No, just no. Chip actually did a decent Bat story last issue, but ruins it by bringing up Bruce’s long lost “brother” from Snyder’s court of Owls thing. It was a bad idea a decade ago. It was a bad idea in 1973 when Bob Haney wrote Bat-crap crazy stories in Brave and Bold. The stories had no impact on main continuity and ought to be considered alternate universe.

Points for finally killing the mayor. Points taken away for the Riddler being free on a technicality. He has committed so many crime he would have to be free on 123,865 technicalities.

And Bruce finally gets his money back only to be sued by “bro.” Thomas Wayne and wife Martha having a kid is front page news. The pregnancy is front page news. There is no way a secret child is possible. If you want people to believe in Lazarus pits and Manbats, you have to keep the real world details real, otherwise you create a world where there is no anchor for the reader to latch onto.

This is bad and I am not wrong. more

Plot
There is a street that traps those who have something hidden in their past, where guiltness becomes instant death.

In this place that exists between realities, in the middle of our world and the afterlife, we are introduced to two characters, Pranky the boy scout and Mr X, two Hyde Street Residents.

Pranky makes an old lady confess her hidden secrets, unforgivable crimes, which this boy scout takes advantage of to earn another badge, something as noble as a boy scout badge is transformed into something scary and cruel.

Mr X approaches Pranky and warns him that this type of abrupt interventions to the guilty are not fair, but Pranky only wants to continue increasing his badges, as requested by the cosmic entity Score Keeper.

This issue tells the story and the lowest point of Mr X's life before being a Hyde Street Resident.

Mr. Ray called himself Frederick Xavier Ray, he was one of the advertisers in 1966 who launched deceptive products to children such as X-Ray glasses, no matter who he was scamming, his goal is to make money by lying, nothing matters to him, not even his own daughter Judy.

This comic mixes mysteries, suspense with terror in a place where reality is confusing and your hidden secrets come to collect debts of pain. This comic is able to go from a routine situation to maximum terror in a perfect narrative transition.

Art
Ivan Reis offers his organic art full of hypnotizing details that give a gloomy tone to moments that seem harmless, with excellent facial expressions and a magnificent handling of body language.

Summary
Welcome to a street that judges you by your darkest secrets, where depending on who you meet, your pain can be short or very long
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This comic epitomizes what is wrong with DC. You have two mercenaries in Snyder and Williamson leading the pack of mundane and uninspired writers. These are cannibals, picking at the feet of their betters, scraping the tombstone library of story-past for any epitaph to sustain an event or story arc or whatever you want to call the derivative droll they put out.

Long gone are the days of wonder, the imaginary beyonds of Fox and Broome and Haney and Kanigher.

Julie Schwartz would be turning in his grave. Jack Kirby too.

There is a reason for the alienation of true auteurs in this industry: Morrison, Moore, Gaiman. Because even as they try to bring comic books back to their roots of poetry and mythology, the Empty Hand manifests itself to reap. They came, they conquered, and they departed after realizing there were better things to do than play back & forth with the carrion crows who run DC.

DC has been hanging under the fangs of the Empire of Mammon since the Golden Age, when Liebowitz and Donnenfeld stripped the company from its original owner, Major Wheeler-Nicholson.

What's happening now is more insidious. An ultra-pollution of the narrative, a sacrifice submitted to strobe-torture before being disemboweled. These people are going to ruin everything just to feed their wallets.

If you don't believe me, read this book:

"WHAT IF EVERYONE JOINED THE JUSTICE LEAGUE?"

"WHAT IF DARKSEID AND THE SPECTRE MERGED?"

"WHAT IF DARKSEID FOUGHT EVERYBODY AND BEAT THEM WITH HIS LAZER BEAMS?"

"WHAT IF HE MADE A BAD UNIVERSE WHERE EVERYTHING IS BADDER AND MORE BAD?"

"wait, don't we already have Earth-3 and the Antimatter Univ-"

"WHAT IF EVERYBODY WAS A DARKSEID AND THEY HAD HIS LOGO?"

"WHAT IF EARTH ONE WORKED OUT BECAUSE IT WAS WRITTEN BY US AND WE MADE EVERYBODY TOTALLY EDGY AND ULTIMATE AND MARK MILLAR AND METAL AND FRANK MILLER AND BRIAN AZZARELLO AND SO COOL?"

