When you have as much fun reading this as I did, this could just as well be a 10.0.

FINALLY! There were glimmers in the writing last month, and now here it is: a well-written Harley Quinn book with excellent art.

Matteo Lolli's art is great. Clean and expressive. Possibly better than his extensive work at Marvel.

I guess people forgot Sami Basri's art on the last Harley Quinn series, the one that ran for 75 issues, but this is a lot like the beautiful art Basri drew in 15 of the last 25 issues of that series. Worth checking out. All the previews are here - just put "Harley Quinn" in the search box and pick the 2016 series. more

Gets a 4.0 thanks to the backup which isn't great but is readable.

As for the main story, no comic has ever left me feeling this stupid. The artwork leaves me lost, the plot and dialog confused. It all goes right over my head. I have a feeling everything is actually quite simple, but obscured due to art I find difficult to understand despite the use of shading and some tones, and dialog that I think is trying to be clever but comes off to me as oblique.

I keep buying this to stick it out, as I have good will based on enjoying the main series, but this is the last book I read each week, and I approach it with a big sigh, like taking bitter medicine, knowing that each issue is likely to baffle me more than the prior one.

The number of reviews here has dropped from 6 to 4 to 3 to 2, and user reviews dropped from 21 to 13 to 9 to 1 (this review brings that up to 2), so I can see that just about everyone but me has simply given up on this book. Perhaps this has been written solely for the personal amusement of Alex Paknadel, Matthew Rosenberg, and Ben Abernathy. more

Cringey dialogue, confused artwork, a lackluster plot, horrible characterization, blatant queerbaiting, unsubtle meta commentary that misses the mark, and a tie-in that is in its penultimate issue and has yet to tie into the very event it is a part of, all combine to make such a waste of everyone’s time

I'm loving this series and I really liked this issue. I specially like, that despite being in essence an issue where we stop and take a look at our characers before they start their respective journeys (so basically a setup chapter) it still manages to maintain the tension and the sense of dread that they may not come out of this.

I love they're setting up some internal conflict in this super-high stakes world-ending situation as well, though perhaps that's just me.

If I had a complain, is that I think that fill-in art is not up to the task. I don't need main artist to draw the whole thing because I know sometimes the realities of comic book publishing get in the way, but they need someone with a style that's a bit more compatible to be honest. more

Otto Schmidt's art is terrific as usual. But I don't agree with the reviewers who say the artwork is seamlessly shared. Daniele Di Nicuolo drew nine of the 22 pages - the scenes with Batgirl in and right outside of Hugo Strange's lab, and then on the boat with Supergirl, Steel and Black Manta. And while the static panels are okay, his scratchy manga style often meant incomprehensible action. Batgirl's movements in the lab, and the action on the boat, are just too sketchy for me. On second thought - the busiest two pages in the lab are actually downright awful! (I agree with ZONS9's opinion, above, except that I think they were too polite about it.)

I'd give this a 8.5 for story (which I thoroughly enjoy) and Schmidt, but deducted a point for Di Nicuolo.
more

6 for the interior art - not a great showing by Bengal

3 for the storytelling. Seems this writer can't write, and I guess her editor can't read. Or thinks the resolution involving a wage inequity message overcame the otherwise weak storytelling.

This would be 4.5 but I'll bump it to 5.5 because of another superb cover by Jeff Dekal.

I really love how this issue opens, feels very respectful and proud about DC's history. The art is amazing too. Jon trying to assemble a new League was the best part for me. I can see this character becoming a good Superman easily. However... This reminds me how Jon already having this level of responsibilities feels wrong and forced. Kara should be the one taking Clark's place. I feel somewhat similar about the new Wonder Woman and Batman. Yara, the "fake" brazilian(I'm brazilian myself and I have some issues with her) and the Batman who uses a Bat costume, the name, but wants nothing to do with it(?).

About Black Adam's role here, don't they have anything that can just see if he's lying or not? Like lie detector machine or something.

