"Blowback" by Tomasi and Walker = 6/10
-Rogues gallery clip show. Walker's art is great though.

"The Master Class" by Bendis and Marquez = 8/10
-Nothing better than the family in action. Bendis juggles the cast really well and Marquez fits the script extremely well.

"Many Happy Returns" by Fraction and Zdarsky = 9/10
-The fact that "Where's my birthday present!" is already a meme is hilarious.

"Rookie" by Rucka and Risso = 10/10
-Bring back Gotham Central please!

"Ghost Story" by Tynion and Rossmo = 8/10
-Say what you will about Tynion, man can write the hell out of Robin.

"Fore" by DeConnick and Romita Jr = 6/10
-"Holy Birdie Batman!"

"Odyssey" by Wolfman and Luppachino = 7/10
-Compressed as fuck but great homage to the golden age pulp detectives.

"Detective #26" by Morrison and Burnham = 10/10
-King Moz hits it out of the park with a great commentary on superheroes killing the pulp genre of comics. The last page can be seen as a curtain call for Morrison, as the end of an era for the final bastion of veteran writers of this generation.

"Legacy" by King and Simonson = 7/10
-Very meh but Simonson art is good to see again.

"As Always" by Snyder and Reis = 8/10
-Gordon x Batman <3; Endless Winter hinting + Batman always wins = Basic Snyder story.

"Generations Fractured" by Jurgens and Nowlan = 7/10
-Just another prelude, but excited to see what happens with the repurposed Generations.

"The Gift" by Tamaki and Mora = 6/10
-Joker War tie-in (yawn). Mora on Batman is perfection. more

This book is a lie.

I was expecting to read about the trinity vs the three crisis baddies, but they only show up in the last half of the book as the ending tease for the next issue of the main series. Should have skipped this expo dump filler and just bought Death Metal #4 by itself.

What a waste of my money.

Wow.

Morrison's departure following the conclusion of this series will leave an immense void, a hole in things if you will, that will never be repleted in this generation.

"You swore and oath to your father. Now swear one to me."

This is a true hidden gem, and one that I am very happy to have picked up today. Loveness really gets the characters in a fantastic and beautiful way. Both the Bruce/Martha and Bruce/Clark scenes were fucking gold. Hope Loveness gets more work soon.

Overhyped as hell, but its only the first issue so that complaint isn't really valid.

This book is great overall but I have to nitpick:

1. Nonexistent panel economy

Johns seems to be using a cinematic style of page by panel storytelling with the 9 panel grid and don't get me wrong, it looks great, but for a book this long awaited it seems like its just burning money.

2. ALIAS the Clown

Comedian and Criminal are all pretty good, but Clown? I think Killer or Cut-Throat would have been better than mere clown (pretty synonymous with comedian anyways). Regardless of that, Jason turning his brains into chef boyardee makes the name irrelevant anyways.

3. "I'm an IDEA..."

The concept of Three Jokers originated form Batman asking the Mobius Chair for the Joker's true identity for which it responded with "There are Three". This concept was highly fascinating due to the ramifications to Batman's mythos and the possible multiversal factors (a deck of "52" cards has "3 Jokers"). However, Johns and Fabok (after 4 damn years of teasing) did eventually reveal that their story would not include any multiversal aspects. I was disappointed, but am looking forward to seeing the rest of the story.

For there to have been three jokers in the DCU this entire time (and another on the way), means that they have to have met/worked together at some point with the implied creation sequence (first joker created the second created the third). At this point it seems like Johns is just rehashing Grant Morrison's wonderful "Clown At Midnight" interpretation where every so often Joker reinvents himself to cause chaos (like the three jokers now).

Big themes seem to be birth, death, scars/wounds, trauma. But that comes with the territory of groundbreaking Batman/Joker events.

As as for the panel with the "what do we do next" from an unidentified speaker behind the three jokers, I'm almost certain its a lettering error because the story doesn't give any indication of there being anyone else in that room. And no, its not the fourth joker because they haven't created him yet, as evident by the dialogue.

The scene with Jason and the Batmobile seat implies that Batman is so fucked up from his loved ones hurting (Jason and Babs) that he doesn't want anyone to carry the Robin burden anymore. I mean come on, even Damian died and got resurrected!

Also strange that Jason mentions Joker hasn't used Gaggy in years even though a few pages earlier he didn't even know who he was.

Joker and Jason's final conversation is brilliant, and I think its a shame (though it fits perfectly) that our dear clown met his curtain call at the end of the issue. more

The "villain is defeated by absorbing too much" trope is overused as hell but WHO CARES because we get a happy ending and the JSA too! It's so refreshing to read a book that doesn't have grand multiversal/world ending stakes, or in this case one that does but doesn't overblow it and keeps it character focused. Excited to see Carter and Shiera back in the 1940's alongside our dear Society.

Can't deny that with Morrison, love him or hate him, you will always find something to enjoy in one of his books.