"DO YA GET IT? 52 DAYS EARLIER? 52 DAYS LATER? REMEMBER THAT WEEKLY BOOK WRITTEN BY TALENTED WRITERS? REMEMBER THAT PUBLISHING INITIATIVE THAT FUCKED EVERYTHING UP?"

"WHAT IF DARKSEID WAS MAD ABOUT BEING DARKSEID, BUT WHAT HE REALLY WANTED WAS TO BE DARKSEID IN DARKSEID LAND, WHERE BEING DARKSEID WAS COOL?"

"WHAT IF ALL OF OUR CHARACTERS EXPLAINED EVERYTHING THAT WAS HAPPENING AND SAID EXACTLY WHAT THEY WERE THINKING AND FEELING AND THEIR MOTIVATIONS WERE SIMPLE AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND? MAN, WRITING COMICS SURE IS EASY!"

"HEY, IT'S THE MIRACLE MACHINE! REMEMBER THAT? I READ A GRANT MORRISON COMIC GUYS! I LOVE LOOKING AT ALL THOSE PRETTY PICTURES IN THAT GRANT MORRISON COMIC!"

"DARKSEID DARKSEID DARKSEID OMEGA BEAMS DARKSEID APOKOLIPS I DIDN'T REALLY GET FINAL CRISIS BUT I READ THE DC WIKI PAGE DARKSEID DARKSEID DARKSEID!"

If there is one redeemable quality, it is the art. Sampere and Craig are very talented. It's a shame they have to waste their time drawing absolute nonsense. At least they get a check. more

I’m glad that others are enjoying it. It’s just not for me. It’s not what I’m looking for in an X-Men book.

It's really annoying how many writers are just trying to retcon classic stories and characters these days. While the writers often try to expand on these classic stories or give them more depth, the opposite often occurs and they end up tarnishing them.

That's the case here. Zur-En-Arrh was a cool concept when Morrison introduced it, but now it's just a corrupt Batman. The Jokers motivations have been retconned to all be about bringing out Zur-En-Arrh. Killing Joke? Death in the Family? All because of Zur-En-Arrh now instead of the Jokers affinity for chaos and obsession with Batman.

Zdarsky is taking from the Batman mythos instead of adding to it. I don't know why DC is allowing these horrible changes to their most popular franchise. Avoid this Batman run. Everyone is out of character and it's just butchering classic stories. more

Zdarsky's entire run has essentially been Batman creating menaces to save the world from a "Batman gone bad" who wind up as worse menaces than Batman could ever be. Failsafe throws Gotham into turmoil twice already in this run, and yet Bruce is not held accountable, or Batman arrested, when the dust clears. Where is J. Jonah Jameson when we need him, alerting the world to the danger that is Batman? more

I rate this “oh, who cares.” We get the killer bat robot. Joker is playing psychological games with Batman as if the Joker being trained by the same as Batman was just some giant mindf#ck., some great plot that Zdarsky thought of that puts all others to shame. It doesn’t.

We also have the one-eyed mayor. I honestly forgot he existed. But killer batbot is actually proving the mayor right. Batman is a menace. Once again the story is about how Batman is the problem, not the solution. Not a good look.

The art was nice.

But this whole run has been deconstructing Batman to the point that is really counts as destruction. All the characters are flat, merely pawns to plot.

Just terrible.

Or I could be wrong. more

Not a fan of this run at all. Zdarsky's retcons/expansions of the Jokers past is making the character less compelling instead of more.

It's entertaining enough, but Zdarsky's making some bad changes to the characters (which he also did in Gotham War by making the Bat Family act extremely out of character).

I'm no fan of reboots, but DC seriously needs one! Especially for Batman!!

Zdarsky has no place writing Batman. His run has been one poorly recycled idea after another. I'd call it fan fiction, but at least fan fiction has some passion to it. Zdarsky is just phoning this crap in.

The art is okay, but I really dislike that Jorge Jimenez has simply become a poor imitation of Dan Mora. Only less dynamic, and much less fun to look at.

Batman comics need some serious help! They'd needed it for a very long time now! more

Adams tried to explain why there are so many redundant earth lanterns. But this issue still failed to convince me of their validity. IMO they don't need to be legitimized. They need to be pruned.
And the Jessica Cruz backup story is so stupid. Thaaros just swallowed her clumsy lies and tricks like an idiot? That’s the big bad the corps are dealing with? Is this story written for infants?