But ok, let's talk about the titans section of this issue. Deep down, I know complaining about this is stupid but, how does Dick survive a bomb that close? And I want a really good explanation for Slade doing this, he had made a deal with Nightwing, his "troubles" with the Titans are resolved. I guess this has to do with what happened when Slade was in the Lazarus pit(very dumb thing btw) but still, this needs a better explanation and quick. And Slade's new design is just ugly, I'm sorry.

But my major problem here is Deathstroke killing Gar. This is not the first time he does this, but it feels wrong. After Trial of the Terminator the two became friends, seeing this ignored bothers me a lot. This comic wants us to think about the old days, this is clear by the opening page, but it does not want us to remember all the details.

Gar's death is also another problem with this by itself. Events like these always feel the need to kill characters but this is just empty to me. Feels robotic, a editorial mandate, "kill someone, this will boost sales and people will know what we're serious about this". Think about Dark Nights Metal. No one died there, and yet, everybody was buying. Actually, that event had "negative" deaths, with missing characters coming back. That event had its problems but it was exciting to read. This? I'm not so sure, now I'm just like "ok, who dies next to help with the sales?". more

Stephen Segovia is a superb artist, but his pages look rough and unfinished to me in spots, especially the major action scenes.

Howard Porter, on the other hand, while not usually one of my favorites, lent an appropriate horror vibe to his five epilogue pages that came across great.

I'd like to know how, if Geo-Force can raise a giant rock monster, can launch molten rock (I think?) at the Bat plane, and can repeatedly turn his arm into rock, how is it he is at the mercy of Talia's blade, and is taken down by kicks, first by Damian and then Talia? Is his neck the only vulnerable part of this body?

I'd like to see if Respawn can actually respawn himself. I didn't like him particularly, but still it would be nice to learn more about him and give him more development as a character.

Overall, I'd say the crossover was decent. It had some interesting ideas and reveals, was a manageable size, and in the final analysis was a pretty good effort.
more

I can see why this book is being canceled. Sales are pretty low, huh? There are more sock puppet accounts astroturfing this than there are people reading. You can tell how they all use the same writing style. Very similar to a certain account that got banned for perverted and unspeakable deeds. It's very worrying, I fear his mental health will not hold up. Hopefully, he's barred from touching any guns. more

I put off reading each issue longer and longer. Finally got to this.

With his art, Rossmo seems to be daring DC to fire him or cancel the book, and he's probably just going to continue on this determined trajectory until it happens. It's like he's shaking his head with laughter that DC is still paying him for this, and laughing that anyone can tolerate looking at this. His work has always been eccentric, but it's been getting increasingly hideous and headache-inducing.

Batman-news gave it a 1.0, and I agree with every point the reviewer made.

Phillips ended this issue with another of her typical 9-page essays, this time a rambling dissertation about masks. So sick of the essays she ponderously delivers each month.

You can see that few are still reading this book: mine is the only reader review, and only the second reader to rate it.

DC is daring to go WEEKLY with this book in August, including 4 regular issues and then a double-sized/priced annual, so the equivalent of 6 issues. That strikes me as a risky and even insane move. Do sales really justify a stunt like that? Hard to imagine they do.

I hate to give something as low a rating as 2.0, but it's probably an honest score - I hated every word and every drawing in every panel on every page, which probably means my real score is 0.0, but I do like Derrick Chew's colorful covers. more

Stephanie Phillips started out ok on this book, but it just sucks now! She tries to combine goofy Harley who keeps bringing up tired jokes with smart Harley narration and both fail miserably, especially when combined. Get Stephanie Phillips off this and every other DC book PLEASE!!! BTW, Phillips likes to wear the "You killed Comics" as a badge of honor, but you might also want to try writing some good ones in the mean time!!!!! Remember, sometimes people hate your work because it's just not very good! more

Reads like you would expect a single story written by 4 separate teams of writers would read.

I found nothing enjoyable about this. Stilted speech, over-the-top characterizations, tedious character interactions, and awkward transitions as the writers didn't quite sync up.

Mostly, it was boring. This is not an island I'd be in a hurry to visit.