We see the Weaponeer's true force in this issue and it's both terrifying and awesome. We get a scene where a squad of Lanterns are cut down by one sharpshooter (John Stewart analogue possibly?) and its just fucking brutal. Lantern Ryk is by far the best addition to this season, but two characters standout in this book: Nurse Leylo and the enigmatic animal trader Crassus Qwipe-6. Crassus has a standout moment where he hulks out (not unlike Squanchy from R&M) and takes down a Weaponeer.

With the Weaponeer's seemingly unbeatable strength, it seems that we are due for an even fight what with Hal getting a new Battery/Ring upgrade back in issue 1 that allows him to perform unseen universally powerful feats (planet 8-ball anyone?).

No mention of the Ultrawar/Multi-Crisis this issue but we do get Hal's supposed death and rebirth into Spectre-Hal?!

DC's best of course, no contest. more

Great issue. Glad to see Batwoman back in the fold. I love the dynamic of respect between her and Bruce, as both are competent military strategists, with the book showing them working in a beautiful harmonic synchrony of vigilante brutality. Bullock as Commissioner is fantastic as well, and I do hope to see more of the gravity of the main storyline's impact in this companion title.

Look, i get that the point of this event is to be crazy camp for the sake of it, but a lot of the writing and concepts are just so fucking bad. The whole New Apokolips scene triggered me immensely because Scott Snyder clearly didn't understand Final Crisis and blatantly messed up one of the climaxes of the book (Batman vs Darkseid). The Anti-Life Great Death Drive was stupid as hell, Darkfather is beaten with ease (you would expect a Darkseid/Batman analogue to be unbeatable) and they find their allies on the next page just in time to set up the tie-in series. Robin King is edgelord crap (but the Speed-Force repellent is ridiculous enough to get a chuckle). Lobo's parts were interesting and we finally get some hinting as to why this series is called "Death Metal", as with the first Metal we had the whole dark numbered metals theme, now we have Lex Luthor gathering the 5 death metals to get his revenge of Batkek and Perpetua. Most of this issue was just tie-in setup, and DC even released the checklist with their new titles this week. This event is 24 parts long, and the next few are going to be the deciding factors as to if I still give a shit about any of this overexposed hodgepodge of mundane event-bait. more

This cover is kind of a scam because we don't get any stories with Bat-Mage or Doctor Arkham but who cares because they are just as contrived and ridiculous as the other analogues in this book anyways.

-"I Am Here" (Darkest Knight) = 7
The art is great but the story is just a recap with an unnecessary origin that doesn't even make sense for Bathattan. Snyder then makes his Final Thesis on Batman about how he is a "Reactionary Idea" in an attempt to justify his batshit (see what I did there) crazy stupid stories these past three years. We also get some light hinting on what Darkest Knight's plan is what with the Multiverse Who Laughs and killing Perpetua and her kind.

-"King of Pain" (Robin King) = 8
Rossmo and Tomasi are always top notch, but no real reveal as to why he's called the Robin King.

-"Batmanasaurus Rex" (B-Rex) = 2
Replace piece of shit writer with piece of shit story. Ellis' take would have been leagues ahead of this, but he got clowned for being a groomer and career ruined. Art and dialogue fucking sucks.

-"This Man, This City" (Castle Bat) = 8
Concept is great but the art is what carries this story. Francesco is always a delight to see, and the plot is like something out of Starlin's "The Cult".

-"Road Warrior" (Batmobeast) = 6
Mad Max Batman is great, DWJ is great, but 2 pages is not enough!

-"I Shall Become..." (Bat-Baby) = 7
Ennis once again trolls capeshitters by reducing Batman into a bawling infant. Just brilliant. more

Boo-hoo, Tom King is sad about the Iraq War. Cry me a river and go do some creator owned shit instead of ruining another beloved silver age character and his mythos.

Genocidal wholesome bait continues!

The plastic man twist is reminiscent of the Flashpoint: Legion of Doom mini where Heatwave and Plastic Man broke out of prison and fought Cyborg. Plastic Man snuck into the prison by hiding inside Cluemaster's body and then emerging through his orifices...yikes.

Damian and Cass is cringe while Royfans are once again met with a pointless scene of him being shit on. Taylor tries to tease a mysterious and sinister new group out in aussieland who have staved off the hordes. IIRC all the main villains are dead so the twist will probably be either his own revolutionaries from his current SS run or some other c-listers turned creator pets. more

Ice-Pop and Sno-Cone, jesus fucking christ...

This issue Tynion succumbs to his greatest weakness, THE EXPOSITION DUMP!

Short issue; only 19 pages, blame it on double shipping. Jimenez is great as always. Don't care for the blue suit, don't care for Clownhunter, but I'm kind of surprised that Harley successfully pulled a reverse uno on Punchline's muting a few issues back. r/>
Psycho drugged bats was done in Morrison's run and I was hoping that Tynion would bring back our lovely Zur-En-Arrh Bats what with his Alfred earpiece hallucination. The Mark of Zorro stuff is probably the most interesting part and I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with this "real ending" stuff. more

TED KORD NOOOOO! LOOK HOW THEY MASSACRED MY BOY!