Plus, too many earth lanterns are so boring. It would be much better if the one who rescued Hal is Arisia, Trilla-Tru, or Iolande, instead of Jo who nobody cares about. more

I'm enjoying this run. It's fresh but grounded in tradition. All of the main characters are spot-on. The art is spectacular. I would grade it a 10 but for the backup story. Good to know this is spinning off as a new title because I could not have less interest in a book aimed at 10-year-olds. I would have preferred another 8 pages of the main story. I hope future issues don't include back-up stories a la Tales of the Green Lantern Corps. However, with the team splitting off in different directions, it would appear inevitable. As long as the tone and quality of the main story are maintained, it will be OK with me. more

I wanted to like this issue and it didn't disappoint. I haven't read a Superman story since Warworld. I find the entire extended "family" exhausting and contrived. Jason Aaron is a great writer. I appreciate the references he used to demonstrate his knowledge of the DCU. The artwork was excellent, and the colors were eye-popping. If he can keep it grounded around the core characters and the character that is Metropolis, it will be a memorable run. more

If the last two issues had limited themselves to a couple retcons here and there, Alan Scott: The Green Lantern's worst quality is in full swing here. We get Alan visiting male prostitutes on the waterfront, and it's only downhill from there.

What is it about a character that's seemed agnostic, if not downright indifferent to religion, in eighty-something years of publication that inspires the creative team here to base his internal turmoil around Catholic guilt? Why not the real life consequences that could affect the life of a young man as concerned with his career in radio as Alan had once been characterized to be? The Spectre's reassurance that homosexuality is not a sin is sort of undercut by the fact that he could've only known that about our hero because of his ability to sense sins in people, and it's further rendered meaningless by the most modern-sounding dialogue this side of any attempt at a 1940s period piece. The hug is pretty much insulting, and certainly doesn't help the sanitized feeling of this book as it resorts to children's cartoons' idea of conflict resolution. The 'twist' at the end is not even worth touching on.

And that's not even remarking on how at odds the Jim Corrigan presented here is with any previous version of him, not just lacking in the period-appropriate homophobia he'd demonstrated in John Ostrander's 1992 run but showing very little in common with any major incarnation of an endlessly interesting character.

In a book where transwomen are stereotypes in wigs with a guaranteed 'bad' end and gay intimacy has to be paid for, it's a little hard to see what's meant to be so appealing to LGBT audiences. Mr. Scott had had more heartfelt tales back when it was all told in subtext. more

This is a great story with great artwork. It is a Captain America story with tiebacks to Steve Rogers' youth. It is not cluttered with a lot of deep dives into 80 years of history to unpack. Clean and simple. It's also a solid mystery. There is some humor but it's not over the top. There are not a lot of characters to follow. Basically, two storylines, past and present, tied together. There are no hidden political agendas. The poor reviews must come from readers' personal dislike of the author. Forget the author. Just read it as one of the best Captain America stories produced in a long time. It has the feel of Mark Waid's World's Finest - as if it was written by an author with reverence for the history of the character and a deep understanding of his core. Keep it going! more

I really enjoyed this story. I'm glad Mark Waid wrote it. Ever since the first splash page of this team in the main World's Finest title, I've wanted more. However, I did not care for the artwork or the colors. Maybe I've been spoiled by the incredible work of Dan Mora and Tamra Bonvillain in the main title. The artwork did not have Mora's detail or realism. It is more reminiscent of Phil Hester's chaotic style. The inks were thick. The colors were the worst part. They often appeared washed out. Reds looked orange. There was too much gradation in the colors and the overall pallet did not pop like the work of Bonvillain. Often the art seemed to be filtered in sepia or violet which was not appealing, in my humble opinion of course. If the same team does another arc, I will gladly buy it, but I hope the artwork can be improved. more

I am giving this a 1, only because I can't give it a negative number. You can be a member of, advocate, and ally to the LGBTQ community without reducing gay superheroes to gay stick figures. Retcon of Green Lantern Alan Scott as a victim and of JSA as propaganda for FBI, using "Elseworlds" style story for new DC canon. Total retcon of GL Alan Scott from All-American Comics #16, intended to introduce a Soviet Green Lantern. The retcon then refers you to "DC Pride through the Years" on Alan Scott "Past Prologue" ($9 on Amazon digital) also from Tim Sheridan (June 2023), where Tim Sheridan started his retcon story.