I'd like to know why no one at any time asks why Cassie and Donna are introduced as part of the Esquecida! But why should I single out that one question and not give equal time to every other peculiar plot point?

more

Seems more like a cash grap than anything else. Too long, too expensive, and too chaotic.

So much time spent with Task Force X characters we've never even seen before - I have no idea who any of the new ones are and no reason to care. They don't even get named, but they do get dialog.

So - nothing for anyone. Suicide Squad readers? Too much Task Force X that we don't know and don't care about. Flash readers, or Teen Titans readers? Nothing at all for you. more

Schizophrenic event, and not in the fun Final Crisis type way. Cast is starting to get unmanageable, the pacing is terrible, and the art is mediocre. This version of the Syndicate is very uninteresting. Fucking mid book.

I've read this whole run of Suicide Squad and this issue was just not good.

The Before/Now/Before/Now/Before/Now structure was especially pointless and did nothing but make the story a slog to get through. Each time I saw another time hop, I just steamed to myself "What? Again!" Is this supposed to make a bad story more interesting?

The writing is different enough that it must be that Dennis Hopeless actually wrote it, not Robbie Thompson. He is writing #14 and #15 solo, so I think he basically took over now. And then #15 is the final issue. So I'm going to assume Thompson plotted out the general idea of what happens, and Hopeless did the script with all the time hops. Maybe Thompson only signed on to write 12 issues, and DC decided it needed to be padded to 15, leaving it to Hopeless to pick it up and finish it.

For some reason for the last year DC has had to put multiple artists on almost every book - something that rarely happened in the prior 80 years of comics publishing, but now happens many times monthly. Couldn't they at least have finished this year-long Suicide Squad story with the same writer?!
more

Dennis Hopeless has brought this book down. Still love you Robbie Thompson. You too Eduardo & Dexter; ya'll need to get put on bigger books because you definitely have the talent.

Red X: "Oh. you were so confident we'd come to the end... but this was just the beginning. For you and the rest of your little flock. What's left of it."

Oh wait, I think that's Tim Sheridan speaking, not Red X, and he's talking to us the readers, or what little is left of the readership. Fools who thought this would be a satisfying reveal and ending.

Mike Cotton, the editor, quit before this series ended, and the associate editor was left to pick up the pieces in #11 and #12. Didn't succeed.

One year ago, for some reason, DC turned half of Future State over to this writer, and then this book and the Shazam mini-series. I hope their experiment with TV writers is coming to a close.

Sheridan is co-writing Flashpoint Beyond, which is a reason to at least think twice before investing in that series.

more

Finally - after giving Batman the"R" and announcing he's not Robin, which I guess was more than a year ago. And he wasn't - but now he's grown into and reclaimed it.

I stuck with this series. This finale is as expositional as anything I've read. It's nonsense. The theme peeks out from time to time, as Shilo becomes accepting of himself, but the plot?! Don't read this for the plot.

This does follow the style of plotting you find on the Berlanti DC TV shows, though, so if you like the ridiculous way stories are told on The Flash or Supergirl TV, then this is like that. more

Why did they have to make Kelli transform into straight-haired and with a conventional mask? Looks like yellow-hooded "spoiler-person" undoes the construct so Kelli's real form appears. It's not just the hair - her real headgear is goggles of a different shape and fit than the mask, and I know the overall uniformed was changed in other ways.

Why still with the Spanish? I've used translator apps before but was too tired this time.

Guess I missed some things - why is John now able to leave the planet he's been stuck on for a year or more? Weren't these old ships already available? How does he still have operating GL tech on the new ship? There are surely explanations I missed?

I'm thinking of dropping this. more

Not a fan of the art. Some panels look almost like layout sketches. I guess that's the style they're going for here. Maybe I'll get better at distinguishing the characters eventually.

Is that Duke wielding Jefferson in the sword? It doesn't look like Jefferson holding the sword, but Duke is never named so maybe I'm just trying unsuccessfully to figure that out.

