman, Mister Miracle and Midnighter!

I don't like the substitution of the batfamily for this batman, a completely corrupt Lucios and they insist on this man. In the end the sales will speak.
The backup story was the only thing I liked to read.

It's really hard to enjoy this. I usually enjoy Mann's art very much but I see he was once again horny when making this art. Happens to the best of us and I would let it slide if that was my only problem with this issue.

But it's hard to say anything good about this. I really don't get what the narrative is that King is trying to write. We have, what, 3 stories going on and I honestly can't remember anything else except the future parts. Nor do I get what is going on in them.

And I don't get what is the hook King should throw at us to keep coming back. I mean, nothing really happens here. Why should I be interested in the 4th issue now? more