In Green Scott Alan Scott's original origin story, All-American Comics #16 had Alan Scott as a train engineer, which was on a train that crashed off of a bridge due to a criminal engineer Albert Dekker competing for the job, who blew up the Dekker Bridge. His colleague "Jimmy," was killed. In this retcon, Alan Scott is a Navy engineer (remember when everyone didn't work for the U.S. Government?), capturing a "Crimson Flame," that results in Alan's lover "Johnny Ladd" being killed. The rest of Alan Scott's origin retcon is not yet described, but the end is Alan Scott strapped down for electric shock therapy.

Imagine Superman origin retcon not from Krypton, but bitten by radioactive dog. Imagine Batman origin retcon not from Crime Alley and murder of parents, but getting power ring from an alien. If not "Elseworlds," your natural reaction would be WTH?

But with GL Alan Scott, his character as a courageous superhero does not matter, rather than just using him today for LGBTQ advocacy. Since this is no longer about superheroes, but only about advocacy. But here is what Tim Sheridan misses (and it is MAJOR), it is not "advocacy" when you reduce Alan Scott to a gay caricature, rather than as a human being with diverse values and goals in fighting for Justice for society.

To be CLEAR and candid, I am writing this as a gay man, and YES it none of your business. But since this is an advocacy comic, not a hero comic, I want to be up front about that. And Alan Scott was more than a cardboard cut-out for his sexuality. He was a selfless hero for people of all kinds. Because Alan Scott believed in JUSTICE.

I agree with Tim Sheridan that it is good to see a gay major superhero. But Mr. Sheridan could have done that WITHOUT the total retcon of GL Alan Scott, and by also not forgetting the "superhero" part of "gay superhero." It does a disservice to the courage of those who stood against persecution and were inspired by GL Alan Scott and JSA during the days in literal war against fascism. If you don't know the 1930s/1940s era, then you should not be writing about it. The reason WHY there was growth of the "mystery man" character in 1930s was the growth of organized crime. Mr. Sheridan either does not care, or does not know this, in his focus on sci-fi comics and political advocacy. He doesn't know what he is writing about.

The idea that gay human beings are parody figures is insulting. That if you are gay you can't answer the door with clothes on. That if you are gay, all that matters is your sexuality above all other aspects of Justice and society. Whether it is 1936 or 2023, it is wrong to make gay human beings as a caricature, simply for the purpose of advocacy. Since we are no longer discussing a "superhero" comic, but an advocacy comic, let's be clear, it is insulting to be a caricature. It is degrading and disrespectful to the diversity that people really have as human beings. But political activism does not care about any of that. It is the diversity in human beings that keeps us actually fighting for JUSTICE. Because the victim of persecutors and oppression are not just one identity group; they could be ANY of our identity groups. And it is the battle and campaign for JUSTICE which is the lead in comics on heroes and heroines.

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This is a fantastic book. Even if you've never read a single story of the Golden Age Sandman, you would want to read more about this character after reading this one. Robert Venditti knows these Golden Age heroes as well as anyone in the business as his previous Hawkman series will attest. I've been turned off by Riley Rossmo's art in the past. Its weirdness was just not my cup of tea. Here though, it's clean and under control. Along with the great script, the two creators really capture the noir of the pre-war period. This is another most-welcomed return to DC's roots. Now we need DC to follow up with collected editions of Golden Age stories. more

This story is Barry and Hal at their Silver Age best. It shows you can take long-established heroes and make them contemporary. Great writing. Impeccable art. This series is off to a flying start. The only downside is the unnecessary backup story. DC Editorial can't help but try to create silly kid spinoffs. Just get rid of it, save money on printing, and drop the cost of the book by a buck. Skip the backup story and re-read the main story. It's excellent. more

It's the first issue of a new run. The author put a lot of thought into it. I didn't enjoy it. There was too much distracting internal dialogue. It was a struggle to get through this ponderous story and I won't be buying issue #2. The family trope is overdone. We see it in the Batman books. We see it in the Superman books. We're even seeing it in the new Green Arrow and Wonder Woman books. Too many characters. Plot and action are drowned by exposition. Interaction between characters is replaced with page after page of internal dialogue boxes. I found the whole thing to be difficult to enjoy on any level. One case in point, Mr. Spurrier wants us to know he's a clever writer but putting that clever text in the mouth of Impulse shows a lack of understanding about Bart Allen. The author would be better served by trimming down the number of characters, which does not seem to be DC's way these days when there are so many editorial boxes to check, or better still go back to a Barry Allen-centered book about a forensic scientist solving cases. more