Is Jason reminiscing about Rose (Ravager) in one panel? I guess that makes sense if he's thinking of someone else who can predict moves. But -- Dick doesn't read the future, he just has insight and instincts, so, no, the connection to Ravager is weak and the whole thing vague. Plus - it's kind of an obscure moment. Looking back, she did appear in 2 panels in #1 - once half-naked and not identifiable, once walking away where you can tell who it is if you know she was in the Future State Red Hood backup stories in Dark Detective. I'm making excuses. It's really not easy to read, script or art. It's not welcoming to a new reader.

On the other hand, regarding complaints about the backup reprints - in fairness, the book has a 22 page main story, plus 2 pinup pages (are these also reprints?), plus the backup story, for $3.99. So - the extra story pages are "free." And not everyone has read those backup stories - I don't get the feeling the current Batman Black & White sold that well, based on the somewhat smaller number of reviews that title has always gotten at this site, and based on the Comichron sales estimates. But it may be true that anyone Bat-crazy enough to buy this, as I was, was also likely to buy Batman Black & White. The core Bat fan.

The extra 10 pages doesn't improve my score. I won't rate something better because "the food may be bad but at least the portions are big."
more

The first story is really interesting though if my suspicion of who Jason is working with turns out to be true they'll have to really sell me on that one otherwise he's pretty gullible. The second story drags the issue down, there was really no need for it.

Nice to see an extra-sized 26 page story for the standard price of $3.99. Pretty rare!

The credits are unremarkable on the cover, but the inside credits name Kubert before Taylor. I wonder if that will be true with each issue, and besides it being atypical, whether it has any significance.

The New Batman "Crime is Mostly OK" issue number 4 decides portrays a bat family, with "justice" values to aid killers, give a killer a device used in suicide bombing, have several Magistrate figures killed and mutilated, and reject law enforcement punishment for hardened criminals. For a lot of fans, that will be worth $8. Unlike pro-crime figures in Crime Syndicate, we now have justification in persecuted revolutionaries in Future State Gotham. As to "The New Batman" Future State bat family, resistance is all, at any cost. And in issue 4, you should really like Homer, because you will be hearing Homer quoted a lot, and Delphic maxims of course.

The New Batman (Part 4 finally). Rating: 4.5. Because there is a story, no matter how weak. The challenge of Future State The New Batman is "The Magistrate" dystopia creates an environment to justify murder, because "The Magistrate" has created an anti-law police state. But this is used as a strawman argument to also "heroize" violence and murder by Future State "heroes" on behalf of "justice." The past several issues of The New Batman have been about Batman protecting a couple who committed a brutal murder of another criminal, because "he deserved it" for murdering their daughter. But the idea of becoming judge, jury, and executioner is both a fault-line for The Magistrate fascists as well as the corrupted "future" bat family.

While Tim (Jace) Fox as The New Batman is seeking to get hooded couple (Eric and Sara) "safely" (?) to GCPD peacekeepers for "justice" for this murder, he too ends up compromising his values. And Jace gives both members of the couple a weapon with a micro columb charge, to press the trigger, and throw at the peacekeepers. Eric jumps out of the car in front of peacekeepers pursuing them, and with the weapon from The New Batman, becomes a suicide bomber, taking out two of the peacekeeper vehicles with armor flying and vehicles on fire. Perhaps other readers are aware of suicide bombers with Batman in past issues, but I really don't remember them.

Do we remember when Batman used to rescue people who were in burning vehicles?
Even his enemies?

But it is Future State (a few years from now), and The New Batman just lets them burn. That is his idea of "holding back." The New Batman has another fight with The Magistrate figures and also his mother en route to getting Sara (now that Eric is dead) to Peacekeepers. His mother pulls a gun on The New Batman, and Tim slices her shoulder with a bat-blade shuriken. (FYI, his bat suit is bullet-proof, we later discover.) After he injures his mother (do we think Bruce Wayne would stab his own mother), then stabs disarmed Magistrate Captain Stanz in the shoulder/chest with a knife; it is hard to tell from the art. But the image of Batman with a knife in his hand, stabbing a disarmed individual, is something I really don't want to see. I really don't want others to think this "New Batman" is "The Batman," anymore than I did with Azrael. But DC Comics goes through these periods. [Spoiler for DC Comics, when you had Azrael as Batman you got zero (count-em, zero) dollars from this reader.]