Liveshot, are you fucking kidding me? I really don't give a shit about Deadshot's daughter. Taylor and his wholesome bait is so overplayed at this point, I feel like I'm watching a goddamn Disney movie.

I want to read Suicide Squad for the villains, not these bushworld outback rejects.

Batman vs Brother Eye = 6

Platinum & Wonder Woman = 5

Red Tornado Family = 8

Blue & Gold = 9

Multiverse Flash Race = 7

Superboy Robot = 9

Midnighter & Apollo = 6

Harley Quinn = 4

Robotman & Mike = 10

Superman & Cyborg vs Henshaw = 10

PRIME TIME IS COMING!!!

Lincoln March jobbing hard as usual.

Matches Malone needs to be used more.

This is what happens when you force a series to tie in to an event that they have no knowledge of and were not included in the creative process.

Great stuff by Tynion and Jimenez. If they wanted to do a blue bat-suit just go back to the 70's silver age suit.

The Monarch purchase plot point was already used by Morrison back in Leviathan when Talia blew it up with the Incorporated team inside. Hope Tynion does something cool with this Zorro aspect.

Also just RIP Alfred.

Alanna is obviously the murderer. King is still teasing us as to what crimes Adam may have committed as well as what Terrific's judgement was (we only saw the aftermath). King however does it very sloppily; the dialogue is a drag, but better than his Mister Miracle husband/wife banter.

I thought Batman's dialogue was serviceable but the story itself is moving at a snails pace.
/>Gerads art is magnificent tho. more

This was boring to say the least.

Nothing besides a bunch of expo dump and empty conversation. Batman changes his mind between panels, and Wildcat looks like an emaciated furry.

Batman Who Lmao's somehow finds a way to become even more contrived and OP, rebirthed as "El Caballero mas Oscuro". Robin King also sucks. I also don't understand how Wally got beat by Lmao's while having both the Mobius Chair and Manhattan powers. Fucking stupid.

Alan Moore is probably summoning Glycon to unleash his eternal fury on Snyder and this book. more

Cute/wholesome bait moments and retarded characters. Typical Tom Taylor comic.

I really like how Tomasi writes the Joker.

I hate the Court of Owls so the Talon crap is always a drag, but Batman and Dent never fail to deliver great interactions that liven the book.

Now for Joker War!

Penguin said it best in this issue, "It's going to be a long, bloody summer."

Pretty much your by the book calm before the storm issue. Stage is set, pieces are in play, now just to sit back and watch the show!

Best book DC is putting out right now. Much needed refresh opposed to the constant universe ending eventgasm spewed from the Depressoverse.

I love the experimental art styles Sharp has been alternating between this season. Him and Morrison are really the last bastion of true artistic ingenuity and character driven storytelling at DC.

Great Silver Age cuts, awesome fights, and tight dialogue that maintains the gripping flow of this series.

PREPARE FOR THE ULTRAWAR! THE MULTI-CRISIS IS NEAR! more

I need to stop buying this book.

DC needs to end the double shipping because it's seriously affecting the quality of the stories being put out. The strategy worked perfectly during Rebirth because they were coordinated really well what with the event void, and the creators were able to follow their blueprint/run plans with little opposing editorial interference.

And why the fuck is it called the Legion of Zoom if half of them aren't speedsters, just time displaced rogues? I want to see Savitar + Inertia + Rival so they can face off against Chain Lightning flash family from Pre-N52!

And btw, the Tornado Twins are definitely Thawne's kids and not Barry's. more

Taylor's Aussie-Squad OC's make a fool out of the Dark Knight while Deadshot makes a difficult decision.

While I like Taylor's writing, I feel like his overkill wholesome moments (the dog in this issue) kind of bloat the story and leave something to be desired.

Series is still great tho.

This my friends, is how you make an anniversary lineup!

After the absolute dogshit that was Detective 1000 (and the mediocre ones: WW 750, Flash 750, Robin 80th, and Cat 80th, the Joker 80th was pretty good), we have finally received a perfect special.

Tomasi and Vendetti's stories stood out to me as the best, while Johns + O'Neil (RIP) + Bunn + Marz were fantastic nonetheless. I love Jess and Simon, but I think that their stories could have resonated more (then again, they were created relatively recently).

The John Stewart and Hawkgirl was just weird (I was VixenXJohn back in JLU), and I don't like how McDuffie wrote them.

The Alan Scott origin was a perspective change carbon copy of his first appearance, but they added the gay revamp from Earth 2. While I think it worked for that story, I can't say the same for this since Alan's son Obsidian was also gay pre-N52. Having doubts on if this will play out tastefully; no more Harlequin marriage while Jennie and Todd are going to have to come from somewhere. more

Predictable and underwhelming.

Cool that Harley got muted but the preview art for that page came out months ago.

I was really hoping for a twist with the Designer reveal, but stupid corpse twist and catwoman bank account switcharoo instead.

Confirmed that Bruce Wayne does not pay taxes lol.

Too short!