And the New Batman would have killed Captain Stanz, except Sara (another killer) stops him. Magistrate Captain Stanz hypocritically says to The New Batman: "You don't care a thing about innocent civilians." Stanz is the "bad guy" and clearly also doesn't care about innocent civilians. But is Captain Stanz also right about The New Batman, who just injured his own mother, and ends up putting his own mother in the hospital. Or should we not question the new values of the Future State "heroes"? Ironic to Barbara Gordon's later words, in Future State, criticizing "ends justifies the means," when it has become the new world view.

Other than Batman the stabber, Batman the mother slicer, and Batman the armer of suicide bomber, there really isn't much to Issue #4 plot. Dystopia, killer couple, Batman gets one of the couple to Gotham police. And has family conflicts. We still don't know Tim's (Jace) motivation, but DD seems to explaining that based on treacherous brother Luke Fox. And Lucius seems to be working just fine with The Magistrate. But could Ridley at least pick one first name for Tim/Jace Fox?

The challenge for new DC writers is not "who" Batman is. It is "what" Batman is. And motivation is not a sideline topic. For Batman, it is everything. Otherwise, it is just another costumed character. But most of the effective ones have "powers." What is Batman's "power"? His Compulsion. His Determination. His Values. Not what he wears and or his gadgets. But his identity. That is Batman's superpower. Always has been for 80+ years.

Batman's real super powers are his obsession to refuse to surrender to violent crime, and not BECOME like them. It is a determination beyond measure. It is a refusal to surrender under any circumstances - to violent crime, not only to refuse their power, but also to refuse to become LIKE them. Batman's loss is not just part of his origin, but a definition as to Why He Fights. So with a character like Batman, you will believe he will overcome any obstacle, not because of "superpowers," but because of the power of his identity. He has no choice. It is not just he should, but He Must. So in the wild, Elseworld type, Dark Metal stories, you can believe Batman would keep going, even after shot, even after KILLED, with a Black Lantern ring, even after his arm is cut off. Because, after all, he is Batman. He Must. Motivation is Everything.

Batgirls (# 2). Rating: 3. Nonsensical. People repeatedly quote Homer (yes, that's right Homer-from around 700–750 BCE); I noticed four Homer quotes. They actually quote Homer in between punching Magistrate figures in the prison. Imagine. Someone is punching or hurting you, and in the middle of fighting, you stop to quote Homer passages. And the same thing is done by other characters, also quoting Homer. [I like Homer just fine, despite the fact that some people would never want him taught in schools or colleges anymore.] That might be the type of "comedy" (?) type thing that Thor would do in Marvel? But honestly. Batgirl? Black Lightning? Oracle? (Shrug.) And wasn't Black Lightning literally a force of lightning last time we saw in the Bat universe in DD? Same one this New Batman is in ?

So the idea behind Batgirls 2 is not a comic book story, but a moral and timeless call for revolution of the persecuted. OK, Vita Ayala. It is still DC Comics. In this story about Batgirls Cassandra Cain and Stephanie Brown, we get to read about a prison riot. The story is about Cain and Brown organizing a prison riot to free Batgirl Barbara Gordon, locked in prison basement, whose brain is so important that she is inexplicably connected to computers from The Magistrate on 24x7 basis. Cassandra Cain finally gets to basement to release Barbara Gordon. Babs is just fine and ready in fighting shape after being locked up and hooked to computer against her will for "years." [I missed the part with Barbara Gordon was also a secret Kyrptonian with infinite strength and invulnerability. (sarcasm)]

Barbara then uses The Magistrate computer system network (what she was connected to) to call for public to rebel, and well, you just hear her (as "Oracle") call for rebellion, but you really don't know what happens. On the "Oracle" side, you do get to hear her shout out some incriptions from the Temple of Delphi (aka ironically known as "Temple of Apollo.") And while that is interesting historical stuff from 3rd-6th century (when carved into temple), a little side note reminder that equality was not such a big thing back then, and part of 147 Delphi Temple inscriptions, for example, was "Rule Your Wife." (As well as three Delphic maxims against violence and one against murder. Well, we know the Future State Bat family community would struggle with these.) And of course, Homer was a big fan. Ancient wisdom for a timeless article on the need for The People to revolt against oppression.

The Bat family revolutionaries control the prison, defeating the Magistrate guards. (And doing what with? Maybe we don't want to know.) But the Bat revolutionaries also decide to free murderers and other criminals, who could just be good members of the Resistance if given a chance, and urge killers and masks work in harmony side-by-side to build little tents, etc. to create their own Autonomous Zone. When the prisoners succeed in their riot against The Magistrate, the criminal killers locked up with "the masks" are not a problem for the "Future State" "bat family." "Rehabilitation through service. There are no white hats or black coats now, only resistance." There is never any question WHY and HOW the rest of U.S. and world just allowed Magistrate to create this dystopia without any outside intervention. Just because, you know.

The first panel has NINE text boxes. Yes, nine. I literally fell asleep, and finished it the next day. Vita appears to have her strong suit in writing horror and science fiction. But... this is Batgirls. And where did Cassandra Cain suddenly get "diamond-tipped titanium steel nails" in a maximum security prison? (???). Not to mention the "Subdermal Key-Gen and Interface." We have assume all this somehow came from Dick's resistance, but we actually have no clue. Later on, non-super powered Cassandra also has an armored Batgirl costume pop up out of a ring. I can't recall, is that before or after the super-powered Bat-Unicorns appear? Perhaps Stephanie Brown gets a similar "ring," because a page later, her costume materializes on herself. Maybe the costume ring that Stephanie had was invisible too, which is why we never saw her wearing it. (Don't ask questions, silly reader.) Vita's story is good with the Homer quotes and the sci-fi. Coherent plot is just in the way.
more

The first issue did fantastic job setting up the tone, main plot and a final twist. This one offers more emotion, and while of course there's a lot of action sequences here, they're not what I found the most, or even more entertaining about it. It's the main characters' personal struggles, hopes and fears, that drive this comic and make it something truly special.

Ram V did it again, scoring 2/3 successes among his Future State stories, which at first glance may not seem like a big deal, until you see how strong both Catwoman and Swamp Thing are. These are both some of the true gems that came out of this event. more

Here it is - a line ending the issue, but not really. It's there, we can't deny it, and it's there to make you believe it's an end for this series, but I can't say it does its job. Not when it's pretty much clear why it's there to begin with - and it's there because DC ditched the idea of Generation 5, turning it into a 2 month long event. Everything they've planned, all the long running new series, had to be cut short, and the result is this - an overall mediocre issue intended to be merely a chapter of something bigger, ending up being the finale. And honestly, the more I think about it, the more furious I am.

Look - The Next Batman started out strong. It offered us a lot of background story arcs and complex relationships between characters which could have been explored in the future. This comic had genuine potential, but since Future State has one week of life left, we will not see it (ever?) being tapped.

Fox family problems? Cut short. New Batman's lack of experience and confidence? Cut short. Fascist militia controlling Gotham City? Cut short. Two good detectives? Cut short. Heck, even the main story arc itself, involving two murderers, is not resolved nor properly concluded. Nothing is.
It pains me to give this comic such a low score when I can see what it could have been, but there's no other choice for me. I can't applaud this unfinished mess, as much as I'd like to see it continuing.

I'd say this issue is worth picking up... if Ridley finishes his tale one day. Until then it's a skipper. Keep your money.

Contrary to the titular story, Batgirls short actually concludes. I won't cheer for that, because I reasonably expect my stories to feature endings at their ends. I can cheer for the new beginnings, however, just like Cass said. New beginnings where none of this utter trash is even remotely acknowledged. Let's never return to this failed experiment, okay? more

This is such a huge mess, I'm sure the story didn't make sense even in Sheridan's head.